Boomer Thoughts Day After Election Day

The first story I looked at regarding the election made me sick.  I will say this: both parties expected either a big red or a big blue wave. Traditionally, the Thugs should have beat out the Dems because that always seems to happen in a President’s first term.  I phone banked for Andy Kim, for AOC, for Call 4 Change and for the Democratic party. All the volunteers worked their hearts out. The problem was the Dem’s plans of action. They didn’t go far enough calling out the Thugs’ bad behavior.  The leadership was very subdued, even when Paul Pelosi was brutally attacked.  When Thugs laughed and joked about it, no one in the party stood up and shouted, “Have you no shame?”

The biggest mistake the Repugs made was underestimating just how much they’d pissed off women and Gen Z voters.  They celebrated and rejoiced over SCOTUS’ overturning of Roe v. Wade until they began to see and hear the backlash. They backed off the joy and some even scrubbed anti-abortion language off their websites.  But then they began to get the mistaken idea that abortion was an old issue that no one cared about anymore. They were bigly wrong. They also didn’t expect the enormous turn out by young people, Gen Z and Millennials.  There were so many young people voting that the Thugs in Congress are talking about raising the voting age from 18 to 21.  It’s just more voter suppression.  It’s OK for an 18-year-old to buy and carry an AR-15 and to be drafted but not to vote? Come on. Are you fucking kidding me? I am so impressed with Gen Z, the kids who range in age from teen up to around 25 or 26. They are not the lazy, uncaring bunch of youths Thugs would like us to think. These young people are very much aware of the hazards in their futures and are actively working to make changes so it’s not so awful. I remember young people from the 60s and 70s. Gen Z reminds me of them. But WTF has happened to Baby Boomers? Half of them have lost their damn minds and sold out to the Establishment.  Don’t they remember marching to protest injustice?  There are still Boomers who actively participate in trying to make change but the ones who’ve sold out are giving us a bad name. That brings me to the disgust I felt this morning.  The most fascist, vile of the vile have been re-elected by the sheeple: Ron Death Santis as Governor of FL, Marco Rubio, Senator; Marjorie Taylor Greene, reelected to the Senate from Georgia; Kemp re-elected Governor of Georgia; Abbott re-elected in Texas; AZ, NV and GA in Senate races so close they can’t be called. What’s worse in those five states: FL, TX, AZ, NV and GA? Some very fine Democratic candidates ran against them. Just to name a few: Beto O’Rourke, Mandela Barnes, Val Demings, Tim Rice, Stacey Abrams, and Charlie Crist. There are so many. The Dems failed some of the candidates with lack of enough support. That’s what happened to Tim Rice and he was beaten by election denier GQPer J.D. Vance. Georgia and Florida and Texas! What the fuck is wrong with the voters there? In Texas, millions didn’t bother to vote. WHY? Beto O’Rourke would’ve made a wonderful governor; instead, people went with the man who utterly failed them during repeated power outages and still hasn’t addressed the issue, Greg Abbott.  Abbott and his partner in crime, Death Santis of Florida, also had the bright idea to kidnap immigrants waiting for legitimate hearings to stay in this country and fly them to blue states. I guess the white supremacists in Wisconsin preferred to re-elect Ron Johnson, another right wing tRumper who promises to get rid of Social Security and Medicare.  I think the reason that doesn’t scare older voters as much is because they figure they won’t live too much longer anyway. Could that be? Well, what if they live to 90 and discover they aren’t covered by Medicare anymore?  There's no thought given to people coming up now, edging closer to eligibility.  Tough luck? Hey, when social security and Medicare came into being, they weren't handouts. Workers have been paying into social security with every pay check. When the program began, people knew they were paying in to HELP THEIR ELDERLY NEIGHBORS. And the idea was, when they were old enough to collect, younger people had been paying in long enough to support the ones going to retire. It's NOT an entitlement. We paid into it. Seniors have to get mad about people losing their rights. It's not just women who lost the rights to control their own bodies in these increasingly fascist red states. It affects ALL of us.  Once the red fascists gain more power, they'll be looking to eliminate other fundamental rights. Think they won't? Get your head out of your butt and read what these people having been saying over and over.  They know no one is really paying attention or are too dumb/gullible or too preoccupied with their own financial struggles to care. People have to care. Hard times come and go. We are all riding a roller coaster of good times and bad times.  But we have to focus on what these politicians are saying. And DO SOMETHING. Georgia’s another one that boggles my mind. Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock is a preacher, a family man, a man with values. You’d think that would appeal to the Georgians.  Don’t they value those things? No? Oh, half of them (the whites, not surprisingly) prefer to support an immoral man who says the stupidest things anyone could possibly imagine.  The Hershel Walker supporters may think he’s a moron but they also know that he’s a mouthpiece for tRump. I seem to remember reading about a situation like this before. I’ve always been interested in history and learned much from historical fiction. Well, the topic I’m thinking of is the years leading up to the Civil War. At that time, there was a violent “militia” type group called the Know Nothings that ran around committing violent acts against immigrants and people of color because they believed “white is right”. Tensions were rising between the North and South. Here we go again. Texas has made some noises about seceding. To be honest, my gut feeling is: “good riddance to bad cess. And take Florida and Georgia with you.” We’re here because we don’t learn from history. I don’t think we ever will. That’s one of the flaws we’re gifted with. It’s genetic. It’s not just us. I remember the Sunday School stories about how God’s chosen people were banned and punished over and over because He’d say “Do this” and they’d be like, “Ok” and then go off and do as they pleased, following their own stupid ideas because they figured they knew better or that they understood what God really meant to say, see? So, this behavior is ok…until it wasn’t. Sometimes I wish I hadn’t learned all I did over the years. Ignorance is bliss, right? But that’s ok. Life is just one big roller coaster ride. We go up, we go down. I’m remembering all those young people showing up to vote and I see a better future in them.  They’re smart, they’re savvy, they’re diverse, they’re passionate, they’re angry and they want to do the right thing. Once we were all like that, weren’t we?  Some of us still are like that, aren’t we?