Fischbach got on board with the worst forces

Congressperson Michelle Fischbach

Someday we may all be talking about how America was a great country while it lasted. Surely it was. Even though our politics came across as something like sausage-making sometimes. 

Tip O'Neill and Ronald Reagan could still have amicable relations at the end of the day. Judge Chutkan when she was confirmed got a unanimous vote. Republicans and Democrats together. 

We had a Voting Rights Act still in effect. Today we read of Denny's Restaurants that simply refuse to serve black people. That's even in South Dakota. The black people come in, sit down and are simply ignored. And if they don't leave to the satisfaction of management, cops are called. The cops are trained not to make a judgment in situations like this. They do what management has requested. 

So my point is that America has been rapidly devolving. 

Mike Pence can be seen as confused in some pretty significant ways. I mean, to consider throwing deference to MAGA even after his own life and that of his family were threatened on January 6. To the point where those protecting them felt they had to call their own families in order to say "goodbye." Might we have seen a full-fledged beheading, or more than one? You think world history does not have examples of this? 

And so in the wake of all that, was America shaken out of its mind, to the point where our legal system had to do something immediate and dramatic? Throw people in prison after an expedited legal process? Yes there would still be a legal process, because the forces for good would always subscribe to that. That's unlike the forces for the other side. That's the side that wants autocracy in a thinly-veiled way. Of course it does. 

So why hasn't America risen up in a more outraged way? Why hasn't a consensus been reached long before now? Why isn't all that unpleasantness behind us? 

Pence is not stark-raving stupid. He has now given a speech where he feels that his Republican Party must stick to conservative principles. As opposed to what? He cited "populism" which is a term that rather bounces around. So in what context does Pence apply it here? He cited "personal grievances and performative outrage" that Donald Trump projects. 

Mike Pence

Joe Scarborough of MSNBC discussed Pence's speech this morning (Thursday). Former Republican Scarborough listed incidents where his old party sought rule changes or tried to have public officials removed, "just to fail." 

And why is the American public as a whole choosing to basically countenance the bad stuff? Why can't we reject it out of hand? 

 

Our local sentiment

I am certain that a majority of church-going Republicans in Stevens County MN still have basic sympathy for MAGA. They would tie their own church-going to what MAGA represents. The reverence is the kind that I feel is discouraging a whole young generation from subscribing to Christianity. 

My own church of First Lutheran of Morris, of the "liberal" ELCA, may have lost critical mass for even surviving. The majority of our local churches would appear to subscribe to Pence's version of "populist" forces: "performative outrage." So they might absolutely demand that Hunter Biden be locked up. They are of a completely different mind for judging Trump, Clarence Thomas, his wife Ginny, Samuel Alito and others on "their side." 

And now Mike Huckabee has gotten more dramatic, suggesting that if Trump is denied the presidency because of legal obstacles, MAGA will take to violence. They've tried that once. Would the forces for good have to resort to violence also? 

So you all think Trump has helped your own life that much? Really? Could I ask you to devote a second or third thought to that? Are you sure you really want democracy to become endangered if not wiped out? Stop and think: when democracy fades away, no one can be certain of what exactly will replace it. And when you all start waking up, it will be too late. The shooting war might begin. I personally do not want to see that happen. 

I am a mere one person. I live in a deep red county here in western Minnesota. Rural western Minnesota has gone extreme Republican. Our stripes now would appear to reflect Pence's version of "populism." I overhear this at a local restaurant in the morning: Republicans totally good, Democrats evil, Hunter Biden the issue, not the dodgy ones on the other side. 

 

Our voice in U.S. Congress

We have a congressperson who voted against certifying the 2020 election results. Perfect. Was she really that naive or was she just trying to satisfy her constituency of know-nothings out here? This matter has gravitas. Did congressperson Fischbach directly contribute to the incitement that led to the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. capitol? Maybe this was to the pleasure of the group of older guys who gather in the middle section of DeToy's Restaurant in early morning. 

Some of us would simply be amused by such talk. People talking about politics, you might say a national pastime. But the situation of the past few years has gotten potentially dangerous. This wasn't seen previously. You'd side with O'Neill or Reagan but we could all continue being friends and Americans at the end of the day. Now, so many of us would listen to the likes of Huckabee. Take up arms? It sort of happened already at the U.S. capitol. 

And our Michelle Fischbach sided with the likes of Ted Cruz on the catastrophic day, Jan. 6. Even the rock-ribbed conservative Tom Emmer from Central Minnesota did not vote to deny certification. So are we just dumber out here in the sticks with our "conservative" churches? Well, it appears so. The Apostolic Christians have disappointed me.

Trump's orchestrated mob sought to disrupt one of our democracy's most sacred ceremonies: the counting of the electoral votes. The capitol was breached for the first time since the War of 1812. 

Why couldn't Americans demand expedited reaction? Too many of us watching Fox News? Seriously maybe that's it. And the network caters to the kind of "populism" that Pence cites. 

Could Fox News have saved Richard Nixon? Nixon really did not govern all that much as a conservative. He was really just interested in power. Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency. Could you imagine Trump doing that? But that was then, this is now. 

Apostolic Christian Church

And we are still stuck with Michelle Fischbach as our congressperson. I wouldn't even bet against her winning re-election. What are the odds that even one of the local Apostolic Christians would vote for Fischbach's opponent? Throw in the Good Shepherd Church parishioners. Christianity was a nice faith while it lasted.

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com