I used to believe in social work. But now it seems that all we do in America is feed the poor and hungry enough to keep them from rioting. I essentially worked for the man. So why make life easier for the poor if it is only covering the festering wound and not healing the wound. So the sweet by and by is what you offer for a better world? With the new tax policies they are seeing how much they have to give to the rest of us so that they can enrich the wealthy.
This is why the corporate tax benefits become permanent and the poor tax rates last three years. This was the buy off and many people will accept the Faustian bargain. The wealthy know it does not take much to quell the poor. They have so little and life is such a struggle that they do not have the energy to resist. Resistance costs jobs, income, health, peace of mind and so on. So it is easy to take the path of least resistance. Yet systematic change does not come in America without resistance. Power is never given up willingly. The growing income disparity will not be fixed without resistance. What would be the motive for the rich? The rich are motivated to keep the streets free of riots and other forms of resistance. So thus we can always expect a little thrown at us. The second thing they do is propagandize us with talks of how giving the rich more somehow will benefit us. The economic ‘theory’ is pushed through media and they have tons of money to do such. They also own most of the media which makes the propagandizing even easier, although the economic theories do not make much sense. Companies make more stuff not because the owner has more money but because there is more demand for the product. The demand for the product comes from me and you having more money to spend on more things. So for more jobs to be created we need more money in the masses’ hands. Even Henry Ford realized this when he explained the reason he was paying his employees more was not out of the kindness of his heart but because he needed to create demand for his product. It worked. Yet constant propaganda clouds the issue. It creates enough doubt in us that we are not sure we know the answer. This helps create inertia because we are left with doubt of what would be the best action. The resistance is delayed. And when it goes very well we vote against our own interest. One of the reasons we vote against our interest is we are inflamed with other issues that make us willing to compromise on the issues of wealth and poverty. Abortion is such an issue. We are talking about the murder of children, what could be more important than that. Maybe ensuring that children outside the womb have a chance at good quality of life. In fact when the poor are ensured better quality of life for them and their children every study shows there are less abortions. But we continue to insist on the ‘we will regulate morality approach’ instead of let us deal with the income inequality issue. Finally, if you choose to resist you will pay a price. Ask Rosa Parks. When she chose to resist she lost her job and no one else would hire her for a long time. She was constantly receiving phone call threats, and was shunned from the white community and even some in the black community who thought she was putting everyone at risk. This caused her mental and physical health to deteriorate. She became poorer, lost her peace of mind, and suffered ailments that she would have never experienced if she had only gone to the back of the bus. This is not only her story but the story of many who resisted. Meanwhile the rich my not even be there such as Andrew Carnegie who was not even in the country during the notorious Homewood Strike. He was in Europe accepting accolades for his philanthropy and good heartedness. The rich can cushion themselves from the crises. Do not worry homeless shelters, group homes, employment services are all good. But it is not the resistance. The Resistance is challenging at the risk of everything you have to change a system that allows people to become so broken to begin with.
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What is it the far right really have against the Democrats? After extensive time at the Rush Limbaugh Institute, Sean Hannity’s Wreck, Glenn Beck’s wanna be a frat boy until I die show, and even the esteemed lawyer who needs an indoor voice Michael Levine, and a ton of uncensored GOP lawmakers words, I have come up with a few suggestions. From what I can tell freedoms that are made too accessible for outside groups is a big bone with the GOP.
Think about it The Gay agenda. How dare they have an agenda. Agendas are for white heterosexual males only. So what they do is they make gay rights into a nefarious agenda. They are after your children, they want bestiality, they are always recruiting (as we learn from Ellen Degeneres, which is why so many gay folks have toasters). The dreamers are out to take advantage of our great country. They do not play by the rules. Why do they advocate for their families to be included in an immigration bill. Everyone knows that we would all love to be away from our mothers, fathers, and siblings. The attitude of many conservatives of acting like this is not a normal and even a nefarious wish is strange coming from a party that supposedly promotes family values. Women who want birth control to be included like Viagra for men in insurance policies are called sluts. All they want is to have more control of their sexual lives just like the men who want no hindrances to their sexual lives. I am for the men having Viagra and control their bodies until their control moves from their bodies to women’s bodies. ‘Abortions should not be allowed because women who want them are loose’ the far right says. But if that is the case why are the far right for no exceptions for rape, incest, and the mother’s health. They say it is about respect for life but even though we now know the death penalty executes many innocent people yet they remain firmly for it. We also know they want a decrease in support for funding for programs for poor children. It is fear the makes many people uncharitable, one such fear is being afraid to be taken. Other countries treat us like chumps, the one percent pay all the taxes while the poor stay on the public dole. They refuse to do good because what if they are taking advantage of us. Thinking such listen to how they describe the poor Ronald Reagan’s welfare queens, illegal aliens, or the leeches on society. We are afraid of being taken by people different from us white folks. Although there are more whites in welfare programs the usual image created by GOPers is not white. In fact if you think about it the only people who are described as taking advantage of the immigration system by the right are all non-Europeans. To me it is telling that conservative whites project so much of their own history unto other ethnic groups. Historically it is the Native Americans, Mexicans, Asians, and Africans, who were abused by the white powers of a growing America. So it is the projection or the conservative right we see in their attitudes toward the poor. It is the white nightmare created by a justifiable guilt of an American white history where they have taken advantages of other groups in America to prosper and grow. They are now afraid as these groups gain power that as one person said their chickens may be coming home to roost. So sadly the far right has the same problems the Germans had with the Jews, the Israelites had with the Samaritans, white South Africans had with the Africans. It is about which group will be in charge. We have few good models in our history with sharing power not only in our history but in our world. So the limiting of freedoms and justice to other groups is their go to mode to prevent the unknown of what a sharing of power would look like. Maybe we should find models of how to share power before we destroy the very fabric of our society. The government is shut down. And what does Trump do: says we cannot get a deal with you so I call you obstructionist losers. Now that is how the art of the deal is done. I have always been taught that name calling is a deal breaker. When you are ready for a fight and want to provoke a fight call the other person some name and let it begin. Of course we live in different times now. So what do I know?
The government is shut down. But do not worry, the ones who caused the shutdown continue to get paid. Our military, mail carriers, and other government employees will not receive their paychecks but Congress, who are mostly millionaires, will be paid during the shutdown. That is like if you went in a store, broke something and demanded the cashier not get paid. This seems unreasonable. Of course we live in different times now. So what do I know? The government is shut down. Of course the far right, who think the government is too big anyway, do not really care if the government is shut down. For them it demonstrates that we can get along without government. Of course it is like in the Great Depression when people did their best to make do. They had no money, homes went into foreclosure, and bread lines were endless. At least that was the way it was for the poor and middle class. The wealthy: they let go a member of their household staff. This does not seem fair. Of course we live in different times now. So what do I know? The government is shut down. It once was that we did not want the elderly to spend their last days in worry over money and healthcare. This seemed like a normal thing in the richest country in the world. Social Security and Medicare payments will be cut off and delayed until the government starts back up. Of course we live in different times now. So what do I know? The government is shut down. Trump does not even get the symbolism that one year from the anniversary of his inauguration the government is shut down. In fact something that has become another meme, his trips to Mar a Largo, was planned even though the government was threatened with shutdown. In what was a nod to old times and because of immense pressure he decided to stay until a deal is made to open the government back up. This from a man who promised if he was elected President he would never leave the White House because he would be working so hard making America Great Again. There is something wrong with this picture. Of course we live in different times now. So what do I know? The government is shut down. Why? The Republicans wanted money for a wall that the Mexican government was going to pay for in the first place. Oh yeah the President also did not want the tired and hungry from shithole countries in Africa coming here was another factor. Give us some Norwegians please. I guess this is keeping it classy. Of course it is; we live in different times now. So what do I know? Forcing a government to pay for our wall is imperialistic. Only wanting a certain class of people in our country is classist. Not caring for the least of these is not Christian. Stereotyping all countries from Africa as being poor and uneducated is racist. So if we put this altogether we currently have an imperialistic, classist, racist government that just shut itself down. Now that I think about it, that is a good idea. Of course we live in different times now; maybe Trump is a righteous man. Trump is the Id for the Republican Congress. Trump is what their Mr. Hyde would be if they could unleash their dark side. That is why when people ask, ‘Why would a distinguished congressman submit to Trump’ the answer is because they rejoice in his expression of their Id. The GOP and the far right have joined hands and now have a voice in the highest office in our country that says whatever it feels.
Trump is their Id. He is an uncoordinated instinctual creature that knows no judgments of value. To quote: ‘The mind of a newborn child is regarded as completely "id-ridden," in the sense that it is a mass of instinctive drives and impulses, and needs immediate satisfaction.’ This is Trump. Yet this Id never leaves any of us totally. It creeps around in our lowest selves trying to assert itself. Racism, nationalism, classism, sexism find their home in the Id. Trump has unleashed the Id of America and the admiring McConnells and others are living vicariously through him. The GOP can keep their Hydes undetected and watch as Trump gives it full visibility without lifting a finger. So this is why the Neo-Nazis are good people, Africans live in huts, Haitians all have AIDS, all Mexican immigrants are criminals, pussies are to be grabbed, and we do not want people from shithole countries coming here. And really there are few GOPers who would have a problem with those words and many secretly wish they could say these words. The GOP is now the silent minority. They keep their mouths shut and let their Id in the White House speak for them and if it gets too hot to handle they have the right to condemn his language and thinking too. We as a society need to look long and hard at our dark side. We need to know who we can become if we are not vigilant. The problem with the darkness is we can develop a certain appetite for it. It can take over our Jekyll. This is what people mean when they say we cannot normalize this presidency. We must treat it as aberrant and abhorrent to our sensibilities. Maybe we should play a game of beer pong that we give to a worthy cause every time Trump says something sexist and racist. These donations can be called soul offsets. This might allow us to live in the time of Trump and not lose our soul. One day things will return to normal and hopefully we will not have lost our normal. But be careful: Mr. Hyde wants out. Or maybe our Hyde is already exposed. What is it you know when you have had a good education? You know you do not know anything. A good education humbles you before the truth of all there is to know. Now certainly most graduates of college think they have conquered the world of knowledge. And many will never read much again, convinced they know enough.
They are what I call the seat fillers in college. They came not to be challenged or learn. They want information that already confirms their preconceived ideas. They are destined to hold back society’s forward push. They learn as little as possible so that they are not compromised by knowledge. They will be the same folks who will proclaim climate change is not real and evolution is only a theory and not accepted by nearly ninety-nine percent of scientists. In today’s back and forth there is almost bias against education and science. Why the bias? In part because college is accessible to everyone. People who were never given a chance or are sometimes looked down upon by people who have an ‘education’ have a tendency to resent those with. And they are especially incensed when their opinions are not valued because of something they had no control over. Universalize education, and resentment and respect might come back. But the truth is college is a gateway to knowledge. It is not the only gateway. The truth is an education can give you an edge in your thinking. But if you have not read since college your knowledge is limited. You were at the door but you have not gone far inside of it. This is where the ground is level especially if you have a good library nearby. And today internet offers a chance at knowledge. But if you stay with Fox News or other sites that make you comfortable you are the equivalent of a seat filler in college. All this knowledge surrounds you but you flock to what makes you comfortable. There are so many ways to learn besides college. Museums, lectures, travel, scholarly magazines, and so forth. It does not necessarily take a college education. But all of life’s teachings always depend on the willingness to be a student, to be wrong, and to be open to the truth with an open heart and mind. My motto is “question everything but be willing to accept anything.” By which I mean I never take anyone’s word including my own. I am willing to let anybody teach and that includes those with whom I disagree. But you have to convince me with facts and love. If you are talking about poverty and have no empathetic feelings toward the poor I will not be convinced of your arguments. I believe there is an intelligence in love that often supersedes facts. I believe if you do not love you cannot know. Likewise if you cannot listen to others you cannot be smart. There is a way to gain intelligence of all kinds to the open and listening heart [awkward]. The full mind and heart leave no room for anymore intelligence. I do not believe in the Hannitys, and Becks, and Limbaughs because they could not finish college, but because they also break the rule of nonviolent language. They talk people down to lift their ideas. They start institutes and colleges because they value the education they do not have. So their problem with education is it did not give them permission to always be right. So they reject academia. They cannot stand for criticism. So they have disconnect buttons on their shows and in their lives for unacceptable callers. I do not agree with them in part because they are not honest when they act as though they are one of us when in fact they have multimillion dollars and live in gated communities. But I digress: if we cannot listen to others, if we are anxious to always hush them or are thinking or what our reply will be while they talk, we will not learn. Listening is the key to intelligence. If we feel hate in our hearts and not inherent worth and dignity for the person in front of you, you will never be smart. This is the crux of the matter. When our society creates such a polarized world, we are dumbing ourselves down. When we develop philosophies that show no respect for the other, we are dumbing ourselves down. When our actions lead to a philosophy of survival of the fittest or one group of people as privileged over another, we are dumbing ourselves down. So this is my New Year’s Resolution: to live intelligently. This may make me confront the comfortable, love the unlovely, learn from the unwise, and enjoy someone else’s perspective but I will have grown in spirit and mind. On the May 11 edition of Fox News' The Big Story, host John Gibson advised viewers during the "My Word" segment of his program to "do your duty. Make more babies." He then cited a May 10 article, which reported that nearly half of all children under the age of five in the United States are minorities. Gibson added: "By far, the greatest number [of children under five] are Hispanic. You know what that means? Twenty-five years and the majority of the population is Hispanic." Gibson later claimed: "To put it bluntly, we need more babies." Then, referring to Russia's projected decline in population, Gibson claimed: "So far, we are doing our part here in America but Hispanics can't carry the whole load. The rest of you, get busy. Make babies, or put another way -- a slogan for our times: 'procreation not recreation'."
As The Washington Post reported, the U.S. Census Bureau recently released population estimates that found that nearly half (45 percent) of U.S. children under five are racial or ethnic minorities, and that "the percentage is increasing mainly because the Hispanic population is growing so rapidly." The U.S. Census notes that, "estimates usually are for the present and the past, while projections are estimates of the population for future dates." The U.S. Census last released its population projection in March 2004 and found that, by the year 2030, Hispanics will account for roughly 20 percent of the total population in the United States. A second story, today, reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin is so concerned about the declining and imploding population of Russia, he is paying couples to have babies. Imagine, procreating for cash in Mother Russia. Putin has taken this step because at the rate things are going, Russia will lose close to 45 million in population in the next 45 years. Russia will be two thirds of today's population. So the argument goes in conservative Christian churches that Christians must have more babies. If Christians do not keep pace with the rest of the world’s populating they will become a minority. This will lead to being in a Christless world. Because we all know Christianity cannot exist well as a minority. This is preached and talked about among many of our conservative Christian churches. The President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Al Mohler has espoused this view and has said it is a disobedience to God to not be fruitful and multiply. Interestingly enough the alt-right says whites need to have more babies. If they do not we will be overcome with other racial and ethnic groups. They say they cannot be expected to convince other races they are the superior race and join their movement. Whites must be actively reproducing. This may be considered fringe-group thinking, which it is, but it is thinking that is already present in the halls of power. The Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, while not necessarily using the alt-right thinking, essentially said a similar thing using an economic justification. The problem with Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare is the baby boomers are joining the retired ranks. This large group needs to be offset by a new baby boom if we want to have these old-age programs. So you may say to me: what they have is an unusual solution to their problems. And yes that would be fine if left there. But this thinking can be found throughout the GOP platform. We need to divest our country of the non-whites so that the racial balance is kept in place. No DACA, the right kind of immigrants are who we want, build a wall, and do not allow Muslims to have power. Meanwhile in the black world you imprison in huge numbers young black men to counteract their youthful virility. All of this is congruent with the alt –right agenda: we need more white babies. First do your best to control other groups’ procreation in this country and then you have all the babies you want. In their sexual health agenda, they are against abortions and birth control. We must not waste potential for white babies. They are adamantly opposed to homosexuality being normalized. This would mean good healthy men are not providing much needed sperm for procreation. This would also explain the rights blocking the agenda of equal pay for equal work for women. Women need to be discouraged from the workplace and encouraged to the home. That is why one of the few tax breaks in the new tax law that benefits the middle class and poor is the increased child tax credit. All of these groups may have a different angle they prefer to use to raise their causes but ultimately they are all for many of the same policies. And I have a hunch if you pull back the curtain you would find, despite their public personas, they all have similar views. So now we are hearing from the far right that diversity is bad. “Diversity is not our strength.” Mixing cultures will not lead to a higher quality of life but a lower one. Assimilation has become a dirty word to the multiculturalist Left. Assimilation, not diversity, is our American strength. "I'd ask you to go back through history and figure out, where are these contributions that have been made by these other categories of people that you're talking about, where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to civilization?" These are the words of Iowan congressman Steve King. He is part of the alt right conservatives who are attempting to take over our country. They think this is not racist tripe. And what is even more befuddling is they think they are the Christians and the rest of us are either heretics or pagans.
So in this season of Christmas I choose to remind everyone that Jesus’ birth is one of the most diverse stories ever told. It begins with a Middle Eastern couple. A young woman is pregnant and apparently the child is not her betrothed’s, Joseph. Joseph the father is a blue collar carpenter without much money. But the Roman government (the white elite folks in this drama) want more taxes from the citizens of this invaded country. So Joseph and his pregnant betrothed travel to their homeland Bethlehem. They are homeless and cannot find room at the inn and have to stay with the animals in the cave. Shepherds, the poor laborers of the day, hear of this baby born in a cave and rush to see and offer the family gifts. But they are not the only ones. Three wise men from different countries come to bring gifts to this child. They ask the white man in charge where this baby might be. And he sends them off with a “let me know if you find this special baby.” The white man in charge is not one to take chances so he plans to kill off all of the babies under two in the land so that a rebellion might not take place. A rebellion might not have taken place immediately but I am sure this attack left many a family with hate in their hearts against this imperialist government from afar. The wise men take a different road on the way back to their various countries. Joseph gets wind of the white man’s scheme to kill all babies under two and he and his family leave Israel to go to Africa/Egypt which takes in the refugees. They appear to have been taken care of and when it is deemed safe they returned to the Middle East. This is a story full of different classes and ethnic groups, none of whom seem to assimilate but offer the treasures they have from their coffers. They give a little of themselves and the story is said to be the beginning of the redemption of the world. But it is not just the story of Jesus’ birth that shouts appreciation of different cultures; it is the stories he lives and tells throughout his life. The good neighbor (a Samaritan) is from across the border from Israel. The centurion is a white invader from another land that he offers healing to his son. He has prostitutes, women, lepers and even tax collectors (which of you would take an IRS agent into your home) into his inner circle. His life is full of diversity. He does not demand anything from anyone but that they love their neighbors and their God. For this radical idea he is crucified on the white man’s cross with his own people agreeing to the punishment. But this is not the Christ the alt right would know. Their Christ is seen somewhere: not in a manger or on a cross, but in Trump Tower or Wall Street. Now that is some messed up thinking! Merry Christmas to all and may the spirit of the babe in a manger come once to live in our hearts. O Come, O Come Emanuel. Who would have thought it, in 2017 over one hundred and fifty years later the causes of the Civil War are debated by some. And yes the discussion does have its nuances. The North and Lincoln were more for stopping slavery from spreading to the new states and territories when the War started. The strategy was, if limited to the current states in the South slavery would eventually die. This was valid thinking. Cotton was king in the South mostly because of slave labor and the abundance of good arable cotton land. These two factors made the South’s cotton the cheapest and best in the world. Thus, the textile factories in Manchester and Liverpool in England were anxious to acquire southern cotton.
The problem for the southern cotton growers was cotton depleted the soil in three to four years. They were constantly in need of new land to grow more cotton. So they needed to expand their cotton empires further and further west into new territories. And with the spread of cotton to grow it economically efficiently, they had to use slavery. The North adamantly opposed the spreading of slavery west into the new territories. The North also knew if they did this the Southern economy based on slave labor would die and slavery would eventually die on the wicked vine it grew. The secession of the South brought this slavery strategy and question in the current states into play. The question is often asked if this is so why didn’t Lincoln declare immediate emancipation of the slaves? And the answer to that is quite simply he was being strategic. If he had declared emancipation of the slaves a border state such as Maryland would have sided with the South. This would have made Union victory harder and made the invasion of the North by the South more likely [as it was only one significant invasion in the North occurred during the war]. Also Lincoln was at first holding out hope that the South would come back into the fold and the United States would have reverted to the non-violent means of not allowing slavery to spread into the new territories and eventually dying. Of course this did not happen. Yes at first Lincoln was for preserving the Union. This was a more palatable cause for all sides and he hoped the conflict would end quickly. It was thought the South once they experienced a few losses would concede and come back in the Union, and the old status quo would return. It did not happen this way. And in fact the South won most of the early battles. Lincoln waited for a significant Union military victory to deliver the Emancipation Proclamation. This was to show that eventually the Union would win the war. This would keep the border states in line knowing this. They would want to be on the winning side. But it also would help with recruiting soldiers in the North which had waned and now dramatically increased after the Emancipation Proclamation. This increase in signing up for the Union Army after the Proclamation would, in and of itself, prove that a large part of the North was for ending slavery. So why after so many years is it hard for many Southerners to admit slavery was the primary cause of the war? Because for white Southerners the antebellum period was the zenith of economic and cultural wealth of the South. To say that this wealth was earned on the back of slaves and that we lost this wealth because of our defense of slavery would place the zenith of our heritage in moral jeopardy. So the war was not about slavery. Maybe it is time for us white southerners to not define ourselves by the white wealth and culture of the antebellum period. Maybe it is time to look at other things about our culture to highlight. Maybe the plantations are not our only southern heritage story to share and elicit pride about. Maybe the music of blues, jazz, zydeco, and country, maybe the varied cultural expressions Gullah, Cajun, Creole, Appalachian, and Cherokee, maybe the heroes like Clarence Jordan, Will Campbell, Wendell Berry, Jimmy Carter, MLK Jr., John Lewis, Martha Berry, the Grimke sisters, and others are the proud heritage we expound. There is more in the South than a now historically mixed bag to share.. Trump has brought us into his world of chaos and noise. He is leaving no room for silence in the public sphere. Trump equates noise with action and results. So he bombards us with tweets, distortions and constant disturbing headlines even in the wee hours of the morning. It seems there is never time for a breath between stanzas. This is the world in which Trump thrives. He is afraid if we pause for a second and examine him we will realize this is a world in which we do not want to live. What has assisted this ‘Age of Trump’, is we already live in a society of noise, distractions, and disturbing images unlike any before. The noise of social media, internet, video games, twenty-four hour news cycles, and the fact we are never without our smart phones has left us addicted to stimuli and Trump is constant noisy stimuli.
Yet matters of governance not only take action; the actions must be made in the pause to breathe and think deeply. We know that our lives must be punctuated with silence. This is how we discover ourselves and our desires. Yes trying new things helps us in discovery but it is the moment after that we think about the new thing we realize if it is what we want to be about. If we are constantly overwhelmed we can only think with the most primitive part of our brains. This is where our instinct of fight or flight and instinct not reasoned activity takes place. It takes about ten seconds for our neurons to flow through the more primitive parts of our brain to the higher functions of the brain. The parts of the brain where we think, do we really want to do that which our instinct is telling us? It is a step beyond the instinct level to think: what do I want to do? Then after this part of the brain is activated, if we are not distracted, we travel to the deepest functions of the brain which ask questions of what do I believe and how should I correlate my beliefs with my actions. The problem is if we are constantly being stimulated by noise we will only use the primitive parts of our brain. We will be going from one instinctive, low level effort thinking to yet another one because the chaos and noise keeps our neurons stimulated never allowing the breath between the notes to guide our actions. So to put it another way we are always making kneejerk reactions to everything and not thinking deeply about what we do. I write this as the Senate passes a tax bill that moved so fast through it that the final version had some sections scratched out with pencil and handwritten corrections in it. This is the first action or bill they have been able to pass. They did it so they did not have to return to their constituents with no action while they were in session. And their followers will be pleased with the action at last even though it will not have their desires for a more fair tax program in it. But this will not be a problem because the noise of Trump will not let the deeper functioning parts of their brain consider what they have done. It will be on to the next stimuli which will have distracted them. Silence is golden some say. Or in this case lots of noise brings the gold to those who already have more than they know how to spend. |
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