Election Day

I have mostly resisted writing about politics these past months because I can't handle it. Not only have Republicans stymied Democrats (whose inexplicable razor-thin margins in the House and Senate make them vulnerable), they have benefited from a rogue, opportunist senator from West Virginia.

(Gosh, Joe. So relived the nation can suffer the effects of climate change so that the good citizens of West Virginia may remain employed. The greatest good for the greatest number, right?)

So yeah, the Republicans are winning the battle. Mitch McConnell, with an healthy assist from Manchin, has effectively blocked Biden's forward-thinking legislation addressing our nation's badly-neglected infrastructure, climate change and so much else.

Yay!

So I resist clawing my eyes out by ignoring it. By watching the local WNBA franchise take a title. By driving Porsche 911s on a race track. By taking a two-week road trip I can't afford.

But reality is like having kids. It's always there. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. There are no off days. And our current generation of Americans, not exactly suited to enduring things like COVID lockdowns and shortages and inflation, are angry and impatient. They want it to go away.

As do I.

But instead of reacting, we need to understand. Yes, the resumption of the normal we crave has been very slow in coming. But ask yourself why. Is it Joe Biden and his agenda or Republican resistance?

Again, Republicans have resisted virtually every public health measure intended to curb the COVID virus and eventually eliminate it. By delaying its containment and preventing its elimination, how is our economy ever to recover? How are we ever to resume our normal?

But Republicans don't really want our economy to recover. Not with a Democrat in the White House, anyway. They will stop at nothing to make Biden look weak, ineffective and clueless. And if you and yours suffer, well too fucking bad.

Sadly, many of the folks participating in polls that measure Biden's approval rating don't seem to realize this. In their ignorant, short-sighted opinion, Biden is screwing up and that's all there is to it.

He isn't struggling with in-house DINOS or wafer-thin majorities or a minority Speaker of the House eager to drive the car off the cliff to prove to his former high-school classmates that all these years later, he is a bad ass.

Can I be prom king? Will you invite me to your parties? Can I eat lunch with the cool kids?

Like his Democratic predecessor, Biden inherited a steaming heap of shit from the candidate he defeated. President forty-five did little but cultivate a bromance with Kim Jong-un and give billionaires and their corporations a big, giant tax cut.

It couldn't be more-obvious Biden has been tasked with a bit more.

So before we assign him and his party a single star on Yelp, can we please make the effort to appreciate the context? I'm aware the cost is our Instagram and YouTube time, but it might be really, really worthwhile going forward.

With solid Democratic majorities, we can at last begin to move forward. 

Vote Democratic, my friends. What's left of your futures depends on it.