I happened to come across a song recently, by The Resistance. Not sure who these folks are, but they’ve come out with a song that nicely summarizes what we’ve been seeing out of the Trump administration since January 20, or really since he took office the first time.
One lyric that resonates is something like “…at least they own the libs…” Owning the libs has bothered me ever since I first heard the phrase. I know that some who claim to be progressives can come across as holier-than-thou and a bit snooty. OK, maybe a lot snooty. And needy, somehow. But to belittle and deride us all is like us doing the same to all conservatives when it’s really the MAGA diehards we’re talking about.
Anyway, I’m having trouble seeing “owning the libs” as a rallying cry, mainly because it’s such a monumental waste of time and energy. What does it say about a movement if their reason for being is simply to run hot about people who care about fairness and living conditions and clean air and water, who trust scientists and doctors and researchers, who find value in education and the arts and free expression and a functioning government?
MAGA is worried about handouts and immigrants desperate for a better life, and trans people. They prefer purity of a sort that fueled an Austrian madman 80-plus years ago. They believe Donald Trump, of all people, is some sort of messenger from God. They love their Jesus but seemingly know little about him. They dream of a designer Christianity used as a weapon, and a nation based on archaic, law-heavy scripture that pre-dated Jesus by multiple centuries. They don’t understand or appreciate the beauty of what we have in our Constitution. They don’t really want to work at forming that more perfect union.
They just want to always have something or someone to gripe about, someone to blame.