I rarely post an answer my own weekly Provocative Question prompt. I’m more interested in reading what you guys think than in posting my thoughts on the subject. But then I read Karyn’s response to today’s provocative question and I decided to give a brief, but heartfelt and somewhat depressing response to the question, “What is something you’ve long believed to be true, but you now realize is not true?”
I was taught in school and I’ve always believed that the United States is a representative democratic republic and that the U.S. government is of the people, by the people, and for the people. But now, in the age of Donald Trump and Trumpism, I realize that my long-held belief about what America is supposed to be is no longer true.
This, That, and the Other 
I’m honored that you read, were “inspired” and linked my post. Thank you.
And..I agree…we’ve morphed into something in a dystopian novel…or historical Germany.
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Thanks for the inspiration. And yes, the U.S. has turned into a pre-WWII Germany.
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It’s very similar to mine. I think many of us feel the same way and it is very sad.
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If the present situation and administration continues then you are right.
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I’ve been struggling with this as well.
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It “began” during the previous administration because of Mitch McConnell and people like him… the total disrespect. 😰 The major hope for turning things around, I think, is the younger people who will break away from stubborn attitudes that have gotten locked in with some people (enough to mess us up) over previous decades.
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You’re assuming that these “younger people will lose their apathy and will get up off of their lazy asses and vote. I’m not optimistic.
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Oh dear.
Well… my kids vote.
I am, though, concerned for the future.
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Mine do too, but younger voters, in general, don’t have a good track record when it comes to casting their votes.
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I wonder if they (the great bulk of them) really realize what a difference they could make. I do hope they will show up for voting. If Trump wins again, it will be too much of a blow; I won’t be optimistic about our country. And, of course, not only that, he will wreak more actual havoc on our system so that it will end up yet less of a nation of, for, and by the people as a whole. The people who follow and make excuses for him do tell me, as Marilyn said in her take on the prompt, that a ridiculous number of people who have been voting have — somehow in their lives — not developed discernment based on consciences.
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Marleen, I think it began even earlier than that, with the Moral Majority and newfound political influence of the religious right during the Reagan administration. It became exponentially worse, however, with the rise of Newt Gingrich during the Clinton admin and continued to worsen with the advent and growing power of the Tea Party during the Obama admin. Trumpism is just the culmination of all that. Sad!
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THECEASELESSREADERWRITES said: Marleen, I think it began even earlier than that, with the Moral Majority and newfound political influence of the religious right during the Reagan administration. … [pause in quoting]
It really started before the Moral Majority organization. My mother got me into an organization (at kind of a ridiculously young age), earlier in the seventies, that she had gotten into herself in the sixties. Some of those people didn’t think Reagan was conservative enough.
Grover Norquist, who founded Americans for Tax Reform in 1985 at the urging of President Reagan, declared in 2001: “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”
There’s kind of a through line from Norquist to Trump, as Norquist is also famous for expressing the attitude that all the right wing (or at least the forever-lower-taxes-for-rich-people wing) need is someone with a hand that can hold a pen and sign what they tell him to sign.
I put began in quotation marks because I know it didn’t exactly begin during Obama. But it reached the newest vicious height then (egged on, then, by Trump already) in — in my perception — greatest reaction to having the first black president.
[ … to unpause the quoting of ] THECEASELESSREADERWRITES:
Trumpism is just the culmination of all that. Sad!
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I can’t believe I forgot to include Grover Pukequist. I try so hard to put him out of my mind and for once had succeeded. Thanks so much for reminding me! 😉
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Hey. Did you hear, today, that tax cuts are being considered as an answer to the Coronavirus? (And, of course, once there’s any cut, some of the tinkerers think it can/should never be adjusted up again.) All that matters, ever, to this bunch is money (or the “economy” stupid — which isn’t necessarily even the economy but how things look for getting richer or re-elected); that is with regard to government. I’d guess each person him or herself doesn’t want to get sick. [Yes, I think they’re all about money. (There is also the superiority aspect of the party, which I don’t want to get into right now.) They’ve also exploited many religious people into their coalition.]
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I know. Sad, isn’t it?
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No, I didn’t hear about tax cuts as the answer to the coronavirus. But I did read that sales of Corona beer are down because of its name. I mean, seriously, how stupid are some people?
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Nineteen years ago, Mike Pence said, “Despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn’t kill.” Five years ago, his moral outrage for drug paraphernalia (offering clean needles) led to an increase in AIDS in Indiana.
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I think it was Colbert who I saw share that a well-established company had a moo to or slogan or business model that oddly crossed paths with the recent pandemic — and their name is the same; the slogan was something about being disseminated across the globe. I haven’t been able to find that online, but this is the company.
https://slate.com/technology/2020/02/coronavirus-covid-19-arizona-company.html
Why is the company’s name “Covid”?
Going on 40 years ago, the original name of the company was “Vid Co.” At the time, they found out there were some other Vid Co’s in the country, so they changed the name to Covid.
One thing that folks at our office have been remarking on is that “covid” sounds sort of like “corvid,” like the bird family that crows are part of.
No one has said that ever to me.
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Apparently sales of Corona beer are down because of its name. Seriously, how stupid are people?
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Correction: In my 12:31 pm post, “moo to” was supposed to be “motto.”
Corona beer had a similar slogan that clashed with our current circumstances:
Constellation said Corona Extra sales grew 5% in the United States in the four-weeks that ended February 16. That’s nearly double the trend of the past 52 weeks. Corona’s sales are heavily dependent on the US market, unlike some of its far-more-international rivals.
….
Yet the spread of the coronavirus couldn’t have come at a worse time for Constellation, which is spending $40 million to launch its new Corona-branded hard seltzer. Part of the promotion includes a sponsored tweet that has sparked criticism for using the phrase “coming ashore soon.”
Replies to the tweet say the ad is in “poor taste” and that the brand should “lay low for a few weeks.”
https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/survey-nearly-40-of-americans-wont-buy-corona-under-any-circumstances-because-of-coronavirus-outbreak/
I had not heard about the Constellation/Corona matter, so I looked it up. Who knows; maybe some people weren’t previously aware Corona is a beer, and they drink whatever is cheapest (like rolling rock or whatever). Yet some people, maybe not in the survey, though, must’ve known about the beer name as they followed the tweets.
5W Public Relations said that 38% of Americans wouldn’t buy Corona “under any circumstances” because of the outbreak, and another 14% said they wouldn’t order a Corona in public. The survey encompasses polling from 737 beer drinkers in the United States.
In another survey conducted by YouGov, the firm found consumers’ intent to purchase Corona fell to its lowest level in two years. The survey also showed that Corona’s buzz score, a metric … [measuring] favorability, has dropped significantly since the beginning of the year.
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If you would, Fandango, please delete my 1:48 pm post. I got the italicization wrong. I’m sorry.
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Done.
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You’re probably now hearing of Trump’s escalating calls for the Federal Reserve to reduce the interest rate in response to the specific coronavirus called Covid-19.
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Seams to have worked. The Dow was up nearly 1300 points today
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Is Taxing The Ultra-Wealthy ‘Punishing Success?’
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No, since based upon what the ultra wealthy pay today (in many cases, zero dollars to to tax loopholes only available to the ultra wealthy), having them pay their “fair share” is not punishing them, it’s making them responsible.
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