SO YOU LENT YOUR CAR TO THE 3 STOOGES...

My Indivisible Group in Sherman Oaks, California like the others throughout the country is committed to thwarting the regressive administration of President Kim Jong Un-American by demanding our Congressional leaders resist their agenda. By badgering our MoCs, were using the Tea Partys tactics to force at least one branch of government to represent the demands of the majority of Americans. And in the meantime, my personal hope is to start preparing a sanity sandwich for when the rest of country comes down from their Agent Orange high. Thats why Ive been focusing my thoughts on how to talk to Trumpeteers who voted for a villain from a 1970s Burt Reynolds movie to be President of the United States. As a former Alabaman, one technique seems obvious

Car metaphors.

For roughly the same time period that four-wheeled internal combustion engines have been rumbling across the American landscape, Democrats have been the party of the little guy (except for the little black guy, until the Civil Rights Act of 1964), while Republicans were the party of big business. Democrats came up with grand ideas intended to make life better for all Americans; Republicans came up with ideas why those ideas were too expensive. In other words automotive words Democrats were the Car of States engine; Republicans were the brakes.

And for most of the 20th century, it worked. We sputtered almost as much as we sped, but we moved forward: Social Security! Whoa, slow down, young speed demons! Minimum wage! Not so fast there, leadfoot! Civil rights! Easy does it, you hot-rodder! And Republicans werent always wrong. Government programs do tend toward increased bureaucracy and lack of accountability and thus, need course corrections. So while it was always open to debate how wed get there, and how fast, almost every American was at least in agreement about where we were trying to go: A Better Life for Everybody-land.

And then along came Reagan.

The 40th Presidents genius presumably accidental, based on years of instinctively saying things to make people happy was to tell Americans that those Democratic social programs werent just too expensive or even too inefficient, they were actually the CAUSE of the countrys problems. His infamous banquet hall lines delivered to the white-haired wealthy were: Government isnt the solution, its the problem. and What are the 9 scariest words in the English language? Im from the government and Im here to help. Ha ha. Ha. Yeah

In other words, Reagan made Americans feel that by NOT paying taxes for government programs to help the less fortunate, they were actually helping the less fortunate! Likewise, get rid of all those regulations to protect the environment or consumers or the discriminated against, and the problems they were designed to mitigate will disappear!

And it wasnt just old rich people who bought Reagan Motors sales pitch. Also suckered in were a younger generation whod never recognized the necessity of much less sacrificed anything for their democratic government. Heck, theyd never even witnessed their country win a war. And after all, everybody knows African-Americans were treated fairly before that darn Civil Rights Act made them so unhappy. Meat and vegetables were all untainted before the FDA. The skies and water were bright blue before the EPA went and made them dirty. And those handy Interstates just sort of showed up, right? Polio? Whats that?

It was a masterstroke of self-deception: the people with money got to keep it AND feel like they were doing the moral thing. All they had to do was find a way to ignore those annoying teachings of Jesus Christ about helping others and heck, religious hypocrisy has been a cakewalk since Emperor Constantine converted and Christians started persecuting everybody else in the name of the Prince of Peace.

There was just one little problem

Reagan was wrong. Because Americans didnt one day suddenly decide to tax themselves for no good reason. Those cataclysmic social policies of the 1930s - 1960s were the reaction to catastrophic social problems. The slightest application of common sense reveals that if you eliminate the program even if its not especially effective you still have the catastrophic problem. Only now itll be a little worse. Or maybe a lot, depending on how effective the program was. Hence, the grotesque expansion of the gap between rich and poor since the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s.

And remember the last time Republicans controlled the Federal Government between 2000 and 2008? All those Not So Young Anymore Republicans whod learned at Reagans knee turned a surplus into a deficit, crashed the economy, invaded the wrong country, came up with zero ideas to repair the broken health care system, and let a great American city drown. Why? Because putting people in charge of government who dont think government can possibly work is like putting people who dont like NASCAR in charge of Jimmie Johnsons pit crew. Dont expect to win the Daytona 500.

And then along came Donald.

He has done more than just spout the Republicans previously-owned spiel about how government created the problems corporations created, hes taking it one step further. He and his minders/minions are setting out to actually destroy the state and bring everything crashing down. So if you thought the incompetence, stupidity and corruption of Republican government from 2000-2008 was bad, just watch as Larry, Moe and Curly Trump, Bannon and Miller drive the Car of State off a cliff. Backwards. With us in the backseat.

Or dont just watch. Join your local Indivisible Group.