I’m angry, and I don’t like to be angry.
This piece is not a singular, torturously long essay on a single subject, but rather a collection of a few thoughts in brief. Sometimes I think I would like to change the format of the site in general to such a thing, but I just don’t think I have it in me.
I would enjoy making a point in brief and then waiting for people to comment requesting that I explain myself in greater depth on a certain subject, but no one sends comments on any of my essays, so that wouldn’t work. Perhaps about 1% of the people I notify of a new post actually read them. That’s okay. If this entire thing is nothing more than an exercise in personal speech from me to me, then so be it.
Who is my enemy?:
In any political system, especially a republic, the state (Caesar) does not have the right to tell you who your enemies are. That is and must be left to the sole discretion of every citizen and their freedom of conscience; for this principle is the absolute cornerstone of democracy.
The state can tell you of people or groups that they feel act in a manner that is counter to what they see as the ‘national interest,’ but that is all the state has the right to do. From that point forward it is my right, your right, our right to decide who is and who is not our enemy.
This is the sort of foundational, unalienable right that is disappearing from the American social and political landscape. It is not Trump, or his supporters. This process has been going on for almost thirty years, and at this point, may be impossible to stop.
Please don’t worry, you will be able to choose between glazed, chocolate, or jelly far into the foreseeable future. However, you may not be able to choose to remain silent, know protection from unreasonable search and seizure, be able to dissent without fear of governmental reprisal, or decide who is and who is not your enemy for very long.
The Satanists are showing themselves.
Before I begin this portion, I must offer my gratitude to Mr. Benjamin L. Corey, whose blog posts I read on a regular basis. He recently posted an essay which has helped me to focus my thoughts on this issue.
Our embarrassment in chief recently stood before the United Nations General Assembly and spoke to the leaders of the nation-states of this planet. This organization, established in the wake of the destruction and genocide of the Second World War, was formed and established for many purposes. Chief among these is to offer the nations of this world a forum through which they can settle their differences in a peaceful manner; realizing through that process that the actions of two states toward one another affect all other states of the world as well.
Simply stated, the United Nations is an organization established to promote peace and to help realize Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” throughout the entire planet. These four freedoms, as laid out by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, are: freedom of speech and expression, freedom to worship God in one’s own way, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
However, Trump stood before this body and threatened to kill twenty-five million people in retaliation for the actions of, let’s say for the sake of argument, two hundred people, or, really, maybe, just five people. The gathered persons of the General Assembly were rightfully appalled at his comments. The fact that he would stand in that hallowed chamber and defile the very purpose of the United Nations is, in and of itself, disgusting enough, but the worst part is yet to come.
Several high-ranking “Christian” evangelicals came out cheering this speech, saying that it is about time that a president spoke up for America. They praised this speech and all of the threats of death it carried with it. They praised this speech that was diametrically opposed to anything Jesus would have said or done. They praised this speech and the man who spoke its words in worship of the enemy of God. Prominent among these were Franklin Graham and Robert Jeffress; two of the most evil men to ever walk this planet. The satanists are showing themselves.
Not until white people start doing it:
Recently, several professional athletes of color have been kneeling during the national anthem at the start of games of the National Football League. This has drawn a mix of boos at the event and cheers afterward. What are they trying to say? I don’t really care what they’re trying to say, but here’s what I’m saying in support of them: “Not only do I don’t buy the lie anymore, but I refuse to sell it, too.”
Selling the lie, you say? Yes. Every time that song plays, and every time the pledge of allegiance is recited and you participate, you are selling something to the person next to you. You are trying to sell them the idea that you support what this country does in direct opposition to what its propaganda says it does, and over what it says countries and peoples should do. You’re trying to sell them on your patriotism; that you think “my country, right or wrong” is a valid argument for doing anything. You’re trying to sell them the fact that you continue to buy the lie, no matter how expensive it is. If you know me, then you know that patriotism, as a rationale for any action, pretty much makes me want to vomit. It is, after all, “the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
Colin Kapernick is a man of incredible bravery and conviction, and it cost him his career (to date). The problem, however, it this; everything these black athletes do and say (most of them quite eloquently) won’t amount to anything in terms of solid change within our police forces and social policy until your average joe white guys start joining the fight. Are you brave enough to suffer the momentary admonitions of a few jingoistic hyper-patriot jackasses to stand…I mean kneel beside him?
I’m going to stop right here and ask each of you to do something when you finish reading this post. No. In fact, please stop reading the post and do the following: Look up the email address and phone number of your state and national legislators, write them on something, and put that something on your refrigerator. The saying that “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” is true (although ‘get’ is not really a word) and if each of us squeaks just a little bit, it’ll make a big noise in the end. If you place a phone call once in a while on a subject that means something to you (or the republic), that will squeak. It will take three minutes and you’ll feel really good about it when your done. You’ll also find out just how scared of you these people are.
Here’s a little something to spur some thought on this matter: One year ago the statistic was the following: an unarmed black American dies at the hands of the police every nine days in this country. I don’t know what the number is now, but I think we can all agree that it’s not decreasing. On top of this, the police are now targeting the mentally ill of all racial and ethnic origins; using their inability to immediately process orders barked at them as justification for murder. It has to stop, and if demonstrating that you understand that murder by the police is what this flag, its pledge, and the anthem of this country really represent means taking a knee when they are recited, then do it. Unless, of course, if you think that all of this is okay, and very cool.
America is a strange, ‘wild west showdown’ sort of place. It really is. This is because at some point in the history of our culture we decided that it was okay for the police to kill people. Not all societies have made that decision, and it is not as common as you may think. We, as a society, need to ‘undecide’ that. We need to say “No, it is NOT okay for the police to kill people. This is especially true in a society which is witnessing the rapid militarization of its police forces.
If there is one cornerstone to the system of republican governance that stands beside freedom of conscience mentioned in the first part of this post, it is that one is considered innocent until proven guilty in open court by a jury of one’s peers. This, my friends is disappearing quickly at the hands of our militarized police forces. They now posses the power and the authority to act as judge, jury, and executioner in the most real terms imaginable. Sadly, our politicians are, for the most part, fully behind them, for the police murder in defense of the status quo.
This should all be reason enough to join our black brothers and sisters in calling attention to this brutality by refusing to participate in hollow patriotic rituals. However, if you need more, just ask me and I will supply them.
Enough is enough!:
Las Vegas was it. That’s enough. I’m sick and tired of people being slaughtered in this country because the nut-jobs of the right wing seem to think that ever more guns will cure our cancer of gun violence. Here is what I propose each of us do in order to cure ourselves of this disease:
- Confront the pro-NRA people in our midst. The thing about these people is that they will shout their insanity in public places with the understanding that no one will speak up in opposition. That has to stop. Confront them and tell them honestly that they are the murderers of Las Vegas. It wasn’t that mentally ill guy who went off the rails, it was them. The lives of the dead are on their shoulders. The shattered lives of the wounded and the witnesses who will carry the horror of that night to their graves are on their consciences. They are the killers in and of this country.
- Tell them honestly that it will not be the government that will come for their automatic weapons and assault rifles, but the good people of this country who are sick and tired of them and their willingness to watch innocent people die because they think some foaming-at-the-mouth interpretation of the second amendment is what the framers of our constitution intended. “Hey, boy, The 2nd Amendment’s all the 1st Amendment I need!”
- Tell all members of congress with anything ‘better’ that a ‘C’ rating from the NRA that they will be a target singled out for defeat in the next election. Here is the call you need to make: “Hello, Senator Makeamericagreatagain’s office.” “Yes, I am a constituent of Senator Makeamericaahellhole. What is the senator’s rating with the NRA?” “Oh, why the senator has an A+++ rating with that wonderful, patriotic organization!” “Good, then tell the senator that he now has a target on his back. He is a A+++ target for defeat in the next election. Unless, of course, he decides to leave the money of the NRA for the American people.” It’s that simple. They need to either fully enter the 21st century as human beings, or find themselves out of a job. Then they can sit at home and watch all of the westerns they want; they just won’t be allowed to foist their insanity on our society anymore.
Note to the right wing: Chuck Connors’ character is not real, and you are not “The Rifleman”…or maybe you are. Yes, you are! You are “The Rifleman” on the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay.
Question for the right wing: How many souls can you have on your individual consciences before you change your stance on gun control? I think is must be in the hundreds of millions, because you do not, to my memory, ever support the policies of government that enhance life; only those that enhance death.
You oppose funding for general, public education, and support the most bloated military in the history of humankind. You hide this perpetual war (off of which you and your shareholder friends make millions of dollars) behind the shroud of ‘protecting’ the American public. You refuse to see basic healthcare as a human right and hold fast to the belief that exploitation of American families for the benefit of the insurance-pharmaceutical cartel is, in and of itself, good. Cartel? Yes, the term is appropriate, because what your politicians do and the policies you both support kill more people than the collective wrath of every Latin American drug gang in existence.
Really, I think the political right wing in this country is repulsive. The worst thing about its adherents is that the vast majority profess to follow the religion known as Christianity. They have turned this church; this beautiful extension of the body of the Christ into a parasite that feeds off of the blood of any it can infest, and defiles the name of Jesus with every moment of its existence.
Enough is enough.
Sometimes I think that love won’t work; that the only thing that will save us is wrath. Sometimes I think that the time for peace is past.
Love and peace to all
Niemand