The Democratic party went illiberal long ago supporting authoritarianism, censorship, Covid-crack downs, vaxx mandates, and other insane things as I wrote about on here multiple times. That said, I'm too poor and disabled to become a Republican. Trump just seems to want to smash the Constitution into little pieces. It's a rerun of the usual, giving more tax money to rich billionaires, who seem to want to destroy society in their greed. Neither party represents me or my interests. I will admit on here, I often voted for some Democrats based on my disability needs but that got harder and harder. Things got complicated as I agreed with Democrats on SOME issues and Republicans TOO on others. I simply don't fit either party.
The other week I observed a protest, I used to go protest against Trump and wrote about that here. This was the "Hands Off" protest against Trump. My husband wanted to protest. I didn't, we were on the way to somewhere else.
I told him, "I will stay in the car". We had a front row seat to a local protest. He parked on a front street corner, so I had a first-hand view. He then took his place on our main street, as I stayed in the car. I took some pictures to entertain myself. I'm glad I sat things out because the protest while I agreed with a few things about Musk the trillionaire, and "Hands Off" Social Security, the usual litany of Ukraine and pro-trans flags predominated. Things were much simpler years ago. That was before Covid, the world, and Democratic party went insane. That was before I realized I no longer fit in with whatever liberalism is today.
Where were these people when we were being smashed down by Covid and seeing endless freedom destroyed? Where were they then? It made all the signs about freedom kind of ironic to me. 'There were times I wanted to go out in the streets in a rage during Covid, even with signs protesting giving experimental vaccines to kids. Back then, I looked for fellow Covid protesters but all I found was a Mom's for Liberty club that cared more about banning books than Covid vaxxes.
Will I have to go out in the streets in the future if they cancel Social Security and do even worse? Maybe. Who is there to protest to? Hmm that's a thought. "Vote them out!" seems to be a dead end, when the people you don't want always win.
What about the things I agreed with Republicans on, like ending Ukraine war-[not sure if it has been yet], or ending of mandates or the second amendment? Trump has crossed many lines that bothered me from Supreme Court rulings that gave him immunity to the insanity of sending citizens to foreign prisons like El Salvador. The government in my opinion is turning totalitarian as a whole, it started long ago. Maybe all governments go rogue with time.
Americans had it better than most in world history. That may be over. I warned about NDAA, the Patriot Act and black box prisons years ago, it's not so far of a stretch that all the powers given the administrative branch by Bush and Obama, are now being used by the next president in line. The black box prisons now are overseas. They know it's too far for most people to reach to help their family member.
The protests are all controlled. I noticed the messaging was all dictated by the Soros group, "Move on" with the "Hands Off" message, and "No Kings" message for a later protest. That kind of bugged me. Like people have to be told what to protest about. I was bothered as the messaging seemed all scripted. Many things bothered me about the local protest I observed.
No one protested the economy or cost of living or groceries, or our falling standard of living! No one cared about Gaza [I only saw one sign] or Yemen! There was not one anti-war sign in the mix! [not even one "No war with Iran".] I looked around and had husband drive around a bit to see if I could find some fellow vax genocide protesters or some way-ward fellow anti-war people but didn't find any. I would have gone to talk to them. There were some protests for women's rights and defending trans rights. Not one mention of Covid or what was done during Covid. Some remained masked even now. One guy carried a sign "Trump is the Antichrist", I found that amusing as there's people theorizing that now. How many American presidents are so awful, people have wondered if they are the Antichrist? I remember as a kid counting the letters in Ronald Wilson Reagan's name. There was another lady carrying a sign, "It's time to repent". One guy drove around a car with a Trump 2024 sign plastered to both sides. He was the only counter-protester.
How come reality isn't being dealt with at our protests? Maybe because those are controlled too? Think about it, the controllers don't want the real hard issues dealt with like discussing the real state of the economy. I remain in shock, that there haven't been any protests at grocery stores. There are endless videos out there of private people talking about the economy and how bad it is. How come that's no concern at these protests?
There was at least 500-1,000 people in my small-medium sized town. Everyone seemed to be over the age of 65-70 with some millennials scattered here and there. They were predominantly female too. There was a poster on X making jokes about the geriatric turn-out in their town. It was a Saturday so younger working people could have been there. Our county is mostly conservative so that may explain some of the turn-out.
My husband continued his protesting, he finished up. We said hello to a few church members of the UU church I left. I am still friendly with many at other groups and community events.
Everyone who reads here knows I see both of our main parties as one big uniparty just like most "conspiracy [reality] theorists" do. I won't say I never will protest in the street again. It could happen, if things get nuttier. If they collapse Social Security, I could be living in the street anyway. I'm too disabled to do marches or any of that. I considered being a "one woman" protest and taking some anti-war posters or one's addressing the economy. Something to think about. There was some sad irony that my husband was re-using posters from our 2016-2019 former protesting era.
In real life, after too many lost friends, and troubles, I did go more apolitical and ceased talking about politics on my personal social media. I will talk about them with good friends, on private groups and anonymously under this name. Too many people were drawing lines where they were making everyone they knew pass political litmus tests. I lost a friend for not being liberal enough even though she knew I was not a Trump supporter. I do agree with Republican friends on SOME matters or understand where they are coming from. I have one friend who is a Q supporter to friends who are very liberal and ones who share my "neither party" outlook.
This lady is on to something, when she says "I got a bridge to sell you"...She's right about the government lying to us, and the endless breaking of societal trust. She calls for treating people right again. She sees through the "divide and conquer" game.
I like her down to earth advice.
The news was making me really upset, and I was tired. Covid really changed things for me. There was this one online discussion where this one guy wrote that it was better to focus on things in life, you had some ability to make positive changes in. I thought, "That makes sense. What can I change or be involved in that will bring better things to life?" Lately it's a lot of art stuff. Politics to me became an upsetting dead end. I was in this continual state of anxiety, thinking about it, I struggle with poverty problems, so it's not a good mix.
Maybe some of us hit burn-out, being tired of living in outrage over crappy politicians. I believe Trump IS being used to dismantle the country, I am not sure if it is for deindustrialization or if the elites want to break the USA apart like they did with the Soviet Union. It's impossible for an average person to have all the answers. Sometimes I wish they would just LEAVE US ALONE, instead of doing things like turning off the power in Portugal and Spain. Sometimes I get funny thoughts that the politicians on both sides are such jerks, most of them, humanity would do better to go "no contact" with the lot of them.
I think ALL of them know the USA is collapsing but most Americans except maybe the poorest ones have figured it out. I'm of the mind the best way to go in life now is focusing on local community. That's easier said than done, social division is so extreme now. Find things to make you happy, I spent some time with one friend in that one small town I like to visit in my region this week. We need to build community again. Considering where things are going, it's imperative to focus on community ties and finding peace with people and figuring out something against the "divide and conquer" plans.
We've circled the drain over this subject -- I don't know how many times -- but I can't endorse your reasoning. To hold our tongue, effectively, is to give up the fight without ever firing a shot. Do you really want to roll out the red carpet for fascism like that? If you think you're in trouble now, you have no idea of the wrecking ball aimed in your direction. The so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" is predicted to result in $500 billion in cuts to Medicare -- because of the so-called PAYGO cuts that will be triggered in the process. That potentially means you! I still don't understand, in light of this information, how you can take the position you're taking.
ReplyDeleteNow, mind you, the bill may undergo some changes, and the dire scenario I outlined may not come to pass, but I don't see the point of holding our tongue. The collective will of public protests were the only reason that Trump 1.0 wasn't much worse than it ended up being -- the idea that we have the luxury of waiting for some other (presumably more magical) time never works out in reality.
Don't forget, a lot of "good Germans" (and also, "good Italians," or "good French collaborators," for that matter) also managed to fool themselves into thinking that way, too. So did the Communists, who cynically voted with the Nazis for the Enabling Act that made Hitler all-powerful. You know how that movie played out, and where they ended up. They had ample time to reflect on their folly, I'm sure, but by then it was a bit too late for them to do anything about it.
I understand your frustration, but to curl up and yell, "They're all jerks, who cares about the rest of it," isn't going to get you the cookie in the jar. It is actually the best way of making sure you never get one. Don't forget, Trump peddled the same line in 2016 -- "They're all jerks. They're all laughing at us. You're all getting screwed. But it won't be that way, if me and 'some friends of mine' ran things around here." We know how that movie played out.
"Voting them out" is not a dead end, as proven by the repeated overperformance of Democrats in special elections -- they've swept nearly all of them, which should suggest that many people want the madness of Trump to end, or at least, have some limits imposed on its reach. --Love, Mr. Peep
ReplyDeleteThis has even happened in safe GOP districts -- as we saw in the two Florida special House races, where the Republicans won by single-digit margins, rather than the double-digit blowouts that analysts predicted. Your home turf should be the one place that you get love, no matter how stupid you are, so if that's not happening, what's that tell me? Not everyone loves them as much as they think, which should be a giant blinking red light.
Imagine a midterm blowout that eviscerates the Republican control of the House and the Senate. Trump would probably continue his power grabs, but it'll be harder to do it, without so many of his enablers around. To turn your back on that goal and say, "Let fate sort it out," wouldn't be a good idea. Bad actors rush to fill the vacuum, as we all know, and I would rather fill it with some people who will do at least some measure of what we want. And frankly, it may be our only chance of guaranteeing the survival of our democracy, even in its current backsliding form.
Working for those goals would certainly benefit the other issues you care about, such as Gaza. As long as the Boomer class continues to hog the political stage, you won't see any real movement on that issue -- but the younger folks have a different idea, and some of them are openly challenging the old guard.
Read up on it -- turn off all those YouTube clickbaiters, like Nick Johnson, and do a bit more research. It is having a positive effect in some races -- two of Illinois's longest-serving politicians, Senator Dick Durbin, and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, who are 82 and 85, respectively, chose to retire, rather than risk the possibility of losing to younger opponents (one of whom had already announced against her). Like it or not, someone will have to go to the bother of weeding out the old guard -- at least then, as I like to joke, we could elect fresh faces who can make different mistakes.
It should also be noted that the courts -- and that includes Bush and Trump appointed judges, as well as their Clinton-, Obama-, and Biden-era counterparts -- have checked many of Trump's wackiest moves, at least for now. The power of public opinion has percolated in other high places, like the so-called Supreme Court -- look at the case where they deadlocked, 4-4, on giving free rein for charter schools to set up shop, since Barrett recused herself. But I can only imagine, given all the negative press they've generated, that Roberts and company looked at some of those headlines, and said, "Let's leave this one alone, we have enough problems already."
The same ripple effect is making itself felt in other ways -- such as the Trump regime actually agreeing to return a Hispanic man who'd been deported to a third country (Guatemala). Granted, it's just one case, and one person, but that would have been unthinkable only a month or so ago. That has to count for something in the grand scheme of things. But these examples should encourage you to think of what is possible.
Focusing on local affairs is admirable, but will end up being a meaningless exercise if Trump gets his autocratic dream -- then it will end up like Germany in 1945, with the survivors scrambling to pick up the broken pieces. We deserve a better outcome than that, and it's hard for me to envision how that'll happen, if we turn our backs and shrug, "That doesn't concern us," or, "It's none of our business." I happen to think that we can do better, or I wouldn't be still doing what I'm doing, part of which is motivated to protect you -- because if you don't speak up for yourself, or I don't, then who else will? We don't have the luxury of delegating that task to someone else -- for what it's worth, and besides, I feel a bit lonesome on the barricades... :-) --Love, Mr. Peep