The GOP's collapse into dysfunction and disinformative theatrics

I finished the book Drapetomania by John Gordon. The book defines the word as a noun meaning, “The pathological psychological condition wherein a slave feels compelled to escape his master, however well that master treats him. Recommended treatment for this condition: firm discipline.” When I bought the book I had wondered if it was based on true events, perhaps even a novelization of a bit of history. But the author doesn’t provide any notes or acknowledgments of the history at the story’s core. So I assume the whole thing is fiction. The story is about a slave that ran from his master, though it appears his treatment as a slave was enough reason to run. That slave is Cyrus. The primary reason for running is his love has been sold to another plantation. So Cyrus works to find out where his love was taken and to go there. That part of the story is about the first 60% of nearly 500 pages and at times seems to document every step. Cyrus, of course, encounters many slave hunters, though also an abolitionist and helpful black people. I’m sure a bit reason why this book has been getting attention is because Cyrus loves Abednego. Few books deal with the possibility of gay slaves. They surely existed, though that concept was not understood at the time. I mention it here rather than at the top of my review because little of the story depends on whether that love interest is male or female. This is a story about slavery. It doesn’t have any homophobia – the white people don’t know (that wasn’t the reason for Abdednego’s sale) and the few fellow slaves that do don’t care. Another 15% of the story is what happened to Abednego after he is sold and before Cyrus finds him (what, you were thinking that after 300 pages Cyrus didn’t find him?). And the rest of the story is about what they do together. In my genealogy work I had heard of black people facing that their family tree included rapist owners. Part of Cyrus’ life as a slave is being forcibly taken to a nearby plantation for the purpose of impregnating one of the young women there – as their white overseers watch and take bets on which of their bucks will finish first. The young woman is being raped – she did not (could not) give consent. In this case Cyrus is too because he also didn’t give consent. The plantation Abednego is sold to has the reputation of being among the cruelest. Life expectancy is about five years. Not only are the slaves beaten for mere whims of the overseers, but the slaves are underfed. It’s cheaper to buy more slaves than to keep the current ones properly nourished. When Abednego and the new group of slaves get to that new plantation the owner greets them with a speech about how his great grandfather and grandfather built the place into the flourishing enterprise it is now (not mentioning it was the slaves who did the actual work) and that the Big House is all about elegant living. When the field hands see the inside of the Big House they aren’t awed, as the white owner intends for other white people to be, they are disgusted. All that opulence for white people while slaves are given starvation rations. Spoiler alert: After a while the slaves realize there are 400 of us and 20 of them. I noticed the rich language of the narrator and its contrast with the much simpler dialogue of the slaves. An example of the rich language is the description of Cyrus and Abednego fitting together as two halves of a broken geode. A small annoyance in that the dialogue is not marked with quotes. I think I could always tell between narration and dialogue, but using quotes would have saved me the bother of rereading passages to sort out what is spoken and what isn’t. The story is not exactly the type one enjoys. Even so, it is a worthwhile and important story into what slave life was like and the gay angle, as slim as it is, is rarely used elsewhere. I recommend it. A historic day yesterday – the Speaker of the House was removed. I have a few posts that describe the day. I start with Joan McCarter of Daily Kos who discussed what happens if the speaker’s chair is vacated. In particular there is a “speaker pro tempore,” an interim. The position was created following the 9/11 attacks. That means, unlike in January, the work of the House (such as it is) can continue while a new Speaker is selected. However, this person is not in the presidential line of succession. McCarter also reviews possible replacements and the choices don’t look good. They don’t even look good by enough House members to be elected. Kerry Eleveld of Kos discussed all the reasons Democrats have to vote for McCarthy’s ouster. Their reasons include McCarthy reneging on deals with Democrats, his demonizing Democrats, his launching an impeachment inquiry into Biden, and from a couple years back his refusal to participate in the Jan 6 investigations. There is also Democrat’s insistence that the far right caucus should not be able to control anything, and their belief that the world should witness Republican dysfunction. Yesterday’s morning session was to approve the vote to take up the question of removal. McCarter did liveblogging of what happened. That included speeches both for McCarthy and against. And many of those, both for and against, demonized Democrats, giving them less reason to bail out a Republican. In an afternoon post McCarter liveblogged more of the speeches, then the actual vote. The speeches included more trashing of Democrats. There is also one more reason – the California delegation asked for a delay in House business so they could attend Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s funeral. McCarthy ignored their request. The final vote is 216 for removal, 210 against with all Democrats voting for along with eight Republicans. Kos of Kos summarized the day and included this little bit. There are Republicans claiming it was Democrats who are sending the nation into turmoil because they didn’t save McCarthy’s butt. In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin had a few interesting quotes. From Alex Rouhandeh:

Reaction to McCarthy’s ousting from @SenatorRomney: “One thing it shows us is that President Trump abandoned Kevin McCarthy. He didn’t come to his support. Had he come down hard, I presume Congressman Gaetz and others would have would have followed suit.”

Politico noted that the name of the Speaker pro tempore is kept secret until needed. And this one, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), was chosen by McCarthy. James Fallows:

This is a really important point. NYT (et al) relentlessly present GOP fracture as broader failure of "politics" and "Washington" and "institutions" and "governance." No one did it; it just happened. Then reports that public has lost confident in governance, Washington, etc

With a response from David Simon:

Agreed. The asymmetrical reality of the GOP's collapse into dysfunction and disinformative theatrics is ignored in favor of an unevidenced claim of overall institutional collapse. It ain't so.

And in the comments are a string of cartoons about the day, including one of Matt Gaetz enacting the shower scene from Psycho.