Political Thoughts with Richard Bleil
A few days ago, Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul (82 years old) was allegedly assaulted in his own home by a man (42 years old) with a hammer. Since the attack, we have been afforded the dubious honor of witnessing the true character of our politicians as they responded to the attack.
We can speculate on the underlying reason for the attack, which appears to have been motivated by right-wing hate mongering and divisive politics. He was carrying a zip tie suggesting a goal of kidnapping and was allegedly yelling for Nancy and her whereabouts. His social media pages had posts that reflected right-wing “MAGA” debunked conspiracy theories.
Since the attack, we have seen examples of admirable leadership, and we’ve seen people showing their vile and deprived nature. Almost immediately, extreme right-wing conspiracy theorists began speculating and spreading unfounded and slanderous reports about what had happened. One of these stories is that Paul was attacked by his homosexual partner in a “lovers tiff”. Rumors like these are unfortunately too popular because they pander to the lowest instinct in people, combining the violence of a true and tragic crime with the seedy rumors of what is viewed by many as sexual depravity (but, thankfully, in our society homosexuality is becoming more commonly accepted than it had been historically). The point to these stories is to inflame division and hatred and frighten people into voting for the conservative party by playing on the fears of homophobic voters.
This is horrible, and frankly, I hope that Paul sues the proverbial pants off of the people who started such rumors so he can spank their bare bottoms very publicly and humiliating them into oblivion, but that’s not the worst of it. Rather than coming together to support their follow politician, several of our elected officials have gone so far as to repeat these stories. Rather than recognizing the dangerously divided and angry political divides in our society, instead they feed the flames of a fire that could very easily turn on them as well. Not long ago, both conservative and liberal justices on the Supreme Court have received threats as people are upset that the highest court in our land, once held in high regard as perhaps the last branch of our government that has not become stained with partisan politics seems to have fallen to political divide. These threats have come from both sides, liberals and conservatives, showing the universally unstable situation, and yet, rather than pulling together the attack on Nancy’s husband as an attack on all politicians, they instead fan the flames of anger, fear and misinformation.
In a few days, we will be holding our midterm elections. At stake is control of the houses of Congress, and, sadly, people will be voting by their party rather than by their heart. This is why I’m independent. I have no intention of voting along party lines, which is why I don’t belong to either party. I’ve written before on voting according to actions rather than words. As we get closer to the elections, many of those up for re-election are switching rhetoric in favor of women’s rights, while their voting record showed support of the unpopular decision to overturn Roe v Wade. I have no intention of listening to what they are saying. Words are cheap. I’m looking at their voting records and actions to decide how they really feel about women’s rights. I’m also looking to see if they support the US Constitution. Rhetoric over the January 6 insurrection speaks volumes to true dedication to American democracy. Clearly, election deniers and those trying to paint the insurrectionists as “patriots” as they tried to violently block the duties of Congress and stand in the way of the will of the voters are not believers in Democracy and the American Constitution. It does not matter what they say, because their actions reflect their true opinion.
Now the character of our officials is in the spotlight. Politicians who are spreading these conspiracy lies, and even those remaining silent on the subject, are showing their commitment to election at any cost or flat-out cowardice, which is something else I will be considering. Honestly, we need conservative and Republican representatives, but the party has become so extreme and off-center from the American people that I cannot support them. The only way to heal the Republican party and move them back to a healthy state is to send the message that we are not amused and have lost faith in the party. We cannot keep supporting politicians who try to get elected using conspiracy theories and fear to stay in power. November 8 is our opportunity to tell our representatives to clean up their act, or to lose them completely.
Bleil's Banter 