What goes around has come around
The old Political Pendulum metaphor seems so quaint now. Ever since Republicans began coordinated efforts to rig things in their favor decades ago – to the point of conspiring with our enemies – it’s more like a political tug-of-war between good and evil.
After the end of the Cold War, Reagan “triumphalism” left the former Soviet Union humiliated, resulting in a toxic mix of Russian resentment and American complacency due to a myopic perception of no adversary. The United States entered an era of petty political divisiveness, while a power vacuum waited to be filled by the next corrupt autocratic forces.
In this tug-of-war, on the far right, we have dark entities who installed their thugs into positions of power through cheating (gerrymandering), propaganda (Fox News), violence (guns), and corruption (SCOTUS). On the Left, although caught off guard by a deceptively slack rope, we have a cohesive platform of democratic principles, global leadership, compassion, truth, courage, diplomacy, and political acumen.
It wasn’t a pendulum swing that won Democrats the last three general elections and most special elections. We fought hard, or let up the slack, not wasting precious resources, as needed. We suffered devastating gubernatorial losses, like Beto in Texas, Crist in Florida, and last week the “jungle primary” in Louisiana. But when we timed it right, the wins were huge, like Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz, and the ongoing fight for abortion rights in Ohio, (vote yes on Issue 1).
In the European Union, although Germany recently gave up ground to the extreme right, the left appears to have achieved a stunning win in Poland after living under hateful rightwing oppression since 2015.
Even the media tried to get in the game by cutting slack to the far right, with misleading headlines and both-sides-ism. But it worked against them, with Fox News giving up almost a billion dollars to Dominion Voting Systems for defamation, and last week the Washington Post announcing 10% in staff layoffs, citing “rapid expansion, and unmet revenue projections.”
Now even as the world struggles against filthy tactics by Russia-backed Hamas terrorists to destabilize footing in the Middle East, Republicans are voting to place an insurrectionist 2nd in line after the Vice President to the U.S. presidency. I’d much rather be pulling for the side of fortitude, than the side of vile corruption struggling to fill a power vacuum.
Chicago native Lorraine Evanoff earned her degree in French from DePaul University then became a Certified Financial Manager. She worked as a finance exec in film production for seven years in Paris, then in Silicon Valley during the dot-com era, and later for various Hollywood production companies, notably as CFO of National Lampoon. She is currently living in Los Angeles with her husband.