On Thursday we heard an excellent and strong State of the Union address by President Biden. He hit a lot of salient points about the Republic, democracy, domestic and foreign policy, and challenges ahead. Surprisingly he even directly took the Supreme Court to task on decisions they’ve made, specifically the repeal of Roe v Wade. Biden never looked and sounded better.
Then, of course, we had the traditional opposition party rebuttal, this year by Trumplican Senator Katie Britt of Alabama. Someone decided she should give the rebuttal sitting at a kitchen table. I’m assuming a strategist thought it would be more palatable to have the lies and propaganda delivered from a long-gone tradition of the woman’s place being in the kitchen. I’m not even sure of how many people sit around a kitchen table anymore (we do, but I also know we are not the norm from conversations with the people I interact with in my life).
Having never heard of this senator before, I don’t know how she looks or sounds in her everyday life. She may be brilliant in her delivery and speech, but that is not how she looked or sounded during the rebuttal. For me, I was both worried for her and more than a bit taken aback by the speech pattern and the rhetoric she stated. From what I’ve read, I was not the only one deeply bothered.
It was interesting to hear what she believes are kitchen table conversations happening all over the country. Mrs. Britt talked a lot about crime being up (it’s not), on hordes at the southern border (there isn’t), of immigrant crime against legal citizens (essentially negligible), and how the United States has lost standing in the world (it hasn’t).
Granted, around our table we do talk about the U.S. standing in the world. However, we talk about how it has increased under President Biden. How NATO is strong, Ukraine is being supported by a coalition facilitated by our Commander-in-Chief, and we have the support of our allies. Now, we also are critical of Biden’s actions towards the Israel-Palestinian war in that he’s not making good decisions there.
At our table we talk about the erosion of democracy by the actions, or inactions, of Republicans, Trumpists, mainstream media, corporations, and the super rich.
We discuss the dangerous persecution of transgender, LGBTQ communities, and asylum seekers by politicians and religious zealots.
We discuss gun violence, mass shootings at schools, at churches, at shopping centers, at concerts, or at just about any place one may be in society.
We discuss the greed of corporations with greed-flation and shrink-flation (where companies decrease the size of their product without lowering the cost).
We discuss socialism for corporations, but a decrease in the social safety net for those in need.
We discuss the lack of accountability for those who helped plan and execute an insurrection, and how there are two systems of justice depending upon wealth and status.
We discuss the inhumane treatment of People of Color and how police act with what amounts to impunity, playing judge, jury, and executioner.
We discuss the poor state of the education system.
We discuss how social media and technology is changing how people interact, and not necessarily for the better.
We discuss how the super rich waste money to see who can get into space first rather than using for the good, such as building housing for the homeless.
We discuss voter suppression, gerrymandering, dark money in elections, and how whole communities are disenfranchised by laws to hinder voting rights.
We discuss the erosion of our civil and bodily rights, how we worry about our own marriages and how our daughter, and the women in our lives, can be raped and then have to bear the rapist’s child, or worse, lose their lives because they can’t get certain medical treatments.
At our table, our discussions are about how to make people’s lives better and how to better society as a whole.
What Senator Britt says they talk about at her table was foreign to me, mainly because they sounded quite misogynistic, racist, xenophobic, and white Christian-nationalistic. None of which I can identify with as a citizen in our society.
I feel pity and sympathy for those around Senator Britt’s kitchen table if they aren’t discussing any or all of the topics that touch our daily lives. If they can’t see how they’ve been manipulated to vote against their own interests. If they aren’t able to discern that elected Republicans see them as country rubes to be lied and condescended towards. If they can’t see how elected Republicans and Trumpists revel in their ignorance and lack of education.
But, I will continue to fight the good fight on their behalf for they know not what they do. We all deserve a better life and to be able to live comfortably and happily, just not at the expense of others.
As always, I invite you to join me in the fight to hold onto democracy, freedoms, and the Republic. Vote blue up and down the ticket.
Help me send a message to the autocrats that we are mad as hell and aren’t going to take it anymore!
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 