Disoriented

 

I want to be sure I understand what is going on.  This is what I see:  Some Anglo Americans are harassing, attacking, robbing, shooting, stabbing, and discriminating against Asian Americans.  The motive for these attacks appears to be that Trump labeled the coronavirus the “China Virus.”  Yes, that same pandemic virus that Trump and his followers did and do not take seriously.  That same virus triggers whining about civil liberties due to wearing masks.  That same virus that Trump followers thought was a hoax, thought would simply go away, thought there would be a miracle cure, thought hot weather would kill, thought ingesting disinfectant would kill, and thought taking hydroxychloroquine would help kill.  So, lump all those lies together, think little of the virus, and yet generate enough hostility to Asians to attack them for the virus those Asians had absolutely nothing to do with?  So the virus is no big deal but the race Trump associated with the virus merits attack?  Is there some deep logic I am missing here?

If we were going to harass, attack, and demean anyone it ought to be those Trumpers who still believe the Big Lie, still will not wear masks, and still will not get vaccinated.  Those are the people threatening Americans, not Asian Americans.

If I do get it, I remain amazed at the dissociative prowess of the Trumpers.  Attacking Asians based on a presidential slur regarding a disease they disown and demean is extremely bizarre.  It is like those folks will use any excuse to spread hate and violence, even if they do not take the excuse seriously.  From where I sit, that kind of thinking or lack thereof merits its own special brand of harassment.

Those folks are disoriented.

Redfish Tags and Other Documentation

 

I want to rent a car.  To do so I must show my driver’s license and proof of insurance.  I want to buy a six-pack of beer, or a bottle of wine, or a fifth of scotch.  To do so I must provide documentation that I am over the age of 21.  I want to buy a house.  To do so I must produce written proof of insurance and written proof of financing.  I want to enroll my children in school.  To do so I must provide proof of residency and proof of vaccinations.  I want to go shoot a deer.  To do so I must have and be prepared to show a hunting license.  I want to buy a gun at a retail outlet.  To do so I must provide proof of age and pass a federal background check.  I want to make an appointment to see a doctor.  To do so I must provide proof of insurance.  I want to go fishing.  To do so I must have and be prepared to show a fishing license.  I want to keep the 29” redfish I caught.  To do so I must produce a tag allowing me to keep it, and such tag is attached to my fishing license.

So?

Seems to me that there are many, many instances where I must produce documented proof of something prior to engaging in certain normal behaviors.  I do not feel intruded upon.  I do not feel under the onus of big brother.  I just recognize that for safety’s sake and authorization’s sake I have to have proof.

So, right-wing-nuts claim that providing proof of vaccination is an intrusion on their civil liberties and is too much like big brother.  Really?  (I say the following tongue-in-cheek for those of slower wit.)  I recognize that more people have died from: renting a car more than from the pandemic, from fishing than the pandemic, from hunting than the pandemic, from the measles and mumps than the pandemic, from buying a house than the pandemic, from visiting a doctor than the pandemic and on and on.  BS!  We are in the midst of a worldwide pandemic (hence the term “pandemic”) and asking me to provide proof of vaccination to engage in activities that expose me to other people and other people to me is the most reasonable way to resume normalcy. 

If you want mask mandates to continue, social distancing to continue, disease and disability to continue, and death due to the virus to continue then you should oppose wearing a mask and oppose producing proof of vaccination.  Or worse and dumber, refuse to get a vaccination. 

This is not about civil liberties.  This is about our former way of life, and death.  One can either support the continuation of the horrible impact of this virus or one can support the eventual erasure of this virus and a return to normal, whatever that may be.  Do not be an obstacle to life and health because you have fear of a needle or see the creeping signs of big brother.  That is pure folly.  Required documentation is already standard practice in the USA.  This issue, however, is so much more dangerous than a redfish tag.

Wear a mask.  Maintain social distancing.  Wash your hands.  Avoid large groups.  Get vaccinated.  Grow up.

Where the Buck Stops

 

Dr. Larry Lezotte, a preeminent educational researcher and a man I greatly admire, once asked, “If the problem is caused by someone below you on the organizational chart, or if the problem is caused by someone above you on the organizational chart, or if the problem is caused by external factors, then in what ways are you relevant to your organization?  If the solution to your problem lies beneath you on the organizational chart, or above you on the organizational chart or outside your organization then in what ways are you relevant to your organization?”  President Harry Truman had a sign on his desk that read, “The buck stops here.”  These are but two articulations of the same message:  be accountable.

I am amazed at the lengths some folks are willing to travel to avoid having the buck stop with them.  It appears whatever is wrong is always someone else’s fault and that the solution is the responsibility of someone else.  Of course, blaming someone never solves the problem, it just deflects the heat by passing the buck.

On November 7, 2020, Donald Trump released a statement claiming victory in the Presidential election. He claimed some deep conspiracy stole his votes, that there was widespread voter fraud, and that the media were perpetrating false information.  He won, but it was factors outside the election that took it away from him.  There remains absolutely no evidence to support his claims.  He did not say “I lost,” nor did he concede the election.  It was the fault of governors, secretaries of state, voter fraud, and the media.  The buck moved on.

On March 13, 2020, as the coronavirus was rapidly spreading through the US Trump had continued to say it was like the flu and it would go away, and was even so bold as to say that he rated his response to the virus as a “10.”  He made it clear that he was not responsible for the virus or our nation’s response.  The buck moved on.

As the electric power grid failed in Texas leaving millions without electricity.  Governor Abbott frantically looked for someplace to plant the blame.  It must the Green Neal Deal, it must be ERCOT.  It could not possibly be the governor, who appoints the board of ERCOT or supports legislative priorities to protect the oil and gas industries by keeping federal regulations at bay.  Nope, it was someone else.  The buck moved on.

As McConnell and Graham and company found excuses to push through Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court within weeks of the election after promising they would not do that very thing just 4 years ago, it must be because it is unwise to really believe they are accountable for their promises.  The buck moved on.

And clearly, all the problems in America right now are due to unfair trade advantages and immigration and minorities and democrats and liberals.  Right.  It is not me, it is not my prejudice, it is not my lack of knowledge of the issues, and it is someone else’s fault.  Let’s build a wall.  The buck moves on.

Yes, I could go on and on.  I won’t.  The current thinking of many politicians is to take credit for positive results whether or not any action on their part influenced those results, and to pass the blame for any problem to someone else, and to work diligently to obstruct other politicians who are developing plans to address the problems.  I call that cowardice and lack of character.

This is not just rhetoric for me.  I was a public school superintendent in one of the most highly regulated public school systems in the country.  I was one of 2,000 superintendents in the state.  I was charged with following all the state laws, all the federal laws, and all the local codes.  If our buildings were not ADA compliant it was my fault, I accepted that and implemented a plan to correct it.  If our cheerleaders were enmeshed in controversy I accepted the responsibility to fix it.  If our football team was losing I accepted the responsibility and developed a plan to improve it.  If our test scores were declining it was my fault and I developed a plan to fix it.  On and on.  I wish I had known Trump’s model before I retired because there sure were a lot of other people I could have blamed for these issues.  But I knew the job title meant the buck stopped with me.  As one of my professors used to say, “If your name is on the door and there is carpet on the floor it is your responsibility.”

Donald Trump lost the presidential election fair and square.  After months of attempting to identify voter irregularities, he has failed and his court cases have been dismissed for lack of evidence.  It is not a conspiracy.  It is not a cover-up.  He lost.  He can’t blame that on anyone.  His supporters continue to look for someone to blame, but there is no one.  Meanwhile, President Biden is addressing all our issues heads on, tackling thorny problems via executive orders, legislation, and the bully pulpit while the loyal opposition opposes all that he is attempting to do.  That is their strategy to prove they are relevant in our organization.  Obstruct all plans to improve or resolve.  They simply want to shoot the buck.

Own up, Republicans.  If you are not part of a solution you are part of the problem.  Your platform can simply not be: let’s keep the Trump supporters happy and oppose everything proposed by Democrats.  If you continue to follow that platform you will become irrelevant in the institution of governing the USA.  How about universal admission that the truth is Trump lost the election and go from there.  We need folks of conscience, not of fear, folks of character not of conspiracy theory, folks of truth not of treachery.  Be accountable. 

Let a buck or two stop with you.

Believers and Knowers, Part 2

 Back in July, I posted a piece entitled Believers and Knowers and contrasted those folks who assume truth on the basis of belief and those folks who seek evidence and data to confirm the truth.  That conflict rages on.  In fact, now that Biden is President and Democrats control both houses of Congress the gap between evidence-based truth and belief-based truth is even wider.  That scares the bejeezus out of me.  In recent conversations with believers, I have been called stupid, naïve, ignorant, etc., when I posted facts and evidence in contrast to their beliefs.  There has been much said about the fact that certain media outlets are stoking the fires of belief by providing misinformation regarding the truth,  Believers just suck it in as truth.  There has been much written about the fact that many Trump supporters exhibit characteristics consistent with cult membership.  All of that is scary.  But I have been particularly concerned about the willingness of some people to accept lies as truth, to assume that because they believe something it must be true, and to avoid science, evidence, data, etc., as though it was the plague (I would have said pandemic but this same group tends not to take that as truth either.)  I have remained dumbfounded by these folks and they have continued to label me as dumb but not founded. 

In December I posted a piece entitled False Beliefs wherein I enumerated those beliefs held by the believers that had no foundation in fact, evidence, science, or data.  I was more frustrated than ever after that mental exercise.

But I have recently had an epiphany regarding the answer to the dilemma of how adult human beings in America can continue to cling so steadfastly to those falsehoods.  I know part of it is the promotion of false information by the likes of Fox, QAnon, News Max, OAN, etc.  I know part of it is likely the appeal to the fear some have of immigrants or people in need of government assistance or the risk of losing their firearms.  I know part of it is bigotry against people of color, poor people in general, globalization, and educated people.  And I know that part of it is an anger toward anyone who might change the status quo of white male dominance in the US.  But that surely cannot account for all of the commitment to non-evidence-based beliefs.

And it occurred to me that we have been training Americans for years to believe in things not supported by reality, not supported by science or data or evidence.  We teach false beliefs to children and they hold on to those beliefs into adulthood.

Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, Superman, Super Girl, Batman, Buffy, even the Boogeyman are all fictitious, but many parents have so instilled belief in these mythical figures that it is a small step for humankind to enter adulthood prepared to believe in the absurd. 

Religion makes it worse.  There are somewhere between 2,500 and 5,000 gods worshipped on planet earth today.  Each set of believers believes their god or gods is the one true god or gods.  No set of believers has any evidence of the existence of a god.  Those believers have taken the word of their parents, of some so-called holy people, and of some so-called sacred text as the basis of their belief.  There is no evidence. 

There are, however, deep personal beliefs and feelings wrapped around religious beliefs.  Such feelings are rooted in explanations of and hoped for relief from current events and the hope of some reward after death.  But there is no evidence that humans have an afterlife any more than there is evidence humans have a pre-birth life.  Many follow religious guidelines for fear that their god is a cop with a radar gun who watches all the time and will keep score of their bad deeds and high speeds.  Many are riddled with guilt as perfection is unachievable.  Many pay huge sums of money to a variety of churches and so-called holy people.  From the outside looking in it is amazingly bizarre.

There is no evidence that there is any kind of supreme, all-knowing being responsible to and for all life.  There is no evidence of an afterlife.  There is no evidence of a place that houses the souls of the departed whether it is heaven or hell.  For Christians, it is even more difficult to hold on to these Santa Claus notions as there is no evidence Jesus ever existed, the so-called holy scriptures were not canonized until 400 years after Jesus supposedly lived, there are no original copies of these scriptures, and the only remnants we have were totally edited by succeeding generations of scribes so that each scribe added his own interpretation to the scripture.  So these adults walk around believing a child was somehow born to a virgin even though they know that is impossible.  They believe some deity created heaven and earth in 6 days and that the planet is only 10,000 years old.  They believe that a man died and 3 days later rose from the dead, after he had walked on water, turned water into wine, healed the sick and proposed that everyone treat everyone as their brother.  For the most extreme members of this faith, the fundamentalists and evangelicals, the Bible is inerrant, every word is true and holy, even though they know their god did not dictate this book.  It was written by Bronze Age illiterate people and is still adhered to today.  There is nothing more amusing than to hear a Christian recite their beliefs.  Such recitations make the Night Before Christmas and Superman comics sound like minor league falsehoods.

We know, not believe, that planet earth is 12.5 billion years old.  We know evolution explains the changes and advancements in life forms on the planet.  We know the earth is spherical, not flat.  We know the earth orbits the sun and not vice versa.  We know there was no way for the over 1,000,000 life forms on the planet to ever fit in a boat and there is no evidence of a world-wide flood.  We know there was no Roman census the year Jesus was supposedly born.  We know Herod, the bad guy in the birth story, had been dead for 6 years before that supposed birth.  We know there are no prohibitions in the Bible against slavery though there are some pretty clear messages about all humans being equal and subject to love, support, and help if needed, most of which conservative Christians tend not to support anyway.  But if you are religious and believe these things it is a very small step to believe that Trump won and someone stole the election.  If Trump is the good guy one has to believe that Democrats are the bad guys. What you already believe is so improbable that these beliefs are clearly in reach. 

You have in effect been setting out cookies for Trump and on November 6^th he delivered your gift:  a claim that he had won.  It was a lie then, it is a lie now, but it is deeply believed.  Trump clearly abandoned our Constitution to re-seat himself as President.  And these folks believe that to be true with all their hearts and minds and souls failing to notice that the heart has another function and no one has ever produced any evidence of the existence of a soul.  It’s worse because their minds have stopped working.

I have had contact with recent converts to Christianity.  They are Zealots.  They are inspired and excited and they are not open to reason now that they have a skydaddy and a host of other people who also have imaginary friends.  It is not worth the effort to point out the folly of their belief.  We tend to see them as harmless, but perhaps dull.

But when I have contact with the political fervor stirred by religious believers I become amazed beyond belief.  That is because I have facts.  I have evidence.  I have the truth.  I have knowledge.  There is a tumultuous interaction between those who support Trump with religious zeal and those who know better.  I almost find it funny that the least religious president we have ever had has sparked a belief in himself that borders on religious fanaticism and I await the day those who support him see the light, not the conspiracy theories and not the lies, not the self-serving media blitz arguing falsely that he did great things.  No.  I am eager for them to see the light of truth, knowledge, justice and the American Way.  It will be difficult for the few brave enough to say let me see the facts.  For those who have brittle belief systems not subject to logic or reason who will go to their graves believing they were right, Trump really won, there is a heaven and they are the right hand of God.  Those folks will never learn.  When they die, there is no one there, no mansions, no heaven, no hell.  The lights just go out.  And all the damage they have done to their fellow humans will live on after them.

Throwing truth at believers is like administering medicine to dead people. (Apologies to Thomas Paine.)

False Beliefs

The following are the beliefs of those cult members who still support Trump.  They have heard these lies so often they have come to believe them:

Hillary Clinton is a crook and should be locked up.  False. 

Joe Biden stole the 2020 Presidential election.  False. 

If Democrats win control of the executive branch the government will confiscate guns.  False.

If Democrats win control of the legislative branch of the government the country will become socialistic and/or communistic.  False.

Joe Biden is a pedophile.  False.

Hunter Biden is a crook.  False.

Barack Obama is a crook.  False.

There is some kind of deep state of rich powerful liberals (rich, powerful liberals?  LOL) that is anti-Trump.  False.

Trump won the election in 2020.  False.

There was massive voter fraud in 2020.  False. 

There are some good people in the White Supremacist movement and splinter groups.  False.

There are no good people in the Democratic Party.  False.

Obama is a Muslim.  False

Obama was born in Africa.  False.

Trump models Christian beliefs.  False.

Trump saved lives during the pandemic, which by-the-way is a hoax and nothing to worry about.  False.

God chose Donald Trump.  Probably False.  Interesting theory, but must be false.  If God chooses Presidents he has also chosen Obama, Biden, Clinton, etc.  More interesting is that Trump’s political philosophy is in direct conflict with the teachings of Jesus as found in the New Testament.  Perhaps God did choose Trump to wake us up to the possibility of fascist, bigoted, self-serving presidents. 

It is very easy to prove me wrong on any of these falsehoods:  present evidence to the contrary.  People saying or writing that the above falsehoods are true does not count as evidence.  Evidence is facts that demonstrate the statement is true, not false.  Facts are verifiable, mutually agreed upon truth bits.   Iron rusts when exposed to oxygen.  That is a fact.  We can see it.  We can duplicate it.  But if your media station and your friends continue to say their iron won’t rust you are being lied to and those liars must produce some iron that is immune to the effects of oxygen to be believed.  Repeating the lie does not make it true.  Believing the lie does not make it true.  Chanting “lock her up” does not make a person a criminal and is, in fact, in violation of our Constitution.  Truth, evidence, and fact determine truth, evidence, and fact.

Passionate beliefs that are false lead to outrageous behavior such as in the Spanish Inquisition, the German effort to exterminate Jewish people, the McCarthy effort to identify all the communists in America, the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, slavery, second class citizenry for people who are not heterosexual, etc., etc.  It is my fervent hope that sanity prevails on January 6 and that Trump does not attempt to ferment a revolt using the people who subscribe to and passionately believe in all the lies and falsehoods.

I do believe the truth will out.  I just hope it is soon enough.

Please, Please, Trump Supporters

 Those of you who know me know that I have shown remarkable restraint since November 3.  I have consistently opposed Donald Trump, not just as President, but as a human being.  My first piece on this blog raising issues with Trump was dated March 3, 2016.  I am not a fan of Donald Trump and that is a matter of record.

But I have friends and relatives who were, or are.  I know that sick feeling one gets when the candidate you most support and most care about loses an election.  I felt sick when Beto lost.  I felt sick when MJ lost.  But I have never felt as sick as when Hillary Clinton lost.  So I have a sense of what it feels like to lose.  I got all the emails and comments suggesting that I should just accept Trump as my President, get over it, and give him a chance. 

I did not have the opportunity to give him a chance as he showed his true colors in December 2016 before he was inaugurated.  You may recall that Trump bragged after the election in November 2016 that he had won with a landslide and a mandate.  No.  He lost the popular vote by 3 million votes to Clinton and his Electoral College victory ranked 37^th of 58.  Trump started his first witch hunt back then claiming that if he lost the popular vote to Hillary it must have been because there was widespread voter fraud.  He mandated a national commission to identify the fraud and appointed a loyalist to head the search. Six months later the commission adjourned having found only 200 instances nationally of possible voter fraud, well short of the 3 million more votes than Clinton had over Trump.  But we learned that Trump would always declare the universe in which he lived was more real than reality.  And many believed him.

I suspect that if you were or are a Trump supporter you fall into one of three groups.  The first group is that group of thoughtful, informed Conservatives who gradually learned that Trump was a disaster.  You stopped publicly supporting him after a couple of years and may even have joined the large number of conservatives in the Lincoln Project who campaigned against Trump and for Biden.  You may have kept it to yourself awaiting your time in the voting booth to secretly cast a vote for Biden.  If you are in that group I suspect you had a secret sigh of relief when it was clear Trump lost and a ray of hope because the “blue wave” did not materialize and the likes of Cornyn, Collins, McConnell, etc. were returned to office.  Regardless, I am oh so grateful for you and respect you tremendously if you fall into this group.

Or, you may have been a Trump supporter through the election.  But when you saw that he would not accept the outcomes of the election, that he claimed victory, that he filed suits to overturn ballots, that he refused to concede, that he was very slow at releasing transition funds and very slow to implement a true transition to the Biden presidency you abandoned him knowing he was in it just for himself and had no respect or support for the most fundamental of American traditions:  the vote.  All his court cases have been dismissed because there is no evidence of fraudulent voting.  None.  You saw that and now have joined the ranks of other conservatives who are abandoning Trump and supporting a peaceful and healthy transition to a new administration.  You include many Republican governors and Secretary’s of State who know the votes in their states were legitimate and resent the pressure applied by Trump to lie so that he could be elected.  You include Republican Senators and Congressmen who have announced they will retire or have announced they are leaving the Republican Party, claiming family values and integrity have been abandoned.  Finally, when the writing was clearly on the wall you shifted.  I also respect you and understand the depth of your grieving at the loss on November 3.  But I respect you for your courage and commitment to the truth and to the hallmark of our democracy.

Or, you may be what I now think of as the cultists.  You are in the group where liars have convinced you the truth tellers are the liars.  You believe in Trump.  When he says the election was stolen you believe him.  When he says there is a deep state out to get him you believe him.  You support him regardless of the evidence, regardless of the truth, and regardless of reality.  You have grown to hate and fear Democrats believing Democrats are all socialists if not communists who will kill babies and take away everyone’s rights and guns.  You still believe there will be some last-minute miracle that will give Trump another term of office.  You believe the Joe and Hunter Biden smear tactics.  You are protesting in the streets.  You are armed and threatening violence, and you still believe that God choose Trump so anything you do to support Trump you do with God’s blessing.  The only available term for folks who follow a charismatic person who defies logic, reason, and truth is a cultist. 

If you are in this group then I fear you.  There is nothing more frightening to me than a human being who will not respond to logic, reason, facts, and the truth.  You are a believer, not a knower.  You are a Trumper, not an American.  You have elevated Trump to the level of hero-worship and there is no law, no Constitutional provision, and no evidence that will sway you from your support.  And that makes you a Zealot, a cultist, and a source of fear.  You would have been among those Christians who tortured people during the Inquisition.  Or among those believers who burned women accused of being witches.  You would have been among those followers who drank the Kool-Aid because Jim Jones told you to.  You would have been among those folks who sold all their possessions and committed suicide while awaiting escape on a comet because Marshall Applewhite told you to do so.  Despite all the knowledge, all the reason, all the higher cognitive abilities of humanity there seems to have always been a group more than willing to sacrifice logic, the lives of others, and even their own lives based on some belief contrary to fact.

The facts are simple.  Joe Biden won the popular vote by over 7 million votes.  Joe Biden was named President-Elect by more than 270 electors.  There is absolutely no evidence of fraud, or stolen ballots, or ballots that were changed.  None.  Absolutely none.  That is why judges regardless of the President that appointed them have thrown out every single suit brought by Trump and his lawyers claiming the vote was a fraud, that the election was stolen from him.  Every single one of those 19 or 32 or 60 cases depending on how one wants to count them were thrown out because when they got their day in court no Trump lawyer could produce any evidence that anything was amiss.  So the cases were dismissed.  And while the rest of us moved forward toward a new administration Trump and his zealots continued to say Trump had won and the election was stolen.  That is blatantly false.  No one has been able to present anything to support such a statement except a string of unfounded conspiracy theories and the people and media who support such nonsense.

Biden will become our 46^th President on January 20, 2021.  Democracy will prevail over conspiracy theories and lies.  Trump supporters who remain steadfast Zealots will be in the position of opposing the legitimate government of the United States and possibly using weapons to do so.  And such opposition is treason according to the US Constitution and subject to imprisonment or death.

Please, please stop listening to those who are lying to you.  Please, please take a deep breath and try to find some tangible evidence of fraud other than those who claim to have such evidence but cannot produce it.  Please, please abandon a man who is so petty he will not acknowledge defeat nor attend the inauguration of his successor as every other President in our history has done.  Please, please be an American more than you are a Trumper.

Thank you.

Yes, I am a Liberal

(I originally wrote this with the intention of posting it on my Facebook page.  Seems that strategy may be a little too in-your-face.  But I like the piece, so I will post it here.)

Yes, I have been avoiding Facebook.  I figured all my friends of the conservative ilk were flooding the platform with half-truths, false logic, hateful rationales and downright BS.  And I committed to posting in general rather than post specific responses to each of those misguided conservative posts.  So, I have returned from a week of fishing at the beach and enjoying the sunrises and sunsets, and may have enough peace stored up to begin to respond.

And yes, I am a liberal, a progressive, a Democrat.  I proudly support the philosophy of our great nation.  We are a government of the people, by the people, for the people.  Not just the people we like or agree with, but all our fellow citizens.  I believe all men (sic) are created equal.  I believe no man or woman is above the law.  I believe every human being has civil liberties and rights that are inherent at birth.  I believe there must be a strong wall between church and state so that the religious beliefs of some do not become the law for everyone.  I believe we must always be on our guard against a power that would work contrary to these notions, especially efforts by the wealthy to secure their wealth at the expense of all others.  We must always be on our guard to avoid, as Jefferson said, the “tyranny of the majority,” and that we are unique as a nation because we have historically protected those who are minorities, those who are not successful in our economy, those who had the poor judgment at birth to select a race that was not in power, a gender that was not in power, a sexual orientation that was not in power.  I believe it is better to give than receive.  I believe we are judged by how well we treat the poor, the hungry, the naked, the sick, the outcasts.  I believe the quality of human life supersedes the ability to increase the quantity of wealth.

I celebrate all that the liberal philosophy has done for our nation.  It is liberal thinking that freed the slaves.  It is liberal thinking that gave Blacks the right to vote and abolished strategies that were designed to reduce voter participation such as the poll tax, attacks on mail-in ballots, additional scrutiny and credentials at the polls.  It is liberal thinking that gave women the right to own property.  It is liberal thinking that gave women the right to vote.  It is liberal thinking that established Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.  It is liberal thinking that turns to the government to solve problems and provide services that the private sector cannot or will not do.  It is liberal thinking that values the rights of adult women over the rights of something growing inside of them.  It is liberal thinking that says death by firearms is a major problem in our nation and we must address it in a reasonable way.  It is liberal thinking that views government as our government, not some enemy government.  It is liberal thinking that recognizes all humans are indigenous life forms on this small planet, that the notion of an alien-human is absurd, and that all humans have more in common than we have differences.  We are all pieces of a global pie and are constructed with stardust. 

It is liberal thinking that values freedom of the press as a strong arm to protect our liberties via the publication of the truth.  It is liberal thinking that provides free public education for all, not just for rich kids.  It is liberal thinking that structures our military and our law enforcement to obey civilian control.  It is liberal thinking that laments the persecution of any identifiable group of Americans (or any group worldwide.).  It is liberal thinking that recognizes our flag and our national anthem are symbols, they are not the United States.  Do not tell me that everyone I know who has given his or her life in the service of this country did so for a piece of red, blue, and white bunting with two holes on the side.  They gave their lives for the continuation of this great and noble experiment in self-rule.  It is liberal thinking that argues a person should be just as safe standing on the street corner yelling, “I am a liberal atheist,” as those who stand on the corner and yell, “I am a Christian conservative.”  (By the way, I think the term “conservative Christian” is an oxymoron, but that discussion is for another time and place.)  Each of these landmarks are liberal and each of these landmarks have been fought by conservative thinking.

Our nation was founded by a group of men who stood in opposition to the three major forms of government they experienced in the 1700’s.  Everywhere rulers were chosen by birthright or by military might or by some religion or another.  The people had no voice.  There was this incredible philosophical movement in the late 1600s and early 1700s that theorized that citizens could rule; that kings or queens should not be chosen based on who their parents were or on the battlefield or by some deity.  This notion of a government of the people, by the people, for the people was heretical thinking.  It was secular thinking.  It was liberal thinking and no one thought it would work.  But our founding fathers fashioned a document that declared our liberty from those other forms of government and defined the constitutional operation of a government ruled by the people.  It was the most liberal, most secular form of government on the planet.  And it remains so as long as we remember those basic beliefs.  Should we degenerate to a position that says this man is above the law, we should put some deity in charge, these people should have fewer rights, and these people should just go hungry then we have abandoned those tenets that made us great.  If we want America to be great again we should return to the secular liberalism of 1789.

I grew up in west Houston, one of the most conservative areas not only in Texas but in the nation.  It is the area that elected the very first Republican to the House of Representatives south of the Mason-Dixon Line since the Civil War by electing Bill Archer in 1974.  It is an area that was virtually all White.  It is an area that was all Christian, or at least as far as anyone knew.  I know the conservative philosophy.  I was steeped in it.  All my peers and all their parents were conservatives.  But I was empowered by my parents to think for myself, to question everything, to seek the truth, to accept nothing at face value, and to remain true to my core beliefs.  Doing all that lead me to liberal thinking.

I do not know how many liberals you know.  We are not evil people.  On the contrary, if you are ever falsely arrested we will defend you.  If you are ever hungry we will feed you.  If you are ever persecuted for holding a minority perspective or presenting a minority characteristic at your birth we will protect you as best we can. 

I met a Buddhist in college.  I did not know any Buddhists and was fascinated.  Sure, I could have proselytized, witnessed, preached, etc., etc.  But what I did was seek to understand him and understand his beliefs.  I was so fortunate that this person shared with me and we built a trusting relationship.  We did not hold the same beliefs.  I did not convert to Buddhism and he did not become a Christian, but we understood and respected each other.  All of this is to say that if you are a conservative and know a liberal I would encourage you to find out what they believe.  There are plenty of conservatives out there who simply declare liberals some dirty words or declare them fools, or declare them a threat to America.  Understanding is so much more powerful than castigating.

If you want to know more about what I think and believe just ask.  Or you can read my blog:  http://one-eyedbob.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading this.  I will return soon to respond to individual posts on FAcebook.  Until then, I believe truth, facts, and dialog are pathways to a better future.