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 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.