Mitch's Fever Dream

 

“Free black people were forbidden to carry firearms, testify against a white person, or raise a hand against one even in self-defense.” Isabel Wilkerson, Caste

When I heard the news that Ruth Bader Ginsburg had passed away, I knew that Mitch McConnell would immediately start the wheels in motion to get another Federalist Society-approved judge on the Supreme Court. McConnell is about one thing and one only: power. He could care less if people call him a hypocrite, partisan, immoral, unethical, or Trump’s lackey -- none of it matters as long as McConnell can pack the federal courts with enough ideologues to sustain minority rule for the next generation. That’s McConnell’s fever dream, and he’s very close to making it a reality. Every gain won by Women and minorities, gays and lesbians and transgender folks, every protection for the environment, voting rights, gun control, the Affordable Care Act, all, and more, will be in peril if McConnell succeeds. At this point, I see no way to stop him.  

American conservatives have been gunning to overturn Roe vs. Wade for decades. A small minority of people, most of them white men, will decide what a woman can do with her body for years to come. This small minority will make that decision for white women and black women, Asian women and Latinx women, rich and poor, rural and urban, devout and agnostic, my own daughter included. This small minority believes it has the right to exercise control over female reproductive power.

From the beginning, American democracy has been more myth than reality, a structure designed to be ruled by a white minority, an elite. Non-whites, led and schooled by the intrepid example and courage of African-Americans, particularly women, immigrant workers of both sexes, labor unions, struggled mightily for decades to gain room to stand and grow. They made some gains, but have spent the past forty years on a losing streak. The world changed. The economy changed. The compact between workers and employers, between banks and borrowers, between Made in America and Made in Cheaptown, Wherever, was deliberately severed. 

Every gain won by Women and minorities, gays and lesbians and transgender folks, every protection for the environment, voting rights, gun control, the Affordable Care Act, all, and more, will be in peril if McConnell succeeds. At this point, I see no way to stop him.  

The American Dream died years ago; we live in the American nightmare. 

But maybe the biggest change, the scariest change for white people -- especially white men -- is demographic change; the day when white people will be a numerical minority in this land is coming as inexorably as the death of Roe vs. Wade is coming. I think this demographic reality is what drives Mitch McConnell. A minority that controls the economy, banks, the courts, elections, and key levers of government, including the national security apparatus, can rule a majority. McConnell aims to lock minority rule in place.

Locking minority rule down tight is also why the Commerce Department is trying to monkeywrench the US census. Don’t like the direction the count is moving? Lop a month off the data collection deadline. Undercount the undesirables. 

When it comes to race, I’m not sure McConnell can stand in the Racist Hall of Fame with Strom Thurmond, George Wallace, Theodore Bilbo, Bob Jones, and Bull Connor. Maybe he can. What I am willing to wager is that McConnell holds fast to the belief that white people are inherently superior to black and brown people and deserve to rule. McConnell’s racism might be as deep-seated as Trump’s, but better disciplined. I bet bourbon is flowing in the Hall tonight as Strom and George and Theodore and Bob and Bull toast the outcome of the grand jury investigation of Breonna Taylor’s murder at the hands of police, in her own home, her own bed. No murder charges were returned. People waited many months for justice to be served, marched, chanted, rallied on social media, posted signs, but as has happened in other places at other times, Breonna Taylor is dead and no one will be held to account. 

Trump may hope the situation in Louisville spins out of control so he and William Barr can send the shock troops in to restore law and order, protect property, and keep the rabble in their subordinate place. Trump will dig the optics as they say, betting that scenes of police brutality will burnish his image as a tough guy, and frighten white people sufficiently to peel some support from Joe Biden.  

I steer clear of polls, prognostications, and predictions. Turnout is all that matters. It must be overwhelming for us to have any chance of dislodging Trump. He’s already pissed in the pool, called the outcome into doubt, instilled the idea in his rabid base that the election is only free and fair if he wins. The Electoral College may tip the balance in Trump’s favor, again, and there’s the possibility of the outcome being decided by the Supreme Court. The will of the people may be ignored again, unless the turnout is historic. If young people cast ballots instead of sitting on the sidelines, we have a chance. If African-American men turn out strong, we have a chance. If Latinx voters go for Biden in big numbers, we have a 50-50 chance. 

Why is justice so hard to come by for some? Why in America do we so often punish the victims? 

Back in 1997, the late Molly Ivins wrote, “There is so much anger out here. It is taking so many bizarre forms. And most of the media can’t even see it: Economic apartheid keeps the bottom half of society well hidden from the top half.” 

Oh, Ms. Molly, if you could see us now.