Hello reader, and welcome to March — March Madness if you will! Where you get to read my article, feel something, and then some of you decide to respond. WOO!
I always tend to wonder what I’ll write about in the following month. There’s a brief moment of concern about lack of content, but then our dear overlord Donald Trump continues to provide material.
Much in the same way that junk food provides indigestion: reliably, predictably, and with deeply unpleasant consequences.
Some of the content has been particularly interesting this month, especially from one writer (the usual) preaching about laws, justice and understanding the system. It’s brilliant! If any of it were actually true for them, especially for Moms for Liberty and their devoted followers.
All of a sudden they understand process, the law, and standing up for what’s right? Is this the same group of people who scream at board meetings and council meetings about things those elected officials have no control over? The same people who screamed at the City Council when they passed a Pride resolution? The same people who interrupted every William S. Hart Union High School District board meeting with their performative prayer after the Pledge of Allegiance?
NOW they all of a sudden understand law and order? I mean, that’s great! So they now understand that the sitting president of the United States is a 34-time convicted felon, right? Oh, no? I forgot, that time the justice system and laws were wrong.
Just like every academic, scientist, doctor and anybody with actual knowledge who disagrees with them is automatically wrong.
But hey, keep performing your crocodile tears over the Epstein files all of a sudden. I can’t wait to watch you cry about this injustice, but then go scream at meetings claiming that trans children are somehow a problem and blaming every systemic failure on minorities rather than on the policies you foolishly voted for.
Speaking of what you voted for, let’s move on to the Idiot in Chief himself: Trump.
It truly amazes me. He promised lower grocery bills. That didn’t happen. He promised less corruption in government. That definitely didn’t happen.
I mean, the list of broken promises could fill a book at this point, but really the biggest one of all was “no new wars.”
Yet here we are with a new bomb, a new target, and a new war, WITH higher gas prices. Literally targets anything and everything except the Epstein files.
It’s almost like, yet again, Republicans control every level of government, provided a bunch of promises, and can’t deliver on anything other than ensuring their own pensions and lifetime health care while we all sit and suffer the consequences of their incompetence.
The pattern is exhausting. Campaign on outrage, govern through chaos, blame Democrats for the results of your own policies, rinse and repeat. And somehow, their base keeps falling for it, keeps showing up to defend the indefensible.
They have the White House. They have the Senate. They have the House. They have the Supreme Court. They control legislatures across the country. And yet somehow, nothing is their fault.
Grocery prices? Biden’s fault, somehow, even though he’s no longer president.
Gas prices? Democrats, obviously, despite Republicans controlling energy policy.
Government dysfunction? Must be those pesky Democrats obstructing … by existing, I guess?
But here’s the good news: The midterms are coming up — not soon enough but they’re coming. Democrats are projected to win up and down the ballot, and it would be incredible to see even locally if we could flip all the seats.
I mean really, at this point, why shouldn’t we? Republicans literally have it all and can do anything they want, just not run the government properly, and somehow they’re still mad about everything.
It’s almost like dealing with a toddler who hasn’t had their nap, except these vote, never pass the torch in leadership, and are willing to burn us all down with them rather than admit they might have been wrong about literally anything.
The difference between a tantrum-throwing toddler and these Republican leaders is that, eventually, the toddler grows up. These folks seem determined to remain perpetually outraged, perpetually victimized, perpetually incapable of governing while simultaneously desperate to maintain power.
As we head into primary season and eventually the midterms, I encourage everyone to remember what you’ve witnessed over the past year. Remember the promises made and broken. Remember the hypocrisy. Remember who actually delivered for working families and who delivered only for billionaires and corporations.
Until next time, reader, I hope you have a wonderful time ahead, and remember the survival of our republic sits in our hands, if we are wise enough to protect it. Democracy isn’t a spectator sport. It requires active participation from citizens willing to hold leaders accountable, demand better, and vote accordingly.
It’s March Madness indeed. Let’s hope sanity makes a comeback by November.
Andrew Taban is a former legislative staffer. “Democratic Voices” appears Tuesdays and rotates among several local Democrats.
