Melodramatic title, right, yet quite a true one. We are now fighting a battle, a war, over and for the soul of America. What kind of country are we? Are we going to remain true to the foundation principles of this country or are we going to turn on them, take up the realpolitik of the world today and to hell with everything else. Are we going to let hope, optimism and careful planning and hard work guide our way or are we going to turn to the fear and hate mongers who will upset the applecart that is America?
From the outset this country was different. This country was a conglomeration of immigrants - English, French, Poles, Germans, Scots, Irish, Eastern Europeans, Dutch, Jews, religious refugees, and not to forget the native Americans who themselves came here from somewhere else and the freedmen and the slaves and the indentured servants. It was a country of poor and middle class and rich and the ability to rise in one's fortunes and to look forward to a better life for one's children. We tried to hold to the high road, but unfortunately at times, too many times, fell into the use of the low road, but somehow managed to find our way back up.
We are now in danger of riding along that low road in a more permanent manner. Are we going to maintain our principles, as difficult as it might be, particularly in such a fractious time, or are we going to let the politics of fear and hate turn us into a nation that falls at the feet of a demagogue in the false hope that he will "save" us all, make all things better and never mind the rights so beautifully expressed in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution with its amendments.
I have long ago called this debate. I used the term Manchurian candidate before the NY Times. I have called the politics of the Trump campaign exactly what they are and warned of the threat of demagoguery should we go his way - G-d forbid! Never before have we had a candidate who so clearly invites an unfriendly nation into our business, our private business of elections. Never before have we had a candidate who so openly admires the worst people of our times - Putin, Kim Jong-Il, Saddam Hussein. Going along with this man who promises that he alone can make all the wrong go right again is to follow the path of Germany and Italy when they chose to follow their politicians called Hitler and Mussolini.
It is the curse of our time that we have so much violence, so many petty tyrants all over the world. It often seems that the world is in a conflagration of war and there seems to be no end to it. As often as we say there will now be peace somewhere or work out a truce, it is no sooner spoken then broken. Countries are fractured - including ours - but at least we have not yet turned to war in the streets though at times we have come closer than we would like to think. Should we go the way of Trump I believe we will fail, a mighty failure and the best experiment of history will go down the tubes as we accept the leadership or stewardship of an impetuous, rash, unqualified and off the track head of government.
What we need today is one who will support our history, support our principles even though there are many that are still challenged. They are still the best in the land and we must not let them go. We must not let those who would take power frighten us into signing over our rights. We must not let them frighten us with stories about the horrors of the world about to implode upon us. Yes, there are crazy terrorists, Islamic and right wingers too, but there have been terrorists of whatever name one wishes to call them throughout history. The term assassins came from way back in the fog of history. They are not new. Assassins tried to kill rulers of the world long before today and took innocents along with them in the efforts.
Yes, today there seem to be even bigger bombs and more killers, but with concerted effort these too will disappear, if not totally, at least into a dark and deep place until they deem it the right time once more to crawl out of hell and inflict it upon innocents once more. I guess it is a somewhat dark view of history and its repetitions but we do not seem to learn and we make the same mistakes over and over again. We must stop that. We must say that enough is enough and we need to return to our principles, to redeem our souls, and the soul of America. We must stand again as the leader of the Free World, stand as a Beacon of Hope to the rest of the world, be a good and steady friend to our allies and a stern enemy who stands by its words and values to those who oppose us and all we stand for. Do not forsake these principles. Do as the poem states, "Do not go gently into that good night." We must fight the night of demagogues, of hate, of oppression. We must continue to strive to do the right thing and when mistakes happen, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and try once more.
We need to remember that nothing happens by itself. It happens because we turn lazy, or turn a blind eye to something because it is easier that way, or we take what appears to be the easy way out never looking down the road at what will ensue. And we forget that this poisoned atmosphere does not start or happen out of nothing but begins down at the roots, in the local elections. When we allow a dictator, minor though he might be, to take over our lives in the micro world, it becomes easier to allow that to happen in the macro world. Lord knows we have had enough books, fiction and non fiction, that have warned us about this, about the gradual deterioration of society, of the violation of rights. The dictator of a small town called CVWPB is symptomatic of a dictator in a larger arena. It happens because we allow it. Yes, we allow it by not doing enough and as the conditions of living get only worse, we still cling to the hope that this demagogue will fix it all. The answer is that this is fallacious thinking. We must turn back to the values of the soul that make up this country, return to the efforts that made and make it great and never despair at the struggles and obstacles in the road.
We are not Russia who won a valiant achievement when the USSR collapsed and the country blossomed, with new ideas, better working conditions, hopes and dreams. But the country also allowed some of the worst elements of society to take over and hence the Russian mafia and corruption and hence the return to people like Putin. This must be avoided here, must not even be a whiff of this behavior and thinking.
So for our souls and the soul of our country - look around, think, evaluate, understand history and then step forward and do something. Oppose the dictator. Oppose those who would impose a dictatorship upon us. Take back our country. Take back our Village from those who would allow it to deteriorate under a storm of blatant lies. The mats of algae, for example, are not grass cuttings! The mats of algae have grown, exponentially. Never mind waiting for a wind storm to break them up. Moving them around does not make them go away or dissolve into dust. When one pushed the food around a plate it does not disappear, does it? Neither does the algae! How about raking them up with some machinery or with some guys in a boat filling the tubs with them until the waterways are clear. How about whatever - just do something!! Ignoring things only makes them worse. We have seen that first hand. Right here. Just look out your window or take a walk or come look at the Wellington lake behind the cul de sac. Yuk!! Nor do we want someone who continually pushes for a Broadband that will make it easier to hack us - just as has been done to the DNC and the Democratic Party. I do not like these echoes. Do you?
And for all that is right with the world, with our country, remember who and what we are and stand for. We are the United States of America, the leader of the free world and we deserve a leader who remembers that. Would that we had a perfect leader to be, but then again no one is perfect, no country is perfect but we can strive towards that goal. Search your souls, do not give in to the hate and the fear. That is not what you and I are about, not what our country is about.
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