Stephen J. Matlock's Blog, page 49

A Good Book on a Sad Time

The Nazi Seizure of Power.

I generally don’t link to books, and I think predicting the future by using the past is stupid. And I most assuredly do not believe that opponents of the ACA are Nazis. That is stupid as well as incoherent. You can oppose the ACA and be a respectable American.

The reason I like this book, though, is that it illustrates how a sincere, moderate government can be toppled through the inaction of the moderates and the folks who just want to get along, because there are some who want to overthrow the government and take power.

The Weimar Republic was fairly stable and working on developing a just society with equal access. But due to the way the political parties worked, there was political paralysis, and necessary things were delayed or never implemented during the 20s.

This gave rise to a very small contingent of unhappy right-wingers who loudly trumpeted their solutions to the problem, and also who were very tightly organized and impressive even in their early stages.

More and more the right-wingers showed themselves as (somewhat) respectable and disciplined even while they worked behind the scenes to cause chaos. And they never shied away from telling people what they really wanted to do–get rid of the Jews and start wars.

But people didn’t really believe it. Didn’t really believe it would be that bad. And so more and more, respectable people, Christian people, good, honest, hard-working God-fearing people supported the Nazis even though the Nazis were always quite blunt in their ultimate goals: the elimination of all opposition. And by elimination, not just marginalizing. Elimination.

And so they took over, peacefully, and then killed the Weimar Republica and instituted the rule of one man and one party. All very elegantly.

Again, I am in no way asserting Republicans are Nazis. And I don’t think their policies are to kill their opponents.

I am saying this: a determined minority can and will use every tool it can to achieve power. Once it achieves power, it will institute its policies, the policies it has proclaimed all along.

An America where the Republican ideology rules is an America of rich white “Christians.” It has no room for minorities, for women, for gays, for the elderly, or the poor. It will be a nation perpetually at war in the world, perpetually attacking, perpetually making sure that its will is done throughout the earth. It will be a nation that rewards and excuses the rich and that ignores the humanity of the people less fortunate. It will be a world where any expression of faith or of lifestyles that don’t fit the image of a white Christian family will be forbidden and repressed.

I’m not trying to paint some awful picture. I’m saying these are their stated goal. This is what they want.

Not Nazis, really. Not at all. Not all evil, not at all. But if they get power, they will do this.

If Your Hair’s Too Long–AUDIO

So I said I’d make this available. So here it is: “If Your Hair’s Too Long, There’s Sin in Your Heart.”

If you’ve never sat through an Evangelical church service, this is an affectionate parody.

http://stephenmatlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/12-Church-_-Hairs-Too-Long.m4a

If Your Hair’s Too Long (audio file)

I have the full album. It’s non-stop.

Pay Your Bills

The Republicans are again threatening to not authorize the increase in the debt ceiling. This is an accounting sleight-of-hand to disguise the fact that spending has already been authorized and the funds already spent at the direction of Congress which includes Republicans.

This is what gets me. It’s like buying a car and then deciding you don’t like the high monthly payments, so you decide to stop paying them to force the bank to give the car without payment.

These are our debts. We incurred them because we passed spending bills that were signed into law.

The debt ceiling was, I presume, supposed to be used to warn Congress before it passed the bills that they couldn’t overspend because someone would pull the checkbook. But Congress knows they can get the checkbook back (by raising the debt ceiling), so they kept writing checks.

Now we are trying to take the checkbook away, but the checks are already written. The bank is now asking for the next payment, and the response of the Republicans is “We’re not going to send another check, even though we all are enjoying the spending we authorized and signed up for.”

This is just madness of the type that is easily recognizable as coming from an unhinged mind.

You guys, you Congressmen, authorized this spending. Pay your bills.

The way to stop spending is to not write the checks in the first place. Once you write them, you need to pay up.

Review: Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction

Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction by Eric Foner


My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Foner writes well. This is the first thing you should know. You will not be reading a dusty tome of long-ago lives. You will read about actual people from just a few short years ago, how they felt, how they struggled, what they wanted, what they hoped for. You will get in touch with these people, some enslaved, some free, some made free. Some were the people who worked for freedom, and some were those who upheld slavery. It is all a mess in a way, just like life, but Foner extracts the threads and lays out the humans who worked through this time of post-Civil War Reconstruction.

It will break your heart, because you will see such promise in the very early years. There was a brief moment when the will of the people was such that American Negroes (to use their terms) were seen as possibly full and equal human beings along with their fellow white citizens. The African slaves would become African Americans (a thing which was astounding at such a large scale, really–with a swipe of a pen the amendments enabling their civil rights made them joint owners of the American dream).

Dr. Foner writes it all–the beautiful early events, the alarming portents of change, and the sad, almost predictable human disaster of the end of Reconstruction.

A solid, well-written book. I can’t say it is easy to read: it is not light reading, and there is simply a lot to tell. But it is not simply data and dates and numbers. Take a few days to read it, or a few weeks. It will be worth your time.





View all my reviews

This Has to Stop

This threat by the Republicans to crash the world’s economy needs to be halted.

The President of the United States rightfully needs to oppose these tactics, much along the lines of the presumed policy that the United States does not deal with terrorists.

I am not calling the Republicans terrorists. I think they’re stupid and short-sighted, and due to their rage at losing yet another election, they are nearly incapable of reason at this point. But just as we don’t deal with terrorists, we don’t deal with crazy people, even if there are a lot of them.

Crashing the economy and shutting down the government will not lead to electoral victory.

There are some people who are atavistic and want to burn down the world. They are not limited to just one party–they are in every large group. They are psychopaths or sociopaths. They are people who are literally crazy and yet also highly functional. They appear to be rational, but their rationale is to destroy the world around them.

Cruz and Lee are like this, as are 30 or 40 Tea Party Republicans in the House. They want to crash the world. They are hoping the Democrats will fear that crash of the world more than they fear the loss of the ACA. But the thing is, give in to the crazed Republicans now, and they will simply escalate to something worse the next time they are opposed.

The right thing to do for the Senate and the President and every sane person is to say No Surrender–You Shall Not Pass.

Sample Sunday Sign-up

I’ve signed up for Sample Sunday, a way to publicize my book on Twitter using the #samplesunday hashtag.

ROYALTY CHECK DAY!

So I got a check in the mail for $102 for royalties for my book! I wasn’t expecting it. Apparently I don’t have my payment account set up yet so they waited until I had >$100 in royalties.

THANKS, EVERYONE, FOR BUYING MY BOOK!

Snoqualmie Block Party and Book Signing

Snoqualmie Block Party and Book Signing

Several of us will be there in the booth. You can come talk to us about our books, buy a signed copy, and in general get to know how to write a book and publish it.

I’ll have copies of my book available for purchase.

Free Kindle Download of “Stars in the Texas Sky”

What are you waiting for?

FREE KINDLE DOWNLOAD! September 3 and September 4, 2013

http://www.amazon.com/Stars-Texas-Sky...

Even if you don’t have a Kindle yet, you can still get it for free; when you do get the Kindle, it will be loaded automatically!

EVERYONE WINS!

Stars in the Texas Sky — My Book Is in the Library

You can check out the book “STARS IN THE TEXAS SKY” from the King County Library here:

Stars in the Texas Sky