Time Zero
Well, today marks the beginning of the Trump era. As of today, conservatives have nearly complete control of the country. Not only the Presidency and Congress but half of the states have all three branches of state government under Republican control. Plus, several of the remaining states have 2 out of 3 branches of government under Republican control. Eventually SCOTUS will be majority Republican. Thanks to Republican obstructionism under Obama, there are about 80 federal judgeships unfilled that are sure to be rapidly filled now. So the federal courts and likely most state courts will be dominated by conservatives. Of course the business sector is dominated by conservatives. So where does that leave us? In a very weak position! There is currently vigorous debate among progressives/liberals about how to resist the oncoming conservative onslaught. No doubt there will be a variety of ideas and plans proposed and tried. However, one thing is for certain. Given nearly complete conservative control of the country, whatever happens going forward they own it. They’re in charge, they’re in control. It will be their policies and management that we will have to live with. During this time there is one that I think each of us can do. Starting now we all follow closely the various metrics and statistics available that cover all aspects of our society. The numbers and trends for the economy, employment, education, crime, energy, environment, financial numbers. There is a myriad number of things that data is collected and reported on by government agencies, university researchers, companies, and a variety of organizations and industries. I think we should follow and track as many of these as possible starting today and going forward. Today is Time Zero. My prediction is that the trends and indicators for a whole host of things will move in a direction that is not good for the country, especially the middle class, workers and the poor. I think that we should refer to these trends in blog posts, comment threads, social media, conversations and letters to the editor. Continuously keep at it over and over again, pointing out the data and trends and how bad things are and that it’s due to conservative rule. Keep reminding people that conservatives are in charge, they own it. Repetition is the only hope of reaching people. In every debate and argument keep referring back to the numbers and trends. Over and over again. The only way to fight back against snarky talking points is with the data.
Here are a few sources that I found to refer to during the Trump era:
https://www.usa.gov/statistics Data and Statistics about the United States
https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.us.htm U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/ economic and financial data site.
http://www.economagic.com/ an economic data site.
http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/ an excellent blog with a lot of data and good discussion, I highly recommend it!
My request to you:
Of course there are many more sources. I request you to add to this list sources of statistics and data you know of. Let’s make this a reference that people can use in the future. At least we will have sources to point to that provide proof of the disaster of conservative rule.
