IF IT LOOKS LIKE A RAT AND SMELLS LIKE A RAT…

by Don Hermann

IF IT LOOKS LIKE A RATAND SMELLS LIKE A RAT…
It ain’t a pussycat.

It’s chewing away at our Democracy. I was going to say that it’s like being shot in the foot, but that’s too mild. It’s more like a knife in the back.

Anyone who wants to take away the right to vote is changing the fabric of the country. In fact, that’s Step One in their tactic to diminish the importance of minorities.

The Republicans are sweating bullets. They’re losing voters. Losing importance. And concerned about the future of the Party. So they’ve taken on a new face. Major plastic surgery. They’re unrecognizable. Their characteristics are manifest in Hate. Lies. Contention. Misrepresentation.

Their whole approach is “The hell with America. What counts, is us.” There wasn’t one Republican in the Senate who voted to make voting convenient for the Black Community. As convenient as it is for the white community. In spite of what some Republicans had advocated in the past.

Furthermore, through gerrymandering they are going to change the ground rules as the situation dictates. For example, if they lose a vote in an area, they’ll claim the voting was fraudulent and change the results.

To further minimize people who don’t agree with them, they are beginning to change curriculums in schools to eliminate certain historical events about slavery and the Holocaust. To go a step further, they’re banning certain books to control what children learn. Will we find out that there’s been no Civil War?

As the rat chews and chews, I have some additional questions:

• Where’s the emotion on the part of the Democrats?
• Where’s the anger?
• How many Republican leaders would say, “Let’s discuss bills on a bipartisan basis?
• Why don’t the Democrats realize that the Republicans are using a “Back of the Bus” approach?
• How are the Democrats responding to the Republican’s efforts to control everything from what is taught at school to what religion you worship to what a woman does with her body?
• How can the Democrats expect to pass major bills, if the Republicans whole approach is to diminish the Democrat’s importance?
• Why don’t the Democrats realize that with Voting restrictions, there will be no good faith negotiations on anything?
.• Why did the Democrats wait until now to make the Voting issue a top of the mind issue?
• Why did the Democrats take a month off in the last summer instead of demonstrating the urgency of dealing with Voting?
* Why don’t the Democrats realize that Citizens United and Voting are the two major areas to focus on?
• Why do the Democrats do more whining and complaining and less acting on issues?
Serious issues don’t get solved with complaining alone. It takes action. It’s dealing with a bully. A bully understands one language: STOP. If they don’t respond to that, you make them.

So what can you do? Martin Luther King Jr., isn’t available. What would he do? I know one thing, he would be relentless. He would also mobilize as many people as possible. He would demonstrate. And when he finished demonstrating, he would demonstrate some more. And more and more. He would be on Page one of the papers on a regular basis. There would be almost no one in this country who would not know what’s happening.

He might even encourage celebrity types and athletes to join him. And perhaps the athletes would kneel before every game. And maybe they might even not play on a regular basis. This is serious stuff. It does not only affect people today, this will impact our children and our children’s children for decades. Anybody who cares has a stake in this.

The rats are spreading the poison. They should be careful. It could end up on their plates.