The necessity of reclaiming democratic control of Congress (#3421)

     The infiltration of Russian actors into our political system is without doubt. But the republicans who benefit from it are not going to purge them from our internal process. That republicans were/are so desperate to keep what power they currently have is the reason for their looking the other way at the Russian influence. This should tell you all you need to know about how republicans view our American democracy. But if you are unclear let me sum it up for you. The republican party prefers power and wealth over democracy and their collusion with Russian operatives to thwart the will of the American people is secondary to their own greed and selfishness. I will go so far as to call them traitors when the evidence shows they lied and obstructed the truth.
     So it is with no doubt that the saving grace for our democracy will take place on November 6th, 2018, just 146 days from now. The catch phrase all year long has been a building blue wave for democrats to win the election in November and put the trump and republican leaders under a microscope so as to identify and remove the cowards who sold our democracy to a foreign hostile power. Once we get clear headed investigations through the investigative powers of Congress the quicker we can get at the truth of things and begin to heal our nation of the cowardly complicity republicans and the trumps, whom they are currently operating under.
     The bill is due for republicans and on November 6th, the bill must be paid. I have come to completely believe that American politicians from the republican party here in our great democracy are undermining our form of government. Because the proof is in the doing and republicans and trump have shown us the doing, so we must stop them from doing any more harm. That we have to put up with it for 146 more days is the pits but we have weathered it for the last 500 plus days so we can make it if all we patriots of American democracy will not only stand firm our ground but start to take ground back. We can still protest and march as rallying points to effectively show the world that trump and republicans are not who the majority of us Americans are!

We can all be heroes in our own lives (#3420)

     We don't need to be the heroes of the world or of a greater paradigm than the one we live. But we need to be the heroes of at least our lives. We have to be the example that others see and then want to emulate. The reason why is that our species needs to find its purpose beyond that of just surviving and all that selfishness that goes with it. We are not the lower animals scrambling for our place in the sun anymore. We are the giants who have slowly risen from that scrambling scenario to one where we control not only our own destiny but the destiny of the lower animals. So as we go all of life as we know it goes. There is no other higher real life being that exists in our environment than us.
     So how we choose to live our lives is our choice regardless of how we were brought up or how we were indoctrinated into any specific thought patterns. Our freedom to know is what sets us apart. We are not inhibited by an inability to attain knowledge unless we allow ourselves to be. This is where we begin to establish our trust in our own good and honorable natures. Sure we have negative impulses to satisfy wants and lusts but they are only impulses and are not ordered as who we are. We all share in the struggle to lift our better natures above the lesser worse natures we all have to battle. But in the battling we find victory and from victory we inculcate that victorious nature to a behavior within our core that is comfortable and a source of a humble pride.
      Then we live like the masters of what is right and good as a nature that is both foundational and correct for our species to exemplify. By doing like they say in several self help programs, "do the next right thing" and after a bit the succession becomes so natural that doing the next right thing is all we know how to do. Being a hero is simple in the concept of standing and acting on behalf of not only ourselves to protect what is great and good but also standing for others when they can barely crawl to protect what is better and best about themselves. All of this doing good is part of us feeling good and when we all feel good many great things can happen for all of us together.

If you don't think for yourself someone else will (#3419)

     For all of you lazy ass people who like the illusion of being in the know without actually being in the know this blog post is for you. You know who you are. You are the ones who are always looking for the shortcut to a conclusion without actually having to logically arrive at one on you own. Because it is real work putting the premises in front of the conclusion, so you cheat and let someone else tell you their conclusion despite them having no premises either. Mostly though you just hope to hear an outcome that closely reflects your prejudices and biases and then adopt it as your own. See, shortcuts to solutions because you are either too lazy to think it out for yourself or are too proud to admit you don't know how to think out a logical conclusion of your own.
     Mostly it is laziness though. I say that because most of us think we are too busy or too important to stoop to the mundane task of thinking about non profitable equations. Stuff that doesn't immediately effect our bank accounts is of a lesser concern or no concern at all. So we let others think about how to run our democracy and trust that they have our best intentions at hand. Although that may be time efficient, it is trust misplaced. Especially with the republican party doing your thinking. they spend an inordinate amount of time telling you half truths and outright lies while they sneak around behind everyone's back trying to destroy the working middle poor class by taking away health care, social security and other necessary programs aimed at shrinking poverty.
     It isn't amazing to me that I spend most of my time fact checking claims by republicans that democrats are doing nefarious things. However when the fact checking is done it is republicans that are the ones doing the wrongs. It is real simple folks, check the claims yourself and don't rely on me. You will find the same results since the facts of truth don't change. But again, check for yourself and then get into the habit of fact checking anything that seems fishy. There is no other way to know the truth if you care to be honest. That may be the problem with many of us though, whether we care enough to be honest. In the end the will of our nation is to be defined and already knowing what we know do we keep the republicans in power to continue to destroy our working middle poor class or do we kick them out with a ferocity reserved for the worst of the human experience?

The world is no longer astonished at our scoundrel appointed leader (#3418)

     There are no more character flaws for the civilized world to discover about trump. He has displayed so many of them to the rest of the elected leaders of the world and they now know who he is and what he is incapable of. Yes, his inabilities far outweigh his abilities, of which there are very few. The rest of the world knows now that trump's America is a scourge on the modern future of our planet and they are making plans to work without us to keep the progressive agenda moving forward. We need the rest of the world to do this and the majority of us Americans are with them and against trump. There is little we can do to take trump from the leadership of our nation as a willing accomplice republican party protects the diabolical nature trump prefers.
     So it isn't just trump that must go. In a few months we will have a general election where we can remove so many of trump's enablers that his appointed presidency will shatter if he is able to survive Mueller and finish out his last term to 2020. Because it will be his last term since his abject failure as a leader is clear. But in the meantime we can do much to begin the process of regaining our allies in the rest of the world by voting for democrats to remove republicans from public office everywhere they hold a seat come this November 6th. Never before 2016 has it been so obvious to me that our democratic voters need to get out and vote. No more ignoring the reality of a failed American nation if we don't remove the worst stain on American politics since before our modern era.
     We must take a cue now from our allies in the world and ignore the ramblings of the want to be demigod trump and make our own path back to a stable and functioning democracy. That the republican party has sold it's soul to the malicious heart of trump politics can never again be rewarded. Our own personal gains that may come about through the selfishness of the trump agenda can never be measured as more than the destruction he heaps upon the working middle poor class. If we do not move beyond our own personal gains despite the destruction being done then we are doomed as a nation that has any value of honorable purpose. For those of you who could care less about anything that doesn't line your pocket then I wish upon you a fate more painful than your worst nightmare tenfold!

Physical threats from the right wing (#3417)

     I find it amusing that the right wing is threatening the rest of us if we find that trump has violated the law or the constitution. As is rightly so we liberals and many independents are a civil and peaceful seeking lot. We would rather reason and discuss those things that separate us so as to find common ground and close gaps that are more illusion than real. Yet there are times when the ideal of compromise or logical acceptance of facts is impossible and an impasse has arrived. For the most part a detente is successful in maintaining the impasse until more facts and common sense can prevail. yet in some cases the other side, much like the right wing of American politics chooses to attempt to force their will on the rest of us despite their illogical stance.
     So when these times come about I have a message for the right wing that surely they are unaware of. We liberals and many independents choose to be civil and logical because we appreciate the rule of law, our constitution and the nature of physics and science. However, should the right wing, like they are now exhibiting fail to stay within the bounds of civility and logic, they will find that we are just as rabid about protecting those paradigms as they are in trying to destroy them. Not only that but we are much more prepared to do any type of battle with them because we understand that force and bullying are precursors to chaos and chaos is not anything a civilization can operate under.
     So as the right wing tries to bully us into their illogical will they will find that we will stand up to them and bare knuckle their faces like they never dreamed could be possible. Let there be no doubt about this, we liberals and many independents are just as capable if not more of protecting civilization through brute force as the right wing is at tearing it apart. So if it is a fight they want with us we will gladly meet them in any alley or street and proceed to show them that a purpose such as protecting our democracy is far and away a greater motivation for us than their strategy to tear down the most precious and dear democracy the world has ever known. Bring it on if you dare right wing!

Democrats national message for the midterms (#3416)

     We know that just being anti trump isn't going to be enough to sway voters to come out and vote. But don't get me wrong here, it will be a significant factor. But being anti trump and anti republican will only get us so far. We need to let everyone know what we democrats stand for. Like increasing the minimum wage to a livable wage. Too often too much there are those who struggle with one two and three jobs just to keep even when the idea of getting ahead is beyond them. Working for $7.25 and hour as the national minimum wage is currently will only secure that poverty will be a way of life and not a pathway toward anything resembling a middle class status.
     Another policy we advocate for is improving health care so that more are covered with more efficient spending to that end. Advancing women's rights and improving education for our children is as well a high priority. Removing weapons that resemble military usage from our streets and restricting ownership from those whose mental instability can be measured. What I hope more than most things to be done is to remove private money from our politics. We need to elect our best most brightest folks to public office, not just those who can afford to run. In that way we get to elect our representatives based upon their ideas for our democracy and our electorate.
     Eliminating the albatross of student debt from our children and their parents would go a long way toward our nation revitalizing it's innovative and creative paradigm. Making all public college free of tuition is an investment in the real strength of our national identity, our ability to reason and conclude on our own without hindrance. There are many more economic and social values we would protect and create in order to keep our equality of opportunity and our right to be free as who we are as a person. We democrats are the party of all the people and highlighting our foundation to improve lives instead of punishing them like republicans do will only help us build that blue wave we all are counting on to end the draconian reign of the conman trump and his lackey republican enablers.

Butthurt republicans can't breathe with trump in the room (#3415)

     The war going on in the republican party is about ego. What republicans did by getting trump appointed as president is backfiring on them in ways they had not thought about. They didn't realize just how deranged with ego that trump was and is. So when trump is in the room there is no room for anyone else to breathe since he requires all the oxygen. So what we have is people who are otherwise prone to being egomaniacs in the republican party being shut down by their puppet. This is the war between the delusionally great and powerful trumps and the delusionally great and powerful ones who made him so. It will be interesting to watch this play out since if trump is fighting his own party, he has less time to figure out ways to destroy American democracy and blame the working middle poor class for it.
     I for one hadn't thought about this either. I assumed like most rational people that once appointed as president, trump would fall in line behind the agenda of the treacherous ones who backed him. But that is not the case. Instead, trump is devising his own agenda based upon his ego and it telling him he is an anointed one. So those who are beneath him, his own backers included should bow down to him, just like he demands of us liberals and independents. This is not going well for him because his backers are just like him in the ego department and their ego will not allow them to bow to anyone, especially one who they installed to be their whipping boy.
     For the rest of us though, this is a silver lining that we needed to get us through the summer and into the fall election season. There will be much fallout over the battle for ego control and neither trump nor his initial backers are of the type to back down. So as the republican party continues to undermine it's own power we liberals and independents need to form an alliance that not only agrees that republicans have nothing for us but that we need to vote this coming election in such a fashion that republicans are bushwhacked and beaten into irrelevance. While republicans are fighting each other the rest of us can get our national and state governments back into a form that serves all Americans and not just the egomaniacs.

Obstacles in California removed from derailing the blue wave (#3414)

     Last night here in my home state of California, the path appears to be cleared for a democrat to be in every race for a congressional district seat. The worry was with so many democrats running in districts that were republican last time that a single democrat would not be able to make the top two vote getters in the primary. Our California primaries allow for all parties to run in a single primary. We don't have primaries for democrats and primaries for republicans. We have one primary and may the best two candidates win, regardless of party affiliation. So when there are numerous democratic candidates running in a district previously held by a republican it wouldn't be hard to think of a very real scenario where only two republicans get the most votes by percentage.
     Well that didn't happen but just barely didn't happen. So a relief this morning is felt by all of us democrats who worried over this for the past several months. We did lose a democratic state senator to recall in a republican district because he voted for our last gas tax and that was unfortunate but we admire his stance to vote for Californians instead of voting for the wealthy's pocketbook. In the future his honorable nature will be rewarded. All in all though there were 4 races that were a concern of being locked out for democrats but to all our relief here and across the nation the 4 were not and all 4 of them will have a democratic challenger for voters to appraise.
     What could have been a deterrent for our coming blue has now been eliminated. There are 7 congressional seats that are an even bet or better for democrats here to flip from republican to democrat and that is still the case. Those 7, if flipped, would go a long way toward making sure that we democrats end up in the majority in the House and a real clear rebut to trump and his democracy busting agenda. There is still much work to be done and the focus on getting our vote out is still priority number one but at least the path toward our future is cleared of any obstacles before we start on it. A happy day today and a better chance tomorrow for our democratic futures.

Good will triumphs over no will (#3413)

     46.9% of our American electorate did not bother to vote in the 2016 presidential election, https://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a8265143/almost-half-eligible-voters-did-not-vote-election-2016/. For whatever reasons one doesn't vote there are ten reasons why they should. First and foremost is to protect the right to vote. I know many held the belief that voting for the lesser of two evils was a waste of time. Well those who thought like that were hoodwinked into believing a lie. In no way shape or form was Clinton an evil of the nature of what trump is. Yet our large, always looking for a shortcut population, fell for the lies of people they choose to blindly trust instead of verify.
     Then there are the rabid believers who watch fox news like it is a staple of life. I shake my head at that one because they truly are sheep like. I learn my own facts about subjects, right or wrong, I let the facts dictate the truth. I don't abdicate my own reasoning, again as a shortcut, so that I can appear to know what I think is the truth because it fits what I want to believe. I let the chips fall where they may given the truth of things, not my hope for the truth. Yet too many of us rely on fox news as if it was a daily blood transfusion. How did we become a nation of people who hate rather than try to understand? Why did we choose to create problems instead of solving them with dignity and respect?
     What I mostly see is the will to have no will about what really matters in life, our emotions tied to our well being. Many choose not to care about anything that doesn't affect them directly. The old selfish saw of "only me and who cares about you". Well that may be a symptom we are now living with but there is a cure for it and the cure is to practice and perform good will. Good will goes an extra effort to try to make things right instead of making or letting them become worse. Good will is patient and truthful when the sacrifice of the one benefits the many. Or even when the sacrifice of the many benefits the one. As my many years on this planet have taught me, good will is nurtured within those who know what it feels like to have been beaten down by the takers and then lifted up by the givers with compassion and respect. I love the feeling good will brings and no other feeling is quite like it.

The constant awkward fumblings of trump are not excusable! (#3412)

     Those that surround trump are his voice when it comes to his ineptitude. So is their complicity in his crimes. In both intentional and unintentional means the crowd around trump are keeping our democracy from protecting itself. It is bad enough that the ego maniac trump has no sense of moral and ethical duty to our constitution but his closest allies are as bad if not worse. They protect their new found moment in the limelight like it is their destiny and if not more so their way to profit from the disaster we know as trump. The dregs of what it is to be human are now in control and it is disgusting that it has come about.
     We Americans are fortunate though to have the means of government outside the ramblings and incoherence of trump and his sycophants to fall back on but they are still precarious around the want-to-be-dictator trump. That trump sees himself above the law and able to do anything, including murder without consequence is the jist of my point here. No longer do we Americans have a leader who is supposed to be leading the citizens of our nation, we have instead a narcissistic faux demigod who is not satisfied with earning respect, honor and dignity. Instead he demands it and if it isn't given his abilities in being a petty backstabber often comes out.
     So no quarter can be given to the fool who is our president through appointment and any and all who would apologize for him and are doing themselves and others a disservice. There is no place in our national leadership for con men and demented thinkers yet that is what we have today and in 155 days hopefully we won't have nearly as many of them. Let me be perfectly clear, this whole nightmare of an election from 2016 was made possible by the republican party. The republican party that now holds majorities in Congress, the Supreme Court and holds the Presidency. If we do not make them pay this coming November 6th for their transgressions against democracy, the rule of law and common decency then we deserve them!

The dictator trump (#3411)

     He never saw himself as the leader of the free democratic world. Instead he saw a chance to make himself king and all he does is aimed at doing just that. That trump thinks he can get away with it demonstrates just how fragile republican politics are. Since the republicans control the majority in the Congress and now the Supreme court it is upon them to stop trump. But from what we have seen there is little resistance to trump and his glorified thronely ambitions. Of course there are a few who are standing up to him from the republican party but they are being drowned out by his rabid supporters. It is because they know that without trump and his ability to lie steal and cheat with colluding there would not be much power for them.
     So they have thrown there support to trump and his democracy crushing agenda. Well in 156 days we the American electorate get a say in how much power republicans can continue have. When the blue wave election comes it should be sufficient to change majorities in both the houses of Congress. While it can do little to nothing about the Supreme Court it can stop the republicans from seating unqualified candidates to federal judgeships. But in 156 days we democrats, independents and fair minded republicans of which there are fewer and fewer by the day must turn out and vote every where in our nation on November 6th. It will be then that the steps of trump toward a dictatorship like his hero putin can be fully stopped.
     We will likely have to put up with trump for the following 2 years after the elections in November but with a democratic Congress we can make sure that trump is held to account for all his numerous violations of his oath to our constitution. He must be held accountable otherwise his dirty dealings will go as a reward and further encourage future dishonorable intentions. It sickens me that an American who has had the benefit of our democracy throughout his life would now want to take it from the rest of us and enrich himself both financially and in an egomaniacal way. The desperation that his republican conspirators are exhibiting must also be checked and their intentional choice to enable trump must also be put to the test of criminal law. The little can't be dictator trump is a stain on our American democracy that will be felt for by our citizenry for centuries.

We liberals are an indomitable spirit (#3410)

     Try as they might, republicans will never be able to put we the American people under their yoke of hatred and condescension. What republicans have been doing for the last forty plus years is to slowly cook us unaware metaphorical frogs in the growing heat within the cauldron. Well, unlike frogs we humans feel the heat and will not let republicans get to boiling us to death. We may take a bit to get started in our defense because for one thing we find it hard that the republican party would collude to destroy our democracy from within and as well we are so busy with our lives we often don't notice when we are being deliberately hoodwinked.
     Well we are noticing now and as well we are finding out to our incredulity that the republican party is being complicit in a coup against American democracy. We are no longer in the stage of stunned disbelief, we are now in the stage where we rustle up our sleeves and ball our fists. The anger that is permeating our society is as real as the dirt on the ground. It is real and it is coming to find those republicans who would take what our foreparents gave us through sacrifice and love and it will bring a heavy hand down on their heads. There will be little quarter given to those who find their wallets of a greater value than our democracy.
     I will not entertain here what is going to happen once we liberals unleash our indomitable spirit toward fairness and justice but suffice it to say that when the time comes make sure that you are on the working middle poor class side of it. Because the price for the republican attempts to undermine our democracy will be swift and merciless. There is no other way to treat the criminal intent of human behavior than to make an example of it when it comes to this greed and hatred. The end of it must be our goal and for there to be any who gets away with it to survive the coming purge would be a detriment to all of us. We must celebrate those who live up to the great standards of our democracy and a reckoning to those who don't of an unequivocal proportion who would and are stealing from the legacy of opportunity for all, fairness and justice.

I still feel like a teenager even though I am old (#3409)

     I have been a single man my whole life and although there were a couple of marriage possibilities along the way I never did tie the knot. So girlfriends have come and gone and there were periods of drought on that subject for me as well but one thing that has stayed constant since my youth, a need and a want to embrace a woman with desire if she kindles my soul. When I was a young teenager and making out was all that was on my mind, I felt the same passion then as I do now when I see a woman whose soul aligns with mine. Not just attraction for the sake of attraction but the kind of invisible bonding that only occurs when there is no preconceived notion beyond the simple stirring of a host of intangibles.
     I used to be like most all males who looked solely at outside beauty as the marker for attraction. But I have grown from my base adolescent desires to a more complex deternininer of attraction. The woman has to be as real, honest, curious and compassionate as I. The intellectual and emotional factors are as important as any physical appearance. So when I do meet a woman who aligns with my soul I find that I want to be just like that teenager I was and make out with her with a passion as strong as my earlier teenage fumblings. It is a wonderful feeling to know that life within me is constant in some areas despite the aging process.
     Now let me explain one thing first. I am 62 but even though that is reality, I don't really think of myself as old although I am looking like it ever more with the passage of time. There are times when I feel like a child and despite my current age it is real within me. So for me to have the stirrings of being attracted to a woman like a teenager is confirmation that although I am more mature, I am still young at heart and haven't lost my desire to share moments of intimacy when those moments present themselves. I like this and although it wasn't easy to write about this I think I got my message through without making it creepy or disingenuous.

5 months and 6 days until the midterms (#3408)

     In all it is 159 days and everyone of them is excruciating waiting for that day when we can finally vote for democrats everywhere. The time we have already spent under a republican regime has been insufferable and although there is still time for them to make our lives even more miserable the light at the end of the tunnel keeps getting brighter. So our hope is not lost or crushed like republicans had hoped but instead has been strengthened by our coming together to fight against the unethical and debased republican party. Our fight is not over by any means and will not be over after the midterms but if our blue wave hits like I and others think it will the fight will be reinforced by new democrats who will not tolerate the cruelty that trump continues to direct at our working middle poor class.
     Even if trump survives the Mueller investigation, the Stormy Daniels affair, the Emoluments lawsuit and the numerous claims against him for sexual abuse, he will be so weakened by our blue wave election that his ability to punish us for standing up for our rights will be moot. He will be nothing more than a spoiled child presenting one tantrum after another when he finds out that his ability to shape destructive policies will be muted. His time then spent as president will be just as sufferable for him as he made it for us the first 2 years. The midterms will bring about a political balance that will allow us majority of Americans to survive the ego of trump and his leftover cabal of conspirators in the republican party.
     Never have I felt so determined and grateful for a coming election. That the last general election was manipulated such that a thing like trump could be installed was incomprehensible yet it did occur and it is to our eternal shame here in America that it did. But a reckoning for that event is coming and it won't be any less than convincing that even when we Americans make a mistake we are surely quick to rectify it. To treat the majority of us so badly because he can is the worst of what we Americans stand for and standing up to trump and his vile petty soul is what is going to happen in 159 days. Nothing else is more important that this coming election, nothing! All of us must put it as our main priority above our own wants and needs and our own precious distractions when our democracy is in such jeopardy as it is today.

I am more than a bleeding heart liberal, I am human! (#3407)

     Being a person who cares about others is not a bad thing. In fact it is being what we are as humans. So when some smart ass jerk republicans accuse me of being a bleeding heart liberal, I remember that it is they that have a problem expressing their emotions and they are the ones with the problem. Because we humans have compassion as a foundational trait and when others do not express their care they are either socio/psychopaths or are in a state of denial and repression. How can one live their life being a homosapien and not actually be human? It is a war of denial that cannot end well for the individual and those around that individual.
     We humans nurture our young and strive for love throughout our whole lives. What part does being compassionate do republicans not get? In fact how can any human who is not mentally deranged justify not caring for others? The stone cold attribute of hate seems to be the filter by which many republicans see the world. Yet, even republicans are human so why would they allow themselves the disservice of denying it? Do they think they won't be seen as tough enough? Well to me they are showing cowardice by not being who they are to justify some view they want others to have of them. Do they really think that "tough love" is the only path toward a righteous life? Well belief systems can do that to people, take what is good in life and twist it into something unrecognizable.
     Although I am human and respect the feelings I have because of my humanity, I find that I can be cruel to some who I find dishonor goodness. Yet even then I admonish myself and remember that if I allow myself to be like those who I disdain, I am not honorable myself. So it is a choice to live as a human being and if we don't choose to do that then we are the weak link in the human evolutionary chain. Life as a human is a gift to me and as such I treat that gift with humility and boldness. I bask in what it is to be human and am not ashamed to proclaim that nothing about being human is less than denying it when it is of our nature that exemplifies our honor and nobility as a species.

The blue wave is coming no matter what polling the republicans do! (#3406)

     I have seen this trick before. The republican party comes out with polling that makes them look good while diminishing the democratic party. It is so blase anymore to me. I know one thing very surely, that the democratic blue wave will hit republicans and sink them with their false hope. You cannot demean and hurt the vast majority of the American voting public and expect that we will reward you. It is idiotic and self serving to suggest that we enjoy being punished for being alive. Never in the recorded history of the human experience has grinding people down ever made them whole. But what will make us whole is the end of republican politics and the ousting of their leaders!
     We are Americans first, not the proxies of Russia or any other power based group that is devoid of democratic principles. On the contrary, we are defenders of democracy and the enemies of those who would take our democracy away. Such is the republican party and it's bloodlust for power and control beyond democracy. The time for expecting the blue wave to diminish is gone. It will occur and it will drown out those who would undermine it. So let the republicans believe that their positions of power are secure and we will continue to build our wave so that the effect of it come November 6th is not only unprecedented but without a doubt convincing!
     What republicans can control is the ability to manipulate the media and flood the airwaves with propaganda. It is the first and only defense they have since their policies are not only bad for America, but terrible for the American working middle poor class. The only ones who benefit from republican politics are the wealthy and the powerful. That there is an undercurrent of stupidity supporting republican politics that actually hurts them in their support is nevertheless incapable of deterring the coming blue wave. Those who are in the working middle poor class who support trump with vitriol and hatred will find that they are once again in the minority but the difference now will be that we know who they are.

The material world versus the humble world (#3405)

     Stuck in a situation where you have to keep doing bad or wrong things because your material world dictates it? Where you cannot stop doing what you are doing or you will lose all or most of your material wealth and comfort? More often than not that is why many do bad or wrong. It is a cycle that cannot be broken because the nature of it demands it. So what do you do with your conscience? Most practice a response to cognitive dissonance that underplays the truth and enhances the immediate necessary. In other words, they deny themselves of right so that they can continue to maintain their wealth and comfort. I see it everyday in our society at all levels. A justification, regardless how inept in order to maintain and validate their choices.
     It is as if there is a knee jerk reaction to protect wealth more so than to protect the truth. So on the scale of dearness it seems that the truth is not as high a priority as wealth accumulation and maintenance. I get that the tangibility of wealth, or the lack thereof, is important, yet do not our principles for life matter any less when all is said and done? What is material wealth in contrast to having strived to live a good and honest life for the most part? I am no genius nor brilliant mind and as such my chances of acquiring wealth through merit and creative thinking is and was close to nil. I choose to live a life that does not lie, cheat or steal to acquire wealth so the only other avenue would have been through some magnificent concept coupled with the industriousness to make it happen. It was not in me to attempt.
     But given another option for my life, I was able to achieve a much more satisfying paradigm. I choose to be a good person and forego the trappings and siren call of wealth. I don't have the cognitive dissonance moments because my choices are based on my principles for living which are closer to honorable than not. I am no perfect soul yet my striving to be the best of who I am precludes me from chasing material wealth. I am truly a simple man who wants for little, especially when so many have none. My life is mine and what happens within it belongs to me and in no scenario would I ever let the whirligig of the often chaotic material world dictate to me what the truth is outside of what the truth actually is.

Defending goodness builds a healthy mind (#3404)

     This dog eat dog mantra of the survival of the fittest republicans is so antiquated and decrepit. It harkens back to a time when our human evolution was still scrounging around to escape constant danger. We are not those early humans of our beginning. The only real dangers we face now are from the politics of republicans which demean and turn us against one another. Our civilization has advanced through the enlightenment period and then through the industrial revolution to where we are now in the golden age of technology and innovation. There is no more scrounging around to survive except where republicans have taken from us to make us less than what we are.
     When it is all said and done the fact of republican ideology from this time will show that we humans have a ways to go before we can really call ourselves civilized. There are those republicans who find that our earlier animal like nature best fits their idea to manipulate and grift. So they use it not as a logical argument for our behaviors and natures but as a tool so that they can take more for themselves. Because republicans know that we humans, generally, are still too afraid of the unknown to let go of our prejudices' and biases. The many weak willed and minded among us find that undermining education and knowledge is easier for them than the satisfying work to advance both. It is a shame on those humans that are not bold enough to carry their own weight without using others as crutches when it suits them.
     I know this much though, my mind is never more healthy and invigorated than when it is in the service of goodness. My whole demeanor changes and despite the smile on my face being located on my head, the smile is all over me. The thing about goodness is it doesn't need to be a religiously dogmatic ideal. Goodness comes from within us and needs no name other than itself to be understood and enjoyed. When I practice goodness I never know what form it will take. Which is another happy occurrence for me. I don't plan to be good I just do good when it is opportune for it. Living a good life is just exactly that, not some adherence to rules and regulations, but being there and exemplifying goodness in all its forms without an ulterior motive.

We the defenders of our living constitution (#3403)

     Our foreparents gave us a document that lives beyond their own minds and souls. An amazing document that not only begins the process of turning our civilization toward an equality of opportunity never before experienced in a modern society but one that continues to evolve to embrace the manifest destiny of creativity and innovation of our modern society. As we improve on the foundation of democracy we also add to it. As if our constitution were a maturing child in need of culture and education. So when we end up with people like republicans who only see in our constitution the need to return to it's beginning we begin to understand their vision for the future of our society.
     No longer will women be equal partners in life with us men. No longer will people of color have rights that equal those of their previous endentureres. No longer will our constitution lift up all men, women and children to have the best chance to live a happy and fulfilled life. This is what republicans hope to gain from reversing all the policies to stifle poverty, ignorance and respect ever enacted as our nation has grown so large and bountiful. The republican party has a goal of setting itself up as a lord and master to those who would say we are not your property! For they want those who are not them to be less than who they are. The republican party is not built upon the ideas of merit and industriousness, on the contrary, they are built upon the ideas of privilege and special advantage.
     So we democrats, who do believe that our constitution is a living document, continue to fight republicans so that we can preserve the advances made to not only modernize our society but to allow for even more equality than when our precious constitutional document first came to life. We democrats believe that equality of opportunity, respect and dignity for all human beings has to be the starting point for all of us, not just some of us like republicans practice. We democrats believe that ignorance and poverty are scourges that have no place in an enlightened society. We democrats further believe that when the honor and nobility of our democracy comes under attack from without and within we will never stop fighting to purge the elements that stain the most beautiful living document that has ever been formulated to govern the true wants and needs of a society. We will never stop fighting the forces that threaten our living American constitution!

Make republicans pay! (#3402)

     Every single day since the trump coup there has been some attack on the working middle class by republicans. Every single day something has come from them that further puts our majority of Americans in a bigger hole to climb out from. The most nefarious regime in American modern history is operating now in America. For all that they do to punish us and make our lives miserable we must return tenfold. Yes, exponentially. For us not to be as harsh as is fair is for us to admit that they were right to make us suffer. I for one have little to no mercy for those who willingly set out to punish as a rule. So giving back in a much larger measure is fair to me.
     The coming election in November is the perfect time for us democrats, independents and fair minded republicans to right the wrong of the almost last two years. By taking away the republican majority in the House and/or Senate we will have effectively neutered trump on the legislative front and on the appointment front. No more will he be able to squeeze his policies legislatively through Congress if we get at least control of one of the chambers of Congress. No more will he be able to appoint ridiculous people to high government offices if we get control of the Senate. But especially no more will he be able to flaunt his ignorance with impunity. We will have a check on him and if he somehow survives the Mueller investigation until the next presidential election then we will vote him out with a resounding defeat!
     Never in the history of our modern politics has a political party sold it's soul to the highest bidder whether domestic or foreign and lived to reap benefit from it from our American electorate. Such is the same now and if not the worst that can be brought down on their heads at least the minimum of booting them out of office with no doubt as to their worthlessness! The republican party and their enablers must be made to pay and if we do this right they will not only pay with the loss of their majorities but they will pay in the courts as well. The ride republicans tried to get for free can be made a steep price for them come November and if justice and fairness have anything to do with it they will pay dearly for their condescension and treachery!

No economic boom since we know trickle down doesn't work (#3401)

     If republicans and trump are relying on a booming economy to lead them to election victory they will be sorely disappointed. This idea of trickle down economics has been tried before and failed miserably and so will this latest iteration by republicans. They give the wealthy even more money and expect them to spend it on growing our economy. Well, like last time the wealthy just put the money away in some protected offshore accounts and instead of invigorating our economy republicans have actually shrunk our economy by allowing the wealthy to take even more money out of circulation. Remember that there are a fixed amount of dollars and if more of the dollars are being held in banks offshore the less there is circulating here in America.
     The idea is simple and yet republicans don't seem to be able to get it or they get it and have some other ulterior motive in their strategy that wants fewer dollars in circulation as a means to harm the working middle poor class. It is my contention that it they know and are lying to everyone about why they want to restrict the economy by allowing the wealthy more money to put away in foreign banks. But try as I may to let our electorate know there are still those republican voters who cannot believe such a thing is true despite all the evidence in the world to prove it. There is just another example of the cognitive dissonance they prefer in order to maintain the narrative in their head that satisfies their own personal beliefs and prejudices.
     So off we Americans go again toward a recession or depression, depending on how quickly we can reverse the republican rule in our political representation. American voters are to blame for this coming about because in our comfort we were asleep at the wheel as republicans navigated us into this. What is even worse now is that we are not driving any more, republicans are. So the ending of this nightmarish journey begins when we the American electorate wake up from our slumber and reactivate our involved citizenship. We must all vote for upholding our constitution while bringing about policies that actually benefit the majority of us Americans who are the bulk of the working middle poor class. Only then will our economy begin to again be driven by the heart and soul of our nation.

The blue wave continues... (#3400)

     In last night's primaries democrats solidified their positioning in many southern states with victories that set them up nicely for the general election in November. However republicans were not so well positioned. The republican party is at odds with itself and thus shows that turmoil by not being able to rally behind specific candidates. This portends just another example of why the blue wave is alive and well. We democrats are rallied against republicans and for our policies of fairness and justice. The republican party however is not unified with policy nor are they able to attack the democratic candidates who are not yet saddled with actual votes in Congress.
     In 2016 we felt the heavy weight of the advantage republicans manipulated and it was crushing to us who value democracy and honorable principles. Yet 2018 is different. Those who were complicit in unraveling our working middle poor class from opportunities are now the targets of the insurgent blue wave. Those republicans who crowed their indignation at progressive and modern policies will now have to defend their obstruction to an electorate that is a modern majority. We democrats will pound republican office holders with their record of deceit and duplicity until their metaphorical noses bleed.
     What was a concern for me throughout this election season was the long haul until November and the tricks and illusions republicans will surely use to disrupt our blue wave momentum. Yet even in red states we are seeing the revival of liberal thinking that defends our constitution and values care and wonder. I am invigorated by the continuing blue wave and it's inevitable washing away of republican attacks on our working middle poor class. We are mighty in the working middle poor and as such our might will be felt by those republicans who dared to make our lives even more miserable while telling us it is for our own good. We will reverse that narrative and instead of them telling us what is good for us we will boot them out of the public door and make our own way without their brutal punishing views!

Phony person, phony installed president (#3399)

     As each day goes by we see that trump is not much of a human being. He has instead become a scavenger that has but one mission in life, to take take take. How the American electorate, that which bothered to vote could have been taken in by the conman is extraordinary. I never thought I would live in a time where modernity and the idea of logic and science would be under attack. It is unfathomable to me that there are citizens in America that could be hoodwinked into believing not only lies but fairy tales. It is unfortunate that this has come about but what has been ridiculous must now come to a stop.
     When 46.9% of our electorate didn't bother to vote this last election it is conceivable that a cad like trump could be elected with the help of foreign and domestic carpetbaggers. Since that conceivability has come to fruition through the electoral college we now know that our American democracy, once considered strong and untouchable, is fallible. But we must not let this time of trump and complicit republicans go without challenge. We must reverse the ulterior motive of duplicity and not only return our nation to the people of America but we must also end the possibility of this ever happening again.
     How we survive this time will tell us much about who we Americans are. Will we bow down to the liars, cheaters and thieves or will we stand up and fight for our rights as a democratic nation. Come November 6th 2018 we will begin to see what result will occur. The republican party is in an all out mode to change the narrative of a coming blue wave against their tyranny but we democrats have the upper hand to stop them if we choose to fight. I hope we do and are not left to waste away into an authoritarian government but it is yet to be determined. Phony person, phony installed president. Is this what we have become?

We fierce Democrats! (#3398)

     The myth that we democrats are soft or non confrontational is just that, a myth! While republicans try to label us as weak and bleeding heart types, we know that we are strong and fight hard for the values of honor and respect. We are not rogues like republicans, we are civilized and modern with intelligence and foresight for our future. It is the republican party that exhibits the traits of cowardice and selfishness. They rip apart the things that unite us as an agenda because they believe that the survival of the fittest is a priority instead of community. For those of us who played sports or still do we know that teamwork is the key to winning and individual play without the team is a detriment. So it is the same with society, when we all pull together for each other our abilities and effectiveness increase substantially over us all trying to go it alone.
     The hoodwink republicans effectively employ is to take from us and then blame certain parts of our democratic party for it. It has worked as many continue to vote against their own interest because they are led to believe the false narrative that republicans have invented. What good the republican party had done in the past has been played out to it's end game as now the republican party has no recent history of good to fall back on. As time goes by more and more of our electorate is wising up to the tactics of republicans and the insane amount of wealth they have thrown at the lie. Yet there is still the lingering effect of their strategy in play and we as democrats must never let them profit from it.
     So now that there are 169 days left until the midterm elections the republicans will be spending their huge amount of wealth to mask their agenda of destroying our working middle poor class while continuing to increase the wealth of the wealthy and grow the massive income inequality gap to a size seen only in proportion to what it was like back before the great depression. So it is incumbent upon us who know better as to what greedy selfish tricks republicans are about to point them out with a clarity that leaves no doubt as to the veracity of our claim. We fierce democrats will show the world come November 6th that the republican party is the weak selfish coward and we will do it with a mighty roar!

Getting our vote out (#3397)

     Never before in the history of our nation has it been so crucial for you to vote. Every registered voter has to make the effort to vote in the upcoming election on November 6th. Because republicans vote enmass so that they can get their candidates elected even though they are a minority party. They benefit greatly from the 46.9% of our electorate who didn't vote in the presidential election of 2016. So if republicans are continued to be allowed to deny eligible voters their constitutional right to vote and can keep many of the rest of us apathetic to politics then they will be able to keep their power.
     If however we fight republicans at every turn on voter suppression tactics and infuse those 46.9% of eligible voters who didn't vote last election with undeniable logic to oust republicans and install instead democrats we may well reverse the inhumane and criminal acts perpetrated on us by republicans. But it will take a steely eyed resolve on our part and a message of a better brighter future for all of us to motivate all of us to vote come November 6th. We must treat the next 170 days like our lives depend on it because with continued republican rule it surely does given their disdain and ambivalence toward the working middle poor class.
     All effort to register new voters and help old voters to actually vote must be accomplished. But just as important is our message of inclusion for all and a factual rundown of the republican agenda of tearing down of policies designed to help equality of opportunity for we the many in the working middle poor class. Let us liberal\progressives, independents and intelligent moderate republicans come together and vote the corrupted republican party out of power by voting for democrats everywhere in order to restore a modernized sanity to the guidance of our American present and future.

The republican disease of hatred and ignorance (#3396)

     No other major political party in America is as diseased as the republican party. I call their willful ignorance and hatred for others a disease since it seems that no logic of their wrongness can infiltrate their minds. A mental disorder that has no discernible cure. I have tried to use the best of logic to explain that reality is based upon shared agreements. But not even that is disagreeable to them. They seem to want what they want without any proof of correctness regardless of the illogic. So wrong is right and white is all. It is amazing to me that any would follow illogic as a rule but if it gets them what they want they don't seem to care how they get what they want. To them the ends justify any means.
     So to ever ask me to be civil to others who think like republicans do is doing a disservice to intelligence and won't get my approval. Instead they will continue to get the logic of their position from me and not with any kindness. I am a frustrated man who is tired of watching ignorance win out over truth. I am driven by science and logic and nothing but those two will ever be lessened by myth or illogic. If I was to call what period in time we are in right now I would call it the battle for intelligence. It seems that too many who have power are using illogic to get more power and more wealth. They only care for themselves and what they can get today despite what their actions impose on our society into the present and future.
     I suppose those who are ignorant and use the illogic of the day are the ones who cannot abide working to increase their knowledge. Instead they choose to let others think for them so as not to have to tax their own minds into a working functioning source of reasoning, analyzing and concluding. For them the shortcut of using what they are led to believe is true as long as it fits their narrative is more valuable to them. But what their laziness is doing to the rest of us who are not afraid to tax our minds is bring us down with them as well as our functioning democratic government. Well I am not one to to be led by hatred and ignorance so I will fight until I have no breath left to fight with because I love the human species and I won't let the selfish and greedy steal her identity from us.
     

Just ignore republicans and vote blue! (#3395)

     I don't care what republicans say and believe me they will be saying a whole lot of crap before the midterm elections. All of it will be to divide and sow discontent within our democratic party. So my best advice is to just ignore all of them, even tuning out from their thousands upon thousands of airwave ads and just do one thing in 172 days, vote for every democrat on the ballot. I don't care what republicans accuse of us, they are the criminals here and to make them pay since our judicial and congressional systems seem to be insufficient is to first kick all of them out of office and then we can begin to prosecute them with the full vigor of our law enforcement agencies under democratic control.
     But we won't be able to do that until we wrest control over the levers of government from them. In the next less than 6 months they will try to hammer us on the airwaves with their false and petty accusations all the while they are still lying, cheating and stealing from us. They are unconscious about blaming us for exactly what they are doing and have already done. So we democrats, independents and fair minded republicans need to just ignore the spew of their lies and propaganda without taking heed to what they are trying to make us do. It is real simple for us, we just need to confidently go about our business with the self assurance that their attacks on us can only hurt us if we listen and believe their insanity.
     The republicans have a boatload of money they are going to spend on this coming election and they are if one thing clever about pointing their fingers away from themselves. Knowing this is to our advantage because when we choose to ignore them we are keeping our own minds clear about who are the treasonous collaborator villains in our American politics. I just keep counting down the days until I can vote for every democrat on my ballot and all of us should do the same if we are ever going to nullify trump and make his underlings pay for their dishonorable service to our American democracy!

Why I care (#3394)

     The reason I am a progressive liberal is because I have a heart, mind and soul that reminds me of what indignity, disrespect, brutality and suffering feel like. I have experienced all those and more in my life as well as all others have and unfortunately will continue to experience. I am a human being with not only the ability to adapt but even more as a priority, an ability to overcome. We liberals are the fiercest human beings alive simply because we are not selfish. No one should ever doubt our resolve and our determination to go to any lengths to vanquish that which is of an intentional harm. So if you think that being liberal is being soft, you are once again wrong in how you understand life.
     There is no hero in life who didn't value others as least as much as themself. Only cowards value themselves above others when they could otherwise sacrifice at least a little. As we liberal/progressives reside in the democratic party it is quite clear that we democrats are the heroes in life far more so than the republicans. I am not saying that republicans have no heroes in their party but if you search high and low you will find few examples. We democrats want to end the paradigms that promote and inculcate the worst of what humans have become. We don't see the need for prejudice when merit is the real differentiation among us. We don't see gender as a plus or minus based solely upon gender, we see values within all humans as plus or minus based upon thoughts and actions.
     I care because I am more human than those who don't care. I am proud to be a human being with all the traits and natures that exemplify our majesty. That which is not majestic, noble nor honorable is left to those who only care for themselves, which if you look into the republican party will have no trouble finding many examples. We who care are in the democratic party and we are multitudes. Whether it is saving our planet or just saving our species, we don't want to let go of what is the best and brightest about this existence. Most generally we don't care for all the whistles buzzers and bells of life as much as we care that all of us have enough to at least escape poverty. I am not one to bask in wealth, I am one to bask in the goodness of the heartfelt.

Internet down (#3393)

     It has been years since I have had to find another way to access the Internet so as to post my daily blog. But since then I was wise enough to put my blog on my phone. So now instead of having to interrupt my routine and go out in my car with my laptop to find a public wifi location, I can now just stay home and type my thoughts on my phone and post from my desk.
     I usually use my router Internet connection but since it is not connecting I can use my phone's data plan to post my daily musings. Having that backup is now proving to be profound. I just need to limit my data usage so as not to go over my monthly limit. Tomorrow morning the technician will be here to hopefully resolve my lack of Internet connectivity so fingers crossed on that. But if not l will need to keep my activity on the Internet from my phone to a minimum.
     So this blog post will be short and to the point. I hope there is no complex problem with getting my router Internet back tomorrow morning and that no one else has the inconvenience of not being able to access our favorite and often necessary ethernet chores. I

Republicans will keep killing us if we don't stop them! (#3392)

     No more pussy footing around about the effect republicanism is having on our society. Their shoot first ask questions later survival of the fittest ideology only benefits those who can't understand peace nor intelligence. An idiot brigade of assholes who would rather bury their guilt, ignorance and shame than admit it. They know to be better people but they have chosen not to be better people because they like their privileges and advantages that come with being boorish. Thus trump and his fumblings in our most honored public position. If ever the intelligent voting citizenry ever figures this out then maybe they will vote like their lives depend on it. Maybe.
     The idea that being an asshole is as American as apple pie only comes from republicans. What is American is the spirit and pride we all should have in our democracy. Like when we fought two world wars on foreign shores to protect the principles of democracy and humanity. We cannot abide wholesale slaughter of humans as it is antithetical to our moral compasses. We democrats may not be the shining example in every case but our souls are not the greedy selfish ones that inhabit republicans. We are the spirit of America in that we believe that democracy, equality of opportunity, fairness and justice apply to all of us not just to some of us.
     So if you want a future that shares the best of what we can be as a species then there is no other choice but to vote for a democrat in every election going forward. The republican party has shown us that they do not hold to science, logic toward modernization as fundamental. They are afraid to let go of their fears and instead project those fears onto the whole of society. Constantly trying to scare the rest of us to follow them down a mysterious path that has more chaos to it than order. Their dislike for an evolving future borders on the cowardly embrace of anything that keeps them from having to face the inevitability of it. Vote them out and then let's restore the sanity of logic and science back to our fundamental thinking and actions.

Just vote blue (#3391)

     The republican party has shamed itself through and through. There is no republican position that can win an election on it's own. Yet we democrats have several and more. Protecting and improving social security and medicare/medicaid. Raising taxes on the wealthy while giving the working middle poor class more tax breaks and incentives. Reversing all voting laws that restrict American citizens from voting. Raising the minimum wage to a livable wage. Taking the financing of our elections out of the hands of the private sector and putting into the public sector where any and all who have ideas based upon policies can run and win in any election.
     The many ideas we democrats have are for the public good and involve all the public, unlike with republicans who think that only the wealthy should have the advantages and privileges currently in use. The idea that somehow the republican party will turn from their existing policies to deny and obstruct the overwhelming will of the American people is classic denialism. They will never change their itinerary of dismantling democracy whenever democracy clashes with their ideology of "the wealthy deserve more than anyone else". They also embrace anything of a christian nature that aligns with their ideas of shaming the poor and keeping women barefoot and pregnant. This madness of denying equality has to end and it ends in the voting booth come November 6th.
     So just vote blue or for every democrat on the ballot. There is no need for any republican in politics anymore since they do not represent the majority will of our democracy. They instead have aligned themselves with Russia and it's authoritarianism government. That treason to America and our allies is evident in the actions from trump and republicans in Congress since trump was installed, is indefensible. The best remedy we Americans can give ourselves is to immerse ourselves in the coming blue wave and give ourselves the chance to recover from the now exposed ill of trump and republicans everywhere.

I hope we are in the eye of the hurricane (#3390)

     We democrats seem to be lulled at the moment and if it is because we are just in the eye of the storm then that is okay but if it isn't then we are losing our momentum against the republicans come November 6th. I can't tell why it is if we are losing momentum other than warm weather fatigue but if it is we need to stop it right now. The republican party has been fighting hard to get back to some form of even since they pushed their horrid right wing agenda upon us. The worst of it is done so maybe we democrats are just catching our breaths and relaxing a bit before the big fight this fall. But we cannot stop to catch our breaths. We have an advantage and we will surely lose it if we take it for granted.
     This much I have learned over my many decades of following politics, the winds can change suddenly without warning if we are not vigilant in our determination. Momentum, once lost, is difficult to recapture. Even with the women's march and the student marches we are in danger of falling back from those empowering protests to a pause that has us in some confusion. Especially since trumps and other republicans are mobilizing to neuter our support for them. We cannot let our guard down and let them accomplish once again a minority takeover over of the majority opinion. So if marching again and hitting the streets over policies that are being ignored is what it takes then that is what we must do!
     What other course of action do we have in this moment? It is our voice that is our most potent weapon and the mechanism for firing it is our feet. We must never let the trumps and republicans normalize their treasonous and democracy destroying acts because they have simply overwhelmed us with despicableness. New polling is showing a lessening of our blue wave and we cannot let that happen so we must act now and never stop acting right up until election eve if we are in any way going to reverse the current republican control. I know the weather is getting better and people are more prone to being outside doing things other than paying attention to politics but those of us who never sleep on the politics of the day are sounding the alarm that our current complacency may be the undoing of our democracy.

May 12th, 2018 and trump hasn't killed us all yet (#3389)

     I really didn't think we would all make it out of the first 3 months alive. I figured that about half of us would be dead or dying by then. To install such an inhumane being as the leader of the free world contradicts everything logical about a modern society. We may still all go the way of the dead but for now we may just survive a holocaust. With the midterms coming up in 178 days we are going to be able to stop the majority republican congress from being such tools of trump. Not only that but we will have the power from the blue wave to properly investigate how our government was overthrown from within and without. The day of reckoning for trump having screwed up and not killed us all will be his undoing.
     Because those of us he has not killed will fight like hell to elect democrats from all across the spectrum in order to unseat the headless zombie republicans. No more will trump be able to snap his fingers and make his pet republicans jump because there won't be enough of them left to matter. The momentum is still building for our blue wave and despite any little giveaways to us from now on to the election the bigger picture of the trump treason and the republican culpability will not be forgotten. What trump and republicans are trying to do is instead of putting their boots to our neck they are now wearing only socks. As if their brutality can be softened through texture so as to make us feel better about them.
     Every day I post about something that republicans are screwing up or about what we democrats are fighting for and that will stay the same even past the coming midterm election. Because have no doubt, trump is spoiling to make us pay in order that he look good. If still trying to kill us works for his image then it will happen no matter how much everyone else denies it. Let there be no doubt, we are in for the fight of our lives and if we don't succeed trump may well strip America of her democracy and install himself as the savior of mankind. No more turning our heads from the fight and you must ask yourself now when will you stand up and find your courage to fight for our democracy so many other generations died and suffered to protect?

I early voted in the California primary yesterday (#3388)

     If you are not as excited as I am then you are missing out. The midterm election season has begun and we get to put our candidates up against theirs. We democrats are not on the wrong side of treason nor history so as long as we stay engaged we will blue wave the republicans right out of congressional leadership as well as many state house positions. This election reminds me of the Canadian election of 2015 when the Liberal party led by Justin Trudeau swept to power on a wave similar to what we democrats may have this year. It has the same fool to it as the ruling conservatives in Canada had made a muck of their country.
    Same here in America where the trumps and republicans are not only making a muck of things but they have a dark side to them that has all the earmarks of treason. We Americans are not ones to take the worst of our natures and give them a second chance when their first chance showed just how corruptible they were. The republicans who supported the trumps and are helping to destroy our working middle poor class will pay the political price for doing so because we the working middle poor class have had enough of the lies and falsehoods coming from republicans. Our nation is better than what republicans and trump are doing and we will not tolerate it any longer.
     So when I cast my ballot yesterday I felt the exhilaration of the coming change to nominate candidates who are going to win and win big over the pitiful republicans who are running not on policies for helping America but instead on policies that will further put America in a hole. It is as if republicans don't know how to stop digging the massive hole they have already dug. We Americans are not prone to having our pride hurt like this and the wrath that we Americans have toward the republican party will not be assuaged by trinkets and or thoughts and prayers. We are going to take back our government and in doing so we will assign the republican party back to the irrelevance they necessarily deserve.

Will justice reach the powerful and wealthy? (#3387)

     Unfortunate as it is there are two justice systems here in America. One is for the privileged and the other is for everyone else. Which gives us an insight into why we can't seem to change what is wrong with our American society. As long as the privileged keep getting away with despicable and unethical behavior they will not stop trying to make it their normal. As for the rest of us we are left with the cruel and harsh end of the justice stick where there is little maneuvering for circumstance. As punishments go we the unprivileged are constantly being reminded that a harsh punishment is the only cure for behavioral change, while the privileged are being told that mistakes happen and they shouldn't be held against them.
     As we wait for the Mueller probe into law breaking and other collusion type activities we see the evidence of law breaking and collusion but little to no action on the indictment front to charge and try. It is as if the elements of a crime committed are of such a high standard of proof that no proof can actually reach that level. Again, the justice for the privileged is not the same as the justice of the unprivileged as we see every day in courtrooms all across our nation. When I first heard of the Mueller investigation it gave me hope that some action on the justice front might actually lead straight to the culprits behind the criminal activity. That was encouraging and hopeful but as time continues to move forward and the evidence is very clear why no action on criminal charges?
     I fear that the same old two tiered justice system will prevail and although the guilt of many is pretty clear none will actually have to pay a punishment. I hope I am wrong but with power and wealth working against the institution of justice I am clearly not sure who will prevail. If I hear one more time that our justice system is the best in the world I will likely cringe and walk away. We are fooling ourselves here in America pretending to be one thing while we are surely quite another. Our democracy has been our rallying point since our national inception but what is our democracy and how can it be that our justice system within it continues be one for the privileged and one for the unprivileged?

No war for trump! (#3386)

     Try as trump may to get us into an unnecessary war trump won't be able to given the closeness of the midterm elections. Too many republicans know that starting a war for political gain will be a real negative for their chances of holding onto what little hope they have for their current offices. Some republicans will embrace the idea of starting a war just to help them increase their chances of holding office but there are not enough of them to help trump along with his strategic killings. There is no hope of trump finding a legitimate reason for war so his attempts to create a narrative that justifies his murderous intent is nil.
     However, he will give it a shot as we are seeing with his apparent backing out of the treaty with Iran. With North Korea now out of the picture as an adversary Iran is the last real hope for trump to take our minds of his treasonous acts here at home. We will not take our minds off of the treachery trump and the republican party has perpetrated on us the American people because we will not let trump have his way to create a diversion. The international community does not support trump and his call to arms, nor do most of we here in America. The idea that trump can manufacture out of thin air evidence that no one else is seeing is ludicrous given the simple nature of things that trump struggles to comprehend. Not even his pal putin can help him now.
     The bombshell new evidence coming out concerning the lawyer trump used to launder his sins is enough for now to keep the pressure on trump domestically that his little attention span will not allow him to multitask a war while fending off his criminal/immoral behavior. We the American people are not ready to die for trump so that he can escape justice. He is fooling himself once again if he thinks that his word alone is enough to gather the momentum necessary for a world type war. That trump is being boxed in will make him more desperate but we know that and his flailings will not deter from the fact that trump and his ilk are the real problem in the world and not his desperate imaginings about the rest of us.

Too many choose to stay in the "cave" (#3385)

     The premise examined by Socrates/Plato in the allegory of the cave is that too many of us accept what is in front of us as enough while not examining what else there might be. A sort of comforting and safe understanding despite the illusion of it all. Too many of us are not inquisitive enough to have all the senses we humans are gifted with to push beyond our knowns into the unknown. Instead they suppress these gifts in order to remain in their safe caves. We have a mind that stores information comprehensively in both short and long term memory banks. We have the ability to reason, analyze and conclude each within our mental progressions. We can smell, hear, see, touch and taste differences in all the ranges of our living spectrums.
     Yet, even though they are also physically gifted to evolve and perfect their physical nature it is only done so when it helps to confirm the preconceived notion of their illusions. Not as a tool to expand their horizons but as an anchor to keep themselves from exposing their fear of knowledge. A cowering from the reality of adaptation and bold courage is preferred to leaving behind the binkies of antiquity. So as our species struggles with our identity we fall further behind in the struggle to modernize not only our thinking but our actions as well. While we continue to hide from the majesty of our ability the rest of our environment moves forward without us. As I like to say, we humans are amazing, yet truthfully, only in potential, not in actual reality.
     Our fear holds us back from elevating our higher understandings into plans that test our courage and our inquisitiveness. Too many of us think that just being alive is enough. While the rest of us see life as the beginning of who we are and want to know and act on more than being safe from our own amazing identity. How do we teach ourselves that our curiosity and compassion are our greatest strengths and nothing less than both of them is where we each need to begin living. Anything else is hiding in the shadows of life and will only bring about an illusion that needs coddling from a species that is still struggling to find it's maturity.

8 point lead in the congressional generic ballot for democrats (#3384)

     It is only early May but an 8 point lead for democrats is indicative of the national mood against republicans, https://www.vox.com/2018/5/3/17315970/generic-ballot-2018-midterms-democrats-republicans-monmouth-poll. I think 8 is still small but again it is only early May so we democrats have time to make that number grow especially since we are clearing the primaries getting ready for the candidates from both parties to present their policies. Well, at least we democrats are ready but as far as republicans go who knows what they will do since they are not for any policies attractive to the working middle poor class. Especially women since many national marches have shown that women have had enough of the republican party.
     Even if 8 points ends up being the margin after the election in November it will be a wave election. Not what we are hoping for but still enough to flip the House and Senate. Yet we democrats need to be greedy in building our blue wave. We must take down all the republican leaders in the House and do more than just squeak by in the Senate. This will be a generational election for us democrats if we can harness the anger that our nation has with republicans who are trying their hardest to destroy any vestige we have a prosperous middle class. The middle class has been a stepping stone for the poor to get to the middle and then up to the upper class. But if we allow republicans to continue to destroy our middle class then the poor will never have the chance to be financially successful.
     It is shameful and anti democratic what republicans are doing and never in any universe should they be rewarded for doing it. We must defeat them with a margin that spells out a mandate that even the slow witted trump can't deny. We will need to have the kind of numbers that give us the power to push past trump and enact policies despite trump and his false ego. A 10 point margin in the voting come November would all but certify that we democrats will crush the republicans and surely would give us comfortable margins in both houses of congress. It is what we need to survive and reverse the last two years of trump if Mueller doesn't get to trump before then. Not only that but the 2020 census needs us democrats to be in control of the apportioning of the congressional boundary lines if we are ever going to end the draconian gerrymandering effect.

We must protect our democracy! (#3383)

     Any vote given to a republican anywhere is a vote to dismantle our democracy. The republican party sold out the American people in order to establish their own brand of government. It isn't democracy as much as it is authoritarianism. How could we let our voices be diminished by giving those who would not listen to us our confidence? Why would we let someone tell us what we want or need without asking us? Are we such baby children that we cannot decide what we need or want? Are we really just the sheep republicans think we are? I know one thing for sure, I am not!
     I never vote for republicans because over my political life I have seen the devastation they bring to so many that it hurts my soul to even remember. Yet I will never forget and until republicans are driven out of public office that pain will always be front and center with me. I am not a child who needs some ego driven carpetbagger to tell me how to live. I live by honorable principles, not nefarious ulterior motives. All I see around me are republicans who want to take take and take while giving nothing in return. They are selfish and wouldn't know the benevolent meaning or the soul satisfying feeling one gets from giving to those who have not. We live one time in our bodies and if we are going to live we need to live like there is a purposeful noble reason, not with hatred, greed or condescension.
     So in order to protect our democracy we must elect those who would give equal rights to all so that none are left without as a foundation. What we do with our beginning is up to us to make or break. But never should anyone not have the same right and opportunity to make the most out of their lives. This is our American democratic credo. Give all to democracy so democracy can give all back. Our community, and it is our community, is either going to be a shining example of how civilized people live or it will be one of brutal force where some benefit from society and many do not. The choice is so very clear and if you vote for republicans again you are the worst of what we humans can be!

Democracy births capitalism, not the other way around (#3382)

     What the greedy republican party fails to understand is that capitalism does not exist without democracy. Unless of course democracy is abandoned for the authoritarian system China currently has with it's segregated capitalism. There in China the wealth gap is immense, with few enjoying the luxury while the vast many still scrambling to survive. Though this may currently be the status quo one can expect it to fail given the nature of our human species and the desire for democratic ideals. It is absurd that republicans now see the authoritarian system of capitalism that China formed as their model for us here in America. I and many others have been warning about the greedy wealthy here in America trying to turn our democracy into an authoritarian system of government.
     Which is why we see so many republican policies aimed at destroying our working middle class. They don't want a prosperous pathway for all to have as an avenue to success. The republican party and their greedy wealthy want to maintain their wealth and power while keeping others from having the same opportunities. I can say it here all day long and many would just ignore the idea as some conspiracy against the republican party but if anyone can maintain an objective viewpoint it isn't a stretch nor a conspiracy to say that republicans are dismantling democratic ideals. By restricting voting, undermining public education, obstructing equal rights for women, doing away with health and welfare policies, weakening union participation, denying science and logic as the formulas for our perspectives and much more.
     Notwithstanding the authoritarian Chinese experiment which can only end in chaos and upheaval, democracy is the only value system of government that can and will survive because it allows for all to participate while judging on creativity, innovation and merit. At least that is democracy in it's best form, unlike the diluted form we now have because republicans are in the process of taking our democracy away form us. Again, a vote for a republican is a vote to end democracy in America. It cannot happen overnight of course but in increments, like the last several decades have shown. Finally remember this fact. Capitalism is a subset of democracy, not the other way around since capitalism has no time for anything other than maximum profit, which is largely generated through very low wages to no wage at all ie., slave labor.
     

No regrets (#3381)

     I choose some time ago to eliminate those from my life who have chosen to be bigoted, misogynistic and hateful to others. The list is long and personal for me. Many family and friends have gone by the wayside because they "chose" trump like thinking over the principles of democracy. For me it was trying to figure out how to make a difference in my sphere of influence when logic and common decency failed to persuade them that equality is not just a word it is action. So what I came up with is that there really is only two things I can control. That being my time and presence. So I chose to not have them in my life. Family, friends and acquaintances were summarily "unfriended".
     This made going to family gatherings impossible since I am mostly the only one who has taken this tactic to heart. It took awhile for me to adjust to saying no to invites but after so many nos I was not with any regularity asked again. So my taking my time and presence from them seems to have been nothing to do about much since I am obviously not missed much. Which tells me another thing. I am as a family member or friend not as a priority with them as their own sense of selfishness, which is to me their  hatred, misogyny and bigotry. So I am not missing much by having them out of my life because I really didn't matter that much. So in standing by my principles of equality, fairness and justice I have not only fortified my own sense of purpose and internal harmony, I have exposed those who I had little idea were of a nature not natural to a healthy and humble mindset.
     So do I miss those who made up so much of my early life? Yes I do but not as much as I thought I would since I am a man who puts honorable acts and thoughts above the boorish and selfish. So I have no regrets foregoing my past in order to create a present and future that represents the best of what we humans can be despite any loyalty others think I should have to family and friends. There is little no compromise here and for that it is what it must be. As fortune would have it some key people in my life who are family and friends are of a like mind with me albeit they are not as harsh in their relationships as I am. That is their choice and I respect that. However for me it as simple as if you are not going to stand as an example of what we humans are best at and could be then I have no time for you. None!

Stay strong Democrats! (#3380)

     If we want to preserve and improve health care we democrats need to stay strong. If we want to preserve and improve social security we democrats need to stay strong. If we want to preserve and restore our voting rights we democrats need to stay strong. The list goes on and on and while we democrats are currently favored to win the midterms we need to be stronger than the current predictions. Winning the midterms does not guarantee that we will retake the majorities in either the House or the Senate. We need the momentum of the blue wave to not only maintain its force going toward November but for it to keep increasing in size and strength.
     There is no room for any complacency nor a normalization of what republicans have already inflicted on us. The burning anger from their "coup" with cooperation from a hostile power is never to be acceptable. There must be a price that is paid and if it isn't going to be criminal then it must be political. The republican party should never benefit from their despicable strategy of treason! Yes, treason. They sold our democracy to a foreign power and now are in the process of destroying our working middle poor class. They have shown that their loyalty is not to The United States of America, but instead to the greed and avarice of power. The republican party has sold what little was left of its honor and principles for the lust of a selfish gratification.
     So stay strong we democrats as we enter into the summer campaign season where the candidates will be known and the policies will be argued by democrats and lied about by republicans. Because lying is all republicans have since they don't want a better America for all. I know everyday the abuse and disgust we have to endure from the trumps and republicans in general makes us sick and tired of it all but that is what we are fighting to stop and if we don't get past our own dismay we won't be able to beat back the worst natures of humanity instilled in the republican party. No battle is easy and neither is ours but rest assured that when we all fight hard and with endurance it will be easier and in the long run much more satisfying when the republican party is made to pay for it's atrocities!

We Democrats take no election off! (#3379)

     I don't care where and for what, we democrats cannot afford to be complacent about any public election. We are at a critical point in our vision for the future and if we don't at least try to win every special election going forward we will only be harming ourselves and our vision. The republican party is hell bent to destroy our democracy and there is no time for us to be anything less than angry and determined to stop them. It all starts at the local level where we need to instill our message at the grassroots and then let it grow upward toward our highest vantage points so that we democrats dominate the political landscape not only at the federal level but just as critically at the local, regional and state level.
     the 2020 census is just around the corner and for us democrats to be in position to be the ones who allocate a fair and representative redistricting we have to have our voices at all levels. So as we move into the last stages of preparing our candidates for primaries and the eventual general election we must take all that is out there for us to take. No prisoners when it comes to our scorched earth approach to kicking republicans out of office. There will be no mercy given them when it is as critical as to who is leading our nation. No public office can be safe for them even down to the dog catcher role. The republican party has shown that they cannot be trusted to carry out the American people's business without them taking from us where they enrich themselves and their cohorts.
     So it is with a steely eyed resolve that we democrats must maintain in order to reverse the republican domination in all our politics. They are the minority here in America yet by hook and crook they have manipulated themselves into majority positions that will poison our democracy for decades to come if we do not end their brutishness. So no rest for the weary and the abused. We have to fight with all we have at every step in order to combat republicans and thrust ourselves above them as the true representatives of the American people. We have less than 6 months now to fight as hard as possible in order to win the special elections going forward and the midterms in November.

trump represents the decay of the American soul (#3378)

     No, trump isn't the decay, he is the product of it. The form that has taken shape and now, through hook and crook, leads our nation. He is exalted by those who live their lives as if their deepest darkest thoughts were real. Instead of realizing that everyone has deep dark thoughts and that they are mostly what we are not, those who realize that their ugly thoughts aren't real are the decay. They are the vocal lot who are bolstered in their bravado to claim that what is rotten to the core about them is what we all should embrace about ourselves. They cannot accept that denying our rotten thoughts any space in our lives is real. They only know that what they think is what is real.
     So here we are in our great land of democracy watching it being dismantled by those who are too weak to fight their own dirty filthy minds. Instead of putting aside any negative horrible thought they accept it and then begin to apply it to their own behavior and personalities. They become bigots, misogynists and every other crass being that their weakness brings them. Oh sure, they go to some god and ask for forgiveness hoping that what little humanity they have left is not destroyed. But that is just a mental salve on a physical wound. It is like thoughts and prayers, well intentioned for the most part but physically moot. So instead of winning the fight against the worst of our thinking they succumb to it and allow it to fester in their souls.
     So now what to do with these corruptible weaklings who cannot control themselves enough to be good decent human beings who are no different in all ways that matters than the ones they condescend toward? Call them out for being weaklings and tell them why they are because they cannot accept that deep dark thoughts are only temptations and combatting temptations is the strong response not the weak one they are currently embracing. Getting to the actual core of our problems is the only way we can find a way out of them that works for most all of us. Some of us are psychopaths and sociopaths and no matter what we try the empathy to change is not there. But most all others are able to change if they are willing to be stronger than their pitiful weaknesses.