July felt like the world, but mostly the US, had gone completely mad. Like, totally off our rockers, nutso, bananas, whoareweanymore crazy. We’re going to take a little look at all that craziness today, because I think it’s worth seeing it all together.
Don’t worry though, tomorrow we’re going to look at how things have been turning around in the last week or so and then take a look ahead to the rest of August. It’s getting better, I promise. Actually I don’t promise at all, but I think it is, and I want to show where we were headed as a counterpoint to where we could be headed if August keeps getting better.
Meanwhile, in July:
The January 6 committee wrapped up its first series of hearings (though more to come in September) and revealed just how negligent (or just plain malicious) our Commander in Chief was during the riot at the Capitol, and how extensive the effort was to sow unrest and overturn the election results in 2020.
The Fed introduced another 3/4 of a point raise in interest rates.
We found out about a deletion of text messages between secret service agents, and other officers at Homeland Security around the January 6 time.
Europe had a major heat wave killing thousands of people, and Britain topped its all-time record high temperature (over 104 F in London). While people in Texas scoff at that number, just remember practically no-one in Europe has air conditioning.
The end of July saw a pack of sulky congressional representatives refusing to pass the PACT act (funding for veterans who have been exposed to toxic chemicals) because they were mad about another piece of legislation passing.
Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, who testified before the January 6 committee, was ‘censured’ (the equivalent of formal reprimand and usually removing committee roles) by the Arizona Republican Party. As an important note, it would have been illegal for Rusty Bowers to ignore the subpoena. It would have been a federal crime (‘general perjury’) to lie to the committee. And yet, Arizona Republicans thought he should be reprimanded for not following the deranged plan in 2020 and then describing the situation, when required to, by Congress.
The western US was on fire (hundreds of thousands of acres burned between California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon), and parts of the East are drenched (over 35 people died in Kentucky floods).
Another COVID wave is sweeping parts of the country, though not nearly as deadly as previous waves (but still deadly to over 400 people a day in the US, a number that would have seemed unthinkable a couple of years ago).
195 out of 209 Republican congressional representatives voted not to preserve a right to contraception (yes, folks, in 2022), and 205 out of 208 voted against a bill guaranteeing a woman’s right to travel across state lines to obtain abortion services. Out of all the dumb stuff that’s happening politically, this is yet another level of shocking. Over 90% of Americans believe that contraception should be legal, but 96% of House Republicans voted against guaranteeing that right. Whatnow? And frankly, when police officers start stopping women crossing state lines because they’re suspected of carrying….a fertilized egg(?)….I’d like to hear those conversations on a body cam.
And a key piece of climate legislation and other provisions were stalled by a senator who had previously agreed to them.
And on. And on.
It felt as though we were finally collapsing in on ourselves in July, like we were just done even trying to be decent and reasonable people.
However, the analogy I’ve come to see as more accurate is that we’re accompanying an inspector as he shows us the problems with an old house.
The inspector shows us how the foundation is cracked, the windows leak, the insulation has rotted, the basement has mold, termites are in the beams, and several generations of raccoons are in the attic.
As the problems are revealed to us by the inspector, it’s completely overwhelming and it seems like everything is happening right now. But of course, in reality, these problems were created in the past and have been getting worse over time. It’s just that we’re seeing the full suite of problems right now, all at once.
July revealed to us a lot of problems. But the cracks and the mold and the infestation of bugs that chew our (constitutional) framing have had free rein for a while.
The good news is this: once your inspector has shown you the bad news, you can make a plan to fix it. Yes, it won’t be cheap or easy, but that old house has ‘good bones’, and is worth saving.
And I think August is seeing us start to make a plan….More tomorrow.
I love your positivity in spite of everything...thank you!
I hope you’re right, Dr. Waple. I hope you’re right. 😑