No Shoes, No Shirts, No Shots, No Service
3 min read
Democrats, since the time of Franklin Roosevelt, have fought the accusation of wanting a Nanny State; equal access to housing, healthcare, fair wages, and education have been guiding tenets of the Democrats since the New Deal, the War on Poverty through the Covid Recovery Act—not always successful—but good principles, nonetheless. Republicans have advocated for letting the free market make its’ own rules and to the survivors go the spoils. Today the nannies want to defend the rights of businesses to protect themselves with mask mandates and keep their customers safe and their businesses viable. The Republicans have turned themselves into children, whining, and wheedling over masks, hurling racists and sexists insults, and like a toddler, lying when caught.
The first public airing of the awful events of January 6th recounted by some of the people who directly suffered the most, the U.S. Capitol Police and the DC Metropolitan Police is a prime example. We have all heard the clichéd childhood excuse of little Johnny did it first, usually followed by the retort, if little Johnny leaped off a cliff; would you? The newest version is Republicans trying to minimize their complicity in a crime by redefining the terms. The new trick is to refer to the criminality of 1/6 as political. Beating uniformed men and women with flag poles and steel concrete reinforcement bars is not political it is criminal. The gouging of eyes, the spraying of toxic and caustic chemicals is not political it is criminal. Assailing police officers with punches and kicks is not political dissent it is criminal assault.
The defeated president imploring an angry crowd of white supremacists, who constructed a hangman’s scaffold “to fight like hell” is not protected speech, it is criminal incitement to violence. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) with a raised fist and wearing body armor, screaming,
“Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass. Our ancestors sacrificed their blood, their sweat, their tears, their fortunes, and sometimes their lives to give us, their descendants, an America that is the greatest nation in world history. So I have a question for you. Are you willing to do the same?” said Brooks.
That screed was not meant as inspiration or encouragement it was a battle cry and the results were evidenced later in the Capitol Rotunda. Unable to add clownish distractors like Reps. Jim Jordan and Jim Banks to the 1/6 committee, the Republican chattering class, like Charlie Kirk, took to attacking Simone Biles or the men’s and women’s basketball teams along with the women’s Olympic soccer team. Charitably, I would like to think the fact Ms. Biles and 90 % of the basketball teams are black or a group of soccer-playing women is not a factor, flies in the face of reality. Especially when resident Fox racist Tucker Carlson invited radio host Jesse Kelly to spew his sexism and racism toward VP Harris, “It’s the same reason she cackles like a dead hyena (sic) every time she’s asked an uncomfortable question. It’s the same reason she started out her political career as Willie Brown’s bratwurst bun. Kamala Harris will do anything to get ahead,” said Kelly.
When one analyzes the GOP response to America’s setbacks, it is the perfect analogy for their lack of teamwork and winner take all attitude. The GOP seems determined to oppose all the scientific measures that would defeat Covid-19, even staging a group disease march to the Senate chambers.
Continue to Vote for Change.
