All about causing pain with no gain

Mark Sumner of Daily Kos gives a thank you to the Republican National Committee for so clearly defining the theme of the midterm elections. Sumner is referring to the resolution the RNC passed this week censuring the two Republicans on the January 6th Committee. The Republican Party now represents the insurrection by saying one must support the insurrection – even though they say it is no big deal – to be a Republican. Sumner then discussed another major part of the party. It isn’t their platform or their proposals or their plans for the country. They have none of those. The only goal of the party is summed up in a nasty guy supporter who was a little disappointed in what his idol didn’t accomplish:

I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.

Which brought to Sumner’s mind a quote from 1984 by George Orwell:

Always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.

Sumner observed the bills being rushed through Republican held state legislatures are all about causing pain with no gain, or about making sure anyone else can take away their power. It is why they embrace the Capitol attack.

That’s what the GOP is really offering this fall — a chance to join in. Take up that cup. Sip from that power. Plant a boot on that face and feel the intoxication of trampling on the helpless. It’s an old, old vintage. Even the labels aren’t new. But the bottles now come in extra large.

David Neiwert of Kos reported on a recent survey by the Anti-Defamation League has found 100 Republican candidates running for office at national, state, and local level who hold extremist views. Public Wise lists 207 elected officials in their Insurrection Index, those who aided the nasty guy in overturning the 2020 election. The party has refused to oppose or denounce these extreme candidates and they are punishing any Republicans who do. America has seen these types of candidates before. The difference this time is the party has embraced them. Laura Clawson of Kos reminds us that though the book Maus has been in the news lately it isn’t the only book that Republicans are trying to ban. One list has 850 books on it. So Clawson listed several (alas, it would be hard to contain all 850 in one post). She suggests you read one. Or more. Several have won various awards, meaning they are books worth reading. When riding my bicycle through neighborhoods within a few miles of my house I’ve seen at least five, maybe six or more Little Free Libraries. These are cabinets of some sort people have placed in their yards near the sidewalk or street. Inside are books and a sign urging people to take a book, replacing it with a book they no longer want. I’ve thought about taking a stash of gay books and contributing one or two to each nearby LFL. I haven’t done it because it seems a bit too much in-your-face. And the owner of the LFL might just throw them out. Christopher Reeves of Kos wrote that he has created his own LFL and will be stocking it with banned books. And some of those will be LGBTQ. So maybe I should share some of my gay books with the LFLs around me – well, at least, the ones that have received awards and have been banned. Rebekah Sager of Kos reported now that McMinn County, Tennessee has removed Maus from reading lists, Pastor Greg Locke of Mount Juliet, TN (near Nashville and more than two hours from McMinn County) organized an actual book burning. He declared his church has a right to “burn of cultic materials that they deem are a threat to their religious rights and freedoms and belief system.” So Harry Potter and Twilight hit the flames because they promote “witchcraft.” A counterprotester held tightly to copies of Fahrenheit 451 and On the Origin of Species while tossing a Bible into the flames. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a novel about an American future where books are outlawed and “firemen” are to burn any books they find. The title refers to the temperature at which paper burns. Sager also reported that Brittany Murphree, a student at the University of Mississippi Law School, decided the best way to learn what Critical Race Theory is really about is to take a class in it. Though it caused her parents to turn a whiter shade of white and classmates wonder what was wrong with her, Murphree now recommends other law students, particularly white students, take the class. She calls the class her “most impactful and enlightening course.” Sager wrote:

Murphree adds that the class introduces students to CRT and how it applies to the law, current events, and current issues, but the core principle of the class is “interest convergence,” which simply means that only when white communities prosper do communities of color prosper. It’s a challenging and complex tenant and one that obviously isn’t being taught in K-12, as the GOP knows, but refuses to stop peddling.

As Murphree does that advocating, the Mississippi Senate Education Committee has advanced a bill to ban CRT from being taught in K-12, both public and private, as well as universities – banning the class Murphree took.