Tag: NeverFeartheDream

What an interesting America we currently live in.  An America where a hoax virus has infected over eight million citizens, killed over 220,000 and adding to the score over 700 a day.  An America where ‘the truth isn’t the truth’ (R. Giuliani 8/18) and the President cannot bring himself to denounce racism, white supremacy, or the radical conspiracy theory of ‘Q’.  An America where the killing of unarmed, and subdued, black citizens is called justified and police unions defend their right of ‘qualified immunity’.  An America where white supremacists are filmed driving through otherwise civil demonstrations brandishing loaded firearms and shooting paintballs at the demonstrators.  And we then wonder why the gatherings become violent and result in death and destruction.  And now, an America where the death of the alleged shooter of a MAGA leader in Oregon, during a counter demonstration, by U.S. Marshals is called ‘retribution’ by the President (Trump 9/20).  We have degraded into tribal warfare.  So here we are, a member of the MAGA tribe is injured therefore we must retaliate; we must have retribution.

What ever happened to the America which stood on the rule of law and which the basis of a democracy was founded on the open exchange of ideas and the power of the electorate?  And why, has America collectively lost its sense of humor?

Retribution, retaliation, and revenge are actions which will result in an inequal and opposite reaction.  Hitler authorized Nazi troops to enact retribution on towns and villages for the killing of single Nazi officers, e.g. Lidice Massacre (Czechoslovakia, 7/42).  Italy’s Mussolini used the same tactics to quell unrest and ‘dissidents’.  Post WWII the reverse retribution on Nazi sympathizers and to Mussolini himself was swift and brutal.  Retribution is a sword which cuts deep both ways.  Sometimes it just takes a while, but the resulting backswing can be vicious.

Can we, as a country and as individuals, pause for just a moment and take stock of where we are and where we are going?  The strength of this country is its people, their diversity, courage, and independence.  Not all things are not right with America.  Unfortunately, we no longer want to discuss them, find consensus, and together chart a path forward.  We act as if when someone is ‘wrong’ they have personally wronged us; maybe, just maybe we think too highly of ourselves and our opinions.

Maybe former Sec. R. Perry (11/19) was correct when he pronounced Trump was God’s ‘chosen one’ to be President.  Maybe the Almighty has become weary of us not treating each other with respect, fairness, and equality.  Maybe we needed a polarizing catalyst to force the facade to be violently ripped back for us to see our hypocrisy, laid bare before us and the world.  Although painful and uncomfortable, maybe we can stop and regroup as a country to rectify the now glaring issues in-front of us.  Maybe the extremist, in every tribe, can be controlled by the majority of those within who are now disenfranchised and forgotten.  Maybe those moderates can reach across tribe lines and find common ground and cast off the paradigm of extremism.  Maybe, just maybe, this country’s best days are ahead of us.  Maybe, but only if we stand together against those who see the path forward as their path and no other.  #NeverFearTheDream

Our country proudly sings, brags, and pontificates on being the Land of the Free, and our foundation upon Liberty.  However, our stance on Equality is revoltingly absent from anything we cherish.  The concept of citizen equality is all but missing from the documents which founded the country.  It is not mentioned in the Bill of Rights, the Pledge of Allegiance, or the National Anthem.  It is only once mentioned in the Constitution and in the Declaration of Independence.  The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees Equal Protection and the Declaration of Independence erroneously postulates ‘all men are created equal’; which we inherently know is not true.  Perhaps, just perhaps, if the concept of citizen Equality were so important it would be more prominently mentioned.  Perhaps, just perhaps, the Equal Rights Amendment would have been ratified soon after Congressional authorization in 1972. 

This country used to pride itself on being the Great Experiment, The Great Melting Pot.  The Statue of Liberty used to proudly symbolize a young county’s eagerness to embrace peoples from all countries, ethnicities, and religions.  To some, The Great Melting Pot only works if only the thick rich white cream is allowed to rise to the surface and keep the other ingredients stifled underneath.  The cauldron has been stirred only a few times.  The Civil War churned it well, and then forced settling by Jim Crow laws regained the majorities chosen equilibrium.  Women’s suffrage and the Voting Rights Act (1964) thinned and diluted the integrity of the thick white cream.  The Equal Rights Amendment of 1972 tried to stir the pot, but to really no avail.  And today, to the horror of the thinning white cream plurality, the cauldron is again being stirred by those, across the country, supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.  This will be an uphill struggle.  Denial of inequality is a clear form of bias and racism and racism is deeply rooted in our culture making equality an after, after, thought in our conscious.  There is some hope, in 2018 the Southern Baptist Convention formally renounced its 1845 foundations of supporting slavery: only 153 years after the end of the Civil War.

The concept of Equality has two aspects:  Treatment and Opportunity.  Until those who feel there is no inequality begin to think, maybe, just maybe those who live with inequality might have a voice which should be heard; simple equal treatment will not happen.  Without equal treatment, equal opportunity will never happen.  Without equal treatment and opportunity, the country will never achieve its greatest potential gained through a homogenous blend of the skills, talents, and wisdom of all our citizens.  We instinctively know people are not equal; but they should be treated equally and have an equal opportunity to achieve their aspirations.

Perhaps, just perhaps,  Article 1 of the Equal Rights Amendment should read “All Citizens of the United States Women shall have equal rights in the United States and every place subject to it’s jurisdiction.  Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex without exception or clarification.”  I sadly ponder how long, if ever, such a change would be passed by Congress and ratified by the States.  If after thirty-eight years we cannot ratify an amendment requiring sexual equality what are the odds of one requiring equal treatment for all of us?  We must stand tall, grab your biggest spoon, and vigorously stir the pot.  #NeverFearTheDream

Thank you, Mr. President, over the last two years of your unique, unconventional, administration there are many things to thank you for.

Only you, and you alone, could have propelled the interest in political activism as is now being shown by millennials, extremists, and minorities.  It is truly amazing.  This country hasn’t ever seen this level of extreme activism and division.  You’ve made political awareness something everyone wants to be a part of and mix it up; say anything, do anything, just as long as their side wins.  Thanks to your superior leadership and focus on our future, you ensured the 2018 Blue Tsunami yielded a balanced government with all the trappings of conflict and investigations.  No one really wanted the same old boring single party-controlled Congress, did they?  Knowing we all like a good witch hunt, to fan the flames of mistrust, we can now look forward to more misinformation and political spin.  Thank you for Making Congress Balanced Again.

You’ve been able to clearly define the differences between us as citizens of this country as no one ever has before; thank you.  It’s always good to drive wedges and build walls between families and neighbors.  To feed fears with anger, scapegoats, and name calling.  Unify the tribes and let the strongest, loudest, most bombastic one win.  Who needs healing, compassion, and unification that’s for the meek and the clergy.

Thank you, Mr. President, for clarifying the inscription on the Statue of Liberty; “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door”.  Just like in a contract there’s always fine print. You’ve made clear the fine print; this message only applies to European Judeo-Christian and not to Latin Americans or Muslims.  It would be unfortunate for the great American experiment of a representative republic and melting pot of cultures to be inappropriately and disproportionately contaminated with those who aren’t like us.

Thank you, Mr. President, for showing what good business, national and personal, it is to have close and cozy relations with Russia.  For showing how, after all these years, it’s really the war-mongering, wolves in sheep’s clothing socialistic liberals who are warier of our former foe than the peace and love, capital at any cost, right wing conservatives.  Without your guidance this reversal of historic paradigm would have continued to the detriment of national security and individual wealth.  Such misunderstood wisdom; keeping your friends close and your enemies closer.   NATO and our former European allies should take note and trust Putin and love of Kim as you do.

And finally, thank you, Mr. President, for demonstrating once and for all that words don’t matter.  As your counsel so clearly articulated, “truth isn’t truth”.  You have unshackled us from the painful and laborious effort of needing to be honest, forthcoming, and succinct in our written and spoken words.  We no longer must worry about those pesky facts, they just get in the way of a good crisis, and we never want to waste a good crisis.  We no longer must consider whose checking their fact checkers, because facts don’t matter.  You’ve liberated us from having to tell the truth about lies, lying about the truth, and lying about a lie, because if truth isn’t truth then lies aren’t lies.  Thank you for simplifying our lives, we no longer must decipher objective from subjective truth, or hard versus soft truth.  There is no inconvenient truth; it’s all a little white lie, or a little black truth

So many things to say thank you for Mr. President, please keep up the name calling and the tweets, even though they’re becoming boring, they make me feel like a kid again watching the playground.

#NeverFearTheDream