Not Your Grandma's Congress

Just by looking at my last post you will know that I am angry about what is happening to this country and about the threat posed to it by our corrupt, incompetent President and the Republican Party. But that does not mean I cannot have some fun with the absurdities. Fox News rose up in what passes for righteous indignation to criticize a young lady ( Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio Cortez) for dancing and having fun – presumably because she is a member of the Democratic Party and now a member of congress. And now that the right wing propaganda machine has shown them the way, the Republicans are jumping on the “socialistic Democrats” should not have fun bandwagon, thus paying homage to evangelicals and the puritanical values they profess to believe in. As H. L. Menken once said: Puritanism is “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.”

Ah but not so fast. Puritanical values not withstanding, most Republicans will tell you it is alright to have a properly restrained good time at fancy dress balls, particularly inaugural balls celebrating the election of Republican Presidents. It is the unbridled exuberance of the masses and the inherent bawdiness of the movements of the young that horny Republicans find offensive. As Lenny Bruce used to point out, it is the people who get the horniest the quickest that can see the danger in such things. All I can say to Congresswoman Cortez is, “you go girl!” Your joy brings a smile to this old man's face, and I do not see why you can't have fun and still represent your constituents.

In regard to language it is not so much the what as the who. To say that Trump is guilty of using intemperate language is being way too polite. There are Republicans who say he should not use profanity, but the general attitude the Republicans exhibit regarding Trump's crude statements and obscene tweets is that boys will be boys. A woman using such language, particularly while calling for the impeachment of Trump is a whole different matter as far as Republicans are concerned. Given what we already know about Trump's philandering Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib's characterization of him as a m..... f..... is undoubtedly accurate, but that is beside the point. And how dare she call for his impeachment! I am sure some Republicans (presumable the ones who are old enough to remember what it means) are calling Congresswoman Tlaib a shameless Hussy!

Hang onto your hats folks. This is just the beginning. Things are about to get very interesting!