Tag Archives: House of Representatives

Political Rants

For the squad.

I want to preface this post with a simple confession: I’m old. And yes, I am a baby boomer, albeit a late-stage one, so feel free to issue the usual “Okay, boomer” eye-rolls, I totally get it – my generation has had plenty of opportunity to get things right, and we totally blew it. So let me simply say that, as with most of my content, I am speaking for myself, not my fuck-up generation, a goodly portion of which showed promise early on but whose best potential was not ultimately realized. (In truth, only about a third of boomers were on what might be termed as the political left during their youthful prime, so what potential there may have been was not broadly shared.)

That said, as someone who has been watching Congress since his teens, I can vouch for the fact that we have seen progress over the past forty years in increasing representation of the left in the House of Representatives. Yes, we have a long way to go before we can hope to move legislation in a more unapologetically radical direction, but for the first time in my longish life, we have a solid caucus of progressive Democrats who actually support a leftist agenda in both legislation and oversight. What’s more, there are opportunities to expand this caucus in the coming years if progressives and leftists in this country organize and engage in coalition-building between movements, regions, and organizations.

Let me be clear. I do not expect Congressmembers to agree with me on every issue. I am pretty far to the left politically, and if I withhold support from candidates until I find one that aligns with me on every issue, I will end up supporting no one. Forty years ago, the closest I could come to a House member that held views similar to mine was Ron Dellums. Shirley Chisholm was good, as well as a handful of others, but there were typically very serious trade-offs, and the overwhelming majority of Congresspeople back then were older white men. In the 90s and 2000s, Barbara Lee (who started as an aide to Dellums and succeeded him in his seat, I believe) was the only serious progressive in the House, and my expectations were pretty low regarding the Democratic caucus at that time. For instance, I was glad when Nancy Pelosi took over leadership of Congressional Democrats after the drubbing they took in the 2002 election, only because she was slightly more progressive than her predecessor in leadership, Dick Gephardt. (Again …. very limited expectations.)

Compare that with today. Now we have the recently-expanded “squad” – AOC, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Presley, Rashida Talib, Jamaal Bowman, and Cory Bush, all of whom are way, way to the left of where Congressional progressives were in the 1990s and 2000s. We’ve got solid progressives like Ro Khanna (whose foreign policy views are as nuanced as I’ve ever heard from a sitting Congressmember), Pramila Jayapal, Mondaire Jones, Katy Porter (best interrogator in the House), Dan Kildee, and elders like Barbara Lee, Raul Grijalva, Mark Pocan, etc. There are others as well, like Jamie Raskin, who have strong progressive tendencies on key issues and could lend support on legislation.

Now, admittedly, there is a broad range of views represented by the folks I named above. But overall, the caucus is further to the left than it has ever been throughout my lifetime. And while there’s much left to do, much further to go, this is like a base camp on the side of this mountain we’re climbing. It’s something we can build on from this point forward, if we work together.

luv u,

jp

Check out our political opinion podcast, Strange Sound.
Political Rants

Fifth Column.

Last week their minions were storming the capitol building, attempting to stop the counting of the electoral votes by any means necessary. This week, all they want is for everyone to get along. Fuck that shit. Republican members of Congress, particularly those who actively supported stealing the election and handing it to Donald Trump (the loser) appear to have played an integral role in the insurrectionist attack on the center of American legislative power. As I write this post, the attackers are plotting an even broader campaign against both federal and state targets. There’s reason to believe that this campaign will not only coincide with the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, but that it will continue well beyond the change of power unless they are put down in a serious way. The only way to do that effectively is by holding their allies in Congress fully accountable and expelling those who coordinated with the racist minoritarian insurrectionists.

The House voted to impeach the president a second time this week. That’s a step in the right direction, but not nearly enough. Naturally the president should be removed and barred from holding public office ever again, and that should be done yesterday … or the day before, perhaps. But aside from that, we need a deep and timely investigation of this attack, with particular focus on who in the House and Senate may have aided and abetted these criminals. There’s some indication that cooperation may have involved both members and staff on the GOP side. Representative Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, who spent part of last Wednesday hiding from the mob with Congressman Dan Kildee, has spoken about capitol tours given the day before by Republican congress members and staffers – tours have been suspended during the COVID pandemic – that were reminiscent of intelligence reconnaissance (Sherrill is a veteran).

Then, of course, there are members like Rep. Lauren Boebert from Colorado, a first-year congresswoman who promoted herself brandishing a handgun in some vain attempt to paint herself as Palin 2.0. Mission accomplished, as she appears to be a moron, like Palin, but also someone willing to egg on the angry horde that descended upon the capitol. “It’s 1776” she tweeted in advance of the attack. 1776? What happened then … a revolution, right? So … you’re in favor of the attack? Interesting. I understand that the relevant law enforcement agencies are looking closely at contacts between congress members and the mob – sounds like a good idea, but they’d best move with a bit more alacrity, because as I mentioned earlier, this battle is not over. If there’s a fifth column in the House and Senate, we need to know about it sooner rather than later. And we need to expel collaborators pursuant to the 14th Amendment. Now.

We didn’t get here overnight. We got here on a decade’s worth of lies about everything from Obama’s birth certificate to the legitimacy of 2020 election. We need to start holding people accountable, and the best place to start is with these freaks in the Republican caucus.

luv u,

jp

Check out our political opinion podcast, Strange Sound.
Political Rants

White Rage.

There’s no reason to be surprised that the Trump administration would end in this way. His presidency was destined from the beginning to culminate in mayhem, insurrection, and smoke rising from the capitol. They wanted to deconstruct the administrative state, and they have largely been successful in that endeavor, but along the way they’ve also managed to detonate the legislative and judicial state as well. We haven’t previously seen a president refuse to accept the fact of his own electoral loss, so we have no experience with what impact that may have on a large segment of the populace. I think sometimes we actually underestimate the power of the presidency – it is an office of enormous influence, and even unpopular presidents are able to mobilize large numbers of ordinary people if they put their minds to it. That’s the slow-motion train wreck we saw impact our constitutional order this week.

The mob that descended on the U.S. capitol was met with mild resistance. I don’t think we’ve ever had a better illustration of the true nature of race and policing in America than this spectacle. I can hardly believe I’m typing these words, but a large number of right-wing rioters entered the houses of Congress, pushing their way past the guards, breaking in through windows, and occupied the chambers, lounged in the Speaker’s chair, hung from the walls, and planted explosive devices. Some paraded around with confederate ass-rags … I mean, “flags”, others with guns and zip-ties, as if they were planning to take hostages. What did the police do? At first, they took selfies with them. They certainly didn’t keep them out of THE CENTER OF LEGISLATIVE POWER IN THE UNITED STATES. “What the fuck” seems an inadequate response to this, but …. what the fuck.

Fortunate for the MAGA mob, they were white people. So their uprising was not countered with a solid wall of riot police in robocop gear with special weapons and armor and very short tempers. They were not forcibly driven back by large military units firing pepper balls and incendiaries, backed by tanks and MRAPs. They weren’t apprehended and abducted by government officers without badges, shoved into unmarked rented vans, and taken to the crowbar hotel. They weren’t shot in the head for protesting historic injustice against people of color. They didn’t have to worry about convoys of armored vehicles rolling through their neighborhoods, the officers inside barking threats at peaceful residents through loudspeakers, ordering them to stay inside their houses and keep away from the windows. They knew that, by default, the officers would see them as friendlies, not enemies, and that they would have to go way out of their way to change the officers’ minds about them.

In short, the people’s house was invaded this week by white people entitled to feel rage about something they can’t quantify and to act upon that rage in violent ways without consequence. That’s what America is all about … until we make it about something else.

luv u,

jp

Check out our political opinion podcast, Strange Sound.