I have a couple things on my mind today for my blog therapy session. First, imagine if we had a female president who acted as Trump does. And second, how the terms “liberal” and “conservative” aren’t quite right for our time and what we should say instead. And we’re off, so we might as well get going (anybody else religiously read the Green Bay Packers Insiders Inbox every day?).
Female President Trump
I’VE TALKED ABOUT THIS BEFORE but it never ceases to piss me off. The way we treat women as opposed to men in politics (and, you know, like we also do with women’s health, women in the workforce, in sports, in the music, film and TV industry, and every other aspect in life) is fucking insane, pardon my French. Wait, fuck that. Don’t pardon it at all because it’s goddamned justified. Way back in the Democratic primaries (which were like, what, 400 fucking years ago), we had multiple women running. Elizabeth Warren, who was my preference for the Democratic ticket, was deemed too unlikable, too angry and too much like Hillary was in ‘16. Kamala was said to be argumentative, overly ambitious and not Black enough. Klobuchar was too mean to her employees. But would you say any of these women are more unlikable, angry, argumentative, overly ambitious or meaner to their employees than our current President? Of course you wouldn’t. In fact, the Donald is the epitome of every one of those descriptors.
I specifically remember being angry about Warren being forced to lay out an elaborate plan on how she would fund Medicare for All, which she did. It laid out where those dollars were going to come from, be it higher taxes on the rich, closing other tax loopholes for corporations, diverting dollars from other programs, etc. She had to have plans for all of her progressive ideas. But, guess who didn’t? Bernie Sanders. He was free to spout anything he wanted about free healthcare and free college and on and on without ever justifying a single dime to pay for it. His hazy plan was to maybe raise taxes on the rich. Well, how and how much? No answer. He even said with the government running the healthcare system it would pay for itself over time because of reduced administrative costs. Sure, the government has proven time and time again it can run services and be more fiscally efficient than their private sector competitors. Oh wait, they already run a healthcare service and the VA is a disaster. But, my broader point is the same ol’ thing we’ve been saying for ages: that a woman must be twice as good as a man to earn the same job.
But, back to the main thesis, I cannot even imagine if we had a woman running our country like Trump does. We would never hear the end of “that’s why we can’t let a woman run our country” and “women are too irrational and emotional to be leaders” and “women are too susceptible to compliments” and “that’s why we can’t give the nuclear codes to a woman” and “women are so vain and care too much about their hair” and on and on. We would likely never have a woman President ever again.
So, I would like to start the call. I say we never trust another rich, old, white man to run our country. In fact, I’m not sure I trust them in the House, Senate or as judges. The Green Bay Packers, well known as being one of the best run sports franchises in the world, have a rule that no one over the age of 70 can be employed in decision-making positions of power. I say we adopt that rule for Congress, Judges and the President of the United States as well. Our country is overwhelmingly progressive on most fiscal and social issues and yet our representation by and large does not reflect that. Speaking of “progressives…”
Liberal vs. Conservative or Progressive vs. Regressive
First off, don’t even get me started on how fucked up and fundamentally racist the construction of the Senate and the Electoral College are. Both were concessions to slave owners in the South who feared the more densely populated North would take over our country’s decision making if all things were equal. Even now, they both heavily favor white, rural areas despite the fact that nearly 5 times more people live in urban ares where populations tend to be more diverse and progressive (though not all urban areas fit that description. Looking at you Portland and Seattle. You may be progressive but you’re certainly not diverse…). The mere fact that North Dakota (population 762,000), South Dakota (population 885,000), Wyoming (population 579,000) and Montana (population 1.1 million) carry the same weight in the Senate as New York (population 19.5 million), Illinois (population 12.9 million) and California (population 39.5 million) is fucking insane. And because of those misplaced Senators, those same rural areas have an outsized say in the Electoral College. Again, these were concessions made to slave owners in the South back in 1787. I doubt they thought we wouldn’t have figured out a more equitable system by now. That’s why they allowed for amendments.
So, why don’t we change these systems now? Our country says it’s progressive so what is holding us back? Well, it’s those darn “conservatives.” Those same “conservatives” that are vastly overrepresented in the Senate. Those same “conservatives” that are pushing to remove rights and protections from women, people of color and the LGBTQ+ community (don’t worry, Native Americans had their rights taken away many, many years ago. You know, like the right to be alive…). Those same “conservatives” who are actively trying to take away healthcare from millions during a pandemic and are standing in the way of universal health care, a basic right for every citizen in every other first world country and, in general, most other countries in the world. Those same “conservatives” who are currently standing in the way of enhanced unemployment benefits for millions of people, like me, who are still unemployed because their “conservative” leader refused to be brave enough to actually lead our country through a national crisis. Those same “conservatives” who are standing firmly in the way of criminal justice and policing reform because they think we need more law and order. Those same “conservatives” who are still pretending there is no racism in this country and that “all lives matter.”
Wait, none of those things sound “conservative.” If the goal is to begin slowing down progress and stripping away the rights of people, that’s no longer “conservative,” that’s “regressive.” Let’s take a look at the definitions of “liberal” and “conservative,” shall we?
The definition of the word “liberal” is:
willing to respect or accept behavior or opinions different from one's own; open to new ideas.
The definition of the word “conservative” is:
averse to change or innovation and holding traditional values.
So, the key is change. One side is pro-change and one side is against it. In an ideal world, everyone would be liberal. Everyone would be able to “respect or accept behavior or opinions different from one’s own” but right now what we have is two sides that are completely unable to do that. What we have are two sides that moving in opposite directions and becoming far less “liberal.” What we have is one side that is pushing for progress and one that is pushing us to regress. I am very much a progressive but I don’t think I can call myself a “liberal.” I can no longer respect or accept that one side wants to take away rights from women and the LGBTQ+ community or provide basic social services to its citizens or make any progress on defeating the racism in this country (or even recognize there is a problem to begin with) or helping close the widening wealth gap. None of us should. Those things are essential to the growth of this nation; our progress, if you will. Going backwards is obviously not helping anything. Our country has never been more divided and rightfully so. We’ve always called ourselves a progressive nation who promotes democracy and human rights across the globe but a portion of our citizens and representatives are actively trying take away our civil liberties and individual rights here at home, even trying to restrict its own citizens inalienable right to participate in our democracy. That’s just unacceptable. And it’s not “conservative” at all.
We’re at a tipping point in the history of our great country. We have to decide if we want to continue to push forward to try to be a truly “progressive” nation, or if we want to be “regressive” and trample on all the things that America wanted to be in the first place. No, I’m not saying we used to be better. In fact, it used to be much worse, but we still have a chance to push towards the ideals that founded this nation. We’ve always said that we were trying to be a better, more perfect union, let’s actually follow through on that and stop trying to live in the past. A past most of us would rather learn from and grow beyond. We’re better than this. Let’s prove it.