Why I Speak Out

June 6, 2017

Today is D-Day, the anniversary of the Allied invasion to free Europe from Nazi control. To my dismay, there seems to be little attention paid in social media to the commemoration of a day on which thousands of troops went ashore in France and too many lost their lives on the beaches of Normandy. The invasion was successful, but at terrible cost to the Allies.

It seems appropriate then, today, to tell you why I speak out on current political matters. My local son-in-law claims I’m outspoken, and I guess I have to own it. I am, because I feel passionately about what I speak out on: resistance, as it is current today. I am weary of people who say they’ve shut off the news and Facebook because of the dissension, or prudishly claim they never discuss politics because it’s fruitless. I agree it’s an uphill battle to change the mind of someone who claims I can survive Trump because they survived Obama. My instinct is to shout. “What was to survive? He did so much good. Not a saint, but a great man.”

And how can people still follow Trump blindly, when mounting evidence suggests he is seriously mentally disturbed, in addition to being a filthy womanizer, a racist, a narcissistic individual incapable of governing, a poor judge of character who surrounds himself with sycophants? The man’s approval ratings in this country are in the weeds, and don’t even begin to ask foreign countries how they feel about him. Today I read that Republicans are growing uneasy, and my response is to ask if they’ve had their heads in the sand. They have been complicit in promoting his dangerous agenda.

Do I believe Trump is trying to turn America over to Russia, with himself installed as the puppet dictator? Jury’s out on that one, might come in Thursday with Comey’s testimony. Do I believe Trump is in bed with Putin? You bet! Perhaps it’s a case of a schoolboy crush, but I think he’s bedazzled. Do I think Trump would sell America for another million dollars? Yes.

I truly believe that our country is headed toward a dictatorship that will destroy the poor, the infirm, the elderly, and the very young—witness GOP repeated efforts, at great expense, to repeal the ACA and replace it with a thinly disguised heartless and cruel policy that will kill millions of our fellow citizens—maybe me. After all, I fit easily into the senior citizen category. I also believe the current policies are destroying the environment and cancelling hard-won gains of recent years. The Trump administration is cutting environmental funding, disbanding the EPA, polluting our air and rivers, tearing up our land, even selling historic and protected sacred lands to commercial enterprise. Need I go on?

A friend, someone I genuinely like, urges us to give Trump a chance because he’s genuinely trying to help America. It makes me want to scream, but in reality, it causes me, out of conscience and concern for my grandchildren and yours, to speak out against what is happening. Less I rant forever, please memorize the following poem.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Martin Niemöller

Random thoughts on a not-rainy storm day

Once again, severe storms were predicted, and we dodged the bullet but were blessed with about ten minutes of fairly heavy and steady rain. Just about the time a friend and I decided to reschedule our lunch plans. We should have waited ten minutes! But I had a good day, proofing the first novel I ever wrote. Mattie, a Spur Award winner from Western Writers of America, has been on Kindle for several years, and at 99 cents, it’s the best-selling title I have, still sells steadily and ranks well. Now I’m getting it ready for other platforms and decided it was time to proof again. The temptation to edit is strong, but why mess with success.

Several things I read online—yes, mostly Facebook—prompt me to comment. One was a statement by a physician that the ACA is not the problem, the insurance industry is. I think we all know that, but the Republicans in Congress refuse to admit it. The word de-regulation leaps into my mind. I am not a foe of regulation. In a free market insurance industry, greed trumps (an apt word) the health of individuals. Not gonna happen, and I know it.

I read again Joe Kennedy’s speech in Congress about health care, and his brilliant take-down of Ryan, comparing the versions of the Bible’s definition of mercy that he and Ryan had apparently read. Got me to thinking about the children of great leaders—so many of the children fade away into obscurity in the face of their parents’ great accomplishments. I think, for instance of FDR and Eleanor’s children, who weren’t wastrels by any means but didn’t carry on to the family tradition. In her own way, Margaret Truman walked proudly in her father’s footsteps, as does Caroline Kennedy. The Nixon girls chose obscurity deliberately, as apparently did the Johnson daughters.

But the Kennedy family has carried on a proud tradition of public service. Look at how many of them have entered the public service arena after Jack—Bobby, Ted, Patrick, Joe, Maria Schriver—I know I’m leaving some out. They have all accounted themselves admirably, showing real concern for their fellow man not often found in the children of privilege. Old Joe Kennedy, a reprobate from all reports, did something right—or maybe it was Rose. I share a birthday with her, a coincidence I really like. (No, this is not a comment on Ivanka or whatever her name is.)

Concern for one’s fellow man is much on my mind. In Chechen apparently they have not only imprisoned gay men but are calling their parents in to execute them—what an unbelievable horror. And a young woman who escaped North Korea talked about the awful conditions in that country, where a woman was executed for having watched a Hollywood movie. Apparently, and I didn’t know this, many North Koreans have escaped to China—where there Is a reparation policy. Young North Korean women are sold on the market for as little as $200.

A friend recently toured torture camps in Cambodia. Another person on her tour said to her, “Animals don’t do that to other animals.” I am deeply troubled, horrified, by man’s inhumanity to man and by his cruelty to animals—from big game hunting to killing bear cubs in their dens to dog fighting and other atrocities. I think God weeps. I know I do.

I seem to like the word “apparently” in this post. Please forgive. It’s late, and I don’t want to do it over.

Leggings and restaurant sanitation

If you follow Facebook, and maybe if you don't, you may know about the youngish woman who forswore ever wearing leggings again, out of respect to her husband and to avoid arousing lust in other men. Her YouTube video went viral and even made national TV shows. As one who wears leggings a lot, my first thought was that if a mid-seventies woman in leggings arouses lust in men, let them enjoy it.
I read a piece today by a journalist who essentially wrote, "Get real. Get serious about the real problems of life." She quoted a series of horrifying statistics--the number or children left orphaned by ebola, the number of people being starved, tortured and killed in various uprisings, the number of women raped in such uprisings, the number of children in America living below the poverty line, and so on. After each terrible statistic, the journalist wrote, "And you want to talk about leggings?" Powerful stuff.
It reminded me of our busy Republican Congress. They've been working hard at doing--well, let's see what: passing the Keystone Pipeline bill, which the President has already promised to veto and which most sane Americans oppose because of it's enormous pollution potential to the world's environment, America's water supply, our "bread basket," etc. Compassionate fellows they are, they have voted to slash Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security benefits plus knock many children off their parents' health insurance. Oh, and let's not forget they are on the 50+ vote to repeal the ACA. Not fast learners. In their wisdom--or is it greed--they have voted to sell vast lands owned by the Apache tribe to a foreign corporation--these lands are pristine and absolutely gorgeous with rock canyons, etc., the best of America's Southwest, not to mention that they are sacred to the Apaches--and, I believe, granted to them by treaty. But we won't let a little thing like a treaty bother us.  Speaker Boehner is again threatening to sue President Obama--can't remember what for this time, but I know that eats up taxpayers' dollars at a fantastic rate. The House is waffling on the question of mandatory vaccines--many of them are old enough, as I am, to  have lived through the terrors of the polio epidemic and surely they all know about the 1918 influenza epidemic. And they're waffling?
And the latest idea I like, from a Republican senator who, trying to make a point about too much government control, suggests that we allow restaurants to opt out of the law to make employees wash their hands after using the bathroom and before returning to work. There'd be a whole lot of restaurants I wouldn't be eating at! But of course we can't allow women to opt out of laws that rob them of control over their own bodies.
What a mess this country is in. Want to talk about leggings?

Warning--a political rant

They say it’s impolite to talk about politics on Facebook. I have one friend who implies that I rant without thinking. Well, okay, here goes a rant, and at least I've given warning. I’ve really thought about this. But I don’t think Speaker Boehner is thinking—in fact, I don’t think, as we used to say, his elevator goes all the way to the top. It stops at the floor that houses both his own ego and his hatred for President Obama.

His lawsuit is ridiculous, like a little boy stamping his foot because he can’t get his way. In fact, I saw a political cartoon to that effect the other day. After trying 50 times to kill the Affordable Care Act and failing—at great expense to the American people--he’s suing  the president. For what? Failure to administer the ACA properly. Again at great expense to the American people. I wonder if he’d be so hot about all this if legal fees came out of his pocket, but he has unlimited funds—our tax dollars. And, frankly, that’s not what I pay taxes for. I wanted a better infrastructure, health care for all, education for our children, equal employment, women's rights. Those are the things I pay my taxes for.

Now we hear that the lawsuit is the first step toward impeachment—pray tell, on what grounds? Failure to administer the ACA? Being too aloof (I just read that one on Facebook)? Does he even think, for a minute, about the upheaval such proceedings would throw this country into—upheaval that would reach into all our individuals lives. Financially, socially, and in terms of national security, employment, and dealing with all those “crises” the Republicans are so worried about. The country, just now recovering from a near-depression, would come to a crashing halt.

We live in a turbulent world, and everyone is looking to President Obama to wave a magic wand and rescue Iraq, halt the godawful bloody destruction of Palestine, do something about the sudden influx (it’s not sudden at all, folks—that’s an election-year issue) of children from Central America. How can he, let alone the government, deal with these problems around the world if he’s fighting a lawsuit and possible impeachment at home.

This is a time for all Americans to pull together. I truly don’t think Speaker Boehner has thought through the results of his actions—he sees another election-year ploy. I remember when my nephew, about sixteen, learned the lesson of "actions have consequences"--he ran out of gas and had to walk miles.

I may be preaching to the choir. I know many disagree with me, and they are entitled to their opinion. If expressed in civil terms, without hatred, I will respect it. But I find the president to be a compassionate, capable man, intelligent and thoughtful, more given to negotiation than fight. I can’t say the same for Speaker Boehner. I have no respect for him.

Please make your voices heard.

Openly political—skip if you want, but I hope you won’t

I try not to devote my blog to politics or the volatile climate in this country and, specifically, in Texas, but there are some things I can’t resist putting into words.

One of my earliest public memories is of seeing a woman jump out of a car and yell, “Hooray! Hooray! Roosevelt is dead.” I went into the house to tell my mother, and she said, “Hush. Don’t talk that way.” I didn’t know then, as I do know, that a lot of people, like my parents, thought he was a god on a pedestal but there were hard-core haters. I suppose they disliked the New Deal, the CCC, Social Security, and other programs designed to protect middle- and low-income Americans.

Since then I have seen dislike, often extreme, for the leaders of our nation. I myself admit to highly negative feelings about Richard Nixon and even more so about George W. Bush, though in the latter case it was less hate that despair at his foolish decisions.

I don’t think, however, I’ve ever seen such unprecedented hate as President Barack Obama is experiencing. It both amused and saddened me a few days before Christmas to see a picture on Facebook of a large, float-like vehicle emblazoned with the slogan, “Impeach Obama!” From time to time you see other calls for impeachment on Facebook.

What I wonder is on what grounds? I still don’t understand the legal grounds for the impeachment charges against Bill Clinton. What would you charge Obama with? Policies you don’t agree with? Don’t think that’s written into the constitution. Lurking always in the background, though many deny it, is the charge of being black. In the land of the free and of equality, that surely is not a crime. Treason? Hardly. Economic misjudgment—that’s in the eye of the beholder and most of us aren’t as knowledgeable as the president is but I’m under the impression that our economic outlook is greatly improved.

Of course that leaves the Affordable Care Act. Republican politicians run ads that say, “Keep Obamacare out of Texas.” Not too long ago, I commented on such a post by David Dewhurst, asking him “Why?” Could he, I challenged, provide statistics. I have not received an answer—does that tell you anything? The ACA seems to be working well in states like Kentucky that have welcomed it; a surprising million and a half or somewhere in that area have enrolled in Texas, where Republicans have made it difficult it to impossible to enroll. They are sacrificing Texans’ health to their urgent desire to weaken our president and make him a failure. Many Texans, bombarded by misleading Facebook posts, editorials, etc., have not even investigated the enrollment procedures. If they did, they might be surprised at the savings and improved coverage they’d find.

I know a man who will say thousands of his clients have lost their policies—yes, they have because those policies did not meet the standards. He quoted astronomical amounts that new insurance will cost these people, but have they investigated the program? I doubt it.

Come on, Texans, get beyond the hate and the misleading media information. Dig into the fact and make your own judgments. Don’t let other people think for you.

And let’s stop the hate on Facebook.