August 26, 2025: Calling it What It Is

On orders from the White House, United States troops are patroling American streets. The pretext is crime. Yet the level of crime in Washington, D.C., is actually down, 33% in 2024 and even further in 2025. The other cities that the Trump administration is threatening with boots on the ground are Chicago, where, likewise, the crime rates are dropping, and New York, which is considered one of the safest cities in the world. All three cities are deeply blue, all three have Black mayors, and none of the three has asked for Federal help to combat crime. It makes me wonder just why Trump wants to insist these areas are in crisis.

Memphis, Tennessee, has a much higher crime rate. So do Saint Louis, Missouri, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Baltimore, Maryland. Why are those cities not on the list? The answer is simple. This is not about crime. It is about retribution and suppression. The Trump administration is targeting anyone who disagrees with his vision of America, and showing his willingness to use military power even when prohibited by the Constitution. It is a show to his base. It is a warning to everyone else—see what I can do?

He is working hard to destroy the two party system, and this is part of the battle plan. It is also flagrantly and unashamedly racist. But then, white supremacy is also a major part of his agenda. The question becomes, is it yours? If so, put on your marching boots and grab your rifles and goose step down your own street. But please stay off mine.

22, 2025: A Poem for Joni

 

Here is a poem, inspired by Republican Senator from Iowa, Joni Ernst.

We're all gonna die, she said with great cheer,

So why should I care about any of you here?

And, by the way, the Tooth Fairy is false

But President Trump has really big balls.

So you see, my christian values are on full display

In the help to my neighbors that I take away.

She is just one in support of Trump's goals,

A powerful minority caught in the fold.

They want us to know that our rights are all shattered,

That what's moral and legal no longer matters,

And troops on the ground can invade any city:

Washington now is a town without pity.

The Republican Party has a very long list,

Manufacturing crises where none exist.

Immigrants are criminals who all must go!

Give jobs back to legal citizens, although

If you throw dinner parties, if you have the nerve,

Just who do you think will clean, cook and serve?

August 21, 2025: Just Who's In Charge?

 After World War Two, the powers that be, C. Wright Mills' Power Elite, were so grateful for the defeat of Adolph Hitler and the Axis powers, that they rewarded their soldier-citizens with a liberal dose of economic opportunity. Since then, the elite's next generation began clawing back. And the next generation after that, the rich and powerful 1/10 of 1% who really run things today, actually resent having to help anyone, forgetting that a happy, healthy workforce is a productive one, and that their own wealth comes off the backs of that work force.

I know. I sound like a conspiracy theorist gone mad. But it is undeniable that America has become a plutocracy, that is, governed by the super-rich, of the super-rich, and for the super-rich. They have one agenda, increasing their wealth and power. What has changed is that the rich are outwardly righteous in their greed. Their monster, Donald Trump, has made this blatantly obvious. But is Trump merely a side show reality TV distraction, or is he a threat even to them?

I know that comparisons to Adolph Hitler are not considered useful or realistic, but who exactly is telling us that, particularly when such comparisons are so obvious? The MAGA movement considers itself a revolution in American politics, economics, and governance. The Power Elite, the Republican Party, and roughly 40% of the American people are lock-step behind them. Donald Trump is their face. But I think back to 1934, a scant 91 years ago. The German industrialists told Adolph Hitler that if he could not control his Brown Shirts and their leader, Ernst Roehm, they would not support him. Over the course of two days, June 30-July 1, Hitler eliminated 2,000 potential opponents, gutting the Brown Shirts and murdering his so-called friend Roehm. He won over the industrialists, then set the world on fire.

Ernst Roehm once famously said, “All revolutions devour their own children.” With Trump looking to control every aspect of American life, from minutia like the name of a football team to his authoritarian, and what some are now calling Marxist, approach to the economy, I again ask the Power Elite, Is Donald Trump your Adolph Hitler?

August 14, 2025: Christmas Is Coming

 

It is mid August already. Soon Costco and Walmart and everybody else will bring out their Christmas goodies and decorations, right alongside the Back To School supplies. As the one runs low, the other will fill the shelves. So it is time to start thinking about Christmas lists. Ah, lists—the gift that keeps on giving!

Today is also the 90^th anniversary of the Social Security Act becoming law, one of the biggest gifts by a government to its people of all time. In the spirit of that momentous occasion, I already have been thinking about my own Christmas list for 2025. I want to share what I have, so far.

National Parks that are well staffed, safe, clean and easily accessible to everyone, especially our foreign guests whom we want to impress with America's beauty.

The Social Security safety net firmly in place, fully funded and protected not just for me but for my children and grandchildren far into the future.

Clean air and water would be nice.

Affordable health care for everyone.

A living wage, which can be tricky, because there are so many opinions about what that is. Lets just say enough to pay all our bills, save a million-five before retirement, and maybe afford the occassional trip to the closest National Park.

Affordable housing for everyone.

Maybe we could have a return to the idea that we do need to help and care for each other, even strangers, because “a stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet,” according to Irish poet William Butler Yeats.

Francis Perkins, US Secretary of Labor under FDR, and one of the major forces in creating the Social Security Act ninety years ago, said, “The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to give all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life.” I fear that many Christians in America have lost sight of their own christian values. My final wish is that they come to their senses and remember, “For everyone to whom much is given, much will be required, and from him whom they entrusted much, they will demand more.” Luke 12:48.

Red suits and fake beards optional.

August 9, 2025: White Washing History

 

It has been a busy week (aren't they all nowadays?). You know it's a busy week when each day seems like it's a week long all by itself. Much of the week has been centered on the ongoing Epstein affair, if you can call it an actual affair, or cisis, or scandal, or cover-up, or embarrassment. I call it a distraction. Even I am distracted. And, as they say on Ancient Aliens, you gotta wonder what else is going on that the powers that be don't want us noticing.

I have come to think of Donald Trump himself as a distraction, as a reality TV show, albeit a very dangerous one. Given that the American economic and political system as actually a Plutocracy—of the Rich, by the Rich, and for the Rich—we should not be surprised to see Trump ripping down the curtain that's been hiding our true handlers. Who are these people, you might ask. Sociologist C. Wright Mills called them “the Power Elite” back in 1956. He suggested that a small, compact group of very wealthy and powerful, interconnected individuals shape public opinion, use their influence to help make policies, and work to enrich and entrench themselves. The Left call this group The One Percent. The Right call them the Deep State. But there is no reason to believe that these individuals have a specifically right wing or left wing agenda. They have one goal only, control over the rest of us. Donald Trump may be a member. He certainly services them.

They, it seems, along with the vast majority of the Republican Party, want to re-write the narrative of America's story to put themselves and their ancestors in a better light. They might call it revising. I call it white-washing. I can hear them now. “All those Black people back in the day came to America seeking a better life. We have them three square, a roof over their heads, and lifetime job security. We even encouraged a free sexual lifestyle. It was a good thing.”

Mills also talked about a “mass society.” The Power Elite thrives on creating an under-educated general population in which citizens feel powerless and disconnected. They begin to see the system as rigged and start to think, “My voice doesn't matter, why should I bother?” Changing our history to suit their narrative is a huge step forward for the Power Elite, and backward for the rest of us. We can't say we were not warned.

August 5, 2025: GAZA

 So, briefly, lets talk about Gaza. In the bloodbath that has followed, it is easy to forget the trigger. The Hamas attack on Israeli civilians on October 7 was horrendous and breathtakingly cruel. It was 9-11 in slow motion with innocent individuals slaughtered one by one. Israel's response is another issue, and a difficult one to give support to by people and nations outside. But we were not there on October 7, and we have to keep in mind that in the bloodbath that followed, Hamas has continually invited their own people to die.

The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, was an atrocity. Israel's response to that attack is also an atrocity. Nearly two years and 60,000 bodies later, is Hamas gone? Is Israel safer? Even humanitarian agencies within that country are calling the destruction of Gaza genocide. It is a terrible word, one which Israelis know well. But saying they cannot commit such acts because of who they are is like saying only white people can be racists. It's just not so.

The people of Gaza find their homeland in ruins and their brothers and sisters, sons and daughters facing starvation. People are being killed just trying to reach food. The Netanyahu regime seems to be clinging to power in desperation by prolonging the war. To call it a war is itself ludicrous. You might as well call hunting deer with a high power rifle a fair fight.

Now Netanyahu claims he wants to occupy Gaza.

Most of us can't do anything about what is happening there. But at least we can call it for what it is and express shame that the United States is on the wrong side of this so-called fight. This isn't anti-Semetic. It isn't anti-Israel. It isn't pro-Hamas. It is pro life. Meanwhile, maybe our government can push to increase the flow of humanitarian aid from various international sources to the starving children of Gaza. Otherwise, Gaza will become Israel's Biafra.

July 31, 2025: Change of Pace

 

Here's a poem I published in my anthology, Old Man Walking, in 2021. Cataloging my poems, I rediscovered it a few minutes ago, and just wanted to share, as a change of pace. Enjoy!

Night Stockers

Who sweeps up the spits and chews?

Who repairs old worn out shoes?

Who cleans toilets in the night?

Who restocks after every flight?

Who makes sure that the shelves aren't bare?

The people who were never there.

July 25, 2025: The Blame Game

 

.It is easy to point fingers. I know. I do it every day. But I usually point in one direction. I realize, with some reluctance, that there is plenty of guilt to go around. Where is the loyal opposition? Who is giving us clear and mannered arguments for alternatives to Donald Trump's dismantling of everything I think makes America great?

I hear Adam Schiff. I hear Amy Klobuchar. I read about Cory Booker's 25 hour marathon speech. I hear Hakeem Jeffries ranting that we must lead. I hear reasoned voices like Jamie Raskin and Pete Buttigeig urging us to fight. They pop up once in a while in a news cicle dominated by Trump and his supporters. Yes, the Democratic Party currently has very little power, but there must be something they can do!

There is no savior coming down the road. We cannot wait for one. We have to start educating our fellow Americans about their rights and how those rights are in jeopardy. More, we need to offer and explain what we stand for instead of constantly pointing fingers at what we are against. We need positive, thought out, serious and hopeful planks for our 2026 and 2028 campaign platforms.

I want to believe the American people will listen to carefully deliniated proposals on immigration, green energy, universal healthcare, securing a living wage, safety nets for retirees and for disabled citizens, fair and equitable taxation across all levels of income, racial and sexual equality, and strong alliances both politically and economically abroad. We need to focus on, pardon the expression, making America viable again.

We need solutions and we need level headed leaders to offer them. We want affordable health care. We want a living wage. We want clean air to breathe. We want safe streets and affordable housing. There are plenty of issues to debate. To our politicians on every side of the aisle I suggest, don't just say you'll do all these things. Tell us how. Stop running for office and do your job.

July 23, 2025: Trump Derangement Syndrome

 

The other day, I asked if my Republican friends were suffering from their own Trump Derangement Syndrome, that is, they have become so deranged in their support that they are blind to the simple fact that Trump does not represent the wishes of most Americans on a wide range of issues. Maybe it's more. Maybe it's a cult of personality.

Let us be clear. His election was never a mandate from the people. He did not quite get 50% of the cast vote. If you take into account all who could have voted but didn't, he got only 32% of the eligible vote. He is a minority president. Now we are six months in, and new polling shows that 62% of Americans disapproved of the so-called Big Beautiful Bill. Yet it passed by the narrowest of margins in both chambers of Congress. 79% polled said they believe immigration strengthens America, yet this administration consistently demonizes immigrants, both legal and illegal, and pushes legal limits in an effort to eliminate them. Trump even said he would strip legal American citizens of their citizenship if he could, if they disagreed with his policies. Opposing Donald Trump, in his mind, is not democratic, it is evil incarnate. He does not care what anyone in America or the world thinks or believes, as long as they are worshipping at his feet. That so many do so, without question, is the definition of a cult of personality.

That the majority of Americans do not worship Trump shows clearly that we are living under the tyranny of a minority.

If my Republican friends would say, “Boy, you paint an evil picture,” I would answer, “Yep.” I find nothing good in Donald Trump. And remember, if you think you can gain wealth and power riding his coattails, enjoy it while you can. You are his friend only as long as you are useful. He has no loyalty but he expects total loyalty from you. Cults of personality in the past have not played well in the long run, and have left many bodies in their wake.

July 22, 2025: Donald Wrex

 

It has been a busy week, for myself and for the country. In the background, grumbling and scratching at my brain, tumbling around for seven days now, is the argument, “Look at what he accomplished.” He, of course, is Donald Trump. So here is a list.

He has privatized the federal government into a personal weapon.

He has alienated our allies and threatened them with economic war while giving comfort to our enemies.

He has withdrawn funding for agencies that offer help around the world and to his own people.

He has cut back our ability to predict disasters and alert the public.

He has openly declared himself to be President not of all Americans, but only his base.

He has burdened our grandchildren with an uncertain economy and growing debt.

He is gutting anyone who might disagree with him, including public broadcasting, which as a consequence imperils millions of his supporters who depend on public TV and radio.

He is bullying private corporations into subservience, and they are acquiescing.

He is gutting green energy industries who employ tens of thousands of American citizens.

He is destroying the Department of Education to our children's cost.

He is promoting the brain drain of the United States and deminishing our capacity to lead the world in science and technology.

He is normalizing racism, crime, and incompetence, as well as promoting the threat of domestic violence.

Way to go, King Donald. Make us proud.

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.”

June 29, 2025: (F)end (F)or (Y)ourself

 

America used to be a good place. If you needed help, there were systems in place to offer it. It wasn't perfect. It never was perfect. Perfection is highly overrated. Once you achieve it, what is there to work to improve? America was built on the effort to improve, the journey forward, the vague but ever calling American Dream. But now? It's FFY everywhere unless you're already rich. What the rich don't understand, what they are incapable of seeing, is the struggle to survive day to day. Shame on them for that.

I just read two statistics that say it all. First, according to Ramsey Solutions and Yahoo Financial, the average estimate of monthly expenses for a family of four in the United States ranges from $8450 to $9817 per month, or $100,000 plus per year. GoBanking puts the numbers lower, but well over $80,000 annually. That's roughly $6,700 a month, and no savings. Based on a forty hour work week, that translates to having to earn $42 an hour just to make ends meet, what the experts call a living wage. Obviously, most Americans fall far short.

Statistic Two: according to HSA for America, the average cost of health insurance for a family of four, not subsidized by employer or government, is $1500 per month. That comes to $18,000 a year, or 22% of the low-end living wage. Without help, health care becomes prohibitive.

Trump's Big Beautiful Bill will only make matters worse, but the deciders on that bill's passage will never have to worry about making ends meet. And we haven't even started addressing our responsibilities to the rest of the world.

Americans have always taken pride in their generosity. That is ending. The rich don't want to give, the rest of us can't afford to, and humans across the country and the world will suffer needlessly and die prematurely because of this radical shift in attutude and wealth. Perhaps shift is the wrong word. It is an entrenchment. It is political codification of a new America.

FFY.

I end with a quote from Warren Buffett: “If you're in the luckiest one percent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 percent.”

Democracy Is Not Dead

 

This is only the fifth blog since my return to the front, so to speak. From time to time I return to material I wrote in the past, often for myself as a way of keeping a record of events and my response to them. Reading through some older things, I found this, written after the 2020 election results came in, but before January 6.

It goes:

As we waited to see how the transition of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden would play out, Linday Graham, that beacon of convenience, declared that Republicans had to change the rules or no Republican would ever again be elected President. The whole waiting game was a scary, scary moment. Many of us feared that the peaceful transition of power simply would not happen. It seemed that the honor system had been blown to bits. Trump seemed to be searching for ways to justify overturning the election results, or tossing them aside altogether. We speculated on all the ways that could happen and wondered if we were strong enough and clever enough to stop him. And yet. The election itself was a refreshing boost of democratic confirmation.

I wrote the following poem on November 17, 2020, two weeks after the election. It was inspired in no small part by Ingrid Jonker's brilliant poem, “The Child Is Not Dead,” and, as always, by the incredible words of Wilfred Owen, one of my soldier-poets of World War One, “All the poet can do is warn.”

Democracy is not Dead

Democracy is not dead.

She rides upon the millions

Of restless, marching feet,

Demanding to be heard,

Mis-quoting Twain, “Reports

Of my demise are just a bit

Premature—be vigilant!”

Democracy is not dead.

She shouts alongside the millions:

I have spoken, let me speak!

Her epitaph, though written,

Lies inside the editor's desk

Unpublished.

Her voice, though trembling,

Has found renewed strength but is

Caught in her hesitation,

Looking for words, needing but a few.

Democracy is not dead.

Her body shows the bruises

Of every time she stumbled

But the multitude each time

Has picked her up and set her back

Upon the terrible long path to Golgotha

While Liberty awaits her

To share her fate.

Democracy is not dead

Though there are so, so many

Who would make her so.

June 17, 2025: Tanks But No Tanks

 

Saturday was Flag Day. We flew our flag with pride. We love our country. We are deeply embarrassed by our current goevrnment. We are also very afraid of President Trump ignoring his role as protector of the Constitution and creating a totalitarian government. Therefore, flying the American flag was also a protest and a warning, in our minds. There are two paths America can go down: one, to everything for which that flag stands, or two, to dictatorship.

It seems obvious to me which one Donald Trump wants.

Saturday was also marked by Trump's Big Beautiful Parade. Make no mistake, the parade was less to honor the Army's 250^th anniversary and more to honor the Trump who would be King. Members of the administration claim 250,000 people showed up for the event but I saw rows and rows of empty seats along the route and Cabinet members looking bored. As many as 5 million people across America attended the No Kings rallies. Even if the numbers for the parade turn out to be accurate, that means 20 times more people stood up to protest Trump's policies than to support his birthday salute. Diane and I were among the No Kings protesters in Kalispell. It was hopeful to see so many people of all ages in attendance.

What are we so afraid of, you may ask. When Trump sent National Guardsmen and Marines to the streets of Los Angeles, despite assurances from the city's mayor that the situation did not warrant such a move, and despite the governor of California not requesting help, it sent a signal. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem spelled it out, telling us plainly that this administration wants to liberate Los Angeles from the socialist and liberal leadership of the mayor and governor. It is another hiking up the rhetoric to divide the country. Democrats are the enemy. The use of American troops against American citizens is not just on the table, it is the plan.

Dialogue and discourse are going away. Loyal opposition does not exist in Trump's world. The right to disagree is being replaced by intimidation and fear, backed by guns and tanks. If our military is sworn to protect the Constitution against all enemies foeign and domestic, I beg you to look hard at just who in America is threatening that precious document.

Friday the Thirteenth: Day of Fear

In preparation for my self-imposed deadline to blog almost every day, I have been building a back-log of blogs, quotes, and poems to share with you, but events are happening as quickly as a world at war. I know it seems that the world is always at war, or at least that there is a war somewhere in the world demanding our attention. These are troubling times. It turns out, all times are troubling.

It is easy to be discouraged by the daily news. The news feels like an onslaught upon our senses and emotions. National Guard and Marines in Los Angeles. ICE looking for hardened criminals among the pickers in blueberry fields. Crazy conspiracy theories and even crazier lies presented as the truth as if saying it out loud makes it so. Threats to deploy thousands of troops onto American streets. Out and out, obvious attacks on freedom of speech. Donald Trump himself saying, “We're not King.”

I know my stress levels are growing exponentially in every day of the Trump administration as they push the boundaries of presidential power beyond what the Constitution allows. Yet I have very little power to do anything about it. I know most of you feel the same way.

It is with this in mind that Diane and I have decided to do something neither of us has done in half a century. We are going out tomorrow to join the No Kings protest. If nothing else, we will stand up and be counted in the fight against the totalitarian takeover of our country. The late Senator from Arkansas, J. William Fulbright, encouraged us to stand up when he said, “In a democracy, dissent is an act of faith.”

 

Breaking Silence

 

I begin with a quote:

“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.” -----Edward R. Murrow

I have an admission to make. I am afraid. I am afraid to speak out. I am a liberal in Montana, a rare breed up here but not as rare as you might think. But I see so much anger and defensiveness around me—on both sides—that I want to follow my Daoist teachings and choose the path of least resistance. That means, being quiet. It does not mean being silent. Silence can become the fodder for dictators. And fear is the fodder for silence. Fear and indifference.

I find myself in an interesting position on the political spectrum. I have always considered myself a bleeding heart liberal. What I really am is a concerned citizen desperate to help my fellow citizens find their way through the quagmire that is everyday life, with an eye toward the future our offspring will inherit. Progress is inevitable. We always move forward. You can't stop it. What you can do is try to make sure that progress is not irrational or self-serving, and at the same time make sure that the push back against progress is thoughtful and not irrational or self-serving.

It's a big ask. Most of us have very little power to influence anyone or anything, at least on our own. But you are not on your own. Like me, you have a voice, even if you are afraid to use it.

President Donald Trump is busy pushing against anyone who has an opposing viewpoint on anything and everything he wants to accomplish. He thinks he knows what's best for us, and has the God-given right to make it so, and no one should object.

I object. I object as loudly as I can.

I end with another quote:

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” -----Theodore Roosevelt

Flag Day (the Blog is Back)

 

I'm back! I found my old blog and have decided to start again. I have dusted off the cobwebs, stretched out my fingers, and climbed out of my temporary paralysis to once again talk about the things that matter to me, whether the world notices or not.

I begin with a reminder. Be kind. It seems simple enough, but the world of Man is filled with unkindness. America under Trump, in particular, has become obsessed with rejecting kindness altogether. I see nothing Christian in that. Just as I see nothing democratic in ignoring the slender but profound document upon which the United States were founded.

Name calling goes nowhere. You may think I am naïve, while I might think you're bull-headed, but saying either out loud immediately shuts the door on useful exchange. Unfortunately, rational discussion with reasoned arguments no longer seems to work, either, but it is far better than the alternatives.

And yet, as I write these words the President of the United States has declared protests to be an insurrection after having stated the January 6 insurrection to be a peaceful protest. He is working hard to suspend the safeguards provided in the Constitution in order to make an enemy of anyone who disagrees with him. He is entrenching his power and no one seems able to stop him.

On Saturday there will be a massive parade in Washington replete with tanks and missiles in a saber-rattling, North Korean or Russian-style show of strength that “happens” to fall on Donald Trump's birthday. It is also Flag Day. I will fly my flag, in honor of all the things this government is setting about to destroy.

So I return to speak out. My audience is small, but I have to say my piece. I have to join those who came before me to warn. Fascism is real. As George Orwell and others have said, when you see soldiers goose stepping down your street, it's too late.