A Cage Is A Cage

In my name, as an American citizen, my country is taking babies, taking toddlers, taking children from their Mom and Dad’s arms and putting them in steel, cold, cages, alone and scared.  Babies and toddlers are crying for their Mommy, for their Daddy…. their wails can be heard because we have real, thoughtful journalists there to record it despite the pleas for silence from representatives of the Trump administration.  If you are reading this and you are also American, this is being done in your name, too.  If you are reading this from any other country, you must think we are barbaric.  This reality makes me sick.  

These children, as young as breastfed infants, are unceremoniously torn away from their parents’, placed in cages with no records or connection to their families for future reunification.  Two have died, many are being sexually abused, they are all traumatized for life.  Just think of your own children being torn from your arms, or, if you are young, think of yourself as a small child, think of how you would feel being taken from your family.  Imagine escaping a country filled with violence, trudging 2,000 miles on foot despite all dangers on the way, imagine finally arriving at what was supposed to be a country you had always been taught welcomes the “tired and poor”…. only to be torn from those you love, only to be alone, scared, frightened, and mishandled with no one to comfort you.  Feel the pain and anguish of these parents with no idea where or how their children are being treated along with if and when you will EVER see them again!  This is what the United States is doing today to people who are legally presenting themselves for asylum.

This is being done in my name.

Groups of conservatives who call themselves pro-life……they are silent.  Does pro-life not extend to children after they are born?  Does it not extend to children who happen to be born outside our country, children who are escaping certain violence and possible death in their own country….people of color who may not speak English well?  Of course I know that the pro-life movement does NOT care about children after they are born whether in our country or outside its borders.  That is why they don’t fight for parental leave after the birth of a baby, they don’t fight for affordable, quality day care, affordable, quality healthcare, they don’t fight for policies that offer healthy, nutritional food to children in poor neighborhoods.  The pro-life movement doesn’t fight for school funding in poor areas, they don’t fight to restore criminal justice for the poor, for people of color, for people in need…. this leads to homes with just one parent who can barely keep their heads above water. A policy which leads one parent with little or no means of obtaining the American dream (or what used to be the American dream).  There are neighborhoods, Flint, Michigan for example, where children are being poisoned by lead in their water for YEARS, but this pro-life movement is quiet.  Not one has raised their voice, not one has raised money to fight these unfair practices that are done daily in the United States of America.

This is being done in my name.

I am ashamed.  I am ashamed of a media that conflates Democratic Socialism with Socialism because it works to scare people.  Why don’t they take just a portion of their 24 hour news time and explain what is meant by Democratic Socialism and explain how it differs from the socialism that brings such frightful response in Americans?  They won’t because the fear of the word socialism is good for ratings and it’s just EASY.  It requires no work.  Democratic Socialism would restore FAIRNESS in this unfair country.  I know John Edwards was a flawed spokesman, but his view of Two Americas is definitely what is taking place.  This unfairness was once again demonstrated the other day when Manafort, a white, wealthy, connected man who had been CONVICTED of crimes that brought a recommended sentence of approximately 18 years was given 4 years….credit for time served…..and will probably get out early on “good behavior”.

This is being done in my name.

I watch as white people call the police on black people because they are doing things that no one would think dangerous if they were white.  These people call the police who then arrive with preconceived notions of impending violence.  A young 12 year old boy, Tamir Rice, was shot and killed in seconds in a playground, holding nothing more dangerous than an inexpensive toy gun bought in any toy store.  Two police officers, a 26 and a 46 year old, were called to the scene.  In the beginning of that initial call, the person admitted the gun looked fake and at the end of the call the person said it was probably a juvenile holding the weapon.  With all that information, in less than 2 seconds after the police arrived, that young man was lethally shot and is forever gone from this world.  All his accomplishments, his present and future family, his life….all taken in one moment of fear and anger generated by institutionalized racism.  If that young man had been white there would never have been an initial call to the police.  If, for some reason, there had been a call, if the police arrived and murdered a 12-year-old white boy with a toy gun, there would have been hell to pay….but in this case, nothing, no charges, nothing, nothing but a lifetime of pain for his family. 

This is being done in my name.

I once read a statement by the Reverend Martin Luther King, “There can be no justice without peace and there can be no peace without justice.”  I find this quote so obviously true.  In my country today there is no justice for too many.   Right-wing folks who once were so horrified by a man having an affair while President that they were determined and felt forced to impeach him over his lie over the affair now feel no shame forcefully backing a man who lies continuously.  A man who bragged BEFORE the election about grabbing women by a private body part.  A man who paid off at least one porn actress for her silence and another woman for hers.  A man who touts the virtues of Kim Jong Un after knowing his regime, with his knowledge, tortured a young American student to the point of his returning to our country brain dead.  A man whose teeth were visibly rearranged…the thought of the pain endured by that young man makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.  But Trump claims the letters Un wrote him were so beautiful, they fell in love.  Right-wing Americans back a man who lied about building a structure in Moscow, a man who stood next to Putin in Helsinki and said he believed a lying, murderous dictator over every Intelligence Agency in the Unites States!

All of these topics don’t even begin to broach the inequities of life in the United States today.  Economic inequities which were exasperated by the tax cuts for the uber wealthy that the republicans just passed, blowing up the deficit they always preach such horror over when Democrats want to pass something like HEALTHCARE for all!  But that is a subject for another blog.

All these injustices are now being implemented in my name….and in your name.  There can be no peace while this is true.

The importance of the next election cannot be overstated.  If Trump continues in office we are doomed to a life of inequity.  Doomed to a life where injustice and unfairness reigns.  A life where those with no power are demoralized and abused without consequence.  There will be no peace for anyone as long as this continues, as long as this agenda is pushed and supported by a President with no soul and a "news" network with no honesty.

I don’t want this done in my name, not for one more second.  Please stand up against this, stand with those who are fighting for fairness, stand with those who stand against hate and bigotry.  Please, let’s restore our country to one where we will all be proud to say, This IS done in my name!

We Must Stand Strong and VOTE!

It has been over a year and a half since I have been able to write.   I have been distraught over the “election” of Trump; not only because of his obvious mental illness, complete incompetence, clear ties to Russia and their hacking of our election and lack of intellectual curiosity, but also because of what his election signified about my fellow Americans.  The anger, bigotry and fear they must feel is truly beyond my comprehension.  Why would anyone feel that they deserve a giant piece of the pie while others starve?  How can anyone not see the injustice and ingrained bigotry that some in our country face daily? Many of these same folks’ talk of being a Christian nation.  But this is not what Christianity is about, but rather it is a triangulation of the Christian faith for profit ~ as most Christians I know are NOT of this ilk, most are concerned for the rights of their fellow man no matter their religion or race or ethnicity.  However, this is the faith-based group that gets all the press, that hogs Fox “News” talking points and that stands tall on some righteous pillar belittling others to lift themselves and gain power by manipulating fear, bigotry and hate.

I have tried to listen to those who support this narcissistic, arrogant President, but all they do is repeat the lies and distortions pushed by Fox “news”.  They not only don’t care for facts if they disagree with them, they don’t allow those facts to penetrate their bubble.  Anything negative about their president is “fake news”. It is as if their very existence, their survival, depends on the validity of the narrative that has been injected into their minds by those who have no care or concern for what actually IS!!  Facts to them are like water to the wicked witch……contact will melt them away……..

The entire republican party must be complicit with this horror in order to allow it to continue.  I thought it was frightening when republicans chose and backed Sarah Palin, an obvious dimwit, to be Vice President.  Maybe it was her deep interest in reading “all of them” when asked what she read that “got” them.  In reality, she was just a babbling idiot with a pretty exterior.  She was the senseless person du jour used by the republicans to completely break the ice which had been chipped by George W. Bush, to continue the search for the perfectly ill-equipped candidate that republicans could use to force  their agenda, benefiting those at the top, onto all of us.  This plan involved firing up republicans who are republicans because they hate…..the white supremacists, the Nazis, your run of the mill bigot, etc.  Those folks who blame others who look differently or speak differently for everything that seems wrong in their country.  Those who look back with nostalgia to a time that only existed in their thoughts.  The republican party, like other parties in other countries, knows the usefulness of garnering the rabid support of those whose hate justifies their being.  These brainwashed souls hold this hate as such a vital part of who they are that they will fight to support anyone who justifies their beliefs no matter how horrific they are, no matter how immoral they are, no matter how incompetent they are.  Since Trump hates who they hate, Trump is absolutely correct when he says he could shoot someone in Times Square and they would still not only support him they would love him even more!  This is exemplified by the evangelists who support a man with 5 children from 3 wives and with multiple NDAs to silence women he’s slept with in order to hide his immorality.

What does this say about the “normal” republicans who, whether in Congress or just your average guy on the street, still stand with Trump?  The fact that they are willing to support such a self proclaimed sleazy man (the Access Hollywood tape) when they claim “family values” at every turn, the fact that they are willing to overlook Trump’s racism, the fact that they don’t care about his continuously exposed and growing ties to Russia, what does this show?  Hypocrisy for some....team spirit for others, or, are most of the republicans in Congress so complicit or involved with the Russians that they are in self-protection mode?  Are they using Fox “news” as a vehicle to rally their willingly brainwashed base to keep their secrets secret? 

If this is all permitted to continue, if our institutions don’t stand up to this threat, we are truly doomed as a nation.  I remember wondering how anyone could support George W. Bush.  He was obviously in over his head and obviously being manipulated by forces with greater knowledge and stronger ideology.  But 'wow', George W. Bush had some credentials, some sense of history and respect for our institutions.  Now I look back at his administration and realize that at least I didn’t feel in danger for our country as a democracy. 

Our Constitution is a living document.  As with all living things, it can become ill and it can die.  We have to fight within our system to ensure that those in power do their job and keep our Constitution alive.  We, as citizens, must stay engaged and slog through the mud to clean out the contaminants that are choking us.  Once this danger is removed, then and only then can we pick up the fight for equal rights, the environment, equal pay, fair healthcare, upgraded infrastructure and workplace rights.  But for now, our fight is to keep our Constitution alive and cure the disease of hate and greed.  We the People must keep motivated to VOTE OUT those who are willing to destroy our democracy by whatever ugly means they can for quarterly profits!!

I look forward to cheering as a clean bill of health is given so that we can regain our strength, stand tall, and once again be proud of the United States of America as a beacon for all that is good and aspirational in this world.