Friday, June 03, 2016

Trump’s Dayenu

Dayenu (Hebrew:דַּיֵּנוּ) is a song that is part of the Jewish holiday of Passover. The word “Dayenu” means approximately “it would have been enough for us”, “it would have been sufficient”, or “it would have sufficed” (day in Hebrew is “enough”, and -enu the first person plural suffix, “to us”). This traditional up-beat Passover song is over one thousand years old.

If at any time since NINETEEN EIGHTY SIX the Republican party had taken any successful move to secure the border, it would have been enough for us.

If at any time since US Steel began to complain about overseas ‘dumping’ of steel into the US (the NINETEEN SEVENTIES) the Republican party had taken action to rectify the GOOD THEORY of Free Trade with the REALITY of it’s results, it would have been enough for us.

If the Republicans in Congress (and Senate, of course) had STUCK to lower budgets and smaller govt at ANY TIME in the last 8 years, it would have been enough for us.

If the Republicans in Congress had found Lois Lerner in contempt and exercised every resource available to them (even knowing the DOJ would never cooperate), in order to COMBAT REPRESSION AMERICAN STYLE, it would have been enough for us. . But instead their lack of resolve brought suspicions they wanted to keep the tool of IRS coercion and fear alive (for themselves, against a Tea Party they feared?)

If they Republicans in Congress had taken REAL ACTION against the Iran deal include budgetary punishment across the board, it would have been enough for us. EVEN IF IT FAILED.

If the Republicans in Congress did not act at all times as if their allegiance was to a corporate America which BENEFITS from cheap labor here (open border) and free trade (cheap labor THERE), it would have been enough for us.  AT ALL TIMES. Who voted which way on TPP?
But the Republicans in Congress and the Senate did NONE of these things.

They did not appear in Michigan to ask Ford what would it take to make it PAY for Ford to stay.
They did not convene the corporate benefactors to ask what conditions (not giveaways, as in Solyndra) would cause them to abandon manufacturing overseas

They did not hold hearings to ask if R&D and engineering would follow manufacturing to other nations (INIMICAL TO OUR WAY OF LIFE)

They did not BACK UP by legislation (EVEN IF IF WAS TO BE VETOED) the Americans living near the international border with Mexico.

Instead they allowed themselves to be the functional allies of larger authority in our day to day lives while speaking out of other sides of their mouths.

Instead their ‘intellectuals’ were so wedded to a set of ideals DAMAGING to the people of the nation suddenly they found themselves leading only each other and crying about conscience.

If they had only done JUST ONE of these things above, the Republican Party would have today a very different nominee, because we would have a very different POPULACE.

Instead…

2 comments:

Always On Watch said...

Accurate summary.

Anonymous said...

Well said. Unfortunately, progressive pols set their battles elsewhere. This a.m. on NYC 880 AM radio, a public service advertisement caught my attention. Apparently residents (not necessarily citizens) are encouraged to file police complaints by dialing 311 to report any idling cars which waste energy.
I checked online and this has been around since at least 2009, but I've just heard about it for the first time while driving this morning. So, this is how NYC applies the "see something, say something" guideline. Sigh.