Because of The Farm
A song pops into my head as I think about this early morning writing.
Styx, a band I grew up with wrote a song about a person with little direction and boredom, I’ve Got Too Much Time On My Hands.
The meaning for me is far different. It is not boredom nor lack of direction but instead the daily life of a farmer - I’ve Got Too Much Time In My Head is how my brain rewrites the lyrics. And as a child of the era of Weird Al Yankovich, it’s not that odd Gen xers easily morph one meaning in a lyric to something closer to current reality.
Yesterday, while working in the garden for sustained hours of my day I was removed from the horrors of watching my Country turn full on authoritarian. Suspended was the gut churning sickness of seeing the essence of a free Country, a concept called Due Process.
Regardless the crime, no matter the offense there is a promise towards justice that has always been made. Even if guilty go free, the cause of ensuring no one is denied the right to a fair hearing. It is better to err on the side of justice than to become tyrannical and yet, here we are. Worse yet, American leaders and populace are cheering on this radical move towards authoritarianism as if it will never cross their doorstep. Until one day it does.
I could have done without reading or seeing the group of regime members in our People’s House, once again like a cabal of thieves and traitors standing resolute in their righteous contempt of the laws of our Nation. Spitting in the eye of every American as we see social security offices blocked from State Governors wanting to see the disgraceful dismantling.
I really do not know where to put this. I wonder just how Republicans voters would react if literally this were Democrats inflicting this kind of routing of everything we all know to be true.
So each day I limit my consumption of news/media to a totaL of two hours. My daily readings give me a five minute warning and the then the app goes dark. Legacy media is no longer useful as it skims over the depth of what is occurring. We all are aware they can do better as we watched a minute by minute with high level words meant to inflame and incite against an aged former President. They reported on suit colors, and the sleeveless dress of a First Lady. Yet, the buffoon and his minions are never called what they are. Authoritarians destroying the actual method of Government we expect as Americans.
Ruling by Executive Order was to be for rare and uniquely qualified exceptions. Skipping over the actual Congress, ignoring the Courts, inviting Dictators into the The Capitol of our Country and putting one’s arms around the arrogant son of a bitch from El Salvador thumbing his nose at our Supreme Court with “oopsie” on fucking Elon Musks X makes me ill!
I also realized today, this fight belongs to the young people. It is their Universities that will become obsolete. Never ever forget that for ten years in Chile, Pinochet did exactly what the Trump Regime is doing to the United States. And if you think it can’t happen here. Why do you think his personal Attorneys are leading the Justice Department? Or he fired incredible military leaders for a snot nosed, Faux News talking head to lead the Military? How about firing not just replacing through a vetted process CIA and FBI directors but the minds of our information that ensure fairness and justice? Why go after Universities or Law firms if only to ensure there is no one to stand against them.
And stupid people watching Newsmaxx and Faux News will never see it coming because it is easier to hate someone out there rather than look within and ask what is my part in all of this? This goes for each of us individually. Did your financial comfort become more important than the ideals of your Nation? Is your hatred of an American that is truly a rainbow of colors, faiths, ideals, and dreams too much for you to allow differences that you may never agree with or accept? Are you so afraid of the rapidly changing world that you’d rather be chained behind a wall where someone tells you what to think, how to have children, what to believe, and whom you may become?
Billionaires are not your friend. The idea that they are above corruption because they don’t need what the rest of us do is laughable. Their children will never suffer. Their families will have good doctors, beautiful comfortable homes, access to education, energy, and endless wealth.
You however, will hate the young single mother, the transgender person (biologically we know this is a real part of the spectrum of human beings whether your religion likes it or not ), your continued support of violence against people of color because you will not speak up for fear it turns against you.
I never realized that our Nation is a country of cowards and has such blatant disregard for the lives of others. Empathy and mercy are not even in our everyday vocabulary.
Perhaps we deserve this. Our Nation was formed by destroying others and then later once we all knew the truth we instead made it a National Mission to look away.
One of the first steps in reconciliation is to admit your errors. In truth, as a Nation we cannot make reparations but we can and should recognize the truth and do everything in our Nation education and civic duty to do better to always be humble when dealing with the wrongs of the past and to ensure that we as citizens of a Democratic Republic make amends where we can.
If we do not get this right we are bound by the undeniable power of history. It will repeat itself. We as a Nation, will be faced with the consequences of yet another catastrophic failure to recognize we are colluding with the same ilk that destroyed Germany, Hungary, Venezuela, Iran, and so many other Countries that allowed 'government’ to become only about power and wealth.
The fundamental right of freedom of thought and expression is essential. If you curtail what the other fellow says and does, you curtail what you yourself may say and do.
