July 15, 2025: Looking Foward

A friend suggested that I look at all the good things that Donald Trump has accomplished so far in his first year, second term, but I see nothing positive coming out of Washington today. Helping our fellow citizens and our neighbors around the world is now a negative. Our position as leader of the free world is being surrendered systemmatically. We have doubled down on our dependence on fossil fuel and are in the process of gutting the green energy alternatives that we need to face the challenges of a changing planet. Our economic future is shaky at best in the face of tariff trade wars. Trust in America's word is gone. Meanwhile, other countries stand in the wings waiting for us to fall off the stage. And at the base of it all is a growing disparity between the super-rich and the rest of us. No, I am not encouraged. I fear for the world my grandchildren will inherit. I want to be wrong, but I see the road ahead. I do not see anyone in power even daring to explore alternatives.

Perhaps the Trump Derangement Syndrome that the Right claims we on the Left are suffering from is actually their own inability to see reality through their rose colored glasses.

I am not the enemy. Neither are you. Solutions will come when we find ways to discuss our differences in opinion and approach, and find common ground. Then, perhaps, we can work toward a future for our grandchildren, and theirs, that ensures both equality and freedom from want.

July 13, 2025: A Snark, A Quote, and a Poem

 

What's In a name? Throughout history, many world leaders have had colorful and descriptive, if not always flattering, names. Among them are William the Silent, Ivar the Boneless, Vlad the Impailer, Charles the Bald, Pippen the Hunchback, Charles the Hammer, Pepin the Short, Louis the Do-Nothing, Archibald the Grim, Childeric the Idiot, Ivan the Terrible, Louis the Fair, and Louis the Fat, to name a few. Now it seems we can add a new name to the list: Donald the Demented, or if you prefer, Don the Deranged.

From Robert Graves, one of my favorite World War One Soldier-Poets, a change of pace: “There's no money in poetry. But then, there's no poetry in money, either.”

Which leads me to a poem I rediscovered, that I wrote in 2018 but only seems more relevant now.

                Mad

        I'm glad I only get mad

        At gadgets and Donald Trump:

        Machines that don't cooperate,

        A Presidential chump.

        I yell out loud at appliances

        And scream inside my head

        To mourn our country's sacrifice:

        Democracy is dead.

July 12, 2025: Open Letters

 

An open letter to Donald Trump. Sir,

It's your economy now, baby, coming recession and all. They're your wars now, Cap'n, asked for or not. They're your failed negotiations, Boy-O, one by one by 99. They're your hurricanes and massive floods and shrinking shorelines now, Sunny Jim. They're your tariffs, all yours, Mister President, a surcharge on all of us to offset the tax breaks to the rich. And all your friends and allies have lost faith in you. What's left are sniveling sycophant henchmen who won't tell you when you got it wrong, not that you'd listen, and your army of ICE Warriors. How sad and lonely you must be in your self-fulfilling paranoid world. You may be the most hated human being in the Twenty-First Century.

And to the Rich, for whom you stand, I issue this warning. Please enjoy the funds you took away from programs designed to help your fellow Americans in crisis. You got your wish. But remember Proverbs and be careful. Remember the German industrialists thought they had Adolph Hitler under control in 1934. They got richer, for a while, until it all came crashing down.

And to the rest of us, for anyone who feels all alone in a world brimming with hate, remember that they are the ones yelling and screaming and threatening, but you are not alone. In the center of MAGA country my friend and co-worker Hannah has a bumper sticker on her car that says, “Trump-Putin 2024/Make ARussian Great Again.” It put me in mind of something Luna Lovegood told Harry Potter, to the effect that Harry was less of a threat if he thought he was all alone in opposing Lord Voldemort.

Donald Trump wants us scared. He wants us at each other's throats. Then we don't pay attention as he consolidates his power. But I have hope. I think we just might survive this existential threat we face when Hannah from Montana holds her own moral compass so tightly, while every politician across America has lost theirs. Hannah is not afraid to speak her mind. Or maybe she is, but does so anyway. In America in 2025, that is true courage. And she is far from alone.

July 10, 2025: Lets Talk Tariffs

 There are so many issues to write about, and new ones crop up every day. Every time I think I can go back to a draft in my blog file, I wind up compelled to write something new instead. Today, tariffs are back in the news, so lets talk about tariffs.

Donald Trump has stated that the word “tariff” is the most beautiful word in the English language. But is it a good thing? The idea of a tariff is to make domestically produced goods more attractive by making cheaper imports closer in price, thereby balancing trade between nations. It sounds good until you start thinking about all the goods we buy in America that are manufactured overseas. We buy them for two reasons. First, imports enable us to stretch our budgets. Second, a good number of those goods are no longer manufactured in the United States. In our global economy, it is rare to find even simple goods that have all-American components. Parts come from everywhere. These two main issues, cost and availability, cannot be solved by arbitrarily taxing everything coming in from overseas.

There is another use for tariffs. They are a tax, plain and simple. It sounds like they are a tax paid by the foreign country sending us goods, but this is not what happens. That tax is paid by the American importer, then added to the price you and I pay. We pay the tax on the goods we buy. In this way, the Trump government collects a tax from every consumer that helps offset the tax cuts to the rich passed in the Big Beautiful Bill. It amounts to a replacement tax.

Everybody pays. But nobody gets to claim the extra tax on their income tax return. Unless you are a business. Tariffs are classified as a business expense, and deductible. The cost is both deducted and passed on to you by way of higher prices. Who is most affected? Most Americans now will be paying a hidden tax out of their income with no opportunity to claim a refund on their income tax returns. Any tax breaks from the “BBB” will be wiped out.

To offset the tax breaks to the rich, Trump plans to fill the state coffers with tariffs paid by all Americans. It's a con. It's a con with consequences that will spread world wide. As with cutting back international aid and discouraging green energy at home, Trump's tariffs create voids across the planet among our allies and friends. China will step in. Every deserted ally, every abandoned program, every insulted trade partner is an invitation to China to take over our former position. It makes you wonder just where Trump's alliances truly lie.

July 7, 2025: ABJURE!

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.

            -----Johann Wolfgang von Geothe

To every Republican member of Congress, save 5, I say this: you have betrayed us. You have sold your freedom to the super rich who rule this country and their Great Orange Puppet. In the bargain, you sold mine as well. To anyone and everyone still thinking that Donald Trump and the plutocrats he serves care about anything but themselves, their wealth and their power over the rest of us, by the time you realize the depth of this great betrayal, it will be too late. It may already be.

To the rest of you, I wonder if you remember the words:

     “As it is apparent to all that a prince is constituted by God to be ruler of a people, to defend them from oppression and violence as the shepherd to his sheep; and whereas God did not create the people slaves to their prince...but rather the prince for the sake of the subjects (without which he could be no prince), to govern them according to equity...even at the hazard of life to defend and preserve them.

     “And when he does not behave thus, but, on the contrary, oppresses them, seeking opportunities to infringe their ancient customs and privileges, exacting from them slavish compliance, then he is no longer a prince, but a tyrant, and the subjects are to consider him in no other view.

     “And particularly when this is done deliberately, unauthorized by the states, they may not only disallow his authority, but legally proceed to the choice of another prince for their defense.”

Okay, I cheated. These words come from the Dutch Act of Abjuration that declared their independence from Spain in 1581. “Abjure” means formally renounce. The Dutch renounced the right of Phillip II to rule them. When no other prince stepped in to take his place, the Dutch became the only country in Europe to not have a king, a federation of states that remained King-less for 200 years and produced a golden age of progress and prosperity, though forged in blood.

The more familiar words, from our Declaration of Independence, are: “...when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future Security.”

The Colonists went on to create a federation of states that has remained King-less to this day. It is a constant battle to preserve and continue the progress envisioned and set in motion on July 4, 1776.

Both documents go on to list their grievances against the respective Kings Phillip II and George III. Both documents outline the pursuit of safety and happiness, which includes religious freedom. Both documents are designed to speak for all the people, even though in reality the definition of “the people” expanded only over time. The first is a precurser to the Age of Enlightenment. The second is perhaps the best expression of that Age.

It is important to remember our origins. It is important to remember the first three words of the Preamble to the Constitution: We The People. Our President has forgotten them, or at least their meaning. He openly states that he hates anyone who opposes or even disagrees with him. He does not rule for all America. He should tread lightly because there are only two outcomes for such an attitude in one in power. Either he will become a tyrant, or he will be overthrown. We have a system in place for the latter: the vote.

July 4, 2025: Happy Independence Day

 

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on to them to do the same.”

-----Ronald Reagan

Happy Fourth of July! 249 years ago today, our founding fathers declared independence from one King and vowed never to have another. Our democracy, the Grand Experiment, has sputtered and chugged and pushed forward, ever learning, ever expanding, ever improving. I celebrate the journey. I worry that the journey may be reaching its end with a return to a time far removed from a nation built on freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom from want. America is a great nation. She never achieved greatness by moving backward, or even standing still.

I offer the observation of one of our founding fathers, perhaps the most revered American of all time, and the Man Who Would Not Be King. George Washington warned us, “If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” Our right to free speech is the cornerstone of democracy. A loyal but vocal opposition is crucial to maintaining balance and holding back extremism on either side of the aisle.

Leonardo da Vinci once said, “Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.” Our forefathers spoke out. Loudly. Let us not forget our origins, but let us learn from them and keep moving forward. Loudly.

July 3, 2025: Disaster

 

Congress passed the Big Beautiful Bill today, even though most Americans oppose the bill as written. President Trump will sign it into law tomorrow and make a big show of his victory. But the BBB is, in fact, a disaster for America.

Let us be blunt. The Republican agenda is intended to further divide the rich from the rest of us because they themselves are rich or want to be.

Welcome to feudal America.

The Big Beautiful Bill is a betrayal of the general American population. Its effects will be far-reaching. Just one is the removal of incentives to use solar power. 280,000 Americans are employed by the solar power industry. Trump wants to promote fossil fuel and coal instead of, not in addition to, solar power. The future of the planet, and of our descendants, lies in the balance. He does not see the future moving away from fossil fuels. He would see the solar industry die in the bargain. What a way to help American business!

We have already seen the Trump administration push back against any effort to tell the true history of the United States. We have already seen them threaten anyone who might disagree with their view of the world. Now, with the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill, we will see this adminsitration throw more and more people into poverty or near-poverty. We are already morally bankrupt. To help the poor old rich, we are going to face fiscal bankruptcy in the near future. And America will slip out of greatness.

We are traveling backward in time. Human rights belong only to white males of property descended from northern European immigrants, those brave risk-taking ancestors who crossed the Atlantic looking for a better life and then brought slaves to do the work and pushed indigenous people into tiny corners of the land. We want those times back. Women didn't vote. Slaves counted as 3/5 of a human only for census purposes. It was a great time to be rich and white and male. That was the Great America Trump wants back.

But wait. I'm a white male of northern European descent. Am I speaking against my own interests? No. Emphatically, no! I see taking help services away from people in need, both here and abroad, as a betrayal of our supposed Christian values. I see white-washing our history and pushing back to the times of Andrew Jackson as a sin. If you want to make America great, you help others. You learn from your mistakes, not ignore them. Anything less is indoctrination to the whims of one person, and that will lead to a whole new generation of Brown Shirts.

July 1, 2025: Davey Crockett Says

 

“Whenever I had anything and saw a fellow being suffering, I was more anxious to relieve him than to benefit myself. And this is one of the true secrets of my being a poor man to this day.”

                                        -----Davey Crockett

Today, the United States Senate passed Donald Trump's so-called Big Beautiful Bill on a split vote, with Vice President J. D. Vance casting the deciding vote. Cudos to the three Republican Senators, Susan Collins of Maine, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky, who voted against. This cumbersome bill designed to help the rich get richer now goes back to the House of Representatives, but it is doubtful enough Republicans care about their constituents to block it from becoming law.

The greatest redistribution of wealth in history has been occuring here in America over the decades since Ronald Reagan first took office in 1981. The disparity is remarkable. The top one percent control over 30% of the wealth. The bottom 50 percent control just 2.6% of the wealth in our country. It's only getting worse. The new tax cut extensions outlined in the BBB will give someone earning five million dollars a year a tax cut equalling the living wage estimate for four families of four. Trump's BBB will make certain the super rich get richer and richer, and so will Trump in the bargain, at our expense. If you voted Republican thinking you would slide up the scale, you were lied to and tricked. They are greasing the pole from the top in Washington, and I fear not enough Congressmen will remember the words to live by, spoken 200 years ago by Davey Crockett: “Be always sure you are right – then go ahead.”

A vote for the Big Beautiful Bill is not only wrong, it is immoral. Worse, it is amoral. Abandoning those in need is certainly not what I consider Christian or American. In Washington, it is only two things: convenient and cowardly. Davey Crockett said, “I would rather be beaten, and be a man, than be elected and be a little puppy dog.”