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GELFAND’S WORLD - At E-day minus 3 weeks and counting --
There is a strong and sound reason for voting against every Republican candidate for the House of Representatives. Whenever the Republicans have gained a majority in the House, they use their power to damage the government and, in so doing, the country. In recent years it has involved repeated threats to default on the national debt. These attempts are typically accompanied by the threat of a government shutdown, and often include a partial shutdown. And due to internal Republican Party rifts combined with a chronic distaste for working with Democrats, the smaller group of Republican extremists have had extra power to extort favors from their larger group.
There is another factor that ought to be taken into account by any normal person who is also a traditional registered Republican. If you are at all interested in defending women's rights, you should acknowledge this fact: To be a Republican office holder is to be anti-abortion. That's because, even if your personal feelings skew somewhat towards freedom for women, to be a member of the Republican Party in the House is to support a ruling apparatus that is brutally archaic and expects you to join in party-line votes much of the time.
This is where it is important to consider the protestations of such southland Republican candidates as Young Kim and Michelle Steel. They are both running tv ads portraying themselves as defenders of women and supporters of humane policies. But this is fanciful, because their very existence as part of the Republican majority serves to maintain the rule of people such as Michael Johnson and the continued influence of representatives such as Matt Gaetz and Jim Jordan. And under such circumstances, there is no possibility that a Republican House would ever allow for any relaxation, no matter how limited, in the anti-abortion approach taken by its strictest adherents.
The above claims might sound a bit excessive but consider the evidence. In the face of the two hurricanes that have done damage that is probably in the hundreds of billions of dollars, it makes a lot of sense for the congress to convene, if even for a few days, and pass the measures that the current disaster requires. So what did the Republican controlled House do? Nothing. Nada. Zilch. They won't come back until after the elections.
There is an old saying that should be a joke but turns out to be more of a scientific description: Republicans argue that government doesn't work, and when they get elected, they do their best to prove it.
Maybe the above argument really comes down to the realization that you are not voting for the person, but for the party. Under current Republican doctrine -- their own internal policy for bringing a measure to the floor of the House -- this is sadly the truth. It's not even any kind of a secret. Since back in the days of Speaker Dennis Hastert, the Republicans have gone by the rule named for him, that keeps the range of allowable legislation narrow, and basically makes it impossible for the minority party to have any of its legislation considered for a floor vote.
TV ads continue to be misleading and corrupt
Not exactly a surprise. As I continue to point out, those tv ads may be the truth and nothing but the truth, but they aren't the whole truth. The most despicable ad is an attack on congressional candidate Derek Tran, who is running in the 45th congressional district against Michelle Steel. Tran, besides being a veteran, has made a career for himself as a trial lawyer. In the American system, every defendant has the right to a lawyer. That's also true in civil cases except for small claims court. So Tran is being accused of defending people who may have been less than wonderful people. The problem is that one of the tv ads shows a picture of Tran and alongside him, a hangman's noose. This image apparently represents an allegation that one of his clients had a noose hanging in his office. The image of course is designed to cause the viewer to associate Tran himself with that noose. In essence, the ad is attacking the whole American system of justice and fair play.
Meanwhile, his opponent is solidly right wing, and not representative of California as a whole. Whether she represents her district is up to the voters.
Trump continues to show mental changes and dangerous tendencies
No need to belabor the point. You all saw the story where Donald Trump stopped talking at one of his political rallies and merely swayed to music for 39 minutes. I will toss him a bone as to the choice of Schubert's Ave Maria for one of the tunes. But Trump's behavior is certainly questionable in terms of presenting a serious candidate.
One other thing that is now being talked about. Trump has started fantasizing openly about using the power of the government -- including the military -- to punish his political opponents. In a recent interview, he made clear that his enemies list includes Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi. This is just one more Trump fact that has inspired so many Republicans to point out the danger of electing this man. Oh yeah. Trump now describes the January 6 attack as "a day of love."
Donald Trump acts on impulse. He gets some crazy idea in his head and goes off on it. One week it is to place high tariffs on imports, costing the American people thousands of dollars in increased costs while simultaneously provoking a trade war with China which hurt American agriculture and manufacturing. On another day, he wonders about quack medical treatments for Covid, resulting in the deaths of thousands of his followers.
Numerous people who were recruited to work for Trump later reported in their books that Trump goes with what the last person who spoke to him said. The result was a series of policy decisions that were contradictory, badly contrived, and often enough anti-American. The failure by Trump to construct a coherent set of policies that work together rather than against each other suggests the essentially addled nature of the Trump brain. Weird is the correct word to describe the whole current Republican Party and its leaders.
(Bob Gelfand writes on science, culture, and politics for CityWatch. He can be reached at [email protected])
