The Republican Party these days, is Pierre, but we'll all get swallowed by the lion. Since we're not living in a children's story, the lion's not going to burp us up and give us a chance to say "I care," before politely bringing us home and staying on as a weekend guest. We can care about politics, we can care about issues instead of identities, we can create yet another lone heroic underdog, a Mr. or Ms. Smith who comes to Washington to care, a person who will persuade the wavering Republicans to waver no more, but to care more about the country's survival than they do about their political careers.
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
A Maurice Sendak Impeachment
"Because he can," is the reality of Donald Trump, David Leonhardt remarks in an OP-ED piece for The New York Times. The losing side cares a great deal, and I'm still hoping that the motif of the American underdog who, against all odds, wins the day--I'm hoping that motif will weave itself into a story that ends with the would-be emperor being deposed. Even Mike Pence would be better than this thing we call a POTUS. When I listen to the Republicans and to the president's lawyers, I can't help but remember Maurice Sendak's grumpy child, Pierre, who answers his mother's every question with "I don't care":
The Republican Party these days, is Pierre, but we'll all get swallowed by the lion. Since we're not living in a children's story, the lion's not going to burp us up and give us a chance to say "I care," before politely bringing us home and staying on as a weekend guest. We can care about politics, we can care about issues instead of identities, we can create yet another lone heroic underdog, a Mr. or Ms. Smith who comes to Washington to care, a person who will persuade the wavering Republicans to waver no more, but to care more about the country's survival than they do about their political careers.
The Republican Party these days, is Pierre, but we'll all get swallowed by the lion. Since we're not living in a children's story, the lion's not going to burp us up and give us a chance to say "I care," before politely bringing us home and staying on as a weekend guest. We can care about politics, we can care about issues instead of identities, we can create yet another lone heroic underdog, a Mr. or Ms. Smith who comes to Washington to care, a person who will persuade the wavering Republicans to waver no more, but to care more about the country's survival than they do about their political careers.
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It's very depressing to witness America's dysfunctional government right now. This behavior by Republicans is what polarizes the Dems. I cannot believe they are selling their souls for this narcissistic bully.
ReplyDeleteBy "they" I mean Republican senators.
ReplyDeleteOh, soul-selling seems the order of the day, doesn't it? Radix malorum est cupiditas . . .
ReplyDeleteOne hopes it will come back to bite them, but injustice has become the norm.
ReplyDeleteI never used to follow politics, and years ago, visiting Germany, and other European countries, I was constantly asked about American politics but barely knew who was president at the time.
ReplyDeleteI pay more attention now. I had only one child, having had a sense of the cost of private school and college. Mt. Sinai Hospital charged us nearly 15K cash out of pocket that our BC/BS insurance at the time refused to pay back in 1990. We paid.
My husband once remarked that our son's 2-3 day a week nursery school cost more than his senior year at Princeton.
Our son has realized he is never going to be able to afford to have a wife and children, and has disdained the idea. I can't blame him. We met one of the loves of his life, a French woman, when we were in Paris a few years ago. We loved her! Our son loved her! They had no future, unfortunately. He is still unable to support himself, let alone a wife, and she was ready to have babies. She found a Finnish husband/father, and had a son a few years ago. I would have loved to be her Mother-in-law and lived in a 3 generation household in our NY apartment, but it was not to be.
You are so fortunate to have moved to Germany and have been able to raise a family of three on the salary of two academics. This almost never happens in the US today. You have had national health care, and paid-for university educations for your children.
You got a much better life by moving abroad. Only you have to speak German every day, a language I studied in HS but never really learned. My Austrian neighbor used to comment on how bad my German was, but I studied German in HS thinking I would never get a chance to go there. It was just an academic requirement.
Yes, America is tragically divided between the very poor and the very rich--you've described the situation very well. Thank you for writing.
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