When there’s a fight, liberals cut and run
Travus T. Hipp (1937- 2012)
My Tribune colleague often said that in his hall of fame radio career and many times, he proved correct.
I’ve lately seen a rash of obituaries for liberal democracy. A few examples: The egalitarian era from President Franklin Roosevelt to Lyndon Johnson was a one-time aberration. Reversing Roe v. Wade was a trojan horse for a corporate conservative takeover of the judicial system. The geriatric leadership of the Democratic party is out of touch with the common man.
As Travus used to say, “it’s all true friends, just some’s truer’n others.”
Reams and reams have been written and forests felled trumpeting the triumph of Trumpistry this November. It well may happen. Or not.
What to do? America and the world suffer from a plethora of plague, pollution, pestilence and warmongering. The Four Horsemen straddle the globe. Witness the huddled masses yearning to breathe free and risking their lives to reside in western democracies. They look to us as we look to our president but resurgence takes a movement. One guy can’t work magic. Harry Potter has left the building.
Where do we start? First, a little advice paraphrased from New York City bard Damon Runyon: Never play the other guy’s game. If some sharp comes up to you on a streetcorner and wants to bet money that he can pour cider in your ear without you even knowing it, only one thing is sure — You’re gonna get an earful of cider.
Old line Donkeyites have just not learned from experience. Every time Barack Obama reached across the aisle, Mitch McConnell sent him back a bloody stump. And an earful of cider. Biden apparently drinks lots of apple juice.
There’s nothing wrong with geriatric leadership. The Dems had two chances to make Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, president and muffed it.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., knows how to fight, as do Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, and her fabled Crew.
America sorely needs a charismatic leader who can breathe new spirit into the nation as only John F. Kennedy once did. And it should be a she.
For more than 40 years, I’ve advocated that the only long term solution to this afflicted planet lies with women in control of governments. We are fortunately past the Xena Warrior Princess phase where females had to prove their cred by being more warlike than the boys. UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher typified that stereotype. Her descendants still walk among us, but the likes of Mrs. Clarence Thomas represent minor entertainment for the big boys locker room.
Until women win equal representation: kick ass like the boys, ladies.
And I do mean ladies. The Donkeykongs are largely the party of women while Republicans are white elephants, the last refuge of palefaced macho supremacy out to tusk us into the ground. They offer only tax breaks for the corporately wealthy and judges who will continue to foist corporate burdens on our backs.
Oh, and lots of guns which may turn out to be their de facto solution to the post-Roe population explosion, especially since birth control bans are the next target. Nothing thins the herd like machine guns for fourth grade show and tell.
The growth in non-partisan voter registration is symptomatic of society’s angst but a bit overrated. NP’s usually break along the lines of their preferred party at election time. Otherwise, Nevada’s “none of these candidates” option in statewide races would get a lot more support.
Nevada could have survived the 2014 red wave had not Sen. Harry Reid diverted resources elsewhere trying to save his upper house majority, a laudable but doomed effort.
Nevada can still buck the white mother tuskers this November.
Agitate. Agitate. Agitate. Organize. Organize. Organize!
MARK SHIELDS, 1937-2022. The great liberal reporter and commentator was just dispatched to the big newsroom in the sky. He is rightly remembered for his polite and affable approach toward everyone he met, from the humble to the exalted. Quite democratic.
In 1990 when I was beating Lush Rambo on the radio, my colleague Eddie Anderson got Mark Shields to call in from DC. Shields spoke with local listeners for two solid hours. Quite democratic. I’m not alone among Nevadans who wish him Godspeed.
AMAZON ATROCITY. Seen those vague TV spots bashing U.S. Senate Bill 2992 as something that will destroy home delivery, kidnap your firstborn and make your face break out? Actually, the bill sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is an attempt to reign in the biggies who market their own products at the top of any Internet search and banish competitors to cyber limbo. Small local businesses just can’t compete.
I’M LOOKING FOR A JOB. The pols on the Washoe Regional Transportation Commission just gave executive director Bill Thomas a huge raise. He did serious damage to the system last year, losing all three Hat Trick Strikes to the Teamsters Union. Mass transit employees have been winning legal actions costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands while ridership craters.
Mr. Thomas’ annual pay and benefits just topped $350,000.00. Gov. Steve Sisolak only makes $149,573 and donates it to charity.
Last January, Sparks Mayor Ed Lawson, who sits on RTC along with three other Republicans and zero Democrats, said “We need to blow the thing up and build a better system.”
Mr. Mayor, here’s your chance to demonstrate your GOP street cred. I am fully qualified to screw up the mass transit system just as badly as Mr. Thomas and his minions, and perhaps worse. And I am prepared to do it for half price. That’s true fiscal conservatism. What’s not to like?
KEEP ON ROLLIN’. Teamsters locals across the country are representing cannabis workers. I have suggested that they market unionmade hemp t-shirts by grabbing the hashtag #hashtogs.
Take care of each other and be careful out there.
Pray for Ukraine and 53 other currently war-torn lands.
Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno.
Andrew Quarantino Barbano, a 53-year Nevadan, is editor of ConsumerCoalitionv. org, Rentvolution.org, MississippiWestNV. org and NevadaLabor.com, among others. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988.
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