Stupidity Reigns Supreme

Look, I'm no Einstein, so this might sound a little like the pot calling the kettle black, but I've come to the conclusion that we have far, far too many really stupid people in America.  Here's an example.  According to one poll that I saw yesterday only 20% of Americans view the Republicans latest attempt at health care reform, the Graham-Cassidy bill, favorably.  That's just one out of every five Americans (hey, maybe I am Einstein).  No matter how many ways you look at those figures, you've got to come away with an understanding that the American people don't much like the Graham-Cassidy bill.

Now, you would think, that in a Democratic Republic like the United States, where representatives are elected by the people, for the people, to serve the people, that those folks in the Senate would have the brains to say, "Hmmm, the people don't much like this bill, maybe we should come up with something else."   But do they?  

Heck no, what they do is to continue to sing the praises of a bill that will take health care coverage away from millions, including, I'm thinking, most of the 20% who say they like the bill ( I refer you to my opening statement) and will give huge tax breaks to the wealthiest people in the country.  You would think that these senators who are pushing the bill forward in spite of its extremely low approval ratings would understand that forcing something so unpopular onto the people who don't want it would cost them in the long run.  Wouldn't you think, if you were them, that doing such a thing might result in lost votes?  Like, maybe after the next election they might be out on the street looking for a real job? 

So, who are the stupid ones here, the people or the Senators in question? The answer is, it's not the Senators.  They know exactly what they're doing and it's not necessarily because they're smart.  It's because they are devious, dishonest, hypocritical and corrupt. (I have a friend, named Steve, who likes to call them things like selfish, mean spirited, dick nosed asshats).  You see, they are smart enough, and greedy enough, to know that it's not the will of the people that they need to have on their side, it's the flow of big money that comes to them from those same billionaires and corporate entities that expect to profit so greatly by the passage of the evil legislation.

You see, we are not any longer truly a Democratic Republic.  We began to lose our grip on that noble form of government back in the 1980's during the Reagan administration and "Trickle Down" (voodoo) economics.  Since then we have become an Oligarchy, a nation ruled by money, or more accurately, by the people with the money.  Republican lawmakers know one simple truth and it works so well for them......"take care of the guys with the money and they will take care of you" .  Old man John Q. Public be damned. They know that he can't do them any good anymore; he's yesterday's news, no longer relevant.  Useless to them, and that is why they present for a vote, such a blatantly evil bill that, if it became law, would do serious, serious harm to the poor, the sick the disabled and the elderly.  Those are the people that the Bible refers to as "the least of these".

In my opening paragraph I said that too many Americans are stupid.  Here's why I said that.  Whether the Graham-Cassidy bill ever becomes law or not those twenty percent that support it, even if they lose their health care coverage because of it, will continue to vote republican. Another 20 to 30 percent of the eligible voters in this country (these are people who never liked the bill in the first place and will be hurt by it just as much as those people in the first 20 percent group) will vote to return these same law makers into office the next time they are up for reelection.   You see, at least half the people in the country are getting royally screwed by a corrupt system, one that they have the power to change with their collective votes, but they never will, and the beat goes on.

If you knew a guy who continually shot himself in the foot every time he cocked his rifle and never realized that it might be a good idea to point the barrel in another direction, you'd probably call him stupid, wouldn’t you?  I rest my case.

On Exercising Constitutional Rights

"To Sin By Silence When They Should Protest Makes Cowards of Men"  - Ella Wheeler Wilcox

To sin by silence, when we should protest, Makes cowards out of men.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/ellawheele135434.html

To sin by silence, when we should protest, Makes cowards out of men.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/ellawheele135434.html

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” -  The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America

Colin Kaepernik, and now a host of others, have been exercising their right to peacefully protest, a right guaranteed to them by the first amendment.  Unfortunately the “wanna-be” dictator in the Oval Office has shown, once again, his lack of understanding of the Constitution and his utter disdain for the principles of fairness and justice that it stands for. 

This began as a protest against a rash of unarmed black men being killed by overzealous police officers, in other words a protest against racial injustice, something that has plagued this country for some 240 years. It has nothing to do with disrespecting the flag and it certainly has nothing to do with these NFL players hating America. My guess is, like me, they love this country but, because they do, they feel the need to speak out when they see injustice, just like any other citizen might. After all, it is a right that they have guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. 

Attempting to frame this as disrespecting the flag or the military is dishonest and ignorant and shows some degree of brainwashing by right wing propaganda. Stop being mislead. It's time that we all get serious about the real problems facing this country. Peaceful protest against injustice is not one of them.....the injustice itself is.

Personally, I'm not a fan of protesting during the National Anthem and I have respect for the flag and what it represents, but it is just a symbol. I am a veteran myself, although not a veteran of war.  I do, however, believe that our veterans fought, and many died, in order to preserve, not the flag, but what it stands for. Our country was founded on the self evident truth that all are created equal, and that all of us have certain rights.  Those rights are pledged and affirmed in the Constitution of the United States.  Among those rights, as stated in the first amendment, are the right to freedom of speech and the right to express grievances.   

Therefore I respect the right for people to protest peacefully in any way that they feel they can draw attention to their grievance.  I think that's what Colin Kaepernik was doing when he first took a knee. He publicly stated as much. It is his right and it doesn't offend me. In fact, it perhaps could be argued that it is his duty as a citizen of this free country to do so. I am much more offended by those who would take that right away from him.

As twentieth century writer Robert A. Heinlein, stated it "Patriotism is not 'my country right or wrong'; patriotism means loving the ideals for which America stands and having the courage to speak up when these ideals are distorted...".

Our bully in chief in the White House only served to escalate the protests (as we saw on Sunday) and further divide the nation by his outrageous, angry, crazed speech on Friday. He is dividing us like nothing ever before and he’s doing it on purpose just to fire up his base and bask in their cheers like the attention seeking narcissist that he is. Unfortunately many sheep are following. This does not bode well for our future.

The Unalienable Right To Good Health

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Hopefully you will recognize the words above from the Declaration of Independence. They are important words and the document that they were written on is, perhaps, the most important document in the history of this country.

If life, liberty, and happiness are indeed  important, then it stands to reason that health, which dictates the quality of our life and determines our ability to enjoy liberty and pursue happiness, is equally crucial to our welfare.

Therefore I contend that among the self evident truths implied in the Declaration of Independence is an unalienable right to good health.  In a civilized society we should all be looking out for one another, taking care of those who are sick or suffering, those who are hungry and destitute, those who are weak and elderly. Not only is this right implied in our nation's Declaration of Independence and Constitution, but it is also repeatedly mentioned in the Bible.  Consider these three examples:

"Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy."   -   Proverbs 31: 8-9

"Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute."  -  Psalm 82: 3

"He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives the afflicted their right."  -  Job 36:6

More recently the leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis has been quoted as saying,  "Health is not a consumer good, but rather a universal right, and therefore access to health care services cannot be a privilege."

If Jesus Himself did not believe that every man, woman and child had the right to good health then why did he heal the leper, the blind man, the paralytic, the man with the speech impediment, the man with the withered hand.  Why did Jesus heal virtually everyone who came to him with a sickness, disease or infirmity?  He must have felt that good health was the right of all people.  If He felt that way, then shouldn't we?

Why is it that the Republican party does not believe this?  A larger question, and one even more egregious in my estimation,  is why do so many conservative "Christians" support the Republican party when the Republican party's callous disdain for the rights of the poor, the sick and the elderly are so obvious and pervasive?  How can people who claim to follow Jesus marginalize the weakest and most vulnerable in our society and judge them as unworthy of the right to adequate health care?  These same people support a political party that would take billions of dollars away programs designed to lift up the poor and cure the sick in order to provide more wealth to the wealthy.  How can that be justified in any way, shape or form?  The Bible is also quite clear about the evils of supporting the wealthy at the expense of the poor.

Every man, woman and child in our country should be able to access the health care they need regardless of their income.  The time is long past for a single payer, universal health care system in the United States.  The time is long past for the United States of America to catch up with the rest of the modern, industrialized, civilized world.

Other nations, such as Canada, Australia, and virtually all of Europe, have long provided universal health care with good results so there is no reason to believe that it cannot work here. In fact, the only real hurdle to achieving health care for everyone, and better health care overall, is a stubborn, suppressive, and regressive Republican party and it's misguided pseudo "Christian" followers who will do anything that they can for the rich while doing virtually nothing for "least of these".

Lady Liberty, We're Going To Miss You

 A plaque mounted on the inside of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty contains these lines, written by the poet Emma Lazarus:

“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Perhaps we should sell the Statue of Liberty back to France. With the coming of  the next Administration we, obviously, won't be needing it anymore. We no longer represent the message in the inscription. We no longer are the welcoming beacon of liberty.

As I was growing up in America in the 1950's and '60s, one of the things that made me most proud to be an American was what the Statue of Liberty represented.  A symbol to the world of the freedom from tyranny and oppression that was waiting for them here in America, the land of the free and the brave.

Patriotism is defined as devoted love, support, and defense of,  and loyalty to,  one's country.  As much as anything else the Statue of Liberty, and what it stood for, was a source of my patriotism.  Because of what the lady with the torch represented I was proud of my country and proud to call myself an American.

But now we have a President who has vowed to turn away the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.  The homeless refugees from the war torn middle east, innocent victims of oppressive regimes, radical terrorism, and religious conflict, many with nowhere to turn.   Instead of being the shining beacon offering refuge America is now to become just another oppressor to those seeking refuge from the darkness of despair.   This is such a stark change from the America that was built, in great part, by those who came before to seek a better life.

Yes, I understand that things are different now.  I understand the argument that some of the people who come might be terrorists or terrorist sympathizers. But, how many more terrorists are we going to create by turning every Muslim away?  How many more terrorists are we going to create by adding each Muslim's name to a registry?  How many more terrorists are we going to create by the ethnic profiling of Muslims?  How many more terrorists are we going to make due to Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric giving carte blanche to every racist xenophobe across the land to harass, physically attack,  damage property, and all around abuse the many Muslim citizens who have had to endure these things in recent months?

The Bible says, in Levitcus 19:33-34, “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.  You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself....",  yet it is the members of the conservative "Christian" movement who seem to be so fervently supportive of Trump, including his plans to discriminate against people of Muslim faith.  I have come to the firm belief that, for the conservative "Christians", whatever is in the Bible is good, so long as it supports Republican party ideology.  If it doesn't, then it is best to ignore it.

I am retired from my 40 year career as an educator, but I now work at a "retirement job" at a test center where  people come to take examinations to certify or be licensed in various professional careers and areas of specialization.  Some of the people who come to test at the center are Muslim.  I have found them to be gracious, polite and respectful.  Wonderful people.  In turn I always try to make their experience at the center a pleasant one, treating them the way that I would want to be treated if I were to be in their shoes.  I wonder how much more effective we, as Americans,  and as Christians,  would be in stopping terrorism if we made it our priority to treat our Muslim brothers and sisters, especially those huddled masses yearning to breathe free,  with love and respect, welcoming them and providing for them the way that we would want someone to do for us if we were in their shoes.

Just maybe, that might be one of the ways that we really could Make America Great Again!

The Myth of the "Conservative Christian"

"My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." — Ayn Rand

This is how convoluted the conservative "Christians" are in their thinking when it comes to their politics. Much of the conservative political ideology is based on Ayn Rand and her philosophy of Objectivism. I won't get into any lengthy explanation of just what objectivism is, but you can Google it and research it in detail if you like and I hope that you will. In a nutshell Ayn Rand's philosophy amounts to militant views on the virtue of selfishness and the “evil” of helping others, combined with a strident opposition to any social safety nets or government regulation of the economy. It has many natural affinities with the Tea Party and Republican ideology. Ayn Rand was a staunch atheist who absolutely rejected Christ’s teachings. Her goal was the replacing of religion with her belief system that man's greatest virtue was in pursuing happiness based upon his own self interests, something that stands in absolute opposition to all that which true Christian faith is based. Yet this is what those who claim to be Christian are supporting wholeheartedly with their consistent and fervent support for the Republican party and it's ideology. 

If you are questioning this in any way, please research Paul Ryan, Rand Paul and others who are, or have been, avowed Ayn Rand followers.   Ryan, the Republican Speaker of the House, once said that Ayn Rand’s philosophy was the reason that he got into Public service.  Kentucky Republican Rand Paul told supporters in 2009 that he cut his teeth on Ayn Rand in high school and that he has read all of her novels. 

There are plenty of other present day Republicans, and others from the past who have also praised the Rand philosophy of objectivism.  Ronald Reagan, for example, expressed his admiration for Rand, something that should surprise no one, and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas hosts a screening of the 1949 film version of her novel, The Fountain Head, for his new law clerks.

The Republican party claims to be the party of family values and thousands upon thousands of conservative “Christians” in America seem to believe that they are, not only the family values party (which they obviously are not) but also the party of Christian values.  This is a sham.  A cruel hoax. A clear distortion of Christianity. It's based on a huge deception that many who claim to follow Christ have been duped into believing....that somehow conservative political ideology and Christianity are one and the same when, in actuality, the moniker "Conservative Christian" has become an oxymoron of major proportions.

One wonders what Jesus would have to say about all of this.  Perhaps we might find the answer in this passage from the Bible:  "He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich - both come to poverty." - Proverbs 22:16.

Thoughts On The Day After The Election

Sexism, racism, misogyny, nativism, and xenophobia are alive and well in a vast part of America. We should all be ashamed.

With Trump and the Republicans now holding control of the lawmakers in Congress and soon the Supreme Court, who knows in what direction we are headed. My great fear, and it has been since the possibility of a Trump Presidency first reared its ugly head, is that we will no longer be the land of the free and the brave, the model of democracy, the benevolent friend to people and nations across the planet who are suffering from oppression and tyranny, the refuge for the "tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free". I fear now that we will be seen as, and will become, the bully of nations, an unwelcoming giant to be feared, a symbol of greed and arrogance, etc. That is not my country...not the country that I have known and loved. I hope I'm wrong but I have serious doubts and great fear that I am not.

I'm grieving today for the millions of American's who will, once again, be without health insurance and left to fend, (and die) for themselves.

I'm grieving today for the loyal citizens of the United States who are Muslim and now must live in fear not knowing what their future in this country holds for them and their children and grandchildren....and for all of the refugees from the middle east who have been devastated by war and forced out of their homelands. The torch of the mighty woman on Liberty Island has gone out and no longer glows with a world-wide welcome.

I 'm grieving today for people of color in America now that a clearly racist, xenophobic man like Trump has been elected President giving so many other racist xenophobes throughout the land carte blanch to profile, persecute and assert their hatred upon them.

I'm  grieving today for women in America who are now fearful that men, more than ever before,  will feel emboldened to treat them as chattel or objects of sexual conquest, and, if they should resist, be subject to a crass beratement.

I'm grieving today for the poor and disadvantaged of America, who once again have had their spirit, and their hope for a better future dashed. 

I'm grieving today for senior citizens (of which I am one) who have paid hard earned money over the course of their working years into the Social Security system and now, in retirement,  depend on the program for financial safeguard, because Trump has promised, for "moral reasons",  to slash it to the bare bones.

I'm grieving today for Christianity which has been hijacked by a conservative political agenda commonly known as  Conservative “Christian" that has turned its back on one of the central tenets of the Bible. The tenet that Jesus said was “The sum of the law and all the prophets” to love God and your neighbor as you do yourself”

And I grieve today, perhaps most of all, for the children of America. At a time in their lives when they need positive roll models, they have a President of the United States who models bullying, makes fun of the disabled, lies incessantly, treats women like sex objects or verbal punching bags, believes in "getting even" and shows no compassion, no remorse, or no willingness to admit that he is ever wrong.

I could go on....there are many more to grieve for, but I'm tired....I've been up all night...grieving for my country.
 
So now the election is over, the electoral college system, if not the majority of American people, has determined that Donald Trump will be our next President.  I must accept that outcome, and I do, albeit with great fear and trepidation. I can only hope and pray that, when the Trump Presidency is over,  we will still be the country that I've been proud to call my homeland for almost seventy years, the land of the free and the brave, with liberty and justice for all.  The future of our children and grandchildren depend on it.