NOT MUCH BETTER

 

Well, I’m not hyperventilating or pulling the covers over my head and refusing to get out of bed. The photo is obviously not from St. Louis (it’s Siena, Italy), but I’m still despondent about what my country decided it wanted to be. Mrs. C and I just decided to visit Ireland in the spring and I could probably get an Irish passport since my grandfather was born there, but that just leads to impractical fantasies. It all makes me think of a quote by the old acerbic journalist, H. L. Mencken. You may know it, but I won’t repeat it here.                    

NOVEMBER 7

 

THE STATE OF MISSOURI POLITICS / MADELEINE MONDAY

On Saturday I took Ellie to The Magic House, STL's children's museum. One section is about the divisions of government, with mock-ups of a courtroom, the president's oval office and a legislative chamber. Here she sits in the judge's bench, head in hand, perhaps thinking about the state of our state.

Tomorrow is election day in the U.S. Yes, it's odd to do it on a Tuesday but it has something to do with market days in agrarian post-colonial times. Lots of us, perhaps including my granddaughter, are terribly worried about the erosion of democracy in our country. Missouri has an open U.S. Senate seat. Not that the Democratic candidate is so great but, to everyone in this household, the Republican is a horror. This isn't the place for details but, in general, I could never vote for a candidate of a party that has lost its mind. There, I said it: the occasional rant.          

ENOUGH OF PARADISE

That's all for now of the delights of the botanical garden. Back out on the streets. St. Louis elected a new mayor this week, Tishaura Jones, the first black woman to hold the office. She is currently the city treasurer. Jones is known for progressive views but has made some enemies and there have been whiffs of favoritism in the way she has run her current office. Although I work in the city proper I don't live there so I didn't vote in this election and don't know every detail of its politics. We wish her success and good fortune. Heaven knows this place can use it. 

The event made the international edition on the British journal, The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/07/tishaura-jones-st-louis-first-black-female-mayor . Note the statistics about population loss. In 1950 the city itself, which is geographically hemmed in, had about 900,000 people. It's now 330,000 in a metro area of 2.6 million. We have some of the worst suburban sprawl in the country.

There will be something tomorrow about the building in this photo.                  

Now All We Need Is Sex And Rock & Roll

More of the neon art exhibit at Laumeier Sculpture Park. I wonder what selection of drugs might be helpful this morning. We won the House but lost our much-admired senator, Claire McCaskill, to a young man who has spent his first two years in political office making a shambles of the Missouri attorney general's office.

At least there won't be any horrible legislation passed by Congress in the next two years.     

Star Spangled Banner

You can't cry into it. It's too big. And these days it's very hard for me to see clearly.

I keep thinking of the clip below. 19 year old me was there, although I can't say I remember it very clearly. Some of the feelings about my country are the same today as 47 years ago.

As mentioned, I'll be documenting the anti-Trump rally downtown this afternoon. There has been some interesting commentary on these demonstrations. Trump won the election lawfully, although only because of our bizarre Electoral College system that allowed Clinton to win the popular vote and lose the race. Is it helpful or appropriate for the losers just to blow off rage? I don't think so, unless it makes some people feel better for a while. As Stephen Colbert said on Wednesday, being an American citizen is like family: you're in it whether you like it or not.

On the other hand, it begins the process of common struggle and resistance that some of us feel is necessary. For example, if the party in power tries to dismantle Social Security (a subject I know a lot about) or permits environmental degradation, I hope masses of people take to the streets. I'd be with them.              

Morning In America

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Yippie!

The title refers to a TV ad when Ronald Reagan ran for president. The painting is from the grafitti-permitted section of the Mississippi River flood wall depicting sunrise over the stream, I suppose. However, hallelujah!, the forces of darkness have been pushed back. (Notice that I didn't say defeated. It never goes away.)

My political views leak through a bit on these pages but I usually avoid being explicit. Not today. I am full of joy and relief at the results of our national election. The president was re-elected. My superb senator, Claire McCaskill, won re-election against an extreme right winger and millions of dollars in outside money. I think most or all of my international readers agree with me. Some of my U.S. readers will not. In any event, I vote for us, not just me. That's my philosophy. We did not - we will never - win them all but yesterday those whose views I share won the big ones.

So here's another symbolic sunrise:

The Morning After

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I usually write my posts in the evening. They are uploaded at 12:01 AM the following morning. So I can't be sure right now but this illustrates how I may feel Wednesday morning when I turn on National Public Radio news and open the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, for yesterday was election day in my country.

My wife and I sometimes joke that we could make a good living commuting to Las Vegas and betting against people we vote for, at least as long as we live in Missouri. (We could do even better if we moved to Texas, but perish the thought.) Knowing what all the polls predict, I feel angry and sad as I type this on Tuesday evening. Rather than draft another rant, I might refer you to this editorial in Tuesday's New York Times (Sure, liberal elite Northeast media. Got it.). It expresses my thoughts better than I could myself.

We interrupt our Halloween coverage to ask Missouri to VOTE FOR ROBIN CARNAHAN FOR U.S. SENATE

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Tomorrow is election day in the U.S. Last night supporters of Robin Carnahan, the Democratic candidate for senator, held a rally in Forest Park. In attendance was our other senator, the brilliant Claire McCaskill; Sen. Dick Durbin from the neighboring state of Illinois; Rednecks For Robin (we are rumored to have a few); and Gov. Jay Nixon, with Robin and brother Russ, my congressman, in the background. At the bottom, Mrs. C. and Sen. McCaskill share a moment of party unity.

This blog tip toes into politics only occasionally but this is something I feel very strongly about. We do advertise the occasional rant. While every politician and political party has flaws, I proudly stand with the Democrats. The way I see it, our two main parties have distinct views about the roles of the individual and government in society. The Republicans promote individual liberty unfettered by government regulation. Unless, of course, they don't like your behavior. It's code for letting business have its way to screw individuals and foul our nest. Democrats like business (I own a business, after all) and want the country to be to be prosperous, but we ask for the balance of power to be more equal, evening the playing field between the small and the powerful.

Carnahan's opponent, Roy Blunt, a long-time congressman, is the consummate government corporate insider. He has received astounding amounts of contributions from corporations, their lobbyists and now, since the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case, buckets of cash from anonymous sources. He has the hubris to refuse to answer questions about it. This is corruption, pure and simple.

So I'd like my fellow Missourians to think long and hard before you cast your ballot tomorrow. Maybe you disagree. That's healthy. Write something about what you think.

We're back to Halloween pictures tomorrow because Wednesday morning could present a scary landscape.

Missouri: Vote No On Proposition A

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Next Tuesday is election day in the US. The prospects are good that the Republicans will retake control of the House of Representatives (the horror... the horror...). Far under the national radar, we have an important state proposition here in Missouri.

Since the 50's, the City of St. Louis has had a 1% earnings tax. Kansas City has it, too. Proposition A on next week's ballot would require a referendum on the tax by the two cities voters now and every five years thereafter, bypassing the normal legislative process. It would prohibit any other municipality in the state enacting such a tax. A rally in opposition was held in Kiener Plaza last night.

The effort to bring it down comes from very wealthy and very conservative interests, notably one Rex Sinquefield. His eventual goal is to repeal the state's modest income tax and replace it with a higher sales tax, which, of course, hits working people and the poor harder than prosperous citizens. Sinquefield has apparently contributed $12 million to this measure. It's on the ballot state-wide, even though it only affects the two major cities. I'm never seen a picture of Mr. Sinquefield but I get a mental image of Mr. Burns from The Simpsons.

Our suburbs get the largest part of their revenue from real estate taxes. The city doesn't have that kind of tax base. The earnings tax provides one-third of St. Louis' income. Supporters of Prop A offer no alternative. Repealing it would cause disastrous cuts in city services or huge increases in sales and real estate taxes.

I have worked in downtown St. Louis for 36 years and I gladly pay my 1%. It keeps my community alive. Missourians, help preserve our two major cities. If they go in the tank the rest of the state goes with them. Vote NO on Proposition A next Tuesday.

Sorry no comments today. Out late shooting and off to work early today. Back to regular schedule by tonight.