Presidential politics and what you can do
26 August 2024
These 2 blogs highlight some important issues:
Robert Reich: Stop the bullying
Over the last four decades, America has allowed fiercer bullying than anything I experienced as a kid. Wealthier Americans have bullied poorer Americans, CEOs have bullied their workers, white people have bullied people of color, men have bullied women, people born in America have bullied new arrivals and undocumented workers.
Sometimes bullying involves physical violence, but more often it entails intimidation, displays of dominance, demands for submission, or arbitrary decisions over the lives of those who have no choice but to accept them.
. . .
Donald Trump is a bully. He has used his wealth to gain power, and used his power to target people of color, harass and abuse women, lie, violate the law, trample on our Constitution, and rage at anyone who calls him on his bullying.
. . .
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are part of a movement to make America more inclusive, strengthen our democracy, and stop the bullying.
The real fight between now and Election Day is not between Democrats and Republicans, as the two parties came to be known in the decades after World War II.
It is a fight that began to take shape in 1968 when Nixon won the presidency, that became bellicose after 1980 when Ronald Reagan took office, and that came into full view in 2016 when Trump won the electoral vote.
It is between democracy and oligarchy, between self-government and tyranny. It is a fight between the bullies and the bullied. More
Jessica Valenti: November will be a referendum on masculinity
In fact, the election of the first woman president may end up being a referendum on masculinity. Namely, whether the country will reject the toxic and dying version of American manhood so perfectly embodied by Donald Trump.
When Trump was elected in 2016, what made it such a slap in the face to American women wasn’t just that we missed our chance to elect a woman president, but that voters so willingly embraced a misogynist monster. It felt as if the country didn’t simply want Hillary Clinton to lose, but to put all women back in their place. Watching Trump win—a serial sexual abuser and rapist who calls women ‘dogs’ while grabbing them “by the pussy”—confirmed many women’s worst suspicions. Their own country did, in fact, hate them.
. . .
That regressiveness was only highlighted when Trump chose Vance as his running mate. The former Ohio Senator’s fixation with women’s reproductive capabilities, whether we’re ‘childless’ or ‘post-menopausal,’ has been perceived (correctly!) as downright strange.
What’s been most effective, though, is a very smart and specific strategy by the Harris campaign: They’re using good men to remind voters how very bad Trump and his ilk are. More
Volunteer opportunities:
Help staff your local polling place
Do something positive - don't just stew over the news, 12 July 2024
Volunteer opportunities, 10 July 2024
Getting a little more involved, 24 June 2024
If you like these essays, please subscribe or share them with others. These essays will always be free. Instead of giving me money, please repost these essays, strive to make our world a better place and try to make yourself a better person.
The index to this blog is here.
I have another blog on Cancer and Medicine.
Follow me on LinkedIn, Threads and Instagram (npernickmich) and Tribel (@nat385440b).
Email me at Nat@PathologyOutlines.com.
I also publish Notes at https://substack.com/note. Subscribers will automatically see my notes.