It is absolutely them versus us! (#3012)

     They are the white male racists and we are the melting pot. The white male racists, who are led by our current president and his unshakable devout followers, have committed themselves to destroy that which is not them, which means us the melting pot. The melting pot is all of us who don't see color nor gender as a barrier to citizenship and opportunity. We are the vast majority in our nation and unfortunately through hook or crook have been duped into being led by the white male racists. There is no subtle differentiation here for those of us who are the melting pot. It is obvious and in our face. So the sooner we stop with the niceties of doubt the sooner we can fortify our position against the white male racists and put them back under the rocks from which they spawn.
     The ugliness that is now American politics is not going away any time soon and as we now see from the behavior and attitude coming from our current leader, it will only get worse. Those who are civilized enough should see that party politics is not the difference we need to address at the moment. It is hate versus acceptance. We will see who has the guts and the courage to protect democracy and who doesn't going forward. Democracy is at stake here in that the white male racists and their blind followers will not stop until they have the purity of their vision as a national reality. So don't pay attention to the national politics at your own peril. There is a time that is coming when the fork in the road is our very next choice so be prepared for it and don't let it catch you unawares.
     My destiny is what I want to die knowing is honorable and noble. That is why I am firmly in the melting pot group. Our nation was built by every different race, creed and gender on the planet. We are the melting pot of America and for some white male racists to come along and demand that we leave or die is not acceptable. The time is coming when we will all have to decide so take care to know what we are representing. If you hate others for no other reason than skin tone and gender then you should be with the white male racists. But if you don't hate for arbitrary reasons then you are a member of the melting pot and as such you are under attack right now.

Perfecting our union if we survive trump (#3011)

     There are so many kinks in our democracy that need to be worked out but we are unable to focus on them at the moment while there is this con man as President and republicans in control of the Congress and Supreme Court. So as our democracy is stagnated by the wealth agenda of republicans and their donors the rest of us must be steadfast in our opposition to the current regime and it's policies despite the uncertainty of our actually surviving over the next little while of time. Not only will the gap between the wealthy and the rest of us grow under republican policies but the equality of opportunity for all Americans will shrink, unless of course you are a white male. I am a white male myself and instead of becoming a republican and basking in the limelight of opportunity, I would rather fight against this racial and gender segregation with all my might!
     Because the America I know has taught me that no matter the color of our skin or the gender we identify with, all humans are equally special. None of us is more unique as a member of our species than any other member of our species. America taught me that through the melting pot ideal. I was bused to an integrated school when I was beginning high school and what I learned there was that the fear of the differences we displayed initially, soon enough became a broad strength of enlightened perspective for me. I learned from our initial differences that no matter how different we lived our lives we all had the same common cores to us, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. My time in that imposed integrated school were some of the best times I have lived since.
     We all want to have a safe environment to raise our families in. We all want a chance to prove to ourselves and the world that we can succeed in our goals. We all want the same respect and dignity applied to our lives that we apply to those who strive as we do. There are no real differences between us other than the cultural inculcation we receive as maturing human beings in our regional surroundings. We may go about our lives in different ways that suit our comforts but our principles of honor stem from the same moral, just and ethical compass. We only separate ourselves out in through the fields of competition and merit. Some of us have greater strengths in some areas while some us have greater mental acuity and imaginations than others. However we differentiate, it is through our individual human abilities, nothing less and nothing more because when it comes down to it we all have the opportunity to become the best of who we are when our evolving and improving democracy is being valued.

Keep the pressure on the trumps (#3010)

     We are wearing him and his cronies down. By standing and rebelling against all the harm the trumps wish to inflict on us we are having an effect. That trump has decided that his life before the presidency was easier explains a lot. He ran for president because he thought it would be an easy life. Well we don't need no stinking slacker as the leader of our nation. There will always be work to do on behalf of the American people and the people of the world on whole so him not understanding that is part of the problem with trumps. They don't realize that public office is for those who work for the people, not the other way around.
     I have been saying this for many many decades, voting for republicans is like stabbing yourself in your own back. The republican party is about elitism and the wealthy. They crave power, not to help folks but to harm them and enrich themselves. They see public office as a slot machine that they can rig at their pleasure. We democrats are more like the true public servants who for the most part want to serve our nation with the democratic principles of fairness, equality of opportunity and justice. We democrats see the problems that face us as a nation and a member of the world and look for ways to make life easier for all, not just a few or only for ourselves. So pushing hard against this current disaster of republican control of our government is the most perfect way to let them know that they are accountable and that 2018 is just around the corner.
     Because when the next national election comes around in 2018, republicans will find that they have no real argument for themselves to be reelected. We the vast majority of working middle poor class citizens will know that republicans did nothing for us and even harmed us when it wasn't necessary. The republican propaganda machine will not be able to overcome our actual reality with their buckets of lies and false blame. We democrats vastly outnumber republicans and the time will shortly be upon us to use that majority to crush republicans at every level of public service for their treachery and hatred for those of us not fortunate enough to be wealthy and not confused enough to be blissfully ignorant!
     

Fighting for our civilization requires our courage (#3009)

     No other time in history, since the Civil War, has our democracy been so undercut by our own hands. From within is our enemy. Those republicans who voted trump into office are the ones who don't care about democracy or the principles of the melting pot. They are in this for two things, to hurt others and protect their idea of white nationalism. The antithesis of what America stands for is what Germany was doing leading up to World War II. Unfortunately, like the Germany of the 1930's, we citizens of America are following their path. We are shirking our democratic principles of justice, fairness and equality of opportunity in order to satisfy the fears we are unable to conquer. Our courage as a nation is being tested and so far we are failing.
     Sure we have the most guns, the most lethal weapons and the largest army, but we are afraid of all others because we have lost our soul. Instead of being the peacemakers on our planet we are now the fomenters of terrorism and poverty. Instead of reaching a hand out with help to those who are so desperate for it we instead give them the back of our hand across their cheeks. I am part of this American nation and never have I felt so embarrassed and ashamed of our policies of division and suffering. We as a nation are responsible for this and we as a nation are the ones who can turn it around before it becomes to late for a reversal. The world will not let us, through this current administration, continue to reek havoc on civilized behavior nor will the world allow us any mercy if we do not stop.
     As the republican cowards continue to saber rattle and treat women and different skin tone humans differently through segregating policies we the democratic party in our nation must unite and grow our associations so that when the time comes for disrupting and resisting we are prepared to thwart any and all attempts by this current republican diseased leadership to worsen our hopes for a kind and peaceful world. Our courage is what will be needed and many of us will have to sacrifice even our lives if needed in order to stand against the coming tyranny of republican rule. If we do not find our courage to fight we will lose this very democracy that is our last hope for returning America to it's welcoming birthright.

The arrogant shallowness of trump (#3008)

     Maybe all will not all be blown to bits here in America under trump. We are finding out that our judiciary branch has much more courage than our legislative branch thus saving us from the worst violations of our constitution by this ridiculous president. As each day counts down toward the 2018 election the thought that republicans will pay dearly at the voting booth for their anti working middle poor class policies will actually happen. They have all the majority power in the senate and house while holding the presidency so there is no one else to blame for their actions despite their otherwise attempts.
     Since trump seems more interested in playing golf and vacationing 3 days out of the week while not knowing how to read and write an effective executive order, we may just survive the next year and a half before the next election. Especially if we democrats will stop bickering over our own frailties and put the hammer down on exposing the trumps and his republican supplicants running for office. We have a tremendous advantage here and if we democrats do not unite in order to press that advantage then all bets are off getting the trumps out of office for the next 7 plus years. I hear the rhetoric out there about how we are sabotaging ourselves but it does boil down to one simple thing, voting. When we democrats vote we need to vote for every democrat on the ballot regardless of the differences we may opine about.
     Because the alternative is another at least 2 years of a majority republican congress and that would not help us in any way toward righting the wrongs that the trumps will inflict on us during his first two years. As the gut punch feeling I have from the trump election is beginning to recede, I will not accept another come 2018. We must unite behind whoever is running everywhere with a democrat attached to their name and vote for them automatically. We democrats are the majority and if we all vote we can destroy any advantage the selfish narcissistic trump may think he has. By pulling together with the courageous judiciary and a democrat congress we can effectively mute trumps and their attempts to further disenfranchise the working middle poor class until 2020 when we will send him out of our white house with an emphatic boot to his ass!

Where the culture of ignorance is pervasive (#3007)

     It always amazes me that some people cannot see the ugliness of the politics they support and yet wonder why people don't like their otherwise good natures. It is a moral dilemma for me to have to not associate with really decent folks who would be great at being friends simply because they cannot see the horrible effect of what the politics they hold as sacred does to all of us. I had thought it was rather impossible to be a good person while promoting republican policies that harm and segregate. Then I learned the term "cognitive dissonance", http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/cognitive-dissonance.html. I find most of this occurs with republicans. They want to hold onto the cause of their beliefs and traditions as a priority over the resultant effect of bad behavior and dismissive attitudes.
     Their safe and ancient cultural experiences are for some reason a comfort despite them being a harm to all. How is this possible and what can be done to change the dynamic? For me it always comes back to education. The more we learn and know the more likely we are to experience life beyond our childhood understandings. We get to realize through education that the world is a mighty place to explore. We are not pigeonholed into a set of beliefs and inculcated behaviors of the past. Education opens our eyes to a panorama of possibilities that affect us as if we sere still children learning of the awesomeness of our surroundings.
     We begin to realize that our regional differences are a strength and what we bring from where we were raised is a value to others who learn from us as we learn from them. I have spent the whole of my life accumulating wisdom and understandings from many different and diverse souls. I would not be the well rounded soul I am without the shared experiences I have with those from most all walks of life. Our diversity is amazing and is applicable in every sense to our growth and maturity. Those who do not wish to be educated every day of their lives become those who are most readily accepting of not knowing and staying in their lack of knowledge as a prize. There are too many like this in our nation and now they think that their lack of knowledge is a bonus for them to rule over others without regard to logic and the common sense of enlightened argument.

Keeping the fire of resistance stoked (#3006)

     I am not one of those who is changed by time or space. I am a convicted based soul who once has seen the light of right and good will never turn from it. Modernity, enlightenment, logic and democratic principles are the right and good and as such have become a daily staple of my life. I will not be swayed back and forth by false confusing arguments. I have seen the bad that republicans do and as well as such will not ever vote for any of them to hold the public trust. That is like an absolute with me. I say this because this is what republicans do when they get into office. They shock and disarm us with their horrible policies and then when the next election time comes they lie about how things happened.
     It folds in nicely with their concept of "alternative facts", which those of us who watch these things daily know as fucking lies! But by this coming next year when the worst of what they plan to do to us has happened and we are forced to live with it they will downplay the effect and blame democrats for what is wrong with republican policies. It is a never ending cycle with republicans and as long as we the American electorate keep living from moment to moment in our attention spans it will keep working for them. I just wish that all of us were more like people like me with the effort to stay abreast of American politics and see first hand how republicans deceive us and remember that every time an election rolls around.
     The propaganda republicans spew on us during the election season helps them confuse us with their ability to lie about who did what to you in order to deflect the blame of their guilt. Why we ever reward the guilty with rewards is beyond me and shows a cavalier approach to intelligence that is an anguish to behold. We are in many ways a fake society living off of the hard work of our forebears. I suppose we are getting what we deserve since we cannot hold onto the greatest gift we have ever been given, a democracy that is great but needs us to make better. All we seem to be able to do is make it worse and for that we are a shameful society that gets to feel the harm and pain of our complacency and our ignorance.

Again, we stand for modernity (#3005)

     Yesterday was a rally for science. Yes, we have to rally now to protect science from the trumps and his republican party. I am in stunned shame that I have to admit that in the 21st century we are still not getting past the superstitions, myths and outright bullshit of imaginary believing. We are like young children here in America, unable and or unwilling to move past the fairy tales we were told as children to teach us scary lessons. For me it is so much like Plato's "Allegory of the Cave", http://www.rowan.edu/open/philosop/clowney/Aesthetics/scans/Plato/PlatoCave.pdf We are being molded to accept a reality that is only an illusion and when we fight against the molding we are castigated and held in contempt by those who readily agree to be molded. this is where our modernity is being attacked.
     The enlightenment of knowledge and reality is under siege for several reasons. Foremost is our lack of opportunity to be part of it. It seems that the institutions we have brought with us from the dark ages are still in force as obstructions to equality, fairness and justice. We cannot move out of Plato's "cave" until we all are shown the way together. The comfort of the past ways are hard to release even when we know we must. I had always expected that each of us would fight hard for the truth of things and the betterment of society but I was wrong about that. Many have given up and have wrongly chosen to accept that they are never going to be part of the future as it could be so they choose to defend being part of the past they know.
     This is where we end up fighting against each other over truth and an alternative truth. Those who fight for the alternative truth have resignation in their souls whereas those who fight for truth and the modernity it promises have no such negative resignation tearing them apart. We fight for what is real, not an illusion because it makes our lives easier. I wasn't born to live life easier as a rule, I was born to live life making life better and the better can only come about these days by working very hard at it. I will not accept an illusion as my future, instead science and logic with common sense is my path forward. So yesterday was another example of why we need to keep working hard to protect that which should already be enshrined into our principles for living.

A species at war with itself (#3004)

     If there is one thing only that I have learned in life it is that I will never stop fighting for what is right for all of us instead of just for some of us. The reason for my relentless effort with all my soul is that I have seen first hand how it is possible to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Even when it is most probable that defeat is at hand if I never give up, I have noticed I come out ahead of defeat more often than not. Our will to succeed when backed by the most honorable and noble aspects of human nature are the most powerful force in the Universe when it comes to our species. We are an amazing species but at the same time we are a nefarious one as well. Not in equivalency but often enough to make our lives miserable.
     So we are a species at war with ourselves and the battle is ongoing and extremely harmful. The republican party has taken on the mantle of anti-human to the extent that they are willing to segregate the rest of us and make us less than they themselves. That too many do not see this yet is part of why we cannot have a clear battle over our destiny. But with a never ending fortitude based upon the best of who we are we can prevail as well as enlighten. But when the we are losing the battle much like what happened on November 8, 2016, we must take care to deny the controversial victors any defeat they may see in our eyes. Instead when they look in our eyes they will see the power of our will to put them back down into the irrelevancy they so deserve.
     I fought to survive in this world all of my life and if there is any chance I can help to change it's reality then I will never stop trying. I owe that to those who come behind me to make my world stronger and better so that they can do the same for their next generations of human souls. We are all one species and if we cannot nor will not accept that then those who cannot nor will not must be put to a change or an end if that is what is comes to. I will not accept the worst of who we are yet I will not accept defeat as a solution either so I am left with only one option. To fight all of my life for those right and good best natures of ours. Fighting for honor and noble intent is a glorious life anyway. It is just too bad that we have to do it to keep the worst of who we are from denying the best of who we are. A species at war with itself is not natural, it is contrary to what an enlightened species holds dear.

Will our species crush our own intelligence? (#3003)

     We have seen behind the curtain but will we pull the curtain back into place. Apparently we human beings are not big on courage. We tend to be more reserved and look for comfort when it suits our own perspectives. In other words, we are less brave than more. Which is why since the late 1300's, the beginning of the enlightenment, we are hitting a wall now in the early 2000's.More than 600 years of progress toward modernization and an evolution of thinking creatively and innovatively is now in danger of ceasing as a rule. The general sense that we are not ready for more enlightenment is upon us. Given that we elect to public office here in America the republican sorts who would take us back to times where advantage and privilege dominated is my evidence.
     As well the current republican president is cutting funding for science based policies that have fueled our advancing enlightenment to this point. An abrupt end to the idea that there is no boundary we cannot overcome is now our demoralizing goal. Attempting to end the manifest destiny our species has been moving toward since the early scientists of the enlightenment. To conquer the unknown with our minds and our will. This happened before if you recall when the early Mesopotamian civilizations and early Greeks were starting their path toward enlightenment. An end came to them and the for many centuries afterward our species were cast into the Dark ages. So for us to be heading backward now is not new but is very unsettling given that we had come right to the threshold of mighty achievements before republicans gained control of our nation.
     It will be seen how this all plays out but the die is cast and the battle is upon to us reconcile our place in history. Will this be the end for intelligence or will intelligence help us save us from our worst selves? The worst part is that when enlightenment lost out in our past there were no nuclear weapons that could end our species for good. We are vulnerable to that now and as intelligent forces fight to keep enlightenment alive, will we be annihilated by the fear of the ignorant? Instead of improving our society so that there is less stress in being alive we are instead ready to destroy it so that we can become less than critical thinkers. We Americans who believe in the enlightenment of all will fight hard to keep our intellectual capabilities at our forefront but we are surely aware how tenuous that effort is under the current angry ignorant obstruction of the republican party.

The fear that drives the ignorance and cowardice of America (#3002)

     Unlike the individual citizen states people of the first democracies, we Americans are not worthy of being in their company. Not only did they realize that their own objective knowledge and understanding were important but just as important were their commitment to the whole of society. A dual responsibility to not only themselves but to the greater good. Which required sacrifices among the individual in order to make the whole stronger and more vital. We don't have that here in America. Instead we have too many who see their individual strengths and power as more important than the whole of society. In fact they disdain the idea of a society that would work to strengthen the whole.
     How far we have fallen from the initial intent of our founding to understand that all people are created equal. The concept of which is being played out in our society as the republican party quashes the idea of it's inception. Our founders created a democracy that would be the envy of the world and stretched the imagination of so many who ultimately sought, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness within a structure that evolved to grant that ability equally to all. We are now at a moment in time where the idea of capturing the hope and wishes of all born to this planet are instead being crushed. Nothing has ever come easy to modernizing and improving our society in all facets of it but we had not before in our history ever stopped working to make this world better for our children from what was given to us.
     All of that changed however on November 8th, 2016. We went from a progressing society to a stagnant one overnight. Now since that infamous date we are actually regressing. From making our world better for the victims we are now rewarding the robbers. It is as if Alice's Wonderland is now the rule and reality is the exception. Our devious mad hatter trump is trying to redefine what democracy is through an alternative explanation. The concept of up is down is his philosophy and those who do not agree with him are losers and haters who lie because they tell the truth. How have we Americans become the stooges instead of individual statesmen? It is because we fear as a rule and embrace ignorance as comforting. We did not earn our democracy we were given it and obviously we are incapable of the honor of not only protecting it but improving it as well.

Hollow words and cowardly acts (#3001)

     All things trump. He hasn't killed us all yet so just maybe we can find a way to survive the morally compromised man child for another 3 months and then maybe even longer after that. I am not optimistic here but I am highly cynical of him and therefore might be biased toward total destruction as our future. I am kind of chuckling to myself since I am supposedly the Man of Hope but sorry, when it comes to trump and republicans in general, my hope dissipates into defeat. I am in absolute shame for what our nation has become. I had always thought that the better angels of our natures would always prevail and that if we had a spell with wrong and harmful thoughts it would have been broken by our will to uphold noble and honorable ideals despite our momentary failings.
     Yet when the opportunity for us to seize the brightest future for ourselves, our children and the rest of the world presented itself, we fell flat on our faces with a whimper. It was one of the most soul crushing moments in the history of our nation. How we could allow the worst of our natures to defeat the best of our natures is never going to be explained to me in any way that justifies the occurrence. I can draw this conclusion though and it is not pretty. We as a nation have failed in our duty to make the world better. We have instead set out on a course that actually makes our world worse. Furthermore we are now in a period of time where our future as a species is less tenable than ever before.
     If we survive this current real life nightmare we will hopefully safeguard against anything like this ever happening again. But the cost to us as a nation is a self inflicted wound of which is paramount. We have set back our goals of being a leader in intelligence and imagination an incalculable amount. We have abdicated the title of leader of the free world for no other reason that the greed, power and dishonesty of a handful of wealthy Americans who never learned to live the ideals of democracy. I never thought I would see this day and it's awkward shameful existence but I cannot hide nor deny that we as a nation have failed ourselves and the world on whole. Shame on us and shame on those republicans who lead us here!
     

Another milestone posting (#3000)

     And yet the same old topic of how republicans want to destroy the working middle poor class is presented. I have a duty to myself to write about those things that are heavy on my mind for the most part and this time we are living in is a perfect real life example of how our democracy being dismantled so that the distorted evangelical types and the wealthy can control what is left of our great society. We owe this to ourselves because we were not vigilant enough to understand the boiling frog analogy. Let me explain it again about the frog. When a frog sits in cool water he is fine and has no urgency to leave. But if you slowly boil the water the frog doesn't notice that the water is incrementally getting warmer until it is boiling and by then it is too late for the frog to do anything about it.
     Metaphorically, that is what is happening to our American society. We have had our democratic rights slowly chipped away while we sat and did nothing and now we are ripe for being used by those Americans, like the republican party and their donors, who don't hold to democratic ideals, Not only don't they hold to democratic ideals as such but they don't hold to ethics and morals like any normal American citizen would. But our society has continued to let them have their way by not informing ourselves as to the true meaning of their agenda. We just go about our business trusting that all Americans have the best interest of our society at heart regardless of the policies that prove otherwise. We are the frog sitting content in what we initially knew was cool water and have not paid attention to the fact that it is now boiling.
    So although I celebrate my 3000th posting today I am not happy or in a celebratory mood. I am still writing about how the republican party is destroying our nation, our democracy and our constitution while little to no attention is given to those facts. I am but one man who has been determined to write about the injustice and may I even say, the treason of it all and yet here we keep going down the ruinous path with little care. As I am getting older and it is getting harder for me to fight on behalf of all of us I am still of some utility and it is here with my little insignificant blog. I will not stop until I am stopped or I expire so that the forces that are tearing down our nation will have an to answer to the truths that are not going quietly into the night!

We lost our way (#2999)

     The only generation I can speak to with any authority is my own. those of us who protested against the Vietnam war, whether were were part of it or not. We knew it was wrong what we were doing there and in hindsight we find that republicans elongated the conflict so as to get themselves elected ala dick nixon. But we knew it was wrong and we stood up and declared it with a ferocity! Well that conflict ended finally in 1975 it was because we turned the tide of opinion from it being an acceptable consequence of some less than logical domino effect. Well it seems that after that my generation became less than engaged in changing the world and more engaged in profiting from it. We sold our anger at injustice for the shinny objects of unfettered capitalism.
     I sit here and wonder what the hell happened to this great movement we had in the 1960's that forever changed the dynamic of American society. It's promise of change from the bottom up slipped through our fingers and the magic we brought about dissipated with our lack of focus. Today I see the same ones who would have back then protested to high heaven for the rights they are now allowing to be taken away with nothing more than a shrug. What happened to us? Did we decide that making money and getting power was more important than all of us? Did we decide that if we weren't greedy and selfish like others we would be left behind with nothing more than our principles? Something caused us to fade into oblivion and it is to our eternal shame.
     Well I for one am no lackey who has sold his vision for our great nation for a handful of whatever! I haven't lost my motivation to stand tall against not only treason and tyranny but against those who would take our rights from some and give them to others. This is our democracy and if we do not find our will to look deep within ourselves and find our real value then we are about to lose it without much of a fight at all. For every soul who has ever fought in any war due to patriotism and honor I have this to say about that. You didn't sacrifice for nothing because there are still some of us who remember who we are and what we need to do to honor your and our right to a great democracy that not only has at it's heart all of us but to be an example to the rest of the world to follow!

Cowards like trump will only kill us and or embarrass us (#2998)

     When our national leader is no leader at all we must accept that we are in the hands of someone who would rather run from a legitimate fight than actually engage in one. He, trump, has shown little of noble principle worth fighting for anyway so none of what I am saying here is a stretch to imagine. With all the "talk" trump is displaying we can be assured that someone will take his challenges to heart and make trump choose his next act. If trump decides he can hide behind our military then surely he will do that in order to save face. But the consequences of that will likely lead to the death of our military personnel and other collateral damage. Like all bullies who are fearful of courage, he will choose whatever action protects him first and the rest of us based upon our utility to him.
     More likely he will be forced to back down on the world stage with everyone watching with some lame excuse that he made whomever forced his hand to accommodate some unseen demand he says was met. But the world is watching and so are we and he will not be able to hide behind the courts or public opinion of his "alternative" facts. Let me be perfectly clear, trump has shown his cowardice with his multiple questionable military deferments in his youth to avoid Vietnam, He has gone out of his way to disparage those who have defended our nation on many occasions. It is as if he sees himself as better or above the duty of every American to defend our nation from the nefarious perils of the world. He is a chicken hawk who hides from a fight but will commit you and I to fight on his behalf.
     The worst of our fears is realized with trump as president. He is a coward who is an arrogant asshole! He will put many of us in harms way and cause a great amount of suffering and death if he is allowed to serve as commander and chief for his full term. I have no doubt that in time we will find that trump secured the presidency with the foreign help of our greatest adversary, selling out America for his own personal gain. We will also surely find out that the republican party has sold it's soul to trump in order to hold onto it's majority power. Both have little to no ethics or honor when it comes to putting America first. We have seen it numerous times when given the opportunity to help all Americans trump and republicans choose only to help the wealthy and themselves. I hope we all survive this chaotic time engineered by those who are cowards and thieves.

Once you get past fearing death you can live life in courage (#2997)

     Fear, the most persuasive feeling and mindset known to humanity arguably outside of love. I have experienced it's influence on me numerous times in my life and the actions and behaviors I displayed because of it is a life long shame on me. Now, for the most part, I am stronger than fear and swat it away with some effort, yet other times, especially when I was in my drinking and recreational drugging days I found I had little strength to summon my courage to defeat fear. Well I have put aside the drinking and recreational drugging and consigned it to my past and the effect it had on stifling my courage has equally dissipated. So the only thing left for me to banish most all of fear from my life was to become more educated.
     As I grew in knowledge my acceptance of things like superstition, mores, traditions and myths as well equally dissipated. I became the master of my own life based upon logic, critical thinking with an appropriate amount of common sense and intuition in the mix. Fear is now something like my childhood, consigned to memories of how I evolved. I still fear when danger is imminent like we all should but not the kind of fear that forces me into freezing and inaction or the kind of fear that allows me to be bullied into accepting something I know in my mind and heart isn't right. I live my life on my terms and if there is an example I strive to emulate just think of how an ideal strong intelligent ethical person might think and react.
     My courage now leads me through whatever is in my present and future. I live like I am worthy of being alive every second of every day. In fact I even think of myself as a humble person who only wants to do unto others as I would hope others do unto me. My courage is not arrogant, it is peaceful and happy. Life is hard enough without me being part of the hard so I choose to be alive in the good things of life and not part of what is wrong with life. That is the freedom I have since I put fear down where it belongs and live how I know is best about me. I have the courage to stand tall against the face of wrong and harm. I care only to defend what is right and good and that is my religion if one was to subscribe one to me. We all have our life journey's to live so what will your life journey tell us about you?

Double check your sources (#2996)

     I just called out a supposed democrat for posting a link that is run by republicans slamming the democratic party. Not only run by republicans but by the son in law of trump! Yet this supposed democrat didn't seem to bother to check his own link before spreading it's lies as fact. I told him on the post what the link was and told him to get off my Facebook page. We will see what his response is. If he chooses to apologize and delete the crap he has spread then fine he can stay but if he does nothing or argues one fucking word back at me I will delete him myself. I have zero tolerance for those who especially call themselves democrats who make no effort to fact check their posts. I am not perfect and at times have been so rushed that I have made some mistakes in posting articles but I always apologize and delete the material when wrong.
     I am not perfect and no one else is either which is why I give all a chance to correct mistakes when able. But those who wish to keep their ego's intact at the expense of truth will find nothing to do with me any longer. It is hard enough out there with fake news and propaganda from the republicans that we should not allow ourselves to be too lazy in keeping truth at the forefront. This is how republicans operate. They have no citizenry majority so they divide and conquer us to keep their public offices. We may well have some troubling problems within our big democratic tent but in comparison to what republicans do to us when they have power those problems we have are more insignificant than major. So bashing ourselves with republican propaganda is not only of disservice it works to destroy what difficult task we have in weathering the current anti working middle poor class republican administration.
     With the Internet still an open highway for most of us we have to utilize it to make sure that what we post on our pages and in our blogs is not only factual but aimed at exposing the republican party for the ulterior motive it tries to hide even from it's own supporters. Let us stay vigilant and resistant as much as possible while spreading truths and facts as our evidence for liberal and progressive policies being in our nation's best interest, not republican attack pieces that are aimed at dividing us while tempting us with false facts and opinions calculated to divide us.
     

The republican war against the working middle poor class is happening! (#2995)

     I know for most of you trump voters this is a price you are willing to pay even when some of you finally realize this is what is happening. Most have no idea that trump is a liar who only riled up his supporters through hyperbole and rhetoric he had no intention of following. He wanted to win so badly that he either helped or turned a blind eye toward the Russians as they lied to American citizens about his opponent. Now that his unlikely nefarious strategy worked against a duped American electorate he and his nasty brutish republican controlled Congress can now really start to make attacks against the working middle poor class with little impunity.
      Although he and his acolytes have faced an effective backlash for their initial round of policy destroying legislation, they will adapt to thwart even our protestations and resistance. As more and more of our rights are whittled away we will find that even if we protest we will suffer a pain for it. Recently trump has said that he will withhold subsidies to the states for Obamacare unless democrats help him destroy Obamacare. He couldn't get his own party to dismantle our successful health care system with a majority to do it so now he wants those of us who helped create Obamacare to do his dirty work, http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/12/president-donald-trump-threatens-to-cut-obamacare-subsidies.html.
     So if I am understanding this correctly, trump wants us to help him destroy Obamacare/medicare/medicaid, the working middle poor class program that is saving countless lives, or he will destroy it himself if he can. I can only sit back and scratch my head and wonder what the hell is wrong with this sad excuse for a human being. We will not take part and collude with him to take health care away from anyone and if he wants to somehow destroy health care for millions then he can do it by himself and shoulder the blame. I will not hesitate to say that we have a really inhumane slow witted person as our current president and the sooner we can kick his ass completely out of the White House door and begin to add more democrats to Congress the better we will all be in what was once the greatest nation on Earth.

How low can America go? (#2994)

     The special congressional house election in Kansas yesterday in a republican dominated district was won by the republican with a margin of 6.8%. Although republicans have a 2 to 1 registration advantage only winning by 6.8% of the vote tells us that the republican brand is not healthy. Yet with the obvious harmful policies republicans propose they still win with their base. I have to ask myself how low will America go before it realizes that voting for party over country is never the correct perspective. How bad does it have to get before the stubborn republican voters realize that they are being duped? I live here in America and have always thought that we were an enlightened society but that thought is no longer.
     We are not an enlightened society we are more dense than learned. For the life of me I cannot fathom how anyone can go through life without being aware that how we treat ourselves is how we should treat others. It is a fundamental and core principle to treat others as we wish to be treated, yet even the supposed evangelical base in our country is more pharisee than christian. So on we go toward our own destruction by not facing reality with facts instead of talking point fiction. When we as a nation do hit that crossroads where death and realization fork, I wonder which road we will take? In my own mind I had never considered that we wouldn't do the tight thing but my mind's vision of an absolute is now in question.
     Each time I see another republican voted into public office I cringe and feel the sting of another of the hundreds of paper cuts we Americans continue to inflict upon ourselves. What we are doing is performing a suicide by not allowing ourselves to behave with dignity and respect. We are killing ourselves and I wonder when any therapy will be enough to save us! All I can do is fight against the death tide that is about to sweep us away and hope that enough of us stop believing in the fear and despair that republicans are trying mightily to sell us. We are not confined to being dense. We have the choice to break out from the maniacal republicans who keep winning elections in order to keep our death knell intact.

The great mobilizations against the trumps (#2993)

     There is only one option the rest of us have to thwart the society destroying will of the trumps and that is to spring out at them with protest and resistance, the louder and harder the better. 2018 is just around the corner and we the masses against the trumps have the ability to reverse republican majorities everywhere except in the US Supreme Court. Unfortunately now we are stuck with that for the foreseeable future. But Congress is ripe for throwing out republican politicians. Given the republican insistence on protecting trump at any cost we democrats should be able to mobilize our voting block into a clear distinct advantage.
     There will be no more hiding for republicans pretending to be a friend of the working middle poor class. Their policies are about destroying any and all federal and state policies that help the working middle poor class continue to recover from the great recession caused under the previous republican president. The advantage republicans had here to strengthen health care, improve social security, strengthen civil rights and reverse harm to our planet cannot be covered up when their legislation and executive orders want to make these programs and our planet disappear. The intent of the republican party will be obvious and no amount of dark shadow money from corporations and wealthy individuals will be able to mask the republican hateful agenda.
     The more the rest of us working middle poor class who demonstrate and resist these efforts to destroy working middle poor class programs the more we build up our momentum to topple the comfortable margins in Congress that republicans now manipulate. We must do all we can as well to keep our war mongering draft dodging president from starting world war 3. He doesn't care much about soldiers and veterans as we have already seen and him using our military to satisfy his ego driven agenda to kill his mounting adversaries is well within his mindset. It is also not a stretch to know that he will sacrifice our troops without much after thought if he can claim some delusional victory. I cannot believe we are at this point but the shock is wearing off and the reality is setting in that we must stay strong with our voices and our minds to defray any and all attacks from our current government against our own society and the world at large.

There is no accountability (#2992)

     How can I say that there is no accountability? Easily enough, we elected a carnival barker to lead us and he has rarely said anything factual. Yet the media continues to treat him deferentially and the investigations into his illicit practices have been effectively dismantled by him. There is still the FBI probe but it seems the longer it takes to gather it's evidence the further we get away from that evidence ever seeing the light of day. To me it seems so inevitable that the carnival barker will be the new reality and no amount of independent journalism will be able to over shadow the corporate media's ability to control the narrative that they want to dominate.
     So as we enter into a new phase of alternative reality as our priority. The logic and common sense previously held as the foundation of our society is being diminished as less than relevant. Having to accept that we will be in for an uprooting of all the values we held as American democracy, such as equality of opportunity and justice being blind and fairness the hallmark of maintaining order, will be difficult but necessary since we have no other course to follow that will unite us in opposition to it. I say that with a heavy heart since I am a battler and having to let go of the fight against the worst of our natures leading our destruction is still unfathomable to me.
     Unless and until some form of accountability is proven we are destined to only have our wills to resist as our last line of defense. How our lives will be affected is going to be harsh and when it gets harsh it will get even worse. That is the nature of not stopping the worst of who we are, we will keep finding new lows to be shoved into. The time to stop the trumps is now and if we wait any longer we won't have the necessary force to push back. The big problem is that the media as it is now is starting to normalize the trumps instead of standing up for the real truth of things and not the alternative truths trumps would have us swallow.

Hate and division, the American death knell (#2991)

     From a promising future on November 7th to a disaster of a future on November 8th, we Americans are facing a calamity. Somehow with nearly 3 million less votes than the republican's opponent, the republican candidate won and now republicans control the executive, legislative and as of tomorrow, the judicial branch of our federal government. It is what nightmares are made of when considering their agenda. From the start of the republican administration and congress majority, there have been many executive orders rescinding protections for our workforce, women and our planet. Congress has passed bills to reduce health care for millions and give more tax breaks for the wealthiest among us. The idea of a nation working to improve life for all of it's citizens died on that mournful day on November 8th, 20116.
     Instead the wealthy and the hateful have gotten a boost from this current republican leadership. While the rest of us have been over looked and even demonized for our right to live our lives as individuals different from the theological vision republicans demand. Although our national constitution states in the First Amendment that we are to be free of any religion if we choose it is now not a choice when the representatives of hate that represent the republican party legislate a religion as law. The fear that must be tempering below the surface of their archaic ideology must be enormous and when you here me call them cowards it is because of this that I do.
     Now republicans have written a national budget that cuts programs that help discarded Americans come into the mainstream of life and instead allocates more money to war profiteering for saber rattling and attacking overseas. On November 8th when I knew the outcome of our election, I knew we as a nation were heading for a crossroads that could and would be our last crossroads together. The hate that drives the republican party and now America at the national level is intense and it seeks it's vengeance on a world that does not conform to their vision for the future. A mighty struggle is already underway here to cut off the legs of this current presidential administration based upon law but will it deliver it's success in time to stop the madness that is currently hurling us into a global conflict the likes of which out planet has never witnessed?

The arrogance of not admitting ignorance (#2990)

     I have definitely noticed that arrogance and ignorance are, for the most part, tied at the hip. I can use examples of people I know who despite all evidence and personal harm to themselves will not admit there is another way of looking at things so much that they become violent to protect their misguided understandings. Now I am no expert in anything as I see it but I can follow logic and the conclusions that come from logic. There is the difference between those like me and those who will not try to see another point of view with an explanation. Of course I am talking about those who choose to be republicans without justifying their choice with logic or at least an explanation.
     Although it seems to me that by not offering an explanation they are hiding their true intent. Being some nefarious racist, misogynist or some other bias or prejudice aimed at those who are not like them. I have a few like this in my real life surroundings and the frustration of it keeps me less than myself because of it. However, I know this and therefore keep them at a distance whenever possible because there are plenty more who make me feel like who I am and what I am doing is of value. So the interplay in life of those who would be right no matter how wrong they are is exponentially balanced by those who like me seek for a better world while making it one.
     It is the only way for me to survive in a peaceful way. I have to suffer the bad in order to welcome all the good. Now don't get me wrong here, if I could eliminate the bad altogether I would in a heart beat, but that is just not my reality. So what I do is not converse on matters that inflame instead I act on life as a real life example of my vision for our world. That is the one thing I can control, what I do and how I present myself to the world. The struggle not only for me against my own demons but the struggle for making our reality a more caring and curious one goes on. Despite the arrogant ignorant, whom I admit deserve as much from life as everyone else, despite their attempts to deny it to others, I will continue to work to break down the walls of their inner fortresses to show them that being good and the best human possible 100% of the time is our futures not anything less. Life is finite and too short for any other brutish ugliness to take from it's time.

A cold hard slap! (#2989)

     Politics, that thing that people avoid learning about because it is so complicated. Well we are finding out that if we fail to pay attention to politics we may well end up with our lives torn apart. This last election has been an eye opener for a couple of polar opposite reasons. First and foremost is the national election where the "tear down the government" republicans were given full charge of our government. We are finding out that with them in charge it is a mess and not just an ordinary mess but an intentionally vindictive one. For all those who kept out of politics, almost half our eligible voters didn't even vote, they are the ones who are getting the cold hard slap of reality. They figured all of politics were the same regardless of party or candidate. Well slap slap, not true!
     The republican party and all it's candidates are not anything like democrats. They are instead, generally like the worst of our natures while democrats are more like the best of our natures. Now there are exceptions but very few at this juncture of our nations evolution. The republican party is showing for all to see now that they are in control that destroying democratic principles for the sake of capitalistic ones is a priority, especially when the wealthy are the beneficiary. As we are seeing played out in our national media, not even getting elected fairly is chanced as they appear to have used underhanded and illegal methods to attain their victory on November 8th, 2016. So if you were sleep walking through life and just woke up to see your national government run by a bunch of arrogant republican carpetbaggers then that is on you for not paying attention to politics.
     The other totally opposite eye opening reason I alluded to earlier in this post is the effect the election had on the great mighty state of California. Instead of sleep walking through life we here in California mustered up enough votes to elect a super majority of democrats to public office on November 8th, 2016. So instead of living in the destructive world of a republican manipulation, we have a democratic vision for our state. We are using government to fix our problems and enhance solutions where possible. We are not a country but we are a powerful state with the resources and vision to not only improve our way of life but to educate our state citizenry properly as to the function of politics and the need to be involved.

The evil that republican men do (#2988)

     I single out the men who are republicans from the women who are republicans because it is the men who lead their women around. Now that being said the women are also culpable since they choose to follow the republican men. I know things are more complicated than that but regardless, the fact is established as fact. The republican men are the ones though who are forging the path forward through their leadership roles that have been attained through our democratic process by hook and crook. The American citizenry is far more compassionate and curious than these current republican "neanderthal" men are capable of showing. They have taken civilization and turned it back into something worse than our old wild west. They take little care to promote democratic principles except to destroy them with vile rhetoric, majority rule law and executive order now that republicans control our legislative and executive processes.
     The republican men have the freedom now to let loose their worst natures with impunity. They are forcing their lusts and greedy selfish behaviors on the rest of us with an arrogance of a wild beast. For myself I have tamed what wild beast that had existed in me before I understood that civilization must have it's conformity to function. However, if need be I can summon the beast within me back to not only enrage, but to rage at the republican men who at heart are all cowards! Yes, their bravado is nothing but false courage protected by their money and ironically, what is left of our civilized codes of conduct. The worst natures of humanity are now on display here in America and it is just starting unless we can reverse the outcome of the 2016 election.
     How much more will the citizenry of America take of these brutish maniacal cowards? They need to be put out and in confines that reflect their nasty behaviors. I am living through this time and unless I end soon I should see how all this plays out. In my mind the revenge, yes revenge, against these cowardly republican men will be savored by me. They have unleashed the beast that is inside me only reserved for those whose actions have displayed the worst of human nature. I am not the only one who is outraged at republican men and to a slightly lesser degree republican women and the zero sum game they are playing that is heavily favored on their side for now but the worm will turn and the cost these despicable human beings are going to pay will directly reflect the benefit they have stolen from our American dream.

I don't suffer fools easily (#2987)

     I am at a point in my life where foolishness on the part of just about anyone annoys the hell out of me. I get that life should be fun and most anything that brings a smile is not bad, however when the life and death of people is the folly then that is crossing the line between civil and demented. I will take no time at all to dismiss anyone who has the ridiculousness of cavalier behavior that laughs in the face of pain and suffering. I find much of this with republicans and they are dismissed without a thought. Even some democrats are immune to what is proper and sensitive in nature and they are dismissed as well. How hard can it be to care more than cause pain? Are we such an insecure society that we will immediately cast our honored principles away in order to satisfy some sense of acceptance and belonging? If so then our foundation is crap and we need to reevaluate just who the fuck we are!
     I don't suffer fools easily is an old saying that still has some unequivocal provenance in conveying my utter disdain for those who jest or dismiss seriousness with a joke. There is a time and place for everything and when the joking time comes then fine as long as the joke is not a demeaning one with intent to harm. But when it is time for seriousness then the seriousness is paramount, not anything less. We have as a species a need to understand that we are still in a volatile era where the balance of our future lies in conflict with the best and worst our species has to offer. The time for putting in the hard work to correct behaviors and attitudes is now and no amount of taking it lightly helps! The nitpicking as well is uncalled for. Losing sight of the big picture for some very minor inconsequential details is wrong. It is important to get all the details correct but not at the expense of losing sight of the objective.
     If all of life is going to be a more fun experience then we have to get our work done first. That work is setting up our society in a way that reflects democratic principles such as equality of opportunity, universal fairness and universal justice. Making sure our society values all life, both from the cradle to the grave with respect and care. The rest will sort itself out with serious representatives who know the value of service to all over the selfishness of some. We can do this but we must separate out the fools and those who only find folly in a time when folly is just an after thought.
     

When equality and justice are class driven (#2986)

     So what kind of political system is it when the wealthy or powerful have a different set of laws governing them then the rest of us citizens? What do you call that? Governance through privilege and advantage? We are less a democracy today then we are some form of corporatocracy and twisted aristocracy/theology combined. Somehow we have let the powers that want to be in charge, to take charge by not paying attention or being fooled by their incessant divisive rhetoric. We are now there as the current political climate clearly illustrates. The slap down we the working middle poor class are getting through decree, presidential executive orders, and through congressional legislation all coming from the republican party. They are in control now and their long sought after destruction of democratic principles is being realized.
     What bothers me today is the fact of the wealthy and powerful being given passes on breaking laws as if the laws the rest of us have to answer to do not apply to them. They are demigods in their minds so their trampling of our constitution is nothing to them if it gets in the way of them attaining even more power and/or wealth. This is just such a sad time to be living in right now. The masses, we, seem to be helpless to stop the greedy insanity that is gripping our leaders and many of us who vote for them. It is obvious to me that living in a free democratic society we need to have impenetrable laws that keep the wealthy from gaining power over our government as a rule to stop any of this current type of political and social manipulation.
     If ever we liberals gain back control of our government, and that is a big if, then the first act must to be to make public financing of our elections our first order of legislation. When we get money out of our politics is when we can run candidates for office that have to appeal to voters for their votes instead of the wealthy who decide who can run and what message that candidate has. No more of the large money donors dictating to potential candidates what policy positions to take. Candidates for public office will have to appeal to the voters with policies that actually help the masses, we working middle poor class, for their votes, not to the privileged and advantaged for theirs.

The survival aspect of our natures (#2985)

     Never before in my life, except back in the 60's when we thought we were going to have nuclear war with Russia, have I felt so convinced that our national experiment called America was in such jeopardy. The incredulous result from our last national election and the republican party's unparalleled drive to destroy our working middle poor class from mobilizing up to better conditions is on. The republican party's insatiable appetite for war with anyone who does not think like them is also on. The odds of any of us Americans making it out of the republican advantage to thrash out at those of us Americans and fellow Earthlings who disagree with them are getting worse by the day. I never would have thought that our society was as ill as it is but I am now convinced that the generational efforts of conservative republicans to turn back the tide of enlightenment has finally come to fruition.
     We have mean nasty, brutish souls running our democracy with the help of the worst of our society when it comes to honor and noble intent toward democracy. There seems to be little we can do with the confines of democratic principles since the perfect storm of ill has come about. What we do next will not so much depend hon how our laws and processes are normally followed but by outside the box ideas that must be used to remedy the affliction republicans are prepared to have us all suffer. It is actually unthinkable that a large part of our society has deemed that their good fortune of being born into a nation that has struggled mightily to attain a certain magnificence isn't worthy now of all that effort. These republicans are willing to lie, cheat and steal in order to make America the most despised example of greed and hate.
     Our nation has spent the last two centuries fighting against the ravages of those who would deny the rights of humans. Yet we are now not that nation any more, Instead we have aligned with those lesser nations who would destroy diversity and equality of opportunity. As I sit in the midst of this and watch most of the media being used as a tool for this filthy agenda I am determined more than ever to raise my voice and call it what it is and not because I am perfect but because I am right. I know what honor is and if anything is worthy of survival it is the best of who we are and not the worst. As you know I say our true natures are care and wonder with a mix of survival. Well, the survival aspect of our natures is being tested, what say you?

Democrat's social contract and equality of opportunity vs. Republican's survival of the fittest and trickle down economics (#2984)

     An inclusive society vs. or an exclusive society, this is the choice we are facing when we vote for whom we want to represent us. This is real time folks. I wish I were only theorizing but no, it is actually happening. You have seen it with the democrats protesting nationwide with their demands for the rights we have fought and won over the many many decades while republicans have shown us that their jack booted protests they are full of hate and anger at those who are not white with condescension. Again, this is really happening right now and for anyone who thinks for one second that this is hyperbole then that is another reason we are in this dilemma, ignorance.
     We democrats see our future as an enlightened one full of modern techniques. Giving us the creativity and innovation to lift ourselves from the grips of the Earth's gravity to allow us to explore the great yet little known and vastly unknown. We are the force of manifest destiny and as we are also curious by nature, we are fulfilling the nature of our human being. That cannot be said for republicans, who are content to live as in our misunderstood past with the symbols that represents. They choose to ignore the drive of manifest destiny when it comes to their curiosity, instead they are more prone to culling out humanity to fit a mold they have devised in their own minds. A collective fever of of an ideal that does not exist exclusively in nature by itself.
     While democrats wish to give all humans the rights of humanity, republicans do not as a rule. As republicans have shown, they prefer a life and death struggle to prove one deserves to be alive despite the fact that we were all born innocent and without our own consent as humans. We democrats believe we are all born with the rights of life. In economics, republicans believe that the wealthy should be our standard for an ideal master, while we democrats believe that is wrong and that each individual should be given the same opportunity to succeed in business and in life. We democrats believe that as we all participate in a fair and just society that merit and an internal force of will shall separate those of us who are more driven to succeed than from those of us, who republicans believe, will use privilege and advantage as their method of determining success. Which political party has your best you at heart?

The miserableness of the republican party (#2983)

     I have said here in this blog many times that republicans are not happy people nor are they particularly caring people. As long as they get theirs they seem to satisfy their own existence. It is a sad commentary on their lives since they can only see what is directly in front of them and not what is out beyond their horizon. The survival of the fittest mentality is their motto and although they rarely admit it they do hold hard to it's principles. Why else would they feel redeemed when programs for the poor, elderly, women and veterans are cut from our national budget while the lavish lifestyle of the republican president doesn't bother them. Why else would an increase in military spending leave them silent at the expense of peaceful negotiating.
     I go further in my assessment of them by calling out their hatred for others who are not like them. I watch as they demean immigrants and refugees for no other reason than to satisfy their own inability to comprehend that we are all in this together. It isn't just hatred either that drives them to their bad behavior toward others, it is a lack of understanding more associated with ignorance and a misplaced arrogance. Somehow the white American working middle poor class has found itself feeling at home condescending to those who are not white. They, republicans, have embraced a racial movement not unlike the nazi's of last century's Germany that our grandparents actually fought and defeated in World War 2. How ironic that instead of being a nation of noble beings we would rather be traitorous scoundrels beholden to the wealthy instead of our own government.
    That the republican party has now chosen to align itself with a foreign power as a means to manipulate our democracy there is little reason left for them to hide in the shadows of deceit. Their ulterior motive is now exposed and we are at a crossroads in our nation as to what we will do next. The best of who we are is still within us and many of us, the large majority of Americans, are still patriots to democracy. We have a duty to the rule of law that we created some 240 years ago. A constitutional crisis is upon us and how we maneuver the levers of control over the next year will determine whether our little project of American democracy survives the onslaught perpetrated by the worst of what republican politics has become.