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On the Right Track Again -- For Now
Jan. 20th, 2021 03:51 pmLuckily for me, my normal morning staff meeting at 8:30 AM PT was canceled, which allowed me to watch the inauguration ceremonies today. While I worried like many did about the potential for another traitorous attack on our elected government, apparently the huge amount of security that poured in to protect the capitol worked. I did read people saying that all of those national guard units were a sign of a military dictatorship. I regret the necessity, but the people who actually wanted a dictator and the overthrow of our government forced this to happen.
Later in the day, I looked in on the Senate, where Vice President Harris (hooray!) took the chair for the first time as the chamber's constitutional presiding officer and then swore in the three new senators (her replacement as California's junior senator and the two newly-elected Georgia senators. That officially made the count in the Senate 50 (48 Democrats + 2 independents who caucus with them) to 50 Republicans, with VP Harris to serve as the tie-breaking vote when necessary. Per the discussions between the two parties, all committees will be equally divided, with a Democrat/Independent as Chair. If a committee vote ties on whether or not to send a bill on to the full Senate, the bill will proceed. That will mean a whole lot more work will get done in the Senate. It even means that Republicans can get bills before the Senate that the Democrats might have normally blocked. But I think that's a good thing. The members of the Senate need to actually do their jobs and show how they stand.
Are we back to "normal?" Good grief, no! There are still an absurd number of Americans who still apparently want a crazy orange dictator for life. Trumpism isn't the cause — it's the symptom of a disease in the American political mind that has been there all along and doesn't seem to go away. De-Trumpification needs to proceed, and the Democrats need to take advantage of having both houses of Congress and the Presidency to start cleaning up the mess that Trump and his allies left behind. And they need to work quickly, too, because we'll be into the mid-term elections before you know it, and don't think the Republicans and their Trumpist allies don't think they can take it all back. They'll talk of reconciliation, but I don't believe them.
We can celebrate for today. But tomorrow, the job of saving the USA from the idiots who have been trying to tear the floorboards out of the lifeboat must start.
Later in the day, I looked in on the Senate, where Vice President Harris (hooray!) took the chair for the first time as the chamber's constitutional presiding officer and then swore in the three new senators (her replacement as California's junior senator and the two newly-elected Georgia senators. That officially made the count in the Senate 50 (48 Democrats + 2 independents who caucus with them) to 50 Republicans, with VP Harris to serve as the tie-breaking vote when necessary. Per the discussions between the two parties, all committees will be equally divided, with a Democrat/Independent as Chair. If a committee vote ties on whether or not to send a bill on to the full Senate, the bill will proceed. That will mean a whole lot more work will get done in the Senate. It even means that Republicans can get bills before the Senate that the Democrats might have normally blocked. But I think that's a good thing. The members of the Senate need to actually do their jobs and show how they stand.
Are we back to "normal?" Good grief, no! There are still an absurd number of Americans who still apparently want a crazy orange dictator for life. Trumpism isn't the cause — it's the symptom of a disease in the American political mind that has been there all along and doesn't seem to go away. De-Trumpification needs to proceed, and the Democrats need to take advantage of having both houses of Congress and the Presidency to start cleaning up the mess that Trump and his allies left behind. And they need to work quickly, too, because we'll be into the mid-term elections before you know it, and don't think the Republicans and their Trumpist allies don't think they can take it all back. They'll talk of reconciliation, but I don't believe them.
We can celebrate for today. But tomorrow, the job of saving the USA from the idiots who have been trying to tear the floorboards out of the lifeboat must start.
