Now that we have chastised on Facebook those right wingers who called these pipe bomb deliveries to George Soros, various Democratic Party office holders, and newspapers, a "false flag" operation where Democrats and Soros did this to themselves, we have learned much about the arrested perpetrator.
I read this AP article about this fellow's life, and, for me, I felt a deep sadness for this fellow as he proves my adage that Trumpism is the socialism of fools. This fellow is a canary in the coal mine, as is his susceptibility to the racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, Islamaphobic siren calls, and the delusional conspiracy theories and hateful priorities of Trump-FoxNews-Gateway Pundit-Alex Jones-world, shows. He was supposedly not "political" until Trump, which shows us how corporate media's promotion of Trump, after nearly 70 years of anti-socialist propaganda from corporate media, left this fellow maddened with irrational rage, and only the language of fascism and racism to articulate that rage. It is why this pitiful soul is a fool-- but one for whom I, again, felt sadness as I read the article describing his life. This man deserved better from our society, right from the start, and we, as a society, failed him long before he failed, and before he began to scare us.
Americans need a return to what I have called an Argument among the Rational. And I believe the best chance for that to happen is to defeat the Republican Party candidates who are running for office or seeking re-election in these upcoming federal and State elections, and defeat the Republicans again in the 2020 elections. The real and, again, rational public policy arguments are among neo-liberal/corporate Democrats and the progressive Democrats inside the Democratic Party. And I wish to be clear that a rational argument does not mean the argument will always be civil, though it will be more civil than the hateful rantings from Trump, etc-world. The argument among the rational also does not mean the neo-lib/corporatists, at least, will suddenly play fair. The neo-lib/corporate Democrats continue to have the money--and money is power--and they continue to have the support of corporate media, starting with CNN and especially MSNBC, or as one of my FB friends calls it, MSDNC. But progressives have social media, at least for this moment, and that is more than progressives had once unions ceased to be an organizing institution for at least economically progressive values.
Some may correctly ask, where does that leave libertarians? In my view, libertarians have a stake in the argument among the rational, though, inside of the Democratic Party, libertarians are, at best, and frankly, thankfully, on the margins. I say that because, for libertarians, their argument against both neo-liberals/corporate Dems and progressive Dems is one over First Principles, where libertarians reject the very idea of government as a major actor to help people economically, and where they refuse to accept the very idea of government enacting public policies in the economic realm. When libertarians proclaim "taxation is theft," such a proclamation sums up why arguing with libertarians is not conducive to the type of argument progressives and neo-libs/corporate Democrats have with each other. It is not that the proclamation "taxation is theft" is always wrong. It is simply not always right, and therefore not a guiding principle for those interested in public policy making.
Libertarians, however, will likely rise in numbers if the Republicans are defeated in this upcoming election, and then defeated again in 2020. Libertarians, therefore, have a stake in voting out Republicans in the short run, too as it is likely to lead them to a stronger libertarian movement. We may even see some of the neo-lib/corporatist Democrats taking up with libertarians if progressives are successful in pushing their agenda into the power corridors of the Democratic Party, which at this point, remains a long shot. Right now, I wish there was a viable way to convince progressive Democrats to leave the Democratic Party. But they will not at this time, and so we have no choice, I believe, but follow this two-step prescription. However, as I used to say, and should begin saying again, the better political party duopoly is Libertarian on one side and Working Families Party/Green on the other. I say that because, where that alternative duopoly agrees is they are largely against the Empire, both the cost and conduct of the Empire, while the current duopoly of Republicans and Democrats are all in favor of the Empire. Also, the WF/G and Libertarian duopoly would have a principled social moderation in the main, meaning live and let live with respect to issues like abortion and homosexuality, and have a better grasp of the importance of civil liberties for an open society. The authoritarian and pro-Empire strains embedded within the Republican and Democratic duopoly remain deep and wide, and it is difficult to remove those strains, which are truly stains on the best values or ideals of our Republic. And for those who think, why bother trying to reform an irredeemable Democratic Party, my take is the argument among the rational, and the growing recognition among progressives that their views reflect the majority of Americans on issue after issue, may finally convince enough progressives to seek a new party themselves if the Democratic Party leadership continues to use its money power to suppress progressives. I wish to be clear I am all for fissures in both parts of what Gore Vidal called The Property Party (Republicans and Democrats).
Right now, however, the actions, and now arrest and exposure of this latest mad-wanna-bomber should be a wake up call to those who claim to denounce politically-motivated violence, and, frankly, a wake up call that this pitiful man's deluded, angry, irrational world view arose out of the discourse Republicans have been the ones primarily promoting. One hopes this series of events and arrest galvanizes those natural constituencies of Democrats to vote in the upcoming State and local races and congressional mid-terms. It is high past time to start replacing those who have siren-called and promoted this sad, pitiful wanna-bomber's thinking and eventually actions, and before replacing corporate Democrats and cynical politicians such as Pelosi and Schumer, we must begin replacing the Republicans who block the ability to engage in a rational, policy-based set of arguments. That is the sum and substance of this upcoming election. In the 2020 election, I hope we will see more primary challenges inside the Democratic Party, and that is a good thing if we are to truly take back our nation from elites who continue to fail us.
