Everyone Will Replace Us! Saturday Political Soap Box 286

 

I love history. It was my favorite subject in school but has also been a lifelong passion. 

I wanted to teach History. But, alas, that was not to be. I had a teaching degree that qualified me to teach it, but no one was interested in a history teacher who couldn't coach a sport. That didn't diminish my love of history, even though I am only an amateur historian.

One of the writing projects that fired me up in my late teens and early 20s was the idea of a novel inspired by James Michener, entitled Saginaw. It was intended to be a multi-generational story crossing through the history of the Saginaw area.

It would start with a conflict between two native American tribes fighting to control the Saginaw area. Subsequent parts would deal with French fur trappers and their battles with the English, the timber era and how Saginaw became the center of the lumberjack barons and their demolishment of Michigan's great forests, the rise of the auto industry and the new immigrant groups that came in (Polish, German, the South), and finally, about the 1970s and the white flight from Saginaw to the suburbs.

The point was, whether peaceful or by force, the culture of Saginaw was constantly changing, always evolving. Culture isn't fixed. It's constantly adapting, always blending.

It's essential to have a sense of history. It's important to know where you're from, understand what has happened in the past, and learn lessons from it.

What we must never do is think we can freeze culture where it is and never let it change. We cannot, for example, apply Bedouin cultural standards to modern industrial society.

Technology and knowledge change things. Sticking with fossil fuels when we know what damage they do is foolish. Because people were comfortable with child brides in the past doesn't mean we should be comfortable with them today. Because women didn't have the right to vote over a century ago, it doesn't mean they should be denied it today.

We don't live like our grandparents did. We don't get around in horses and buggies or Model T's. We can travel to Europe without it being a weeks-long ocean voyage. We've gone from radio to a TV station to several TV stations to thousands of streaming choices. We've gone from socializing through day-long church events and town festivals to social media that connects us around our globe in ways that both free us and connect us but also enforce our worst instincts and spread hate and ignorance as well as love and knowledge.

Some things have stuck with us for centuries, like our holy texts, Shakespeare, and silverware. Others last for decades, like some of our foods, our sporting games, and our religious rituals. Before we know it, other things are in and out, like fashion, music, and what we find funny.

Sports do ebb and flow. Baseball used to be our national pastime. Now it is American football. Who knows? In another few decades, it may become soccer. Or pickleball. Who knows? Golf was high in popularity but is declining now. I wonder what that means in the future to retirement communities such as The Villages in Florida, which build their communities around dozens of golf courses. That, too, is the nature of things. Cities that seemed vital in the past become less meaningful over time, with many becoming ghost cities.

There is a long tradition of gun ownership in this country. But that is changing, particularly why or what they're used for. Hunting, like it or not, is declining in this country. At one time, it was a necessity. Now it is a sport and a luxury. People keep guns to connect to their family's past, but that will mean less and less to future generations over time. Gun ownership now is mainly a result of fear of the other, the refusal to accept change, and the desire to hold back other groups and freeze culture.

That is bunk. You can't hold back time. You can't stop change.

Over time, everyone will replace us. The culture of the future will only marginally be like ours. That has its good and bad aspects. But it is inevitable.

There was another thread to this I wanted to pursue, but this is long enough. I will try to follow that other thread in a future post. 

Thank you for reading.  

A Tough Country to Love

 Sometimes, this is a tough country to love.

I know. Just by saying that, I have raised the ire of many and completely ruined my chances of ever running for political office. Oh, well. That ship has longed since sailed, anyways.

I've always believed in the Martin Luther King quote, "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." When I was younger and more idealistic, I thought I would see that bend. Now, at 66, I'm not so sure.

Some things have gotten better. But even those steps forward have been brought with backlash and steps backward.  

I have seen some things improve. But I also have seen that the Empire always strikes back.

Voting rights are passed and guaranteed, only to see voter suppression legislation chip away and reverse progress.

Women's reproductive rights can be granted and then taken away.

And with the Supreme Court no longer supporting a right to privacy, we could see reversals in access to birth control, gay marriage, and even interracial marriage.

The very foundational creed of this country, e Pluribus Unum - out of many, one - is being challenged and abandoned as the racist, immoral, and WRONG Great Replacement Theory destroys everything meaningful about this country.

I know gun control measures alone won't solve the cultural sickness we suffer from. The promise of America is tempered by the sins of America.

We (the white Europeans) committed genocide against the original natives of this land - using our guns. We enslaved millions of people based on the color of their skin - enforcing it with our guns. Even after slavery was ended, that did not stop the brutality toward African-Americans. 

One of the significant factors behind us having more guns than people - it's not hunting. It's not even ordinary self-defense. It's not trying to take down a tyrannical government. It's FEAR. Fear that you will be treated as you have treated others.

And that's not easy to solve with simple gun control measures.  

But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. 

Can you imagine if a plane were to go down because of a defective part or something that could be changed by a new safety measure, and we did nothing to change it? If we said, "Well, that's not going to solve all the plane crashes. Planes are still going to go down." Can you imagine dismissing doing anything?

Background checks won't solve all the problems. But it WILL HELP. Closing gun-show loopholes WILL HELP. Reviving the Assault Weapons Ben WILL HELP A WHOLE HELL OF A LOT.

But...the reality is that little to nothing is going to happen.

We need to control guns. We won't.

We need to reverse climate change. We won't.

We need to treat healthcare access as a human right. We won't.

We need to protect voting rights. We won't.

We need to preserve our privacy rights - women's reproductive rights, access to birth control, LGBTQ rights, and the right to marry the consenting adult WHOM YOU LOVE. I fear we won't.

The only thing that will change this is if PEOPLE vote based on these things. As long as politicians win who are in the pocket of the gun lobby, who kowtow to Christian Dominionists, who spread the fear of THE OTHER, who love fossil fuels and their money more than people, as long as they keep getting elected, then things will never change. The arc of moral justice will be delayed until nothing is left to save.

I believe in the American Creed. I believe in the melting pot. E Pluribus Unum. We are stronger when we are united, when we respect and love our diversity, and when we work to make things better for all. That is one thread of American History. And it's the thread that I love. That is what I envision when I say the pledge of allegiance - liberty and justice for all. THAT is what the flag stands for.

But there is another thread of our history - one this is vicious and mean and violent.

And right now, I fear that thread is threatening to engulf us all.

I love what my country has often struggled to represent.

I hate what it so often becomes.

You have a decision to make.

Which thread do you choose?

Choose now, while we still have a choice.

Spikey Wednesday Wanderings

Saga of the Returning Hair!

Not enough to comb, but in more solidly than last week, this is the growth after 17 days.

I still wear my hat most of the time, although it's really longer now than a lot of guys. It's not all voluntary.  Some guys have male baldness pattern issues, and even though they may not be completely bald, they keep the rest of it short to balance out.  Others just prefer their hair that short.  I'm not one of those guys.

Also in the background note Boss-A-Man and Pixie, sleeping on our oldest but most comfortable chair in the house.

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I'm not a big fan of the unspoken prayer request, but...I find myself in a situation where I cannot yet be specific.  So, any thoughts, prayers or kindnesses you can send Alison's way would be greatly appreciated.  It's not health or family or personal relationships or even her work, but it is something that is causing her a great deal of stress, caused by something that is unnecessary and purposelessly mean-spirited and cruel.  She is not alone in going through this either.

I hate being vague.  Trust me.  If there was any way I could be more specific, I would.

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I won the second round of my work's March Madness pool.  Thank you, Loyola-Chicago and Michigan.  My choice for the champion is Michigan, OF COURSE!!!  GO BLUE!!!

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Tax season grinds on.  I'm not putting in as much time as in prior years, but I am putting in more than I wanted to.  Breaking up with accounting is hard to do.  Especially when I have demonstrated such poor skill at earning money at doing anything else.

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People can restructure Facebook and other social media to get the news they want, and that reinforces their beliefs.  But I really have to wonder what the Trumpeteers are looking at to think that the President is doing a good job, and that he is a decent and moral person.  It must be getting more and more difficult to only receive positive news about our Mad King.

Of course, it's not just the President that they see in altered reality.  It's the necessity to hate on the young people who are daring to challenge the NRA, and urge us to a few common sense gun control measures.  And it's not enough to hate them as they are.  They have to believe manufactured pictures like Emma Gonzalez being photoshopped to look like she was tearing up the constitution (instead of the shooting target she was tearing up).  Or that some are not really students but crisis actors. Are some people in such a tight bubble that they really believe crap like that?

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Wanderingly yours,

T. m. Strait







 

Marching Monday Musing

Go Blue!  The Michigan Wolverines continue their March through the "March Madness" NCAA College Basketball Tournament.  They had one blow out win, but most of their wins have been tight and queasy-inducing.  But there they stand, the fourth-place team in the Big Ten (but still Big Ten Tournament Champions), the only Big Ten team in the Final Four!  Next, they play Cinderella 11th-seed Loyola-Chicago.  Under any other circumstances, I might pull for the underdog.  But not these.  Wolverines all the way, baby!

It was also the weekend of the March For Our Lives Rally.  The turnout was fantastic, throughout the United States.  Hundreds of thousands of America's young people turned out.  They loudly declared that Gen Z will not be the apathy generation.  As they protest, march, and speak out, and then most importantly register to vote, they are going to provide an important counterweight to the NRA and the alt-right.

There were many brilliant, articulate and informed young speakers at these rallies. The student pictured above was one of the youngest and most compelling.  Naomi Wadler, 11 years old, spoke out eloquently about the effects of gun violence, particularly about its disproportionally heavy effect on young black women.

Emma Gonzalez, 18 and from Parkland, brought the crowd to its symbolic knees with her moments of silence.  Edna Chavez moved me to tears when she talked about the gun violence in her South Los Angele neighborhood.  David Hogg, the young high schooler from Parkland, made it clear that this would have an electoral element, and that they would do everything they could to counterbalance and defeat those who enriched themselves with NRA money.

My prediction is that we are beginning to see the emergence of a new generation of leadership and that we will see one or more of these young leaders in high office one day.  Maybe even the highest office.  

When I see what this new generation is doing, speaking out with fire and hope, it makes me believe that we finally will have a generation worthy of our Greatest Generation, that battled depression and fascism, and set the middle class into its golden era (well, at least until Reagan and the trickle-on theory of economics).

And the way we're going, the damage we've caused to the planet and America's standing in the world, Generation Z can't come to leadership fast enough.

To all my young blog readers - register to vote!  You got the power!

If you choose to use it.

Those Who Teach

Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom: Enlighten by your Holy Spirit those who teach and those who learn, that, rejoicing in the knowledge of your truth, they may worship you and serve you from generation to generation; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.

- The Book of Common Prayer                                

Those who teach and those who learn.

What they do is a blessing and a gift.   Teaching through love, kindness, and understanding, is so much more effective than teaching through fear, hate, and intimidation.  And most of our teachers understand that.  Knowledge and truth are spread quicker and surer when there is empathy and caring. 

Teaching the Gospel message rings truer when done through the filter of loving one's neighbor.  The same is true of any subject.

Being able to teach in an atmosphere of love is vital. Teaching in an armed camp makes that very difficult.  Teachers should not have to be armed with weaponry, they should be armed with knowledge and wisdom.  They should be provided with basic school supplies, not bullets.

Worship and service to Christ can live and grow and light up the generations.  Teach by example.  Teach by love.  Becoming the hands and feet of Christ inspires it in others. 

Bless the teachers among us.  Whether it is Sunday School or biology, math or preschool, social studies or the language arts, athletics or band, science or choir - they all sing to the human spirit, increase our knowledge of the world, our caring for each other, our love of learning and our love of the Lord.

As the Saturday Night Live comedy skit shows, the solution to the clanging of cowbell dominating a song is not more cowbell.  That just makes it harder to hear the song you want to hear.

So it is with guns.  The solution to guns is never more guns.  That will lead to more noise and threats, more fear and jumpiness, more gun violence.  Our schools and churches and concerts are not going to be made safer by turning them into police state style armed camps.  The solution lies in banning military-style weaponry.  Country after country shows the same statistic - the fewer guns, the greater the reduction in the amount of gun violence.  The more guns, the greater the number of gun-related deaths.

Teach our children well.  Those who teach and those who learn should be able to do us in an atmosphere of love and peace.  Not with a holstered gun, or a rifle strapped to their backs.

Bless teachers and students everywhere, young and old alike. 

               

Enough! Saturday Political Soap Box 177

Enough!

We've put up with it for far too long.  We've argued over silly and stupid stuff over and over again. 

No, we don't want to take away all the guns.  For better or worse, we live in a society sympathetic to gun culture.  Although it must be said, I have seen statistics that over half the guns in this country are owned by 3% of our citizens (as reported by a study done by researchers at Harvard and Northwestern University).

No, our plague of mass shootings may not be solely from the easy availability of increasingly deadly firearms.  I'm sure we can do better in mental health, and I'm sure there are cultural factors (e.g., many of the shooters are white men who seem to have trouble fitting in, particularly in their relationships with women).  But international studies clearly demonstrate - the more guns in a society, the more mass shootings.  We're number with a (forgive me) bullet.  Number two is Yemen, and they have almost as high a percentage of gun ownership as we do.  So for those who advocate that the solution to gun violence is yet more guns - you have descended into an insane, senseless spiral that will only increase the number of gun deaths.  Go ahead.  Arm everyone in a bar with AR-15s and see what happens.

Not everyone is insane on this issue.  Many reasonable gun owners understand the necessity for improved background checks, closing gun show loopholes, keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally unstable and the violent and the domestic abusers, and in limiting assault rifles and raid fire capacity.  Spoiler alert -  if you go to war with the US Government, even with these weapons, you're going to LOSE.  They can beat anything you've got or fantasize about getting.

So why don't some of these common-sense reforms happen, especially ones supported by a majority of Republican voters and responsible gun owners?  Because of the NRA and the massive amounts of money they provide for their chosen candidates. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida only offers thoughts and prayers, and won't vote for popular measures.  Why?  Well, he has over 3,000.000 reasons not too.  That's the amount of money he got from the NRA.

As long as politicians can get huge sums of money from the NRA, and not have to pay a political price at the polls, what do they care what their constituents think?  I am encouraged by the teenagers of Florida speaking out so forcefully on this issue.  Once again, our young people often give me the best hope for our future,  But it's not gonna mean diddly-squat to someone like Rubio until it costs him at the polls.

This won't change until the majority of the voters in this country, both Republicans and Democrats, pledge to never vote for an NRA funded candidate again.


You want this to stop?

Gun owners - abandon the NRA and create an alternative group focused on gun safety and responsible gun ownership, with support of modest gun control legislation.  You know - like the NRA was sixty years ago.

Young people - keep protesting.  Do not stop.  Make every legislator in the country pay attention.

Voters - make not receiving NRA contributions a minimum standard for who you vote for.  And make sure to apply this standard to federal, state and local officials.  They're not going to change until they understand continued allegiance to the NRA agenda will cost them their jobs.

Enough!