“Covid 19 may win the presidency for Desantis/Paul in 2024“ — Dark Matter
Agreed. Been thinking along the same lines. Biggest problem: the dems and repubs are like “skins” for an app— changing the look and feel of the government, but not changing the deeper mechanics. The skins both have their respective problems, but the corruption we have been seeing (botched pandemic response, Covid relief pouring money into bags at the top, GofF/Covid origin coverup, vaccine EUAs/suppression of cheap Covid treatments, never ending wars, endless Russia blaming, scrutinization of “domestic terrorists,” oppression of whistleblowers, etc.) is endemic to the deeper mechanics of the US federal government and DeSantis/Paul aren’t going to touch it anymore than did Eisenhower, JFK, and Carter.
Watched a recent show on the History Channel last night about Mt. Vernon. Was interesting…I remember visiting there when I was about 12. The show’s host seemed to struggle with the issue of slavery. In one breath he would speak about how Mt. Vernon operated “like a village.” In the next he would acknowledge that the labor was done by “enslaved individuals”…never mentioning the color of their skin, never calling them slaves, never addressing the issue of slavery. (I know the video was very recent as some of the folks working at Mt. Vernon were masked — while outside, no less!). I find it important to face slavery squarely, and face the fact that it primarily occurred in this country along racial lines. How can we learn from the past — and not repeat its sordid moments — if we do not acknowledge what shames us?
Washington *did* set some important precedents for this country, among them resigning his military commission when the Revolutionary War ended and stepping aside from public office after two terms as president. He had (some) respect for common folk, as exhibited by art depicting their contribution to the Revolutionary War. (No art depicting the “enslaved individuals” — go figure.)
But…his fine drawing room was only for “the genteel.” Commoners who wanted to meet with him in his home sat in the hallway on wooden chairs. And he basically presided as “lord of the manor” on a compound of dark-skinned humans who had none of the freedoms that he had championed, fought for, and governed. He had every fine thing he wanted — a large, fancy room to entertain in that was one of the largest rooms in a private home for miles and miles around. No fences to distort his beautiful view of the Potomac…terraces were created to keep the farm animals from the main house without the use of fences.
What we have as government today in this country is a product of what Washington and his fellows created — beautiful, flowery language about equality of humans and inalienable rights — paired with social institutions that stealthily, steadily keep the well-heeled in the fine drawing room, many of us queued on wooden chairs in a narrow hallway…and so many more are “enslaved individuals” lacking basic freedoms. Oh, sure, we may not yet call ourselves/them slaves…but we are steadily losing our freedoms. (Judges granting us AR-15s notwithstanding.)