Wednesday, November 04, 2020

I'm Thinking About Moving Abroad... Again

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When you're 20, it's easy to pick up and go live abroad. Now...

After Nixon was elected, I left the country and stayed away until he was being impeached. That's a photo of me in 1969 when I first went overseas to live. Eventually, I wanted to come back to America, my home... so I did. I never thought I would consider moving away again. Last night, looking at my computer screen as the returns rolled in, made me start thinking about how much I liked living in Amsterdam. I could do it again. It's harder for an old person than was for me when I was a young person. But I started thinking about it-- mostly about how much I don't want to liven a country where so many people want to elect... a fascist... a sociopath... a degenerate... a traitor. It's not him-- not Trump-- that made me think about moving away. It's Americans. They came out in droves and voted for Trump as another 88,980 of us were reported to have COVID yesterday.





I have to talk myself off this ledge.

It may take a few days. Or maybe I won't be able to. Meanwhile, I'll work on a post this morning trying to make some sense out of how horribly Democrats did-- not just Biden-- Democrats everywhere. And I'll try to look at how I could have been so wrong about a wave election. Rural, blue collar voters don't see themselves as Democrats any longer-- and why should they? What does the party stand for-- a confused Big Tent that is no longer a vehicle for the legitimate interests of the working class. Biden may win this-- I think he will-- but the Democrats lost the chance to take the Senate and lost seats in the House and lost opportunities to advance a next generation of progressive leaders like Kara Eastman, Julie Oliver, Mike Siegel, Dana Balter, Nat McMurray, Adam Christensen, Beth Doglio, Jon Hoadley, Georgette Gomez... 

And... is anyone ever going to believe a pollster again?





Or is it going to all come down to this argument in the Lincoln Project video below... they stole the election? Can we muster it up to fight over this now? I guess... But how did both Miami-Dade Democrats lose in D+5 and D+6 districts. It's not even supposed to be possuble, even though both Muarsel-Powell and Shalala have to be-- at best-- be described as unispiring and mediocre. Still, that describes most members of Congress. But it looks-- at least from the numbers I'm looking at as I write this... well they describe a smoldering ruin everywhere. This was supposed to be an extension of 2018 and instead it feels more like 2010. Actual neo-Nazis Lauren Boebert and Madison Cawthorn look like they are beating Diane Mitsch Bush in Colorado and Moe Davis in North Carolina. And Texas... at least half a dozen House seats to pick up. Mike Siegel, Wendy Davis, Sri Kulkarni, Gina Ortiz Jones, Candace Valenzuela, Julie Oliver, Donna Imam... it looks like everyone lost. Damn! Still, the winters are so cold in Amsterdam...


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20 Comments:

At 5:24 AM, Blogger Knockout Zed said...

You are learning who your neighbors are. They have always shown who they are to me.

 
At 5:28 AM, Blogger DownWithTyranny said...

I live in L.A. and my neighbors all vote straight Democrat-- but I know what you mean... my neighbors in Iowa, Texas, Florida.

 
At 5:47 AM, Blogger CNYOrange said...

Welp, if it is even true the republicans stole results then the Democrats have to take some of the blame. They constantly allowed republicans to do it, starting in 2000 Florida. Democrats NEVER fight, just accept defeat and tell themselves they'll do better next time. Next time never comes.

 
At 5:50 AM, Blogger El Guapo said...

I feel exactly the same. It's not trump, it's the fact that I am surrounded by ignorant, racist, etc.. Americans. Especially here in PA. Sad.
My sister lives in Antwerp and I'm thinking about spending some time there. Maybe we'll be neighbors.

 
At 5:54 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"What does the (democrap) party stand for-- a confused Big Tent that is no longer a vehicle for the legitimate interests of the working class."

you misdiagnosed it again. You stride right up to the shore, but refuse to see water.

the democrap PARTY is a very small tent. They represent money. full stop. can't get any smaller than that.

what is happening is that the voters are veeeeery sloooooowly figuring this out, and reacting by not voting, even refusing to show up to vote against trump, nazis, liars, criminals, traitors...

The democrap party has not had anyone without a lot of money in the tent for 40 years. Only the colossal stupidity of their voters have kept that party relevant.

you think biden was the best possible candidate? he was the MONEY'S best candidate.

And that condition of the party and its voters is part of why the nazi movement is mushrooming... in a pandemic... in an economic sinkhole. Because the democraps have had 40 years to fix all the foundations and damage... and have summarily refused.

 
At 6:13 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The EU does not still have that ban on americans because of covid?

 
At 6:18 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why is this a ELECTORAL DEBACLE surprise?

Do people not remember how radically people changed in response to a dog whistle blown in Philadelphia MS in 1980?

How Nixon was the last political person to suffer a consequence for illegal activity (something which couldn't be reversed as easily as his public image was - or it would have been)?

War criminal Dubya returned to respectability while sitting in a Texas luxury box yucking it up next to Ellen DeGeneris no matter how many thousands of his victims' souls howled from their graves.

All the evidence was there. The Democrats refused to see any of it. Only they were fooled by the campaign of lies they foisted upon American voters. Everyone else saw Biden for what he always was - and chose to keep the devil they knew instead.

How many people refused to speak with any pollster (as my household has done for years), or lied in answering questions? People do not trust pollsters and really hate how they insist on badgering you for information no matter how inconvenient at that moment.

WE. DON'T. OWE. POLLSTERS. ANYTHING.

Not having accurate data means a skewed result. THIS is why the polling is so radically incorrect. THIS is why polling will never again be reliable.

Go get a REAL job, Frank Luntz!

 
At 6:51 AM, Blogger Knockout Zed said...

Every election, local or national, we get democrats trying to court moderate Republicans instead of people who count on have a left of center voice in government. Every election they are confused about the results. If people want a right wing approach to government, THEY HAVE AN ACTUAL REPUBLICAN THEY CAN CHOOSE. What good is a Democrat to a wing nut? A gutless choice, a candidate without the balls to follow through on anything that matters. If I want a post office renamed I might be able to rely on a Democrat. Otherwise, I’m voting Green.

 
At 7:34 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dems did not push back against being labeled socialists in Miami.

 
At 7:59 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

So much for folks who support the Neoliberal Dem Establishment no matter what......

 
At 9:03 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous @5:54 has harped for years, in between blaming the Dems, that the American people are stupid. Finally Howie agrees and anonymous decides to shift the goalposts. While the Dems could have helped themselves by being less venal and trying to get more disaffected to vote, the reality is that most non-voters are likely to be just as stupid as the record 120+ M that voted.

Bernie wouldn't have won any more votes than Biden. He might have gotten a few more Independents and maybe some non-voters but would have lost some racists who would rather keep their money than continue with their fake liberal virtual signaling. With Trump actually getting at least 4+M new voters from his 2016 number, it is obvious that more than half our country are not only complete assholes, but 48% of them are utterly racist to boot. Sad to see so many Latinos are racists, but just like the Irish and Italians before them, some people just want to be second to last rather than trying to make everyone equal.

 
At 9:26 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Keep telling yourself such things, 9:03. You'll need them in 2022 and 2024 to provide you with convenient excuses for a failed Party.

 
At 9:31 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey living in L.A. so they might vote solid Dem but how about those proposition results in CA? Uber and Lyft won over worker protections and it will take 7/8ths majority in state government to ever change it or even give those workers the right to organize. Bail bond industry won over eliminating bail. Prop 15 failed so we're stuck with Prop 13 and rickety state financing forever, despite it being a split role proposition that explicitly didn't raise taxes on housing.

 
At 10:08 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

9:03 makes solid points, validated by 9:31.

Voters being dumber than shit and the party being the party of money are not mutually exclusive.

Those are resonant factors that got us reagan and ever-worse people and parties ever since.

And that is why a state can vote FOR democraps and, coincidentally, vote FOR fascist reforms. Those are actually not contradictory... not since 1982 or so.

Bernie may or may not have won in 2016. I had thought he'd have won handily because he animated 20 million who didn't usually vote. 2020 was a different matter. He'd already been ratfucked by the party, but his response was what cost him in 2020. Instead of taking his movement to the people, he ate shit and died -- joining the ratfuckers. That would never sit well with those who actually, you know, HAVE the principles he said he had.

Too late now. the nazi movement has caught on like it did in Germany.

I wonder what the world will do about that fact now...

Those who vote democrap are fascists who are less racist than nazis AND those too fucking stupid to understand what they're actually voting for.

 
At 10:49 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Don't think you can sell a New Deal anymore to the American people. Money has won because we are a racist nation ruled by our most assholish tendencies. There is no helping a people that would rather see their neighbor die of COVID than wear a mask and cheer police and vigilantes that murder people of color. The Dems offered very little but it is apparent that almost half the country wants racism over a new stimulus package that would give them a few months reprieve from destitution.

Dems weren't going to do much even with a landslide win and now they will likely get the cover of a Rep Senate to prop up the wealthy, while getting to continue their toothless "wokeness", which for Dems is the counter to Reps governing based on "owning the libs".

 
At 2:25 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

10:49, I would remind you that, like hitler, the nazis still haven't gotten even half of the 'voters'.

When this is all over, something like 70 million will have voted for the corrupt neoliberal fascist party; and a couple million fewer will have voted for the nazi party and der fuhrer.

However, there are still maybe 85 million who could have voted but did not, for whatever reasons.

that does not invalidate your point. After all, hitler was named chancellor before his party had a workable fraction of the reichstag... and ended up fuhrer for life... with zero opposition.

who the fuck is the nazis' opposition in this shithole? 85 million who won't vote? 70 million idiots who vote for pussies? The pussies those 70 million idiots always try to elect?

yep. nobody. that's the opposition. just like fucking nazi germany.

 
At 4:16 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

@2:25, the point is that our country is further down the road to being a dictatorship than Germany was a century ago. Those 85M non-voters likely look just like the 120M that voted. 48% of this country (not just voters) is very likely fine with a president that suggests he may not hand over power peacefully. This after 4 years of race-baiting and doing nothing for the 99% and finishing it up by embarrassingly failing during a pandemic. All it takes is a president audacious enough to declare an election null and just take power. The other 52% won't likely last long considering the violent temperament and utter baseness of the willing 48%.

 
At 6:27 PM, Anonymous Tracy B Ann said...

Don't underestimate how sexist America is. Trump got a record number of Black male votes this year. I don't like Kamala Harris for a lot of reasons but the fact that she is a woman isn't one of them and I voted for her anyway. I think a male VP Candidate would have made a difference. (I also think that sucks but hey...)

 
At 9:29 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

No. A male Dem VP would not have delivered a Dem victory. The problem is a failed Party which only serves Big Money. If Buttigieg was straight, he'd have been VP - and the Dems STILL would have lost the House majority, STILL failed to take the Senate, and STILL not decisively crushed Trump so completely that electoral fraud could not steal away the White House.

Next time anyone talks with a Whig, warn them that the LOSER Democrats are on the way. The Whigs might want to avoid contact lest their reputations be sullied.

 
At 6:18 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

4:16, it'll probably reflect the 40-60 split more closely than the active voter split. But your point is well taken.

When the 60% can't manage to elect anyone who will act, it might as well just go back to sleep.

all it takes for evil to flourish is for the good people to do nothing. or elect fascist pussies who won't do anything.

 

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