Yesterday, I wrote a brief summary of the bad stuff that happened during the year, so this year I figured I'd post briefly about things I am optimistic about. For starters, the fact that the pushback against the Trump regime began in earnest the day after his inauguration with the Women's Marches was heartening. People have been yanked out of their complacence, organizing for political and societal change.
While the revelations about widespread sexual misconduct in many industries and various governmental bodies were appalling, the rise of the metoo movement promises to clean up the cesspools in which sexual abusers and harassers thrive.
The best news of the year has been the successful political pushback against the GOP in places somewhat expected, such as Virginia, and unexpected, such as Alabama. It looks like the Democrats have a decent chance at retaking the House of Representatives, and targeting Blue State Republicans such as California's Darrell Issa and New York's Peter King by hanging the GOP tax plan around their necks like an albatross seems like the best strategy to make bicoastal Republicans go the way of the dodo.
For a pretty crappy year, there have been glimmers of hope, and indications of a return to some semblance of sanity in 2018. Sweeping a whole lot of bad men out of positions of power is the crucial strategy for accomplishing this.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
1.) I don't see much direct benefit around the 'pushback against Trump'. Perhaps it has contributed to some of the political outcomes you mention, but unless/until the Republicans decide that governing the nation is more important than partisan power there won't be any actual beneficial result.
2.)#metoo and the sudden accountability for men who spent years exploiting the power imbalances built into American culture to rape and assault and destroy women is, as you say, a truly wonderful thing to see. I hope that a.) it becomes a movement for accountability and consequences for bad behavior in general, from law enforcement murders to hedge fund financial crimes and b.) I worry that American short attention spans will move on to something else, or even start pushing back against women who report harassment - we watched Occupy and BLM kind of get confused and crushed and I don't want to see that. But I think we can expect that 2018 and the election in November to be a very strong expression of the 'year of the woman'.
3.)The Republican party under Trump is unpopular. Horrifically so. And the actual legislative and policy actions they've taken have been even more so. It seems likely that the Democrats will take at least one house of congress which will put an end to Trump's legislative agenda. Perhaps then the Party will decide they need to toss him over the side and will support impeachment...
I disagree with mikey, of course. one of the direct aspects to the pushback to Trump is the success Democrats are having in red districts, pointing to a swing between 12 and 20 points in elections; if this is so, it would suffice to swing both houses of Congress and a fair number of statehouses.
Also, high points of the year: MST3K renewed for another season, and the new Jon Langford album is absolutely superb.
Post a Comment