The Chaos in “Democrat-led” Cities.

The Chaos in “Democrat-led” Cities.

First thing I have to say is: fuck this Trump step-up of law enforcement/aka quick slide to Fascism. We are fine here. Nothing but the usual. Save our tax dollars for, oh I don't know, saving people's jobs during the Trump Virus shutdown. Ok.

The breakdown of mayoral political parties is 35 Democrats , 13 Republicans , and 2 Independents (both elected with state Democratic support). From Wikipedia.

Anytime there is a riot, shooting, civil disturbance, something fucked up, there are always those yahoos who are quick to point out “DEMOCRAT CITIES!!! THESE ARE HAPPENING IN CITIES CONTROLLED BY THE DEMOCRAT PARTY!!!”

Ok. First of all, it is not the “Democrat Party.” It is the “Democratic Party.” A member of that party is called a “Democrat.” When people say “Democrat Party” they are deliberately getting the name wrong to piss off Democrats, who as we’ve just learned, are members of the Democratic Party.

I know it seems like a petty thing to take issue with, but that is the whole point of the slur. It is meant to make Democrats seem petty. That was started by Bush 43 to throw shade at the Democrats. (I know he’s experiencing a rehabilitation of sorts, thanks to the god awfulness of the guy in charge right now, the “president” of the 38 percent…but Bush was a divider as well during his 8 years. He just wasn’t as obvious or disgusting about it.) Deliberately getting someone’s name wrong has always been a subtle way to take a jab at someone, and you know what? It’s really fucking immature.

Second: Civil unrest in the name of social change? Smart people tend to live in cities. People move from their Podunk towns because they can’t stand the smallness and the small-mindedness of the small town, so we move to big cities. It is these types of people that tend to be more liberal, more Democratic, and more inclined to speak out about injustices in the world. (calm down…this is a generalization. Yes, Conservative Republicans also live in cities. But in general, cities tend toward being Democratic for the reasons I listed above.) These Democrats tend to vote for Democrats, so much so that Republicans never mount a serious challenge. In my own city, Democrats outnumber Republicans 10 to 1.

Third: Systemic racism ain’t called that for nothing. It is IN THE SYSTEM. Meaning, it has been around for years. It is insidious, it is baked into the fabric of cities in the form or redlining and disinvestment in poor communities, who unfortunately (and not at all coincidentally) tend to be Black.

Fourth: …Republicans and Republican supporters have the easy job when it comes to cities: they can criticize from afar and from outside.

In the 50 largest cities in the US, there are only 13 Republican Mayors, compared to let’s call it 37 Democrats... In sheer numbers, not even looking at policy of the individuals occupying the offices, there are three times as many Democratic Mayors as Republicans.

(I’ll be honest. Other than maybe San Diego, there are no Republican led cities on this list that I would ever want to live in.)

It STANDS TO REASON that when the breakdown is like that, there is a statistical probability that in a Nationwide wave of protests the Democratic run cities will experience more of the violence that is often on the fringes of otherwise peaceful protests… (hey, Baltimore’s protests have been a model of peace and civility, with a few notable exceptions…now if only we could extend that peace to the rest of the city…)

Speaking of which.

Fifth: The police are out of control, no matter what the stripe of politician running that city is. You mean to tell me that the “Democrat” mayors with the out of control cops are responsible for the behavior of those cops…so that means you are decrying Police brutality too? Or are you part of that whole “sit down shut up don’t get into trouble and there won’t be any hassle” crowd? Either way, the Police that you defend on your Facebook feeds are operating as equal opportunity pricks in cities both Republican and Democrat.

Ok, I think that’s it. I am the Parochialist.

On Work

The prevailing view about work in this society is pretty basic: you don’t work, you don’t eat. If you are able-bodied and capable, you are expected to have some sort of job, be productive, make a living, keep the world running….and if not, you are a lazy, good for nothing free-loading miscreant.

I’ve certainly felt this way at one or more points in my life. I don’t feel this way now. But I still hate working with lazy people. I still would rather do a job myself than count on someone who isn’t giving the job their full attention. But worrying whether or not someone has a job or is working hard the entire time?

I couldn’t care less.

When I think about my life and how I’ve spent it so far,( I’m 45) it breaks down into a series of relationships, places I’ve lived, people I’ve met, things I’ve done, schools I’ve attended, and whatever job I was doing at the time…when I remember something, it is usually connected to one of these factors. (conversely, as I’ve lived in the same house for 11 years, been at the same job for 10 and been with the same partner for 15 years, it becomes harder to use this method to remember things). But how many of these things define me? How many of them define you?

Let me put it this way: do you love your job? Or is it something that you just do because it’s easier than doing nothing? (then again, what could be easier than doing nothing?) Or do you fall in the dreaded category of actually hating your job?

“If you hate your job, quit!”

(Oh lord, how I hate when people say this. It’s usually some lucky person who has no memory of what it was like to do something you don’t like just to pay the bills.)

As if that were the only factor. As if nothing else mattered other than my happiness on the job. As if getting another job that may turn out to be just as bad or worse than the one you presently have isn’t a crushing heartbreak of a journey. As if getting another job wouldn’t come with its own set of problems. As if you weren’t simply blowing off steam when you said you hated your job and maybe just needed a few minutes to cool off…

But love…love, love your job…?

I guess I started thinking of this recently after watching the magnificent documentary film about soundtrack composers, called “Score.” At the end, in the wrap-up, composer Hans Zimmer (wearing his velvet jacket and sitting on a velvet chair looking like the happiest man on earth) says, with no irony or sarcasm “I love, love, love what I do.” These words inspire me as much as they depress me.

Can you say the same thing? Can anyone?

Is it the lack of effort? Lack of imagination? Lack of passion? Lack of funding? Lack of motivation? Lack of opportunity? Or a combination of all of these things, and more?

I don’t bemoan where I am in life. The bigger problem is why is it like this for anyone… I don’t want to suffer and go back to where I was 20 years ago, unable to do basic shit like buy carryout food or drink in bars or even worse, having to donate blood plasma to make rent….but I also don’t want to get rich and leave everyone behind and say “Fuck you. I made it, why can’t you?”

But the system is: get an education, get a job, work until you die. It’s a waste of life except for the very few who love what they do. We don’t all love what we do. Some of us just “do” what we have to.

It just shouldn’t be this way, period.

Death Penalty Blues

The Federal Govt. threw up quite a stinkbomb the other day, carrying out the first Federal execution in 17 years because the guy who they executed was a White Supremacist who killed in the name of White Supremacy. Putting people who oppose the Death Penalty (a-hem) in the awkward position of having to take the side of a fucking racist. The guy was white, so there are those on the side of killing people as punishment who say “see, the death penalty isn’t racist!” (even though it’s employed far more often against Black Americans, but like everything else, who cares about facts when I have this one measly example to claim that those overwhelming facts don’t matter.) It’s quite diabolical.

I am against the Death Penalty, just not in an impassioned “fight to the death with those that support it” kind of way. But to be sure, it’s yet another weapon that the Man uses against Black Americans and just for that reason, it is wrong enough.

Columbus was the line we shouldn't have crossed? Really?

Baltimore.

Hey…I do love it here, but somehow the Governor declaring that we need to “Regain control of our streets” because people threw Columbus into the water is the most asinine shit ever. That’s the line? That’s the line we shouldn’t have crossed? Not murder, not drugs, not poverty, systemic racism, failing schools, corruption in the police department (though to be fair, and to their credit, they haven’t been National news lately). No. But Christopher Columbus…how much money did we spend fishing him out of the water?

Shaking. My. Head.