It's Past Time I Became An Activist Again

I had a bad night last night. My sleep was interrupted by nightmares about the near future. That is how worried I am about the outcome of today's election and what it means for our country and our democracy. I woke up early, made some pumpkin spice coffee (love the stuff), and resolved two things regardless of the outcome of today's voting. First, I'm going to change my voter registration from unaffiliated to Democratic. I've been a Democrat before, mainly because I wanted to vote in Democratic primaries. I've also been a Republican and was during the 2016 presidential primaries supporting Governor John Kasich. I left the party when Donald Trump won the nomination.

When I was a political activist and a party loyalist back in the 1980s I was a Republican. I worked in several campaigns, both as a paid staffer and as a volunteer. I briefly was a lobbyist at the state level. I wrote position papers on foreign policy (an area where I am conservative) for a U.S. Senate candidate.

Today's racist, white supremacist GOP has no relation to the GOP of Reagan and Bush which I supported and worked in. Not that long ago when I quoted Ronald Reagan on economic inequality I was called a socialist and a Communist. President Reagan was for and signed immigration reform that included amnesty for people who were here a long time. Being a fiscal conservative like President Reagan meant living within our means, not record deficits and debt. We didn't mortgage our grandchildren's future to give huge breaks to big business and the wealthy. Look up what the top tax rate was during the Reagan years. You are in for a surprise. President George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism" included passing a prescription drug benefit for Medicare. Now the GOP at the national level wants to dismantle Medicaid and Medicare. Like I said, not the same party at all.

My views have not changed much over the years. Back then I was considered a moderate: conservative on foreign policy, moderate to conservative on economics, liberal on social issues and the environment. Today the same views are either liberal or progressive. I didn't leave the Republican Party. It left me, both on the state and federal level. Now I am resolved to work for the other party and do whatever I can to elect Democrats in 2020.

The S Word Revisited

Back in early 2010 I wrote a post about the ludicrous way some on the political right use the word socialism as if it were a four letter word, a curse. What I said then was that these people either lack the slightest clue about what socialism really is, what the word means, and how much socialism we have in the American economy today or else they really do know but assume their audience is ignorant. Instead they equate small s socialism with communism or the Soviet Union. Now, as then, I ended up making essentially the same points to a Republican stalwart on social media. He finished his rant with, "If you support Socialism you don't belong in America." What follows, with minor editing, are my responses to him.

Oh for crying out loud. I support socialism, you know, like Social Security, public schools, public libraries, law enforcement by government rather than private security firms, Medicare, Medicaid, my local fire department... all good, common sense socialism. I am a former Republican. Liberals or moderates like me are not "anti-America".

Every successful Western economy is a mixture of socialism and capitalism, including the United States. All the items I mentioned as common sense socialism are just that even if you don't see it. If you're against public schools, law enforcement, fire protection, roads, etc... then you are off in the far right fringe. I'll add that Israel is a much more socialist country than we are. They have universal healthcare. The fact that we are the only developed country that does not is shameful.

Medicare and Social Security as not entitlements. We pay for them out of each and every paycheck we earn. If you are self-employed you pay it quarterly. Either way, cutting those is stealing money that people paid in all their lives for their retirement. Social Security is running at a surplus. The only reason it runs short on money is that Congress (both parties) keep raiding the trust fund to pay for other things. Al Gore was laughed at when he called for putting social security in a lock box. He was right.

Finally, the older I get the more liberal I become. I have learned that what the Trump GOP calls conservatism is all about making the rich richer and the poor poorer and to hell with the middle class. I cannot support a political party that will steal my retirement money to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy. Thanks but no thanks.

I Really Don't Like Westerns. Here's One Worth Watching.

I don't like westerns. Bonanza and Gunsmoke had no appeal to me when I was growing up and they still don't. Please don't get me started on the treatment of Native Americans in most westerns. The portrayal in movies and on most television programs was severely whitewashed to say the least. In recent years westerns were almost completely out of favor which is fine with me.

Despite this I recently watched a short lived western TV series which was made in Canada and aired in 2014-2015 called Strange Empire. Not only that, I'm trying to convince my best friend (who also dislikes westerns) to check it out. Yes, it's that good. There are only 13 episodes because ratings were microscopic in both the U.S. and Canada. Most people I know have never heard of it. Forget what you think you know about westerns. This isn't anything like that.

I originally became interested because it stars Cara Gee who currently plays Camina Drummer on The Expanse. I love her portrayal of the character and the strength she brings to the role. Strange Empire was her role before that, and from what I read her performance in the series directly lead to not only her casting on The Expanse, but a newly expanded character for Drummer, which is actually a composite of several characters in the books.

Then there is the little fact that Cara Gee's heritage/ethnicity is Ojibwe. I expected the treatment of First Nations/native people had to be different from the old time westerns. There is also a transgendered character, though he is never called that because 1869. One of the main characters is autistic, though she is never called that because 1869. OK, so I was curious, at least curious enough to try it. It's currently available on Amazon Video or on DVD.

There is no whitewash in Strange Empire. The show is the darkest, most incredibly grim thing I have ever watched. In the probably realistic portrayal of life in Montana and Alberta in 1869 we see rampant racism, theft, murder, rape, oh, and yes, a bit of the genocide of native people. If you don't have a strong stomach you may not want to watch it. The body count in most episodes is horrendous. Despite all of the horror that would normally have me reaching or even running for the remote to turn it off the story is compelling. It draws you in and doesn't let go.

This is from a review of the first episode:

"Set in 1869 along the Montana/Alberta border, Strange Empire starts with two dead babies and a graveside wedding...

A fun romp this is not, but it is a rich exploration of a time and place we think we’re familiar with — our own country, our own history. We’re wrong.

Some of the preliminary publicity said the men have disappeared, leaving the women to fight for survival. This is true in the sense that the cult members of Jonestown disappeared, or the Donner party got a little peckish, or the dog of your childhood went to live on a farm. Some of the men survived, some have not yet been found, but most are quite dead."

Dark doesn't even begin to describe it. I won't share more because spoilers are no fun. I know most anyone who reads this probably hasn't seen the series.

The crazy thing is that the many science fiction fans among my friends will recognize a lot of the cast. Melissa Farman (Lost) and Tattiawna Jones (The Handmaid's Tale) are Cara Gee's costars. Terry Chen (The Expanse, Continuum) and Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica, Continuum, Dollhouse) both have regular roles. Oh, and did I mention that a lot of the show is set in Janestown? No relation to Jaynestown in Firefly.

Here is a trailer: