Much Gratitude…
And it’s hard to dance with the devil
on your back.
It’s always the darkest before the
dawn.
By J.M. Hamilton (11-26-2017)
Wake up.
Such are the perils of carbs, processed sugary treats, &
a wine/vodka laden diet.
A diet that often induces coma.
Goodbye carbs and sugar… hello, my friends: coffee, quinoa, and
steamed broccoli.
It dawned on me this morning, our family said grace at our
annual gathering in South Texas; but we forgot our annual tradition of telling
what we are grateful for.
Aside from family, the First Amendment, the Goddess’ good
grace, and health… there is much to be thankful for this year, particularly for
an economics and political junkie, such as myself.
So here’s what I’m grateful for on the economic/political
front:
I’m grateful that POTUS Trump ran as
a faux-populist and burned down the GOP establishment, as little more than a collective of paid political hacks.
Very much appreciate that Trump
showed his true colors his first year in office, and completely reneged on his
many campaign promises to help The People.
Instead, POTUS filled his cabinet with creatures of the swamp and
assorted plutocrats; demonstrated his commitment to fascists and racist elements w/in the GOP (which – apparently – have become too important a voting
block for the Party to let go of); and attempted several times to gut the ACA –
w/out finding a better replacement – in order to pay for tax cuts for the
wealthy.
JMH is happy that Trump is pushing a tax
cut bill that rewards multinationals, and a handful of heirs & oligarchs, at the expense of the 99%. And that it is the 99%, who will pay for said
plutocratic welfare, via tax hikes, the diminishment of governments services,
and by passing the buck onto our children and grandchildren.
The aforementioned will surely hasten
the demise of a Party that no longer represents the better angels of our nature, Lincoln, or the trust busting Roosevelt; but rather, the GOP has come
to represent little more than distilled avarice.
I’m grateful that The American
people, particularly women, in response to POTUS Trump & the GOP, have
awoken from their apathy and slumber, and are becoming involved in politics as
never before.
I’m thankful that some of the business elite
– members of the plutocratic class – members of Trump’s cabinet – have revealed
themselves to be completely untrustworthy (by lying repeatedly before Congress,
and in many instances, in bed with the Russian oligarchy).
JMH is exceptionally happy that one
of my closest family members shared w/ me – after a lifetime of voting
Republican & living in Texas – that they will no longer cast a vote for a
Republican. Talk about your bellwether,
this woman is also born again and socially, fairly conservative. If I may paraphrase, I believe she now finds
the GOP to be morally repugnant.
I’m thankful Hillary Clinton didn’t
make it into presidency. I never believed
a word she said on the campaign trail, and believe her administration would have been mired in impeachment proceedings.
Instead, we are far more likely to get our first woman POTUS from
someone of Senator Warren’s caliber, or perhaps a Representative Gabbard, or
Senators Gillibrand or Harris? Now,
these are women I would gladly support for POTUS. Dr. Stein, much love for you, too, keep
doing what you are doing.
Much gratitude for a record number of
women running for political office, and the many women who have, bravely, come
forward to expose a depraved, hollowed out, and morally bankrupt patriarchy
that runs this country. I hope these women keep kicking ass and taking names.
Too many white – entitled – males have shown themselves to be little
more than animals, w/out scruples, and incapable of operating w/in the pale of
human decency.
Also on the political front, much
gratitude for the ascendency of the Sanders/Warren wing w/in the Democratic Party, and the rightful diminishment of GOP-Lite, Clintonian politics.
Economically, I’m grateful that the Federal
Reserve appears to have abandoned its orthodoxy, tired rhetoric about
inflation, and its dot charts, and will, likely, begin to raise interest rates
on a regular basis next year. (While the
Fed and Central banks will never admit it, their policies have contributed to a
great many distortions w/in the economy, not the least of which are: a debt
bubble; industry consolidation; and wage & wealth inequality).
Trust me, there’s so much more to be
grateful for. JMH is grateful to the
fourth estate (aka The MSM), as much as I like to complain about it.
Do I feel pity for the GOP?
Not really. They managed to piss off
everybody but their plutocratic owners, the aggrieved white male (too many of
whom, are homophobic, misogynist, & racist), and single-issue voters, such
as the anti-abortion crowd.
And they’ve really upset women. The plutocrats – who own the GOP – would do
well to remember, it was women who led the march on Versailles, and dragged King
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette back to Paris.
As I seem to recall, things didn’t quite work out for the Royals. Such is the power of women, united in mass
and with a single-minded purpose.
Not so ironically, of the handful of people who know I write
this blog, those who take the greatest exception are usually upper
middle class white males, who are very content w/ the status quo. Even though the billionaire class steals from
my upper middle class, & middle class, colleagues and friends on a daily
basis… limits their options, shuts down opportunity, leaves them to pay higher
taxes at higher tax rates… they still believe business as usual is the way to
go.
It hasn’t quite dawned upon them yet, that very real change
is, likely, coming.
(A quick digression: When I mentioned possible retirement in
Canada at some future date, one friend asked why would I ever want to pay Canadian
taxes…. My response to my friend was, “Yes, but have you seen what the proposed
GOP tax plan will do to your taxes?” As
this is a family oriented blog, I cannot repeat the profanity directed at the Republican
Party from the opposite end of the phone line.
Let’s just say, my phone melted in my hand.)
And on that note, let’s wrap this up.
We often forget that change – serious change – may come quite rapidly. When my friends tell me
that a UBI is impossible, and that I’m an idealist for thinking free trade
agreements can be negotiated w/ the needs of the global work force in mind,
first & foremost, and the needs of the plutocracy, second…. I smile and
remember. The 18th, 19th,
and 20th century Royals, in Europe, often did not see the democratic
movements coming that swept them from power.
Nobody, or very few, foresaw the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the
Soviet Union’s demise almost three decades ago (or before that, the removal of the Russian Czar and his ministers in 1917).
Civil rights, gay rights, women’s voting rights…? All hard fought and seemingly impossible -
except among those who believed - until they happened.
We often forget change, at times, comes in the blink of an
eye, or like a thief in the night.
We often forget history is not dead, but rather, alive and well.
We often forget, it’s always darkest before the dawn.
Copyright JM Hamilton
Publishing 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment