The photo above shows a landline desk phone my parents got some 30 years ago beside a cell phone I got in 2017. One of them died a long, slow, painful death, and the other is still functioning fully and completely. Anyone older than 30 surely can figure out which is which.
I got my first cell phone in October 2001. At the time only about half of all households in the U.S. had at least one cell phone. They were commonly associated with business professionals and the elite. Now it seems everyone and their pets own such a device. Since 2001 I’ve gone through at least 5 cell phones. To put things in perspective, I still have a digital clock/radio my parents bought me in 1978, and it’s been functioning ever since.
My truck is 20 years old. That’s the longest I’ve ever had a vehicle, and I find it somewhat surprising. Products of almost any kind in recent years just don’t seem to last too long. That a cell phone would crash faster than Donald Trump’s economic plans says quite a bit about the companies that build these devices.
No wonder American consumers are cynical!
But I now feel it’s a corporate conspiracy. Large companies now deliberately make products with a finite lifespan; therefore, people have to buy replacements or repair their current items. I guess it’s a scheme devised to keep people financially destitute.
Or maybe it’s just that too much of these things are made overseas where workers don’t really give a shit how they put it together.
Regardless, it’s amazing what consumers have to do now to remain viable members of society.
“Inspiring kids to love to read became my mission. In the beginning, my hope was simply to inspire the children in my home county but here we are today with a worldwide program that gives a book a month to well over 3 million children.”
In a lifetime of observing human nature and studying political ideologies, one thing I’ve discovered the one thing that conservatives seem to hate more than interracial marriage is expanding voting rights. From the founding of the United States, liberal ideology has struggled to grant the right to vote to as many people as possible. After all it’s in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and it’s one of the most sacred elements to any truly democratic society.
Since the 2008 election of Barack Obama, however, a number of states with Republican-majority legislatures have enacted statutes to impact voting rights. In Shelby vs. Holder, for example, the U.S. Supreme Court targeted Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which specifically banned “standard, practice, or procedure” that “results in a denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen … to vote on account of race or color.” Traditionally states in the Southeastern U.S. had prevented non-White citizens from exercising their right to vote. The VRA eliminated the “grandfather” clause (if your grandfather could vote, then you can) and voter tolls (paying to vote), among other restrictions. Not surprisingly many conservative White voters still fighting the U.S. Civil War were horrified at these changes.
The 2013 Shelby decision suspended the demand that states seek federal approval before changing their voting laws. This was a gift to the ghosts of the Confederacy who continually rallied for “states’ rights”. But it’s almost no coincidence that the first two decades of the 21st century have produced some of the most controversial and contentious presidential elections in U.S. history.
Several years ago then-Texas Governor Rick Perry said he wanted all law-abiding gun owners to have the right to carry their firearms to every part of the state. I have to agree, but I also believe any law-abiding citizen should be able to vote in any precinct or district. For example, as a registered voter in my home state of Texas, I should be able to travel to Rhode Island and vote in a presidential election.
Recently a political activist named EJ Carrion was arrested for “tumultuous behavior” at a County Commissioners’ meeting in Fort Worth. He used foul language while discussing the possibility of the reduction of polling places in Tarrant County; the latest move by conservative politicians to hinder voting in the state of Texas. Police arrested him, after he’d failed to use a turn signal upon entering the cul-de-sac where he lives. The warrant had been issued because Carrion had uttered “bullshit” during the meeting. The horror!
It’s obvious Texas Republicans and other right-wing extremists have never heard of Cohen v. California, the 1971 U.S. Supreme Court case that basically ruled foul language is covered by the First Amendment to the Constitution. They always skip to the Second Amendment regarding firearms. Texas residents are besieged every election year with TV ads by conservatives touting they’re “protectors of the Second Amendment”, complete with the requisite photos of them holding a gun.
Regardless, there’s a good chance Republicans will lose control of both Houses of Congress to Democrats after this November’s mid-term elections. I can only hope. But I’m much more concerned about the persistent threats to voting and free speech rights imposed by our current President and his minions in state and local offices. Despots always hate (fear) the vocal power of the masses. It’s the weakest point of their troubles personas. I believe the American masses will exploit that this year.
Chief Writing Wolf 