Raise Your Voice
By PETER MOLENAAR
This Week in Action is the weekly news digest of Take Action Minnesota, a splendid social-democratic organization which presses our concerns within and around the DFL (i.e. for the time being they do not project a fundamental socialist transformation). Nonetheless, the October 15 issue of This Week contains an article with the caption: “Late-Stage Capitalism”.
Actually, I arrived at the “late stage” conclusion 50 years ago. “The universal soldier, he really is to blame” were popular lyrics at the time. But then more than a year ago, I reported to the alley about an interaction with National Guard troops gathered at the corner grocery at 26th and Cedar Ave. Their assault weapons were not pointed at me. On the contrary, they earnestly listened.
Moreover, in hand is a fundraising appeal, penned by Major General (Ret.) Paul Eaton on behalf of VoteVets. The general writes,
Its not just the January 6 insurrection. It isn’t even the never-ending fealty to Donald Trump and his contemptible lies. The reason this Army veteran wants to bury the Republican Party in the next election is to restore sanity and hope to my country. The alternative is just too horrifying—for women, minorities, the climate…That is why we must commit to vanquishing Trumpism and its toxic embrace…We Stand for democracy…[let’s] hammer the treasonous agenda and utter hypocrisy of Trumpist Republicans…
Remember how, not so long ago, it was Mitch who promised to obstruct anything Obama. Then a tad later, it was Little-Boy-Man who gleefully invoked: what ever happened to the “American dream”? “Nice work Obama!”
And now…
Let us repeat the chant over and over;: TAX THE RICH, BUILD BACK BETTER—THOSE TWO THINGS GO TOGETHER! Gosh, a measly $3.5 trillion spent over ten years (in order to save our country) might be worth it. Oh my, that would be about 1.2% of our nation’s GDP. But, oh no you don’t, say the Republicans.
Note: Under the capitalist system, “democracy’ has always been more appearance than essence, more form than content. Yet, within this system, “we the people” have established for ourselves a thread of influence which must be defended and advanced. Right?
Hey, early in the pandemic, I attended a rally to uphold and defend our healthcare workers. It happened that a small group of unmasked (and unarmed) Trump supporters saw fit to insert their presence. They were surrounded and contained. From his wheelchair, an elder Black man among us wisely declared: “they can’t kill us all… they can’t kill us all!”.
