Primary Runoffs in Texas

 

Texas is holding runoff primary elections this week with early voting ending today and election day next Tuesday. There are strange things going on, stranger than usual. The most noticeable is the cult of personality around Trump. Republican candidates, especially in races for seats in the US senate and house, but also in races for state and even some local offices, are running mainly on their unquestioned loyalty to him, and often attacking opponents for their supposed insufficient adoration of the man. If candidate A says he will lick Trump’s shoes, B replies that A is a Rino who will lick only the top of Trump’s shoes while he gladly will lick the soles. I have not seen anything like it in this state. Candidates usually argue over and lie about things they claim to believe and things they want to do for the state or district and its voters. There is some of that as well, but the big issue is who is more MAGA, and who loves and will serve Trump the best. It is at best creepy and strikes me as quite a bit worse than only creepy.  

The race for the Republican nomination for a US senate seat is also unusual in other ways. John Cornyn, an incumbent, multi-term US senator, is likely to lose, despite a general agreement that he would be a stronger candidate in the general election than his shady opponent Ken Paxton. Trump has endorsed Paxton. A person might think that a win for Paxton would create an opportunity for Democrats in the general election. It could have if Democrats had found a Lloyd Bentsen or a Henry Cisneros to be their candidate, but they did not. Instead they selected a wimpy Austin leftist with a long and revealing paper and online trail, who probably will lose to Paxton even with that plastic Jesus up there on his dashboard. A person almost could think that they wanted to show they can be more stupidly self destructive that even the Republicans.

As has been true in American politics in general for the last decade, you have to ask where are Mencken, Twain, and O’Rourke now that we need them?

Boomers Okay

 

I think most generalizations, apart from purely statistical ones, about American generations are silly. They are usually disparaging (except about the World War II generation) and say more about the prejudices and resentments of those making them than about their subject. We boomers are used to it, having gotten them from our elders when we were young, from conservative traditionalists all along, and now from some young people who dismiss us and our opinions as irrelevant and out of touch, often with the phrase “okay boomer”.

Probably the best response to “okay boomer” is to laugh it off, but if a person wants a rude rejoinder there is an obvious one. He could say “ We are indeed okay. The success of our WWII generation parents made our childhoods mainly prosperous and pleasant. In our youth we enjoyed a flourishing of sexual and other freedom. We established our careers in the boom years of the 1980s and 1990s, generally did okay thereafter, and now control most of the wealth in the country, besides collecting full social security. Our years in retirement are healthier, wealthier, and full of more fun and adventure than those of any before us. And our music was better than the crap you have to listen to today. So, yeah, we’re okay. How are you making out?”.

I still recommend just laughing “okay boomer” off, but if a person wanted to say something, this would be better than “whippersnapper” or “get off my lawn” or making some dumb generalization about the critic’s generation.

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