As I read the preceding series of brief comments I got a little nauseous and felt kind of like somebody had punched me in the stomach when I didn't expect it. When I feel like that, I know what it means. It means I'm having trouble finding or seeing the America I've known and loved the last 72 years. It's because when I look around I see our government perpetrating actions and policies and sometimes crimes so vastly Un-American in their nature and consequences that I have to blink twice and collect myself to be sure I'm still in America and not back in El Salvador in the early 1980s during the worst years of their then raging Civil War, where I saw so much of what's happening here now, happening there then. I remember when I got back to the States I felt like I was again able to start breathing fresh air, almost as if I had been suffocating there in Central America and not realized it. And now, all these years later, The Spectre has appeared again, and here in my own country. But one thing I know, I'm going to do everything I can, as little or as much as that may be at this time in my life, to send that Spectre far away from here with its tail between its legs to whatever hell hole it came out of and then seal the top. And I remember Benjamin Franklin: "If we can keep it", he said. "If we can keep it".
Every act of resistance is valid and worthwhile, however big or small.
With respect @Kenneth Wise, historians like Heather Cox Richardson, Timothy Snyder and Robert Reich say that the current American version of neofascism is the logical consequence of a politics that began in America at least four decades ago. Have you seen this coming? Have you been conscious of a steady move to the political right in successive Republican administrations?
I'm certainly not a historian in the sense Reich, Richardson and Snyder are, all of which I've either read articles by or heard them interviewed recently. I like all three and value what each of them writes or says. In particular, I heard and watched a very good, lengthy discussion with Tim Snyder in which he did speak of, among other things, our current GOP and what it has become, that taking decades. I had no trouble understanding and agreeing with just about everything he spoke of on that subject. But you ask if I've been aware these past four decades or so of a steady move to what we have today in Donald Trump & his minions and the terror being sown and the lives being destroyed and the international relationships being stretched to the breaking point and which will never be the same, and our level of National Defense and Security the lowest I've seen it in my lifetime . . . and I must answer you "No". I only began to see this a few years ago after Trump was elected and into the first year of his first term. I knew what my mind and my gut was telling me but I didn't want to believe it. I thought surely I must be perceiving this the wrong way, the model that's developing in my mind must be flawed although I know it can happen here. Then I began to think more and more of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's writings, especially his letter from a German prison entitled (rough translation) "On Folly" -- and I knew it WAS happening here. The only variables were how bad can it get and how long will it take to get there, what will it take to crush it and what will we look like when we begin to emerge on the other side of it.
Thank you. The future is indeed very uncertain. HCR always reverts to everyday activism and hope at the end of her chats, pointing out that Trump doesn’t represent average Americans. She often points out there are ‘many more of us than there are of them’. I believe her. The mid terms could be the start of Trump’s undoing, but change will take time. Reverting to business as usual will mean opportunities missed. The newly emerging, principled, social democratic leaders are already winning hearts and minds. There are reasons to be hopeful on the other side. Getting there is a tough call, but an authoritarian, oligarchic regime must be defeated, for everyone’s sake worldwide.
So the anti-genocide group, Palestine Action who have not killed or even hurt anyone, are designated terrorists by the largest purveyor of terror in the world! Of course with their partner, Israel!
At this point in time I’m struck by how the Americans system of democracy is failing to protect the very people it has claimed to protect. The American system needs overhauling and its Constitution needs strengthening if it is to work in the future. There will otherwise always be another so-called messiah waiting in the wings to try this again. Let this be a warning to you that no system is infallible. It needs updating constantly to meet the newest threats of this age. Technology has to be taken seriously into account also.
As I read the preceding series of brief comments I got a little nauseous and felt kind of like somebody had punched me in the stomach when I didn't expect it. When I feel like that, I know what it means. It means I'm having trouble finding or seeing the America I've known and loved the last 72 years. It's because when I look around I see our government perpetrating actions and policies and sometimes crimes so vastly Un-American in their nature and consequences that I have to blink twice and collect myself to be sure I'm still in America and not back in El Salvador in the early 1980s during the worst years of their then raging Civil War, where I saw so much of what's happening here now, happening there then. I remember when I got back to the States I felt like I was again able to start breathing fresh air, almost as if I had been suffocating there in Central America and not realized it. And now, all these years later, The Spectre has appeared again, and here in my own country. But one thing I know, I'm going to do everything I can, as little or as much as that may be at this time in my life, to send that Spectre far away from here with its tail between its legs to whatever hell hole it came out of and then seal the top. And I remember Benjamin Franklin: "If we can keep it", he said. "If we can keep it".
Every act of resistance is valid and worthwhile, however big or small.
With respect @Kenneth Wise, historians like Heather Cox Richardson, Timothy Snyder and Robert Reich say that the current American version of neofascism is the logical consequence of a politics that began in America at least four decades ago. Have you seen this coming? Have you been conscious of a steady move to the political right in successive Republican administrations?
Resist 🐸 RIBBIT! REPEAT
Ah yes, Portland Frogs will defeat the fascists! 💚💚💚
I'm certainly not a historian in the sense Reich, Richardson and Snyder are, all of which I've either read articles by or heard them interviewed recently. I like all three and value what each of them writes or says. In particular, I heard and watched a very good, lengthy discussion with Tim Snyder in which he did speak of, among other things, our current GOP and what it has become, that taking decades. I had no trouble understanding and agreeing with just about everything he spoke of on that subject. But you ask if I've been aware these past four decades or so of a steady move to what we have today in Donald Trump & his minions and the terror being sown and the lives being destroyed and the international relationships being stretched to the breaking point and which will never be the same, and our level of National Defense and Security the lowest I've seen it in my lifetime . . . and I must answer you "No". I only began to see this a few years ago after Trump was elected and into the first year of his first term. I knew what my mind and my gut was telling me but I didn't want to believe it. I thought surely I must be perceiving this the wrong way, the model that's developing in my mind must be flawed although I know it can happen here. Then I began to think more and more of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's writings, especially his letter from a German prison entitled (rough translation) "On Folly" -- and I knew it WAS happening here. The only variables were how bad can it get and how long will it take to get there, what will it take to crush it and what will we look like when we begin to emerge on the other side of it.
Thank you. The future is indeed very uncertain. HCR always reverts to everyday activism and hope at the end of her chats, pointing out that Trump doesn’t represent average Americans. She often points out there are ‘many more of us than there are of them’. I believe her. The mid terms could be the start of Trump’s undoing, but change will take time. Reverting to business as usual will mean opportunities missed. The newly emerging, principled, social democratic leaders are already winning hearts and minds. There are reasons to be hopeful on the other side. Getting there is a tough call, but an authoritarian, oligarchic regime must be defeated, for everyone’s sake worldwide.
So the anti-genocide group, Palestine Action who have not killed or even hurt anyone, are designated terrorists by the largest purveyor of terror in the world! Of course with their partner, Israel!
Dolly Parton died. 😢 Tim Curry died. 😢 There's always a third.
King Harold the Fifth of Norway died, age 89. Norwegians are lining the streets and roads in all kinds of weather to pay tribute. 😢
It should have been
"The Man Who Would Be King." 😃
I appreciate what you wrote. Additionally, I did not know that King Harald V of Norway had died. My father's family and lineage was mostly Norwegian.
He obviously was well loved.
AGREE TOTALLY!💯💯💯💯💯
what magas are left that think this is a good thing? someone needs to get on the streets and start asking them face to face
At this point in time I’m struck by how the Americans system of democracy is failing to protect the very people it has claimed to protect. The American system needs overhauling and its Constitution needs strengthening if it is to work in the future. There will otherwise always be another so-called messiah waiting in the wings to try this again. Let this be a warning to you that no system is infallible. It needs updating constantly to meet the newest threats of this age. Technology has to be taken seriously into account also.
Voting MATTERS!