A New Take On Rights
POST 1096
First, A Few Takes From the DNC Convention
I’ve never seen anything like that. Nobody else has, either. We saw,
An IVF baby, now a young man, clapping and jumping, tears streaming down his face, pointing at the vice presidential nominee, yelling, “That’s my dad! That’s my dad!”
A daughter introducing her dad with such love and tenderness that when the President of the United States came on stage he was dabbing at his tears.
Oprah Winfrey being – what else? – Oprah Winfrey, and exhorting everyone to love and fight for freedom.
Obama brought her husband and each blew the roof off the United Center. When she was about to leave the stage, he held her hand a little longer and invited the crowd to applaud her. He is what a role model should look like. The country craves their clarity, their steadiness and their hope. Gawd, I miss those people.
Ever-present at the Republican convention but notably absent from 4 nights of the Democratic convention were:
cruelty
cynicism
exclusion of any class of Americans
Click me, if you can stomach seeing this
copyright infringements of anyone’s music
Lee Greenwood, his music and any inference of chest thumping superiority
muscle-bound domination of others or demonstrations of primitive masculinity
promises to strip away freedoms and end our democracy
lies about history, rights and freedom
No worries. The Republicans are completely caught up on all those awful things, so they aren’t going away any time soon.
There was great emotion throughout the Democratic Party convention, but it seems to me that the most powerful thread was a sense of the restoration of a long absent hope. It was the next step in the ending of a dark and terrible night, with the sun now shining on the horizon, promising a better tomorrow.
Reagan was just an actor reciting someone else’s words, so I will paraphrase those words now because at last they will be true.
Once again it will be morning in America, with the sun shining on the city on the hill.
The American spirit is coming out of its slumber and awakening once again.
CAUTION!
The right wingnuts have already begun their cruelty, blasting Tim Walz’s son. There will be more cruelty to come from them, more playground brat meanness and outright lies. Expect it to continue at least until November 5 because it’s all they have. Where appropriate, call out the lies and the hatred. And always,
DO NOT LET THE BASTARDS GET YOU DOWN!
Now, About Those Rights
Jon Meacham’s reminder and warning (scroll to “Critical Quote”) that “The forces that broke into the Capitol and threatened the lives of our elected representatives, including the Speaker of the House and the Vice-President of the United States, are still very much abroad in the land,” is a crystal clear statement of the danger we face. Those forces intend to strip our rights from us.
I wrote recently about rights in the context of Gov. Tim Walz’s admonition to Republicans to mind their own damn business. Here’s a bit more about our rights.
- When my wife and daughter – any of us, really – consult with our doctors, we have a right to evict all Republican politicians from the exam room, the doctor’s office and the entire building. Permanently.
- We are free to travel to any state at any time for any reason without fear of prosecution from deranged Republican bullies aflicted with Severe Self-Righteousness Syndrome. It’s a legal thing, thus sayeth the Constitution.
- My children and grandchildren have a right to be taught actual, full-story history that is unpolluted by Republican revisionist propaganda.
- All users of schools and libraries have a right to have books on the shelves available to students without interference from hyperbolic, ignorance loving, self-righteous Republican literature vigilantes.
- The Constitution says that we have gun rights. It also says that our 3rd graders have a right to not get shot dead in their classrooms by a wacko with “issues” carrying an AR-15.
- All Americans have the right to not go bankrupt due to the hideous cost of treatments for major medical events. Healthcare is not just for the rich, thus sayeth the Bernie.
- Citizens have the right to see accountability meted out to wrongdoers, regardless of whether the perps are shameful senators, representatives or any others like them who think there should be no accountability, even when their psychopathic bestie loses and breaks the law four different ways to regain power.
- We have the right to grab a beer at the Minoqua Brewing Company even though the extremist Republican (is that redundant?) county judge and the owner of the local newspaper don’t like the pub owner’s politics.
- We have a right for “No one is above the law” and “Nation of laws, not of men” and “The rule of law” to mean what they say and that nobody gets a free pass to commit crimes. Ever. Including the president. Especially the president.* And “guilty” means “guilty” for anyone who is guilty.
Best Reads, Because You Want To Understand
The Republican driven reinstatement of the Robber Barons that has been going on since we were tricked by Reagan’s woeful economic idiocy is crushing millions of Americans and inviting the purchase of our government by the ultra-wealthy. That’s not an accident. It is the result of decades of hard work by selfish, power and money greedy cannibals and it has prevented you from getting what you want (see the list above). And it has put us face-to-face with this MAGA and Heritage Foundation attack on our democracy. Read Thom Hartmann’s excellent explainer here.
To understand the ossified MAGA fascist brain, read Ed Gurowitz’s explainer, Growth vs. Stagnation.
Some Good News
1. Look at this headline:
Translation: Boeing, in the midst of all of its international and extraterrestrial fumbling, is going to be saved by international embarrassment Elon Musk. Feel free to chuckle or moan over any part of that.
2. Look at this chart from Gallup:
You’ll definitely want to read the source doc. Just click the pic.
Given our national history of discrimination, this is stunningly good news!
Final Takeaways From the Convention (click the pics)
“And we made sure that every kid in our state gets breakfast and lunch every day. So, while other states were banning books from their schools, we were banishing hunger from ours.”
– Gov. Tim Walz – Acceptance speech to the DNC, August 20, 2024
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“I want to know, who’s going to tell [Trump] that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those Black jobs?”
– Michelle Obama, Address to the DNC, August 20, 2024
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“America, let us show each other and the world who we are and what we stand for: freedom; opportunity; compassion and dignity; fairness and endless opportunities.
“We are heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of the world. And on behalf of our children and our grandchildren and all those who sacrificed so dearly for our freedom and liberty, we must be worthy of this moment.
“It is now our turn to do what generations before us have done, guided by optimism and faith to fight for this country we love, to fight for the ideals we cherish, and to uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on Earth: The privilege of being an American.”
- – Vice-President Kamala Harris, Acceptance speech to the DNC, August 22, 2024
Yes, Sarah Palin, it’s that “hopey, changey” thing coming back to our doorstep. And it’s a stake in the ground that no person and no party holds an exclusive on the red, white and blue.
As Steve Schmidt says,
“We won’t get the years back, but we are going to get our country back.”
The real America, this nation founded not on royalty or privilege of the rich or on contortions of the law, but on the idea of democracy, is coming back. Dictator lovers, stand aside.
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* Especially, because the president can do far more harm to America and Americans than any other individual.
Are you registered to vote? Check it out here:
.
https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/
https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration
https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/
“Friends do not let friends vote forcon artists.“
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– Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016.
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JA
Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
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