While the New York Times, the Pod Save America guys, and your friends on social media freak out about the debate, don’t forget to freak out about Friday morning’s SCOTUS decision, in which the bought members of the court took a Missouri GOP statewide office campaign spot-style flamethrower to the Deep State, or the entire institutional structure of how things actually get done to keep the country from food and waterborne illness, environmental destruction, and Other Things Rich People Don’t Want Getting in the Way of More Riches. I have some thoughts about the debate, the Democratic reaction to which has been understandable but completely out of hand and somewhere outside the confines of what a Bush Sr official once called the reality-based community, and they include a call to maybe focus a little bit on the man at the other podium lying to our faces.
They also include focusing on the damage that has just been done, damage the Leo/Koch/Bannon/Stone/Moloch right wants to continue to do to the boring, troublesome offices and officials that have until now worked to keep corporations from trampling the entire country underfoot. Half the country thinks The Other Guy and the armies of flunkies and toadies eager to be seen supporting him and eager to pursue the same cynical populism are in this for them, and a big chunk of them will feel the brunt of the effects an effectively deregulated economy will have outside of gated communities (and, eventually inside them, of course, but who can think that far ahead, am I right?). Maybe they’ll be surprised.
You want Freedom? How about the freedom to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and eat clean food? Sorry but this decision, brought to you by the few very rich white men who bought the deciders, makes that a lot less likely. The government hasn’t actually gotten smaller, as these people have always said they wanted, but it certainly won’t be able to help much. As Reagan put it a long time ago, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help. “
Not anymore.
Samuel Cohen 