Wisdom

My millennial progeny and their spouses have more facts and knowledge at their finger-tips than I did when I was their age.  They are in their mid-thirties, born in the early 1980’s, raised with microwaves, color TV, central air, Walkmans and iPods, cell phones, desktop personal computers, etc.  When I was 35 if I wanted to gain new knowledge I needed books and libraries and hours.  They can Google a topic, scan it in minutes and claim to have knowledge.  And yet with all this readily available knowledge and technology there are key components of the human existence they have yet to master.  One of those components is wisdom.  They tend to think if they have knowledge, they have wisdom, but that is not true.  In fact I would argue that this greater ease of knowledge attainment has somehow postponed the process of individual accrual of wisdom.  Wisdom is individually earned and only over time.  Few in their 30’s have lived long enough to have any, and even worse, few in their thirties recognize wisdom when they see it. 

A large part of wisdom comes from not just surviving events but learning from them.  People who have never been married, never adjusted to in-laws, or never adjusted to the same roommate for decades cannot possibly have meaningful relationship wisdom.  People who have not parented and experienced that special love that transcends all other love cannot possibly have meaningful family wisdom.  People who have not lost parents, siblings, friends, and/or children cannot possibly have meaningful wisdom regarding death.  People who have not been a part of societal chaos, riots in the street, burning cars and broken windows, of armed men surrounding unarmed civilians, of being helpless in the face of the state cannot possibly have meaningful wisdom regarding the tension between order and freedom in society.

So wisdom can grow from knowledge and from experience, but it is more than that.  It is mental hooks on which to hang things.  It is an organized mind that is mindful of the past, the current and possible futures, mindful of what has worked and what has not, mindful of what is new and what is old, mindful that the very mental hooks they use are likely very different than the mental hooks of others.  Our mental framework, our view of the world is enriched by our knowledge and our experience.  But if our view is historically narrow or historically shallow then we shall not obtain wisdom despite our yearning for the universal adoption of our own framework.  For instance, wisdom knows there is no silver bullet that will kill social ills.  Wisdom knows that for a person to claim they have such a bullet identifies that person as someone who lacks not only wisdom, but knowledge of things past.  Our world view is bounded by the limits of our knowledge and our own experience and our own acquired wisdom.  It does not take long to sense the depth of the world view of some with less knowledge, less experience and less wisdom.  Parents sense this when their children are teenagers and suddenly know everything.  Others sense this when interacting with people whose world view is attained through the lens of fear, of loathing, of selfishness, of discrimination, of greed, or lust for power.

One might have a mental hook regarding economics.  Based on knowledge, experience and the past when someone proposes to give the wealthy tax cuts and a person who has this hook and has attained wisdom will view such a proposal very differently than someone without this hook, with knowledge and without wisdom.  Likewise if a person has a mental hook regarding religious beliefs they will be able to quickly detect fundamentalism from knowledge, beliefs grounded in reason and beliefs grounded in imagery.  The more hooks a person has the more they are able to deal with the abundance of information flowing each day.  The more wisdom they will have because they have hooks that can pick up new bits of knowledge and discard old tried and failed knowledge.

But there has become a much darker side to the lack of wisdom in our country.  The dark side is that there are some people who have no respect for wisdom.  Worse, they have no respect for knowledge.  They only respect attitude and opinion and only those attitudes and opinions that align with their own.  In no way is this wise.  In no way is this knowledgeable.  These folks fade quickly when confronted with knowledge, and have no clue when they are confronted by wisdom.  And yet, they remain steadfast supporters of attitude and opinion in the vacuum of no facts.

For instance, our knowledge informs us that everywhere restrictions on owning firearms have been implemented the number of deaths by firearms decreases.  Knowing this, a wise person would say we have too many deaths by firearms so let us tighten the restrictions on firearms.  But there is a segment of our population who have been convinced that more restrictions on owning firearms is somehow a threat to them and their rights, even though there is no evidence of that, no examples of that.  It is pure political rhetoric promoted by the folks who sell firearms and do not want to see sales drop.  There is no wisdom in this position and these folks will eventually find themselves on the wrong side of history.

The same is true of the knowledge and wisdom surrounding global warming and the human impact on that warming.  The same is true regarding the reduction in regulations mandating proper behavior and safety measures for the private sector.  The same is true for the protection of human and civil rights.  The same is true regarding immigrants.  The same is true regarding collaboration rather than isolation, shared leadership rather than me first.  On and on.  We simply can ill afford to abandon all our accrued knowledge and the wisdom it supports or we shall be forced to survive the pain and failure that previous generations experienced. 

We learned much from slavery, from the Civil War, from World War I and II, from both Korea and Viet Nam, from women’s rights, from minority rights, from gender rights, from worker’s rights, from pollution, from petroleum scarcities, from riots across the country, from Kent State and Columbine.  We are, however, at a point where all those learnings, all the wisdom that was accrued through those tragedies are being tossed out with the bath water.  We shall emerge either more wise, more democratic, more tolerant, more progressive and more inclusive, or we shall emerge as a backward, selfish nation intent on self-destruction and totally lacking moral or wise leadership.  Our heroes should be those who stand against injustice, who stand for the value of all human life and the planet we call home; our heroes should not be lying self-serving tyrants.

I vote for knowledge first, then wisdom as it has been accrued across the ages.

So, how do we promote wisdom?

The Day Will Come

I truly hope the day will come when collectively humans will know the following:

The belief that reducing regulations on producers will somehow help workers will be proven false so many times that finally everyone knows it is nonsense.

The belief that giving the wealthy more money will somehow help those who are less wealthy will be proven false so many times that finally everyone knows it is nonsense.

The recognition that allowing the “market” to make decisions is incompatible with a good sense of right and wrong and with the preservation of the only habitable planet we have.

The understanding that those who argue for reducing regulations, giving the wealthy more money, and freeing the market represent the wealthiest among us and only do so to enrich themselves, not all of us.

The recognition that all human beings are precious beings worthy of love will make more sense than earning more money.

The understanding that investing in human education and human well-being is the most profitable investment we can make.

The understanding that people do not get shot where there are no guns; people are shot less where firearms are restricted.

The understanding that men should not determine female reproductive rights, nor should extinct religious beliefs determine such rights.

We will know truth matters.  Science matters.  “Belief” in conflict with truth and science is false.

The understanding that fear, hate, dogma and anger are obstacles to peace, love and advancement.

The knowledge that collaboration yields more good for more people than competition.

When that day comes we will enter the second era of enlightenment and truly progress as a species.  And though we have taken a major step backward since 2016, more people now understand these concepts than ever before.  That gives me hope.  And hope advances the day that will come.

Gun Rights

I am so confused.  As I read postings on a variety of media it is clear that many in our country have had strong negative reactions to the March for Our Lives event.  (Clearly many have had a strong positive reaction, but that does not confuse me.  It is the negative reaction that confuses me.) The name calling, the shaming, the put-downs, the outright bullying, the lying, the misrepresentations.  I read words like “God-given right to own guns.”  Really?  Where is that in the Bible?  Did he also give the right to health care and non-discrimination?  I have not read one single proposal that calls for taking guns out of the hands of current gun owners, and yet every gun owner rants as though people are coming to his or her door to confiscate their guns.  Who is saying that?  I can’t find it anywhere.  

I also keep hearing that people must hold on to guns to protect themselves from the government.  Right.  Most idiotic thing I have ever heard.  So I picture the National Guard rolls up in front of your house with tanks, mortars, bazookas, weaponized drones and you believe your little AR-15 is going to help hold them off?  Crazy.  Owning a gun is no more God-given than owning a car and probably less God-given than the right to food, shelter, clothing and health care.  We know God opposed discrimination and promoted peace.  We know God said fear not for I am with you.  If God is on your side why do you need an AR-15?

Is it unreasonable to suggest that anyone who defends the right to own weapons designed for the sole purpose of killing people are by definition mentally unstable enough to merit the denial of their ability to acquire such weapons?  Is it unreasonable to suggest that anyone who suffers from such fear and paranoia regarding the government of the US and fear of the confiscation of personal property by such government is by definition mentally unstable enough to merit the denial of their ability to acquire any weapons?  Is it unreasonable to suggest that anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ, a man who consistently urged followers to have no fear, love their neighbor and spread peace, but simultaneously demand the right to have weapons out of fear suffers from such cognitive dissonance as to merit the denial of their ability to acquire weapons?  Is it unreasonable to suggest that anyone who applies for a permit to carry a weapon and/or carry a concealed weapon is by definition mentally unstable enough to merit the denial of their ability to acquire weapons?  We’ve been looking at this backwards.  It appears to me that the real scary people are those who advocate having guns to protect themselves from so-called scary people.

Yes, we have shed the blood of enough children, enough innocent bystanders, and enough people who were in the wrong place and the wrong time.  We do not need to shed more.  We do not need to arm more.  A guy with a gun is neither good nor bad.  It is where he points the gun and fires that determines that.  JFK was not protected when surrounded by armed men.  Ronald Reagan was not protected when surrounded by armed men, Fort Hood was not protected when everyone there had both training and access to a weapon.  It makes no sense.  The Republican Party understands that it makes no sense as they banned guns from their convention last summer.  The Family Research Council and the Council of Conservative Citizens bans guns from their meetings.  They know what they fear to admit.  The only way to ensure there are no shootings is to ensure there are no devices that shoot.

I know saying such things results in rabid responses from those who cannot imagine their lives without arms.  It appears to me the more rabid the response the more foolhardy it is to allow such folks to have weapons.  Trusting good guys with guns to stop bad guys with guns assumes we can tell the difference.  We can’t.  People who see themselves as good guys and carry guns are also very likely to go ballistic on this topic, lose their tempers, call people names, wrap themselves in the American Flag, misquote the 2^nd Amendment, and seek to quote scripture.  All those responses are irrational.  I do not want irrational people with firearms standing next to me in line at What-a-Burger arguing that they are a good guy just looking for a bad guy to stop.  That is one of the scariest outlooks on life that I can imagine.

In fact, that is the crux of the Black Lives Matter movement:  White cops see themselves as the good guys and view Black people as bad guys therefore subject to shooting.  Way too much evidence that is true.  Worse, after White cops have shot an unarmed Black man they are still labeled the good guys.  If the race was reversed we would have riots in the street, not just kneeling at football games.

The people who are the strongest opponents to any kind of gun control are the very people who should not be allowed to purchase guns.  Their feelings and beliefs obviously take precedent over their logic and we cannot promote arming irrational people with guns.

Now let’s talk reasonable limits on the purchase of firearms in such a way as to reduce mass shootings.  Such an approach has worked everywhere it has been implemented.  Guns may not kill people, but irrational people armed with guns most certainly do kill people.  Lots of people.  Time for reason to prevail over guns.

Nightmare

I awake in a cold sweat.  Panicky.  I am the President of the United States and something is terribly wrong.  I pursued this position because I believe in America and I believed I could make it better.  But that is not what is happening.

Did I really say professional athletes should be fired for protesting?  Did I really say that there are some good people in the White Supremacist groups?  Did I really say my inaugural crowd was bigger than Obama’s?  Did I really promise to hire the best people but hire unqualified family members and friends who function out of loyalty to me rather than loyalty to the nation, and have I really lost 22 of those appointees through resignation and firings, more than any other President in history?  Do I really have the lowest Presidential support rating in the history of the Presidency?  Have I really failed to implement Congressional approved sanctions against Russia?  Have I really bragged about grabbing women by their genitals?  Have I really made fun of a disabled reporter?  Have I really attacked individual members of the press, actors, and members of Congress?  Did I really have an affair and pay to cover it up?  Are there really 17 women who have filed sexual assault charges against me?  Did I really support a tax plan that helps CEOs and the very wealthy?  Have I failed to release my tax returns?  Am I really backsliding on my promise to not touch Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid?  Have I offended our British, German, French, Canadian and NATO allies?  Am I going forward with plans to build a wall?  Have I really requested a military parade in my own honor?  Have I really slapped tariffs on steel and aluminum?  Have I really played golf for over 100 days in my first year as President?  Have 19 people been indicted on charges arising from my campaign, and have 4 of them already pled guilty?  Have I sided more with the NRA than those who support gun control legislation?  Have I failed to generate as many jobs in my first year as Obama did in his last year?  Have I dramatically contributed to the National Debt after Obama was shrinking it?  Have I really undone a host of environment protections to allow the fossil fuel industry and producers in general greater leeway?  Are there really over 2,000 documented lies that I have uttered?  Have professors of political science already dubbed me the worst President in US history?  Has a panel of psychologists and psychiatrists already taken a stand that I am mentally unstable? 

If I am honest with myself, if I truly want to serve all the American people, if I truly believe in our form of government, if I truly value honesty and integrity above self-service, there is but one course of action open to me.  I must resign.  But if my motives are pure self-serving I will not leave this office without a fight.

I would resign and beg the American people for forgiveness.  He won’t.

What a nightmare.

Fear of Government

I have been engaged in some really interesting exchanges with a person I respect and count as a friend.  He is very conservative.  I am not.  He reflects what I have heard from many others, including family members.  They fear “the government”.  They fear losing control.  They fear losing their rights.  They fear losing their freedom.  They fear the government will take over everything.  They fear the government is breeding dependent citizens.  They are sincere.  But I believe they are seriously misguided.

Who and what is this “government” they fear?  It is not the local school board, the local city council, the local county government, maybe not even the state government.  It is the federal government they fear.  And if we break that down, it is not so much the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, the EPA, the armed services, ICE, the DEA, or any of the federal law enforcement branches.  It does not include the Justice Department, the Office of Homeland Security, the Department of Education, the Treasury, Department of Commerce, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Defense, the Department of Veteran Affairs, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Energy, the Department of State, the Department of Labor, the Department of Transportation, etc.  In other words, they do not fear the departments and agencies in the Executive Branch.  They do not fear the Legislative branch, though they express frustration about that branch.  They do not fear the Judicial branch because they have little dealings with that branch even though it is important in safeguarding the rights of Americans.  So what do they fear?

They fear the nebulous, ubiquitous, undefined “government.”  As best as I can tell after pushing and prodding, what they are really afraid of is taxation, and having those taxes support people they see as misfit co-dependents, and they fear somebody somewhere is going to show up at their door and take away their property, or worse, their guns.  When asked about the “swamp” they refer globally to all those government officials that are running their lives as they see it.  But pressed on that they have few if any specifics. 

They are just afraid.  Afraid of losing something.  Afraid of paying taxes so that others can get what they have or worse, get something they do not have.  Afraid of recognizing people of color, women, people with different religious beliefs, people with different sexual orientations, people who are not white conservative males.  It appears they have a mental model of the US that harkens back to a day when minorities were suppressed, women knew their place, and “deviants” were beat up if they did not stay in the closet.  They are willing to do the most un-American things to return to those days because they see those days as “great.”

They are wrong.  They fear a boogeyman.  In fact, their fears are the reverse of what they should be.  I believe they should fear any step by the government to allow discrimination against any identifiable group of humans.  If the government can discriminate against gay folks, transgender folks, Black, Hispanic, female, disabled then we are all at risk.  Human rights, civil rights, must be protected for all or they will not be available to any.  The current direction of the nation and the courts is in fact scary.  We are moving back in time.  Back to an era that complies with the mental model of the fearful.  We cannot allow that to happen.

In what I see as a strange twist of logic, those who have fear of government syndrome are promoting a government that merits fearing.  We simply cannot allow ourselves to say that some people just have to live under the bridge, go hungry, go without health care, go without education because they do not fit our mental model of who Americans are or should be.  Those in need are Americans.  The only moral thing to do is to provide them the necessities and protect their rights.  The really scary thing to me is the people who would hurt others and promote themselves because they have a false fear of the government.  Those people merit fear.

Guns and Schools

Listening to Donald Trump pontificate on school shootings and the cure for such is like asking Richard Dawkins to preside at Billy Graham’s funeral.  Trump knows nothing about public schools and public school teachers and it is pretty apparent he knows very little about guns.  Arming classroom teachers is absolutely the worst idea since hydrogen blimps or the Ford Pinto.  This is typical Trump, however.  For every highly complex problem there is a simple solution, and it is wrong.  Count on Trump to shoot from the hip in a thoughtless rant about how to fix school shootings and come up with an idea that will increase school shootings.  That is, putting guns in schools.

We have to begin to unpack the idiocy in this suggestion by thinking about classroom teachers.  I spent 40 years in public education and I know teachers of all sorts, all ilks, all subjects, from experienced pros to rookies.  And though each teacher is a unique human being, they all share several characteristics.  For instance, they all would rather help kids than hurt kids.  Period.  They show it in different ways, but I deeply believe this is true.  Put a gun in a teacher’s hand and ask them to shoot a current or former student very, very few teachers could or would pull the trigger.  Teachers are taught to disarm situations in ways other than violence.  We listen.  We prompt.  We counsel.  We extoll.  We direct.  But we have never, ever been taught to use violence to resolve a conflict, even if it is a bloody conflict.

The other dimension of classroom teachers that is not often discussed is the drama level that can occur on any campus.  Yes, the teachers are the adults.  But in the microcosm that is a public school, little ripples in the tranquility pond turn into tsunamis.  I have seen teachers totally lose it when the Xerox machine breaks down.  Or when someone failed to make a new pot of coffee in the lounge, or they are called to a meeting during their conference period, or they are shamed in public by a terrible principal, or the previous teacher did not return the computer cart.  I absolutely would not want any of those otherwise great human beings to be armed when they go ballistic. 

The logistics of such a suggestion are even more impossible.  Set aside the actual cost of providing a firearm, ammunition and training of teachers.  That alone is a deal breaker.  But assume that the Koch Brothers buy everyone a gun.  OK, so I am a teacher.  I am experienced with firearms.  I even have a concealed weapon permit and a carry permit.  I spend time at the range shooting targets with my Glock 17 handgun.  I am good.  While in class I do not wear my gun on my belt because it would be too tempting for students to focus on that and not the lesson, and for safety sake I do not want a loaded weapon so easily available.  I keep it locked in my desk or armoire.  Suddenly I hear gunshots in the hallway.  I hear the intercom issue the code for active shooter.  I order my kids to duck and cover near the hallway wall and I go to unlock my handgun.  I get the gun and step out in the hallway.  Just as every other teacher has stepped out in the hallway.  I am looking at the backs of my colleagues who are all facing the shooter.  Really?  Am I going to shoot?  Or, I am alone in the hallway with a handgun and 75 feet away is someone with an AR15.  What chance do I have of hitting that shooter before he shoots me with his semi-automatic rifle?  Very little.  In other words, given the physical structure of schools and the need for day-to-day security, quick response is unlikely, and any response is likely to be unsuccessful and may kill others.  Plus, while I am going for my gun I was not able to lock my classroom door to keep the shooter outside, so after I am shot all the kids in my class are fair game.

And finally is the simple common sense argument that having guns does not decrease the number of deaths from someone else’s gun.  In fact, the more guns that are present in America the more shootings we have, not vice-versa.  President Reagan was protected by six armed, highly trained Secret Service officers when he was shot on a sidewalk.  Bobby Kennedy was surrounded by Secret Service when he was shot.  And at Fort Hood populated by highly trained military personnel a mass shooting occurred in 2009.  No schools have the weapons available like a military base.  Almost every school where there has been a shooting had an armed officer of the law and it did not diminish the bloodshed.  More guns more people armed with guns is not the answer unless every hallway in America’s public school is staffed with armed officer of the law who have no function other than to keep guard.

So, if giving teachers weapons is stupid and I will always argue that it is, what might work?  How about metal detectors at the doors.  Nope.  Won’t work.  Picture a typical classroom wing with doors at each end and classrooms on each side of the hallway between the doors.  It would take two metal detectors for that building.  But it would take much more than that.  It would also take an x-ray machine and someone to monitor it for purses and backpacks.  It would take armed officers at each detector so if the alarm goes off someone will be there to respond.  And each of those officers will need to have a wand as well.  Kids entering the building will back-up as the line forms to get through the scanner, just like at the airport.  Bell schedules will have to be radically amended so that the time allowed between classes is expanded to include the sweep.  And what happens after the first period when as many kids are trying to exit the building equals the number trying to enter the building.  That will be total chaos.  Most any student could find a way to enter going upstream and avoid the detectors.  Or worse, any armed shooter will not be slowed by a metal detector because he will take out those officers first.  And shall we do this at elementary schools as well?  Sandy Hook may wish they had such a system, but it would not have helped.  Any shooter dedicated to killing people will not be slowed by a metal detector or an officer at the door.

How about active shooter training?  Nope, doesn’t help much.  Each school has an active shooter protocol based on the structure of the campus and the grade level of the kids.  Training in this protocols is probably OK, and though I have sat through several, the main message I got was run away if you can, hunker down, lock the door and pretend the room is empty if you can’t.  As a last resort attack the shooter, but we all know how that will work out.  There, you have now had active shooter training.

I’m sorry, but the issue is not the school or the preparedness of the school or weaponizing faculty.  The issue is the readily available source of firearms.  As long as there are so many guns, and acquitting a gun is so easy there will be school shootings, mall shootings, movie shootings, concert shootings, etc.  Obtaining a gun ought to be at least as difficult as obtaining a drivers license with pre-ownership training required, test proficiency required, frequent renewals, and liability insurance requires. 

Make owning a gun a much more restrictive process and eliminate semi-automatic military style weapons, make fully automatic weapons and silencers illegal, and update our list of folks who cannot buy a gun to include mentally disturbed folks.  Perhaps if we do so we will see the sharp drop in such killings as has most of the civilized world.  We cannot continue to sacrifice children for the profit margin of gun manufacturers.  We cannot continue to argue that the right to bear arms is more critical than the right to life.

Believing Falsehoods

I am a Star Trek fan, and one of my favorite episodes was the 8^th episode in the 3^rd season, “For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky.”  As a planet is on the verge of dying the humanoids there build an asteroid to launch their species into space.  From inside the asteroid it appears that the survivors are standing on the surface of a planet looking at the sky, so after generations in space the humanoids do not know they are inside a fabricated asteroid controlled by a computer hurtling through the cosmos.  But one elder member of the group, just before his death, confesses to Captain Kirk that he knows the truth. “For the world is hollow and I have touched the sky.”  Only he knew the real truth.  Only he knew the others suffered from a perception they believed to be true.

This notion of perception is repeated throughout all kinds of literature.  The Emperor’s New Clothes is a classic fairy tale about a king who believes he is wearing gorgeous garments when in fact he is naked and only a young child is willing to challenge the universal perception.  Plato’s Republic recounts an anecdote where men are chained to a wall in a cave and can only see their shadows on the opposite wall.  They come to believe the shadows are real.  One man escapes, makes it to the surface and understands that what they have been seeing is just shadows, not reality.  He returns to the cave but fails to convince his peers of the truth.

Joel Barker, futurist, describes in his video, “The Business of Paradigms” how the Swiss, who manufactured most of the watches in the world, rejected the design of the first digital watch because it did not exhibit the attributes they believed were critical for a timepiece.  It had no gears, no springs, no face, no hands.  The Swiss loss their preeminence in the market as the Japanese bought the rights to the watch the Swiss rejected and began to mass produce digital watches.

We are in the middle of such a time in America.  There are groups of Americans who base their decision-making, their support, their view of the world on falsehoods, naked kings, shadows and erroneous paradigms.  As long as those among us remain committed to viewing the world through false lenses we are in serious trouble.  It is as though I awakened one morning to discover that about 35% of American citizens believe Santa Claus is real and Zeus is the Supreme Being.

Worse, to try to convince my peers of the error in their perspective generates hate, vitriolic speech and name calling.  I have lost friends trying to show that their perception is a shadow, not reality.  They so desperately cling to their view that they will continue to stand on the deck of the Titanic convinced the ship cannot sink.  How do we reach these folks?  What logic, what facts will prevail against a belief so totally rooted in falsehoods? 

Perhaps identifying the source of the falsehoods would help. 

Our current President is a compulsive liar beyond anything ever seen.  There are over 2,000 documented lies that he has perpetrated on the American people.  He is not to be believed.  The simple fact that he is waging war on the Justice Department, the FBI, and anyone who may be sharing truth with the collusion and obstruction of justice investigation is the reveal of ill intent, and surely not of democracy.

Fox News has an entertainment charter, not a news charter.  They can say anything they want and not be held accountable because it is “info-tainment.”  They consistently repeat and support the President’s lies.  They are not to be believed.

Russia continues to unleash “bots” or automated social media responses supporting the President and his policies.  Their mission is to destabilize our democracy.  Those posts and tweets are not to be believed.

Sadly, to accept that these sources are false requires a simple fact-check, something the true supporters are not willing to do, so they continue to believe shadows are real and the sky is real.

But it is getting more serious.  Today a reporter was banned from a press conference because he refused to edit an article to be more favorable to the Trump administration.  That is unheard of in a democracy.  If what is reported is false, then there are all kinds of legal ramifications and consequences.  But to censor a reporter because he is not “loyal” is not a democratic practice.

The same with a host of previous appointed officials now unemployed.  If one is an official in the Justice Department one pledges allegiance and loyalty to the Constitution and the law of the land, not to an elected President.  Loyalty to an elected person as the only criteria for maintaining your job is a 3^rd World practice, not a democratic practice.

If our nation is no longer based on the Constitution, on law, on the checks and balances of the three branches of government, and on the protection of civil liberties including a free press and free speech, then we no longer qualify as a democracy.  So I literally beg those of you who continue to support this man to do two things.  One, get your news from somewhere other than Fox, Brietbart and the like.  And fact-check everything the President or his spokespeople say.  If that does not convince you that you have grown to believe shadows are real then I see little hope for our democracy to survive.  I believe in my heart of hearts that the truth will win out over the lies and that justice will prevail over conspiracy.  But the more of us who believe and constantly check reality better off we will be.

If it helps, I did not feel this way when either Bush was President, or Ford or Reagan or Nixon.  Just Trump.

Please abandon the falsehoods for truth.