Progressives: Save The Burning House

I’m a progressive because I value human rights and want our tax dollars to raise lives instead of battle flags (old and new). Like many other progressives I’m disappointed that Sanders and Warren didn’t make the cut. Unlike quite a few of my fellow progressives I also recognize a few things.

1. The United States is a moderate/centrist country. Us progressives are a vocal minority and so Biden beat Sanders. We can rail about how the DNC neutralized Sanders, but the reality is the overwhelming majority of Democrats (and Americans) are centrists and moderates and Biden won the nomination.

2. Progressives will NEVER get their candidate until we are no longer a minority. Until then we have to do what we’ve always done: push for change. We, as a movement, have made changes. Just look at how much has changed in the past couple of decades regarding LGBTQ rights, marijuana decriminalization & legalization, bringing trans issues to the forefront, fighting for immigration rights, the passing of the Affordable Care Act (as flawed as it was, it was a step toward the progressive healthcare), etc. Look at how many candidates have changed their minds or shifted left on issues because of our pushing. Even Obama and H. Clinton were iffy on gay marriage until progressives pushed and they changed their minds. Almost all progress attributed to liberals over the history of this country was because progressive members of the liberal side of America were pushing: not the centrists. So keep fighting. Keep pushing. Keep speaking out. Keep shouting for justice & equality and fair playing fields.

3. The United States is a house on fire (or a sinking ship, whatever metaphor you want to use). I realize that my progressive ideals are ways of home improvement and you can’t improve on a home when it’s on fire. You have to save the house first. Yes, medicaid for all will have to wait. College debt relief will have to wait. Other home improvement projects will have to wait. Right now we need to put out the fire. Then we can begin repairing the damage to the frame. When the fire is out and we are rebuilding the frame, we can push for improvements in the frame and in the rebuild, but we have to put the fire out first. Bush and Reagan and Nixon didn’t set the house on fire. They damaged it, for sure, but they recognized the intrinsic value of the frame itself. Trump does not and he will burn it to the ground if allowed to do so.

4. POC overwhelmingly voted for Biden because historically POC have voted pragmatically. POC as a voting block are majority centrist/moderate: not progressive. That may change in the future, but it’s the reality on the ground right now. If the people dealing with the systemic racism, police brutality, and unequal justice that I’m railing against are voting for Biden, then I need to listen to why.

I will vote for Biden/Harris because right now we need to save this house from burning to the ground. If Trump wins it could be the last free election held in this country. My progressive ideals also include saving Democracy, even if that means I have to put aside my wish list in order to make sure the basic needs of so many are met first.

I won’t have to hold my nose when I vote for Biden/Harris. I will pull that lever, punch that chad, or mark the tablet with my finger with empathy for those suffering in the burning house right now, knowing that putting out the fire is first priority. Getting rid of Trump so that we can put it out, begin repairing the damage, and once again go back to pushing for progressive ideals.

“How can you hate someone for their beliefs or politics?”

“How can you hate someone for their beliefs or politics?”

I was fiends with conservatives about a decade ago. We disagreed about policy: how to fund the Department of Education, what changes needed to be made to immigration laws, gun control laws, what the DOD budget should be, how much should we be isolationists versus how much we should protect others around the world, how do we fix the trade deficit, etc. Policy issues didn’t define our friendship, but highlighted how we viewed the world differently. Those differences were a non-issue.

Over the past 10 years (starting with their visceral reaction to Obama and the racism it generated), things have changed. We’re not talking policy anymore. We are talking about morality and ethics and basic human rights.

If you don’t think LGBTQ should have equal rights and think they should be actively discriminated against, why would I want to be your friend? Back in the day, most of us stood against the Westboro Baptist Church and their “God Hates Fags” signs. Now my old conservative friends are espousing the same nonsense Westboro Baptist Church has been doing for decades.

If you don’t think people of color are dealing with systemic racism or you support or espouse racist or white supremacy views, why should I be your friend? Back in the day most of us despised the men and women we saw in old photos shouting at black protesters who sat in Woolworth’s. Most of us despised the people who shouted at the young black girl going to an all white school in Alabama or Arkansas. Now my old conservative friends are behaving exactly like those white people from the 50’s and 60’s. The photos of them yelling at BLM protesters is the same look of the angry mob of white people yelling at Vivian Jones as she tried to enter the University of Alabama in 1963 or yelling at Elizabeth Eckford (Little Rock Nine) on the sidewalks of Little Rock Central High School in 1957.

Policy is nuanced and we can disagree in every friendly way about that nuance. The conservative downward spiral that led to those still backing Trump has led to a failing in morality and ethics: once again being on the wrong side of history. The current Trump-supporting Conservative mindset is the same one that led Conservatives to be on the wrong side of every moral and ethical issue this country has faced, from the end of slavery, women’s voting rights, desegregation, minority voting rights, labor laws, anti-discrimination laws, etc.

Nope. I will not be friends with them. I have no doubt in my mind that their downward spiral would have them yelling at the protesters in Woolworth’s, standing on the school steps yelling at Vivian Jones, screaming at civil rights protesters, and rooting for the police beating the marchers as they crossed Edmund Pettus Bridge.

I cannot be friends with someone who fails the moral and ethical judgments and rails against the human rights of others. This is no longer about policy. It is about human lives and my old conservative friends have failed the morality and ethics test big-time.

I am glad to see moderate Conservatives starting to rise up and speak out. Their voices are desperately needed in this fight against a morally bankrupt administration and its cult-like followers.

The Problem With Plastic Straw Bans

Okay, so plastic straw bans are suddenly all the rage and quite a few people are lashing out in favor and against. But here’s the problem I see with this…

The plastic straw ban is really just political ass-kissing to shut my fellow liberals up. It doesn’t do a damn thing to stop the problem because a lot of my fellow liberals think these tiny battles are actually meaningful.

Hell, the plastic sippy cup style lids that are being used to replace straws (like at Starbuck’s) use more plastic to make than the regular plastic lids and straws they previously used. The problem isn’t straws: the symptom is plastic and the problem is human behavior.

When we realized lead was killing children we banned lead paint. When we realized asbestos was causing cancer we banned it. We can’t just ban all plastics as kneejerk emotional bullshit legislative action. We need to look at the entire problem and come up with solutions based on science and reason and critical thinking. Ban plastic where it can be banned without affecting people in negative ways. Keep it where it needs be to be kept, but work on solutions to removing plastic even where it’s currently still needed. For example, we clearly need plastic IV bags in hospitals. However, we used to use glass bottles for IVs. Can we go back to glass IV bottles? Is there the will to do that? Is the will there to do that for so many other examples as well?

There are a lot of replacements to straws already in place, such as metal straws being used in homes (we use them in our house) and in places with permanent residents (retirement homes, etc). A few restaurants have started using pasta straws as a replacement. Yes, pasta. And some of us are old enough to remember when straws were made of paper (granted, they weren’t the best, but I’m sure some human ingenuity could improve upon those old-fashioned paper straws).

Why can’t we go back to paper cups at fast food places and coffee shops? Why is my iced chai latte in a plastic cup instead of a paper cup? Why not offer me the option of bringing in my own cup and charging me by the ounce? Why not bring paper bags back to grocery stores? We don’t need plastic bags at grocery stores: we just want them.

People whined about killing trees for paper. We see all these companies bragging about saving paper (a public relations move, not an actual environmental saving move), but that’s non-scientific. Ninety-one percent of all paper products come from self-sustaining tree farms and “second growth” forests (forests that were cut down for other uses before and are being “recycled” instead of cutting down old growth. ONly 9% of paper comes from tearing down old growth forests and that can easily be stopped. Killing off paper is silly, especially since it’s biodegradable (yes, I fully acknowledge the paper-making process has its own issues that need to be resolved: especially the waste it makes). We replaced paper towels with air blowers in bathrooms, but those are electric and use more electricity from coal-based electricity production. But everyone was happy we got rid of paper in bathrooms. It’s kneejerk nonsense that’s not scientifically or rationally based.

Photo via USA Today

The reality is that if every bit of plastic ended up in properly maintained landfills there would be zero issue with plastic (especially landfills that reclaim methane buildup for energy usage). But the problem is people not disposing of them properly so they end up in the waterways and oceans killing animals: like that whale that died with almost 80 plastic bags in its stomach: literally died from starvation because there was no room left in its stomach for actual food. Or the video of the turtle with the straw stuck in its nose that caused so much outrage over straws while a gazillion plastic bags and plastic water bottles (a much bigger problem than straws) and six-pack beer rings are floating around the oceans killing animals as well.

There are solutions for this entire thing and one of the biggest ones is to get rid of our disposable attitudes toward everything from electronics to plates and cups to utensils, etc. We need to start repairing things that break instead of just tossing out that monitor or TV or phone and actually get it repaired instead of putting it in the garbage. We need to stop buying plastic and Styrofoam plates and cups and utensils.

Austin, Texas banned plastic bags for good reason a long time ago and recently the State of Texas overturned plastic bang bans via the Texas Supreme Court. It now won’t be long before plastic bags liter Austin’s streets again, getting into the sewers, finding their ways to the streams and rivers and out into the Gulf of Mexico. The reality is humans are the real problem: plastic in the waterways and oceans is just a symptom of human stupidity.

So because humans are too stupid or lazy or just don’t care to properly dispose of their waste so that it ends up in properly managed landfills, we now have to take drastic kneejerk reaction legislative measures. Humans are the problem: plastic in the waterways and littering our cities is just a symptom of that problem.

So how do we fix the real problem of human behavior? We can’t (at least not in terms of decades – just look at how long it took for the anti-smoking behavior modification to make a dent and people still smoke cigarettes). We can’t fix human behavior like that. So we have to accommodate it and come up with viable solutions and alternatives so that if human morons throw their trash into the street it doesn’t kill animals in the ocean or kill off coral reefs. We need a scientific and fact-based approach to this and kneejerk bans of straws are neither scientific nor fact-based and just a band-aid placed on a sucking chest wound of humanity.

Gun Negligence Laws Are Needed #NotTooSoon

NRA nutters telling us it’s too soon to talk about gun laws in 3… 2…

This is gonna be long and ranty and pissy… but I don’t care.

I’m a gun owner and I fully support laws that will actually help.

See here’s the thing. If you’re an NRA nutter and you use that bullshit line of, “Gosh another shooting, I guess those gun laws are helping,” then you’re 1) a fucking idiot who doesn’t understand how laws actually fucking work, and 2) you’re a brainwashed nutter and your opinion is no longer viable while the adults discuss what can actually be done. Go sit at the kid’s table.

No one in their right fucking mind thought that making laws against drunk driving would stop drunk drivers any more than they thought making laws against murder would stop murder.

So no one thinks making laws for guns will stop gun violence. No one. And if you think we do, see above about being a brainwashed gun nutter.

What drunk driving laws and murder laws and any other law do is put the power in the hands of society to provide consequences for people’s actions and to educate the public about the issue. In addition to drunk driving laws there was (and continues to be) a massive public education campaign to change the public’s views about drunk driving. Those who drove drunk and were arrested had their licenses taken away and their cars taken away. Sometimes they went to jail and if they managed to kill someone, society had the means now to lock them up for a long time with a special law that was now in place for their specific crime.

All we’re asking is for the same with guns. Leave your gun out and your kid found it and accidentally shot your neighbor’s kid? Well guess what pumpkin, you get to go to jail for felony gun neglect. We, as a society, have a law to hold you accountable for not being a “responsible gun owner.”

Cleaning your gun and shoot your wife? Well it’s no longer an “unfortunate accident,” now it’s a “felony gun negligence charge leading to manslaughter” and you’re going to prison. Oh, and you NEVER get to own a gun again for the rest of your life.

Get arrested for domestic violence? Well, now you’re a known violent dickhead, which means you NEVER get to own a gun again for the rest of your life. Oh, you had a gun after being told you can never have one again, well now you get to go to prison for a Class A Felony, just like someone who gets caught with a ton of heroine in their house.

Just like cars, you have to have gun insurance to pay for the damage your gun may do. And we start a public campaign, just like for drunk driving.

And you know what? That shit fucking worked. Drunk driving rates dropped after the laws and campaigns started. Did it stop it completely? Nope… because NO ONE ever thought it fucking would. Just like NO ONE thinks gun laws that hold people accountable will ever stop all gun violence. It’s about changing the culture surrounding guns over time: just like we did with drunk driving: just like we did with cigarettes: and just like we’re doing with domestic violence awareness.

It’s not an overnight solution, but it’s a proven method of changing minds and the culture that has led to so many “unfortunate accidents.”

Leave your gun out or let someone borrow it and they went on a killing spree? Well now you’re equally culpable and you’re going to jail as well. Maybe next time you’ll follow the Gun Negligence Laws that should be enacted right alongside laws around cars, insurance, drunk driving, murder, etc.

“But only bad guys will have guns blah blah blah blah you’re a fucking idiot.” I’m not talking about banning guns (reading comprehension folks). I’m talking about holding people accountable. We already have laws that say if you use a gun you get a worse charge: not just assault, but assault with a deadly weapon. Now we need to hold everyone accountable. And what do you have to worry about if you’re one of those “responsible gun owners?”

I’m just glad there was a “responsible gun owner” in the open carry state of Texas to stop that mass shooting earlier today. Oh wait… there wasn’t one. Because that shit is pure fucking myth. Because people with a gun in their purse or on their hip will run or get shot before they can pull their weapon. Because when someone does actually start returning fire as a “good guy with a gun,” the police won’t know the difference and will kill him.

This shit has to stop. We have to take steps and if you think now is not the time to talk about, but you think an hour after a terrorist attack is time to talk about that shit, then you’re just a hypocritical asshole and you should go sit at the kid’s table while the adults figure this shit out.

Texas Secession? The Woes of Texanistan.

So Brexit has all the Texit folks mumbling and groaning again. Sigh…

Okay secessionists. See, here’s the thing. Let’s pretend that you actually seceded from the UNITED States of America (you know, UNITED, as in a whole country, which means secession is the most un-American thing you can actually do). What would happen?

If Texas succeeded in seceding, it would collapse and become a third-world country within a year or two. A few years after failing Texans would be begging to become part of the UNITED States again.

Why would Texas fail?

1. EVERY single United States Armed Forces base in Texas would be shut down. Not only destroying local economies, but killing off hundreds of thousands of jobs associated with those economies (and civilians working on the bases). Say goodbye to Fort Hood, Goodfellow Air Force Base, Sheppard Air Force Base, NAS Corpus Christi, NAS Kingsville, Laughlin Air Force Base, Lackland Air Force Base, Martindale Army Air Field, Camp Bullis, US Marine Corps Reserve Centers, Recruiting centers for all armed forces, Brooks City Air Force Base, Dyess Air Force Base, Randolph Air Force Base, Camp Bowie, Camp Mabry, Camp Stanley, Camp Swift, Fort Bliss, Fort Sam Houston, Red River Army Depot, JRB Fort Worth, NS Ingleside. All those communities hit hard with vacated houses, massive loss of tax revenue, etc.

2. NASA would be gone. Say goodbye to the Johnson Space Center and all the businesses and jobs that support it. Say goodbye to all the engineers and scientists who will move to a new NASA location (either one already existing or a new one that will be built). Thousands of jobs gone, hundreds of homes vacated, significant loss of tax revenue.

3. The Coast Guard and all Homeland Security assets would be gone. Say goodbye to the Coast Guard in Corpus Christi, El Paso, Galveston, Houston, Port Arthur, and South Padre Island. If you need rescuing, hopefully the local county police have a boat or helicopter to come get you. Or maybe the UNITED States Coast Guard based in Louisiana will feel bad for you and come get you. Maybe. After all, they do rescue Cuban refugees. But you’d be deported back to Texas after processing.

4. The US Marshal Service, FBI, DEA, and other federal law enforcement agencies would leave Texas. No point in protecting a place that’s not in the UNITED States of America. Thousands of jobs gone. Maybe a lot of them will get lucky and moved to other states? But those that move no longer provide tax revenue to the newly named Texanistan.

5. All federal funding for education, roads, maintenance, disaster relief, etc would be gone. No more FEMA funds for San Marcos or Houston or Austin when they flood. No more federal disaster dollars after a hurricane, tornado, or seven-year drought. You think Texas roads are bad now? Wait until Texanistan has to foot 100% of the bill instead of 30-50% of it. And you think Texas school suck now? Man, wait until Texanistan celebrates the end of the Dept of Education by gutting science. I mean, who needs science since NASA no longer is in Texanistan?

6. A significant chunk of businesses would leave because they would need access to the American market – not just Texas. This would specifically affect any companies with a UNITED States government contract (mostly defense). All those companies would be forced to move outside of Texas in order to maintain their contracts with the federal government. And since there will be a massive brain drain once secession happens, a lot of tech companies will leave as well so that they can find educated employees.

7. Texanistan would no longer be privy or part to any of the treaties and agreements the United States has with bordering countries and countries around the world. That means every Texan would have to get a passport to travel to Oklahoma, Louisiana, etc. Texas would have to negotiate its own trade agreements, but until then it would be hit with every major pre-trade agreement tariff and tax. Have fun draining the coffer just to get Chinese goods in that are now suddenly two times more expensive because of extra tariffs.

8. Speaking of those borders, say goodbye to the US Border Patrol, you know those federal officers who “keep the Mexicans out?” Yeah, well, at least Texanistan has plenty of gun-toting “Minute men” (I’m pretty sure that’s a sexual reference) to take care of those ferners.

9. Say goodbye to all those customs agents at the border and shipyards as well.

10. Speaking of customs agents, what about all those shipyards that have federal contracts? I guess that work will go to Louisiana and Alabama (they could use the extra money). Maybe the cruise lines will still come in after Texanistan spends five years negotiating a new contract? After all, Texanistan would be a foreign country, so there are international laws they’d have to follow in negotiating a new porting contract with the Texanistan government.

11. Radar coverage and flood warnings and tornado warnings? You need those? Yeah, too bad. The NATIONAL Weather Service just left as well. Maybe Bobby Joe with his rain gauge on his mud truck can take care of the weather forecasting for you. Then everyone can “Heehaw” as the tornado siren.

12. Say goodbye to Social Security checks when you retire. Say goodbye to Medicaid/Medicare as well. Say goodbye to every federal benefit you were looking forward to. Federal scholarships, federal flood insurance (there is no private flood insurance, BTW, so good luck with all that Texas flooding).

I could go on and on, but I think you get the gist. Now I’m sure there’s a lot of secessionists reading this list and yelling “Hell yeah!” for every departure I’ve mentioned. That’s all fine and dandy until they no longer get their Social Security, Medicaid, or food stamps or disaster relief.

Be careful what you wish for. You just may regret it.