It's Been a Sweet Tart of a Day

There's a lot to be said about the Biden victory. A lot of hope. A lot of relief. A lot of happiness. Yes, we should indeed celebrate the victory. It puts Harris as the highest elected woman in U.S history. That alone, while a sad commentary on our misogynistic society, is enough to celebrate. 

But I'm not going to talk about all that. Many others will, and they will do a much better job than I. 

Instead, I need to talk about what many would prefer we didn’t talk about. 

I'm bothered by the fact a man like Trump could get so much support. So much virulent, vicious, cult-like support. His followers worship him. He literally has had a hand in the deaths of over 240,000 people and still they worship him. More people voted for him this election than the last. That speaks volumes about the soul of our country. 

For the 2020 election, Trump, and the Republican Party in general, had no platform. So this election was not about politics. At his rallies stand-up routines he never talked policy or how he would try to help the country if given another four years in office. Instead he just ranted and raged at his perceived enemies. It was a comedy show of anger. A hate movement disguised as patriotism. A sad commentary on where we as a nation have gone.

And many, many people ate it up. Over seventy million, in fact. 

They voted to cage children, sterilize women, and control their bodies. They voted for blatant and open white supremacy and fascism. They voted to hate, disenfranchise, and attack people of color or people that don’t agree with them. They voted for authoritarianism because of some irrational fear that Democrats were going to take away their guns and money. They voted for inequality. They voted for lies. They voted for people to not have healthcare. They voted to end democracy. 

And that is why this Biden victory feels hollow to me.

All those people that embraced hate, that believed the media was the enemy of the people, that actively fought for authoritarianism, they’re still out there. They still embrace, believe, and fight for all that shit listed above. They didn’t suddenly change their stripes because the man they worship lost the election. If anything, they’re more emboldened now; more motivated. 

Then there’s the fact the “blue wave” never happened. Not only was there not a landslide victory for Biden, there wasn’t a massive ousting of incumbent GOP senators. The Senate did not turn blue. And the best it looks like it might do is go 50-50. And the Senate turning blue was a necessary condition if change was going to happen in this country. But instead McConnell will do what he did in the latter part of the Obama presidency: block everything.

I’ve written about McConnell before. The fact he is able to do what he does seems to be a flaw in our political system. A flaw that most certainly will not change with him and Republicans in charge of the Senate. (And the Senate is an unfair representation of the American people, but that’s a discussion for another day.) So don’t expect any real change to happen with Biden in office. McConnell won’t allow it. 

And since very little will change, and all the haters of democracy and embracers of authoritarianism are still out there, we can’t let our guard down. But I don’t know how we do that when we are all exhausted from these last five years. Will we be able to keep up the fight for another four? Because I don’t see Biden’s victory erasing what we have been fighting against these past years. It’s still out there. Some on the right are already calling for someone “meaner” than Trump in 2024. Trump himself is rumored to want to run again, as well. Even Don Jr. is rumored. And Tucker Carlson. Yeah. Tucker Carlson. 

And clearly they have supporters. Many supporters. Like I said earlier, it’s a hate movement.

It is said that love trumps hate. Morally I believe this to be true. Realistically I don’t know if it is. After all, Trump is a mirror of our country. He is a symptom of a much greater cancer. He brought out the worst in many Americans, though their hate and subservience to authoritarianism has always been with them. He just gave them permission to flaunt it. It’s why the Christian Right supports him—practically worships him—despite his lack of decency, empathy, and compassion toward others. He really only offers the Christian Right authoritarianism. But for them, that’s enough.

Please don't misunderstand me. Yes, we should celebrate. Cheer, dance in the streets, ring bells, shoot off fireworks, whatever. And it looks like most of the world is celebrating with us. That’s a wonderful feeling. Because despite the Trump Republican drive to isolate this country from the rest of the world, it can’t. All countries are connected now. We all must work together if we want a future for our children. Isolation will lead to extinction.

But don’t get complacent. The Trump Republicans have greatly damaged this country. From actively and blatantly suppressing voters, to stacking lower courts with unqualified Republican judges, to literally stealing seats on the Supreme Court, to politicizing a pandemic, to demonizing the media, to gaslighting the American people. A Biden administration will not be able to repair it all.

But it’s a start. 

Just know that the fight must continue.

So be ready to keep at it.

Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.

Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Sung to the tune of "American Pie" by Don McLean

The Day My Country Died

A long, long time ago

I can still remember how my country used to make me smile.

And I knew if given the chance

That in the street, people would dance

And maybe they'd be happy for a while.

But November third made me shiver

With every result that was delivered.

Bad news the next morning.

The country didn't heed the warning.

I can't remember if I cried

When I read about the losing sides.

But something touched me deep inside

The day, my country died.

So bye, bye we will never know why

Many people choose his steeple spouting hatred and lies

And them good ole souls were raising hands to the sky

Singin' this is how America dies.

This is how America dies.

Did they burn the book of love

Because of their faith in God above

'Cause the Bible tells them so?

Do you believe in hopes and dreams?

Can this country ever be redeemed?

And can you teach me what it all has to mean?

Well, I know that you're in love with him

'Cause I saw you happy to the brim.

You both smiled ear to ear

Man, I wish you'd all disappear.

I was a frightened mid-aged worried soul

With a grim perspective and a lazy stroll.

But I knew I should smoke a bowl

The day, my country died.

I started singin'

Bye, bye we will never know why

Many people choose his steeple spouting hatred and lies

And them good ole souls were raising hands to the sky

Singin' this is how America dies.

This is how America dies.

Now, for four years we've been on our own

An orange man perched on a golden throne

But that's not how it used to be.

When the turtle blocked help for you and me

When he took away our great country

And he fought us with such hate and glee.

Oh and while the king was tweeting wild

The turtle changed our world and smiled.

The damage had been done.

His game he'd finally won.

And while The Don embraced all his hate

Our country's time was drawing late

And we sang dirges about our fate

The day, my country died.

We were singin'

Bye, bye we will never know why

Many people choose his steeple spouting hatred and lies

And them good ole souls were raising hands to the sky

Singin' this is how America dies.

This is how America dies.

Helter skelter and damn their tax shelters

All will one day succumb to the swelter.

The heat and clime changing fast.

The virus  changed all the land

But many people didn't give a damn

With the experts on the sidelines getting canned.

Now the election brought with it hope

We all were tired of pushing rope

Do you recall how big the scope

The day, my country died?

We started singin'

Bye, bye we will never know why

Many people choose his steeple spouting hatred and lies

And them good ole souls were raising hands to the sky

Singin' this is how America dies.

This is how America dies.

Oh, and there we were all in one place

The young and old of every race

Fighting for our rights once again.

So come on Jack be angry, Jack be brave

Jack don't fall back inside a cave

'Cause the darkness will never be your friend

Oh and as I watched him tweet with rage

His loyal backers all engaged.

Who are they, I can’t tell

They’re all found, under spell.

And as the counting went on through the night

And into next day, what a sight.

I saw Putin laughing with delight 

The day, my country died. 

He was singing'

Bye, bye we will never know why

Many people choose his steeple spouting hatred and lies

And them good ole souls were raising hands to the sky

Singin' this is how America dies.

This is how America dies.

I grabbed a J and had some booze

Looked on Twitter for some happy news

But the bird failed and flew away.

I went inside my dreams once more

Then asked again "What was it all for?"

But my dreams now were stagnant where they lay.

And in the streets some people screamed

The dreamers cried, and the far right schemed.

But all was left was a token.

So many hearts were broken.

And the three men that destroyed us the most

The Donald, Mitch, and every Fox host

They laughed and mocked those on the coast

The day, my country died.

And they were singing

Bye, bye we will never know why

Many people choose his steeple spouting hatred and lies

And them good ole souls were raising hands to the sky

Singin' this is how America dies.

This is how America dies.

They were singing

Bye, bye we will never know why

Many people choose his steeple spouting hatred and lies

And them good ole souls were raising hands to the sky

Singin' this is how America dies.

--Randy Anderson

Because I Still Believe

I’m sad for those people in Omaha. Not sad because they were stranded in below 32 degree weather after listening to a conman go on and on doing his stand-up act instead of giving them any kind of plan or direction he has for the country over the next four years. After all, it was their choice to attend.

No, I’m sad for them because they had some desire to attend. Some want. Some overwhelming need. Their belief that he is the best person to lead the country they live in because he is some kind of savior for an idealized America that never existed in the first place is more than sad, it’s depressing.

But that’s what they want. They want to make the “libtards” depressed...or angry. For them it’s not about what’s right or wrong, it’s about winning. It’s about doing whatever they must to ensure emotional, and sometimes physical suffering among those they view as their enemy. It’s about a hatred for the other side that we on the left are just now beginning to understand.

Playing “fair” or “by the rules,” while being the admirable thing to do, has been a losing cause for Democrats recently. The Republicans have taken so much while we did. 

I was taught that “right” eventually wins out in the end. I was raised that way. I have tried to live my life that way.

But lately that sure doesn’t seem to be true. It appears that playing “ruthless” is what wins in the end.

And that makes me sad.

We’re six days out from the end of the 2020 election cycle. Six days of Covid-induced, racial strife induced, economic uncertainty induced, and climate induced stress.

And everyday feels like it brings with it another fire.

America is evolving too fast for those people in Omaha who attended his stand-up show last night. The change is happening in real time. For the people who follow him with cult-like admiration and loyalty it scares them. They are desperate to make it to stop.

But it won’t.

Change is inevitable. If they don’t adapt then they will go extinct.

Because I still believe that “right” will prevail. It’s going to be difficult because so much is lined up against it, but it will win out in the end. I just hope it’s in my lifetime. A loss in this election will make that difficult to achieve, yes, but maybe then it will be achieved in my children’s lifetime.

I can hope.

Hoping for a better future for my children is certainly better than standing in the road, in the middle of a pandemic, in below 32 degree weather, hoping for a bus to arrive.

The Power of One

One person should never be allowed so much power. It's a flaw in our system of government. It allows one to abuse that power and hold the country hostage to whatever whims the one holding it craves.

One man has stopped the levers of government, made up new "rules" to prohibit Presidential rights given by the Constitution, and kept bills from being discussed (much less voted on), all while stacking the judicial system with ideological judges.

It's not Trump. And it wasn't Obama.

It's Mitch McConnell.

How can one man--a man where people in 49 other states have never had a say in whether he goes to the Senate or not--have so much power?

How can one man, voted to the Senate by a small number of Americans in the 26th largest state by population, be allowed to essentially decide the direction of this country?

How can anyone think this is a good form of government?

It's a flaw in our system. One that has recently had devastating consequences.

And together we all suffer for it.

806,787 people voted for Mitch McConnell in 2014.

806,787.

That’s half of one percent of the total number of registered voters in the country in 2014.

0.567% to be precise.

Yet he has controlled the direction of this country. He’s prevented judges from being confirmed, endlessly blocked legislation from reaching the Senate floor, changed rules when it suited him and the Republican Party, confirmed ideological judges at record pace once he had a Republican President in office, ignored the plight of everyday Americans, and now with eight days to go before the end of an election cycle (because yes, the election is happening now), he’s going to get his third Supreme Court Justice approved. The third one chosen by a President that was not elected by a majority of Americans.

All of that may be legal, yes. But it’s wrong.

The country should not be controlled by one man elected by 806,787 people from Kentucky. 

The country should not be controlled by one man, period.

Because it is, shows there’s a flaw in the system.

And for the country to survive, that system must change. 

If it doesn’t, then we should fear for our children’s future.

Because Mitch McConnell will not be the last power-hungry person to hold this position. Others will undoubtedly follow in the footsteps he has made in clay. And, although right now it may be hard to believe, they may be worse.

So I repeat: one person should never be allowed so much power. To allow it invites abuse and degrades the people’s representation. The 806,787 people from Kentucky that voted for Mitch McConnell don’t represent me. And they don’t represent the majority of the people in this great country. And if we’re not going to be faithfully represented, then we the people need to make a change. 

White Privilege Anger

In this time of a pandemic, limited socializing, high unemployment numbers, the not-to-be-forgotten climate change problem, rising racial tensions, political polarization, and just a general uncertainty for the future, it’s understandable that people are angry. But if you’re angry because people of color and their supporters are angry, but you’re not concerned with why people of color and their supporters are angry, then you might suffer from what is appropriately called ‘white privilege.’

Some white people are angry because black people are trying to bring attention to an important issue: black people face a high risk of being killed by police. Over their lifetime, black men in particular face a much higher risk of being killed by police than white men.

But the anger goes deeper than that. These current protests sparked by the unnecessary death of George Floyd are about more than just his heinous murder at the knee of white cop. It’s about all the heinous murders, and almost murders, of black men and women at the hands and knees and weapons of white cops. It’s about armed white men chasing down unarmed black men and killing them. It’s about white women calling 911 on law abiding black men. It’s about ‘stand your ground’ laws which encourage racially charged violence. It’s about people of color having to raise their children to be fearful of the police, teaching them that making one wrong move, or even saying one wrong word, could mean the end of their life.

White people don’t have those issues.

That is white privilege.

If you’re white, you don’t get to tell people of color how they should be angry. That is not up to you. If someone is angry, we should listen to them to learn why they are angry, not just be pissed off because people different than us are pissed off about issues we think don’t affect us.

Instead of being pissed off at sports figures for taking a knee during the National Anthem, you should have listened to why they were doing it. You should have asked yourself why they were quietly protesting and then sought out the answer. You didn’t. Instead you vilified the players for making you uncomfortable. You thought of them as ‘lesser,’ and wanted nothing more than for them to shut up and step back in line so you could go back to enjoying mainly young black men damage their brains and bodies for your ‘entertainment.’ You were angry at their peaceful protests.

That is white privilege.

Yet when white people get angry because they haven’t been able to go to a bar or a restaurant or, god forbid, get a haircut because there’s a deadly pandemic happening, you seem to be fine with armed white men protesting at state capitols, angry white women in their SUVs yelling at nurses in the street, and a mob of white people at an anti-social-distancing protest pressed against statehouse windows looking like a scene out of a zombie movie.

While those people are all idiots who either don’t understand science or refuse to listen to the advice of those that do, their anger is understandable. We all are frustrated and angry by the necessary limitations put on us by the pandemic.

But anger is not reserved exclusively for white people.

In regards to a police killing of an unarmed black man, many white people repeat the mantra that one bad apple doesn’t mean the whole barrel is bad. True. No one has argued that it is. But when ‘good’ cops look away from what ‘bad’ cops are doing--when they condone the abhorrent behavior of their colleagues, either out of fear or some unwritten brotherhood code--then there is more going on than just a few bad apples. That’s no longer individualized. That’s systemic. That’s a police culture that needs to change.

When cops approach peaceful protestors and shoot them with rubber bullets or pepper spray them or push them to the ground or kick them over while they try to get their bearings or provoke violence then they are being bullies. They don’t get a pass for being law enforcement. In fact, being a member of law enforcement, they should be held to a much higher standard. And when they fail that higher standard, they should be held accountable. The ‘good’ cops, and there are many, should be out in front on this, demanding things to change.

People are pissed off because the system doesn’t treat everyone equally. Black people see this in their communities every day. White people don’t. Thus many white people don’t understand the anger. And since it happens over there, in communities many white people would rather not see, they view the protests as a threat to their way of life--to their existence--and they demand that it stop. They belittle the protestors or refuse to see the message because they get hung up on the violence. They then demand that the protesting should be done differently, on their terms, in a way that makes them feel more comfortable. Really, that means in a way so they don’t have to see it.

That is white privilege.

Change is often dirty. Systemic change is down right messy. Flowers and rainbows aren’t going to always get it done. But be careful casting blame for the violence. Things aren’t always what they seem since other people have other agendas.

People of color have much to be angry about--white silence, apathy, and indifference be damned. We need to listen to people of color; support them; help them realize they are loved and that we will not stand for bullying and inequality. That we, too, demand change.

I ask that if you’re saddened or befuddled or angered by the mass protests to please take a moment to understand the years of oppression and inequality our black brothers and sisters have had to endure. Then ask yourself, if under the same circumstances, if you would feel the same way they do? Would you be as outraged and hurt and desperate for change? If your answer to those questions is no, or if you can’t even fathom the questions at all, then that is white privilege.

And anger is not exclusively reserved for white people.