The real deal

By Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq.
TriceEdneyWire.com Columnist

Before I jump into the main subject of this week’s article, I would like to remind you that political campaigns are a costly endeavor. Real support for your chosen candidate(s) is best demonstrated with a campaign contribution. Personal experience leads me to offer that a contribution in any amount is greatly appreciated and that you can also support candidates in states in which you cannot vote. Our futures depend on fragile differences which can only be controlled with the election of candidates whose policies reflect our chosen outcomes. Time is getting short, and elections offer us no dressed-rehearsals.

In the coming 2022 mid-term election, the average voter-eligible American is inclined to vote instinctively on the basis of hearing a word or phrase that appeals to a deeply held value or belief system instead of researching or considering the “cause and effect” consequence of their vote. This is not surprising and political operatives continually search for and experiment with methods to use this fact to their advantage.

So much of the Republican agenda for the 2022 mid-term election is rooted in contradiction, obfuscation, and double-speak that the infrequent voter or single-issue voter may be swayed to vote for a candidate whose policies appear to be benign and harmless. I’m sure that, somewhere at some time, a Republican will deserve receiving a vote, but I find myself in agreement with Liz Cheney in opposing pro-Trump, Stop-the-Steal, or sympathizers of the January 6th Insurrection – most Republicans in general.

For years, respected political/social analysts have theorized that Americans have notoriously short memories regarding political events. I agree with this theory and point to the statements of Trump and Bannon in the early weeks after the 2016 presidential election. They each said that a primary goal of a Trump administration would be the “deconstruction of the administrative state (institutions and institutional norms).” Trump, Bannon, and their fellow-travelers have proceeded toward the realization of that end with all deliberate speed.

That goal explains the Real Deal of Republican politics today. In words, deeds, and lack of intelligent responses, both ultra MAGA and conventional Republicans have surrendered to the act of altering the principal norms, mores, and values upon which this country was founded and for which we have fought to perfect over the past 250 years. A minority of American citizens with oversized egos and a willingness to follow the lead of a tyrannical, racist, orange huckster are willing to sacrifice their last best hope for a secure and prosperous future for themselves and their offspring. This fact begs the question—WHY? This psychosis originates with this country’s original sin – RACISM.

To prevent the erosion and exchange of their traditional positions of power with people of color, whites are now willing to discard the freedoms they have enjoyed most of this country’s history. I am reminded of the older female supporter of Trump who, in 2016, exclaimed on national television, “If we have to have a dictator, it might as well be (Trump).”

I’ve never vigorously objected to a person structuring their own personal choices and lifestyle, but those who would surrender their lives to the authority of Trump and his minions also gladly surrender mine as well. That is unacceptable! Given past performance of the Trump administration, how far back would the rights of marginalized groups be forced to retreat to satisfy those imbued with racial animus? Remember, we have already seen Roe reversed and Clarence Thomas crow about revisiting rulings governing other privacy rights.

In this coming election, I am sure that the racists among us will vigorously exercise their votes with the intent of protecting their power. While they count, we must use our votes with equal vigor to protect our interests. MID-TERM VOTES MATTER!

Dr. E. Faye Williams, President of The Dick Gregory Society, United Nations Peace Ambassador. (drefayewill-iams.com; thedickgregorysociety.org.

This article originally published in the October 18, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.