There was a little brightness a couple of days ago when former VP Biden announced his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris. She is an excellent choice both politically and in terms of her exceptional skills and knowledge of governing. And, maybe most importantly, she can throw a punch expertly and within the rules. This is a ticket that should win by a landslide.
However, there has been enough in the news during the time since Biden’s announcement to cast a pall over our wounded, limping democracy. The president is using his monarchical powers to strengthen his chances of re-election.
You say he has no monarchical powers?
Of course he does if the other two branches of government fail to restrain him. With a Republican majority in the Senate made up of craven, timorous incumbents like John Cornyn and Rafael (Ted) Cruz, there is no legislative check on his power. The Supreme Court of the United States, while not exactly an ally (yet), they most often vote the way he leans. In any case, the only aspect of our government that Trump has mastered is how to use the courts to delay. Think impeachment.
So King Donald is doing all he can to make the coronavirus work in his favor by handing the US Postal Service over to one of his supporters (Louis DeJoy gave over $1.2 million to the Trump campaign), by opposing additional funding for the USPS to handle an expected huge increase in mail-in ballots for the Nov. 3 election (due to coronavirus), and continuing to do all he can to slow down mail service.
If he can slow it down enough, he not only makes it harder and riskier for people to vote, he also slows the delivery of many people’s prescription medications, Social Security checks, and household census forms. Benjamin Franklin, one of our sacred founders and creator of the post office had Poor Richard say in 1739, “He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.” Wise as Franklin was, I doubt he would have ever expected that one could figure out a way to choke off his postal service as one of his tools for helping assure that he had no rivals.
So, on this 155th day of my seclusion I am seeing darkness descend over my beloved America that I never expected to see. King Donald has also put together a ragtag bunch of headbangers from ICE, the Dept. of Justice (there is a misnomer), and any little corner of the government that has some group of clerks anxious to dress up and act soldierly for the Commander in Chief. He has dressed them in military gear and sent them off without IDs to clear the path for his now famous photo op holding up a Bible of unknown provenance (but probably not the Trump family Bible), to move them away from the federal building in Portland, and again to clear a path for the ICE bus to carry away two detainees in Bend, Oregon.
And at my last grocery pickup, I spotted a truck driving around their parking lot with a blue Trump flag on one side and a Texas flag on the other. Not enough room for Old Glory, I guess.
It all leads me to the conclusion that this is no time to hide. There will be signs in my yard this election season. I have a meticulous plan that I hope will offer the passers-by some day to day variety and a soft buildup to the Democratic ticket. When I fetch my morning paper, I will post a sign for the daylight hours. I will take it in at night when the Republican trolls go around doing their misdeeds. So here is my plan for the big buildup to the Biden yard sign from the first sign to appear:
South of Town: Notes and Scenes from Texas' Upper Gulf Coast 