Could school boards really be the things that ultimately end democracy in the United States?  I know that seems like a pretty outrageous statement.  However, if you think about it, maybe it’s not all that outrageous – scary yes, but not all that outrageous.  There are several things that can cause a wooden house to collapse.  If you live in some place like California and the house is not built to current building standards, a severe earthquake can knock it off of its foundation and cause it to collapse.  If there is a fire, it could burn to the ground.  And if it is infested by termites, it could eventually collapse. 

In the current political climate, the house of democracy is being subjected to all three.  The election of Donald Trump to the presidency was probably the earthquake.  That was a huge shock to the foundation of democracy and the house was knocked a bit off of the foundation.  Trump’s refusal to acknowledge his loss in the 2020 election and the ongoing efforts by himself and his acolytes to push ‘The Big Lie’ are essentially a fire that is threatening the house of democracy.  Those are the things that have been getting the majority of the news coverage.

What is going on in school boards across the country is more like a termite infestation that continually weakens a house from the inside out – and which can ultimately lead to its collapse.  School boards used to be primarily concerned with ensuring a good education for students.  However, between the political polarization of the country and the onset of the pandemic, school boards have become local battlegrounds for conservatives to object to mask mandates, the teaching of Critical Race Theory (not that any of the parents objecting can clearly and accurately articulate what it is), and basically wanting to dictate what is being taught in public schools.

The National School Boards Association outlines what a school board should be focused on at the local level¹:

1. Education is not a line item in a school board’s budget—it is the only item.
2. The school board represents the community’s voice in public education, providing citizen governance and knowledge of the community’s resources and needs, and board members are the policy-makers closest to the student.
3. The school board sets the standard for achievement in the school district, incorporating the community’s view of what students should know and be able to accomplish at each grade level.
4. The school board is accessible to everyone in the community and is accountable for the performance of the schools in the district.
5. It is the community member’s right as a voter to select new board members who will work diligently to provide an opportunity for students to receive a high-quality education, which will enable them to succeed in their career, college, and life.
6. The school board is the community’s education watchdog, ensuring that taxpayers get the most for their tax dollars.

That all sounds quite reasonable.  However, school boards have become the venues for shouting matches, violence and even death threats against school board members and their families.   The issues are all of the culture war topics that have consumed the conservative community – mask mandates, Critical Race Theory, transgender student rights, and whatever other issue people like Tucker Carlson (Fox News) decide to fan the flames on.  Whereas there has, in the past, been community disagreements about things like how math is taught, the discussions were, by and large civil.  Now, more and more school board members are resigning because of threats and harassment by conservative activists intent on pushing their beliefs on the rest of the world – regardless if those beliefs are rooted in facts.

Not only that, there are now Political Action Committees (PACs), that are aimed squarely at school boards.  There are conservative organizations that are recruiting and supporting people to run for school boards.  This is all being done under the guise of ‘parents’ rights’, which, if you read a recent blog of mine is just Newspeak for ‘conservative control’.   I think it is great to get parents involved in their children’s education.  However, I want professional educators to do the educating and medical professionals and public health experts to make decisions on what constitutes a ‘safe’ learning environment.  I don’t want some parent who is under-educated, anti-science, and brainwashed by Fox News, to be able to dictate the curriculum in schools or interfere with public health decisions made by medical professionals.  This will just lead to the further dumbing (and sickening) of America.  That, in turn, will lead to more people who are subject to being brainwashed, swept up in conspiracy theories and unable to engage in critical thought based upon facts and data.  And, in the long run, this type of ‘virus’ is even more deadly to the long term survival of democracy than COVID 19.

There are thousands of school boards across the country.  Attacking all of the entities at the local level is akin to having the termites infest the house.  It might seem innocent at first, but the long-term consequences can be devastating.  And, unfortunately, by the time you realize the scope of the infestation and the damage it has caused – it is too late – and the house collapses! 

1. About School Board and Local Governance (nsba.org)
2. School boards become ground zero for country’s culture wars | TheHill

Montana is truly a beautiful place.  The scenery is magnificent and the place teems with wildlife (proven by the many deer that frequent my back yard and the bear trap that is sitting across the street!).  However, I would venture that I will be gone within the next 12 to 18 months.  That is unfortunate.  I have a nice house with a great view and Bozeman is a great city to live in.  In spite of its relatively small size (50,000 people), there are very good restaurants and a surprising amount of culture.  Great skiing is 16 miles away at Bridger Bowl and, Big Sky, a world class resort is just 40 miles away.  Hiking trails abound and it is a world-class flyfishing destination. So, why would I even contemplate leaving?

Let me explain what is going on in Montana since it got painted bright red in the last election.  I’ll start with COVID.  Montana now ranks as one of the states with the highest case rates.  I think we just beat out Alaska for the number one spot.   Governor Gianforte and the Republicans passed a law banning mask mandates and Montana has the only law in the country that makes it illegal for private businesses to require vaccinations.  Some hospitals in the state are now overwhelmed and Governor Gianforte has even called out some members of the National Guard to help in hospitals with non-medical tasks. 

And, speaking of mask mandates, our newly elected Montana Superintendent of Education, Elsie Arntzen, attended an anti-mask rally at the State Capitol recently, along with another Montana State Senator, Theresa Manzella.  I won’t waste your time repeating some of the nonsense that these women spewed at this rally but suffice it to say, it just boggles the mind that two publicly elected officials who are supposed to represent the entire state or district they are from, are engaged in clearly partisan activities that run completely contrary to the best medical and scientific evidence.  However, given the example set by our governor, one should expect no less.

If you thought that was bad, another recent event truly boggles the mind.  Our newly elected Republican Attorney General has demonstrated a penchant during his time in office of sticking his nose into places that it does not belong.  I’m not sure he ever read the job description that goes with ‘Attorney General.’   During this past week, there was an elderly patient at the main hospital in Helena, the capital, who had been diagnosed with COVID.  She and her family were insistent that she be treated with Ivermectin and/or hydro chloroquine.   The attending physicians refused, telling the patient and her family that those treatments were not approved for treating humans with COVID. 

The family made some phone calls and three highly place public officials called the hospital and alleged threatened the doctors and the hospital if they did not provide the treatment requested by the patient and her family.  The hospital and the doctors continued to refuse.  Apparently, someone in this chain contacted the Attorney General who, in turn, sent a Montana State Highway Patrol trooper, to the hospital to ‘investigate.’   The hospital is within the city limits of Helena and, as such, is under the jurisdiction of the Helena police department.  However, our intrepid Attorney General decided to bypass all of that and just use the power of his office to dispatch a state trooper.

It is a sad state of affairs when state politicians and, in particular the state’s Attorney General, see fit to interfere with and allegedly threaten a hospital and attending physicians to do something that is medically irresponsible and clearly unethical.  This is the state we are now living in.

In a blog I wrote a few days ago, I explained how the Republican party which essentially ‘ran the table’ in the last election cycle, is wanting to set up a special committee to investigate election fraud – in the elections they all won!!  The clear objective is to find areas of alleged fraud so they can put laws in place to move control of future elections under the control of the partisan legislature through one mechanism or another.   The end result if this committee is ever formed and unleashed will be to ensure it is almost impossible for any Democratic candidate to win a state wide office in Montana again.

Most of this ‘red tide’ won’t directly affect me.  Don’t forget that a ‘red tide’ is a real thing in the marine world and is toxic: “Harmful algal blooms, or HABs, occur when colonies of algae—simple plants that live in the sea and freshwater—grow out of control while producing toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine mammals, and birds”.² Pretty scenery, good hiking and great skiing aren’t really sufficient to entice me to put up with all of this.  I’m thinking I need to be somewhere ‘bluer’ or perhaps in another country altogether.  I’ve never really lived on the East Coast and places like Maine look inviting. Who knows?  However, after losing most of the last two years because of COVID, I’ve decided that 2022 will be a year of exploring ‘possibilities’.  Montana, ‘The Last Best Place,’ is rapidly becoming ‘The Least Best Place’.  In short, life is too short to put up with this bullshit! 

1. Montanans rally at Capitol for parental rights, and against mask mandates (montanafreepress.org)
2. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/redtide.html

I’ve been thinking about Oceania a bit of late.  Of course, when I refer to Oceania, I am referring to the area of today’s world that encompasses Australia, New Zealand, and Polynesia.  Exploring the west coast of Australia and driving the highway from Perth to Darwin is still on the bucket list so I’ve been staring at a calendar of 2022 to see when that might happen, particularly because I’m in the throes of replanning my trip to Portugal in the spring.  However, there is another Oceania that is related to what is going on in the US today.

As you might recall, Oceania is the name given to the dystopian, totalitarian superstate that was the setting for George Orwell’s famous novel, 1984.  The reason I bring this up is because one of hallmarks of Orwell’s Oceania was the use of ‘Newspeak’, a language that was specifically designed and developed to limit and control people’s thoughts.  In fact, Newspeak is even defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. The dictionary defines Newspeak as, “propagandistic language marked by euphemism, circumlocution, and the inversion of customary meanings.”¹

I don’t know how this cannot come to mind when we read the news about Trump launching the Trump Media & Technology Group.  What particularly caught my eye was the reported launch of the ‘Truth Social’ app that is designed to compete with Twitter, which Trump has been banned from using because of a flood of lies, misinformation and inflammatory rhetoric – essentially what Orwell termed ‘Newspeak’.  It is just unbelievably ironic that a man who is known as an inveterate liar would launch a social media platform called ‘Truth Social.’

On the one hand, I’m not all that worried because given Trump’s track record with running businesses into the ground and leaving investors holding the bag, I suspect the Trump Media and Technology Group will ultimately suffer the same fate as Trump Airlines, Trump Beverages, Trump: The Game, Trump Casinos, Trump Magazine, Trump Steaks, etc.² You get the idea.  He has a long and ‘distinguished’ history of failed businesses, angry creditors and disenchanted investors in his wake.  I suspect that the Trump Media and Technology Group will suffer the same fate.  It is, however, disturbing that and investors at all are willing to invest millions of dollars to launch a company that is nothing other than an attempt to broadcast ‘Newspeak’ to a gullible populace.

In this same vein, yesterday I read an article in The Atlantic, entitled “Who Killed America’s Newspapers? by journalist McKay Coppins.   It was actually quite shocking and I’m ashamed to say that it was really the first time I became aware of what appears to be going on in the newspaper business.  Of course, that appears to be by design because the company that is behind all of this is a very secretive company.  I suspect that most people outside of the newspaper business have never heard of the Alden Global Capital hedge fund.  That is unfortunate because what this company is doing could have serious consequences for our country.

It is no secret that newspapers have been struggling to survive amidst the move to everything digital.  “In the past 15 years, more thana quarter of American newspapers have gone out of business.  Those that have survived are smaller, weaker, and more vulnerable to acquisition.  Today, half of all daily newspapers in the U.S. are controlled by financial firms, according to an analysis by the Financial Times, and the number is almost certain to grow.”³

The Alden Global Capital hedge fund has acquired, gutted and essentially dismantled not only small, local papers but well-known papers such as the Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun.  The model is very simple: gut the staff, sell the real estate, jack up subscription prices and wring out as much cash as possible.  The two principals behind this hedge fund are Randall Smith and Heath Freeman.  Both of these men are very secretive, rarely give interviews, and rarely even set foot on the properties they acquire.  They have shown zero interest at all in journalism but rather buy these properties to squeeze as much cash as possible out of them before they finally go under.

The most disturbing part of all of this are the social consequences that accompany this trend.  And the cynical part of me believes, given the secretive nature of the principals and the hedge fund, that this is by design.  “When a local newspaper vanishes, research shows, it tends to correspond with lower voter turnout, increased polarization, and a general erosion of civic engagement.  Misinformation proliferates.  City budgets balloon, along with corruption and dysfunction.  The consequences can influence national politics as well; and analysis by Politico found that Donald Trump performed best during the 2016 election in places with limited access to local news.”³

It doesn’t take a genius to see where all of this might lead.  You have the Republicans pushing all kinds of laws restricting voting, you have a secretive hedge fund buying up and killing newspapers around the country, and you have Trump launching the ‘Truth Social’ app which will flood the airwaves with ‘Newspeak.’  George Orwell was much more prescient than any of us ever believed when we read his novel in high school.  Welcome to 1984!

So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to walk across the street to get my morning newspaper which could be an interesting walk.  The Fish and Game folks installed a bear trap across the street because ‘Mr. Bear’ is still around and causing mischief in the neighborhood.  If I don’t write tomorrow you’ll know that the score is:  Bear 1, Mike 0. 

1. Newspeak | Definition of Newspeak by Merriam-Webster
2. Donald Trump’s 13 Biggest Business Failures – Rolling Stone
3. The Atlantic, November 2021, “Who Killed America’s Newspapers?”, McKay Coppins

Senator Joe Manchin, the Democratic Senator from West Virginia, seems to have single-handedly torpedoed the aggressive climate actions hoped for during the Biden administration.  It is no secret that Manchin is one of largest recipients of funds from the coal and fossil fuel lobbies.  “In the three months prior to this news, Manchin raised $405,210 from the fossil fuel industry, including $77,000 from fossil fuel company PACs and more than $330,000 from fossil fuel executives and employees, according to Sludge’s review of just-released contributions data. The fossil fuel money constitutes more than 25% of Manchin’s fundraising for the quarter.”¹

It is true that West Virginia is a major coal producer and there is certainly the issue of jobs that will have to be taken into consideration as the United States makes the transition away from fossil fuels.  However, it’s really one of those things where its, “pay me now or pay me later,” because there will come a time when there is no longer a choice.  Unfortunately, the price for ‘later’ is going to be a lot higher than the price that would be paid today.  Joe Manchin is making a pact with the devil for short term profits and political expediency at the expense of climatic impacts that will have long term consequences.

The five major takeaways from the latest climate report from the United Nations are²:

1. Human influence has unequivocally warmed the planet

Observed increases in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since 1750 can be directly tied to human activity, largely the burning of coal, oil and other fossil fuels as the world became industrialized. Those emissions have increased greatly over time and continue today, as the world grows even warmer. And the impacts are being felt in every region of the world.

• Climate science is getting more and more precise

There is much more observational data — temperature measurements and other data from instruments on land, in the oceans and in space — that reduce uncertainty as to what is occurring. The improvement is especially noticeable in some less affluent parts of the world that historically had little capacity for collecting climate data.

Computer models that simulate the climate have also greatly improved, and there is more computer power to run these simulations faster so that they can be repeated over and over. These improvements, plus the ability to plug more and better data into the models, give scientists more confidence that their models are correctly forecasting future climate.

• We are locked into 30 years of worsening climate impacts no matter what the world does

The world has already warmed about 1.1 degree Celsius (about 2 degrees Fahrenheit) since the 19th century. The report concludes that humans have put so much carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that this warming will continue at least until the middle of the century, even if nations take immediate steps today to sharply cut emissions.

That means some of the noticeable effects the world is seeing now — like extreme droughts, severe heat waves and catastrophic downpours and flooding — will continue to worsen for at least the next 30 years.

Some other impacts will continue for far longer. The enormous ice sheets in Greenland and West Antarctica will continue to melt at least through the end of the century. Global sea level will continue to rise for at least 2,000 years.

• Climate changes are happening rapidly

But the report also found that changes are happening more quickly now than even in the much more recent past. The rate of sea level rise has roughly doubled since 2006. Each of the past four decades have been successively warmer than the previous one. Heat waves on land have become significantly hotter since 1950 and marine heat waves — bursts of extreme heat in the ocean that can kill marine life — have doubled in frequency in the past four decades.

• There is still a window in which humans can alter the climate path

Under most of the scenarios discussed in the report, warming will continue well beyond 2040, through the remainder of the century. In the worst cases, where the world does little to reduce emissions, temperatures by 2100 could be 3 to 6 degrees Celsius (5.5 to 11 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels. That would have catastrophic consequences.

But the report shows that aggressive, rapid and widespread emissions cuts, beginning now, could limit the warming beyond 2050. In the most optimistic scenario, reaching “net zero” emissions could even bring warming back slightly under 1.5 degrees Celsius in the second half of the century.

Such a scenario would be a mammoth and expensive undertaking for the world. It would also require a level of political will that most governments have so far been unable to muster.

The unfortunate reality is that as long as many politicians are more interested in prostituting themselves for profits or because of a lack of political courage, aggressive and necessary action on climate change will continue to be elusive and all of us will pay a price.  Joe Manchin may honestly believe he is fighting for a few hundred or a few thousand jobs in West Virginia, but all of the rest of us will pay the price for his intransigence.

The climate is like an ocean liner – it can’t just turn on a dime no matter how aggressively you steer or rev the engines.  If you want to know what happens if you don’t pay close attention to what is out in front of you, just ask the people on the Titanic!  Thanks, Joe!

1. Manchin Got $400k From Fossil Fuel Donors Before Axing Climate Plan – Sludge (readsludge.com)
2. 5 Takeaways From the U.N. Climate Report – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

As I have stated many, many times over the course of writing these blogs, I just cannot fathom why people are so attracted to Trump.  Politics aside, he is the antithesis of everything I find good in a person – he is an inveterate liar, has zero compassion or empathy, is loud and obnoxious, is a failed businessman (despite the myth) and is tragically narcissistic.  Every time we think that he can’t do anything more outrageous or set the bar any lower, he descends even deeper in the abyss of disgust. 

It was despicable enough when he continued to denigrate Senator John McCain after his death but, now he has taken to whatever social media he has left to bad mouth General Colin Powell, who just passed away.  He released a statement saying:

“Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media.  Hope that happens to me someday. He was a classic RINO, if even that, always being the first to attack other Republicans. He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace!”¹

It is inconceivable to me that anyone believes a person who would release such a statement is someone they would want to be president of this country.  General Powell, despite the infamous Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) mess in Iraq (which Powell later regretted), was widely regarded with esteem and respect on both sides of the political aisle.  And, yet, I’m sure just like very few Republicans loudly condemned Trump’s attacks on Senator McCain, we can expect no less of a disgusting and gutless chorus of silence from Trump’s Republican defenders.  What the hell has this country come to?

Reflecting back upon the recent book I read by Stephanie Grisham, “I’ll Take You Questions Now,” she wrote several times about how much Trump is obsessed about the news coverage he receives and how self-centered he is.   One can only imagine that all of this favorable press about General Powell was really getting to him so rather than show some character and just keep quiet, he was compelled to throw out this outrageous press release so the attention turns back towards him.  It’s like an addiction with him.  Some people are addicted to heroin, meth or alcohol.  Trump is addicted to press coverage. He just has to be the center of attention.

“There is no such thing as bad publicity,” is often attributed to P.T. Barnum.  I think that P.T. Barnum and Donald J. Trump have a lot in common.  They were both showmen and con men who craved wealth and attention.  When I was reading about Barnum, I came across the following description:

“Although driven at the outset of his career by a desire for wealth and fame, Barnum may have been basically motivated by less selfish reasons. “This is a trading world,” he wrote, “and men, women, and children, who cannot live on gravity alone, need something to satisfy their gayer, lighter moods and hours, and he who ministers to this want is in a business established by the Author of our nature.” Playing upon the public’s interest in the unusual and bizarre, Barnum scoured the world for curiosities, living or dead, genuine or fake. By means of outrageous stunts, repetitive advertising, and exaggerated publicity, Barnum excited international attention and made his showcase of wonders a landmark.”

If those words don’t also describe Trump, I don’t know what does.  Whereas Barnum exploited people’s curiosity for the bizarre, Trump exploits people’s desire to be heard or those who are feeling threatened by a changing world.  Both of them surrounded themselves with clowns and human oddities (Steve Bannon?) throughout most of their lives. The Barnum and Bailey circus went out of business after 146 years in May 2017.  The reasons cited for this were increasing costs of putting on the show, waning popularity, and increasing problems with animal rights organizations.  We can only hope that we don’t have to wait 146 years for the ‘Trump show’ to go out of business. 

Despite the similarities between Barnum and Trump, there is one big difference.  Barnum’s antics, showmanship and con man attitude were really designed to separate people from their money.  “There’s a sucker born every minute,” is a quote often attributed to Barnum.  Trump’s antics, on the other hand, are meant to separate America from its democracy.  We just can’t afford another Trump (or Trump clone) administration.  Many of us have developed a serious phobia – coulrophobia – a fear of clowns! 

1. Donald Trump (yet again) proves there’s no bottom – CNNPolitics
2. P.T. Barnum | Biography, Circus, Facts, & Quotes | Britannica

I was contemplating what to write today and I came across this opinion piece by Dean Obeidallah, that I felt compelled to share because, as far as I’m concerned, it just hits a home run regarding what is going on today.  What is very striking in this opinion piece, is that Obeidallah presents a case for using what has happened in the Czech Republic as a way to save democracy in the United States, ironically the country that was once viewed around the world as the beacon of democracy.  Dean Obeidallah is host of SiriusXM radio’s daily program “The Dean Obeidallah Show” and a columnist for The Daily Beast.  Enjoy!

Want to save our democracy from Trumpism? One approach is to follow the blueprint that led to last week’s surprising defeat of Czech Republic Prime Minister Andrej Babis, who’s also known as the Czech Donald Trump.

Babis, a billionaire tycoon at the forefront of Czech politics since 2011, was elected as prime minister in 2017. He’s spewed anti-immigrant rhetoric, proposed disbanding the Czech Senate and was a loud critic of Western European alliances like the EU — all while being a fan of Hungary’s far-right leader Viktor Orban. Just before the election, the right-wing populist was also accused of controversial business dealings — allegations Babis in essence dubbed “fake news.” Sound familiar?

So how did the people of the Czech Republic edge out Babis? Through various political parties putting their ideological differences aside to form an alliance with one goal: getting him out of office. That meant a more conservative party had to team up with an anti-establishment party that supported gay marriage and other progressive causes they actually opposed. Babis’ party lost by a slim margin, but it appears to have worked.

Petr Fiala, who led the anti-Babis coalition and will possibly serve as the nation’s next prime minister, stated after the election: “People were fed up with the populist, short-term politics of Andrej Babis,” adding that Czechs want “normal, competent and decent politics,” in contrast to Babis’ divisive rhetoric.

Another Czech political analyst said Babis’ loss “stabilizes the country’s position in the West camp,” in contrast to being more aligned with Hungary’s Orban — who is beloved by White nationalists and has been slammed by Western leaders for embracing undemocratic ways to retain political power. (Orban is also a person Trump has publicly praised.)

Obviously, the United States — a nation of over 300 million people and only two major political parties — is vastly different from the Czech Republic, a nation of a little over 10 million with numerous viable political parties. But there are still lessons from the Czech election that apply to where our nation finds itself today.

The Republican Party of 2021 is not in practice the political party it once was — one that embraced democracy and at least tolerated a multicultural society. Rather, as Harvard professor and “How Democracies Die” co-author Steven Levitsky recently explained to me, it’s an “openly authoritarian party” akin to “European far-right parties” that are “ethno-nationalist (and) nativist” in focus.

Levitsky bluntly added that in his view, today’s GOP is less about policy prescriptions and more focused on “essentially preserving the identity of a White, Christian America.”

This is backed up by more than a dozen GOP-controlled states contributing to the passage of a combined 33 laws since January designed to make it more difficult to vote, per the Brennan Center. Those laws were not enacted because of Trump’s “Big Lie,” but because of Trump’s “Big Loss.” The GOP understands it’s increasingly becoming a minority party — both electorally and demographically. The voter suppression laws are an effort for the GOP to retain and acquire political power over the majority.

Levitsky also noted that the threat to our democracy is no longer just from Trump, but rather emanates from the entire GOP, given that they still openly embrace him. For example, after the January 6 attack on our Capitol, House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy slammed Trump on the House floor, saying Trump “bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters.”

Now, though, we are seeing McCarthy and other GOP leaders rallying behind Trump because, as Levitsky noted, they would “rather end democracy” than end their political careers. Trump is actively seeking to purge people like Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming from the party for refusing to acquiesce to his undemocratic desires, a strategy that deters others from daring to stand up to him. Levitsky warned, “It’s now crystal clear that they [the GOP] will follow him to whatever authoritarian destination he takes them.”

While Levitsky notes “there is no magic solution” to defeating an authoritarian movement, the forming of a politically diverse pro-democracy coalition is a good start. As the Harvard professor explained, “a lesson we’ve taken from other cases, particularly in Europe, is the need to form a broad, ‘small D’ democratic coalition that has to range from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party to include democratic conservatives” to “as many Republicans as want to join.”

Thankfully, we are already seeing the making of that, as laid out in a recent New York Times op-ed written by former GOP New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and Miles Taylor, who served in the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security.

They explained that over 150 conservatives — including former governors, members of Congress and party leaders — have joined forces to defeat Trumpism by supporting Democrats who are taking on “Trump extremists.” These Republicans admit they will likely disagree with Democrats on policy issues but add that “we agree on something more foundational — democracy.”

They powerfully urged that, “in the battle for the soul of America’s political system, we cannot retreat to our ideological corners.”

They are right. We do need to form a pro-democracy coalition in the same way leaders in the Czech Republic were able to put aside political differences to defeat a right-wing, populist leader. The hope is my fellow progressives will also see the urgency to join forces with those whom we passionately disagree with on policy but passionately agree with on preserving democracy. The future of our nation depends on it.

I was going to write about the battle going on in school boards these days but after reading Heather Cox Richardson’s blog a couple nights ago, I’m just going to provide the link to it.¹ The law that she discusses about what can and cannot be taught in social studies classes in Texas is extremely disturbing.  One can only imagine that the next step will be to pass laws restricting what can and cannot be taught in science classes – Creationism and the Flat Earth Society are coming to a school near you!!

I also read something yesterday about ‘La Nĩna’ which is likely to exacerbate the drought conditions in the Southwest. “La Niña” is a natural phenomenon characterized by cooler sea surface temperatures than the average in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, near the equator, which causes changes in climate around the world. In the southwest, La Niña typically causes the jet stream (upper-level winds that carry storms across the globe) to move north. That means less rain for a region that desperately needs it.²

Currently, Lake Mead and Lake Powell are at minimal levels.  They are the largest reservoirs in the country and supply drinking water to 40 million people and irrigation water for rural farms, ranches and native communities. “In August, the Office of Recovery (USBR) declared water shortage for the first time in the Colorado River, which will lead to mandatory cuts in water use for the southwestern states beginning in 2022”.²

I’d like to bring your attention to the word ‘mandatory.’ ‘Mandatory watering restrictions have become commonplace throughout the West.  Even here in Bozeman this past summer, they put watering restrictions in place for a while due to the drought.  In years past in Southern California, there were areas where it was illegal to refill swimming pools and it is very common to have mandatory watering restrictions in place, e.g., only water on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.  These are MANDATORY restrictions issued by local and state governments.

And why are these mandatory restrictions put in place?  They are put in place to protect the general population and, by and large, people understand and abide by them.  Most people seem to understand that if there is no water to drink, everything else is pretty much irrelevant.  There are certainly conflicts regarding how much water gets allocated to irrigation for farmers and ranchers versus drinking water for communities, but you really don’t see anything on the scale that we are witnessing regarding the mask and vaccine mandates, when it comes to water restrictions in cities and states.

In the Bozeman paper this morning there was an article regarding the current state of COVID in Montana (not good!).  The author had a brief interview with Governor Gianforte in which he defended his administration’s policies toward the pandemic, which have included signing into law the nation’s only prohibition on private businesses requiring vaccines in the workplace, and several measures that limited the power of the local health departments to implement measures to curb the virus’ spread.  In this interview, Gianforte states, “The government’s role is to educate, to communicate – it’s not to mandate.”   Think about that last statement for just a minute – “the government’s role is to educate, to communicate – it’s not to mandate.”

Recapping, the government of Texas is mandating how social studies classes can be taught!  Texas is mandating that women no longer have access to abortion.  Montana has mandated that no business can require vaccines in the workplace and is also moving to restrict abortion access by government mandate.   Many Republican states are mandating who, when and how people can legitimately cast ballots. 

You can see why I might be a little confused about the words ‘government mandate.’  I think the confusion stems directly from the word ‘hypocrisy’.  Sometimes ‘mandate’ means the government has the right to impose restrictions necessary for the benefit of the population at large.  Other times, ‘mandate’ means the government has the right to impose restrictions based upon personal viewpoints, whether or not they affect the public wellbeing or not.  The latter definition is kind of like when a parent’s excuse for doing something is simply ‘because I say so.’  Given that many of the new ‘mandates’ put in place by Republican-controlled states across the nation have no basis in fact (e.g., election fraud) and are, in fact, not consistent with the majority of people (e.g. abortion rights), we can only assume that they have assumed the role of parents and are acting because they can. 

Just understand that the next time someone tries to question any of these policies ‘mandated’ by Republicans, rather than offering fact and scientifically based cogent arguments as to why these policies were put in place, you can expect to hear, “they are good because I said so – don’t argue!  Now sit down, shut up and eat your vegetables!” 

1. October 16, 2021 – by Heather Cox Richardson – Letters from an American (substack.com)
2. The “La Niña” phenomenon is about to take the Southwest drought from bad to worse – Latest from the world (alwaysfreshnews.com)

I wrote something but didn’t like it when I reread it so I decided to take the day off. I will leave you with one quick thought. I read something in the paper this morning that might cause me to fire off another letter to the Bozeman Chronicle.

This morning there was an article regarding the current state of COVID in Montana (not good!).  The author had a brief interview with Governor Gianforte in which he defended his administration’s policies toward the pandemic, which have included signing into law the nation’s only prohibition on private businesses requiring vaccines in the workplace, and several measures that limited the power of the local health departments to implement measures to curb the virus’ spread.  In this interview, Gianforte states, “The government’s role is to educate, to communicate – it’s not to mandate.”   Think about that last statement for just a minute – “the government’s role is to educate, to communicate – it’s not to mandate.”

This is the same Governor who signed into laws mandating restrictions on abortion rights, voting, and the ability of local governments to deal with their own issues, i.e. housing, COVID spread, etc. So I guess a ‘government mandate’ is OK if its issued by Gianforte and is something he personally believes, but is not OK if it is issued by some other entity or is something with which he personally disagrees or finds politically inconvenient. Once again, the hypocrisy is deafening!

Hope to be back tomorrow after a little brain rest.

I have to admit that a little later this morning I will be possibly committing fraud.  Or at least that is what some would allege.  Yesterday I received my ballot for the upcoming election in Gallatin County in the mail.  (I wonder if they also committed a crime by mailing it to me?)  I quickly filled out my ballot since there was only one issue to be voted on in the County – a bond issue for a new law and justice center – and am now prepared to commit my criminal act by mailing in my ballot.  

As I pointed out yesterday, the Bozeman Chronicle published an op-ed about the ridiculousness of the Republican driven voting-related legislation and activities that are going on in the state, particularly  because the Republicans made almost a clean sweep of the elections in 2020.  This is called the ‘theatre of the absurd.’  Our tax dollars at work to investigate and solve a problem that is provably not a problem.  There was no evidence of wide spread voter fraud in the last election in Montana or any other state in the country – period!  This is all part of the sleight of hand that I talked about yesterday.  Use misdirection to make fear of election fraud magically appear and further verbal legerdemain to make Democrats chances of winning elections disappear.  Abracadabra!

I don’t feel particularly badly about possibly committing voter fraud by mailing in my ballot because I see other prominent people defying laws.  Steve Bannon, a close adviser of former President Trump’s and a vocal advocate of ‘burning the country down’ so that it can be rebuilt, has refused to comply with a legal Congressional subpoena.   He is apparently citing ‘executive privilege’ which is a stretch since 1) Trump is no longer president, 2) Steve Bannon was not an employee of the Federal government in any time frame close to January 6^th and 3) Joe Biden, who is president, has said that he would not invoke executive privilege in this case.  Given that the Republicans try to bill themselves as the party of ‘law and order’, one would think that some of them might speak up about such an egregious act of defiance against a legal subpoena.  Silence!!

But, getting back to voting, the fact is, I have been voting by mail for years.  I can’t even remember the last time I went to a polling place.  However, when you think about it, voting by mail or even standing in line at a polling place are pretty arcane ways of voting given all of the technology we have today.  Yes, cyber crime is a real thing but, even with that threat, how many of us 1) buy stuff on line and pay with credit cards using ‘secure transactions’, 2) pay our bills with electronic banking, 3) watch banks transfer billions of dollars around the world every single day, 4) use our phones in place of a paper boarding pass on airplanes and the list goes on and on. 

Just as an example of how pervasive on-line transactions are in our lives, Amazon represented 45% of all e-commerce in the United States in 2019.¹ And, keep in mind, that is almost all done online.  In an average hour (and this is 24 hours/day) Amazon processes about 17 million dollars in transactions.¹ Almost our entire commerce system is based online and yet we cannot find the wherewithal to develop a secure online voting system that would provide access to virtually all eligible voters in this country.

Rather than spend all of the effort and money passing laws to solve a problem that doesn’t exist, i.e., widespread voter fraud, the sole point of which is to make it harder for some segment of the population to vote, a true democratic government would be looking at ways to make voting easier and more accessible to more people.  The frustrating thing is that the technology exists to make that happen, and we are refusing to move into the 21^st century.

If the United States government is comfortable moving trillions of dollars around each and every day electronically, it is hard to understand why the powers that be cannot develop an electronic voting system.  Of course, that won’t happen any time soon for the sole reason that if it were available, it would be almost impossible to restrict voting the way that it is being done today.   The threat of hackers will be the excuse that is used to persuade the general public why this can’t be done.  And, while hacking is a real threat, I’m convinced if you put enough smart people on it, you could minimize that threat.

Given the cryptographic capabilities in the National Security Agency (NSA) and the know how in some of the world’s preeminent technology companies, it could be done.  How can you argue that its safe for the Federal Reserve to move billions of dollars around the world electronically and it is not possible to develop a safe electronic voting system?  However, like I said, it won’t happen any time soon, because it is not in the best interest of the people who wish to retain control!

Of course, even a robust electronic voting system will not necessarily be enough to ensure a robust democracy.  Gerrymandering must also be addressed.  Right here in Montana, we are in the middle of carving the state into two districts for Congressional representation.  Up until the last election, we only had one Congressional Representative due to the sparse population of the state.  However, due to the increase in population in Montana over the last decade we will now have two representatives.

A commission is now in the throws of trying to finalize this map and, as expected, the Republicans are trying to offer up districts that will split the vote in their favor.  Missoula and Bozeman are two Democratic islands within the state.  Some of the maps that are being proposed would actually split the city of Bozeman between the two Congressional districts!  This defies common sense but would certainly provide an advantage to the Republicans who already control the state and seem hell bent on taking any and all actions to ever prevent a Democrat from ever holding office in Montana again.

Well, if you will excuse me, I am going to go commit potential voter fraud by dropping my ballot in the mail box.  I can only hope that the measures introduced by Postmaster General DeJoy have not adversely impacted the pony express so badly that my ballot fails to make it to the Gallatin County Election Administrator in time.  I guess I should take solace in the fact that the ballot is mailed to the local Election Administration office.  The way things are going, in the next election cycle, we’ll probably just mail the ballots directly to the office of the Montana State Republicans and skip all of these unnecessary steps!

1. 15 Amazon Statistics You Need to Know in 2021 (repricerexpress.com)

‘Legerdemain’ is the term used when referring to the sleight of hand tricks performed by magicians.  However, it is also used at times to describe what is going on in politics.  An example,” Political reporters were dazzled by his legerdemain in stealing a traditionally Republican issue, promising more law enforcement on the streets and tougher penalties for juvenile offenders. – NBC News, 20 Nov 2020”.  The fact is, we should all be paying close attention to what is going on in the political world because ‘legerdemain’ has become a staple of politics these days.  The Republicans have become particularly adept at using this technique.

There are two primary but related techniques in use these days.  First of all, there is the classic technique of misdirection.  This is where you get the audience (‘the base’) to get all focused and riled up about issues that will distract their attention from what is really going on.  The Republicans’ current efforts to fan the flames of cultural issues is nothing but an extraordinary example of legerdemain in action.

The conservative base is all riled up these days about schools teaching Critical Race Theory, abortion, Second Amendment Rights, and, of course our favorite, mask and vaccine mandates.  Never mind that most people cannot articulate exactly what Critical Race Theory is and the fact that it is not being widely taught in schools across the nation today.  Never mind that the majority of Americans want to keep access to abortion legal and the Roe v. Wade decision intact.  Never mind that Americans already personally possess more guns than any other country in the world and have the highest death toll from gun violence – and it’s increasing.  And never mind that more people have died in the United States, arguably the richest and most technologically advanced country in the world, from COVID and masks and vaccines are scientifically proven methods to help control the spread of this disease.  None of that matters, because the Republicans have become masters at misdirecting the ‘audiences’ attention from the facts.

The second ‘magical’ technique widely in use by the Republican today is to use verbal legerdemain to disguise the real purpose behind some of their actions.  All of the voter suppression legislation that is being passed in Republican controlled states is cloaked in terms of ‘voter integrity’, which sounds wonderful, but the fact is the measures are meant to suppress a certain segment of the vote (those votes that tend to go Democratic).   Even the Bozeman Chronicle called this out in an opinion piece this morning just to show the absurdity of all of this entitled, “GOP is engaging in absurd political theater.”

“Republican candidates won every statewide race in the 2020 general elections.  Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump won the state handily.  And GOP candidates won enough legislative races to widen their majorities in the state House and Senate.  It was a historic sweep by the party.

And so, the vast majority of state GOP lawmakers want a special committee to investigate the state’s election system.  Some are even calling for a special legislative session to pass more restrictive election laws.

Yes, you read that right. Republican legislators are waging an assault on an election they won – overwhelmingly won.  That’s just how kooky this whole election nonsense has gotten.”

Another recent example is when Mitch McConnell and all of his Republican colleagues got religion about ‘fiscal responsibility’ and brought the United States to the brink of economic disaster by refusing to raise the debt ceiling.  Fiscal responsibility sounds great but it is a concept they refused to acknowledge when they voted to pass the massive tax cuts that primarily went to the wealthy and ran up the debt $7.8 trillion under the Trump administration.

The worst and most egregious example of verbal legerdemain is the ongoing attempt by Republican to repackage and rewrite the events surrounding the insurrection that took place on January 6^th.  Polls suggest that a majority of Americans would like to know the truth about what led up to and precipitated that dark stain on American history.  However, the Republicans are busy using verbal gymnastics in what can only be viewed as the classic carnival ‘shell game’.  Which cup is the truth really under?

All of this ‘magic’ is designed for one sole purpose.  It has nothing to do with ‘Making America Great.’  It has nothing to do with solving the real day to day problems most American face.  This magic show and all of the sleight of hand going on has one purpose and one purpose only – so the Republicans can regain and keep power!  And, if you think there is legerdemain going on now, if Trump or a Trump-like clone is re-elected and the Republican regain control of Congress then we could witness one of the most devastating magical acts in recent memory – poof! Democracy as we know it – all gone!