For now nearly six years Robert Hubbell has been our steadfast and indispensable guide in understanding and opposing the insanities of the Trump era and its strange afterlife. In that time, he has alerted me to critical writings by other thinkers, enriching my understanding of this madness and, more important, offering practical advice as to how each of us can oppose these malign tendencies. But nothing he has done equals in impact his alerting his readers to the amazing New Year's speech by Volodomyr Zelensky. His dramatic urging that we actually take 18 minutes to watch this unique moment in modern history caused me to do just that--at 4 in the morning! For this I am deeply grateful, for Robert's depiction of it as a "speech that will make you a better person" was, if anything, an understatement. Nothing could have more clearly brought home to me the immensity of the sacrifice of the Ukrainian people and the absolute necessity that we Americans remain steadfast in our support of these brave people. Yes they are fighting for their country, but they are equally fighting to preserve democracy in Europe and around the world. The Ukrainians will accept nothing less than the total defeat of their Russian invaders. We Americans must be equally determined to help them see this fight through to victory.
1. I am so grateful that you urged us to watch President Zelensky’s New Years video. It was deeply moving. I am still wiping away the tears. What a role model for the entire world’s political leaders to emulate!
2. Had the number of SCOTUS justices kept up with the population increase since 1869, the year that 9 justices was settled upon, today we would have over 90 Justices. Certainly the number, never mind complexities, of our laws has increased more than that since then. Instead, justice is being severely compromised with not even 3% of the cases that file for certiorari being granted a hearing. Can you think of any other institution that is functioning under such an obviously outmoded burden?
When the GOP and commentators keep talking about going after Hunter Biden I wonder where in the world empathy went. Has anyone thought about the impact of all this on Hunter Biden? If you'd like to understand the price of being shamed then I recommend you listen to Monica Lewinsky talk about her experience in a TED talk. It is a very powerful talk for any one with even the smallest amount of empathy.
https://www.ted.com/talks/monica_lewinsky_the_price_of_shame?language=en One of the characteristics of malignant narcissists as in the previous guy is the ability to rid themselves of their feelings of shame by projecting it on others. Let's see if we can encourage empathy in and for others in 2023. We, the People, all of us this time.
excellent column! (although i remember too many of the PR firms writing the speeches that pushed the U.S. into two wars in Iraq to be impressed by the maneuvers of foreign policy establishment and i detest the proxy war funded by U.S. tax dollars). But please emphasize this point for readers (if you agree): the Dem party is stronger without a divisive primary. the Dem party is stronger running an incumbent president. there is no obvious successor to Biden. we are being pushed to abandon him (and I'm no fan) by the same forces who emphasized polling in the midterms. Thank you!
Another major reason polls don't tell you anything is that they only poll the two major political parties. The Independents such as myself are not included. Independents are now about 40% of the voting population with the two parties are each 25-30%. So 80% of Republicans are for something that only represents 20% of the voters. Independents are on the rise as the two major parties go further and further to the extremes and leave the wide middle unrepresented. I always like to quote John Adams who said the worst evil to befall the Constitution would be a two party system. Mr. Adams is being proven right especially when you look at how the Roberts Court is dismantling democracy brick by brick and then throwing the bricks at the People and their rights in a democracy. My answer to have our government be measured by a well-being index (WBI) which measures the well-being of the People unlike GNP which now just measures the greed of income disparity. All legislation would have to prove how it improves the well-being of the People. Only about 20% of our citizens feel they are living lives of well-being. Shouldn't a democracy of, by and for the People measure its success on the well-being of all its citizens?
President Zelensky's speech is one for the history books. So moving. So inspiring. So nurturing for citizens of Ukraine. Thank you, Robert for providing the link and urging us to watch it. I will watch it again, and maybe again.
“From 2020 through 2022, Democrats had the theoretical ability to enlarge the Court to dilute the power of the reactionary majority. We failed to do so. We will not have that ability again until we control both chambers of Congress and the presidency. When that moment arrives, we must seize the opportunity.”
When that moment arrives, we must do more than enlarge the Court. We must do everything we can to safeguard democracy for decades to come. To paraphrase the QAnon motto, When we do one, we do all. What would this involve? At least six things (and please add to the list):
1. End the filibuster. Without doing that, we can’t do any of the other items below.
2. Create two new states, Columbia (most of DC except for a federal zone that would remain “DC”) and Puerto Rico. Assuming Puerto Rico votes Democratic, this step would counterbalance some of the imbalance that gives rural states so much power in the Senate. It would also give Dems perhaps 9 additional Electoral College votes (3 for Columbia and 6 for Puerto Rico), again helping to counterbalance the power of rural states. And if Democrats end the filibuster, we would want to maximize the odds that the Senate would remain Democratic. The next item would also help in this regard.
3. Pass a strong federal voting rights act governing state as well as federal elections. Interestingly, Democratic states make voting easier while Republican states make voting harder. Perhaps Republicans fear they would lose if Democrats could vote more easily. Are their fears justified? Let’s find out!
4. End gerrymandering; there are various proposals to this end. So doing, plus item 3, would help cement Democratic control of the House for many years, given demographic trends (people leaving rural areas and moving to cities, the rise of young voters, and the demise of old (“older”) voters).
5. The above steps might bring National Popular Vote https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/ into being. Under NPV, states enact a law that would spring into effect once states with a combined 270 (or perhaps 272 with Columbia and Puerto Rico as new states) pass said law. The law would provide that all these states would cast all their electoral votes for the presidential candidate who receives, nationally, the most popular votes. Some state legislatures now controlled by Republicans thanks to gerrymandering might become controlled by Democrats thanks to items 3 and 4. This item would end the stranglehold of the Electoral College, would force candidates to compete everywhere (not in just a few states), and would make every voter’s vote weigh equally.
6. Expand the Court. With the foregoing five items in place, it would be unlikely that Republicans could, in their turn, further expand the Court because it would be a long time before anything like the current Republican Party could regain power. Indeed, one salutary consequence of the above items would be to force the GOP to become a responsible party once again.
Today's letter inspires me to roll up my sleeves and prepare for the continuing work to save democracy. I look forward to your perspective every morning.
Remember, it was the lynching of a 14 year old boy and the defiance of a seamstress that began the snowball of non-violent activism in the USA. It was a 22 year old arrested by morality police, then killed, for having any of her hair visible from her hijab that has Iran in flux. Movements can start with the smallest of actions. They start when people say "Enough! No more!"
[For those not aware, I am referring to Emmett Till and his mother Mamie Till-Mobley who posthumously receive the Congressional Gold Medal, Rosa Parks, and Mahsa Amini.]
¨ Polling regarding the 2022 midterms was not only wrong, it was so wrong that it may have negatively affected Democratic prospects in some contests.¨ So important to get by everyone! I stopped paying attention to the polls after Hillary lost. The pollsters had egg on their faces, but then (as seems to happen in the U.S. too often) came back again with the same misinformation.
While accomplishing so much midterm success, Dems will sorely miss having Mandela Barnes, Cheri Beasley, Val Demings and Tim Ryan in the senate. Let’s learn and go forward!
I can envision the media sharpening their pencils and laying them in a row in preparation for the convening of this House of Representatives session. The love of the media for a good drama is amazing and destructive. The Republicans will not disappoint.
My personal goal and I would hope the Democratic Party goal for 2023 is to not get sucked in. I'm not spending my days in outrage and feeling overwhelmed by what's happening in the Republican House nor Party. I'm just not. I'm cashing in emotionally on the peace and good work of Joe Biden. Politically we calmly prepare for the 2024 election.
It’s 3:58 in the morning. I read this post as soon as it is published and, at your urging, I watched the video, too. It truly is a “Churchill moment”. History being written.
Oh Wow! That message from President Zelensky is world inspiring. It is that rare being that is born at a time when needed. He, and the Ukrainian people are inspirations to us all. Thank you Robert. I have posted it everywhere in the hope that others listen. 💖
You are right, the Zelensky speech totally worth the 17 minutes.
On the Republican side and the "Impossibility of Breaking with Trump" I often think of the biblical passage from Proverbs 5:21-23 "The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is caught in the toils of his sin." (Revised Standard Version). Or the the Evangelical Heritage Version: "The evil deeds of the wicked man will capture him, and he will be bound by the ropes of his sin." The next verse is: "He will die for lack of discipline, and he will go astray because of his great stupidity." 👀
For now nearly six years Robert Hubbell has been our steadfast and indispensable guide in understanding and opposing the insanities of the Trump era and its strange afterlife. In that time, he has alerted me to critical writings by other thinkers, enriching my understanding of this madness and, more important, offering practical advice as to how each of us can oppose these malign tendencies. But nothing he has done equals in impact his alerting his readers to the amazing New Year's speech by Volodomyr Zelensky. His dramatic urging that we actually take 18 minutes to watch this unique moment in modern history caused me to do just that--at 4 in the morning! For this I am deeply grateful, for Robert's depiction of it as a "speech that will make you a better person" was, if anything, an understatement. Nothing could have more clearly brought home to me the immensity of the sacrifice of the Ukrainian people and the absolute necessity that we Americans remain steadfast in our support of these brave people. Yes they are fighting for their country, but they are equally fighting to preserve democracy in Europe and around the world. The Ukrainians will accept nothing less than the total defeat of their Russian invaders. We Americans must be equally determined to help them see this fight through to victory.
Two thoughts:
1. I am so grateful that you urged us to watch President Zelensky’s New Years video. It was deeply moving. I am still wiping away the tears. What a role model for the entire world’s political leaders to emulate!
2. Had the number of SCOTUS justices kept up with the population increase since 1869, the year that 9 justices was settled upon, today we would have over 90 Justices. Certainly the number, never mind complexities, of our laws has increased more than that since then. Instead, justice is being severely compromised with not even 3% of the cases that file for certiorari being granted a hearing. Can you think of any other institution that is functioning under such an obviously outmoded burden?
When the GOP and commentators keep talking about going after Hunter Biden I wonder where in the world empathy went. Has anyone thought about the impact of all this on Hunter Biden? If you'd like to understand the price of being shamed then I recommend you listen to Monica Lewinsky talk about her experience in a TED talk. It is a very powerful talk for any one with even the smallest amount of empathy.
https://www.ted.com/talks/monica_lewinsky_the_price_of_shame?language=en One of the characteristics of malignant narcissists as in the previous guy is the ability to rid themselves of their feelings of shame by projecting it on others. Let's see if we can encourage empathy in and for others in 2023. We, the People, all of us this time.
excellent column! (although i remember too many of the PR firms writing the speeches that pushed the U.S. into two wars in Iraq to be impressed by the maneuvers of foreign policy establishment and i detest the proxy war funded by U.S. tax dollars). But please emphasize this point for readers (if you agree): the Dem party is stronger without a divisive primary. the Dem party is stronger running an incumbent president. there is no obvious successor to Biden. we are being pushed to abandon him (and I'm no fan) by the same forces who emphasized polling in the midterms. Thank you!
Another major reason polls don't tell you anything is that they only poll the two major political parties. The Independents such as myself are not included. Independents are now about 40% of the voting population with the two parties are each 25-30%. So 80% of Republicans are for something that only represents 20% of the voters. Independents are on the rise as the two major parties go further and further to the extremes and leave the wide middle unrepresented. I always like to quote John Adams who said the worst evil to befall the Constitution would be a two party system. Mr. Adams is being proven right especially when you look at how the Roberts Court is dismantling democracy brick by brick and then throwing the bricks at the People and their rights in a democracy. My answer to have our government be measured by a well-being index (WBI) which measures the well-being of the People unlike GNP which now just measures the greed of income disparity. All legislation would have to prove how it improves the well-being of the People. Only about 20% of our citizens feel they are living lives of well-being. Shouldn't a democracy of, by and for the People measure its success on the well-being of all its citizens?
What a speech ! You urged everyone to listen. You were right! It changed my life❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
President Zelensky's speech is one for the history books. So moving. So inspiring. So nurturing for citizens of Ukraine. Thank you, Robert for providing the link and urging us to watch it. I will watch it again, and maybe again.
“From 2020 through 2022, Democrats had the theoretical ability to enlarge the Court to dilute the power of the reactionary majority. We failed to do so. We will not have that ability again until we control both chambers of Congress and the presidency. When that moment arrives, we must seize the opportunity.”
When that moment arrives, we must do more than enlarge the Court. We must do everything we can to safeguard democracy for decades to come. To paraphrase the QAnon motto, When we do one, we do all. What would this involve? At least six things (and please add to the list):
1. End the filibuster. Without doing that, we can’t do any of the other items below.
2. Create two new states, Columbia (most of DC except for a federal zone that would remain “DC”) and Puerto Rico. Assuming Puerto Rico votes Democratic, this step would counterbalance some of the imbalance that gives rural states so much power in the Senate. It would also give Dems perhaps 9 additional Electoral College votes (3 for Columbia and 6 for Puerto Rico), again helping to counterbalance the power of rural states. And if Democrats end the filibuster, we would want to maximize the odds that the Senate would remain Democratic. The next item would also help in this regard.
3. Pass a strong federal voting rights act governing state as well as federal elections. Interestingly, Democratic states make voting easier while Republican states make voting harder. Perhaps Republicans fear they would lose if Democrats could vote more easily. Are their fears justified? Let’s find out!
4. End gerrymandering; there are various proposals to this end. So doing, plus item 3, would help cement Democratic control of the House for many years, given demographic trends (people leaving rural areas and moving to cities, the rise of young voters, and the demise of old (“older”) voters).
5. The above steps might bring National Popular Vote https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/ into being. Under NPV, states enact a law that would spring into effect once states with a combined 270 (or perhaps 272 with Columbia and Puerto Rico as new states) pass said law. The law would provide that all these states would cast all their electoral votes for the presidential candidate who receives, nationally, the most popular votes. Some state legislatures now controlled by Republicans thanks to gerrymandering might become controlled by Democrats thanks to items 3 and 4. This item would end the stranglehold of the Electoral College, would force candidates to compete everywhere (not in just a few states), and would make every voter’s vote weigh equally.
6. Expand the Court. With the foregoing five items in place, it would be unlikely that Republicans could, in their turn, further expand the Court because it would be a long time before anything like the current Republican Party could regain power. Indeed, one salutary consequence of the above items would be to force the GOP to become a responsible party once again.
Today's letter inspires me to roll up my sleeves and prepare for the continuing work to save democracy. I look forward to your perspective every morning.
Remember, it was the lynching of a 14 year old boy and the defiance of a seamstress that began the snowball of non-violent activism in the USA. It was a 22 year old arrested by morality police, then killed, for having any of her hair visible from her hijab that has Iran in flux. Movements can start with the smallest of actions. They start when people say "Enough! No more!"
[For those not aware, I am referring to Emmett Till and his mother Mamie Till-Mobley who posthumously receive the Congressional Gold Medal, Rosa Parks, and Mahsa Amini.]
¨ Polling regarding the 2022 midterms was not only wrong, it was so wrong that it may have negatively affected Democratic prospects in some contests.¨ So important to get by everyone! I stopped paying attention to the polls after Hillary lost. The pollsters had egg on their faces, but then (as seems to happen in the U.S. too often) came back again with the same misinformation.
While accomplishing so much midterm success, Dems will sorely miss having Mandela Barnes, Cheri Beasley, Val Demings and Tim Ryan in the senate. Let’s learn and go forward!
I can envision the media sharpening their pencils and laying them in a row in preparation for the convening of this House of Representatives session. The love of the media for a good drama is amazing and destructive. The Republicans will not disappoint.
My personal goal and I would hope the Democratic Party goal for 2023 is to not get sucked in. I'm not spending my days in outrage and feeling overwhelmed by what's happening in the Republican House nor Party. I'm just not. I'm cashing in emotionally on the peace and good work of Joe Biden. Politically we calmly prepare for the 2024 election.
It’s 3:58 in the morning. I read this post as soon as it is published and, at your urging, I watched the video, too. It truly is a “Churchill moment”. History being written.
Happy New Year, Robert, to you, Jill and your whole family. Wishing you good health, peace and joy.
Oh Wow! That message from President Zelensky is world inspiring. It is that rare being that is born at a time when needed. He, and the Ukrainian people are inspirations to us all. Thank you Robert. I have posted it everywhere in the hope that others listen. 💖
You are right, the Zelensky speech totally worth the 17 minutes.
On the Republican side and the "Impossibility of Breaking with Trump" I often think of the biblical passage from Proverbs 5:21-23 "The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is caught in the toils of his sin." (Revised Standard Version). Or the the Evangelical Heritage Version: "The evil deeds of the wicked man will capture him, and he will be bound by the ropes of his sin." The next verse is: "He will die for lack of discipline, and he will go astray because of his great stupidity." 👀