Post Fourth Blues

It was not an easy Fourth of July to get through,

No, everything was okay with my family.  We had a low key day and grilled out, inviting over Alison's mother, Rose.  Afterward, Alison and I watched our new favorite sport played by our favorite team, Atlanta United.  The dogs handled well what little neighborhood fireworks there was.

Family was great.  I feel fortunate and blessed by that,

But it's hard to ignore what is happening to our country.  On a day when we should be celebrating the great diversity of this great land, of our unity in supporting democracy, of our march towards greater civil rights and equality of opportunity, it was hard not to reflect all we have lost in the last couple of years.

Our nation has never been perfect.  We brought many Africans over here in chains, and kept them in slavery, the effects of which we are still struggling with today.  We slaughtered the native inhabitants, in a brutal genocide that was admired by the Nazis, one they strove to emulate in their extermination of European Jews.  We interred the Japanese at the start of World War 2.  We kept treating African Americans as second-class citizens, with many of us behaving like monsters towards them in the Civil Rights era of the 50s and 60s.

But through it all, you could sense an impulse towards greater equality, democracy, and freedom. Things did improve.  Slavery was abolished.  Women obtained the right to vote. Unions helped make work more dignified, and capable of supporting a family, with better pay and working conditions.  Recently, the LGBT community was treated with greater respect, including the ability to marry.

Nothing has been a straight line.  Slavery is abolished, only to see the rise of sharecropping, Jim Crow laws, and the emergence of the KKK.  Native cultures were put in reservations, living in isolation and poverty.  The resentment towards women gaining ground towards equality has created a terrible backlash, including domestic abuse and sexual harassment.  Most mass murdering white men have anger at women as one of their root causes for lashing out.

But still, through it all, you had a sense that things were getting better, that progress towards the vision the founding fathers laid out in the Declaration of Independence was being made.  In starts and fits, you still sensed the nation and the world were slowly but surely becoming better places.  As said in the Theodore Parker quote that Martin Luther King made well known "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."

And now, for the first time in my life, I wonder if that is true.  The last two years have been wearing and frightening for those of us who care about America.  We have watched what is great about America be trampled on and destroyed, day after day.  And with my apologies to those who have valiantly fought and protested, it seems like we are losing, and I don't know if we can recover.  Maybe someday, but not for the next generation or so.

Parents are separated from children, and there are those who make excuses for it, and it fills me with disgust and fear for our nation,  How could so many of us have fallen so low as to accept this?  It is the final straw, that one that breaks the back of my hope.  There are people who are not coming back, people who have completely lost track of our country and its core values, and I don't know if they're ever coming back.

We have a racist President (this is a clear and compelling fact - if you can't see it - well, that is part of why I feel so hopeless right now), who is turning us back on voting rights, housing discrimination, and affirmative action.

We have a climate change denying President, who is not only ignoring global warming but is hell-bent on policies to obliterate it, including the dismantling of basic environmental protections.

We have an elitist, narcissistic President who uses the government for his own profit and gain, including altering the tax code in a way that will increase the income gap in our country.  He pretends to care about workers while busting unions (through recent Supreme Court actions) and eliminating regulations that help protect the safety of workers, and how workers are paid.

We have an anti-immigration President who treats them as if they were animals.  He has no hesitancy in breaking up families, using the tactic as an evil deterrent to those claiming asylum from dangerous countries that are fragile and violent, at least in part from the destabilizing interference from the US for many years,   He has no sense of decency, and is willing to use them as hostages in his struggle to have his useless wall built.

He has no regard for democracy.  He doesn't understand or care about our constitution.  He spits on the free press and calls them enemies of the people.  He praises dictators and sneers at leaders of democratic countries.  Hsi ill-advised trade threatens to destroy the world economy. The taint and smell of Russian influence on him and our electoral process is all over him.

The Supreme Court is solidifying into a force that will value corporate power and the wealthy over the average working person every single decision that they make. All civil rights are in grave jeopardy.  It's n longer a concern as to whether progress will be halted, but of how much it will be reversed and taken away.

I could go on and on, but either you understand this, or you don't.

So, yes.  I had a very hard time celebrating this year.

The arc of the moral universe looks farther and farther away every time I look.

July 4th Floats

July 4th floats.

It's one of those holidays that, like Christmas and New Year's, are celebrated on a fixed day rather than adjusted to a Monday.  It does not always offer an extended weekend.

What time workers get off for it may float too.  Some workers get the full week.  Alison, at the Pierce County Board of Education, receives the entire week off.  If you worked for the Ware County School Board, you get Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off.  I'm not working full time anymore, but if I were, my employer would grant Wednesday only.  And, of course, there may be some workers, first responders and such, who get absolutely nothing, 

America!  Land of the free and home of the shrinking vacation opportunities!

When our manufacturing base was stronger, some factories would shutter for the week, and our beaches would be crowded to the max.  But the days of the commonality are over.  In many of our great sightseeing spots, there are now more foreign tourists than American tourists.  We just don't travel like we used to.

For those who work most of the week, Wednesday has to be a particularly obnoxious time to take a break.  Work two days, break, then two more days again.  Hardly seems worth it.

Municipalities are all over the map as to when they do fireworks.  Unfortunately, so are my neighbors.  We'll probably have some fireworks off every day this week.  Luckily, my dogs don't seem very irritated by it, but many dogs are, and it's going to be a tough week for them and their owners.  Not to mention anyone who's trying to get some sleep.

Even the Declaration of Independence itself is kind of a floater.  The vote for Independence was on July 2nd.  The text was ratified on July 4th.  Even John Adams thought the date that would go down in history was July 2nd.  It took awhile for John Adams and the early signer to adjust to the day of recognition being the 4th.

Years later, two of the most prominent writers of the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, died on the same day  - July 4th, 1826.

It's a great time to celebrate, with family and friends and fellow Americans, whichever days we get to do it.  And these days, with so many of our democratic and civic norms under siege, it's a good time to remember the goals and spirit of the Declaration, and what it was meant to inspire.

From the Declaration of Independence:


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. 

It took us more than two centuries to extend these rights to everyone.

It has taken us less than two years to start to rescind them and move backward.

July 4th floats.

Do not let your patriotism float.  Speak out now.

Do not let Trumpism deliver the final blow to everything we've struggled to achieve.

Protesting Monday Musing

Our motley crew, protesting in front of the Trump "Make America Conned Again" rally.  I mean, Make America Great Again.  We're gathered here for a photo op, and then to get our checks from George Soros,

I participated in a protest Saturday!

It was a first for me, believe it or not. I had been part of a teacher's union picket, back in 1978, but this is the first purely political protest I've participated in.

We only had about fifteen protesters, but  it had only been announced at one meeting of the Team RJ group, named for organizer RJ Hadley.  Given that, I thought our turn out was pretty good!

Meanwhile, the pro Trump group had advertised heavily, across many medias, both traditional and social, throughout Southeast Georgia.  Given this, and the fact that most counties here voted heavily for Trump, their turnout was not all that impressive.  There were crowd estimates of 200 (as announced by the rally organizers), but more realistically about 125.  Regardless, it was certainly not the numbers they were hoping for.

The police that were there were extremely helpful, and were neutral in the disposition of their job of keeping the peace.  They told us where we could protest safely, and we stayed within that boundary. A few Trump supporters would wander over and say things to us, mostly mild, but some of it clearly designed to provoke us.  They were met with love and respect, and the police only had to say something once.  When the rally was over, the police shook our hands and thanked us for our respectful behavior.

As you can see from the picture above, we weren't a very gruff looking crowd.  We were just regular people fed up with the autocratic direction that Trump and his cronies were leading us in.  I had hoped we would get a show of support from MILLENNIALS.  Hopefully, as MILLENNIALS find out more about our group and our area protests, the MILLENNIALS will come out and support us.

We were near a street that had a good amount of traffic, and we received a variety of notice from people.  We did get some dirty looks, some birdies shot, and a rare heckle.  "Go Trump!" was a big one which I would translate into "GO, Trump!", as in yes, he definitely has to GO!  One younger man shouted to us "Get a f------ job!"  Of course, it was Saturday, and most of us had good jobs, thank you very much.  The woman next to me had two jobs, and was a dog rescuer in her spare time.  Too bad he wasn't worried about the job status of those attending the Trump rally.

I have a personal preference to carry positive signs.  So the two I held at different times were "I Support Public Education" and "Liberty and Justice for All". I have a feeling if this area does shift its politics, it will be because educators finally wake up to the reality that Trump and Betsey DeVos and Republicans in general, are not their friends,  They would just as soon eliminate public schools, and switch to privately run charters that will pay them only about half what they make now, and will cut or end most of their benefits.

The rally speakers mostly ignored us, although I think they did pray for our souls at one point.  In general, their rhetoric was somewhat hateful and intolerant, and also heavily wrapped in religion. It's so odd.  The least Christian political figure of my lifetime enjoyed the support of 80% of white evangelicals.  It boggles the mind.

It was a great experience, and it felt good to be  part of it.

And seriously, no, there is no check coming from George Soros.  I did it because I love this country, and I want to be steered back to a place where we once again pursue liberty and justice for all.

Join us!

America the Hateful

“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!” These lines are from the poem “The New Colossus,” written by Emma Lazarus in 1883.


America the beautiful has become America the Hateful.  We have turned our back on the world and spit in its face.  Our election of Trump has turned the face of America dark and angry.  We have turned our backs on hopes and dreams and being a great melting pot of many ethnic groups and faiths, and have become a pariah repulsive to all.

Trump has endangered us all and we have put him in a position to do it.  Targeting people on the basis of religion and where they live is unacceptable.  It puts Americans aboard at risk.  It leaves interpreters and others who have worked hard for us, who have put themselves at rick for America, stranded and abandoned.

I know America has done this before, but it doesn't make it right.  It was not right when we interred Japanese-Americans during World War II.  It was not right when we persecuted and slaughtered the Indians.  It was not right when we brought people over only to keep them in slavery based on the color of their skin.  And it was not right when we refused to take in Jewish refugees to escape the madness of the atl-right of the 30s and 40s, including refusing to take Anne Frank and her family.

We were proving ourselves better than that.  And now all of that is lost.

 ‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt."  Leviticus 19:33-34.

America the loved has become America the Hated.  All the respect and acceptance we earned under eight years of President Obama has been frittered away in a week.  

As Christians, we should be deeply offended and angry and hurt by what Trump has done.  Instead, the Christian right is leading the charge. Christianity is not turning your back upon the world.  Christianity is not America first.  True Christianity does not recognize borders.

But we will not just bend over and take this affront to what is right and decent.  Thousands have swarmed to our airports to protest.  Many of us will always stand in opposition to this.

No, America does not have to take everyone.  But we have to be a part of the world.  We have to do our part.  We cannot be a fortress apart.

When we do, we turn our back on the values and dreams that made America great.  We turn our backs on both our civic and religious faith.  

We turn our backs to the world.

We turn our backs to this country.

We turn our backs to God.

America's Celebration of Diversity and Hope

Today is a major holiday in America.

Today is Martin Luther King Day.

We celebrate the contributions that this great man made to the improvement of our civil society, to bringing a moral focus back to America so that we could better realize the dreams of creating a true democracy, where all stood equal in their opportunity to succeed and thrive, to a time when the color of one's skin would not be a barrier to anything.

I have not had this day off since the early 90s, when I worked for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  In my current job, the pressure of multiple work deadlines (payroll deadlines, W-2s and 1099s) makes it virtually impossible to take the day off.  Other employers simply don't want to recognize it as a major holiday. I'm hoping that as I approach greater retirement in the accounting profession, that I may be able to take the day off and participate in local activities.

We did get to see, on Saturday,  the brilliant movie, Hidden Figures, focusing on the impressive contributions that black women made to our early space program.  One, Katherine Johnson, was basically responsible for constructing the math that allowed for John Glen's orbit and successful return to Earth.  It is upsetting to know that as recently as the early 60s, within my lifetime, there was segregation even in the space program - separate offices, separate bathrooms, separate water fountains.  It made no sense.  It was ugly, brutal and unwarranted.


And yes, we have made significant progress since then.  But there is much that remains to be done.  African Americans are still exposed to prejudice everyday.  There is discrimination in the number of arrests and police violence that they are exposed.  The gap between average white wealth and average black wealth remains enormous.  Our schools are re-segregating, despite the law.  There are more and more barriers raised to the right to vote, and they are primarily focused on minority communities.


And now the electoral college selection is about to become President of the United States.  Donald Trump and many of the aides he has gathered around him are no friend to civil rights.  They intend to take us even farther back in time, to reverse even more of the progress that has been made.

This day needs to be a celebration of the progress that we have made, and to the progress we can make in the future.  Instead, this year, it has to be a fight to preserve and restore what had already been won.

We have to show them.

We will not forget.

We will not move backwards.


Times have been dark before.  But we must not lose sight of that shining light, that shining city on the hill.

Setbacks will not deter us.

We shall overcome.

Flying the Flag the Right Way

To help clear up any confusion, this is the flag you should fly on the Fourth of July.

It should be displayed properly and respectfully.  It should be handled properly, raised up properly,  It should not be left out in the rain,  It should not be out at night if not properly lit.  It should be lowered and folded properly when taken down.

This is not a respectful display of the flag.  It is not meant to be a piece of clothing, or a belt buckle, or a cigarette lighter, or any thing other than the proper, respectful display of the flag.  We are so worried about flag desecration through burning, but there are so many other ways to desecrate the flag.

The flag of the United States has no business being combined with religion, especially in this way (on the other hand,having the flag in the church properly displayed on a stand or flagpole, alone or in conjunction with other flags, seems understandable).  We are a secular nation, with separation of church and state bred in our DNA.  And speaking as a Christian, having the flag draped across the cross?  Sacrilegious! And Jesus is not an AMERICAN savior - he is EVERYONE'S!  Worldly borders mean NOTHING to him!

And I should never, ever, ever see the Confederate flag displayed, particularly on the Fourth!  It is the flag of the treasonous people who tried to destroy the union, and to both preserve and EXTEND slavery.  Ir represents the very polar opposite of what the United States flag represents.

The flag of the United States is a symbol of liberty and freedom - FOR ALL!!!  It represents not an end point, but a journey.  From the Bill of rights, to voting rights for African Americans and women, to civil rights for LGBT citizens, for the rights of workers to unionize and improve their working conditions, for women to have control of their healthcare, and on and on!  That is what the flag is about!  A journey that began 239 years ago and continues to get bolder, better, more tolerant and inclusive EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Here's to the Original Pledge of Allegiance - 

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the republic for which

it stands: one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for 

all."

American Pride

I'm proud to be an American, because in declaring our independence from England, we strived to make a society that valued life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A society that would break free from the constraints of nobility and class structure and plant the seeds of opportunity for all Americans.

I'm proud to be an American because of our Constitution, not because it advocates any particular political system (democracy, republic) nor economic system (capitalism, communism), but because of the sheer genius of it's checks and balances. Investing power in multiple sources has probably done more to keep this nation free and progressing forward than anything else we've done!

I'm proud to be an American because of the Bill of Rights, the greatest addendum ever made. Not only did it initially codify basic civil liberties, it has grown and expanded as our sense of liberty and equality has become more inclusive.

I'm proud to be an American because of our creative can-do spirit, not just in inventing things but in making things useful for EVERYONE, like we did in mass-producing an affordable car. And in great private/public partnerships, such as canals, the phone and highway systems, and in putting a man on the moon. Much of this has been lost since 1980, but I have faith it will be restored.

I'm proud to be an American because of the abolitionists and others, both North and South, who stood up to slavery, through speeches and actions, Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Underground Railroad.

I'm proud to be an American because of those who stood up to the forces of corruption and corporatism at the dawn of the 20th century, and fought to restore a sense of greater equity to our culture. Thank you, Jane Addams, Upton Sinclair, and so many others, including even trust-bustin' Teddy!

I'm proud to be an American because of those women and men who stood up for women's rights, beginning with just insuring the basic right to vote, but continuing even to the present day with the Lillie Ledbetter act.

I'm proud to be an American for the workers who've stood up to help make this the greatest middle class in the history of the world, primarily through the power of unions.

I'm proud to be an American, because of the Greatest generation, who endured through the Great Depression and then fought so valiantly against the forces of fascism. I'm proud of all our soldiers throughout American history. Even though their leaders weren't always wise in what they got us into, our serviceman always gave it their best.

I'm proud to be an American because of those who strove for greater civil rights. Like Martin Luther King, I have a dream, a dream of equal opportunity and love for all mankind. I'm proud that we never just canonize and freeze our American quest, but that each generation brings us closer to living the dream envisioned by our founding fathers.

I'm proud to be an American right now, so I can continue to fight for the dream of a better America. Right now, we fight for equal rights for gays, lesbians, transgenders and all those continually left out of full participation. Right now, we fight against discriminatory laws that would racially profile Hispanics. Right now, we fight to breathe new life into a democracy that has become moribund with corporate lobbyists and a controlling media. Right now, we fight to move our healthcare system in to the 21st century, where all are covered, healthcare is a right, and no one goes bankrupt trying to take care of loved ones.Right now , we fight to restore our environment from those who would continue to pillage it, and to halt or reverse the devastating effects of climate change caused by global warming.

Finally, I'm proud to be an American because I was born here. Not as romantic reason as the rest, but nonetheless true. Like all people everywhere, I have a xenophobic and jingoistic attachment to my homeland. After all, I'm pretty special, so where I live must be pretty special, too.