Courtesy of Bastrop Advertiser
July 8, 2021
By Joni Ashbrook
The recent hullabaloo around the U.S. government releasing its UFO report made me think about my family’s favorite sci-fi film, “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” It was released in 1951 as the world grappled with the horrors of the atomic bomb.
Michael Rennie played the alien Klaatu who came to warn earthlings, “Your choice is simple: Join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration.”
If there are other life forms observing us, they must be appalled by our violence. Are they watching how America’s leaders are dealing with increasing gun violence?
If so, I picture their little green hands smacking their foreheads and crying the Homer Simpson “D’oh!” after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation making it legal to carry a handgun without a permit or training.
Surely extraterrestrials are alarmed to see democracies declining around the planet and replaced with autocracies and tyranny.
They would have been shocked witnessing American citizens’ violent insurrection attempt on Jan. 6 after being constantly fed a load of what Trump’s former attorney general and cover-up companion Bill Barr called “bulls—” voter fraud claims.
Republicans are using those unfounded claims to pass election “integrity” laws that have nothing to do with security, but are designed to hinder “certain” people from voting.
For instance, when a provision in Texas’ GOP Senate Bill 7 for voting “security” was found to hinder Black churches’ “souls to the polls,” Republicans were laughed out of the solar system by claiming it was merely a “typo.”
Surely, extraterrestrials would have cheered when Texas Democrats blocked that bill by walking out, but unfortunately it will likely return in a special session of the Legislature.
If aliens walk among us, I hope they become lobbyists to end the filibuster in the U.S. Senate so Democrats can pass Senate Bill 1 and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act that would shore up our democracy and curtail dark money in our elections.
In 2017, then Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ended the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees, then basically stole two justices.
Conservative Supreme Court justices recently voted for the second time to greatly weaken the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the landmark case that ensured people of color had access to the ballot box.
Also, in 2010 conservatives’ Citizens United ruling allowed billionaires and corporations to use unlimited funds to secretly influence our elections.
It’s not just our democracy that other beings can see is on fire, it is literally our planet due to climate change. It’s the lack of a strong democracy and disinformation that have allowed this planetary crisis to go unchecked for decades.
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that climate change is real with the recent heatwave on the West Coast that brought temperatures to 116 degrees in Portland, Ore. The heat is blamed for causing nearly 100 deaths and it melted critical infrastructure and caused roads to buckle.
President Joe Biden and Democrats were elected in part to deal with this existential crisis, but recently senators presented a “bipartisan” infrastructure bill stripped of Biden’s climate change provisions.
It doesn’t take a higher intelligence to understand how outrageous and dangerous their inaction is, yet it is understandable with a government that is owned by big corporations.
Recently, an undercover activist from Greenpeace tricked top Exxon Mobil lobbyists to admit on video to funding “shadow groups” to deny global warming, and influencing senators to weaken Biden’s climate plans. They said some GOP senators were “a captive audience” because they are reliant on industry backing.
I wish extraterrestrials could save our democracy and planet, but it’s up to us.
Ashbrook is a contributing columnist for the Advertiser. She is a retired school teacher and may be reached at [email protected].
