the Mason Missile, March 27, 2023

Greetings, Americans! I’m taking part in my ward to help and urge people to vote this primary season; in Pennsylvania, the primary election takes place on May 16. I urge everyone to get out there and vote, either by mail or in person. People have fought and died to make sure we have this right, and some reactionary politicians want to take it from us, because we, the American people, don’t accept their agenda, and they know it. If our right to vote is taken from us, how else should we select our public officials? So many politicians on the right have given up on democracy, since they know they can’t count on winning a fair election. An example of this is the event in December 2022 by the New York Young Republicans; Marjorie Taylor-Greene, fascist looney-toon from Georgia, thought it would be cute to say about the January 6 riot-coup, “If Steve Bannon and I had organized that, we would have won. Not to mention, it would have been armed.” (https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/12/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-armed-insurrection-comments/index.html) As you can see, the crowd got a big hoot out of the “joke.” In this fascist festival, “mainstream” Republican Congress-members broke bread with some of the nation’s most notorious racists; Peter and Lynda Brimelow of VDARE, the aforementioned Steve Bannon, members of the neo-Nazi Freiheitliche party in Austria, members of the neo-Nazi German party Alternativ für Deutschland, and Jack Posobiec, far-right political operative behind the “Pizzagate” lie (https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/jack-posobiec)—and Josh Hammer, opinion editor for Newsweek magazine. (https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2022/12/11/white-nationalists-other-republicans-brace-total-war) SOOO, the neo-fascist right is once more contaminating the political mainstream. A couple of days before Biden’s inauguration, MTG urged trump‘s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, "In our private chat with only Members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall law". (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/marjorie-taylor-greene-martial-law-mark-meadows-text-messages/) Another example of this is the Tweets from Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah); the first one said, “We’re not a democracy,” and the next one said, “Democracy isn’t the objective; liberty, peace, and prospefity (sic) are. We want the human condition to flourish. Rank democracy can thwart that.” (https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/21507713/mike-lee-democracy-republic-trump-2020) The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) has come and gone at National Harbor, Oxon Hill, Maryland; and it was a downer of an event. Over half the seats in the hall were empty, and people were napping and yawning as the speakers spoke their usual inflammatory rhetoric, which has lost its power. Founded in1974, CPAC was the go-to event for conservative activists and Republican politicians, particularly presidential candidates, to see and be seen, and connect with compatible organizations and activists. Now, such wannabe presidential candidates as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and former Vice-President Mike Pence, RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (California), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mc Connell (Kentucky), avoided that event. (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/ron-desantis-will-skip-cpac-rcna72537) Now, it’s become a big trump rally for the MAGA crowd. It didn’t attract much of the younger generation to continue the cause into the future; the movement’s media, like Fox News, didn’t attend; activists for anti-abortion work, “free market” fanatics, and small-tax activists, didn’t hold workshops at the conference; and merchandise for sale advertising their favorite causes and bashing their favorite targets—t-shirts, books, caps, coffee mugs, etc.—were absent, and trump-MAGA stuff was on the market. (https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/03/06/cpac-vibes-trump-00085568?link_id=5&can_id=c6b214524e142a4cda41a3e4163755a6&source=email-how-not-to-predict-the-2024-election&email_referrer=email_1839369&email_subject=the-vibes-are-off-with-the-republican-party) I’m starting to think the conservatie movement is losing its steam—losing its power and influence. Matt Shlapp, head of the American Conservative Union (ACU), which organizes CPAC every year, has been charged with sexual assault; a young man who worked at Hershel Walker’s staff (for Walker’s Senate run in Georgia) charged Schlapp with groping and “excessively fondling” his sex organs. (https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2023/01/male-staffer-sues-matt-schlapp-for-9-million-lawsuit-alleges-sexual-battery-after-aggressively-fondling-groin-area/) This is part of why the conference was so thinly attended; prominent conservatives didn’t buy tickets to the event, at event at bargain prices. (https://www.alternet.org/the-right-wing/matt-schlapp-2659479898/) It’s another case of a homophobe embedded in the closet, with incredible power in his movement, a source for political connections—and, just like an old-time Hollywood mogul, could have his way sexually with young up-and-comers, male or female. That’s what we’re up against—but we’re up to the challenge. We’ve beaten them before, and we’ll keep on beating them. But the work is in organizing our communities and our worksites, and ally with others in doing so. It also means educating yourselves on the REAL issues affecting our communities and our nation—which means preserving our libraries, so we can read the relevant books on these issues (and support our local libraries as well). And of course, VOTE for the candidates we need—maybe YOU can be a candidate? (FYI, the primary election in Pennsylvania will be May 16; thought you should know. You’re welcome.) Stay safe, stay strong, and stay together! Slava Ukraini! America will be free! Bye!