We’re Talkin’ about an Evolution, not a Revolution. I Stand with Senator Amy Klobuchar.
Great science fiction presents what appears outlandishly unbelievable in such a way that the viewer stops and considers this ‘other world’ as a mere sidestep through a portal that exists right now. Television shows, like Counterpoint or Stranger Things, depict two worlds, parallel or ‘upside down’ in which the two realities battle for control of the world as we think we know it. Is it possible that our world is just one tragic decision from becoming The Hunger Games?
Before you ‘change the channel’ on this Twilight Zone discourse, just ask yourself a few questions. How could anyone become the American President with no experience in public office? How could American intelligence investigations conclude that Russians interfered with the presidential election: however, the American President publicly announces that he believes the Russians and dismisses his own CIA… and then fires his FBI Director?
Wait. There’s more. Why would an American President also dismiss dedicated public officials from the Justice Department, a US Ambassador, and other State Department officials? Why would a witnesses from the American military, who testifies under a Congressional subpoena, be dismissed from the National Security Council (not to mention his twin brother)?
In what world could one imagine the American President become so powerful that seemingly autonomous senators refuse to even consider ‘first hand’ witnesses who could shed light on whether a US ally, under foreign attack, was being denied vital military assistance (promised by those same senators) because that nation would not ‘play ball’ and implicate a rival American politician?
Is the “Civil War II” a reality or just a passing phrase?
And with each day, more unsettling news keeps washing over the public as reported by the ‘mainstream’ American media, referred to by the President as “the enemy of the people.” Why would such a blatant attack on the Freedom of the Press develop into a rallying cry by thousands who cheer on this President?
When did this behavior become the norm? How will it end? Is the “Civil War II” a reality or just a passing phrase? Much has been written about how divided Americans feel about politics, government and particularly Mr. Trump. Opinions abound about the reasons behind the apathy rooted in mediocre turnouts in Presidential general elections or in political involvement generally.
To me, the rupture that tore apart American spirit occurred at 8:46 am on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. Yes, for a time this unspeakable tragedy brought Americans together like nothing we had seen since Pearl Harbor. Remember FDR’s words: “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” Roosevelt knew that national panic could split two ways: into patriotic involvement to end wars in Europe and in the Pacific, or unbridled fear could summon darkness in the American soul that would cause terror and shame.
Unfortunately, both occurred. The firebombing of German towns like Dresden, the Japanese-American Internment Camps, and the deployment of two atomic bombs on Japanese cities were justified since one must fight fire, literally, with fire.
Since then America has made apologies and restitution to its Japanese citizens and to the people of those Japanese cities. Through the Marshall Plan, America spent millions rebuilding Germany and Austria’s destroyed cities and infrastructure. NATO was created. We promised “never again” would the world allow the slaughter that resulted in ethnic cleansing of the Holocaust. The Berlin Wall fell. The Soviet vice grip on satellite states was loosened. But Middle East peace between Arab factions and Israel’s existence remained. Africa was not immune to the same power struggles that turned bloody in places like Rwanda.
Lessons learned in the 1940’s were cast aside by the Bush Administration. The US shattered the Geneva Convention as the “enhanced” torture of prisoners began, notably under the auspices of Vice-President Dick Chaney and his ilk. The “Axis of Evil” became the target of a panicked homeland. Senate investigations of torture by Diane Feinstein and John McCain finally revealed what some Americans simply could not condone.
President Bush unloaded “shock and awe” on March 20, 2003. American forces bombed Iraq, claiming that they were capable of deploying “weapons of mass destruction.” Our intelligence was horribly wrong and Newsweek’s headline called it “Bush’s Biggest Blunder.” That became the understatement of the decade and the first tear of the national fabric became exposed to all. Musicians battled it out on stage from the Dixie Chicks to Kid Rock. Was the invasion of a sovereign Iraq justified? Was a preemptive strike the best course of action? The fabric ripped again.
Musicians battled it out on stage from the Dixie Chicks to Kid Rock.
A certain New York real estate mogul claimed that Muslims were cheering on 9.11. Trump was sure the President-Elect Barack Obama was not born in the USA. The Stock Market was in free fall. Jobs were hemorrhaging each month in the last days of the Bush Administration. Financial institutions went belly-up. People lost homes in record numbers.
Someone had to be blamed. Rush Limbaugh and Fox “news” amplified the message that it’s all government’s fault. The Tea Party formed as a consequence of the cheerleading of right wing conservative media. For a long time it was the only one sided game in town, and it was spearheaded by the likes of Grover Norquist, whose Taxpayer Protection Pledge, to sign a “blood oath” to never raise taxes made headlines. Inevitably, the left began its counter attack on MSNBC to support the newly minted President Obama and his “Obamacare” that attempted to insure medical care is a right, not a privilege.
President Obama had a merely two years to accomplish what he could before the rupture became seemingly permanent. Six years of Republican opposition under Senator Mitch McConnell followed and kept any chance of merging the two Americas back into one. The unprecedented opposition to Supreme Court appointee Merrick Garland was a deep gash that could not be stitched. But the final thread was soon to come.
Tuesday, November 8, 2016 shattered expectations on each side of the American divide. The Trump campaign was poised to call the election a shame and “rigged.” Melania Trump was assured by her husband not to worry — a loss was eminent. Meanwhile, Hilary Clinton’s campaign was prepared for the big balloon drop in the Big Apple. And then it happened. Everyone’s bubble was burst.
And so America is within a year of having to make a decision which road to travel. Some say the choice will be nasty and bombastic. Will the nation recoil from Trump’s extremism into yet another version authored by the likes of Senator Bernie Sanders, or will there be a middle ground that Americans can trust to place their feet, hopeful that there isn’t a bomb triggered below instigated by die-hards on both extremes?
Some Americans feel numb. Some feel angry. Some feel desperate. Some feel overjoyed. Pick your flavor. The truth is this: economic growth continues from Obama to Trump, but that wealth is not felt in the bottom tier of the labor force. Yes, more jobs are available but hiring is not the issue. What kind of jobs are. Manufacturing is still spotty to stagnate. Farmers are being bribed to keep in line. Service jobs are the bottom rung and automation is coming for them.
The deficit has soared in the last three years, not because the US needs to get out from a Great Recession, but because the Trump Administration and the Republican controlled Senate has authorized spending that in decades past no Republican would have accepted. Will the allure of a Stock Market trump everything we know about a United States? That is intimately what this election will answer.
I stand with the experience and moderation of Senator Amy Klobuchar. I stand with common sense solutions. I stand with compromise. Senator Klobuchar represents these qualities and policies. Rebuild the ACA/ Obamacare, but do NOT argue for “Medicare for All” and disenfranchise the people with their own private insurance. Do not eliminate the insurance companies — regardless of their shortcomings because if they are truly inferior, then they will fail on their own demerits.
Do NOT argue the US should excuse student debt. It is an affront to all who have paid their way or are paying down their way through college. Instead, push for significant interest rate reductions on Federal loans, present and future, and increase Federal grants to all college students.
Above all, recognize that Global Warming is past the crisis level — the American President should be on Red Alert, not claiming it is a “hoax.” Get back in the Paris Accords. Understand that fossil fuels, like the ones in the Russian Arctic, are not the answer to the energy crisis, but rather this ‘Black Gold” is a fool’s errand, which will only keep the world addicted to Putin’s power. Get back to the table with Iran on a nuclear deal as Obama did. All that has occurred in the last three years is counterproductive throughout the Middle East. It is a powder keg waiting to explode.
Support NATO; do not devalue it. Why? Understand that Putin is going to do all he can to undermine Americans’ trust in our government. His regime is dedicated to gobbling up the Ukraine. He is a poison — “a KBG agent and a killer” in the words of the late Senator John McCain
America needs the most skillful surgeon to step up to the operating table and heal the wounds of division and fear. Her hands won’t tremble. Senator Klobuchar represents the one person who has accomplished the most in a legislative sense. It is time we judge a President by the quality of her character. After all, 100 years ago the 19th Amendment changed the American Constitution. As for electability, add Beto O’Rourke to the ticket and turn Texas’s Electoral College voters blue. (O’Rourke already polls 11 points hire than Trump in Texas.) Senator Klobuchar may not have the ‘revolution’ in mind — what America needs is an evolution.
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