What Would Nellis Say?

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Good Trouble

By Rick Stiller

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Over the past few days, we have witnessed a truly honorable leader placing his love of country above his personal dreams and wishes. That is real patriotism expressed by a real hero, whose sacrifice has shown the rest of us how our united strength of character might prevent the MAGA monster from destroying our democracy. His speech relinquishing his candidacy and passing the scepter of power to the next generation will be remembered as one of the most heartfelt orations of any presidency since George Washington retired after two terms.

 

Before Biden’s announcement, the entire civilized world was terrified at the prospect of a narcissistic felon and rapist retaking the reins of power of the most dominant nation on the planet for personal profit and ego gratification. Now there is hope…but that hope is entrusted to the wisdom of our citizens, that hope will only come to fruition if We The People are willing to work to make it happen.

 

The MAGA campaign machine would have us forget that Trump left office (after spewing more than 30,000 documented lies during his term) with the economy in a dumpster, the deficit increased by 25% (far more than any administration in history), the horror of a million dead and refrigerator trucks full of lonely corpses outside hospitals in every city in the country – victims of his incompetence in dealing with the Covid pandemic - our society divided, armed thugs invading the Capitol to overturn a free and fair election and lynch the Vice-President and the Speaker of the House while they were at it, and white nationalist factions threatening civil war. 

 

Trump‘s campaign is being funded by egocentric billionaires who sneer at the concept of democracy. (Elon Musk has promised to contribute $45 million a month to Trump’s PAC until the election and he is just one of many radically elite sponsors flagrantly buying influence with the next administration). His vice-presidential running-mate’s political career was bought and paid for by those same donors, included Musk’s former PayPal partner Peter Thiel, who will benefit from Vance’s obligation to protect their interests and justify their bigotry. 

 

In a private meeting with oil executives, Trump promised to lift regulations and institute new corporate tax cuts for the energy industry when he took office, if they would contribute $1 billion to his campaign. (That sounds like a bizarre inverse of Popeye’s Wimpy saying, “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today!”)

 

A detailed 920-page twenty-two-million dollar Koch-sponsored Heritage Foundation in-depth plan, Project 2025- written by more that 140 former Trump Administration employees, will be implemented with Trump’s inauguration and commence with the deconstruction of our government bureaucracy by firing 50,000 civil servants, experts who actually make it run; gutting environmental protections and eliminating regulations and restrictions that protect our citizens from over-zealous greed and an insatiable lust for power; abolishing many Cabinet level Departments that we all depend on like Education, Commerce, and the Food and Drug administration; ending funding for NOAA (weather forecasting reinforces acceptance of climate change as the cause of massive wildfires, mega-storms, and a decade of the hottest summers on record and the two hottest days in history during the past week), defunding NPR (Big Bird is a threat to their propaganda), discontinuing school lunches and free preschool, capping Medicare and Medicaid benefits, phasing out Social Security, doing away with the IRS, FED, etc. and replacing income taxes for the rich with a national sales tax that targets the poor, weaponizing the Department of Justice and taking control of the FBI to pursue and harass political enemies; enforce their racist agenda by rescinding every right and benefit granted to women and minorities since the Civil War; and institutionalizing evangelical Christianity in every aspect of our lives. 

 

His published platform proposes arresting 11 million “illegal” immigrants (think anyone of color who happens to not have their license or passport in their possession when interrogated) before they are detained in concentration camps until they can be deported to any country that will accept them. This program is the culmination of the white-Christian-nationalist movement and it will devastate many of the industries and conveniences that we all take for granted – i.e. construction, agriculture, hotels, restaurants, tourism, and many more.

 

Democratic and Republican legislators agreed to a comprehensive bi-partisan bill to take control of our borders and adopt serious reforms to our immigration problem but, before it could be brought to a vote, Trump demanded that Senate Republicans walk away from the agreement so he could use it as a campaign weapon. MAGA Republicans value issues but offer no sensible solutions to the real problems that our country is facing. They are adamantly against abortion under any circumstance but many red-state legislatures have also abolished every program that benefits or protects impoverished children.

 

Trump is very proud that the fascist Supreme Court judges that he put on the bench eliminated women’s right to make decisions about their own bodies. The Court left little doubt that they will find a way to make any form of birth control illegal in their next session. The justices also granted Trump unbridled immunity from prosecution for his crimes, discarded the power and function of government agencies to interpret and implement laws and legislation passed by Congress, relaxed rules limiting state regulations on weapons, weakened voting rights and eased restrictions on gerrymandering.

 

When a string of Trump’s casino and resort businesses in Atlantic City started filing for bankruptcy in 1994 - banks, investors, and creditors lost their investments and the local economy was devasted by the loss of thousands of jobs. Many of his other businesses simply ceased to exist – Trump University, Trump steaks, Trump Shuttle airlines, his football franchises, and Trump’s completely fraudulent charitable foundation are but a few examples. He never was and will never be a successful businessman. He is a fraud.

 

Trump claims that he will become a dictator on his first day in office and has offered no plans that benefit our citizens, other than extending and expanding his two-trillion dollar tax-cut for the top one-percent that will be paid for by the other ninety-nine percent, adding a ten percent tariff on every product imported into the county which is a sales tax that will cause instant inflation, using his power to seek revenge on his enemies, and tormenting women and minorities by rescinding most of the rights and benefits that have been granted since the Civil War.

 

The Republican candidate has been found libel for rape, is awaiting sentencing on thirty-four felony counts for fraud in New York, and faces a pending Federal trial for his instigation and direction of the riot at the Capitol on January 6th…but the party of law and order displayed unanimous support at the convention.

 

During a speech at The Believers’ Summit, a ‘Conservative Christian’ event, Trump said, “Christians, get out and vote. Just this time and then you won’t have to do it anymore. You know what? Four more years, it’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians.” MAGA Republicans have no use for a democracy that grants power to anyone besides white ‘Christian’ males.

 

At the other end of the spectrum, the Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris has been traveling the country for years to support ballot initiatives that guarantee every woman’s right to make personal medical decisions for herself through state constitutional amendments that would reverse the draconian laws that have been passed in more than half the states since the Dobbs decision. 

 

She has championed lower prescription drug prices, tax cuts for the working class, expanding Medicare and Medicaid, guaranteeing Social Security for this generation and the next, and building on fiscal policies that are driving our economy to market highs, unemployment to unprecedented lows, inflation to reasonable levels, and strong international leadership in defending real democracies. 

 

Today, we can hope that our new candidate will spawn an era of common sense and common decency to fend off the threat. That is the promise and legacy of Joe Biden’s grace and wisdom and reason enough for the rest of us to stand up for our beliefs by supporting Kamala Harris’s candidacy and handing the MAGA Republican Party a resounding defeat in every election for every office in the country.

 

The Vice-President is a prosecutor with decades of experience in public service as San Francisco’s D.A., Attorney General for the State of California, Senator, and Vice-president. She has a plan for the future of our country that benefits every citizen and builds on the progress made since President Biden guided us through the nightmare of Trump’s pandemic to a bustling economy and renewed stature on the world stage.

 

You have the power to determine whether we continue as a democracy or allow the richest few to turn the clock back one-hundred and fifty years to a time when white men owned their women and their slaves and everyone else was subservient to their whims and wishes. 

 

Let’s create some good trouble! Vote wisely.

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