I’ve been watching the demonstrations around the country filled with people demanding that we open businesses, ban masks and fight mandatory vaccinations. It is amazing that most of the protestors just don’t understand what’s at stake and do not get that no one, despite their claims, is actually taking away any of their rights. It’s always been fascinating to me that any time you have a bunch of people protesting about someone taking away their rights, it often turns out that what they want will involve violating someone else’s rights.
Let’s take a very simple example. You’re at the apartment of a politically active friend for a discussion about how to solve the shutdown of the eviction moratorium when you become aware of a rather vociferous couple that are expounding on their right to go about unvaccinated. You suppress a reasonable desire to punch their lights out but recognizing that it could be counter productive you explain that by not getting vaccinated they are prolonging the pandemic and possibly even contributing to its permanent existence by creating a breeding field for the Delta virus.
They go on a rant about religious freedom and their right not to be forced into putting any foreign substances into their bodies and you follow with your rant about your having a right not to be exposed to disease and death by a pair of brain dead morons. They respond with the bogus concept that while they understand your logic it doesn’t change anything about the way they feel. You begin to reconsider beating the shit out of them but take a last gasp shot at the idea that we get the vaccine not only to protect ourselves but also the people around us, some of whom have not been eligible to get the vaccine yet. So by not getting their shots these assholes are endangering everyone who is in any way vulnerable. They shrug and turn away, at which point you turn to the other guests and inquire if there is a criminal lawyer in the house who is free to represent you in a soon to be perpetrated assault case.
So when you see these clowns at the demonstrations shouting that by protecting the general population we are violating their rights, the reality is, that by participating in public activities without being vaccinated they are violating the rights and endangering the lives of everyone around them. I won’t even deal with the morons carrying automatic weapons into a situation that could turn violent, except to point out that a penis extender would probably go further in solving their problem than an M16.
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Then of course there are those who are so self involved that nothing ever enters the area between themselves and reality. I was watching old video footage today of groups of people in the LA area who were out demonstrating because they wanted the Governor of California to open Laguna and other beaches. These are not businessmen trying to get their stores and restaurants open so they and their employees can earn a living. These are spoiled brats who are being petulant because they can’t play on the beach. They haven’t the intelligence to understand, or the discipline to deal with the necessities demanded by a deadly disease that is killing people all around them. They simply have to get out and run or swim or surf lest their little pointed heads explode. A nation filled with this type of worm is in serious decline and all but begging for universal destruction.
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Watched some old footage of an Andrew Cuomo COVID press conference the other day. Despite all his self-inflicted problems this guy should be required watching for everyone that plans to vote. Whatever you think of his personal deportment while in office, he, more than almost anyone involved in today’s political scene, understands and elucidates them as clearly as is reasonably possible. His TV appearances during the pandemic were the most productive of any governor in the United States. In that situation he accepted
his responsibility as leader o the state, telling people that they must accept theirs because if they don’t do the right thing, it will hurt everyone and that even if they do, it may not work out for them. That takes a lot of guts politically. Very few politicians in my long life have had the balls to do that.
Recently he spoke about a very important subject. Money! Specifically how much we, as a state, lay out and how much we get back. It seems that New York State sends the Federal Government more money each year than any other state in the union. In some ways that’s as it should be. We are a very rich state. But in order to get rich we have what is probably the highest state tax in the nation and that tends to work against our interests by driving businesses and rich people who pay high taxes to states that don’t have such high tax rates.
Even so, the situation might not be so egregious if the Federal Government reciprocated by giving us back a fair share of what we give them. Unfortunately they don’t. They don’t even come close. Last year New York State paid the Federal Government $26.6 billion more than it got back. On average NY gets back $.90 on every dollar it sends to Washington whereas other states get back an average of $1.21. That’s only fair if you live in Florida. The top five states currently giving more to the Feds then they are getting back are NY, NJ, MA, CT & CA. The top five states taking from the Feds are VA, MD, KY, AL & FL. Interesting isn’t it, how 4 of the top 5 givers are in the Northeast and all five of the top takers are in the south? Why do you suppose that is? Maybe because states like Kentucky, with a population of 4.6 million have the same number of Senators, as does California with a population of 39.5 million. Or how about both the Dakota’s, with a total population of 1.6 million having twice the number of Senators as New York? We probably have more than 1.6 million people living in my neighborhood.
Those numbers represent a picture of real inequality.
So what can be done? Well, nothing was or could be done with Trump in office, just like nothing could be done about gerrymandering, tax inequality, Pentagon waste, automatic weapons, the environment, our healthcare system, infrastructure or the minimum wage. As long as Trump and his coterie of pathetic, bumbling, non-functional baboons stayed in office nothing was ever going to get fixed.
Then in November when a tortured nation, realized the egregious mistake it made in 2016 and threw those bums out of the House, the Senate and the Oval Office, it created a shot at making America what we always thought it could be.
Of course the new administration is facing what every Democratic administration that follows a Republican one has had to face almost forever. Before anything constructive can be done, it has to undo the disastrous mess that the GOP has left behind.
Clinton had to face that after Reagan and Bush, Obama had to face it after GW Bush and now Biden must face it after Trump. The Republicans destroy and the Democrats rebuild. Must be fate.