A Republican Reality Check

I have come to the conclusion, that in many cases, Republicans lack the will or the energy to seek the truth. The prefer to latch on to labels and slogans to interpret their lives. 

If they were intellectually curious, they would drop their Bibles and their “Merican Flags and pick up a history book. 

If they did, they might find that:

• Capitalism and Free Enterprise are not the same thing. Capitalism is big money. Capitalism is super rich people who have no interest in the country, but instead try to find ways to extract it's money and resources. McDonalds replaces The Burger Shack. Wall Street replaces Main Street. CEO’s and stock holders replace Mom and Pop. Once thriving family farms disappear, being sold for pennies on the dollar for Corporate farming. In many ways, Capitalism poisons Free Enterprise by creating an uneven playing field. Eventually, Capitalism devours Free Enterprise. It is it’s very nature. 

• The Constitution actually is more important than either The National Anthem OR The Flag. Actually, The Constitution makes it possible to burn The Flag in protest, OR refuse to salute it as a Freedom of Speech. It also gives a citizen the right to refuse to sing the National Anthem or to sit if they wish. 

• America is not a “White Country”. White people came here and displaced the brown and red people who were living her at the time. While it is true that most of the early settlers were from predominantly “White” cultures, people from all over the world have come to the US and helped build it. 

• Democracy is frowned upon by the Republican Party. They think that only rich, mostly White  people should have the right to have a say in this country. They truly believe, and have stated so, that they do better when less people vote…so they have spend decades trying to propagandize people against their own government and to make it harder for people to vote……especially people of color.

• It is not brown people taking your jobs. It is people who are willing to work for less, get less benefits, work longer hours because they are desperate. Your jobs went overseas for a reason. Profit for corporations who don’t give a rat’s ass about you or the United States of America.

• Wages have remained stagnant for decades while costs of food, gas, housing, cars, transportation and medical care have skyrocketed, essentially creating more poor people, dependent on safety nets that are constantly being pulled away by Conservative legislatures. 

• A stable and productive society is one in which people CAN live comfortably based on the benefits they get. They can also buy more, thus increasing the profits of Corporations…….AND Mom and Pops. A Mom and Pop businessman or woman make sure their customer base remain strong and is able to afford to buy, again and again. A Corporation has no interest. They will just move on to the next green pasture. 

Today is Labor Day. 

It is the day, ironically, that comes at the end of summer and the beginning of another work year, that we remember those who work for a living. 

We remember those who worked for less than a living wage, put their lives on the line, either in skyscrapers thousands of feet above ground or in dark mine shafts deep beneath the ground, so the Super Rich could prosper and have comfortable lives. 

We remember the nurses, teachers, police, firemen, garbage collectors, cooks, dishwashers, auto parts salesmen and burger flippers that have made our lives a little safer, easier and meaningful. We remember the ones who worked at sub-par jobs because that was all that was offered. We remember those who worked for no wages and got nothing more than a meal and a roof over their head. 

And we remember those, today, who must work two and three jobs to make ends meet because wages have no kept up with inflation. We must also remember the children who must come home to an empty house because both parents are now required to work to make ends meet because the monied people in this country are too greedy. 

On this Labor Day, let us hope that, some day, those in power will once again realize that it is a strong middle class that “Makes America Great”, and without it, America fails. 

Happy Labor Day to all those who built and are still building America. 

1968 DNC Convention revisted.

I have been a little despondent lately looking at the social and political condition in this country. The hatred and discontent is not what we imagined when we worked for social change in the 1960s. I was devastated and confused about where our movement had gone. It seemed as though we had failed miserably.

Every generation has it’s political moment...it's political showdown. My generation just had it’s. The Progressives of the 60’s on one side..(Clinton and Sanders)…..and the rich, “privileged” Conservative kids on the other…(Bush and Trump). Just like in the 1960s.

After watching the Democratic Convention, from start to finish on C-SPAN (No commentary or commercials) I was reborn and rejuvenated. This truly was a convention created and produced by children of “The 60’s.” The Bill Clinton Era of the 1990s was just a warm up. This is serious and for real.

The people, the focus, the platform are all ideas that were hatched back in the Anti-War and Civil Rights Movements of the 1960s. The sentiment that played throughout the Convention was identical to the one we had back then…..with one exception: It was the mature version. The doable version. The version that resulted from facing our problems from a realistic position as opposed to an idealistic one. The version created by experience and open eyes.

All of the players, who are my generation, learned that you have to compromise and get inside the system in order to make the changes we so desperately wanted and needed. You need to know how the system works in order to change it. And they also realized that we will not always get everything we want, and that getting most of what you want is better than nothing at all.

Bill and Hillary Clinton realized this long ago. So did Donna Brazile.......and all the other people who have molded today’s Democratic Party. Bernie Sanders did not learn that, but, in the end, his ideas were included……..by compromise. That is the way it is done.

Yes…we have a lot of work to do…..but….we are on the right path. Respect and equal treatment for all is our goal…..and, slowly, bit by bit, we will get there.

Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine are a perfect combination to get that job done. I have not been so proud to be a Democrat since Barack Obama was elected President in 2008.

Onward.

What race??

Race means nothing to me. I am an Asian spirit living in a White body. I've known that most of my life. I don't care who was first on earth. I would be proud to be part African or any other race and probably am. Most of us are not "Pure" anything. I have an African grandson. I have an Vietnamese wife. I have a Japanese sister and a Japanese neice. My daughter is Afro-Cuban, Syrian, and Chinese in addition to my own blood line. I have Scottish, English, German, Jewish and French blood running through my veins....and those are only the ones that I know of for sure.
The thing that matters most to me in people is their character and their spirit, not what god they pray to, who they love or what they look like.

Dallas. No surprise here.

It’s hard to imagine that anyone would be surprised at what happened in Dallas last night.

Rogue racist police shoot people in the street, the large majority of them being black and innocent. The killers almost never get prosecuted much less brought to trial.

We have a political party in the GOP and a news industry that is owned and run by Conservatives that rants daily against the people of this country and favors white supremacy.

We have a Congress, controlled by Republicans, a party that has, for the last 25 years, done nothing but to try to tear the fabric of our country apart by pitting straight white people against everyone else who is not like them.

The defiance and hatred that spews from the mouths of Conservative leaders and talking heads is relentless. It goes on day after day, week after week, year after year.

Our news is filled with dissension, hatred and violence every day. Peacemakers are ignored or called “Bleeding Hearts”, while hateful messages by preachers, “faux News Anchors” and Right and Left Wing extremist politicians receive top billing.

We have a defiant Congress that refuses to do the work of the people but instead uses their positions as political theater and their power to do political witch hunts. Their demeanor is nasty, mean and clearly anarchist.

No. I am not surprised at what happened in Dallas yesterday. I am surprised that it took so long. I will not be surprised when it happens again in some other city. And I will not be surprised when the Republican led Congress does nothing…..again…..except to blame others.

Memorial Daze

And so comes another Memorial Day. I am 69 years old, so I have experienced about 65 that I can remember. 

Once again, we will hold Memorial Day ceremonies, plant US Flags and flowers and remember those who have died in the Armed Forces. We will play anthems, salute flags, and romanticize the wars that we have fought on others people’s homelands, in other people’s farmlands and in other people’s neighborhoods. We will call them all heroes. We will use this day to absolve ourselves of our sins. We will restate our patriotism and our pride at being “Americans”, ignoring the fact that the United States is NOT America, but part of America…along with 46 other countries. We will arrogantly challenge anyone to mess with us every again…..forgetting that, more often, it is us who have messed with others first.

One thing we will not do, and never do, is to ask the question as to why they died and if they had to die. We will not face the reality that most of the wars this country has fought since WWII have been to protect corporate interests abroad. We will not remember the dead innocent women and children that those wars created. We will not remember that WWII was fought in less time than almost all wars since, against much stronger and organized forces. We will not realize that “American Interests” has now gone from meaning security to financial gain. We will not question that it seems that war has now become a business. We will not question why the USA seems to be in perpetual war.

Please do not “Thank Me” for “My Service”. I was forced into a situation that I and many others did not support. It was not by choice. Do not consider me a hero. I am not. Do not expect me to stand by silently knowing that millions have died for corporate profit. Do not think that saying “Thanks” helps me forget the horror and dishonor of war. 

I do not ask for praise or thanks. Rather, I would ask you to look deeper into your soul and ask yourself….”Was this war necessary?”. “Did these young men and women need to die?” “How can we prevent war and suffering?” “Why can’t we use more diplomacy instead of destruction to further our cause?” And answer the question: “Would I sacrifice my own son or daughter for this cause.?”

And finally……demand the government fund the programs promised to our veterans as part of the pact the living have made for their sacrifice. 

That would be a good way to Honor the War Dead. That would be a great Memorial Day for me. 

Lord of the Flies: 2016

Young people are the majority of support 

for Bernie Sanders.

Do you really want those young people making decisions 

that will affect your life?

They know nothing about politics or history.

They are children....born in the 90s, 

growing up and existing in a virtual world.........

in which nothing is destroyed for real, 

if something is wrong...you just hit the reset button, 

a place where nobody wins...

but everyone gets an award for participating, 

who have been educated for “The Test’ but not ”For Life”,

who the new media has programmed and manipulated 

with “The Corporate View” since birth

and who, consequently, have no point of reference

to the reality most of us older people have lived.

And they tell us...we need to face reality.