My theme for this year's A to Z challenge is the A to Z of Democracy. This is your trigger warning. If you are going to be bothered by my descriptions of what I believe America should look and feel like, please stop reading and come back next year when my topic may go back to music or scrapbooking or interesting tidbits. Please respect my space and DO NOT leave disinformation or inflammatory statements in the comments. It's my blog and I will delete them. Thanks for your cooperation.
D is for Democracy Over Demogogue
Democracy | Demagogue |
Power in the hands of the people Guaranteed civil liberties and human rights. Free and fair elections. | Political leader who seeks support by manipulating and appealing to the prejudices of others. One man has power. |
One of the ways that man gained power again was by telling everyone lies, lies and more lies. He manipulated the truth so many times and was never called on it. He also railed and railed about things like immigration, which admittedly needs to be reformed and adjusted but by no means is it as bad as he made it out to be. People were not eating dogs. He made big promises about deporting people who were in this country illegally and that appealed to the prejudices of a lot of folks. However, as we can see now, he is not doing the deportations in a democratic way. There has been no due process and a few US citizens have been taken from their homes and families unlawfully.
He (I refuse to write his name, you all know who I'm talking about) had said several times on the campaign trail that he didn't need votes or only "vote this one last time and you won't need to vote again." Now he is talking about running for a third term, which is against the constitution. He believes the rules do not apply to him.
I want to live in a country where I can vote and have a say in who our leaders are and I want there to be secure guidelines about what those leaders can and cannot do. I am lucky, for now, that I am a white woman and there is less of a chance that immigration officers will come knocking at my door. Who knows if those rules will change at the drop of a golf club? Maybe someone will see these posts and think I need to be silenced. (LOL I wish I had that readership).
As always, credit goes to Speaker Hakeem Jeffries who gave an impassioned speech on the floor of the House of Representatives at the beginning of the 218th congress.
One more post this week and then we have Sunday off. I am trying to get to visit other folks who are participating as best I can. It is beginning of baseball season and my Giants are doing well plus I have had a fair amount of transcription lately which is my "real" job so time is precious. Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, Janet!
ReplyDeleteAs I am sure you know, Kamala Harris made a surprise public appearance and gave a brief speech in Orange County yesterday, one of her first since losing the November election. She addressed the Leading Women Defined gathering, a summit for black women. Like you, she didn't mention "Teflon Don" (my nickname for him) by name. In her remarks, Kamala said the following: “There is a sense of fear that is taking hold in our country, and I understand it." She stated:. "These are the things that we are witnessing each day in these last few months in our country, and it understandably creates a great sense of fear. Because, you know, there were many things that we knew would happen, many things.”
The fear is real. The fear is palpable. You feel it. I feel it. But fear, generated by constant threats, slurs, vile deeds, utter cruelty and governance on a whim, is the whole point for this man, his MO. He loves knowing that he has the power to spread fear and loathing with a single comment or a reckless, spur of the moment policy decision. For months, you and I and millions of others across America, people who love their country and believe in democracy, dreamed of waking up every day with Kamala Harris in the White House plowing through her "to do" list aimed at helping the American people. Instead, what she warned would happen is indeed happening. We have a petty, corrupt man in the Oval Office stewing over his enemies list and ignoring the plight of millions of people who voted for him based on his false promises of lowering the price of bacon and eggs on day one. The only "day one" promise he has kept is to become a dictator with no guardrails and unlimited power to punish people who oppose him, carry out his Project 2025 agenda, and indulge his ridiculous fantasies about invading and taking over other countries and planting the Trump flag.
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ReplyDeleteGetting back Kamala's remarks yesterday in California, she suggested that she will remain politically active. That's great news, but we are bucking headwinds. Kamala said nothing about making another bid for president, and I am beginning to wonder if a woman will ever become U.S. President, especially a woman of color. It grieves me to think that whatshisface attracted enough votes to win the election by pandering to a large number of uneducated, politically disengaged working class men. His appeal went beyond promises to snap his fingers and lower their cost of living, and boasting that he can pick up the phone and end wars around the world. I find it disgusting and troubling that many young men also admire his machismo (a coward's facade). They like the fact that he mistreated women all his life and got away with it, like some kind of movie antihero. To them, he made misogyny cool again, He made racism and bullying cool again. If substantial numbers of young men admire those traits in a leader, what does it say about the future of our country and the rights of women, the LGBTQ community and other minorities?
If, on the other hand, people who voted for him don't actually like the kind of person he is, but thought he was only bluffing during the campaign when he made all those radical statements and threats, believing instead that he'd use his power and position to lower prices and help them make ends meet... well, the joke's on them, but it is a very unfunny joke, and now all of us are forced to bear the consequences. In the wake of sweeping tariffs imposed on countries around the world, including remote, unpopulated islands inhabited only by penguins, prices are set to rise on goods used everyday by average Americans. As prices rise along with the "temperature" - the level of angry, hateful, flippant, dismissive rhetoric coming from today's GOP, hope for the preservation of democracy in America is falling. The only way out of this mess is to remain engaged, remain vigilant, resist rather than capitulate, and vote in every single election the rest of our lives. Vote for Democrats up and down the ballot, from the post of Town Dog Catcher on up. If we don't, you can bet your bippy that the radical right will continue to do what they have insidiously been doing for many years now, installing their loyal soldiers in those low level positions -- and up the political ladder they go to eventually hold statewide and national office and directly affect our destiny. All hands on deck! Democrats, independents and moderate traditional Republicans need to wise up and mobilize if we are ever to stop the madness, turn the tide and put grown-ups back in charge of our government.
Oh so true my friend! I did see parts of Kamala's speech and laughed out loud at the "I'm not gonna say I told you so." When I think what our potential was with her in charge I really just want to cry. We are losing so much ground it is going to be VERY difficult to make it up. I was heartened by the win in Wisconsin but it would have been much sweeter had we been able to take those two Florida seats as well. I am participating in another postcard campaign and while I'm not sure how much good they do, at least with that and this blog I am trying to keep my sanity. I am truly grateful for you, dear Shady, because I can see that others are reading your comments here and they go a long way to helping me feel less alone. With that said, I know you are limiting your time online so I will understand if you miss some of them!
DeleteThis is Birgit. It is so scary what we see and , as a proud Canadian, that, in 2 months he has destroyed so much all over the world. One good thing, as a Canadian, that I see is that we were way too dependant and lazy with the U.S. We can now start finding ways to wake up and not be so reliant on the States. Sadly, this orange moron is treating us like his takeovers on land when he built his infamous casino etc.. I actually hope Shady continues to respond because he is so insightful.
ReplyDeleteThank you, dear friend BB!
DeleteYes, Birgit, I hope Shady continues too as he adds so much to my posts! I hope that you Canadians are not going to end up hating all of us because we certainly do not feel the way he does!
DeleteNo....that builds nothing but invites the same people who follow the orange nut. One can never condemn a nation because of these few people
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