To Survive : Aim High
By Lorenzo Canizares
11/8/21
There is no doubt that democracy in the USA is hanging by a thread. But sadly, not many people realize that. Not everyone has the time to be following the latest news and be to tie the knots that makes some of us capable of providing sensible predictions. Not many people are aware that Steve Bannon, the architect of Trump’s electoral victory in 2016 was subpoenaed three weeks ago and has defied the subpoena and the Department of Justice (DOJ) still trying to figure out what to do with him. Then many wonder why for many people it seems that Trump is able to do whatever he wants.
Some believe it is hyperbolic to say such things. Some believe that what happened on January 6 was an aberration. Some believe the system is strong enough to withstand these aberrations. These same people believe that Trump is a passing phenomenon, and that Republicans will finally see the light and start coming to their senses electing people like Youngkin that are very much part of the regular Americana look. Granted, the man even kept Trump off during his campaign trail during the Virginia election. It shows the Republican Party is in the process of turning around. Wrong.
I would love to believe that the nation was going back to normal. But that normal that we believe in is not going to come back by electing private equity CEO Republicans like Youngkin. I am Cuban-American, I chuckle when I hear members of my family talk to other members of my family in Cuba and tell them about the great things of this country. They talk about Medicare, good public schools, Social Security and about laws to protect individual rights. But these family members saying all these nice things about the USA most of them go and vote Republican. Not realizing that all these “good” things they are talking about were put in place by Democrats and in most cases faced strong opposition from Republicans. But Republicans are strong against communism! God save America!
In South Florida, where I live, the mantra of fighting communism takes the place of fighting for white supremacy in other parts of the nation. It is the same vitriolic mentality. Is there a way to penetrate these people to do the right thing? Of course there is, and that is to Aim High. Biden just signed the infrastructure bill that was passed with minimal Republican support. In reality this was a major accomplishment that the blue side of the equation needs to make sure the American people understand this was passed in spite of Republican opposition, and in spite of major downsizing in goals of the original plan. We need to remind the American people that Republicans have no qualms about reducing taxes for the very rich even though that reduction in revenues makes it much more difficult to reduce the national debt. We have to find ways to communicate the message because the corporate press is not going to do it for us.
The 2017 tax cuts engineered by the Trump administration will add $1.7 trillion to the national debt and it hasn’t done much for working-class or middle-class people. Kyrsten Sinema who has expressed major concern about the national debt is blocking the attempt to rescind Trump’s tax cuts. Both Manchin and Sinema together with the 50 Republicans should come to their Senate meetings wearing the corporate jackets of their preferred corporation. In the meantime, we need to prepare to continue the fight and that fight needs to take us to think out of the box.
To Survive We Need to Unite. Those people that consider themselves in the Blue side of the equation need to unite to be able to properly fight the attempt to install a Fascist state in our nation. What happened on January 6th was not an aberration and as long as Steve Bannon is able to continue organizing and bringing armed right-wing groups together the nation is in danger of another uprising. In the meantime, Trump sympathizers has basically taken over the Republican Party and are working overtime all throughout the nation to destroy our democracy, by among other things making it difficult for people that are on our side of the equation difficult to vote. We need to learn ASAP to work on what we agree on and put aside what we disagree with. If we continue bickering, we might end up bickering on our way to the gas ovens.
To Unite We Need to get Things Done. And to Unite we need to Aim High on what’s possible to get done. Not to be satisfied with the minimum but aspire to get the maximum of what is possible. As Justin Gillis, a fellow at Harvard’s Center for the environment recently said “If 60% of all cars being sold in Norway are electric cars, so can every nation. If California can order that every new house built have solar panels on their roofs, so can every American state.”
Sadly, not all human beings have the time or inclination to be able to understand what’s the right thing to do. We need to build ties inside our communities to develop trust and respect and more important concern for each other. It’s hard to fight for people if you don’t love the people you are fighting for.
