1968 Is The Wrong Comparison For 2020

I have no patience for those voices who claim that 1968 is the year for us to compare 2020 to in terms of dynamic similarities, as it's the wrong analogy. The right election years to compare 2020 to are 1980 and 1992. 1980 and 1992 were years of immense change in how certain regions had aligned themselves politically. Some states, like California. were Republican-leaning swing states prior to 1992; while others, such as Texas, had been Democratic-leaning swing states prior to 1980. 2020 is shaping up to be a year along those same dynamics again. 

What Donald Trump And The Republican Party's Race-Baiting Shows

This is a truth lost on no one, which is that Donald Trump is flailing in the various polls that have come out. This would also explain the reason for his and the Republican Party's continual race-baiting; they have nothing to run on, except for that. The economy has gone out the window and with the Trump Administration's bungled response to COVID-19, no one in their right mind would want to keep the Republicans in power. Dishonest, corrupt and incompetent; those are the best words to describe the Republican Party these days. The fact that they're being brazenly open about their not bothering to govern is a travesty in itself.

Trump and the Republicans turning to race-baiting illustrates that they've acknowleged that their credibility has disappeared and that they need a scapegoat of some kind to serve as a perfectly placed distraction. No amount of lying can get them out of the jam they're in, and they know this. The only way for them to save what power they do have is for the Democrats to nominate a candidate that no one wants as an alternative. This is classic Republican campaign tactics at work: make someone else the problem, make something else the issue. This didn't help the Republicans in both the 2006 and 2018 midterm elections, nor in the 2008 presidential election. Those 3 election cycles saw the Republicans take steep losses at the polls from having nothing to campaign on. 

Petitions For The People's Lobby

For those who are new to viewing this blog (1st of all, welcome), the People's Lobby is an advocacy organization that fights for the voices of the American people who aren't part of the elite. I've been in contact with the organization's sole director/administrator, Dwayne Hunn, for the last year or so. He's got 2 petitions up for signing and sharing, so if you have a chance: please do so. The petitions are here and here.

The first petition is about getting law makers to raise the effective taxation level of the wealthiest Americans and most profitable corporations. Increasing their rate will help to close the budget gaps we're currently facing as a result of the Republican's tax-cuts. It will also make it so that we have the money to establish the Medicare-for-All system and tuition-free public colleges that Bernie Sanders had advocated for back in 2016.

The other has to do with creating a World Service/Jobs Corps as a 21st-Century recalibration of the Peace Corps. This would give Americans the opportunity to engage in an additional form service to country to serving in the Military. This would be a better use of our foreign policy resources, as it's a great way for us to engage in soft-power diplomacy. Plus we'll get the added advantage of winning the hearts and minds of people in the countries we're aiding. Especially when the living conditions foster an environment for political and/or religious extremism.