WHAT IF IF ONLY

     
      "Hardly any man is clever enough to know the evil he does." (Francois De La Rochefoucauld)

     How many times do we ask ourselves why we had done or not done something and how that affected the consequences? How many times do we tell ourselves if only, if only? How often do we think that we are doing something good, something that is worthy, that elevates us and how many times does that good turn into not so good or get itself twisted into what ought not to be or have been? I believe this is a time when we need to be asking these questions of ourselves and our leaders and  decide very carefully on our actions.

     I have just finished reading two excellent books, Everybody's Son and Before We Were Yours. Both deal with children seemingly endangered in current situations and best removed from it and placed elsewhere. The results are very mixed and the constant question of should it have been, if only are always there, but at some point we must stop reevaluating the if onlys and go on from the present accepting the past as facts necessary to our understanding of the present, but not something to prevent our moving forward with an acceptance of the present and move to change the past, but we can change the present and the possibilities of the future.

     Such is the situation we have today. Here in CV we have a man who thought he was the king of all to do with computers and internet and could lord it over all, but he has reached a point where his knowledge has now become outdated and in his ignorance and with his ego, he gets us into dangerous situations, unnecessary situations. Such is the current situation with Atlantic, with the electronic voting proposal, with ESignatures, with anything that is beyond his comfort zone, much to our detriment. What to do? To do is to get rid of him. He is up yet again for office this March and the best thing to do is vote him out, gone. To do that we need a candidate strong enough to withstand his nastiness during the campaign and strong enough to do what is necessary after the elections - to root out the laxness, the pettiness, the know nothings, the yes people and raid our treasury of people and talents here in the Village, to bring on a new crew who sincerely wish to improve the Village, share their talents and learn what they do not know. Yes, we can say if only, if only there were the old term limits, if only we had that access to people and information, but we need to stop the if only and do what we must, push forward and get rid of him. Improve the Village, stop the infighting, the nastiness, the sloppiness.

     Such is also the situation right here in the country. Trump comes home declaring a wonderful G20 summit even as the world separates itself from us even more, getting away from the almost maniacal policies and behavior of Trump and his crew. Present means a man who simply does not have either the knowledge nor the temperament to be president. He is a man wallowing in his ignorance and incompetence and his idea of dealing with the critical military crises we now have is to play military chicken, like an adolescent on a drag strip.

     He is a man who does not know how to deal with other dictators as his love and admiration for them way outweighs other points, so for two and a half hours, ignoring all other commitments, he and Putin have a love fest, where Trump does nothing at all about the interference in the 2016 election, nothing about the hacking, nothing about Russia's interference with sovereign nations, just insisting it was wonderful, even as the Russians say otherwise about its content. 

     And in the meanwhile not to worry, for who is taking his place at the table? Why Ivanka of course!! The princess of our new American Royal Family. Again, she is not the President and has no business there and no right making decisions there for the country. Actually, neither does her father, but that is another story, huh???

     And at home the situation only gets worse. We have farmers realizing that Trump is not only screwing them with their healthcare, but also with their workers, the people they need to carry on their business. We have the desperate attempt of De Blasio to tell the people of the world that Trump is most emphatically NOT our president and his views are the views of his limited few and not the American people. The swamp is there in DC, populated by Trumpian critters.

     But wait! There's more!! And not Ginzu knives either! We have a country that is dissolving with hatred, with the snakes coming out of the woodwork. We have KKK rallies in Charlotte, violent shootings of law officers even as we have shootings that are questionable in arrests. We have voters actually unregistering in Colorado and other states where information is being handed over to that fake fraud committee. But Trump had better realize that these states that are acquiescing are the very states that voted for him with the paranoid mainly off the grid people. Backfire? Maybe. It is a shame when we have governments here in the country who refuse to remember that they serve the people and not the other way around.

     And if that were not enough, we find that there was yet another meeting between Trump people and the Russian and this one included members of the Royal Family, including Donald Jr. and Jared Kushner and members of the campaign. If only we would have known. If only people had voted with their brains and not their anger. If only people could have seen the future.

    But no more if only, for we must move forward and no, not accept him and his policies and his lies and his incompetence and his ignorance and his nastiness and yes, his inner anti Semitism - and that is for another posting - but to fight against him, oppose him, protest, take to court, drown in paperwork and deafen him and his with the sounds of voices aroar with anger and opposition.

     Century Village. America. The same, only different in size. if only yes, but we must move past it and look to what we can do about improving the  prospects of the future, and yes, fix the present. It will not be easy, but it must be so. If not, who will answer in the future as to why we allowed this evil to continue? I, for one, hope we can avoid that question if we get to work now.

     And by the way, Mr. President, point of information: John Podesta had nothing to do with the DNC and the Republic of China and Communist China are two VERY different entities. Take a few lessons and learn your material!!