(dis)United Kingdom
Prime minister
There is a striking resemblance between the Tories with Brexit and Republicans with Donald Trump and white Christian nationalism.
Save for Jeremy Hunt and Tom Tugendhat, they [candidates for British Conservative Party leadership] have all been part of Boris Johnson’s thoroughly rotten government. They have all been complicit in or defended his many transgressions over the past three years – his lawbreaking, his serial lying, his betrayals, his stoking of divisions, his trashing of the ministerial code, his assaults on independent institutions, his curtailment of civil liberties, his awarding of lucrative contracts, jobs and honours to cronies, his acceptance of improper gifts, and his protection of bullies, Covid rulebreakers, alleged sexual predators and shady lobbyists.
Time and again, they dutifully went on air to perjure themselves by defending the manifestly indefensible. They obediently tweeted their support when instructed to. They seldom, if ever, voiced even the mildest criticism of their leader as he routinely breached all the accepted standards of public life.[1]
The resemblance lies in dishonesty and delusion, sprinkled with xenophobia. I do not think Britain is headed down precisely the same path as the U.S., at least not yet, and I hope not ever.
Perhaps, Britain remembers its own lengthy history of religious conflict that, among many other things, sent many of its evangelical Protestant zealots, whom we celebrate every Thanksgiving, to the American colonies,[2] where, nurtured by religious freedom, they now pervert that “freedom” to their own theocratic ends.[3] It would be better if we, too, remembered this history.
Martin Fletcher, “The Tory leadership candidates are all peddling dangerous delusions,” New Statesman, July 11, 2022, https://www.newstatesman.com/comment/2022/07/tory-leadership-candidates-peddling-dangerous-delusions
Gilead
Gun nuttery
On Tuesday [July 12], [Gavin] Newsom signed one of the highest-profile bills on a list of more than a dozen he prioritized this year amid a nationwide surge in gun violence. Assembly Bill 1594 establishes a “firearm industry standard of conduct” and allows local governments, the state Department of Justice and gun violence survivors to sue for egregious violations of state sales and marketing regulations.
Democratic lawmakers said they crafted the legislation, which was sponsored by Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, to work within the boundaries of a federal law that shields manufacturers and dealers from certain lawsuits.[4]
Gavin Newsom signed other gun control bills into law on June 30th, and gun nut organizations have already indicated they’ll sue.[5] I’m thinking of an old proverb that “he who lives by the sword dies by the sword.” If it were only these assholes, I’d be satisfied.
Hannah Wiley, “California enacts sweeping gun control laws, setting up a legal showdown,” Los Angeles Times, July 12, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-07-12/gavin-newsom-signs-firearm-laws-supreme-court-gun-rights
- [1]Martin Fletcher, “The Tory leadership candidates are all peddling dangerous delusions,” New Statesman, July 11, 2022, https://www.newstatesman.com/comment/2022/07/tory-leadership-candidates-peddling-dangerous-delusions↩
- [2]Lawrence James, The Rise and Fall of the British Empire (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1994).↩
- [3]David Benfell, “Freedom of religion,” Not Housebroken, December 31, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/12/28/freedom-of-religion/; Katherine Stewart and Caroline Fredrickson, “Bill Barr Thinks America Is Going to Hell,” New York Times, December 29, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/29/opinion/william-barr-trump.html↩
- [4]Hannah Wiley, “California enacts sweeping gun control laws, setting up a legal showdown,” Los Angeles Times, July 12, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-07-12/gavin-newsom-signs-firearm-laws-supreme-court-gun-rights↩
- [5]Hannah Wiley, “California enacts sweeping gun control laws, setting up a legal showdown,” Los Angeles Times, July 12, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-07-12/gavin-newsom-signs-firearm-laws-supreme-court-gun-rights↩