~a column by Colleen O’Brien
The reason we need such a big and getting bigger government is that the citizens of this country need protection from the greedy corporate hierarchy that is always trying to get away with cheating their customers – tobacco, for example; Pharma; the food industry – Cheerios cost $6 for a 12-ounce box of exotic ingredients (oats, sugar and salt); gasoline is an up and down game of pique by filthy rich oil barons; all foods that used to have more ounces in each package now have fewer and they cost more. Corporations think they hoodwink. We just buy the stuff because we don’t have many choices. Congress thinks we can’t see what they do and don’t do.
Not that the Congress works very hard protecting us from much, unless we count the military budget, which is bigger than the next 10 richest countries combined according to TheGunZone. When it comes to military machinations, I believe we must help Ukraine defeat Russia, or all of democratic Europe will go down in chains and no free press.
I have a vague hope that Congress could take care of a few issues at hand – first in line, sending the ex-president to jail. We need protection from him more than anything because he wants to kill a general, put some of his friends in jail because they disagreed with him and get rid of the rest of the total enemy, the Democrats, who are “punks, thugs and vermin.” The pretender to the throne likes to tell us that he will be dictator for only a day so he can fix the border (we did hear this before) and drill for oil. (We already are drilling more oil: as of Dec. 19, 2023, the stock market index Standard and Poor’s 500 reported that the United States will have produced a global record of 13.3. million barrels per day of crude and condensate during the fourth quarter of last year).
Why is one of the candidates lying about this, saying that he himself pumped more oil than the Biden administration? Because he can’t help but lie about everything. If he has a morsel of truth in his statements, we miss it because of its minuteness.
On Monday, Iowa Republicans will be the first elephants to start our official national quadrennial political circus rolling. Republicans in Iowa will cast their votes for a presidential candidate in the 2024 election. They will gather in small groups, known as caucuses and mark a secret ballot, and that night all the candidates will leave the state for New Hampshire, the next circus venue.
I’m not sure that Republicans know that R winners of the Iowa caucus in 2016, 2012 and 2008 did not go on to win their party’s nomination. So, madly campaigning here is not necessarily worth the effort, let alone the bad-tempered weather.
Because this 2024 Iowa Republican caucus will be a slam-dunk, does this mean that even the press won’t have to suffer here in person to publish the results?
I’ve attended only one caucus because of how I’ve lived in and out of Jeff over my life. I left before caucuses started in 1968, and thereafter was never around in January if I could help it. When I finally had the caucus experience, I found it delightful: eager folks talking up their candidate, trying slyly and good-naturedly to steal voters to their circle of support for one or another of the hopefuls. It was noisy and congenial – farmers and housewives, first-time kids and downtown professionals were bright-eyed and eager; it was a party atmosphere (which can easily happen if a room is full of only Ds).
The Ds no longer caucus. The party now wants a mail-in system – requested ballots to fill out and mail back in.
On Jan. 15, Democratic caucuses will be meeting for party business, but votes will not be cast at these precinct gatherings. A schedule for mailing and returning ballots is being decided.
I personally want a candidate who is interested in helping citizens with food quality, housing expansion, full education (meaning not cutting out history we don’t like), settled and across-the-board healthcare, bridge and airport infrastructure, protection of wild flora and fauna, intense dedication to preparing for what is already here – climate change; and so on.
I am not interested in a leader who is always saying no, growling and harrumphing and slitting his eyes. He wants No immigrants, No books available that some people don’t like, No protesting of shenanigans by politicians or corporate entities, No investigative press, No labor unions, No, No, No.
By reading the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, we became accustomed to a government that was of, by and for us. Not against us. Not a “no” government. We have failed countless times in not keeping ourselves in the “yes” category, but we are a fledgling republic intent on a democratic way of ruling. We falter and make mistakes, get overtaken by the greedy and the power-hungry. Then we right ourselves and sail on, hopeful before the winds circling a human species on a beautiful and bountiful planet.
I want peace and security. I do not like blustering and blaming. I want all of us fed, clothed and housed, even if that means we must help one another, not just ourselves. I like a positive attitude that fosters brilliance when it comes to what seems like a hopeless future. I do not want to hear about retribution and killing people who don’t think like me. I don’t want a lot of whining and poor-me stuff every time I turn on the news. I am totally tired of frowning visages.
I think it’s overtly cool that the Ds are not caucusing in a normal way. They are out of the fray and sticking to business, fostering more and diverse voters.
Besides, who wants to go to a game where the winner is a gazillion points ahead going in?
Especially on a blizzardy day on the prairie.
