Thursday, August 20, 2020

A Change Has Come

 
"It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die
'Cause I don't know what's up there above the sky
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change's gonna come, oh, yes it will"


Sam Cooke

"That was the best convention in American history. I'm floored. What a night to be alive. WOW. Just freakin' WOW."
 
My YouTube comment on last night's Democratic convention

Well, that's it, boys and girls. After last night there is no way we will ever be able to go back to the way things used to be. This is the new reality. This is a the new America. There's no turning back. For the first time in three years, nine months, two weeks and three days I can honestly tell you that I am again proud to be a citizen of the United States of America.

Such a novel feeling in the twisted age of Donald Trump.


As anyone who knows me will attest, in the last decade-or-so my sleeping schedule has become just a wee bit - "discombobulated" shall we say? On the evening last, while everyone who bothers to pay attention was watching the Democratic National Convention, I was sound asleep. I was only able to tune in to the festivities when I awoke slightly before two AM (Thank goodness for YouTube). I had only seen highlights of the previous two nights - the keynote speakers. That was it. This time I decided to watch the thing in its entirety. I had been under the impression that a "virtual convention", with each speaker broadcasting remotely, would not have the punch that a convention is supposed have. I was as wrong as I have ever been in my life. Political conventions are sometimes amusing but rarely informative; they lack spontaneity and are almost always boring.
 
What occurred last night had an intimacy that made it a beautiful event to partake in. For the first time in my life I felt like a participant in a convention, that I was part of the history taking place. The first political convention that I have a conscious memory of is the GOP convention of 1964. That was when Barry Goldwater told America:

"But first of all, let me remind you that extremism in in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me further remind you that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."
 
Barry was wrong then. He would continue to be wrong in the years that followed. It would be said that he would grow as a politician. Shit happens.

I thought that Kamala Harris' acceptance speech was the capper on the event, that it couldn't possibly go any further into the clouds of joy than it already had. Then, at the very end, they cross-faded to singer Jennifer Hudson's stunning interpretation of A Change is Gonna Come, the civil rights anthem written by Sam Cooke in 1964, less than a year before his sudden death by gun-violence. Like the Beatles' appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show ten days after Sam recorded that song, Jennifer Hudson's performance last night of  A Change is Gonna Come was the kind of televisual moment that stays with you forever.
 
Indeed, that change has come.

As former president Obama pointed out during his remarkable keynote address, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can still win the popular vote and lose the election (Forgive me for sounding like a broken record, but we really need to do away with that damned electoral college). In spite of my pride in America at the moment, I'm aware of the undeniable fact that I live in Idiot Nation and that a major effort needs to be made to ensure that the Orange Psychopath is not sent back to the White House for another four - very long - years. The Republicans are more desperate today than they've been since their founding in 1854. Donald Trump is, in fact, beside himself  in desperation.

Trump knows damned well that the next administration (with the might of the Department of Justice behind it) will easily be able to siphon through the mountain of corruption and illegality behind the most disgusting American administration in the history of greed and mediocrity. 2020 will be the most important election day since 1932. We need to get out the vote and win. Only then will Donald Trump and these corrupt buffoons doing his bidding (and that would include Vladimir Putin) will be held accountable.

On November the third, don't vote as if your life depends upon it. Vote because your life depends upon it.

When the debates happen next month and October, for the first time since the Ford/Carter debates in 1976, they will be conducted inside a closed television studio - with no audience in attendance. This is as it should be, and I hope that it sets a precedent for the future. Cheering crowds of buffoons that erupt at every political point made by their favored candidate are an annoying distraction. From now on, they need to keep the audience at home. Just a thought.

The GOP is at the moment going through herculean efforts to steal this election - everything from confiscating outside mailboxes to keep people from mail-in voting, to limiting the polling places in cities with high densities of minority populations. This is no longer amusing. If this unhinged sociopath and common pervert is allowed four more years of destruction, this country is finished. You think I'm joking? Keep voting Republican.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

Just in case you were snoozing like Yours Truly, here's a YouTube link to watch last night's convention. It really was quite a night to be an American.

https://youtu.be/tcQjlQOA5dY

Aren't these incredible times to be alive?

Sam
SUGGESTED LISTENING:

A Change is Gonna Come
by Sam Cooke

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPr3yvkHYsE

If you viewed last night's convention and you still don't understand that we are standing face-to-face with the dawn of a new era, you might as well go back to sleep. Sweet dreams!

The change is here. Deal with it well.

12 Comments:

At 1:22 PM, Blogger Just the Facts! said...

"A change has come" LOL.

Priceless: Trump Gets Democratic Convention Bump

Lol, and I’m sure they don’t get why, given the acid bath of a convention they’ve been throwing.

President Trump's approval rating bounces UP 4 points to 51% in just 24 hours.

First three days of #DemConvention are going great! https://t.co/TA0lLmk5Sb

 
At 1:51 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

JTF loves his fake polls, and his crooked Big MAGAt Cult Leader.

Meanwhile on FOX(R):
"Bannon - Stone - Flynn - Gates - Manafort. What's that say about your judgment & the culture of lawlessness around you?"

Trump: "Well, there was great lawlessness in the Obama administration."

Victim card, race card, lie card, deflection card, and dismissal card.

Definitely not a full deck, but all the "best people", amirite?

 
At 3:32 PM, Blogger Yellowstone said...

Today's Poll Numbers: Biden 51%. DJT 42%.

Where does JTF get his fake facts?

 
At 4:57 PM, Blogger Jynx said...

Missed it... Thanks for the link, Tom.

 
At 5:32 PM, Blogger woodenman said...

Too bad that the 51% is clueless about politics, Trump is working out to be the worst in our history and they think he is doing good, what nonsense.

 
At 6:04 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

JTF,
There's no solid proof of your claim. Even so, many Black people have slave owners for ancestors. Sally Hemmings ring a bell?

But if as you say, Kamala benefited from slavery, then it's only fair for her, and all others who benefited from slavery, to pay reparations to the descendants.

We're glad you agree with this.

 
At 10:25 PM, Blogger woodenman said...

Chuck, I am sure Tom will not delete your comments as long as you do not get abusive.

Trump is doing his best to start wars with China, Russia and Iran all at the same time. His actions internationally are like a mad bull in a china shop. I do not think he is of sound mind as there is no way he can force any of the three to do what he wants.

I am not sure even he knows what he wants, being belligerent and combative is all he knows.

 
At 9:17 AM, Blogger TB3 said...

"Chuck, I am sure Tom will not delete your comments as long as you do not get abusive."

Rules and guidelines are for other people. Enforcing them on the JTFs of the world is tantamount to oppression and a stripping of rights. I mean, look at the hissy fit our Commander-in-Chief has when Twitter fact checks his lies on their private platform. Rather than conform to the rules and norms, the JTFs of the world demand people and forums conform to their flighty and fluid opinions and desires. Behavior one expects from small children, so they have to be treated and dealt with like children.

 
At 7:39 PM, Blogger woodenman said...

Well I guess I was wrong!

 
At 9:24 AM, Blogger Jean Ellen said...

I think that what made it most memorable is that there were no talking heads from the news media analyzing every word. This is definitely the way to go.

 
At 8:36 PM, Blogger woodenman said...

Politics is a very complicated subject especially when the information gets colored by your own biases. Most people do not care about the truth, they want the narrative to fit with their world view irrespective of actual reality.

Here is an article that speaks the uncomfortable truth about Biden from the best political site on the web.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/55494.htm

 
At 10:27 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

Woody,
There are indeed uncomfortable truths about Biden and the Democratic Party.

It’s no secret they are heavily influenced by the military industrial complex, Wall Street, the Pentagon, and corporate interests. They are second only to the GOP in corruption and servitude to militarism and the economic elites.

So it can be expected for the Democratic convention to feature their nod to the military. It’s politically necessary, and it takes the edge off the Right’s lie that dems don’t support the military.
It’s not like they’re making a case for starting a war, but they have to say they are prepared to do so if necessary.

The Syria withdrawal and Powell’s Iraq blunder and prevarication are highlighted in the article, but Powell has expressed his remorse for that. Trump’s sudden retreat from Syria looked to be ordered by outside powers. That helped make Gen Gottemoeller’s point that Trump hasn’t stood up to Putin. It rightly angered the military that we betrayed our Kurdish allies.

You’re right. It’s a complicated story.

But let’s remember, it was Republicans who started these wars.

 

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