Turns out I am an introvert.
I like staying home, and there’s nothing like a little self-quarantine to get that spring cleaning started. I’ve been busy: clearing out drawers and closets, sorting through old photographs and papers, binge watching classics like Knight Rider. Best of all, I’ve worn nothing but loungewear for weeks! When this catastrophe does end, and we get to (have to) leave the house again, don’t be surprised if I come out looking like Mrs. Roper.
The real question is what will our government look like?
Nothing like a pandemic to shine a light on the true heroes: nurses, truckers, grocery store clerks, waste management employees. Not so much our president — bumbling and lying through a real disaster — nor the senators — who dropped stock faster than they drop their pants in a five-star hotel room. What is up with the blind faith practiced by today’s so-called Republicans? As our parents used to say, if Trump jumped off a bridge, would they follow him? And can we try it?
Cory Gardner has voted in alignment with Trump 90 percent of the time. And he missed the vote on COVID-19 financial relief entirely. I think Sen. Gardner will see some repercussions in November, and he won’t be alone. This lack of solidarity with their constituents could lead to a lemming-like end of the mighty GOP as we know it.
And when Trump finally dumps us off on the curb, with our empty bag in our hands, the skeletal Republican Party will be looking for a new guru, something in the line of a 2.0 post-Hollywood Ronald Reagan. I believe Biden is just that guy. In much the same way that green is the new black, and 50 is the new 40, Biden can be the new Republican. With his cream cheese good looks, private school vernacular, and bluer-than-a-blue-blood sports coat collection, he fits the mold perfectly.
Let’s face it, today’s Democrats are not what they used to be. They’ve mellowed with age — as have we all. Except Sanders; as old as he is, he’s still ahead of his time. Unfortunately, the word ‘socialism’ wears rag-like clothing and eats cold soup in the can, conjuring images of The Dark Ages Before Capitalism, so Bernie makes the older Dems shudder to think. Even though, all he’s really pushing is for corporations to pay their taxes, (on all the money we spent, good little consumers that we are) because then we can afford to take care of ourselves (preventive healthcare) and our planet (more of a triage situation, actually.)
The millennials get it. They’ll be damned if they’re going to work harder/enjoy less than the guy who’s a legacy simply on luck of the draw. Let’s face it, rich white people have had a good gig going for a long time in this country. And the opportunities afforded to older generations are gone. For example, making payments on a house/car, buying groceries, paying for utilities, and taking a vacation each year was doable on one middle-class income in 1970. Not so today. Even with two incomes, the middle-class is sliding into debt each year just trying to get by.
Which is why strict party alliance, i.e., Blue No Matter Who, won’t cut it anymore. We’re into new party shades of such different hues these days, that I barely recognize old-school Democrats anymore. And I certainly don’t recognize these deficit-bloating, damn-the-working-class, Trump-culture Republicans. We don’t have any more time for an alliance that robs the people of our own public lands, that legally keeps women second-class citizens, that claims to abhor government subsidies — until said subsidies go to the corporations which benefit their personal portfolios.
So, if the Republican party implodes, and Old Blue takes up the relay, then we can birth a new party from the left to be the change we want to see. A progressive party that will work for all of us, to keep us healthy, housed and fed.
See, I told you I was staying busy during quarantine; between cleaning out the fridge shelves and trying on everything in the costume box at the back of the closet, I found something positive in the end of the good ol’ days.