OUR WORLD IS GETTING BRIGHTER
This Will Be a Spring to Remember
Maybe Arlan Wise was right. She is the astrologer I mentioned a few weeks ago who predicted that this month’s solar eclipse would “…heal…the country in a sharp and direct manner.” Whether you believe in astrology or not, it’s hard to deny that the past two weeks since the sun was shaded by the moon have brought a sharp change of direction to United States politics and its coverage in the mainstream media. Tuesday’s full moon, along with the first light days of Spring, seem to have changed the mood in the country.
Whether the change of mood was predicted by an arcane ancient art or not is of no consequence. What is important is that things feel different: more optimistic and more rational. It seems to me that the storm of fear and gloom that has kept us on edge for far too long has finally blown out to sea and is no longer as much of a threat to our health, our financial stability, and our freedom to speak, vote, and travel freely. It feels like the balance has tipped from dire reactionary thinking toward more enlightened behavior and expectations.
Our former president no longer seems like a powerful commander as he sits obediently in a dingy courtroom looking like an angry, defeated (and reportedly smelly) old man. For the first time in his pathetic life, he is not in charge of the room. He can no longer play the role of the thug, the bully, the mob boss. He has been forced to sit mutely listening to ordinary people tell him to his face exactly what they think of him, as they are evaluated for a position on a jury that could send him to jail for his amoral, and probably illegal, behavior.
In the House of Representatives, the Russian operatives who call themselves “The Freedom Caucus” have finally been defeated. Their efforts to cripple Ukraine’s defense against Putin’s aggression failed when their chosen leader and former ally, Speaker Mike Johnson, was shown highly classified information that led him to finally act in the best interest of his country. He is now beholden to the Democrats to keep his position for the remainder of the year and is likely to bring other popular bipartisan bills to a vote over the objections of his former colleagues.
The political polls have begun to shift, ever so slowly but solidly trending away from Trump and the MAGA Republican agenda. They don’t yet show a solid Democratic lead but are clearly trending in that direction. The president is out on the campaign trail demonstrating that he is still in charge and thinking clearly. His policies are benefitting working people, and his support of labor unions is popular, as shown by last week’s overwhelming vote to unionize a Volkswagen assembly plant in Tennessee. And this week Joe Biden received a strong endorsement from the head of North America’s Building Trades Unions, who previously supported Trump.
Much could change over the next seven months of course. Trump could die from the stress and humiliation of his legal and financial problems and there is a possibility that he will not be nominated by the Republican party convention. A different candidate might actually be able to defeat Joe Biden but would still be expected to carry out the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 plan to dismantle the federal government and replace our democracy with a neo-Christian dictatorship. It is essential that every one of us continue to focus our expectations and efforts on defeating the scourge that the Republican Party has become.
I do like the way the political news has been trending, though. And I anticipate a resounding defeat of the MAGA Republicans and their openly anti-American agenda in November. The issues that continue to dominate the news cycles will come and go, but I see the economy remaining strong, the bipartisan border bill being enacted, and inflation easing over the Summer. The radical Supreme Court will emerge as an important issue, however, and its repeal of Roe v. Wade will dominate the discussion and, in the end, could determine the outcome of the election.
(Photo of the sunrise on Kauai by Wes Ewell, November 2007)
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