My Hometown is An Example of How Democratic Socialism Works

So-cial-ism [soSHEkizem] noun  A political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.  

So, if we add the term "Democratic" to this word, we are putting a double emphasis on the involvement and responsibility of the community in whatever business is being owned and regulated.  Let me share some examples from the community in which I grew up that were of benefit to its members in providing services that would be difficult to acquire in the community if profit were the sole motivation behind the operation of the business.  That's because in the small Arizona town where I grew up, there would not have been enough business to make a profit if that were the motivation behind providing some of the services.  

The Hospital District

The local hospital, an essential part of health care in this community, because it had a large retired population, and was located next to a busy interstate, was especially necessary because it provided an emergency room and a level 4 trauma center, operated the local general practice clinic with three physicians and a couple of NP's, and provided acute inpatient services and care.  It's a 26 bed facility that basically follows up on patients who enter through the ER.  

It started out as a private hospital, operated by the local medical clinic doctors, but when a new facility was needed in the late 1960's, a hospital district was formed that included the city limits and a radius of about ten miles into the surrounding rural area, a total population of about 10,000. The hospital district's income comes from property taxes that are assessed within the boundaries of the district and it covers everything related to the operation of the building, maintenance, custodial service, utilities, purchase of equipment and any staff other than medical personnel, so that these operational costs do not have to come from income derived from patient care.  

Medical services are provided on a contract basis with a non-profit, rural health care organization that provides nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians assistants, certified nursing assistants, doctors and clerical personnel.  The same organization also has contracts with two other small town hospitals in the same county, and some of the personnel, mainly the doctors who are specialists, are shared with the other two.  Because the tax dollars cover the other expenses, the prices of medical services are much lower than they are in a private, corporate owned hospital.  And there is a big advantage in being able to provide specialists available in the community instead of patients having to drive 50 miles or more to see one.  

This fits the definition of socialism.  It is a government operated business which takes tax dollars and spreads out the cost of operation to provide a full service, rural hospital that would not exist if the hospital district and tax dollars were not available.  

The Electric Cooperative

The electricity provider to this community, as well as to several other nearby towns and rural areas, is a rural electric cooperative.  Everyone who gets their electric power from the cooperative is considered a member of the cooperative, and have the privilege of attending an annual meeting and voting for the board of directors, and the budget.  There are about 70,000 total customers, representing about 21,000 electrical hook ups in the area served by the cooperative.  

The cooperative collectively owns the infrastructure needed to distribute electricity.  It employs about a half dozen dispatchers who sit in their computer room and purchase electricity off the grid at the best prices they can negotiate.  The power is generated and distributed by a cooperative which owns its own generating plant and distributes what it produces on the grid.  So the rate that the cooperative's customers pay is the rate that it has negotiated with the provider, plus its operating cost.  Any amount over and above the budgeted cost of operation is divided up and credited to every member's January electric bill.  

What makes this socialism is that the customers own the cooperative, and determine its business operation by electing the board that runs it.  Because of operational costs and the fact that this mostly rural area doesn't have a large number of customers, the member-owned cooperative provides electricity at relatively low cost.  Had it not been for the cooperative, there would be areas of the county where development would not be possible because electric service would not be available. 

Of course, within the area of the cooperative's operation, there is no other choice of electricity providers.  But, the average electric bill in the cooperative area is 10% less than what customers of the private, for-profit electric providers in other parts of the state charge, since the cooperative does not make a profit or pay stockholder dividends.  And I've seen bonus credits on those January bills add up to as much as $150 at times.  

The Farmer's and Rancher's Cooperative

The rural area around the community where I grew up is primarily agricultural in nature.  It is a big beef, poultry and pork producing area, with a lot of traditional ranches, and there are a lot of family-owned dairies in the area, along with several big hydroponic tomato farms and poultry farms with egg production.  Back in the 1970's, as big corporations began buying up these kinds of family owned businesses, and then cutting their prices to undercut the family owners and force them to sell out at a lower price, the farmers and ranchers in the area formed a cooperative for the purpose of pooling their resources and then being able to sell their products in higher volume to compete with the corporate food producers.  

The cooperative members elect a board of directors to represent them and the board then calculates the amount of produce or milk or eggs that are potentially being produced and then sets a competitive wholesale price which it uses to negotiate contracts directly with the major grocery store chains.  This eliminates the "middle man," and increases the profits to the farmers and ranchers who are the producers.  

There are those who would say that this isn't socialism, because participation is voluntary, but the fact of the matter is that virtually all of the private farm and ranch owners in the area are members of the coop because they get more money for their products than they would if they sold to a middle man distributor.  But it fits the definition of business owned and regulated by the community as a whole.  And one of the benefits of the cooperative to the people in the community that are not in the agriculture business is that surplus goods are sold directly to the public through a coop-owned store, eliminating much of the cost of distribution.  The selection is limited, but the price is very reasonable.  

Most People Wouldn't Think of This as Socialism 

But, it is socialism.  By definition, in its purest form. 

If not for socialism, this community would probably not have a hospital, not even an emergency room, and perhaps one or two general practice doctors, if they had some kind of loyalty to the community.  And while it would have electric service without the cooperative, the cost of providing it to the area, would make the electric bills of residents much higher.  The family-owned dairies and farms are slowly being bought out, or disappearing, as each succeeding generation is able to go off to college and they frequently don't take over the family business, so the culture there is changing as it is all over the country.  But it provided some cost effective alternatives for the entire community for decades.  

It's a conservative community.  It has, in the past, seen vote totals in elections for Republicans go as high as 55%, though in 2020 and 2024 those totals were slightly lower.  They just see this as the way to have necessary services, but they wouldn't call it or identify it as socialism.  But it is.  It is socialism, brought about by the will of the people.  Democratic socialism, if you will. 

This is how Democratic Socialism works.  It requires looking at the humanity that is involved, rather than simply relying on a profit motive, understanding that some human values cannot be measured by monetary value.  What does it say about people, and their patriotism and pride, when they are willing to let a rural hospital close, not because there is no longer a need for it, but because it can no longer generate a profit?  

Democratic Socialism is about placing the higher value of our society and our country and its communities on its people, rather than on profit.  It's not about eliminating private enterprise, it is about stepping in where private enterprise is not willing to invest, and providing for what we, as Americans, believe are basic human rights.  

We, as Americans, believe in some fundamental rights and core values that transcend a transactional existence.  Our founders believed that government was created to protect the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  It is not to guarantee that everyone who invests in society will profit from it.  

Are there Democratic Socialists who would like to see a much larger segment of our culture become socialist?  Of course.  But I think the basic values and principles here are to ensure that those who have benefitted from the collective labor and effort of the nation's people and have become wealthy from profit that they earned because of the security and the opportunity that everyone contributes to providing should contribute in proportion to how much they have benefitted from it.  And that does require some redistribution of the wealth, via a fair and equitable taxation.  

It would not be accurate, or fair, to call these folks in rural Arizona, who are using socialist principles to provide for needs in their community, communists.  Nor is it accurate or fair to call those members of the Democratic party who are progressives advocating for Democratic Socialism communists, either.

 

It's Long Past Time to be Tired of This

The aberration of Trump's re-election to the White House after a first term loaded with criminal activity, major corruption, bad politics and general incompetence is not yet even through the second year of the second term, and it has already been a disaster.  We are fortunate that his mistakes and his inability to carry out even the simplest duties of the Presidency puts us in increasing danger, not only from our enemies, who are now doing things behind our back and taking full advantage of the inept and demented commander in chief, but from potential economic collapse due to economic policy that makes the rich richer, and which has run up $20 trillion of a $40 trillion dollar national debt. 

There are so many things with which to lose patience, that it is impossible to even think about where to start.  

One of our political parties now rests on the absence of any kind of moral or ethical values.  The GOP works on behalf of the 1% who hold 99% of the nation's wealth in their hands, and on behalf of those white Americans who still mistakenly and shamefully hold on to white Christian nationalism as some kind of legitimate answer to the world's, and nation's problems. The Republican party has pushed to keep power in the hands of Americans who are white and wealthy over the course of my lifetime.  But with the presence of Trump's MAGA movement as the primary party control and influence, it has become nothing but the enemy of the common, working class American.  

 

This didn't just start with Trump.  Dubya's administration got us well along the road where the government was being slowly swallowed up by corporate interests which bought elections with PAC campaign contributions.  And let's not just slide by the fact that a lot of Democrats are obligated to the corporate interests that finance their campaigns.  How else do we explain the lack of resolution to problems that were created during Trump's first term, the slow-walking and foot dragging of a justice department that seemed loathe to follow through with his indictments and allowed a few legal maneuvers to short circuit justice and not only let him slide, but nothing happened during the two years the Democrats controlled Congress to prevent this travesty from happening again, so ultimately, we are now much worse off than we were before. 

So that's one good reason to be tired of all of this.  Tired of it to the point that I'm way beyond ready to get this midterm election over.  

But I Have a Feeling My Frustration Isn't Going to be Resolved After the Midterms

Trump's incompetence and his inept handling of every single aspect of the Presidency, something we saw the first time he was in office but which so many Americans ignored, forgot, or were just too stupid to notice, has caused him to be a colossal failure as President.  It has also put Democrats back in position to win control of both houses of Congress.  Our bought-and-paid-for news media is toning down the rhetoric, and the facts that support the coming blue tsunami, but the fact of the matter is that Democrats are going to win the midterm elections, not on the merits of some complicated political narrative that meticulously explains their plans, and bores most voters to tears, but because Trump has become so unpopular.  

But it seems that Democrats, handed this good fortune without having to make any real effort to earn it, and in spite of failing to handle the mistake this country made when it elected Trump in the first place, are trying their dead level best to keep the victory that is coming from being as large as it has the potential to be.  It's not because Democrats are still being political wonks that have trouble communicating the message they want voters to support, it's because they can't seem to figure out that this is not the 1980's, and politics have changed.  

So, instead of maintaining focus on the most important job at hand, neutralizing Trump and winning as much of a percentage of Congress as possible, Democrats are bickering and fighting and criticizing each other.  I mean, seriously?  With a little over two months left until the November elections, Democrats are sniping at each other because there's just too much turf protecting and nest feathering going on, and the greater good, which is being the party of working class people once again, is being ignored.  

Or is this a Republican strategy, to use the media, which is no longer a free press, to make a mountain  out of a mole hill, and push Democrats into bickering with each other, instead of attacking their vulnerabilities and making this into an even bigger landslide than it has the potential of becoming as it is now.  

I used my primary vote to help elect candidates who are closer to my own perspective of what Democrats stand for, and what should be our agenda.  I'll admit it, I'm a progressive Democrat, and there are things that are high on my list of priorities, though nothing is more important than neutralizing the threat that Trump poses to American Democracy, something that most Democrats claim they are also supporting, though actions sometimes speak louder than words.  I see few establishment Democrats on the front lines of the Trump opposition.  

And I'm tired of the bickering, the infighting, the foolish statements and the threats that will do absolutely nothing except help some Republican candidates win elections they shouldn't win, or couldn't win unless Democrats stay home because of this divisiveness.  

I voted in the primary election and cast my ballot for those candidates who had a kick-ass, take-no-prisoners kind of attitude when it came to fighting Republicans.  There were several candidates on the ballot here in Illinois, supported by Leaders We Deserve who articulated the danger that Trump continues to pose to American Democracy and who don't think Democrats need to court a few scattered conservative voters that won't make a difference anyway, but instead realize where the enthustiastic center of Trump opposition exists in the electorate, and will work to motivate them to turn out.  And many of them won the party's nomination, including for the senate seat Dick Durban is vacating.  

Now, heading into the general election, I will enter the voting booth, and click on the one box that I believe is the key to America freeing itself from Republican oppression and the threat of white, racist Christian Nationalism, and that is "straight ticket Democrat."  

I'm a progressive Democrat, and I would describe my political views as leaning toward a Democratic Socialist perspective.  The enthusiasm that is being generated going into this election is coming from the left of center, not from the moderate establishment, of the Democratic party and they have been joined by the scads of independent voters who are fed up with Trump.  I have a list of specific issues that I, as a financially supporting member of the Democratic party, will expect those who get my vote to support.  That includes undoing every Trump administration initiative of the past two years, and bringing Trump to justice, impeachment and removal from office.  

Can we see that this is where the focus needs to be?  If we want to fight with each other and bicker over how liberal the Democratic party should be, let's save that for after the midterm elections are over.  I'll be ready.  But right now, the priority is pushing the Republicans out of power, and after that, it should be bringing Trump to justice and making sure they never get their hands on Congressional power again.

Ever.  

White, Christian Nationalism needs to be stomped out, and the Heritage Foundation needs to be defeated and neutralized.  The constitutional way to achieve this is at the ballot box, and afterward, and that means a surprisingly large margin and a decisive win in the midterm elections in November.

Vote Blue, No Matter Who!

There have been some primary season surprises on the Democratic side of American politics during this primary season.  Yet another one happened last night in Florida as Angie Nixon, a left wing Democratic socialist, defeated Alex Vindman, who outraised and outspent her by almost 10 times more, won a surprisingly big 56-44% victory.  This one is difficult to figure, except considering it's a statewide race, and independent voters can't vote in a partisan primary in Florida.  Democratic party turnout was high, equalling the Republican turnout in a state that is more red than purple.  

Vindman, whom I like personally, billed himself as the candidate who had a chance to win the general election.  He does have name recognition, and a reputation as a never Trumper, as well as being somewhat of a centrist who leans a little bit more to the right.  And that turned out to be fatal to his primary nomination hopes.  

What's happening to cause these surprising election results is, as it almost always is with Democrats, in the messaging.  The realization that the sitting President is an incompetent boob is something that more than 60% of voters accept as fact.  Democrats are very likely to flip both houses, the senate side looking particularly promising over the past few months, and that will effectively stop Trump and make him a genuine lame duck with two years left to go, if he sticks it out.  The biggest issue is affordability as prices of everything have soared because of his stupid decisions.  

And while the Democratic party establishment is still feathering its nests, protecting its turf, and taking corporate campaign contributions, the message of Democratic socialists is resonating with voters, and they are responding to it.  And where there are candidates who are pushing that strong, working class narrative in clear, understandable terms, without all of the party gobbletygook, they are winning primary elections.  They have limited resources, because they won't take corporate money or accept AIPAC funds, so there are limits on their ability to get the narrative out there to the voters.  

But they are right on target with the message that is appealing to working class Americans, and as it spreads and grows, more and more of the candidates who wear the Democratic Socialist tag are winning primary elections.  And frankly, because that message resonates with so many independent voters, they are the better choices for winning in November.  

It's that narrative and messaging thing that Democrats seem to have so much trouble with that is pulling in this unusual coalition of liberal Democrats, the vast majority of independent voters turned off by partisan pushiness, the resistance to Trump showing up in No Kings rallies and literally now all over the place, and disaffected Republicans who realize that Trump must go or they lose.  That is going to produce a large enough coalition to win elections.  Establishment Democrats must get on board, not that they have to change their messaging or narrative, but that they must turn out and help every candidate with a D beside their name win their general election.  

You know, "Vote blue, no matter who."  That's been the Democratic mantra since Trump started running.  It has been the establishment's mantra during those times when there wasn't a lot of bold risk taking going on when we did have power to bring Trump to justice and stop this madness.  So now, the establishment needs to take its own advice and its own slogan, and put it to use.  

Vote blue, no matter who, even if the candidate is a Democratic Socialist.  

The Agenda is Very Simple

For those who have paid attention, and are waking up to why this message is appealing, it's pretty much what the average, working American who lives paycheck to paycheck would like to see.  

• Opening up the housing market by eliminating the ability of corporate entities to buy up housing and control the supply and demand to drive up prices. 
• Making the top 1% and the multi-billion dollar corporations pay their fair share of taxes.  No loopholes, exemptions or government favor granting.  Windfall profits tax on the worst abuses.
• Socialization and government intervention in areas where the profiteering has been the worst, most notably in health care.  Many Democratic Socialists are 100% in favor of a government owned, single payer health care system like most of our European allies, and Canada, now have.  
• Immigration reform that reflects American idealism. 
• No offensive, aggressive wars.  Turn the War Department back to the Department of Defense. 
• Increased government control in the energy industry, utilities, water supply.  
• Increasing the resources to provide for more infrastructure expansion and improvement to resolve supply issues and work to bring retail prices down, especially on supplies of food which are abundant in this country.  
• Major reform in agricultural development, so that farmers are not risking losing everything or being bought out by corporate interests.  

Let me point out that these issues are all in the common interest of Americans, there is nothing remotely communist about it, and in terms of being consistent with the Constitution, they are all designed to protect the American people from exploitation, which is the job of government.  

Vote Blue No Matter Who!

Let's be clear that there is no Democrat running for election during this cycle who would be worse than their Republican opponent.  Not one.  Focus on the issue, which is stopping the single worst President we have ever had in American history from doing any more damage to our country.  

That's the message, and the political interest and focus of Democrats now.  This needs to be as big a victory as possible, and I tend to think that the polling data, comprised by people who are mostly afraid of Trump, is significantly underestimating what is going to happen in November.   If this doesn't happen, and there's still a risk of that, given all of the bickering and infighting that is going on, a foot-shooting contest that could still turn into disaster, then we will lose the America that we know permanently.  

So, you know what to do.  Go out and do it. 

"I am pledging to vote for Democratic party candidates up and down the ballot in November.  If my state permits it, I will check the box for "Democratic Party Straight Ticket," if not, I will cast a vote for every Democrat who is on the ballot.  I will not, under any circumstances, vote for a Republican."  

This is Why Trump and Hegseth's Incompetence is So Dangerous

Joe Conason on Alternet: Trump Just Handed America's Enemies Everything They Wanted 

Thomas Kika on Alternet: Trump Handing His Fiercest Enemy a Huge Victory

Even if Donald Trump had actually written 'The Art of the Deal' (he didn't write a single word of that bestseller, his first big fraud) it would be foolish to expect that the President or his hapless envoys can deliver a viable agreement with the Iranians anytime soon.  Taken together, they lack all the qualities required to achieve the complex diplomatic resolution required in this crisis--like the nuclear agreement that Trump so cavalierly discarded in 2017...

The problem isn't only that Trump and his team of morons neglected to fashion any plan for their sudden urge to attack a faraway country with a million men under arms, a big weapons arsenal and a long history of ideological resiliance.  That was a historic and particularly stupid mistake, characteristic of Trump's shallow intellect--but now, after inflicting massive damage on Iran, the world and our own economy, he and his government are evidently stuck in the quagmire they created.  --Joe Conason, Alterned, April 2026

And so on it goes.  

The United States attack on Iran will go down in history as another lost war.  Trump launched the attack at the urging and behest of Benjamin Netanyahu, because Iran is Israel's most dangerous enemy and they do not have the military capability to deal with Iran while they are bogged down in the Gaza war.  When Trump scuttled the nuclear deal with Iran that was negotiated during the Obama Administration, he put Israel, and our other allies in the region, in much greater danger.  

Attacking Iran did not remove the ongoing threat to Israel.  It may have temporarily degraded Iran's ability to be a threat to their security, though the missile attacks on Israel have been worse than anything they've experienced from the Iranians before.  In spite of lies that pour forth from this President's administration on a daily basis about everything they do, especially this war and the effect it is having on the American people, it doesn't appear that anything has actually changed.  The Straits of Hormuz remain closed, choking off oil supplies and other kinds of shipping, driving prices up on all kinds of goods, but also depleting America's strategic oil reserve by dangerously high percentages, and depleting a military stockpile of weapons that will take years to replace.  

Iran remains a threat to Israel, and to the United States.  The attitude they are displaying, flaunting defiance and letting Trump open his mouth and make statements which they immediately contradict and defy, is a clear message to the world that they do not feel defeated.  Their ability to fire off clusters of missiles at Israel, and at our allies just across the narrow waterway between them, and to continue to vex traffic in the Straits would indicate that this is a long way from being over, and that Trump's threatening approach is not working at all.  They have gained the upper hand. 

And if that's not enough diplomatic stupidity, Trump uses social media to send a message to his "Secretary of War" to back down and substantially reduce joint military exercises with South Korea.  Let me repeat that, in case the significance of that statement hasn't yet sunk in.  He used social media to tell the Secretary of War to "substantially reduce" joint military exercises with one of our closest and most loyal Asian allies, South Korea.  

I do not understand why that announcement, and the way it was done, did not cause a media firestorm in this country.  That is the equivalent of handing China, who is one of the biggest threats to the United States in just about every way, a blank check.  The strategic importance of South Korea to the security of the United States should be one of our highest military and diplomatic priorities, but the sitting President uses his social media account to degrade its strategic importance and announce a backdown from activity that supports this priority.  

What's more frightening than the danger this puts us in is the fact that there are still too many Americans who have absolutely no idea about any of this, and are ignorant to the significance of these actions which demonstrate an intolerable level of incompetence from this President and his advisors.  Along with that is the fact that there won't be anyone in the Republican party who will stand up for the United States and defend us against our enemies.  

And there will still be plenty of ignorance and stupidity that will show up at the ballot boxes across this country on election day, even after all of this.  

 

 

Priority For Democrats Down the Road, In 2028 is Expanding the Supreme Court

The Washington Post reported today that Democrats have at least five different plans for a future overhaul of the Supreme Court, including expanding the number of justices from nine to thirteen, cutting lifetime terms to 18 years at the most, creating and enforcing an ethics code, and placing standards on how the court rules from its "shadow docket."  [WP, August 16, 2026]

[The story, by Julian Mark, appears in today's Post.  I an citing it for reference, rather than providing a link to a story which is behind a paywall.] 

According to the Post, Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said, "There's constant and building dismay about the increasingly appalling record of the court.  And I think the continuing interest in reform springs from continued dismay and concern about the court's misbehavior." [WP, August 16, 2026] 

Such moves are considered to be turning the court "political," according to many Republicans.  What they fail to see is that the court they've created is very political and partisan, and Senator Mitch McConnell used some very disgusting and dishonest statements to justify unethical, if not illegal, acts in which he manipulated the judicial approval process to the benefit of the GOP.  And the justices who benefitted from it have amply rewarded both him and his party.  

And what has happened as a result is that the Republican Presidents who have had the ability to appoint justices, namely Trump, and his GOP predecessor, Dubya, have pointed political idealogues, rather than actual judges, to the vacancies they've been able to fill.  So they are the ones who are responsible for turning the court into a political body, rather than a judicial one.  And since they are willing to live with that, and benefit from it as well, then I think going to 13 seats when Democrats have the power to do it after 2028 is just fine.  I hope whichever Democrat wins that Presidential race will find the four most liberal jurists in the country, all under 40 years of age, and appoint them to the court.  Then start overturning prior decisions until the Republican-appointed justices damage is eliminated. 

We Had the Power to Do This During the First Two Years of Biden's Term

The Democratic party theme during the entire 2020 election campaign was the very real threat that Trump posed to American Democracy.  And as the expression goes, "we had him, dead to rights."  When the Supreme Court moved to protect him from prosecution by their very unconstitutional and unAmerican immunity ruling, that should have been the signal for Democrats to get started on amending the judiciary act to give President Biden four new seats to fill with left wing judges.  

There were several Democrats who were on board with that and said so, among them Senator Bernie Sanders, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, among others.  And while it certainly was a theme for the progressive side of the party, it was an idea which, matched with the federal indictments he received, would have brought the criminal to justice and knocked down the barricades of delays he used to get out of it.  

While the current conservative-biased court rules against the spirit of the law, a court more constitutionally centered, which means it would be made up of a majority of liberal justices, would have knocked down the immunity ruling, overturned Citizens United, and eliminated the Dobbs decision in one short session.  That would have opened the door to Trump's "speedy" prosecution on the criminal charges for which he was indicted, and landed him in prison where he belongs.  

The congressional investigation into Trump's seditious attempt to overturn the 2020 election, and subsequently, his theft of classified documents, discovered at Mar-a-Lago, would have then moved forward, especially if Biden had appointed a more aggressive and savvy attorney general.  It's even likely that the case in the hands of Aileen Cannon would have been removed and given to someone who could be more fair in judgment.  

But apparently, there are a lot of Democrats who don't really see Trump as the threat to American Democracy that he is.  Even after an almost year-long investigation into the January 6th sedition laid down a mountain of evidence of his tampering with and involvement in election results, there was fear that any further push might "look political."  There were an awful lot of frustrated Democratic voters, myself included, with the failure to prosecute that will be a black mark on the Biden Administration's legacy.  We would not now have to endure what we are enduring if the effort had been made to add those four seats in 2021 or 2022.

So This Topic, Which Isn't New, Is Now Finally Getting Some Traction

Two years into the second term of America's most inept, incompetent, and absolutely worst President, we are now finally seeing a movement among Democrats to, as the saying goes, "pack the court."  It's as if no one remembers that this came up in 2020, and no one wants to acknowledge that it was an idea that got floated around, and shelved.  But now, the process is made much more difficult by the fact that we no longer have a majority in Congress, nor the White House, and therefore have to wait, and hope and dream that we will be in charge following the election of 2028, so we can get this done.  

Not surprisingly, it is the more progressive wing of the party who is now picking up this theme and waiving the banner.  This can't be done in time to save us from Trump, though I hope the Congress we elect in 2026 puts an end to his ability to do much more than be ceremonial, if that.  But the immediate effect of a liberal court would be getting corporate money out of elections and returing that power to the people.  It would also restore the rule of law, to which the President would be subject equally, and make him an ordinary citizen when it comes to his desires to commit criminal acts.  

We need this.  

The other ideas put forth should all be added to the Judiciary Act.  Ethics rules should be in writing, reflecting the consensus of the will of the people when it comes to the behavior of members of the nation's highest court.  And that includes the kind of behavior that slipped by Congress when Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh were confirmed.  Justices who say one thing during their confirmation, but rule another way when on the bench should be subject to review, probation or removal from the bench for lying and misrepresenting their position.   

Term limits should also be imposed, and while 18 years was mentioned, I'm in favor of limiting justices to 10 year terms, all up and down and through the federal court system.  That's staggered enough to give Presidents an equal number of justices to replace during any four year term.  

Justices should have to divest their investments, and their business holdings before they can be nominated.  If they are not willing to do that, then it is time to move on to the next candidate.  

I'd also be in favor of establishing a citizens review board, empowered to recommend justices for impeachment, in the event that decisions start getting out of line.  Having to answer directly to American citizens and voters might cause some real reform to break out spontaneously.  

If Any Politician Wants to Earn My Vote...

Then support for judicial reform should be part of the Democratic party platform.  If the belief that Trump is an existential threat to Democracy is as much a democratic party ideal as anything, then this should become a campaign theme, and voters need to hold the politicians accountable for their level of support.  

No excuses.  If we gain the majority and have a Democratic House and Senate, and White House following 2028, the prospects of which look absolutely rosey right now, there will be no reason not to do this, except for those Democrats who still dip their hand in the corporate cookie jar and let them finance their campaigns.  The first two years should be a rush to get all kinds of anti-Trump legislation passed, and figure out how to make most of it stick.  

When It Becomes Real For Me, Personally

We paid for Medicare benefits all of our working lives.  The deductions started from my paycheck when I was sixteen years old, working at Bowlin's, a chain of tourist stores along the interstates in Arizona and New Mexico, and they came out of every single paycheck I ever received, a lifetime of spreading out payments for health insurance coverage during my senior years.  Over the years, it was a political football, with benefits waning and then increasing, depending on which party was in power.  The Republicans always had an angle on trying to figure out how to put mechanisms in  place so that a good chunk of the benefits, and some of the premiums, would go to pay profits.  To their credit, most of the time the Democrats are in power they spend looking for ways to strengthen and sustain what some claim is unsustainable, and to make sure that collections and distributions are fair. 

But when the Republicans are in power, watch out!  It may appear, on the surface, that not much is going on.  Don't kid yourself.  When they cut the budget, there are those who feel it, and I happen to be one of those.  

Actually, it's my wife who is feeling it.  

She fell in the bathroom, due to leg weakness caused by spinal stenosis.  That was the diagnosis, and the remedy, after five days in the hospital, was physical and occupational therapy in a skilled nursing facility, covered by Medicare.  Actually, Medicare provides full coverage for 20 days, and then 80% coverage for 80 more days, but we were prepared when the time came to go on Medicare, and we purchased the "gap" policy that covers the 20% Medicare doesn't cover.  We're caught up, deductible-wise, and so the transition from hospital to rehab facility went smoothly, at least at first. 

The physical and occupational therapy has turned out to be less than satisfactory.  The understaffed facility provides just one hour, combining both.  Looking into moving to a facility that might be better, I couldn't find one that either had better reviews or ratings.  When I asked the doctor who is in charge of her therapy routine, I got the standard, corporate-owned facility song and dance, that there was never a guarantee of more than she is getting (even though their representative told us she would get an hour a day each of OT and PT) and that her therapy is based on her own response to the treatment.  

Now it's been more than a month, there has been what I would call little improvement and the main goal, of her returning to being able to walk again, hasn't been met.  But they are telling us she is on the verge of discharge.  There is no way she could function at home without more assistance than is available, at least, not without looming danger of a fall.  

"It's the insurance," we're told.  They are the ones who are making all of the medical decisions, not the doctors and nurses who have this expertise. 

Just to make sure, I looked it up from two different sources.  She's entitled to 100 days, with an hour a day each for OT and PT, but it appears budget cuts have rolled back the number of hours of therapy patients on Medicare can get.  

So, after all of the caterwauling and whining that Republicans did when President Obama first proposed major health care reform, we still don't have it, but all of the problems and issues that the Republicans claimed would come from "socialized medicine" are materializing in our capitalist-driven health care system.  We are at this point in the first place because we were unable to get an appointment with a specialist in this specific field for more than three months.  Three months.  

When a major medical care corporation bought out the small, Catholic hospital system where we go to see the doctor, about a third of the doctors on their medical staff decided it was time to retire.  This created a shortage of doctors, especially those in general practice.  Those positions have not been replaced, and that has caused lines to back up go get in to see doctors.  So my wife had to endure her increasing pain, and run the risk of a fall, until she could see someone.  Unfortunately, the fall came first and she remains confined to a wheel chair, facing being relegated to home health care that won't provide anywhere near the level of help she needs. 

And did I mention, the home health agency has had to lay off staff, including some of the professionals like nurses and nurse practitioners, because of budget cuts in their Medicare allocation.  

I just don't understand why Americans are incapable of looking at what other countries, who have considered health care as a basic human right, have done for their people.  We've had this informal discussion on more than one occasion with neighbors in our building who are citizens of countries that have socialized medicine, and they can't fathom how, in this country, half of the revenue that is paid for health care by its citizens goes to pay stock dividents and profits, not medical care.  That explains, they say, why care is so difficult to come by in this country, and why we face situations like ours.  

So for any politicians who may be reading this, and I know there are several who do, health care reform now tops the list of my voting priorities, along with getting rid of Trump and bringing him to justice.  And I am not alone in this, there are millions who are having these same experiences.  

So are you listening?

 

A Feeling That I'm Having Trouble Shaking

The issue that is facing the American people at the ballot box in November is the existential threat posed to American Democracy by the criminal Trump.  That, and the fact that the man is an adjudicated felon, a mysogynistic rapist, alleged pedophile with plenty of evidence to prove it, and a mentally crippled egomaniac, and American voters put him in the White House, and now must correct their mistake, is the pressing issue of the mid-term elections. 

His own policies have created the issues that have plunged his poll numbers into depths never before achieved by a sitting President.  We voted him out in 2020, and that opened the door to several opportunities for Democrats to step up and protect the country from ever having to deal with the man  again.  There were indictments for crimes accompanied by a full Congressional investigation and mountains of evidence.  But prosecuting him was not a priority of the justice department, which was slow walking any potential action against him.  And no one wanted to talk about the bold risk that would have to be taken to neutralize the Supreme Court's ridiculous presidential immunity ruling by packing it with liberal justices, something that was within the realm of possibilities up to 2022. 

Yeah, I've heard all of the excuses about why that couldn't be done.  But if the man is the threat to democracy that he has proven himself to be, the risks would have been worth it to make sure that he couldn't ever get back in the White House.  We now see how seriously that threat was taken and how well the Democratic party establishment's plan worked.  It was, frankly, a huge disappointment and must be considered a political failure.

And now, as the economy tanks and prices soar and we are in a seemingly endless and unwinnable war, and the country is going to hell in a handbasket, the Democrats are apparently being given another chance.  The polling data, which skews heavily conservative, especially since Trump has a lot of influence over the corporate media that owns the polling services, is showing a blue tsunami forming up.  The primary elections have provided hints that the polls are probably underestimating the size of the blue tsunami, and from my perspective, I think we'll see Democrats take both houses of Congress this November.  And it won't really be all that close, though some of the races might be tight.  But when it's all counted, I fully expect to see Abdul El-Sayed, James Talarico and Troy Jackson in the Senate, along with Roy Cooper, Sherrod Brown, Josh Turek and Mary Peltola joining Jon Ossoff, who is going to win easily.  

That is, if the party can calm itself down, get focused on the real issue and stop fighting over who is and isn't a Democrat, and what are they going to do, and who is going to call the shots, and who is next in line for the handing out of privilege and prestige.  

Here we go again.  

This has some unpleasant resemblances to what started happening prior to the 2024 Presidential election, when Biden's debate performance sent the party into a frenzy that led to trying to replace him as the nominee just a hundred days before the election.  Yeah, that's the feeling that is creeping back in, as Democrats snipe and spat at each other over how much influence the left side of the party should have, as it wins primaries and displaces the centrists, moderates and slight to the right candidates that represent the Democratic party establishment.  

Yes, the same establishment that lost the 2024 election to the man who is arguably the worst President in American history.  The party fell victim, once again, to allowing the GOP to determine the narrative and create controversy.  The same party establishment that frittered away every single opportunity to stop Trump from being the greatest existential threat to American Democracy since the British sacked Washington in the War of 1812 lost the 2024 election because it panicked, spent too many weeks running around like headless chickens and then, tried to make up for it when it was way too late to make much of a difference. 

The Democrats are not going to win the midterms on the merits of their political perspectives or plans, they are going to win it because Trump has done such a poor job as President, and the Republicans in Congress have been his willing sycophants right down into the abyss.  The Democrats are also not going to win this on their own strength, within the moderate to centrist part of the party.  They are going to need the support of a wide variety of independent voters, and they are going to need every vote from the progressive wing of the party.  If they want the Presidency back in 2028, then after the midterms are over, they will need to come up with something to keep the younger voters, progressive voters and working class voters engaged and interested.  

And they must bring Trump to justice. 

I get it.  I understand when someone who thought that a particular senate or house nomination was their personal entitlement got swallowed up in the energy of that woke left side of the party, and lost a primary they thought they were entitled to win to a young, aggressive progressive pushing a Democratic Socialist agenda.  Well, Democrats have been warned for years now that they need to figure out how to get the votes of the working class back, and frankly, it's difficult for me to sympathize with candidates who lost in a primary when they thought they were entitled to the nomintation because of who they were or whose influence on which they depended.  This is about putting forth the best candidate who can win in the general election and the progressive Democrats focusing on affordability, jobs, a thriving economy and best use of resources are winning primaries and leading polls for the general election. 

And of course, that makes some establishment Democrats angry.  But if the establishment had acted with the kind of bold risk taking that would have kept Trump out of the White House, then they might not be having such a hard time convincing primary voters to support them.  

And if the party's leadership is not careful, they will once again fritter away the political opportunity of the century, that is within their grasp right now.