This post first appeared at Government Cheese – Chronicling the collapse of democracy.

Virginia broke the rules. That’s all there is to it. Rules are rules.

Republican states can gerrymander to favor Republicans, Democratic states cannot gerrymander to favor Democrats. States can draw districts that exclude minority representation. States cannot draw districts that enable minority representation. Rules are rules.

It’s like “Stand Your Ground” gun laws. White people can stand their ground and shoot black people. Black people better not get near a gun. Rules are rules.

It’s like when I was a kid. All my neighbors were Black. I had to go to what was called the “white” school. It was a shiny new school some distance away. All my neighbors went to what was called the “black” school. It was built in the 1800s, run down, moldy, leaking roof, etc. Rules are rules. (Ann Arbor). Along came LBJ and Civil Rights and Democrats lost the South forever.

The South has risen again.

PS Also, women couldn’t get bank accounts, loans, managerial positions, and got paid 59 cents for each dollar men got paid for the same job, etc so expect that soon, too.

Rules are rules. 

I was very moved reading Isaiah Poole at Campfire Politics, writing, “What, to the American Black person, is the U.S. 250th anniversary?” Please go read the whole piece!!!

We will not “get over it” until the nation commits itself fully to the work of healing our collective wounds and reconciliation. The first step, in fact, is the recognition that the wounds of some affect the health of all. The ethos of Trumpism is individualism, that each person rises or falls on their own and no one owes anyone else anything. Your successes are yours alone, and so are your problems and failures. But the same Bible hoisted by Christian nationalists tells a different story. The apostle Paul said that we are all part of one body, and each part depends on the health and well-being of every other part. “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’” Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians. King made the same point when he said, “All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.”

It is so brilliant and spot-on: “the wounds of some affect the health of all”. It is one of the best analyses of America’s situation I have read.

This line really resonates and says so much about why the US is where it is: “Instead, we are the cancer patient who took too low a dose of treatment and stopped the treatment too early.” I would add that after every attack by the disease the nation refused to exercise and take other preventative steps to ward off the next one. They could have stamped it out after the Civil War but the warfighters were so relieved thinking the fight was over and stayed home while the South rose again. Rachel Maddow’s Ultra series talks about how America just forgot about fighting its internal Nazi collaborators after winning WWII, allowing them to grow into what we are seeing now.

As he wrote, “We will not “get over it” until the nation commits itself fully to the work of healing our collective wounds and reconciliation.”

A “moral revolution”. The country needs a full Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Full accountability for the crimes and corruption. Preventative measures to protect the future.

And finally, the country must come to full recognition of the “disease,” coming up with a preventative prescription to fight inevitable future attacks from the fascists, monarchists, psychopaths and the rest of that crowd that infect humanity. Maybe use tests at birth and move them to a well-guarded, secure island where they can enjoy being cruel to and fighting with each other. Maybe give them toys to accumulate and hoard and fight over. That is MY vindictive “light that shows the way forward.”

Come to think of it, with everything we know about Republicans now, maybe it’s time to reexamine the 2004 election. The money that went into “Swiftboating,” the Ohio vote counting mysteries … all kinds of things.

In 1932 FDR campaigned asking for help so he could win and “restore America to its own people.” After taking office his administration began working to help the population start to recover from the ravages of depression caused by unregulated banks and stock market speculation. Campaigning for reelection in 1936 he delivered his final campaign speech at Madison Square Garden. He talked about the changes his government had made, and the struggle that lay ahead to continue with that struggle. He described the struggle he and the public faced, saying,

We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.

They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.

The old enemies of peace are back. Business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism and war profiteering.

Let’s welcome their hatred and send them off.

When (some of the) the Epstein files (ones that didn’t incriminate Trump) were released documents revealed that Mandelson had leaked/sold secret high-level, top-secret UK information to Epstein. Mandelson was fired and there were a lot of questions about Starmer’s judgement in appointing him.

But wait, there’s more.

Last week it was revealed that Mandelson failed the security vetting that was required before he could receive a top-level clearance. The vetting concluded he should not be appointed. The Foreign Office (UK name for what the US calls the State Department) (or have they changed the name to State of War Department?) overruled this and let him be appointed anyway. So now Starmer is in real trouble. “How could this happen?” “How could you allow someone who failed his vetting get such a high-level job?” Etc…

Starmer claims the Foreign Office never informed him that Mandelson failed the vetting… The PM appointed a guy who turned out to be, basically, a spy. So big trouble all around.

An Alternate Scenario

Try this on for size: They knew Mandelson was corrupt, likely would leak/sell secrets. They already knew before the vetting that he had Russian and Chinese military clients, and that’s why they appointed him. They knew he would probably leak or sell secrets to UK’s adversaries – the US, Russia and/or China.

Saying he was appointed because he was someone who can work with Trump was just a cover story. They really put him there so they could feed him stuff they wanted Trump/Russia/China to get. False, misleading, disruptive and wrong information.

What we are seeing now – the big scandal, the ridiculous excuses, the threat that the PM will have to resign, etc. is a dance to try to convince Russia/China/Trumpers that the stuff Mandelson was (probably) passing along was real intelligence not disinformation they fed them.

Whether this fantastic scenario is what happened or not? Who knows? But Russia and China are probably wondering exactly this now. (The Trumpers probably aren’t because they aren’t smart enough to think of this.)

The reason I thought of this was realizing Starmer and the Foreign Office etc just could not have been stupid enough to put Mandelson there knowing he was an associate of Epstein, and hide his vetting failure, and all the rest. They just couldn’t.

They couldn’t be that stupid. Right?

Campfire Politics is a curated progressive political digest – the best thinking from across the left, delivered with a wry eye and zero patience for bullshit. Think of it as The Week, but with a backbone.

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Though I know that evening’s empire has returned into sand
Vanished from my hand
Left me blindly here to stand, but still not sleeping
My weariness amazes me, I’m branded on my feet
I have no one to meet
And the ancient empty street’s too dead for dreaming

Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come following you

Take me on a trip upon your magic swirling ship
My senses have been stripped
My hands can’t feel to grip
My toes too numb to step
Wait only for my boot heels to be wandering
I’m ready to go anywhere, I’m ready for to fade
Into my own parade
Cast your dancing spell my way, I promise to go under it

Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come following you

Though you might hear laughing, spinning, swinging madly across the sun
It’s not aimed at anyone
It’s just escaping on the run
And but for the sky there are no fences facing
And if you hear vague traces of skipping reels of rhyme
To your tambourine in time
It’s just a ragged clown behind
I wouldn’t pay it any mind
It’s just a shadow you’re seeing that he’s chasing

Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come following you

And take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind
Down the foggy ruins of time
Far past the frozen leaves
The haunted frightened trees
Out to the windy beach
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky
With one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea
Circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate
Driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow

Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come following you

Bob Dylan, 1965

Bob Dylan was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”.

Now further revelations about Epstein/Mandelson look extremely bad. The security vetting process before his appointment had said Peter Mandelson should not get a security clearance and that was overridden. So he got the job anyway and engaged in corruption.

Starmer either knew about the denial of security clearance being overridden or didn’t know about it, so he’s either part of a corrupt project or hasn’t implemented sufficient oversight and control of his government. Either way you can’t have a PM that isn’t fighting corruption or at least making sure it isn’t coming from inside the house.

I haven’t posted here at Imagine Democracy for a while because it is hard to imagine democracy with everything that is happening. I’ve been writing a LOT over at Government Cheese: Chronicling the collapse of democracy because … the collapse of democracy.

So imagine democracy. Suppose We the People manage to get control of the United States again. What’s it going to take to get America back on its feet?

The World Will Need An Ironclad Guarantee It Can’t Happen Again

We the People are going to have to make changes that provide the entire world with an ironclad assurance that this all cannot happen again. Can. Not. The level of systemic reform required before any country, business or anyone dares to trust the US again will be enormous. The damage done by tariffs, threats, withdrawal of assistance, bombs and otherwise is just huge.

Why would any country agree to any kind of arrangement with the US without some kind of ironclad guarantee? This is real. Right now the EU is talking to the UK about deals opening up more trade, and a few other things. In those talks the EU is asking for the agreement to include reparations payments if the right gets control of the UK again and undoes these agreements – again.

Even domestically. Suppose you’re thinking about joining (or rejoining) the Dept of Justice. Without such a guarantee you are not only facing the possibility of being tossed out in 4 years if the nutcases get control again, you are also facing the possibility of being indicted for trying to help the country recover! Suppose you’re a scientist thinking of coming back to help fight the climate crisis. Same deal. You could get indicted for that – or worse – if they get back in.

That’s a lot of work there to undo the ways the system is rigged against the public. How do you get government back under the control of We the People? Most important: Get money out of the election system. Ban it. Ban corporate money from being used for any purpose other than running the corporation! Getting the money out might give the public a chance to start righting the ship.

Get rid of the Electoral College – it’s a leftover from the slave-state system. Make the Senate represent their share of the population instead of two senators for a state with the population of one county in a state like California! Bring in some kind of preferential/ranked-choice voting system to stop current vote for the lesser-of-two-evils system. Get corporations under control – re-regulate them and put “stakeholders” on Boards. Completely reform and expand the corrupt Republican Supreme Court. Somehow restore an honest system for the public to get reliable news & information that stops the ability to propagandize the public. (Maybe a super and expanded version of Public Broadcasting? Govt funding for news outlets and local news outlets?) Implement ironclad ways to make sure democracy is understood, respected and protected, including a Department of Democracy.
 
So many things will have to be done. But seriously why should anyone trust the US “system” again without this level of real reform?

After what happened with Japan and Germany this is the level of change that had to happen. Complete transformation. It didn’t happen after the Soviet Union fell, and look where they are now!