Credit where credit is due
PLUS: Why the media won't save democracy and reaction to Mike Pence's comments on the government shutdown
In a two-party system with only one pro-democracy party, I have repeatedly called upon the Democratic Party to toughen up. The threat that the country faces is existential and very real. How that threat is perceived, and the response actualized, is the most important discussion we should be having at this moment in the United States.
I want to take the opportunity to applaud the now more than half of Democratic senators, including Senator Cory Booker, the junior senator from New Jersey, who have called for the resignation of Robert Menendez.
There is no person that comes before the urgency of this moment.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s position remains completely unacceptable. At last check, he’s still holding that:
Bob Menendez has been a dedicated public servant and is always fighting hard for the people of New Jersey.
How do you see it?
Why the media will not save democracy from Donald Trump
I discuss an excerpt from former executive editor of The Washington Post’s Marty Baron's new book discussing pushback he got from the Trump family. I explain that if we want to keep our democracy from being destroyed by Donald Trump, it is up to us, not the news media.
Yesterday, Mike Pence said the following about a government shutdown in an interview with Yahoo Finance Live:
…about the government shutdown... House Republicans are the last line of defense for taxpayers in Washington, D.C.
Click here to watch and/or read my reaction to his comments.
“Democracy doesn’t die in darkness. It chokes on apathy. It sputters to an end, decayed, broken and corrupted. It ends when it produces an economic system in which, according to the Federal Reserve, 60 percent of the population lives paycheck to paycheck, and 40 percent doesn’t have $400 cash available.”---Steve Schmidt
I couldn’t agree more. I wrote about this quote yesterday, but it’s worth repeating.
“The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.”--Robert M Hutchins
Yesterday, I received a call from the Democratic Senatorial Committee asking for a donation. I told them as long as Menendez was still in the senate they could expect nothing. I’ve been an avid supporter of democrats for at least two decades; since the Bush v Gore Supreme Court fiasco, but I won’t support another crooked politician like Trump, regardless of party.
Ironically, The woman on the other end said, “Im not alone, they have been hearing the same thing from many of their top supporters.”
A few hours later, half the senate democrats said Menendez must go. Perhaps, they all finally got the memo. We won’t tolerate anymore corruption and refuse to support the senate, while republicans can claim another whataboutism moment....:)
Dare I say “Dereliction of duties”, in reference to Schumer? What exactly do Donald Trumps cult followers think about HIM? They think a public servant. No really.
Maybe Schumer’s proximity to corruption has jaded him to the point of blindness. His counterpart across the aisle stole a Supreme Court Seat. Nobody jumped up and down and said NO, you can’t do that. At least Schumer didn’t.
Schumer’s politeness- “look-the-other-way-ism”, “wait and see” attitude could sink our ship.
Democracy does not just die from those seeking to dismantle it. It dies because the hands that hold it do not clinch it with all their might. They don’t fight for it. They are busy being polite.
Not believing the level of the would be thieves evilness and intention.
No matter which side of the aisle, corruption is one of the thieves of democracy.