REGRESSION

     Where has all the humanity gone? Where have ideals gone? What has happened to the lessons we were taught as kids - don't lie, fess up to misdeeds, tell the truth, be kind, be helpful, think of others who need help and help them. Where have all these lessons gone?
     These days it seems that while the people of this country remember most of them, the government has decided to purposely ignore them. Trump and his minions have set poor examples for the kids of America to follow. They are told to behave, to forgo tantrums, even as they see their President do the opposite. This is bad, folks, for kids are always on the alert for parental and adult hypocrisy and when found, they rebel. The hippie movement that moved beyond into violence and the dropping out from society came about in good part because of the younger generation's perception of the lies of the adults- and here we are again.
     Interestingly enough, what we have now is the unity of the younger generation, those caught up in the violence of mass shootings and attempts to do so and the older generation, we who rebelled before in our youth and who have come to see that nope, the time to rest is not yet here. The sandwich generation seems to hold back, perhaps immersed in the struggle of life. But for how long can one remain in a self inflicted state of blindness?
     Immigrants cause trouble. They are criminals. They bring in drugs. They want to overwhelm the country and join up with MS-13. And the lies just keep a-comin'. So, a few truths. Most of the illegal immigrants have been living here for more than a decade, playing their part in the economy. They have mostly come with legal visas and then overstayed. The actual numbers of those illegally crossing the border has dropped. The caravans are not invasions, but self created safety protection, safer in a group than alone. The rules for asking for asylum have been changed midstream, much to the detriment of the applicants and much to the joy of the haters. So now, the new technique to avoid killing those mature terrorists of 7 and 8. Just mass release huge groups of migrants, no shelter available, no medical care available, no food, no water, no directions, just go! And the anticipation is that there will be trouble and oh dear lord, but they will look at us and say I told you so. Really? Perfect setup and so against our laws and our principles.
     There was a huge report, in fact a whole section, of the NYT, detailing the catastrophe we have unleashed with the rollback of regulatory and environmental legislation. We already know, too, that the shredding of the social safety net has brought about much harm, with people right here in America going hungry and that includes children!
    And worst of all is that we have an insane man as President, though I never can accept him as such what with the messing around of the campaign. This demented man never thinks, only pouts and reacts and takes his guidance from Fox News. Well, what now, when Fox criticized his ridiculous trip to Iraq and the pronouncement that we have won the war against ISIS. Tell that to the people still dying from them! And now he has joined the rest of the presidents who prematurely announced a defeat of the enemy.
     He has outed the very faces of Navy Seals, the moron, a major taboo and very dangerous action. He has deserted yet another of our allies, the Kurds, and left them open to slaughter from and by Turkey led by that model of propriety, Erdogan! He has thrown Israel under the bus at the northern border. He has alienated almost the entire free world other than the dictators growing in power across the globe. And the Russians, why they just love him as he does their bidding, and now we have Putin, the BFF, boasting about a super sonic speed missile. Oh yeah, great tidings.
     The economy throws fits everyday. The tax cut has proven to be disastrous for us as the corporations benefitted and are now able to buy back their stock, all the better to cut out the annoying voice of stockholders demanding transparency. The money that was supposed to come flooding back from offshore accounts never came and nor did the raises or bonuses or more hiring and people were actually laid off and plants and companies closed. Here and there were exceptions, but not enough and the national debt increased by 1.9 trillion dollars!!!!! Great job!
     So the grammatically challenged man who thinks to govern by tweets and TV, who cares naught for sense and intelligence, who perverted the goals and aims of the Justice Department, who is an incipient dictator, now faces the possibility of impeachment, a demand that grows from the nation as we speak, and possibly even jailtime right alongside his scurvy crew already there or on the way.
     So regression indeed is what we have undergone and the only light we have to shine on it is the free press, the free media, the voices of the people. We have the courage of the protesters and yes, there are some not so good people even among them, but the overwhelming power of voices is coming from good and  caring people who cannot tolerate the abuses and indignities of this administration.
     So let us resolve to go forward this New Year. To make progress rather than to allow for more regression. We need to return to the power of good thinking, of understanding that there are differences among people and they have to be addressed. There are LGBTQ people whose needs cannot be ignored or legislated away. There are hatemongers out there who need to be confronted, and the voices of ALL must join together and not fall prey to internal prejudices. Women must be treated as equals in society and not as playthings for men. And we must resurrect our social safety net, restore environmental and labor legislation and mend the rips in the fabric of long term alliances. We need, in short, to become what we were, what we stood for, and not for this fake 'great' hoax that Trump and his minions are trying to impose on us.
     Regression? NO, most definitely NO! Progress and a return to sanity - oh yes! We must. It is as simple as that. And as difficult as that.