Right Wing Jerks

Philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it.
— Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach

There are many strong arguments for Americans to force shameful Republicans in the Senate to do their Constitutional duty and seriously consider an Obama nomination to fill Scalia’s seat on the Supreme Court. Nevertheless, it becomes easier to slough off still another solitary example of Republicans doing the bidding of the rich few. Conservative forces have dominated government and our economy for some 35 years.

Since their arrival on the American political scene in the eighties and nineties, Green activists and voters have been tagged by Democrats as spoilers and reckless idealists. In each and every election in which a Green has run, Democrats warned that the interloper would throw the election to the Republican candidate. The barrage was heaviest in 2000 when Democrats falsely claimed Ralph Nader caused Al Gore to lose to George W. Bush.

The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas.
— Karl Marx, The German Ideology

I find it hard to believe that Bernie Sanders has a chance at becoming president. His views have excited a number of potential voters both in the Democratic Party and outside of it, particularly among the young.
But he’s immersed in the kind of politics which sometimes gets people killed in the Land of the Free.

A brilliant legal mind with an energetic style, an incisive wit and colorful opinions…he will no doubt be remembered as one of the most consequential judges and thinkers to serve on the Supreme Court.
— Barack Obama1

Go gentle into that good night, you angry toad man.
— Natasha Vargas-Cooper2

Like millions of Americans in the middle of February I have the flu.
Unlike millions of Americans I have a deadline.
Forced to stay at home, sucking Vitamin C drops, I have read newspapers, listened to radio, and watched television as a source of diversion.
Dominating the media is the campaign for the presidency.

As long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world’s problems or, for that matter, to any problems.
– Pope Francis I, Laudato Si

Antonin Scalia is gone and with him – for now — the right-wing majority on the Supreme Court. The pity is that we pivot to this fact right after a dutiful declaration of loss and a mechanical ticking off of stellar skills and flawless accomplishments, as did the Republican candidates for president.

Congress, especially its GOP members, created the Martin monster.
Martin Shkreli is only one of the monsters the GOP Congress has created. Probably our best hope is that one or many, like Shkreli, will overreach in an outrageous greed that our government has condoned for decades. Like errant spoiled children, pharmaceuticals (Pharma) have run roughshod over an obliging Congress and a consuming public since politicians – in effect – gave them license to steal.