The Mason Missile, November 22, 2024

Greetings, Americans! It happened, and I’m recovering from the shock-Donald whatshisface won, once again, the Presidency. And now, after the defeat, is the tradition of a party pointing fingers at each other to decide whose fault the defeat was. Hopefully, it’s not going to be like the 1984 disaster, and the party leaders, in the form of the Democratic Leadership Council (led in part by Bill Clinton) fighting to remove the “special interests” from influence in the party; you know, the LGBTQ+ people, the people of color, Labor, defiantly not the fossil fuel lobby, or the NRA. To the DLC, the standard American voter is white and indifferent, if not hostile, to the fate of minorities or Labor, and not at all interested in economic issues affecting Americans. Such myopia does not consider the long-term effects policies have on people, and would disengage people from voting or any other participation in the process. I’m not saying anything against Kamala Harris; she ran a terrific campaign, at such short notice, with a positive message, and I’m proud to have played a small role in her campaign. Like she says, the fight goes on, and we have NO right to back away from it. In the words of Rabbi Tarfon, in the Pirke Avot, “It is not for you to finish the task, but you are not free to avoid it.” (https://www.jewishboston.com/read/it-is-not-up-to-you-to-finish-the-task-but-you-are-not-free-to-avoid-it/) (https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.2.16?lang=bi) Plus, his margin of victory over Harris was far smaller than other elections, so it wasn’t such a “mandate” after all. (https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/donald-trump-vote-margin-narrowed/ ) (https://crooksandliars.com/2024/11/actually-was-close-election) Victory is NOT a virtue in itself, except in the “mind” of t---p. Just because you win an election, or anything else, doesn’t put you on the right side of history, or above any criticism. There’s no bandwagon effect going on. In fact, there are signs of “buyers’ remorse” by trump voters about voting for the Tangerine Tumor. Now they see what trump is about to do: raise tariffs which American consumers, not China, would have to pay for, pay more in taxes that billionaires, deport millions of immigrants who comprised a huge part of the workforce, and thereby face the worst possible inflation, along with cuts in Social Security, Medicare, and the VA system (which, full disclosure, I benefit from). And don’t think, as the trump-republican apparatus thinks, that people will simply keep quiet about the loss of the freedoms and livelihoods. (https://thehill.com/opinion/4986223-trump-majority-economic-turmoil/) (https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari/watch/buyer-s-remorse-trump-s-radical-fringe-rfk-gaetz-picks-roil-nation-melber-report-224504901879) Even establishment figures in our politics have been fighting back: The Senate has been confirming Joe Biden’s appointments for federal judgeships, so far at 218 appointees. (https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-senate-democrats-secure-confirmation-long-delayed-judicial-nominee-2024-11-19/) Hopefully, as the Democratic Party pulls itself together after the defeat, it finally shuns the neo-liberal, “free market” worship that has affected both parties, so they can both attain corporate donations and exclude working and low-income people from their councils. That is the idea that if the government defers to corporations and lowers taxes on them to zero, transfer municipal services to private corporations, turn against workers, and wipe out social welfare systems-what is behind the right’s hatred for social spending? That deserves study-all Americans will prosper economically. Alas, it hasn’t turned out like that; sure, the Stock Market soared under Clinton, Obama, and Biden, but have people on the bottom of the ladder gotten anything from it? No, the profits have remained at the top, and have resulted in oligarchs (as dangerous as the ones around Putin) building luxury bunkers for themselves for when the Revolution happens, Jeff Bezos playing Flash Gordon with his rocket, and Bezos and Musk buying up already established corporations along with the ones they own, because they can; such is capitalism, corporations gobbling up smaller firms into one gigantic megacorporation, which can not only challenge the State but buy it. So let’s reclaim the State as ours, Americans. Let’s NOT AT ALL be deterred by the MAGA leg-breakers and neo-fascist goose-steppers, or by the wannabe theocrats that would oppress us with their warped idea of “Christianity,” or by the brain-worms in the Heritage Foundation concocting their schemes of autocracy, as shown in Project 2025. It’ll be a hard slog, but as long as we band together, we can AND WILL beat them. Stay safe, stay strong, and stay together! Slava Ukraini! Am Yisrael Chai! America will be free!