Voting
America is overstuffed with poser hacks who don't really believe the lies they tell. They are making the assumption that people are too ignorant of the facts about who has been shafting them, and how.
I voted today. I made up my mind about who, and what, to vote for awhile ago, and I had my ballot weeks ago, but I'd been gripped by an inertia so strong that I missed the deadline to mail it. I drove it to a drop box, instead.
California is notorious for having long ballots with complicated propositions in addition to the slate of candidates. This year's election booklet, sent out by the California Secretary of State, had the heft of Moby Dick. I like these booklets, though; they do a good job of explaining the issues and the arguments for and against. I didn't read every word, but I'm the kind of nerd who reads a lot of it, and I find the clear and dry language a satisfying rebuke to the many millions of obscene dollars spent on political TV ads that lie to me.
This year, I got to vote for a close friend. That was fun. And I voted for California's Prop 40 (and against the Prop 40 spoilers, Props 41 and 42), that would impose a one-time tax on billionaires. That was fun, too. More about that in a minute.
But why was I so tardy in voting? Why couldn't I bring myself to just do it?
I think it's because I have grown fearful of optimism. I was positive Trump would not get the Republican nomination in 2016, and then I was positive Trump would lose to Clinton (which he did by the popular vote), which shows you what kind of political prognosticator I am. And during that 2016 election I was living most of the time in Ohio and talking to people who wound up voting for Trump, and yet I still – still! – misread the depth of people's disappointment in our "system."
By "system" I mean all of it: political, economic, social, cultural, information, technological.
Our economic system, as it works now, could not be better designed to wreck communities and strip people of their individual dignity and sense of worth. Somebody could write books about what I mean by that, and, come to think of it, I have written books about what I mean by that, three of them, Glass House, The Hospital, and the soon-to-be-released The Mayor.
Lately, though, I have felt creeping optimism that people are finally catching on to what I, and others, have been trying to say, and I guess, given past history, I'm reluctant to put too much coin down on that optimism. This does not mean I am a doomer. I'm not. I just think caution, and a check on hope – as vital as hope is – is warranted, and so I waited and waited to vote.
You see, I think this midterm election might go the way I hope it will. America is overstuffed with poser hacks who don't really believe the lies they tell. They are making the assumption that people are too ignorant of the facts about who has been shafting them, and how. They want those people to focus their vengeance on a transgender kid, or a Muslim, or a Haitian immigrant instead of the real culprits. They will call people "communist" and think listeners will believe them, though there hasn't been a communist anywhere near political power since the 1930s. But now I see signs that the jig is up. I think – maybe I just want to think – that all those people being taken for dupes are realizing what's been happening.
That I've been wrong before tempers my optimism.
I am a sucker for this country. I love it with the full understanding of its many sins. And so I can be fierce in fighting its enemies.
We are facing a counter-revolution to this awakening. The billionaire class that has been waging war on the rest of us is becoming more extreme, more militant, more outrageous in its attacks on our democracy. They hate government. They hate regulation. They hate any harness on their power. They believe they know what's good for the rest of us, and, not coincidentally, that is just what brings them ever more wealth and power.
The first graph below tracks America's GDP. The second tracks the percentage of income Americans save. Other than the Covid era blip, the personal savings rate of Americans has been falling, or barely steady, since 1975. It is near an all-time low now, yet GDP has been soaring.
Meanwhile, as we all know, the billionaires keep amassing more and more wealth. And they will lie, cheat, and sell this country down the river to keep right on doing it. Their only moral and ethical compass is profit, however that profit might be obtained.
Prop 40 here in California is a chance to strike back. It's not perfect. I don't care. I want Sergey Brin and the other billionaires who have spent hundreds of millions trying to defeat Prop 40, to suffer a humiliation. I want them to feel the power of the people. I want them to know we will not be dupes any more.
And that's why I want Amy Acton to win in Ohio and defeat that scummy low-life billionaire, Vivek Ramaswamy. His notorious ad shows just how low they will go to fool us. And that's why I want every politician who claims they're sick of the current system to win on Tuesday. And if they don't fulfill that creed, then I want them voted out and new ones voted in, no matter their party.
It's long past time to take this country back.
Here are three good local stories I found this week:
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