Anyone remember Ripley in Alien, and all the sequels?

 I must admit in my last column I hedged my bets between no blue wave, a ripple and expressed my doubts about a big blue wave. My suspicion was “ripple.” OK, I was right: it was a ripple. Not a horrible, weak one, but maybe not one of as much consequence as we might assume. We have the House… sort of. The new House will be checked by the new Senate and, of course, Trump. Pelosi will be an even bigger foil. The less than un-creative, overly simplistic, 12 year old bully-based name calling will increase. Republicans will fall in line, especially now most of the Republicans who tried to show they had an ounce of ethics are gone. How brave. Don’t run for reelection then stand up for what’s right against one who obviously has no ethics.
 Not surprising. Please remember there’s a long history of disciplined Republican loyalty to the point of goosestepping and going over to the dark side when it’s politically convenient. And it’s almost ALWAYS “politically convenient.”
 That dynamic will continue. If the two parties were exactly the same, there was “no difference” between the two parties as some on the left claim, then Democrats would have approximately the same record of going to the extreme out of political convenience. They don’t.
 But let’s get to our metaphor of the week, shall we?
 The situation we have today, and why we didn’t have a big blue wave, is similar to the fictional Ripley in Alien. The slime dripped from our antagonists cuts the floor from underneath us: election fraud, caging tactics and suppressing the vote for political purposes eats through the very core of our representative form of governance. Unlike that fictional hell-ish creature from outer space this all too real beast is relentless. And how many movies did it take to eliminate the fictional one? As far as we know it’s still lurking out there, waiting for a sequel.
 Back in the, unfortunately, all too real world this may be our first victory over the monsters; and considering how widespread the corruption, how they keep perfecting ways to trash the vote, it’s a minor one. Kemp, when I wrote this, is still looking like he’ll win and he was the most vicious, most acidic, of them all. Those who suppression like he did, who didn’t lack the ethics of not trying to control who voted for them, were generally those who lost. Kobach may be the exception.
 We gave to be clever, persistent, never give up, and sacrifice what, and who, we must when there seems like there’s no escape. If Abrams loses double down on Georgia: more lawsuits. Double down on Abrams: support, encourage her, in the future. This is what Kerry should have done instead of turning his boat around and fleeing. He should at least have had the gumption of Gore who took it to the Supremes, and Gore should have bounced back like my old Fred Flintstone punching bag I had as a kid. Like them: never give up.
 Never…
 …let…
 the monsters…
 win.
 Ripley would never have lived if she had just ran from the disgusting, violence loving, vile, hatred filled, terrorist-beast. Compromise may mean you die. About damn time leaders of the left learn this is about extermination and designing a one party system that’s far more faux two party than it is now.
 All that’s needed to emphasize my point visually is to paste Donnie’s face on the creature to make my point more visual. Personally I’d put it on Alien’s ass.
 We cannot do what Dems do so often: be nice, be “fair,” be compliant. “Fair” is a word that has multiple very specific meanings in this context. Example: I wouldn’t recommend the Democrats surreptitiously find multiple ways to commit Election fraud, to cage, to eliminate politically inconvenient voters. I would recommend they advertise proposals to “do what Trump and his minions like Kemp have been doing: eliminate politically inconvenient voters.” Phrase it like that: out in the open. Say it’s to counter Republican’s election fraud tactics. Have our own list of supposed “double” voters, polls that would be very convenient to close or move. Suggest using the same with gerrymandering and Kemp-like tactics on rich, white, Republican districts. The idea here is less to do it but to force a nationwide discussion of the issue, of election fraud tactics. Make them come to the table when it comes to their own tactics.
 We must stand with each other, which brings up a topic some progressives will hate. I am all for pushing the envelope on true progressives attaining office. However, there are some offices that simply won’t work in. Example: a pro-choice, pro-government paid for healthcare, democratic socialist simply wouldn’t win in most Tennessee districts, or for senator. If we are to move the ball towards being more progressive it will take that kind of realism and not voting third party unless because of rebellion against “lesser of two evils” framing.
 In those cases vote for whomever you’re most likely to have the most influence over if they do win, otherwise the one who will go out of their way to do the opposite of what you want will win.
 Maybe this creature, in one form or another, will always be with us. These creatures are exceedingly dangerous. If there was a chance the Fairness Doctrine could ever come back that might help get rid of the eggs that these extremists hatch from. But since I doubt that…
 We have a lot of women on our side who won. We need more. We need more Ripleys.

                                                    -30-
Inspection is a column that has been written by Ken Carman for over 40 years. Inspection is dedicated to looking at odd angles, under all the rocks, and into the unseen cracks and crevasses, that constitute the issues and philosophical constructs of our day: places few think, or even dare, to venture.
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