Has Anyone Noticed The Country Is Falling Apart-- And That We Better Make Some Changes Fast?

This is good Robert Reich clip. "To the conservative mind," he explained, "the specter of socialism conjures up a society in which no one is held accountable and no one has to work for what they receive. Yet, that's exactly the society Trump and the Republicans are promoting for the rich. Meanwhile, most Americans are subject to an increasingly harsh and arbitrary capitalism. They need stronger safety nets, and they deserve a bigger piece of the economic pie. If you want to call this 'socialism,' fine."

This week, the AP sent out a preview of a book, We Are Indivisible-- A Blueprint for Democracy After Trump, coming out this fall by Indivisible founders Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg. AP reporter Elana Schor writes that it zeros in on issues such as the overhaul of Senate rules, gerrymandering, the electoral college and automatic voter registration "which they see as necessary to achieve the sort of big policy shifts that Democratic presidential candidates are campaigning on... 'We’re not just interested in getting rid of Trump,' Levin said. 'We’re interested in getting rid of Trumpism.'"

The Indivisible duo aims to speak to both the dozen-plus Democratic candidates vying to take on Trump next year and the tens of millions of voters who will choose the party’s nominee. As Democratic White House hopefuls line up behind ambitious policy ideas, Levin and Greenberg want to prod the candidates to explain how they would steer their ideas through a Congress often crippled by partisan stalemates.

“I don’t think we can hear from somebody about their plan for climate change or gun violence until we can hear about their plan for making that happen,” Greenberg, 32, told the Associated Press in a joint interview with Levin, 33. “If you’re refusing to take on things about our democracy that make that policy proposal impossible to pass in our system, then that’s not a real proposal.”

The real rot is certainly being exacerbated by Trump and Trumpism but, that rot didn't start with Trump and it won't end with excising Trumpism. America is in deep trouble. Ian Welsh termed it a failing state. When stuff that should work," he wrote, just keeps getting worse and worse, you know your state is failing." He offers his readers this chart from Texas:

But he isn't talking about the state of Texas. He's talking about the United States of America. Ergo, these 2 charts:

People who are happy and have hope for the future rarely become drug addicts.

Adam Smith wrote that “there is a great deal of ruin in a nation.”

That amount is not infinite.

The U.S. is not keeping up its infrastructure. It is not building important new infrastructure, as anyone who has seen high speed trains overseas (or good airline terminals) knows.

The U.S. is losing wars. It is losing in Afghanistan. When it left Iraq it had to pay local militias not to attack as it left. It arguably won in Libya, if you call contributing to a refugee crisis destabilizing its main strategic partner, the EU, winning, which anyone sane wouldn’t.

The US has turned, in large part, against the World Trade Organization, which it created. Even before turning against it, the WTO failed in its latest round of trade negotiation.

The prices of basic medicines in the U.S. are soaring. (The price of insulin has tripled) and there is an actual decline in life expectancy, the first since the Spanish Flu.

The U.S. is alienating its most important allies, like the EU. Increasingly it uses financial sanctions to punish nations, leading to talk of creating a financial network without the US at its center.

Core manufacturing (for example of computer chips) has moved offshore, and the US is no longer the key manufacturer of electronic goods, nor is one of its allies (Japan controlling this wouldn’t matter much, China doing so, does.) The most advanced 5G technology was created by China. The most important technological city in the world is in China.

China now manufactures more than the US, and in purchasing power parity terms, has a larger economy.

Core nations like Italy (a member of the G7) are beginning to look to Beijing. Italy has signed up for China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which is, among other things, a rival to the WTO and the American lead trade order. Non core nations are increasingly turning to China for loans and development, which China is willing to lend them the money for, often at better rates than the IMF and WTO with less demands for internal controls.

The U.S. military is showing signs of being unable to create effective advanced military equipment: as with the F-35, which basically can’t fly. It is showing signs of intense incompetence, as when it let multiple planes be destroyed on the ground by a hurricane rather than, uh, fly them out or get them under effective cover.

The U.S. is led by Donald Trump, a reality TV star, who was made to look like an effective billionaire mogul by clever editing. While Trump is not without his competencies (he did spend his life shitting into a gold toilet and screwing models), he’s clearly a few screws lose and a flaming narcissist.

Meanwhile the opposition party, faced with an extremely unpopular president, mutters about coming together and how they would never impeach a weak President.

The U.S. is a gold flecked garbage heap slowly rolling towards the ocean. On fire.

There is a lot of ruin in a nation, but for almost 40 years now America’s elites have treated the U.S. as something to loot, and assumed that the good times would keep rolling. They were uninterested in actually governing. They were happy to move much of America’s core manufacturing overseas, to the most likely nation to replace America as a hegemon, because the Chinese were smart enough to make American elites rich.

And so, today, large parts of America are shitholes, which the residents hate so much they are consuming record amounts of drugs and committing suicide, because who the fuck wants to live in a nation with no hope, shitty bosses and no hope.

Oh, of course, there are people doing well. There were people doing well in 400AD as the Roman Empire collapses. There are always some people doing well.

But the number of people doing well keeps getting less and less, and the decline keeps getting worse and worse.

But the top is doing fine, so they see no reason to do anything.

Heck, Trump just gave them another tax cut. Everyone they know is doing great.

And so the decline goes on, because until the elites are made to feel the pain of the majority, they will not change.

And so far, no one is willing or able to make the elites pay.

Anyone Looking For A Job In DC?

Are you looking for a job? One of my first jobs-- when I was still in high school-- was for Timothy Leary, up in Millbrook, New York. That was in 1964 I think. Three years later, he was widely famous and gave me my first acid trip. But my work for him in 1964 was digging a ditch for a broken sewer system. I only lasted a day. I dug all day, was covered in shit at the end, took a shower, then a Greyhound bus back to New York City.

The job I saw posted this week in the Capitol looks even worse. A shower won't wash this shit away. "Ex"-Republican Tom O’Halleran, an Arizona Blue Dog from Flagstaff-- currently being primaried by Eva Putzova-- put out the posting for a Policy Coordinator for the Blue Dog Coalition. This is the posting:

Policy Coordinator for the Blue Dog Coalition: The Blue Dog Policy Coordinator (PC) will work with the office of the Co-Chair for Policy to oversee the development of the Blue Dog policy agenda, assist with monitoring key floor activity as well as Member services activities. The PC will help manage policy aspects of the Coalition, such as coordinating work of the Blue Dog task forces, managing caucus-wide sign-on letters, drafting bills for Members to introduce, and developing Coalition reports. The PC is responsible for staying updated on Blue Dog Member office priorities and cultivating good working relationships with staff at multiple levels in each Member office. The PC collaborates with the Member offices and outside stakeholders to create issue-specific briefings for Blue Dog staff and Members. This position reports to the Chief of Staff for the Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy.

Interested candidates should email a cover letter, resume, and salary requirements to bluedog.resumes@mail.house.gov.

Jeremy Nordquist
Chief of Staff
Rep. Tom O’Halleran (AZ-01)
324 Cannon House Office Building
jeremy.nordquist@mail.house.gov
202-225-3361

The Blue Dog Coalition is the extreme right fringe of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, in short, the very worst of the worst. These are the members of their wretched caucus (the six freshmen's names are in red):

• Sanford Bishop (GA)
• Anthony Brindisi (NY)
• Jim Cooper (TN)
• Luis Correa (CA)
• Jim Costa (CA)
• Charlie Crist (FL)
• Henry Cuellar (TX)
• Vicente Gonzalez (TX)
• Josh Gottheimer (NJ)
• Dan Lipinski (IL)
• Ben McAdams (UT)
• Stephanie Murphy (FL)
• Tom O'Halleran (AZ)
• Collin Peterson (MN)
• Max Rose (NY)
• Brad Schneider (IL)
• Kurt Schrader (OR)
• David Scott (GA)
• Mikie Sherrill (NJ)
• Abigail Spanberger (VA)
• Mike Thompson (CA)
• Xochitl Torres Small (NM)
• Jeff Van Drew (NJ)
• Filemon Vela (TX)

Why would someone go to work for the Blue Dogs? Well, if you're a Democrat who opposes Wall Street regulation. Or if you want to kill Medicare-For-All or the Green New Deal. Or if you oppose raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour... this might be the perfect job for you. Indivisible just put out a wonderful guide, Help! My House Dem Is In A Problematic Caucus that will help you deal with a local congressman who winds up in the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. "Is your House Democrat in the Blue Dog Coalition? Are they a 'New Dem'? Or, worst of all, are they a so-called 'Problem Solver'? These caucuses might sound good on paper, but they fill your House Democrat’s ears with mostly-wrong ideas. That means you may have to work extra hard to make sure they’re supporting progressive policies in Congress. Here’s why these caucuses can be a problem, and what you can do if your Member of Congress (MoC) belongs to one.

They use what muscle they have to undermine progressive values. Most recently, the so-called “rebels” in the Problem Solvers Caucus are the key voting bloc holding out on supporting Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House when that vote takes place in January. They’re not doing it to install someone more liberal than Pelosi-- they’re going for someone more conservative. Meanwhile, members of the Blue Dog Coalition continue to trumpet the Republican “fiscal responsibility” playbook. This is the argument they used to hold up passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2009 (even though it was paid for). These caucuses will thwart progress on progressive priorities if left unchecked.

They’ve been pushing rules that empower Republicans. Each new Congress, the party in the majority adopts of set of rules for how the House will operate. The Problem Solvers Caucus has leveraged its support of Pelosi into changes to the rules that empower Republicans to get floor votes on their bills and amendments, and committee mark-ups on their bills. Democratic control of the House means Democrats should control the agenda-- not allow Republicans to dictate what happens on the floor.

They’ve got questionable motives. The Problem Solvers Caucus is sponsored by No Labels-- an organization that has courted funding from conservative ideologues like David Koch, Peter Thiel, and Paul Singer (who also funds the conservative Washington Free Beacon). No Labels also awarded its “Problem Solver” distinction to Donald Trump in January 2016-- a clear indication that despite their branding, No Labels and the Problem Solvers Caucus are most interested in building up their own power and mystique. As it turns out, they haven’t actually solved any problems.

What You Can Do

If you’ve got a Democrat in one of these caucuses, it’s important not to panic. They’ve signaled a troubling inclination to cut deals with Republicans—but they haven’t voted that way yet. Ultimately, it would be great to have them drop the caucus like a bad habit. But in the short term, your most important goal is influencing how they vote. Good news! You already know the best ways to do that. Remember, they still have the same guiding motivation as every other Member of Congress: to get re-elected by keeping their constituents happy and bad stuff out of the news. That means you can still pressure them to vote with you, instead of with their problematic caucus, by making good asks and pressuring your MoC through local action.

Here are the tactics we recommend in the new Indivisible Guide:

1- District office visits. Members of Congress have offices back home in their districts for a reason-- to serve the constituents they represent. A district office is a good place for your group to show up, meet with staff or the MoC, and draw attention to your concerns. Read more here from the original Indivisible Guide about how to have impactful district office events.

2- Coordinated phone calls. While showing up in person is always the best tactic, flooding an MoC’s phone lines can also have an impact. Check our online resources (we update these nearly daily!) for call scripts that your group can use, and read more here, from the original Indivisible Guide, on how to maximize your impact through phone calls.

3- Earned media events. Your MoC’s local office is also a great location for protests with creative visuals. These are easy and appealing for reporters to cover, and they can result in news stories that pack a punch. Indivisible groups earned great coverage by holding “die-ins” to protest their MoCs’ support for TrumpCare, and “retirement parties” to signal that voting for Trump’s tax bill would end their MoCs’ political careers. Tailor your tactics to your group’s talents and interests. These types of creative, fun events are great at getting media coverage. Here’s more on how to get press coverage of your events.

4- Town halls and public events. Town halls and public events are ideal for showing up in a group and making your voices heard. Footage of angry constituents demanding answers in person is one of the most effective ways to force attention on MoCs and hold them accountable. Demanding their attention and disrupting their preferred narrative is an effective way to draw attention to your concerns and influence their decision-making in the public eye. Read more here about showing up at public events, and more here about maximizing impact at a town hall.

5- Statewide (or districtwide) public letters. Another way to increase the pressure is to coordinate with other Indivisible groups and jointly write a letter to your MoC, listing the co-signing groups. After submitting the letter to your MoC’s office, email it to your local media list. Letters like this are a great way to demonstrate the depth of local support for your cause. It’s something reporters can easily quote and cite in their next story about your issue. You can also try submitting your letter to the Letters to the Editor section of your local papers, inquiring whether they might run it in the letters or op-ed sections.

6- Letters to the editor. Letters to the editor in your local newspaper that mention your MoC by name are a great way to get their attention. MoCs and their staff members regularly review press clips that mention that MoC, including letters to the editor, meaning that your advocacy will get noticed and discussed in the office. Read here for more on how to advocate using LTEs.

7- Op-eds. The op-ed sections of local newspapers are some of the most valuable pieces of real estate in media. MoCs regularly use local op-ed pages to write their own narratives and shape public opinion showcasing their leadership. By writing your own op-eds, you can be a part of shaping that narrative. Whether you support or oppose your MoCs, getting into the op-ed space is a great way to hold them accountable. Read more here on writing op-eds that make a difference.