(#5773) Assiduously pressing on!

      I and others are still smarting from the dumbfoundedness of the American citizenry. Yet as the pain of the election results become less acute we behind the force enlightenment persevere. We are not a collection of ragtag individuals and groups that fear intelligence more than we embrace it. We who are the tip of the spear of our own species' evolution will not falter or stop in our quest to improve and expand the human condition beyond the the dark ages of our own past. We see the future with hope and pride so we must go to it! Our fellow citizenry cannot find it within themselves to join us so their attitude is to remain in some kind of status quo limbo.
     Unfortunately, that remaining keeps the rest of us back there with them. So a new way forward is needed. A strategy that beckons even those entrenched in the ways of the past. Is it too late to do it through democracy? We shall find out but we had a rare chance this last election to make our existence and the world at large a much happier place but we instead chose chaos. What will come from the republican control of our society is not encouraging at all. Divisions and repressions are coming and how they affect us is more likely devastating and unsettling. The past belongs in the past, so going back to what was then but cannot work now is a fool's quest.
     Much like denial, the past cannot change. We need to continue to evolve whether that word evolution is popular or not. It is a fact, not a choice! Over generations of life we have seen nations come and go due to choices they themselves had made. Will America, after 248 years of a constitution based upon democratic principles, follow the same path as those other now nonexistent nations? Will we survive our diminution because we gave away our rights to think for ourselves? Being fooled by a conman is nothing new in societies around the world but my own ignorance precluded it happening here. I was absolutely wrong even though I fought against it. Now we who are left to keep up the fight must find a new reserve of resolve to employ in every second we are able going forward.

(#5772) The existential threat to Democracy is here, how will we handle it?

      We now know our worst political nightmare is real and what we will be up against for at least the next four years. I say at least because trump didn't hide his desire to be president for the rest of his life. Even letting it out that his supporters wouldn't need to vote again. If that doesn't foretell him wanting his own dictatorship of America like those he admires like Russia's putin, I don't know what is. He is now assembling a ridiculous cabinet for departments in our government that also foretell those agencies being at risk of elimination. Our society has been based upon the will of the people but now it will be on the will of trump.
     How, those of us who fought so hard to keep trump from getting back into the presidency, we react and defend our democracy will be determinative for the future of democracy. How we, who are not tyrannical supporters, are able to thwart the worst of what trump will try to do to give America the stain of fascism over patriotism to democracy is our task. I do not know how this will work out in real time but I do know that every act we do must be calculated with the ideal that our democracy is greater than any alternative. I know sacrifices will have to be made and I am willing to sacrifice for the sake of our heritage. Those who do not know yet what they have allowed to happen will soon find out and hopefully they too will realize that their mistake must be corrected.
     We Americans have given the reins of power to an absolute bully with sociopathic tendencies. We are in for a hard fight that would have been so much easier had we voted for Harris instead. But now we must do much more to preserve the ideals of democracy. There is no game plan per se at the moment but most of us already know that nothing trump does can be given to him with ease. We must make him work hard for his plan of pain and suffering for the working middle poor class. In two years we will be at the midterms and by then the mood around his duped followers will have changed. They will by then have realized that the claims we democrats made about trump undercutting our democracy are true. Then we will be able to start a political overwhelming of his desires to circumvent our 2028 presidential elections.

(#5771) Very busy next 2 weeks

      I am in one of those intervals of time where my ability to do nothing is severely hampered. I am at the age, 69 now, where the idea of having nothing to do at home but my chores is my favorite pastime. Yet for the next couple of weeks, starting this morning, that will be on hold. I do go in today for work as well as tomorrow. Then the next day appointment for eyewear. Saturday is going to be interesting as the atmospheric storm that is starting here in about 2 hours will begin to relent for a short period and allow me to get outside and assess my work outside.
     Then comes Sunday. I work on Sunday so that day is busy. What would normally be two days off for me on Monday and Tuesday will become temporary work days. The reason is that my normal work days of Wednesday and Thursday cannot be worked so I switched my schedule for this week. After working on Monday and Tuesday I will on Wednesday have Carpal Tunnel surgery on my right wrist. Hopefully that will have no pitfalls and I will be able to go home after the surgery. Of course the following day is Thanksgiving and I am slated to be with family at my niece's home. Which should be interesting since I don't know yet what limitations I will have given the surgery from the day before.
     I do plan to go to work after resting my wrist for the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving and then Sunday resume my work. That is my plan anyway and if it holds to what I think I can do I will have done quite a bit in a short period of time. I am not in the best of health at the moment working through some other physical challenges but I do believe I can make this work and then repeat it with my left wrist in less than two months. Anyway I do look forward to getting back to my otherwise busy schedule of doing nothing in short order. I say doing nothing but what I really mean is I get to do what I would like to do instead of what I have to do.

(#5770) Sydnie Christmas inspires me

     I first heard this video of Sydnie Christmas, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqb6pPYQm1Y&t=760s about a month ago and it did something for me that I will try to explain in this blog post. I have been around music since I was just a young boy. My stepfather had his own country and western band that he performed full time for nearly a decade and a half. I wasn't into country music like I was rock and roll and Motown but being able to listen to the full gamut of popular music at that time helped me to appreciate special songs and outstanding performers. I am far down the road from those early days so hearing performances that actually touch my soul are few and far between.
     Enter Sydnie Christmas. I just happened to scroll past the video on YouTube and then paused after I saw that the video I am including in this link said that she won Britain's Got Talent. I backed up to it because I was just curious enough to know what is popular in 2024. In the video there are the three songs she sang in order to win. The first was Tomorrow from Annie. I watched her stage introduction and performance with a bit of awe. Especially her personality and how it infectiously enhanced her singing. I then was treated by her semi final performance of her rendition of Sinatra's My Way. Wow, explosive to say the least! I was blown away to my core.
     Sydnie Christmas is such a real beautiful person that for me she reminds me of what life is all about. Inspiration is such a inadequate word yet close at least. Her winning version of the song Over the Rainbow was unique and delivered as perfectly as possible given the human condition. I will never be the same person since almost scrolling past her performances on BGT. I am thrilled that I got to see the magic that is Sydnie Christmas. I have called her a Cinderella story and I am not wrong one bit. She is why we all should strive to hope no matter what befalls us. It is nice to be alive and see her incredible no one to someone journey. Thank you Sydnie Christmas for touching my heart with your voice and character.

(#5769) Real men want women to have equal rights!

     Apparently there is a lack of real men in America. I am sure the men who voted against women having equal rights will disagree with me but the evidence is not with them. Real men do not need to control women in order to be strong. Strength is helping to fight against injustices, not perpetuating them. A real man is someone who knows he can defend his own rights but also feels the need to help others defend their rights even if it costs them a price. Real men see the world as it is and wherever injustice exists fights to end it. What real men don't do is take advantage of others so that they themselves can benefit by it. Real men are looked upon with respect and admiration for putting themselves on hold while fighting for equal rights for all.
     It is not complex to want freedom of self for all people. It is actually very simply understood. When we all are able to pursue our own paths in life we are practicing justice through equality, freedom, and liberty. This is what democracy is, equal human rights. So when men vote to deny women the right to define their own paths it is to deny them equal rights. It is injustice and no other contrary definition can apply. There is no reason for all men not to support their mothers, who gave them birth and nurtured them into self supporting beings. There is no reason for men not to support their wives who they have vowed would be their other half. I just don't get men who deny women equal rights and then act like women should be grateful.
     Weak men want to control others and in this case the women are the others. Weak men think they are being strong but being strong does not mean ignoring or muscling tights away from women. Weak men will not allow themselves to grow into real men because they are used to being selfish and do not want to give away their unearned power. over women. Weak men walk a tightrope where they tell women they love them but at the same time treat women like their property. The problem is that women see the lie of weak men and will never give them the respect and honor they might otherwise have earned. Weak men live in an unsettled illusion where they see themselves as more than they really are. Real men never have to worry about illusions as they live in the real world where their souls are content.

(#5768) I am getting my power back

      Yesterday I started to feel like I was over the worst of the gut punch from the election. This morning I am really feeling much better and a bit feisty to boot! Which is what I was hoping for. Less than two weeks from the devastating news and I am almost back to normal. I like the rebound time as I wasn't sure if a rebound would even occur. Yet here I am feeling like fighting for our rights and freedoms with some power. Not my full power but a reserve of it that makes me smile, if only a little. Where I go with my new injection of strength is still undetermined but know this it will not align in any way with those forces that just crushed my soul.
     Apart from reassessing my agenda and how that looks, I will carry some known battles forward. Helping Ukraine in anyway possible will remain. Fighting for our democracy without a doubt will always be my number one mission in life. Nothing about this coming time is of a personal wishlist on my part it is all about how I can contribute to our collective desire to instill equality, liberty, freedom, justice, and fairness back into our social order. There is no time for me to think about what I personally would want in what is left of my life because I don't have a second to waste on my own selfishness. I get by well enough and somewhat better than those who are less fortunate, so no ego here.
     All of this is a new type of experience for me in that I hadn't anticipated being even more a stalwart defender of democracy. I thought, rightly so, that a new generation of determined democracy defenders would step up and continue our fight to improve our society. Yet, it seems that is not the case and more so I am left to improve myself to be even stronger in order to finally defeat the forces of hatred and ego! I needed some time to replenish my reserves and regrow a new resolve to establish who I am and what I must become to fulfill my hopes and dreams for our democracy. What I hope for is a fighting chance to survive the next four years and work to build a groundswell that will not be overcome by deception and greed for power!
     

(#5767) Moving from devastation to resolve

      It is still early days but I am starting to feel the transition from my utter disappointment and the gut punch sensation that encompasses the election result. Don't get me wrong, there is still a dumbfoundedness that will likely never be transitioned from but the cruel and brutal despair that knows what is coming has a way forward. I spoke of this in the last few posts as time. With some amount of time all will come around for me to put this crass and depressing feeling behind not only me but so many like me. Understanding that there is hope in aligning ourselves together to buttress against the worst trump will throw at us is the first line of protection that we will continually add to.
     What has happened has already happened and that helps in making the case that losing any more time to despair is not what I need. Yet my whole being is hurt and needs some kind of salve. Time is usually that salve but too much time is not healthy when a healing needs to take place with some urgency. I am not the only one who is smarting hard from disappointment. The many of us who were with me and others to work to get our candidates elected are all in the same predicament. We must all quickly process our pain and then reforge it into a burning activism that will allow us an outlet to fight with a mettle much stronger than before.
     As I am transitioning to a more battle ready individual I am finding a calmness that I hadn't expected. Instead of being angry and frustrated I am quieter and more ready to be keen and aware. My stature has moved from being shrunk toward being tall. I am not a being who is accustomed to accepting defeat no matter how hard the loss. I am a fighter who has been deeply wounded but it seems the wound is healing faster than I had imagined and I am getting stronger than before. Even though one fight ended in a crushing defeat the next fight is looming. I have a mission to protect and expand and it is our democracy. Not a perfect democracy to this point but my fight is always toward perfecting it. That is my catalyst for picking myself off the floor, dusting myself off, and then charging back into our battle to have every individual person matter.

(#5766) It is going to take a while...

      I am going to be fine in some amount of time. But knowing when is the problem. I just don't seem to want to care anymore about anything that has always been important to me for all of us. But that will pass and I will once again get on my best behavior. For now I am so gutted that it is like I need some kind of catalyst to reconnect myself with myself. I don"t like having to wait on chance or karma or fate but it seems that is what I need to jolt me back to my best self. Even knowing what I need is not enough to get me to it. I just know that in time I will find my way back. Nothing has ever changed in my life about how I care for all of us.
     I suppose it is because all of us have a major group of nincompoops that care only about themselves or have given up being informed with facts and truths instead of conveniences and laziness. Then there are those who are devoid of care for anyone other than themselves and theirs. How I work is that I want all of us to succeed in life even those who are not up to speed on that dynamic. As bright as I see what could be our future I am also aware of the pain and suffering we bring to each other and the darkness it tempers the light with. I am a human being who is emotional and caring. So when those around me are caused pain because of ignorance and/or debased concepts I build up within me a simmering not akin to hope and joy!
     But that simmering within me has no outlet so a nullification process within me needs time to get me back to my clear happy self. With the results of this last election however more time than normal is required. I will be back but not as soon as some are able to bounce back. I admire them for their ability to flush this disappointment in ways that allow them to stand and fight so quickly. I will be there but not at the moment. I cannot even find the joy to write my blog posts. I will not stop in a most foundational way but nothing much more will be coming from me for now. I do miss me and hopefully sooner than later I will be back to having fun and enjoying life as a grateful human being who knows he is fortunate to live in this existence despite its obvious flaws.

(#5765) The struggle is not for the faint of heart

      Yet, even the faint of heart learn to find a way to help. That time is not with us yet however. As we have just learned given a choice we all had to move beyond a lot of the struggle. Instead we not only kept our current hardships but are now allowing new hardships to emerge. Apparently an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is not a motto we Americans can utilize. Let me be clear here as well. We Americans are not some rough and tough creed that can shoulder burdens unlike any other nationality. I can think of one country that is so strong in character and behavior that we Americans pale when compared. The Ukrainians fighting for their very existence now for coming up on 3 years against an overwhelming brutal force.
     But as it is now we Americans must think we are rough and tough because we vote like we don't require any help for ourselves or those who are suffering. Our illogical reasoning is causing the whole of the world to backtrack into a more neanderthalian presence. Using brutality instead of wisdom is our failing but it is the path we are heading down. We will see where this strategy leaves us before we can either change it or fall victim to it. I don't have a clue what my fellow country persons are expecting but it won't be without shame and embarrassment. Yet it seems the majority are not convinced that shame and embarrassment are deterrents. Our arrogance precludes any doubt about what we think and how we act.
     When I say our when talking about the current state of affairs I am talking about the majority who voted for what the next 4 years will bring. Many of us voted against it but not enough. So in for a penny in for a pound. The minority of us will fight against the majority will in any way we can but we are not going to change the inevitable. It will happen and then we live with it until we can vote again to change it. It is my hope that our votes will actually matter but I am not convinced we will ever get a chance to vote again as a democracy without interference from those who do not want to give up power.

(#5764) Like the song lyric says, reach out of the darkness!

     I know that feeling low is a real thing and being in a low place is not healthy. Yet living in reality is what got me there. I am a human being who is affected by things that matter to me and when those things go awry so do I in some way. I know all this so it isn't some mystery to me. It is just how I am. But, it isn't a constant. I am evolving daily so what got me to a low place cannot keep me there because I am not stuck in a status quo type reality. I move on because I am evolving daily. I may not evolve quickly but I do evolve. So as I am meandering in my low spot for now I can already sense a change coming. Time is the best healer for now and the little bit of time that has passed is already working as a salve to my near fatal wound.
     I can feel the inkling of a ferocity that is welling up within me even though it is so slight at the moment. Knowing myself as I do I can be assured that this peek at a coming anger is not an illusion. It is a response to the devastation I have fought against for too much of my adult life. I won't be changing from whom I have always been. What will happen in its appropriate timing is me coming back to work to bring us back once again to a brink where next time we don't fall short. I have had the resolve to get past this type of disappointment and will again restore that energy at my full disposal. I know this because I know me. I am no quitter who will languish in sorrow. Instead I will spend time to decompress and process my failures and then lift my head ready to battle the forces that deny human and other animal rights.
     I am not there yet but I feel the resurgence however little it is for now. I am not one who takes failure well. I have been shaken to my core by it. So as the deep drop of failure has taken me down, the rising back up will also be a climb. But climb I will and when I have resteadied my footing back on solid ground the battle for the soul of humanity will once again commence from my being. My contribution for now is to allow myself some grace to mourn. The sensitivity of this failure has hit me in such an acute way as to nearly dissolve my care for what is correct and good. Nearly, is not completely. As long as there is a shred of decency left in the world I will align with it. So beware those who would unlink equality and freedom from humanity...
     

(#5763) We cannot count on a collective consciousness

      I used to think we were all basically on the same page. Logic and common sense generally in the more foundational ways included. That is what I used to think. It is evidently clear now that there is no collective consciousness that is shared. Sure some of us can find commonality within our foundational understandings but not enough of us to keep us on track to implement that consciousness into social norms. Instead what we have is a disjointed misunderstanding based upon fallacies and intentional deceptions. That we are not able to delineate fallacies and deliberate deceptions from our individual and collective consciousnesses is a major step backward in our human evolution.
     The depth and breadth of our decline is more than troubling it is dangerous. Our species had been on a path of intellectual enlightenment until we found ourselves less concerned with knowledge and more concerned with ease. Even more than ease in this case. It is a laziness of inquisitiveness and a lack of boldness to expand our futures with possibilities. We humans have lost the will to not only survive but to thrive in our universe with a conviction toward discovery. Instead we want to sit back in our comfort and live like kings and queens regardless of the current state of the unanswered problems within our societies. We have in other words reached a plateau that we are not equipped to leave.
     I don't know how we as a species can move further into our evolution. I am so flabbergasted by the end of the road of our species that I am numbed by it all. Of course I am angry and willing to continue on but unless the many of us can awaken from our what seems like to me a stupor, I know I am not strong enough to carry the weight that is getting heavier. I will always do more than my part but others need to at least do their part. It is as if having a purpose in life beyond ourselves is lost on so many that going forward together is now unachievable. I would never have guessed that our current generation would be the one that would destroy the future of humanity but it appears never has arrived.

(#5762) Marking our existence with time and behavior

      For too many the idea of our lives having some meaning beyond our own imagination is lost. I and others like me do not dismiss or ignore this idea. First let me explain what I mean by time and behavior. Time as we know it is a human construct to differentiate the changing present. Logic helps us to define time as either past, present, or future. This is important in that we are not without a capability to understand those things around us that are in continual change. By ascribing a definition of knowledge to impetus and catalysts we at times are able to predict somewhat a future round of events. Like know trajectories of space objects and if they will strike our planet in devastating ways.
     Being able to know the future in predictable ways is a benefit to the survival of our species if that is what we should choose to care about. We have built paradigms of tools that hold steadfast to logic and common sense. We have done this with our understanding that time is the key to formulating equations that remain on an even flow of consistency. For me time is more than a human construct. It is a value to the placemark where we humans exist. Another value is behavior. I am no one who believes we live in a test tube, observable by forces of perfect intellect. Yet I do believe that for me I am at a point in my life where the undefinable can be shaped through a quest for a higher order of enlightenment. I look at it this way. I am not convinced that my being able to reason, analyze, and conclude is an intentional irrational capacity.
     That is just me however. I do not adhere to tales that give me comfort, but I do imagine that an evolution within the time we human beings exist is a goal worthy of considering. I know the Universe exists and I within it. That is all I know so any preposition I would entertain must be within that parameter. That is my take on time and behavior. Time helps me to differentiate while behavior defines for me what it is to be my best human being. That is all I can contribute but it is honest and real. I hold myself accountable through what it could be like to be an honorable conscious being. There is no higher trait to me in existence than to fulfill the ideals of time and behavior within our Universe.

(#5761) I will never stop hoping for the better of human nature

      So the question now is what is the better of human nature? Compassion and curiosity. These two human traits underpin every post I have ever posted on this site. We care and we wonder. What happens when we don't care or wonder? We become the worst of what a human being will become. Much like today in our politics. Where we look to blame and punish those who are weaker and vulnerable because we collectively don't have the courage to shoulder our own responsibilities. The motto of being lesser is fine with too many of us according to the latest national voting. I am so disappointed that words are not enough to describe the gut punch I feel.
     I as an elder human being who had always thought the better of our species, now cannot justify that. I cannot say look at that achievement as evidence of our amazingness. No, I instead have to say I am sorry for my species for being so self centered and insensitive that we again collectively are choosing to harm instead of make small sacrifices for the good of all. The culprit of selfishness has become a cult like worshipping to those who somehow tell themselves they are better than other human beings based solely on some form of privilege. They feel like they deserve more and others are not allowed. Greed is also part of that selfishness and for me to understand it I find it is a lack of compassion and curiosity that has led them to that form of contradiction of theirs that is founded on fear.
     I want to make this point very clear here. I am older and clearly much closer to my end than from my beginning. So my future is not so much going to be affected as much as those who are just starting out in life. Yet I am a warning sound to those who will listen. Curiosity and compassion will fill our lives with the best of who we can be while fulfilling our capabilities to be bold and courageous with conviction. There is nothing in the world like knowing we are living as the best human being we can be despite our occasional failings. Life is short and there is not much for us to glean from to answer the great questions about life but know this! When we are living in our most honorable form we exist as a mighty being that finds happiness and contentment wherever we go and for however long that journey of ours lasts.

(#5760) Even in disaster evolution happens

      As I sit here 3 plus days later I still feel numb. Which to me is still processing even though I am going nowhere. Numbness is what I have to go through to get to something else that involves me feeling like I have been gutted like a fish ready to be thrown on the flame. Where all my emotions reside, my guts, is what has to begin again from the eviscerating gut punch that will then become a void. In some amount of time I will start to feel somewhat normal again with a new resolve bolstered by the axiom that whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger. I have been here before. Several times actually. In 2016 I went through this in a most similar way. Other times earlier in my life as well with personal relationships that absolutely caught me off guard.
     So I know this emotional phenomenon. Although I am older, I am more seasoned with experience. Which should make passing through this transition much more understandable. Yet it is the disappointment that doesn't change in intensity. But I am no novice so I will evolve to come out of this with a renewed vigor to live life with the correct principles and honorable deeds I expect from myself. In the meantime I am going through what I need to do. This numbness is at least a calm place. I know I tell myself that I should just stop caring about this existence with a naive innocence, but I don't. Because the lens of innocence is where real maturity and wisdom is revealed.
     Those who say that reality is harsh and cruel are the ones who have resolved themselves to it or are its architects. I am not one of those. I want a smile on my face and to do no harm. How hard does that sound to do? How correct does that feel to live like that? But existence does not bend to my perspective so I must endure the realities that affect me and how they make me feel. Like right now, numb! I will not surrender to those who have allowed the worst of who we are to define us. I will not allow those who cannot imagine to create what the many of us know is possible. In time I will grow into a new man with guts that fully function again. But for now I am of little use until I am back to being the best of me.

(#5759) I almost stopped this blog

      I have now posted more than 5758 blog posts since I first started in 2009. More than 15 years of almost daily blog posts. I missed on less than 10 days but posted 2 blog posts the following day of each missed day to make up for the missed days. So essentially 15 plus years of approximately at least 300 words of writing a day. Not an easy feat. Yet to get my thoughts down into some kind of record was my goal. I liked seeing how my thoughts end up as words. Well, I am not liking how my thoughts end up as words given the horrendous outcome of this last national election. I am not as enthused as when I first began, sadly.
     I think of myself as a good person who wants everyone to have that thought about themselves. Yet I find myself in a world where the less caring are more involved in the direction of our future than the more enlightened who just don't seem to care. It is an anomaly that the less courageous and brave among us are the ones who are the most vocal about how we need to stop evolving as a species. They are more cruel and brutish in their mindsets and are determined to see that any enlightenment is only allowed under considerations that do not involve the most basic concepts of liberty and freedom. Which is in contradiction to the democracy that they were given.
     I understand that growing our democracy is necessary, yet the ones who do not want our democracy to grow are all about shrinking it. I am even concerned that the end of our democracy is a reality with the outcome of this election. Which in summation is likely why I feel like ending my continuation of this blog. Yet here I am writing it with a bit of gusto as a way to explain how I feel. I suppose each day going forward will give me more insight into what I will do but for now I am stuck between the thought that my thoughts don't seem to resonate like I thought they would even though the principles of democracy and the intelligent evolution of the human species is the only quest I have ever been on.

(#5758) I have nothing this morning

      There will be no complaining nor finger pointing from me because I just feel hollow inside. Nothing brewing in me but dumbfoundedness. I have little to no cares left to give except that I have to go to work today to resume my unfulfilled existence. I have hopes and dreams within me but for now they are on hold. Just the one foot in front of the other cadence I need to continue. I have not lost my smile nor my characteristic behavior, although tempered, still there. So that is how I continue. I just meet each scenario that presents itself to me with as much good willed gusto as possible. I know changes are coming but for now they are not clearly defined and in that vacuum I will exist.
     I am not different from the many of us who expected more from all of us Americans. We really let too many of us down while as well dismissing the hopeful feelings of the world who look to us to carry the banner of freedom and equality. The numbing will eventually fade and a new rallying will emerge but for these early days the hope of our American democracy has taken a big hit. I will apologize to the world and my similar minded fellow Americans who fought hard to keep our democracy intact. We did not fail to organize and present our arguments for preserving our democracy to all who would listen. The problem is that even though hearing our plea for justice and honor it was not acted upon. Too many did not bother to give their voice to a vote so we lost by default to the monsters who will now have their way with us and the world at large.
     We just went through terror from 2017 to 2021 but it seems that we Americans are not able to remember the horror of that time perpetrated by the same person who is now going to do an even more cruel job of it for the next 4 years. I would say we deserve what we do to ourselves but not all of us. Some of us are constantly reminding our citizenry of what is nobly possible and we are not given the respect of that effort in votes. Instead we are ignored and then the worst comes about. I know we Americans have been given great things from our foreparents but it seems that we are unable to appreciate them like they deserve to be appreciated. The hardships are coming again instead of the great things that could have been. Self inflicted wounds seem to be the new American motto.

(#5757) Very sad

      I had hoped we as a country were ready to move forward on equal rights for our women. They are human beings as well and deserve every right that any man would have. Yet it seems it is not to be this time either. Coincidentally it was trump who denied both, Kamala 2024 and Hillary 2016, with his interpretation of a macho man. He isn't macho in the sense of strength and decency only in cruelty and divisiveness. Yet it seems he has rightly gauged the American electorate at its core since he has pulled off another victory. His unfailing disdain for all things that do not herald him as some kind of savior will be a brutish penalty for we who are defenders of democracy will have to pay.
     It is early this morning so I am still wrapping my head around the disappointment of again losing an opportunity to build upon the principles of equality and justice but it seems that America is not the beacon we had hoped we would be. There will be some changes to our form of democracy and it will be a lessening change not an expansive change. The trump people will work to dismantle more freedoms and liberties over the next at least 2 years. What that will look like given no unforeseen events will add to the disappointment many of us share. It rather sickens me that the real despots of the world are celebrating the trump victory and our allies are left wondering what to do about us now. As if they didn't have enough to worry about with putin and xi and their cabal of like minded tyrants.
     This post is not one I looked forward to making but despite my preference to ignore it for as long as I felt this disappointment I knew I had to at least say something about what happened last night. I won't do the comparison with 2016 because that is just piling on more injury. I will say though that I will fight on and continue to work to get my fellow countrymen/women to understand that harm is not the answer to whatever ails us. We must not make pain for others because we are angry or indifferent. our species is an amazing phenomenon but unless we recognize our unique value to each other we will go by the wayside with all other species who have had a chance to evolve into something much more enlightened than we currently exhibit.

(#5756) 0 days left

     We have arrived at election day. 82,713,594 as of last night around 10:30 pm, this was the early vote total. What the election day total will be is still to be determined but I suspect that it will be huge. Either huge or small it is here and what it tells us by the end of the day will have an effect on whether we keep our democracy or not. I and others have been sounding this alarm bell for decades concerning the direction of the republican party. They finally got the candidate they wanted who is more sociopath than empathetic. He is an image they prefer to project as strong and brutish. A brute who is not about what humanity demands, only what lust, greed, and power may provide.
     On the other hand we have the democrat who is so kind and helpful that she is the polar opposite of what the republicans drool over. Their cruelty is there credo, while compassion is ours. We who are democrats and now showing more independents stand behind what is best about our people. The welcoming spirit that is encouraging and positive. We democrats realize this about existence, it is short in duration for our individual beings so living in a just and respected world is an imperative. We do not waste time on being cruel to people because we can be like republicans, we instead focus on how to help others achieve their dreams like we wish to achieve ours. Again, life is too short to be doing harm.
     Today is the day we who have not voted get to go and express our voice about our present and future. Tonight is the time when we count those voices in the form of votes and see how we are to proceed with our American dream. The pursuit of our individual and collective happinesses is taking shape on this election day and may we all be gifted with another 4 years of forward evolving democracy. That is my hope and I do believe the hope of most Americans. We will know soon enough as there will be no more voting after tonight. The American dream of democracy that our foreparents fought and died for is on the line today. Us even having a chance to vote to protect democracy is a testament to the past efforts of our foreparents that allow us to honor the love of their great sacrifice.

(#5755) 1 day left

     This is the last day before the election tomorrow on Tuesday. If you need to vote tomorrow and need to call in sick or unavailable then do it if it means you won't be able to vote. Missing time from work if it comes down to that is far more important because of the stakes of this election. Every single vote matters when we are in an all out blitz to save our democracy! Every vote matters! It seems that the forces of destruction to our country are not going to stop regardless of how vile and oppressive they are so we who love our freedom must never give them a chance to take from us the most precious gift ever given by our foreparents. Freedom is ours, not some billionaires backed tyrant's idea of how to control us!
     As of this morning more than 78 million votes have already been counted as cast. Which is approximately half of the total votes cast in 2020. This is a remarkable number and shows that our electorate is keen to get their votes secured as cast. Now come election day the lines will be long in some areas but a large portion of those people who would have been in those lines will not be there allowing for shorter wait times and more participation. Early voting is proper when some states make it hard to vote. We cannot practice our democracy fully when we allow voting obstruction of any citizen from having a voice in their future.
     1 day left to do something until election day is upon us. I will be paying attention to turnout rates all day tomorrow while also listening for any obstruction by right wing republicans who make it a point to deny voters access to the voting booths. I do believe proper precautions are in place and ready to be implemented wherever they are needed. The necessity of caution is caused by the violent rhetoric the republicans seem to foster. We democrats and independents will not tolerate being bullied or otherwise dissuaded from voting. The one single right we have is to exert our lives into our own existence and we in America do that through voting. If anyone sees obstructive behavior anywhere please contact the authorities and continue to demand your right to vote!

(#5754) 2 days left

      With 2 days left until election day it seems that the floodgates may be opening for a Harris landslide. Appears is the key word here. With the new Iowa poll stating that Harris is actually up 3 points has triggered a mad defense by the traditional pollsters who vehemently disagree. I find it interesting though that the trump friendly pollsters, who are lacking a genuine objectivity, are jumping to try to destroy one of the most accurate pollsters over the last 10 years. Instead what I find is a chaotic group of trump friendly pollsters reacting to their own failures by blaming someone who is a tried and true prognosticator.
     It is all just polling and not actual votes but polling does give us an indication as to the mood of the electorate. I have already expressed my opinion about the trump friendly pollsters and their inescapable bending of facts to fit their narrative. So I don't give them a lot of credence. But like all things I will at least listen to their grievances before dismissing their illogic. The Iowa polling does reflect the general mood of the country given the nasty and disgusting behavior of the right wing candidate trump. From Shakespeare's play Hamlet, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks”, sufficiently covers how I feel about nate silver et al. The trump friendly pollsters are working overtime on this Iowa poll to make it seem like an outlier when in fact it seems more true than not given the ongoing enthusiasm for Harris.
     We are down to 2 days left until election day arrives. The pro Harris Iowa poll is a harbinger for things to come. It establishes an inkling into our mindsets that even nate silver's own admission of a polling error may end up with one of the candidates winning in a landslide. Albeit, I don't think silver was alluding to Harris but despite his preference for trump, contrarily, we are seeing and feeling a landslide for Harris much to his chagrin. We the good common people of America are not beholden to those forcing their opinions through narratives of illogic that financially benefit them. Instead we are sure and true in our simple quest to keep our democracy safe and protected with a leader we can be proud to call President. By my reckoning that President will be Kamala Harris.

(#5753) 3 days left

      This is the last weekend before the end of voting on Tuesday. The majority of us who have been anxious to cast our ballots are now focusing on doing what we can to help Harris get across the victory threshold. Whether knocking on doors in swing states or calling voters in swing states and everywhere else a Democrat needs extra help to secure a victory, our mission is coming to an end Tuesday evening. One final push to get every voter to vote is here and we all need to do what we can to make sure we have done all we can. There is no do over after Tuesday so now is the time to finish what we started and then late Tuesday evening wait for the counting of votes to begin.
     Several ongoing historic events are about to unfold and like most things American, they will be trendsetting events. I will leave them for now and wait until we actually get them before elaborating but suffice it to say this election may well be unlike any we have ever had. The two candidates will continue their closing arguments for why we should give them our votes this weekend and on into Monday. Come Tuesday the campaigning will wind down with either or both candidates pushing their message out into the public square as voters are voting. This election has been so consequential to our form of government that hopefully more voters will have voted to reflect the immensity of the moment.
     In 3 days the votes will start to come in and the majority of us will be watching from wherever we are to see the fruits of our hopes achieved. I know this will be difficult to watch for me because it is so deeply personal to me as an advocate who has spent much of his life doing what I can do to keep our democracy alive. Nothing in this existence as a thought of any higher order compares. My life and how I feel are personal to me but our democracy is even more than personal, it is worthy of me existing in the first place. So when I see threats to it there are no bounds to my approach in life that would keep me from dropping everything I am doing to put my full attention into combating the threat. The value of our democracy goes well beyond merely existing. It is why I exist! Vote for Democrats everywhere!

(#5752) 4 days left

      This is it. We are in the home stretch with the finish line just in front of us. Like any foot race the last several feet are the most critical. We cannot relent in our full out sprint to the finish. The only way to make sure we democrats with Vice President Harris win is to forget about that finish line and run full speed until we are well past it. There cannot be any slowing down for fear that we will be caught from behind. I expect us to win handily but I know better than to believe that until the race is done. Then we can tabulate the votes and see our result. At this point all we can do is give everything we have and leave nothing in reserve.
     There is still time to knock on doors in battleground states. There is still time to phone bank everywhere we can for the sake of not only electing Harris but to give her both a House of Representatives and Senate majority. We can get our vote out by helping our friends and neighbors get to their voting precincts for in person voting. We can use our voices in our communities to uplift the vision of Harris while denouncing the disparity of republican talking points aimed at dividing us. Our commitment to electing Kamala Harris to the presidency must not falter however we are doing whatever we can to elect her. We must not give up on our quest for a Harris victory until we actually have it.
     There is too much at stake. Either we build on the sound democratic principles established in our constitution through amendments and laws or we destabilize all our nation has strived and fought to achieve. Harris will keep our nation on the pathway of equality, freedom, justice, and opportunity while trump has pushed ahead with his plan to destroy our rights and freedoms by undermining our constitution. That trump wants to make himself a sole ruler like his tyrant friends by subjugating our citizenry under terms he defines, is in contrast to Harris who wants us to define our terms and she will through the constitution, defend them. The choice is remarkably simple, either we elect a wannabe tyrant or we elect a true defender of the people!