The Appeal of a Strong Man
Strong, of course, being in the eye of the beholder.
Condoleeza Rice says we need to move on from the events of January 6th.
Purportedly, she is a very smart woman who—besides being G.W.’s henchwoman—once was a professor at Stanford University but, what she is not is a credible voice for doing the right thing. What she most certainly is, is a mouthpiece for America’s oligarchs. An apologist for the immensely powerful. At the least, a powerful woman who is out of touch with the majority of America.
I’ve never trusted her. Why should I? She cheered, stumped for and worked the ropes in favor of the invasion of Iraq as if she had stock in it. She most likely did in the form of Defense Contractor holdings.
In addition to that, her feeble excuse for voting Republican and being a member of the GOP, was that she grew up in the South when Democrats were founders and members of the Ku Klux Klan.
Hello?!
I get she may have been traumatized by growing up in a region where the lynching of black people was treated like a reason for a family picnic, but the tables turned in the mid to late ‘60s, and, by Jimmy Carter’s presidency, the lines were redrawn. I’ll even throw in a “grace period” for her up to the turn of the century. I’ll even concede the Democratic party has not been the best advocate for minorities. But, if you’re smart and a minority and living in the 21st century, there is only one reason remaining for being a member of the GOP. . . you’re filthy rich.
I mention Rice’s position about moving on in regards to the previous administration’s role in the insurrection of January 6th because what I really want to opine about is that white people who vote Republican, and the rich, don’t give a damn about the threat of authoritarianism. The rich will rise above it. White people will still have minorities to lord it over when they take jobs that give them carte blanche to be assholes (i.e. cops, security guards, prison guards, bouncers, etc). They’ll always have white privilege to fall back on. As I’ve written before, you may have a miserable existence, and you may be suffering, but—in America—it will not be because you are white.
Supposedly 70% of white voters voted for authoritarianism in the last election.
If Texas is any indication, those white voters are in favor of banning abortion, severely limiting voting rights, chucking environmental regulations out the window and permitting open carry of any kind of weapon in any setting.
If Texas is any indication, the pandemic will simmer much longer than necessary and—perhaps—for the remainder of our lives.
If Texas is any indication, marriage will once more only be recognized between a man and his wife.
If Texas is any indication, women will always, and forever be, second class citizens.
A large portion of our population craves authoritarianism. We know 30 some odd per cent are comfortable giving someone like the twice-impeached resident of Mar-A-Lago complete authority. There’s an additional percentage who are okay giving it to Mitch McConnell. Or Paul Ryan.
Or some other sniveling white guy.
The wealthiest Americans are indifferent to what kind of government we have because they will make money no matter what happens. No matter who is in charge. Authoritarians are not so stupid that they’d significantly interfere with the mechanisms of capitalism.
Under an authoritarian regime, the wealthiest will live a life mostly free of encumbrances—like the inability to receive an abortion—and will barely detect any erosion of their freedom.
Authoritarianism will not destroy America. Just like environmental ruin will not destroy the planet.
Here is Condoleeza’s remark in full:
I said at the time January 6 was wrong. I called it an assault on law and order and an assault on our democratic processes. So full stop, it was wrong. Law enforcement will determine what happened there and those who violated the law ought to be punished.
It's time to move on in a lot of ways. I'm one who believes that the American people are now concerned about what we call their kitchen table issues: the price of gasoline, inflation, what's happening to their kids in school ... And so we do have a lot of issues, and I hope what we'll do is move on, onto the next generation of leadership.
Ever heard the expression about the ability to chew gum and walk at the same time?
As in:
I'm quite capable of watching the grill while I water the flowers—I can walk and chew gum at the same time thank you very much.
We need to bring the perpetrators of January 6th to justice AND serve the American people. Tend to the kitchen table issues. We need to do both of those things simultaneously.
The violence and intent of January 6th was more serious of a threat to the America we all hold dear than the attacks on September 11th. However, September 11th may have been the catalyst for January 6th.
Colin Powell also identified as a Republican up until the candidacy of Barack Obama. He was also up to his eyeballs trying to please the powerful who all have ties to the extremely lucrative military industrial complex. Powell’s endorsement of Obama after the McCain campaign’s musings as to whether the very junior senator from Illinois had the moxie to be commander-in-chief may have cemented Obama’s path to the White House.
I think—in honor of Colin Powell—because I don’t think he would agree we should turn a blind eye to justice—we should get to the bottom of everything and everyone associated with January 6th. (Colin Powell died earlier this week due to complications with COVID and related health issues.)
And continue to fight for those issues the majority of Americans support and the Biden Administration is fighting to deliver.
The other option is to roll over and let authoritarianism have its way with us.
Can’t get enough of this guy’s video breakdowns of the state of the union.
