The Power of We The People Chapter One

 

We're all aware that our government is a mess.  It's a mess we've been headed toward for decades.  

Right wing propaganda blanketing the heartland since the 80's.

Citizens United establishing money as speech.

A split Congress ruled by extremist right wing factions since the beginning of the 21st century.

A Supreme Court dragged far right through political skulduggery. 

Cyber interference by enemy nations.

A sizable portion of the American electorate who will ALWAYS vote for a certain party, no matter who is running under its banner.

Perhaps the ""Great Experiment" has run its course.  And has proven that people do not want liberty and self-determination.  Certainly not enough to put in the hard work it takes to gain and maintain those things.  And absolutely certainly if it means guaranteeing other folks--folks who do, say or ARE things they don't like--the freedom to exist. 

Obviously, human beings would rather tuck in under the safety of someone else making the decisions.  It's so much easier to remain ignorant, complacent and uninspired.  So soothing to believe lies, choose your own truth, follow the lemmings over the cliff (isn't it poignant that Nature provided a perfect example of what happens when animals blindly join a crowd hurrying toward...something?)

And, in the past two presidential elections, we were told that Our Votes Count.  That Our Votes were the only things that could stop the slide of our government toward despotism, oligarchy, fascism...idol worship.  

But, guess what?

They didn't.

And, apparently, they won't.

Ever.

The rising fascists have come up with the perfect formula for dealing with votes.  The ones they can't sway through false promises and deception, they simply...neutralize.  Just make it nigh unto impossible for people who don't embrace your party or fall for your crap to actually vote.  Voila! They win!

We lose.

This power that we have been told we possess, and must hold dear, is really not a power at all.

So now that we are on the mat with the feet of the fascists on our throats, we've been told to RESIST.

This is our new (replacement?) Magic Power. RESISTANCE.

Okay.

What does that look like, exactly?  Sharing anti-fascist posts on social media, declaring oneself a member of the resistance?  Gathering en masse in public places and waving anti-fascist placards? Emulating the January 6 insurrectionists and inflicting violent mayhem on government buildings?  What will these things get us besides ignored, erased (from social media), bullied, possibly shot or jailed, and at the very least lowering ourselves to a level of "human-ing" that we have professed to abhor? 

 

Now...lest I venture into the land of "TLDR," (too long didn't read), I'll let this one percolate for a bit, and then post my Plan of Action.   

Just When We Thought…

 …the last true follower of Jesus Christ in America had walked on…

Bishop Mariann Budde Asks Trump for Mercy at his Inauguration Service

And her response to calls for her to apologize for affronting Cheeto Jesus on his big day:

This one woman bishop has more cajones than all of Congress, every court and every state house in the US.

To those who think women can’t (shouldn’t) lead:

Think again.

 

He Was The Best of Us

 

 

New Years Eve 2024

So tomorrow is the first day of yet another whole new year.

I wish I could say I feel…

…something.

I'm not breathless with anticipation and sweet hope for good and wonderful things in the New Year.

Nor am I depressed, angry or genuinely frightened of what 2025 might bring, mostly due to political circumstances inflated to dire disaster by propaganda and social media. We will bury a great man, and inaugurate a terrible one.  Sigh.

I think I'm just...in stasis.

Old enough and been through this enough times to settle on a "wait and see" attitude.

With confidence that there will be good, 

And there will be not-so-good.

Hopefully, more of the former and less of the latter.

To anyone still out there and reading,

Here's to the New Year. 

May it bring you joy, laughter, rest and adventure, 

Good times, and no more bad times than you can handle with grace.

On to 2025!

 

 

Jimmy Carter 1924-2024

“I have one life and one chance to make it count for something.. My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I can, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have, 

to try to make a difference.”

And he did.

Rest in power, Mr. President.

A job well done.

A life well lived.

A glorious rest well deserved.

Happy Holidays

 

 

 

 

A Reminder to Never Forget

I wrote this eleven years ago. Still achingly relevant:

 https://mlraminiakcomingtoterms.blogspot.com/2015/12/never-forget-newtown-december-14-2012.html

AAAnd…it appears that the only thing we never forget is how to allow this to happen over and and over again…

…and key in our inspired response:

On The Hunter Biden Pardon

 MAGAs and Dems alike are all agog over Joe Biden granting a blanket pardon to his son for all federal crimes.

MAGAs are screaming “Abuse of power!” as if Trump hasn’t already declared that HE will use that power to pardon January 6th insurrectionists, as well as any and all of his political allies. 

Democrats are wailing and wringing their hands that a left-wing politician would (finally!) rip a page out of the right-wing playbook, fly in the face of “precedent” and do something purely for the benefit of himself and his family. “Woe is us! It’s positively Trumpian! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!!!”

Well…

Here is what I think about THAT…

Question of the Day

 

 

The Day of Reckoning is Upon Us

 

Much as we have tried to put it in the back of our minds, to the extent that we could, election day 2024 is upon us.

I have voted, as have many of my fellow citizens.  We've been told that this is the only weapon we as common peons possess to combat the frightening advance of fascism, of oligarchy...the deterioration of our government, of our world, of our way of life.  We've been told this is a powerful weapon, and we need to wield it zealously.

But I can't believe that there are not others out there like me, who wonder exactly how powerful our votes are, any more.  In a world gone mad, where winning is everything and cheating is as good a way as any to carry the day, how can we believe that our votes will even be counted, much less have meaning if they are?

And then, there is this ominous undertone to our daily lives, a dark voice whispering that election day could be the start of something very large, very violent, and very evil in this country, no matter which side emerges victorious.  And if any of us believe that we won't be touched by it, we're fooling ourselves.  Before January 6, 2000, we might have been able to entertain thoughts of safety, of immunity from the kind of senseless violence that surely overwhelms only third-world countries?  We naively believed things like that didn't happen in the United States of America, so to worry about it was foolish...a waste of emotional energy.

Now? 

All I can think is,

"Be afraid.  Be very afraid."

How have we come to this?