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This just in: “Every nation gets the government it deserves.” – Joseph de Maistre

Last night I had a dream. I was some sort of Terminator-type guy and I was fighting off an alien invasion that was enslaving mankind. In the end, I saved the world. There was a brief celebration and then everyone turned against each other to see which of them would be the new leader and thus, the new “enslaver of mankind.”

At this point, I turned my back on the populace and walked away knowing I had accomplished…nothing.

I think the moral of the story is that the enemy is within.

Our government is in a shambles. I can’t blame Trump. I can’t blame the Republicans. Why? Because if we get rid of them, the “system” that gave birth to them will endure and thus…produce replacements that are just as bad.

What do I mean when I say “system”?

I think if I had to choose one issue…it would be the absence of accepted facts.

Pick any issue. Let’s use tariffs. I think we should know exactly why the tariffs are in. We should know exactly how these affect our target (China) and our allies. We should know how they affect us. We should know how, as a tool, tariffs stack up against other options that may achieve the same goal.

We don’t clearly know any of this.

What about the tax cut that was passed? What about immigration? What about NATO or the Paris Accord? What about Kavanaugh? What about auto emissions? What about Net Neutrality? What’s the impact of income inequality? Can we do better with healthcare?

Suppose we knew exactly the impact and various solutions to these and many other issues. We could then make good choices. Perfect decisions come from perfect information.

This brings me to the title of this post: Shame.

The “Shame” is that we are completely able of finding the answers to these issues and making them public. We are smart and capable. We can do this.

But we don’t.

We don’t because people are “influenced” to turn the other way. It could be “vote this way for me and I’ll vote that way for you” type of thing. It could be “I don’t’ want Trump to give me a nickname.” It could be, my billionaire campaign contributor won’t back me if I don’t vote a certain way.” Once influence, the fact are often hidden as they may contradict a desired action.

These types of influencers are what got a tax cut passed that is adding trillions to our debt so the extremely rich have even more money. These types of influences gives us a circus for Supreme Court nominations where 90% of Kavanaugh’s history is kept secret even from the Judicial committee’s Democrat members and the FBI is directed to apparently “not find anything.”

What’s that you say, “We don’t know what the FBI was directed to do.” That is true. So I ask, “Why don’t we know exactly what the FBI was directed to do?”

We now have permission to lie. We have permission to hate. We have permission to ignore science. We have permission to scam the tax system. We have permission to ignore the plight of women and minorities.

And with this permission came an astonishing revelation: We have been waiting all along for this to be okay.

The most shameful thing of all is that the mirror has been turned towards us and the picture is not pretty.

That Shame may also be the hidden blessing. I can pretend that my face is not dirty so long as you don’t make me look in the mirror. When confronted with the fact…maybe I’ll decide it’s time to bath.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: I don’t care about anyone’s opinion about things like abortion or gun control or food stamps.

I don’t care because I welcome the diversity of views. Tell me about what you believe and I’ll respond and we can discuss the issues and hopefully come to learn more about each other’s position. In the end, we may still disagree and I can accept that; thus, the harsh “I don’t care.” In other words, when we are done, let’s both move on.

Trump is a different beast.

I don’t care about a lot of stuff he does. I don’t care about the Porn Star thing. In fact, I expect that. I don’t care that he plays golf. I don’t care that he watches a lot of television and is obese.

However, there are things he does that fundamentally threaten the world and my place in it.

I grew up singing “American the Beautiful.” We were always on the right side of things. We took care of the poor. We stood against oppression. We formed alliances that were mutually beneficial. We created a huge military based on the idea that if we were too big to fight, there would be no fight.

We stood for human rights. We led the way in pursuit of science and innovation. Our economy was the biggest and getting bigger.

Our Constitution reigned supreme. First Amendment rights were our crown jewel.

We took care of each other and saw ourselves as the Good Shepherd guiding the world with a soft hand.

Now that is no longer the case.

We have passed into the dark side of the moon. A place where we shun logic. Human rights outside of our borders are unimportant. We won’t play with others, expecting them to bend to our will and then watch as they simply turn to others for leadership.

Internally, money is king. Money runs the government, making the idea of “American Democracy” a global joke.

We break up families for no real reason other than it appears to give the president a boner.

We are alienated from nearly every ally that we’ve had for the last 100 years. Even the UK hates us.

We justify things like lying, money laundering, fear mongering. Even worse, we embrace hate, racism and religious targeting.

Our Constitution is worthless in the face of a president that ignores it and a Congress that supports him.

Now you have my attention.

Now I care.

What Trump and the Republican Party are doing is affecting my view of myself.

I can do nothing short of resisting.

Thus…I blog…while wishing I had a bigger soapbox.

Still, I feel better having resisted.

Up, up and away…

Jim

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