Bernie Marcus

If there are still any questions out there as to which side of the aisle I hail from, let me be clear. I am Liberally leaning but in my opinion not over the top liberally leaning. I used to nest closer to the Middle, and was more likely to cross party lines to vote if I liked the Republican running. As I pointed out yesterday, that all changed when Susan Collins failed to keep the one promise she made when first elected. 

Even though I am not a supporter of term limits, Collins ran in 1997 as a term limit champion and promised to serve only two terms. That was not why I voted for her and today, I ask myself regularly, "What the Hell was I thinking?"

I expected Sen. Collins to live up to her promise. She got two votes out of me and that was the last time I crossed party lines. I seriously regret voting for her. She is nothing but another GOP shit stain that has been polluting the US Senate for far too long. She has no back bone, but then that seems to be a requirement if one wants to get elected as a Republican.

Stop. I need to take a breath here. Senator Collins is not the reason I sat down today to write. ............

Bernie Marcus, the 90 year old co-founder of Home Depot is once again in the cross hairs of the whiny Left leaning social media. Some Liberals on the Left are attempting to resurrect the 2019  boycott of Home Depot (#BoycottHomeDepot ); originally because Bernie backed Trump in 2020 with sizable donations some claim, exceeded $7 million dollars.

The new claim: Home Depot donated money to Herschel Walker. According to Home Depot, they do not financially back or publicly support any candidate. It is a company policy established when Bernie Marcus was running the company. The image to the left is a statement in response to the 2016 boycott of Home Depot.

I have been known to boycott businesses but it is not something I jump on every chance I get. Boycotting Home Depot because a man who stopped working there 20 years ago is a Trump supporter does not serve any Liberal cause; it is just being mean spirited and cruel like the Right Winging GOP. Instead, I want to see the hand wringers of the Left stand up, call out the Wingers when they lie and passionately defend their Liberal positions. Boycotting Home Depot is just being stupid and giving the Right exactly the kind of response they want.

I did some poking around in the backwaters of Google and found out some things about Bernie.

He grew up poor in Newark, NJ as a first generation American whose Jewish parents immigrated from Russia in the early 1900s. He co-founded Home Depot with Arthur Blank in 1979. He is filthy rich. He is also quite the philanthropist, having given away over $2 Billion to a variety of charities over the years. He may be a staunch Republican who gave Trump $7 million bucks, but nowhere have I been able to find a photograph of him with Trump. All of the images I have seen are pasted together collages.His estimated worth now is over $6 billion dollars and he claims he will be giving most of it away before he passes.

He stepped down as CEO of  Home Depot in 2002. I assume he still owns a large chunk of Home Depot stock. Boycotting Home Depot does not punish Bernie. He has more money than God and will continue to live sucking down soup out of silver spoons. The only people who might suffer if the boycott grows again are the folks working there and the peripheral businesses that depend on Home Depot for much or maybe even all of their livelihood. 

What is also interesting is the nation's #1 provider of mutual funds, Vanguard Mutual Funds, owns the largest chunk of Home Depot Stock (9%). How many Liberals do you think have some kind of economic tie to Vanguard through either direct investment in Vanguard or through pensions funds. 

Bernie did not back down or make apologies for donating to Trump's re-election campaign. But in one of his interviews at that time he did prove how much of True Blue Republican he was when he fell back on a classic Winger victim hood trope that he was not being allowed a freedom he should be able to enjoy anytime he wants:

"It saddens me that our country has come to this, where I, as a private citizen, cannot express my feelings."

Ferchrisakes, cry me a river why don't you? Why is it Right Wingers twist political discourse that does not favor them or their take as being a personal attack on their rights as private citizens? No one was stopping him nor any other Winger from "expressing" their freedoms. They were responding to his acts of freedom with their own acts of freedoms, misguided though they were. Damn, some Wingers have seriously thin skin.

No one hides their victim hood better than a Right Winger and nobody wears their victim hood on their sleeves better than righteously indignant Republicans, especially a Bible Thumpin Republican. The Left can and often falls into the same trap, but there is more of a willingness of other Liberals to call them out. The Republicans are so blinded by loyalty that hope of them finding the back bone to call out one of their own is very rare; Rep. Liz Cheney currently being one of those rare exceptions.

What a goofy country we live in.

Boycotts created to help win elections do not seem to work as well as boycotts started to affect change in the practices of business in the private sector. In the political world boycotts can and often do backfire. Democrats can make better use of their time by standing up and getting in the face of Republicans with pertinent complaints along with their solutions. In the end, the best way to beat the Republicans is to win the election. 

See ya .......................................

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I wasted more time choosing music for this post than I should have. I must have tasted 15 or more videos. 

I gave up. I made lunch and then ate it as Maggie looked on with envious eyes. As I handed a piece of my sandwich to her, I remembered my daughter had scored some tickets for an upcoming Ani Difranco show. I knew now who I should look to for an appropriate tune to go with elections and politics. I feel she is currently the most political of the singers currently out there.

I had to ease into her music back in the day when she hated men; or so I thought. I kept ripping copies of my kid's Difranco CD collection. The first thing I had to respect was her excellent musical craft. She was the whole package, but her messages were often more uncomfortable than my man brain wanted to face............... In the end it was all good. I became a hard core fan back in the 90s and this previously unheard by me tune, "Do or Die" from Ani combines all that I like about her. ....... It is excellent no matter what volume you play it at.

Reviewing Ani's music was a great time and I know I will be pleased to see her in a month or so. Besides, I will be with my kid and her man. It could be a terrible concert and I would still be happy.