Being Clever...Too Clever

DEVOUT CHRISTIANS often times try to be intellectually clever, like a lot of other folks, say, in academia. There is a story in the great novel "Siddhartha" in which Siddhartha Gautama spoke with the enlightened Buddha himself, and they conversed, discussing deep philosophical matters. Siddhartha uses clever arguments. The Buddha admonished him: "You are very clever. Be careful not to be too clever". But the clever Christian argument is this: "I'd sure as heck rather be a believer, and be disappointed to find out when I die that there is no heaven and no Jesus and no God, than to be a non believer non Christian all my life only to discover after I die that the Christian religion and its cosmic paradigm is the truth, the whole truth, and the only truth, and to find myself standing before the Christian God on my judgment day. As usual with Christians, I couldn't disagree more....I'll be damned, so to speak, if I am willing to live my entire life as a delusional believer in a false religion, no matter what, case closed, end of story. And if, having lived my life as a secular humanist pantheist I die only to discover that the Christian religion is true lock, stock, barrel, and Bible......well then, damn the consequences and may the devil take the hindmost, as Davy Crockett used to say. If there really and truly is a God of the Bible, if the Christian biblical God is God, and is as harsh, cruel, tyrannical, and psychotic as he seems to me to be.......why then, the hell with it, and I'll you all in hell, and I reckon we'll just suffer together eternally, just like the way you conservatives Christians seem to believe and want. Can you even remotely imagine living in a conservative Christian universe, with hell, judgment, damnation, and all that? I cannot. Or maybe, if I can, I can only do so as a strange, free thinking excursion into my most science fictiony and fantastic imagination. And, I thnk God that's all it is, or can ever be. There is, and alwasy has been, a huge academic industry defending the Christian faith using supposed logic; "apologetics", its called". The sum total of its writings fills libraries. And yet, at the end of the day, nobody has ever yet shown any strong arguments as evidence for the existence of the Old and New Testament biblical God. My preference is to live this life with an open and inquiring mind, rather than to constrain my intellectual being to an uncritical, blind faith belief in any particular body of dogma, religious or otherwise. As the saying goes: let us admire everyone who sincerely seeks truth, but never trust anyone who claims to have found it.

Faking It

MR. SANTOS, the young man who told a pack of lies, is about the face his karma, and had best resign from Congress before he even takes a seat in it, if he knows what's good for him, which, seemingly, he does not. Agreed, we all embellish from time to time, or at least a whole lotta us do, but this dude really takes the cake, as it were. The way Davy Croekett put it: he "stretched the truth a mite". All this stuff about being Jewish, working for a hot shot Wall Street firm, and so forth; hell, he might as well go whole hog, and tell us that he played football for Princeton and then in the NFL, and is currently in NASA's aastronaut training program, beceause he qualified by graduating with a doctorate in engineering from Princeton and served as a fighter pilot in Nam. Five'll get you ten that he never takes a seat in congress, even though most Republicans will defend him and will still want him to take a seat, but that enough Republicans will have enough intergirty, barely, to demand his resignation. Most Republicans'll use that "but everybody does it" crap to try to shoehorn the little faker into the House. They need every seat, after all, to maintain their super slim majority. And, of course, since America's conservative Christian Republican community demonstrably has neither any class nor intergrity, never hold your breath waiting for them to do the right thing, in this case, giving Mr. Santos the boot. Their other tried and truly predictable tactic is to drastically downplay the extent to which Santos went to blow himself up into a hero. Oh, just a few exaggerations and fibs, that's all. Why the big fuss?.... That sort of thing, the same way they describe the insurrection of January 6th as "a dust up", and "a rally that got out of hand", and, a protest", and, "a guided tour"....The mere fact that something close to two thirds of America's far right Christian demographic still supports Trump tells you everything you need to know; namely, that America's far right Christian community is demonstarably both morally and intellectually bankrupt. But, what else is new?

Fighting For Freedom, Feministically

THE YOUNG PEOPLE, mainly women, of Iran, aremd with the internet and the taste for freedom their digitally enhanced knowledge of the outside provides them, have now been protesting against their thirteenth century social status for several months. Miraculously, only a few dozen or so of them have been killed by their murderous, tyrannical government, though many more have been imprisoned, charged with the high crime of speaking truth to power and backing it up with action, fighting for freedom. The average age of the protestors is between eighteen and thirty. As is usually he case, it is the young who dare to risk almost their entire remaining lives for the noble cause in which they so fervantly believe. And, as is so often the case, it is religious dogma and the inherently primitive, repressive nature of all ancient organized religions which impels them to the cause, as Thomas Jeffferson might put it. And, like Jefferson and America's other founders, they have long been more inclinded to suffer under tyranny than to revolt against it, in accordance with human nature. Their revolution is a last resort, an act of desperation, much like the American revolution against British oppression, oppression which was gentle indeed by comparison with that born by Iranian women and girls. Religious tyranny is no less despotic than political tyranny, both of which Iranian women suffer under. In these United States we are fortunate that we only suffer under religious tyranny, and that to so suffer is purely voluntary, while it is mandatory in Iran. Both religious and political tyranny are sufficiently irksome to motivate and justify action against it. As Jefferson said: "The tree of liberty must from time to time be nourished with the blood of patriots and tyrants." May the gay and transgender citizens of America finally one day gain freedom from their conservative Christian persecutors and oppressors. And may the women of Iran and the world keep their abiding faith in their ultimate liberation until it manifests in their lives. And may the cost to them in Churchillian blood, toil, and tears be no greater than absolutely necessary for the attainment of their noble, enlightened cause.

Kari, Carried Away

CARRY LAKE, whose first name is actually spelled "Kari" but is deliberately misspelled here in order to humorously and ironically refer to her failed attempt to steal and make off with an election she didn't win, seems to have run out of options, and must somehow find a way to accept the reality that she is not the governor elect of Arizona. That hasn't happened yet, and it might never happen; she plans to appeal the decision recently handed down in federal court that since she presented no evidence for any election fraud which resulted in the election being stolen from her; case dismissed. So goes the continuing saga of the Trump supporting far right insurrectionist terrorist wing of the grand old party. It may be that, Trump-like, she continues the same old prevaricating song and dance well into the future, perchance, even unto death. And so goes the Republican party, the party of insurrrection, in which more than two thirds of registered members say that the insurrection was either appropriate, didn't happen, of a false flag operation of liberal Democrats. Kari Lake's assertion that manipulated voting machines and over stuffed ballot boxes doomed her election chances and turned her victory into defeat have a familair, ominous, perfidious ring, like the propaganda "documentary" "Two Thousand Mules" by Mr. D'souza. We now know tht Trump's "big lie" was premeditated. He told his fellow criminals Roger Stone and Steve Bannon weeks before the election, when the polls strongly indicated an impending a victory for Joe Biden: "Fuck it. Whatever happeens, we'll just say that we won." Then of coruse on election night Trump made good on his word, by insisting, before half the votes had been counted, that "Actually, we won the election". Thus did Trump set the template for further right wing ignomony, a precurso to Kari Lake, and how many other efeated conservatives in years to come? Our best comfort derives from the happy fact that most of the election denying candidates were defeated in teh recent mid term elections. May all the future ones face a similar fate. May they face a worse fate than that, of being relegated to the status to which they properaly belong; that of traitors to the great American experiment of a sustainable, durable democracy, always fragile at best, made even more so by their ignomonious infamy.

Getting To the Point

OF ALL THE REVELATORY monographs which have been published about Donald Trump, perhaps the most prescient is "The Cruelty is the Point: the Past, Present, and Future of Donald Trump's America", by journalist Adam Serwer, whose collection of essays is a compilation of his writings for "The Atlantic" magazine since 2018. The title essay, "The Cruelty is the Point" serves as the flagship essay: all the others, though equally illuminating, are primarily augmentations and extrapolations derived from it. The book embodies two esential theses: the now famiiar one that Donald Trump, rather then being the originator of "Trumpism", is instead a symptom of it, and that his associates and followers are bound together by one, pervasive, perverse thread; their delight in in whatever cruelty they can inflict of those they despise and fear, meaning those whose beliefs and values differ from their own, and those who do not look like themselves. You can see it in the faces of the people in the first few rows of Trump's frenzied, frenetic rallies: the maniacal glee when Trump mocks and ridicules innocent people, when he promises to avenge imagined wrongs against him, when he projects onto his opponents the hatred and anger they do not feel but he does. To the lady sociology professor who accused Bret Kavanaugh of raping her in high school they chant: "lock her up". They laugh uproariously when Trump or one of his gangster aides mocks and ridicules a disabled person, and they applaud approvingly when Trump touts his policy of seperating children from their immigrant parents seeking asylum from desperation and poverty. This collection of cogent essays lays out in detail exactly how Trump and his followers constitute nothing other than a murderous gang of criminals and traitors to decency and democracy. Trump did not invent or create the darkness of America's far right wing; rather; he took advantage of it by recognizing it and exploiting it for his personal, political, and financial gain. That the Trump movement cloaks itself in a thin veil of Christian piety is a joke, a very cruel joke. Perhaps the most salient point the author makes is that this regressive, backward looking attitude, that America was once a great country but is now infected with a progressive ideology which must be exterminated, by violence if necessary, and must be made great again, has always been part of American values and culture, in various forms. As the years fly past, I become ever increasingly amazed at the Trump movement, even as it begins to subside and wither away. I derive comfort from witnessing its dissolution, but fear for the future, knowing that Trumpism, in one form or another, will inevitably rear its ugly head yet again.

Blowing Away

IN A SINGLE DAY during the second week of December, no fewer than fifty six tornadoes tore through the American south. meanwhile, one superstorm after another sprad across the lower forty eight, bringing multiple feet of snow and sub zero temperatures, with howling winds. Climate change deniers are already back at it, telling us that there is cold weather every winter, and, not to worry, the climate is alway changing of its own accord, independent of any human activity. As usual, climate change deniers are quite full of it. Climate denial seems to be a psychological mechanism whose function is to allow conservatives to cling to their resistance to change, the changes necessary to preserve the Earth's health for future generations. There was a time, and that time was quite recent, when tornadoes in December were nearly non existant. There is no sudden, natural climatic change which could possibly account for the sudden appearance of tornadoes in December. Confusion arises when people, usually conservatives, fail to distinguish between "climate" and "weather". The former refers to long term tendencies, the latter, to meteorological conditions at any given point in time, as most people know. A single, extremely cold day in winter does not disprove the reality of climate change, and neither does a cool day in July. Climate change is proven by observing that the seven hottest years in recorded history were the most recent seven years, that outbreaks of violent, tornadic weather are now occurring throughout the calendar year, and that severe droughts and severe rain events and floods have become an almost constant phenomenon. Most importantly, climate change is demonstrated by merely measuring its cause; that there are now nearly four hundred and fifty parts per million carbon in the earth's atmosphere, amounting to nearly one trillion tons of atmospheric carbon which do not belong there. The painful but necessary transformation from fossil fuels to healty sources of energy cannot be completed until the world has the political will to accomplish the task. It appears that the successful completion of human-made nuclear fusion, the ultimate soultion, has manifested a bit too late to help; we must rely instead on solar and wind energy. Climate change is already well underway, and is upon us. Any meteorologist will tell you that the weather patterns are no longer recognizable, but have become crazily violent and unpredictable. One is reminded of a stanza from a poem by Bertolt Brecht: "There shall remain of our cities but the wind that blew through them." Unless we act decisively now, the wind, all alone, will blow ever stronger through our dead and abandoned cities.

Defending the Flag

THUS SPAKE the conservative gentleman: "I catch you desecrating the American flag, you've got a problem". He actually said that, as if he were the first valiant, brave Amerian to ever uttter a cliched promise he felt certain he would, fortunately for him, never have to keep. I was tempted to suggest that for every time someone destroys or damages an American flag, a million new ones can be cut from whole cloth and colored properly to replace it, but thought better of it. What I did do is to remind him that whatever "problem" he had in mind, that ultimately the real problem would be his, in the form of civil or even criminal litigation, and that in any event I'm currently in the market for a good lawsuit against some big, bad, brave right winger. He backed off a bit, wisely. The "Gentleman" who gave me this promise of his potential wrath is an election denier who would, he said, vote for Trump today, and who considers all the fuss about the insurrection at the Capitol building to have been "overblown", notwithstaning that seven people died during the overblown event, and dozens of police officers were permanently maimed. The great patriotic defender of the American flag, completely at peace with Trump's failed attempt to bring to an end what the flag symbolizes: freedom and democracy.That brought to mind the time that I actually did defend the flag, and stopped someone from desicrating a copy thereof. It was very early, 1991. George Bush senior had lured Saddam Hussein into invading Kuwait by essentially encouraging him to do so, and then raised holy hell when Saddam took the bait. I, along with millions of informed Americans, took to the streets in protest. I had always wanted to protest an American war of imperialism, having been too young to protest Viet Nam without my parent's permission, which I certainly did not have. So now was my chance. So I wrapped an American flag around my shoulders, and took to the streets with several hundred other people. Later that evening, as a friend sat in my house discussing with me the day's events, he decided to desecrate my flag. He wanted to write something true, but in the wrong place, like "no war for oil". I stopped him cold, though he was the bigger man. Not in my house, and not with my flag, I told him. He seemed resentful, but conceded; he had no choice. The next day I and my pristine American flag once again took to the streets, and this time I narrowly avoided a fight with a huge man who called me a "traitor", and would have beaten me up to prove it. But my flag remained unscathed, and I still have it, properly folded and stored in a speial place of honor. If only these damned idiots could understand that the flag is the very symbol of the freedom we enjoy in the United States, including the freedom to do whatever one choses to do with one's own flag, whether that be displaying it, wrapping oneself in it, saving it, desecrating it, or even, heaven forbid, burning it.

Hating, Criminally

HATE CRIMES have always been a part of American culture. Targets of opportunity have been the usual suspects: native Americans, African Americans, short people, fat people, gay people, you name it, we Americans hate it. But during the past decade have increased in number so markedly that the category "hate crime" as a seperate, discrete category of criminal activity was invented to help measure the cultural phenomenon of hurting or killing people in response to a deep seated, general hatred of a certain group of people, such as a certain race or ethnic group. Until the past decade the term "hate crime" really did not exist. What distinguishes hate crimes is that there is never anything personal involved; no personal grudges nor conflicts, just ageneralized hatred and violent behavior towards a certain category of person. The FBI just released its statisitcs on hate crimes for 2021. The news isn't good. During last year there were in the United States more than seven thousand hate crimes committed. Most of them were motivated by race, in particular African-Americans and Asian-Americans bore the brunt of the hateful violence. Evidently this is among the highets totals of the past decade, since statistics began to be kept by the federal government. The great American political divide, in which liberals and conservatives have formed iron clad communities which hate each other, began to emerge with the election of Bill Clinton in 1992, after twelve years of Republican presidents, suddenly, a liberal Democrat oppupied the White House, a develpment which conservative Americans found unacceptable. The election and eight years of George Bush II mollified American conservadom for a time, but that ended with the election of Barack Obama in 2008; another liberal Democrat, and an AFrican-American one at that. Out come the white boys from their holes in the ground, up in arms. The massive uprurge in hate crimes, as well as the election of Donald Trump, was a response to Obama. Trump's hate filled anti-immigrant rhetoric and his obvious racism enboldened and inspired the racist haters, his millions of followers, and the country is paying the price now, and will continue to do so as long as the Trump movement casts a shadow over the body politick.

Finding Fraud Part II

MANY PEOPLE made fun of Herschel Walker, and I was tempted to, but give crediet where due; he lost graciously, in his post election defeat acceptance concession speech. Among Republicans, even nominal Republicans like Herschel, that, gracious, dignified losing, is a far too rare form of behavior. A much more typical Republican is Kari Lake, a true MAGA Trumper & election denier, defeated for governor of Arizona. True to the new Trumpian tradition, she has now filed a law suit, presumably in federal court in front of some handpicked conservative judge, to have the election results, which she claims are fraudulant, overturned, and a new gubernatorial election held. Fat chance of that, presumably. Won't she and her legal team have to prove conclusively that there was indeed massive fraud in the election, and to show exactly how it worked, and who done it? So far, no Republican election loser has ever been seen doing this, anywhere. The lawsuit is no surprise; she's been saying since the electiion that it was stolen from her, and, like Trump, said before the electon that if she lost, it could onlly be explained by voter fraud. Like Trump, primng the pump, in advance. Like Trump, another right wing nut case spouting lies and anger. The importance of this is that it seems to verify the worst fears of those who love Democracy: that Trump's big election lie indeed created a whole new culture of election denial and mistrust of democracy in America, a new poison of the mind which will infect the culture for nobody knows how long or how severly. Trumpism is still here, and maybe, horror of horrors, here to stay for awhile. Those of us who still believe that the best and only way to deal with losing an election is to graciously congratulate the winner and offer support have our work cut out for us, defending and upholding civilization and decency in the face of this horrible avalanche of moral depravity known as "contemporary American conservatism-Trumpism". Kari Lake, like Donald Trump, is more a symptom of the illness rather than a cause of it. She belongs to a political movement, conservatism, and a political party, the REpublicans, which elected Donald Trump to the American presidency becaue of their anger, anger over a country they see as changing in ways they find unacceptable, with the emergence of the LGBTQ community, and brown and black skinned people as major political forces, and the decline of the popularity of religion. The essential fact is that this anger is still very much with us, and is bound to continue rearing its ugly head in future political campaigns and elections.

Finding Fraud Part I

IT IS WELL DOCUMENTED and known that American elections are fair and free, essentially fraud free. If there is any silver lining to the great election lie and scandal of 2020, it is this: elections have been and are being so scrupulously monitored and recounted that even though actual fraud was vanishingly rare beforehand, it is most definitely nonexistent now. And yet, on lives the great Trump election lie of 2020, in the hearts and presumably minds of the millions of defeated but undeterrred Trump faithful. The damage has been done, damage to American democracy, where there may ever again be an electon with results beyond question. The recent midterms, like the presidential election of 2020, were a great disappointment to Republicans, who are probably still wondering where the great "red wave" went. In Houston, Texas, Harris County, one of the nation's largest population centers, Democrats, who donimate Houston as they do most large cities, won big, too big, in the hearts, minds of gun shy Republicans. Noadays, any election lost by any Republican for any office anywhere in the country is suspect; it may have been stolen! Governor Greg Abbott, as good an election denier as anyone, formally launched a "criminal investigation" into the Houston election results. The process will probably take a fair amount of time; good luck waiting. Truly, the Governor is making a mountain out of a molehole. Why a "criminal" investigation? Nobody has shown any evidence of any criminal activity. Wouldn't a simple recount have been sufficient? Probably so, but a simple recount would have been far less dramatic, without any nefarious implications concerning the possibility of massive, widespread fraud, the sort of fruad Republicams love to talk about but for which they never seem to have any evidence. States in which Republicans control state government, places like, for instance, Texas, have already implemented a variety of measures intended t make it more difficult to vote, the stated intention being to eliminate all possibility of fraud. But that doesn't seem to be enough. Welcome to the new era in Amerian politics where every election is questioned, and every election promises to become an extended legal battle. Its sad, but true. Tragically, its all unnecessary, precipitated by the twisted, depraved hunger for power of one very immoral man.

Adoring the Constitution, Selectively

DURING THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION there were three vacancies on the United States Supreme court, and, much to the glee of America's conservatives, he, Trump, got to fill all three vacancies. Arguably, that was the main reason many conservatives supported Trump, despite his being Trump; he may be a degenerate, but by damn, at least he'll put conservatives on the Supreme Court! that, and Donald Trump's well known refusal to kill babies. Hell, Trump hasnt been a pro choice Democrat for at least five years, if not longer. The most important quality to look for in a Supreme Court nominee, according to conventional right wing wisdom, is dedication to the literal word of the original text of the founding document; what did the authors of the constitution really mean? In order to ensure such people are placed on the court, anyone nominated for the high court must therefore be a conservative, preferrably fairly far right, none of this moderate stuff, and must be an "originalist", one who does not interpret the constutution, but reads it literally, the way the founders intended. Thus we have today's highly conservative highly irrational Supreme Court. So sacred is our perfect constituional tht no only would it be unthinkable to create and put into law a new version more in keeping with our modern world, hell, anyone who tries to interpret it rather thn merely echo the intent of its authors is......well, is a damned liberal. All this is nonsense, of course, like neally all far right wing reasoning. But, nonetheless, its what they say they believe, correct? Now flash forward to Donald Trump's recent social media statement that it might be necessary to temporarily put aside the constitution in order to avoid widespread election fraud. Trump wasn't talking about interpreting the constitutiona or not, he was talking about throwing it all out the window, to ensure his getting reelected to the presidency. The logical inference being that Trump might once again be forced to assemble a violent but patriotic mob to violently instal him in power. In response, nary a Republican spoke up. No expressions of outrage about Trump's insurrectionist remarks, no expressions of faithful defense of and devotion to the constutution, form the whole Republican party. Nothing. Suddenly, among Republicans, it becomes acceptable to threaten to throw out the U.S. Constitution, merely because it was Trump, their iconic leader, who spoke the traitorous words.

Abandoning the Constitution, Approvingly

FOR THE BENEFIT OF THOSE OF YOU who do not happen to be supporters of Donald Trump, you might recall how, after he tried to violently overthrow the United States government, Trump was banned from Twitter, for life. Then, Elon Musk bought Twitter, and Trump is allowed back on, altough so far the former president has not reappeared in tweet land. Instead he started his own social media platform, hilariously named "Truth Social". Also, for the benefit of non Trumpers, Trump is once again running for president, and doing everything in how power to attract as much attention as he can, which is not inconsiderable, as we will see for the next two years. Moving from one uproar to another, Trump posted on Truth Social that the usual lie that election was stolen from him, then he added a threat that to ensure that it doesn't happen again it might be necessary to go around the constitution,to atke certain unconstitutional or questionably constitutional actions to ensure a fair and free election for him next time. IN other words, if he is once again defeated, he might once again assemble an angry mob and instruct it to use violence to overthrow the government and install him, Trump, as president, just like he did before, which would definintely not be constitutional. From the Democrats, the usual outrage and condemnations, just like they did the other day when Trump had white supremacists over for supper. Even Trump's fellow Republicans condemned that behavior. But with regard to Trump's threats of unconstitutional actions, the response from Republicans is shocking, if not surprising; dead silence, no comment. As if they approve of Trump's expression of treasonous intent, but didn't want to be seen openly saying so. Once again, Trump's shocking, horrifying, unacceptable behavior, both words and deeds, is eclipsed in perversity and depravity only by the behavior of his devout followers, essentially the same support base which has been with him all along, and remains so. The American conservative community, the Republican party, has in essence evolved into a fascist mob. Perhaps you're thinkig it sounds a bit harsh to describe the Republican party as a "fascist mob", or a terrorist criminal organization. Maybe it sounds gratuitous, as if trying merely to insult people. But nothign could be further from the truth. Donald Trump conceived, planned, and orchestrated an attempted theft of the presidency by means of a violent insurrection, which consisted of Trump supporters, registered Republicans, mainstream American conservatives. To this day a large majority of members of the Republican believe that Trump's lie is true, and that the insurrection was justified, and may be necessary again. If that aint a fascist mob, please tell me what is.

Evolving, Part II

THE IMPORTANCE OF comparing the reaction of the American people to Richard Nixon with their reaction to Donald Trump goes to the basic moral character of the American people, and their basic values. It is becoming increasingly clear that the crimes Richard Nixon committed were far less serious than those alleged to have been committed by Mr. Trump. After all, Mr. Trump allegedly conceived, organized, and orchestrated a violent attempt to overthrow the United States government, for the purpose of illegally retaining power for God only knows how long, with what popular support, and with what consequences to the country, the world, and democracy itself. Allegedly. Mr. Nixon merely maintained a gang of thugs devoted to him, willing to commit crimes to ensure the perpetuation of Mr. Nixon's power. No violent attempts to overthrow the government, or things of that nature. Fortunately, although the list of Americanpresidential corruption and failures might indeed be lengthy, there is a smaller number of American leaders who have been outright criminals.Richard Nixon never inspired the kind of blind, enduring, cult like loyalty that Donald Trump does. Nixon had no supporters who remained blindly faithful to him no matter how serious and obvious his crimes became. Donald Trump does, many of them, in fact. But thankfully the cult is showing less staying power than, say, NIxon or Hitler; within the Republican party itself, which has so blindly and fervantly supported Trump, there is a growing movement to toss Trump aside, and move on. The battle to come witin American conservadom over whether to keep supporting Trump or not is just beginning, and will become extremely interesting and entertaining. We can only hope (and pray) that Trump's enduring popularity in the face of his horrible behavior does not accurately reflect on American moral character or a decline of it. The experts; sociologists, historians, scholars of many specialitites will reach their own conclusions about that over time, as the evidence is gathered and organized. Better to think that Trumpism is nothing other than a symptom of widespread social discontent, anger, and desperation, which will, at long last, in some future wonderful time, work itself out, dissipate, and vanish.

Evolving, Kicking and Screaming Part I

FIFTY YEARS AND ONE MONTH AGO I was a high school senior, and enthusiastically supported President Richard M. Nixon for reelection. I'm not proud of that, and haven't been for a long, long time. But, soon enough, in retrospect, I learned my lesson, turned on Nixon, and became a liberal Democrat, almost as if overnight. But not really: I had been a fan of the Kennedys and the liberal agenda during the 1960s, so my progressive viewpoint was in evidence early. I liked a lot of things Nixon did during his first term, but Watergate did me in, as it did most Americans, rightfully so. I can't pin point a time or place where it happened, but it happened, over time. I turned into a Nixon despiser, like much of America. The condemnation by the American people of Richard Nixon did not occur overnight, but it became, ultimately, nearly unanimous. I changed. I evolved. What a sleazebag, that Trickie Dick. That sort of thing is precisely what amazes me about Trump followers; namely, their continued dovotion to him, after all that he's done. True enough, there has been over the past couple of years, and particularly just recently, a discernable decrease in support for Trump among Republicans, many of whom are more than ready to move on to the post Trump era, with new candidates and leaders promoting essentially the same agenda, "Trumpism". Basically, dump Trump, and all his past and future baggage, but keep the basic agenda. "Trumpism" can be defined as hostility to immigrants, disrespect for international alliances and expertise of all kinds, and winner take all unfettered free enterprise economy within a white patriarchal Christian culture. "Trumpism", in other words, is the idyllic past, a past which never truly existed, like the wild west and heroic frontier. For an American president, an American president, to refuse to accept his reelection defeat and to attempt to retain power by orchestrating a violent overthrow of the American government with the full support of tens of millions of Americans and their continued support..is..simply..shocking. A wild vicious fight for power and control of the Republican party seems imminent, since the pro Trump and anti Trump forces within the party are both strong; our best hope is that the struggle is so vicious that it rips the Republican party in its current incarnation to shreds, never to be seen again. And..again: who could have imagined that an American president would try to steal reelection, and violenlty overthrow the American government, and still retain a huge amount of political support from tens of millions of Americans? To all the frightening circumstances confronting us, that one is at least equal.