Remote Control

I am inspired today by Ann Coulter.  Inspired to write, that is.  Ms. Coulter has pronounced Trump “dead in the water” if he does not hold out for his border wall.  I smirked.  I chuckled.  I laughed out loud.  What a preposterous thing to say.  Coulter is to pundits what Paris Hilton is to celebrities.  She grew up in luxury, got a history degree from Cornell and a law degree in Michigan.  That’s it.  No expertise in anything except conservative bigotry and Michigan law.

In a similar vein I picture the NASA control room where the highly trained technicians send commands to the Mars Rover.  The control room is air conditioned and comfortable.  Mars is millions of miles away with extremely harsh conditions.  It takes 13 minutes for a NASA control to reach the rover and for the rover to respond to the command. The rover dutifully responds.  I suspect Trump will dutifully respond to Coulter's remote control as well.

Ann Coulter is sitting in her control room surrounded by creature comforts.  To my knowledge she has never been the victim of a crime committed by a person who entered the US illegally.  To my knowledge she has no expertise in walls or wall-building.  To my knowledge she has no expertise in law enforcement.  And yet from her little comfortable control room she is issuing orders to Trump:  Build the wall.  She supported the government shutdown and supports the 800,000 federal workers now going without pay.  Again, she does that from a position of comfort.  And it is easy for her to demand that others do her will and support her philosophy rather than engage in the actual dirty work of hammering out an agreement.  Hell, she could not even negotiate extra leg room on an airliner.  (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2017/07/16/ann-coulter-had-to-switch-seats-on-a-delta-flight-then-came-the-tirade/?utm_term=.7df62061c8b9)  Nope, she is into remote control with no personal consequences advocating a superficial, harmful, immoral, and expensive approach to address our immigration issues.

Wonder what would happen if Coulter, Trump, McConnell and Republican senators and representatives had their assets seized and their income frozen until an agreement was reached.  I suspect a little firsthand knowledge of being unemployed might provide insight they have never had.  As long as they can practice remote control from a position of safety and opulence, this ridiculous melodrama will continue to play. 

At least the Mars Rover is loyal and faithful to its mission.  Trump and company would rather protect us from the bogeyman while hurting both human beings and our economy than they would protect and support the US Constitution.  They have no skin in this game and their remote control signals should be ignored.

The Myth of Unalienable Rights

Oh how swollen are our chests from the pounding we administer at the noble notions inscribed in our Declaration of Independence.  And noble they are.  Jefferson says the following truths are self-evident.  All men are created equal.  All men are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.  These rights include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  This is the patriot’s creed.  And what a creed it is.  What a lofty sentiment.  What a crock.

The truths that are self-evident are that these noble statements are not true.  If truth means that a statement is always verifiable, accurate, consistent and mutually agreed upon then the statements in our Declaration are not true.  Iron rusts when exposed to oxygen.  That is a true.  Anytime, anywhere.  It is self-evident.  Once we venture into the realm of politics and human characteristics we abandon the land of truth for the domains of belief systems and attitudes and opinions.  If we can show one example of men not being created equal we have quashed the notion of a self-evident truth.  Clearly we do not believe South or Central American refugees are equal to American citizens.  We do not believe African Americans are equal to Anglo Americans.  We do not believe Muslims are equal to Christians.  We do not believe poor people are equal to rich people.  We do not believe women are equal to men.  Each time we say America First we are saying we do not believe all humans have rights.  The evidence is overwhelming that these human variables are not equal.  Therefore, it is self-evident that all men are not created equal or we would observe equality across all the variables of humanity as determined by birth and zip code.

Endowed by a creator?  Wow.  And what is the evidence that there is such a thing as a creator and that he or she endows?  There is none.  It is a belief.  In fact, simple observation supports the conclusion that if there is a creator then he or she was very stingy with endowments to some, and overly generous to others.  If truths are self-evident there is no truth to support equal endowment or the existence of a creator.

Unalienable (a.k.a. inalienable) rights?  So do we ever take away the right to life?  Do we ever take away the right to freedom?  Do we ever take away the right to the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness?  Yes.  Just ask all the incarcerated folks in the US and all the families of folks executed in the US and all the folks who lose their jobs and all the folks who are bankrupt, etc., etc.  Our laws prescribe ways to take the rights from others.  This is not a self-evident truth.  There are tons of exceptions that we have created.  Yes, Virginia, there is a justice system that denies people their rights.  Therefore, the rights are not unalienable.

The lofty philosophical statements in our Declaration of Independence are not self-evident, are riddled with exceptions and clearly do not apply to everyone.  So, are these statements a mere mythical belief system?

No.  The evidence is clear that in the US we can fulfill these lofty goals when folks of good heart stand for human rights.  It is difficult because often the folks who most need the protection of rights are our least desirable; they are our minorities, our poor fringes, our people of color, and our people of different sexual orientations.  To assail the rights of any human on this planet is to diminish our lofty notion of unalienable rights.  To stand for them, however, moves us closer to the ideals of the Declaration and makes our truths more self-evident. 

Walls by definition are built to separate humans from those that are in from those that are out.  Such walls put the lie to our beliefs as outlined in the Declaration of Independence.

It is not easy to support a democracy.  But unless we simply abandon the entire notion that each human being has value and rights we will fall from self-evident truths to organized discrimination.  It was such a system of organized discrimination from which we declared our independence.  And such a system is not a democracy.

Moral High Ground

What the hell is the matter with us?  I awoke from reality in November of 2016 and have since found myself in an alternative reality.  Worse than that, I am in an alternative reality show.  This cannot be real.  Not in the United States of America.  It is high time we re-think our moral foundations.  What we are currently doing and where we are currently going is immoral, illegal, criminal and corrupt.  How in the world are we allowing this to go on?

Some basic ground rules.  If you still support Trump you have the absolute right to be wrong, the right to think in un-American ways, the right to agree with our enemies, the right to believe lies, the right to be conned, the right to be a victim of propaganda, the right to think that making money is the highest moral calling, and the right to believe a crook, liar and charlatan is the best we can do.  Meanwhile, everyone has the right to be right, the right to be American, the right to be patriotic, the right to make decisions and judgment based on facts, science, evidence and the law, the right to be reasonable and the right to be moral.  Sound fair?

Trump’s lies are so thoroughly documented that there is no need to rehash all that.  If you still believe he does not lie you are not reading or thinking and you have the right to be wrong.  Check out https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/11/02/president-trump-has-made-false-or-misleading-claims-over-days/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7ccde6767e93 or https://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/statements/byruling/false/ or just Google Trump lies.  Our President is a liar.  A consummate liar.  He is a liar beyond anything we have ever seen in the Oval Office, and he lies without guilt believing that his base will support him even though he lies.  He is correct if his base remains as immoral as he is.

Trump has been married three times, cheated on all his wives, is now subject to 26 sexual harassment suits, has paid porn stars and hookers for sex then paid them to not tell anyone they had sex.  His relationships with women are immoral by any definition other than ancient mid-eastern standards. 

Trump has ordered his attorney to pay women to keep quiet about sex during his Presidential campaign.  That is a felony.  His attorney is going to prison for three years for doing as Trump ordered.  We know from a host of corroborating facts that Trump gave the order.  That makes Trump a felon and he will go to prison.

Trump’s campaign was supported by the Russians.  We know that.  It is not subject to debate.  The Russians entered the campaign via Facebook, Twitter and cash donations laundered through the NRA.  People will go to prison for this as well.  Trump denied having any financial interest in Russia but we now know that was false as he was negotiating for a Trump hotel in Moscow during his campaign.  This is not only a violation of the law, it is treason.  Trump’s campaign is under FBI investigation.

Trump’s inauguration team accepted money from donors in exchange for favors from Trump.  That is a felony and people will go to prison for that as well.  Trump’s inauguration team is under FBI investigation.

Trump has increased his personal income while President in clear violation of the Constitution.  Having the tax payers pay for rooms at Trump hotels and weekends at Mira Lago enrich Trump.  That is under investigation by the New York Attorney General.

Trump’s charitable foundation was under investigation and New York has now ruled that the Trumps are unfit to run such a foundation and they are shutting it down.  The charitable foundation now goes the same way as Trump University, Trump Airlines, Trump Beverages, Trump the Game, Trump casinos, Trump Magazine, Trump mortgage company, Trump Steaks, Trump’s Travel Site, Trump communication company, Trump Tower Tampa, Trump Vodka, Trump Ice, the New Jersey Generals, Tour de Trump, Trump on the Ocean, The Trump Network (vitamin pyramid scheme), Trump Radio Show, and Trump New Media.  Worse, Trump refuses to release his tax returns so we are not sure where he makes his money.  He wants to keep that a secret.

Despite the ongoing mantra from Trump that the Mueller investigation is just a witch hunt the evidence is that the Mueller investigation has uncovered a vast network of greed and corruption.  33 People and companies have been indicted and/or plead guilty to a variety of crimes.  And the investigation continues with Trump being listed as “individual 1” and/or “Unindicted co-conspirator.”  My favorite line from Trump’s propaganda machine is that some of these people are lying to get lighter sentences and one cannot trust a liar.  Clearly time to talk pots and kettles.

Trump’s economy is a bust.  We have yet to see a Trump budget, though we have heard of massive cuts in support services and increases in defense spending.  His tax cut has been a disaster.  For the umpteenth time we have learned that giving rich people more money does not result in trickle down improvement.  What it does is give rich people more money.  Hoover, Coolidge, Nixon, Reagan, and the Bushes have all confirmed that it does not work.  It still does not work.  The great employment figures we see are the result of the Obama budget and policies which showed growth beginning in 2010 and is just now ending.  Trump’s tariffs are hurting American producers more than foreign producers.  Farmers, auto and motorcycle manufactures are particularly hard hit and Trump is talking bailouts for some of these groups to retain their support.  The market is headed down and interest rates are headed up.  There has been no other time with such a dramatic downturn in the market since 1929.

Trump has had two years with a Republican Senate and a Republican House and has only been able to pass one major piece of legislation, the tax plan that is now shown to be harming us.

We have dropped from being the leader of the free world to a laughingstock nation.  From withdrawal from the Paris Accords, acrimony over NATO, UN, EU, while praising enemies like North Korea and Russia Trump has sent our allies scrambling.  They are now meeting without us to form new alliances that will leave us out.  His sudden withdrawal from Syria is typical of his inability to function on a world stage and has stunned and amazed our allies, not to mention our own military and intelligence agencies.  His emissaries to world conferences are now being laughed at.  And if all that wasn’t enough, he cannot even get an invite to prestigious weddings and funerals.  He has become an international pariah and it is hurting us deeply.

Trump and his appointees are systematically undoing decades of advancement in human rights and climate damage mitigation.  The clear priority has been to continue to support the work of the fossil fuel industry while the evidence that our consumption of fossil fuels is killing our planet, and killing us.  Federal lands now open to oil exploration and Exxon/Mobil is granted a financial hardship exemption from complying with current emission standards.  Auto makers are voluntarily following previous emissions standards now abandoned by Trump.  The Secretary of Education is changing the rules for women who claim sexual assault so that the rules now favor the male’s defense.  And the hype over immigration is just that.  Hype.  The most dangerous people in America today are right-wing, white males with guns who are the ones responsible for our increasing mass shootings.  But for Trump any increase in the number of brown faces in this country is bad news.

We must decide if we will allow this immoral, corrupt administration to continue.  We will allow children separated from their parents?  Will we allow tear gassing of people seeking asylum?  Will we allow a President who is more interested in making money for himself than defending our nation?  Will we allow a liar and an adulterer and a sexual assaulter to remain in office? 

We must take the moral high ground if we are to truly be the United States of America and not a nation state devoted to being the protector of bigotry, misogyny, and greed.  Trump swore he would protect and defend this nation.  The evidence is he is making our country much worse and the only entity he is protecting and defending is Trump.

Trump must go.  Soon.