This is something I posted directly to Facebook. That was unusual in that I don't usually post anything that long. If it's that long, I would post it on my blog, and have people see it there.
It's frustrating. Over 20 people posted reactions to it (like, love, anger, etc.), and there were nine comments. Doesn't sound like many? Contrast that with the usual reaction to my blog entries - maybe zero to three likes, if I'm lucky one comment.
I guess trying to bring people to greater blog participation is another way I tilt at windmills.
Nevertheless, I persist.
Anyhoo, here is the direct post I made. Additional comments or clarification are in normal size type (like this).
My son, Benjamin, was an early huge fan of Barack Obama. He chose the part of Barack Obama at his elementary school's Wax Museum. He used in his speech one of his favorite lines of Obama's - "There are no blue states. There are no red states. There is only the United States of America." Sadly, ten years later, I have come to the heartbreaking conclusion that my son and Obama were wrong.
This happened in the spring of 2009. To the best of my recollection, Benjamin was in third grade. He played it straight, with no makeup or accent. He just wore a suit and was behind a podium.
Benjamin was the first in my family to support Barack Obama. Eventually, support from my family (parents, sister, etc.) was universal. My father was very big on him. My mother was very worried in late October 2008 that Obama might lose. She had early voted by absentee ballot. She had to go to the hospital for a health problem, and I talked to her by phone from there. I reassured her that Obama was going to win, that Colin Powell had endorsed him, and events were favoring Obama. She worried that if something happened to her before the election, her absentee vote wouldn't count. I thought that was a strange worry, but I told her that I thought that it would. That was the last conversation I had with her. She died later that day.
There is a blue country. There is a red country. The blue is imperfect, but it does believe in factual reality. The red country has many decent people, but it believes in an alternate fantasy, one that is distant from democratic values. Nothing the blue country does can wake up the red country to the damage they are causing.
And despite media reports to the contrary, those countries are mixed. Even living in a county that voted 87% for Trump, I still find blue country people. It's not easy for us, but we exist.
While our friends, at work or at church or other organizations, get to shoot off their mouths about anything they want, us blue countriers have to be cautious about everything we say.
It may seem like I am very bold and forthright with my opinions, but that is in print. In-person, I tend not to discuss unless confronted., or I am with a group of like-minded people.
Watching the United Kingdom sink further towards hate and nationalism, seeing the Judiciary Committee Republicans spin crap and lies while holding firm against any sense of reason, is making me lose all hope for the future.
The United Kingdom vote has given fire to corporate Democrats, who blame the considerable Labour loss on Labour trying to be too Progressive. That kind of transference is a horrible and fatal mistake and one that would take several blog posts to refute in full.
The effects of the UK vote, whatever its cause, is going to be horrific and devastating.
I will not stop tilting at windmills, but I confess, I am growing depressed and weary. I see fewer and fewer ways out of this. I had not wanted to live in a time like the 30s, where the dark clouds of authoritarian fascism threatened the planet, but I now realize that once again, that is the time we are in. I'm not sure how we're getting out of this.
The Judiciary Committee has voted two articles of impeachment against President Donald J Trump, on a party-line vote. When it comes to the floor, there may be a tiny handful of Democrats that vote against it, while Republicans are likely to remain united in opposition. The trial in the Senate not only is almost 100% certain to favor Trump, but it is also expected to be a sham trial with McConnell already stating THAT IT WILL BE SO.
Does that make the Impeachment wrong and partisan?
HELL NO!
He used the power of his office to try to extort a country to provide something he could use against a political opponent. He withheld military aid contrary to US policy and jeopardized the lives of our ally, the Ukrainians. He put HIS interests ahead of the US interests. He refused to participate in the impeachment inquiry, blocking White House representatives and Cabinet officials from participating. He would not turn over any documents. He set himself up as tyrannical King rather than a President subject to Congressional oversight. He publicly confessed his guilt, as did his Chief of Staff/OMB director, Nick Mulvany.
The fact that no Republican is supporting this says a lot more about the Republican Party than the Democratic Party.
They choose Trump over the country.
They choose lies over the truth.
They choose the restoration of monarchy and fascism over the constitution and a participatory republic.
Sorry, red country. I know many of you are decent people. But you are making the mistake of your lives supporting this monster, and history will not view you kindly.
Not kindly at all.
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