Cats or no cats, you can still have a stake in America

I find it frightening and a little bizarre that James Donald David JD Bowman Hamel Vance – the Republican nominee for vice president of the United States – pretends to know who does and who does not “have a stake in America,” and couldn’t wait to get behind a microphone so he could enlighten us.

In case you missed it, in his most famous stupid statement to date, he tried to shame Kamala Harris by declaring that “childless cat ladies” are miserable with their lives because they didn’t have children, which means they “don’t have a stake in America.”

Well as it turns out, I happen to know quite a few childless cat ladies, and I won’t pretend to speak for them, because they’re already doing that quite strongly with no help from me. But the fact that an adult male with a published novel and a Yale law degree would make such a dunderheaded statement out loud in public defies all belief. It remains to be seen how many voters he lost for himself and Donald Trump with an asinine statement such as that, but I’m betting it’s in the tens if not hundreds of thousands.

Now, to the point. If you boil down the 2024 presidential campaign to its fundamental elements, it becomes a contest between every citizen who believes that he or she should “have a stake” in America (and the Democratic Party that supports them) against the Republican Party that wants to eliminate, minimize, imprison, impoverish, disenfranchise or deport every citizen that doesn’t share its Christo-fascist, white supremacist, authoritarian beliefs.

It really is that simple. Do we have a stake in America or do we not? 

If we think we do, then JD Vance’s feeble attempt to weed out and eliminate large segments of the population because they chose not to produce children may be one of the 10 most absurd, ill-considered and moronic statements ever uttered by a candidate for high office. Statements such as this make Dan Quayle and Sarah Palin look like rocket scientists … and he’s only been the nominee for 10 days.

Obviously, I am not a childless woman (although I did marry one) and we don’t have any cats (but we did in the past), but don’t you dare tell me I don’t have a stake in America. I have been voting in every election since 1968 and I have very strong beliefs about this country and the freedoms it is supposed to grant to its citizens.

For example:

* I’m not gay but I have friends who are, and I care about their future.

* I’m not in a same-sex marriage but I have friends who are, and I care about their future.

* No one I know is planning to have an abortion any time soon, but it’s not up to me to decide whether they do or not.

* I’m not black or brown, but I have friends who are, and I care about their future.

* I’m alive because of Social Security and Medicare and I intend to keep them both.

* I’m not particularly religious but I was raised in a church and I know good from bad and right from wrong. I don’t need anyone to try to impose their beliefs on me or exclude the beliefs of my friends.

* I have grandchildren and great grandchildren in school, and I care about what and how they are being taught.

* I will probably be dead before Florida is under water because of global climate change, but I care about the people who will be alive then – if there are any left.

* And for the life of me I don’t know how any decent person, or even someone with the slightest hint of morality, can be opposed to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), which is just a way of saying we are all humans equally entitled to be who we are, love who we love, do what we do within the law and live our lives to the fullest. 

What could possibly be wrong with that?

So in conclusion, let me say that it’s not just childless cat women who JD Vance has insulted with his idiotic campaign rhetoric; it’s every American who Vance sees as somehow inferior to himself. Well, let me tell you, James Jim JD, there are millions of us out here who have been insulted, and we read your message loud and clear. We'll deliver our message on November 5.

(By the way, Mr. Vance, how many children have you delivered into the world? If the answer is zero, using your logic, I’d question your true stake in America.)

Besides hot dogs, beer and fireworks, does anybody remember why we’re here?

Today is Independence Day, when Americans celebrate their separation from England some 248 years ago. Ironically, recent events in the United States have triggered an odd suggestion -- that we might be better off rejoining the United Kingdom in the years ahead.

It seems to me that people across the pond have made significant progress in the decades since we declared our freedom from the crown while we, on the other hand, have begun a steady descent toward theocratic hell. More on that in a minute.

It’s also ironic that today is Election Day in Britain, and while a conservative wave is sweeping America under the hand of the Republican Party and the Supreme Court of Appeals, the center-left Labour Party is poised to retake the U.K. government from the Conservatives in what many are predicting will be a landslide.

All of which makes me think of the idiotic way we conduct our elections in the United States.  

Our election process – from the date candidates start to announce until the actual election – easily lasts at least two or three years if not longer. Billions of dollars are thrown around, thousands of promises are made, hundreds of lies are told and misinformation abounds. Even the Russians and the Chinese like to get involved.  

The campaigns are so long that a lot of people are simply worn down by the time Election Day arrives, and a third to half of all eligible voters don’t even bother to cast a ballot.

In the U.K., by comparison, the time frame between a prime minister calling for a general election and the actual vote is only six weeks. (Our campaign started in 2022, give or take, and still has 19 weeks to go.)

Limits are established on how much money can be spent in a given campaign. That sum is generally somewhere south of $2 million, and parties can be fined for breaching the limit.

Another difference is the role religion plays in politics. Here, voters are increasingly being steered toward a christo-fascist, white supremacist, authoritarian theocracy not unlike the one we fought the Revolutionary War to escape.

Meanwhile, in Britain, today’s politicians are fond of saying, “We don’t do god.” No mainstream British politician is likely to mention the word “god” in a political speech or during a campaign. Ironically, religion in general is kept apart from U.K. politics the way it was supposed to be separated here.

(It’s worth noting that religious belief is declining in the U.K., particularly among younger generations. Just under half (49%) of Britons surveyed in 2022 said they believed in God.)

In America, meanwhile, those who seek to assume power plan to impose their fundamentalist Christian religion on every citizen and child – regardless of whether it aligns with our individual beliefs. Schools will become churches, one god will be worshipped and all other religions be damned.

The British are also amazed at the age of candidates in the United States. The two candidates for president are 78 and 81, while the British prime minister is 44 and his chief rival is only 61.

Finally, the British tend to stay away from the so-called “cultural issues” prominent in American politics. That’s because in the U.K., abortion is legal, gun ownership is rare and heavily restricted and gay marriage is uncontested. There you have it. Problems solved.

In summary, they won’t be celebrating Independence Day in Britain today, but they are voting for a government, and it probably won’t be lost on many Britons that their democracy seems to be doing fine, thank you very much, while ours is teetering on the edge of a cliff. The irony and juxtaposition are truly hard to understand.   

So happy Fourth of July, American friends. It’s okay to celebrate our independence as we always do, but this year, maybe we should take a few minutes to look to the U.K. and other democracies around the world and try to remember what that means, because sadly, it appears that many of us have forgotten.

Now, pass me another hot dog, please. And where did you put the beer?