Often it is questioned how does someone who is corrupt, preaches hatred of their fellow man, looks to divide rather than unite and possesses no compassion for others attract so many followers? The answer is simple. It is not the person themselves; it is the fact that their actions are a mirror into the true soul of those that follow them.
A true leader does not pander to the fears of the masses; they do not make decisions that are counter to that which is beneficial to society just so that they can maintain their power, they do not possess an ego that prohibits them from listening to and accepting the advice from those more knowledgeable than themselves, they aren’t afraid to look those they lead in the eye and tell them the truth, even if that isn’t what they want to hear, they aren’t afraid to roll their sleeves up and do the hard work necessary to better the lives of society at large.
Unfortunately, these leaders are in short supply today. Lies, corruption, misinformation are the traits of many of today’s leaders. They are more anxious to spew out the viral soundbite than legislating. They are concerned with only whatever it takes to advance their power. These men and women are not leaders; they are frauds. They have built their power on sand, and when the rain falls, and the floods come, and the winds blow, and history has shown us it will, they will fall, along with those who foolishly follow them and great the fall will be.
The lust for power, greed, and corruption has been an intrinsic characteristic of human behavior since seemingly the beginning of our existence. While most of us make a conscious decision not to embrace these traits, there have always been those among us who do. Therefore it is logical to say that no single group should be considered immune to the possibility that one or more of these individuals lurks within its ranks. As such, no individual or individuals should be regarded as above reproach simply because of the group to which they belong. As citizens, it is our moral responsibility to foster an atmosphere that strengthens society’s capacity at large to point out corruption where it exists and build transparent and accountable systems of governance to ensure that the vulnerable are not taken advantage of. This is especially true when corruption is committed by those who are in power. In society, one would imagine as enlighten as we imagine ourselves to be that this would be an easy task, but alas, it is not. For as dangerous as those who abuse their power are, equally so are the individuals who persuade the masses with the narrative that to point out the corruption of any individual or group of individuals in a particular group is an attack on that group as a whole. While flawed, this narrative is nevertheless a useful tool in seizing on the average citizen’s prejudice and fears. When confronted with evidence of such corruption, they tend to dismiss it because it is an attack on and suggests an implausible degree of corruption within a group they respect as a whole.
It is fair to question the motive of the individuals who promote this narrative. It is apparent when one examines their talking points more closely that they are not concerned with society’s good but rather merely with promoting their agenda. But for what reason? What do these individuals have to gain? Is it fame, power, money, or something none of us could even begin to fathom? Whatever it may be as citizens, we must not allow their noise to cower us into silence. We must remain vigilant and continue to point out with the loudest voice possible corruption at every turn and our demand for justice. For if we do not, we doom society as a whole for as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote:
In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousandfold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age. We are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations.
The lust for power, greed, and corruption has been an intrinsic characteristic of human behavior since seemingly the beginning of our time. There has been the need for certain groups to believe they are superior to other groups. America is no different, and while most of us make the conscious decision not to embrace these traits, there is a vocal segment among us who do. This segment is not only vocal in their belief that they are above the law and are superior to the rest of us, especially people of color, but they also endeavor to silence us.
What we as a people must remember is that it is our moral responsibility to foster an atmosphere that strengthen society at large. To point out corruption where it exists and build transparent and accountable systems of governance to ensure that the vulnerable are not taken advantage of.
One would imagine for society as enlighten as we imagine ourselves to be that this would be an easy task, but alas, it is not. As individuals in power persuade, using fear and ignorance, a specific subset of society. That play on their imagined fear that anyone who doesn’t look or think like them is a threat and only they can protect them. They use their group association to convince even those who believe themselves to be free of this type of thinking that any criticism against the bad seeds among them is a criticism on them as a group.
They have an aura of charisma about them that enables them to manipulate some in the media into spreading their message of prejudice and fears so that when confronted with the truth, many will dismiss the evidence believing it to be an implausible degree of corruption with by an individual they have been conditioned to respect.
It is fair to question the motive of the individuals who promote this narrative. It is apparent when one examines their talking points more closely that they are not concerned with society’s good but rather merely in increasing their power, wealth and promoting their agenda of racism and hate.
We must not allow their noise to cower us into silence.
We must remain vigilant and continue to point out with the loudest voice their hate, racism, and corruption at every turn and demand justice.
If we do not, if we allow ourselves to be cowered into, we doom society.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote as much:
“In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand-fold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations not logical.
On September 19, 1796, in his Farewell Address George Washington warned America on the rise of a Donald Trump and today’s Republican party.
The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later, the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty. Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. – George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
There is no doubt that today we as a country are senselessly divided. Sadly, much of this division is not based on any ideology by the people on what is best for the people, but rather on the fear of the unknown, an irrational fear that leads to isolation. This, in turn, leads to a lack of understanding about our differences, which leads to the continuous growth of the prejudices we all have within us. Prejudices are only stripped away as we begin to understand those who differ from us.
The Donald Trumps of the world prey on these prejudices to advance their wealth and power. Thriving on chaos and division, which they create, they speak non-truths and keep the people divided against each other rather than uniting for their betterment. Their power is rooted in our fear of each other. It is to their advantage for us to hate each other, lose our compassion for each other, and build walls separating us. This strategy allows them to take advantage of us all. As Suzy Kassem wrote
When two brothers are busy fighting, an evil man can easily attack and rob their poor mother.
This has allowed them to divide America based on political parties, and as Washington warned, this is disastrous. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.
As Americans, they have led us down a path where we are more concerned with ensuring our “team” wins rather than educating ourselves on the issues and how they will impact us. We have blind allegiance to those in power if they have a {R} or a {D} after their name. We have ceded the very government we so proudly hold dear to a few hundred individuals who profit on our ignorance. Our desire to have our “team” win means the powerful do not even need to hide their deception; they do it right in front of us. Our minds have become blind to their lies, deceit, and corruption. The more the masses allow their minds to be blinded, the easier it is to manipulate them. They simply follow their “team,” nodding in agreement with whatever decisions it makes. This thinking removes any sense of accountability from those in power. Albert Einstein once commented.
“Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”
For any democracy to effectively govern for the good of the citizens, it represents those citizens must be informed about issues that can improve their lives. In many countries, the will of the people has been sapped by the government. In Donald Trump’s America, a segment of society has made the conscious decision to surrender their will to a small percentage of the rich and powerful depending on what letter they have behind their name.
For our democracy to survive, we cannot allow our government to be dependent on political ignorance, and blind allegiance as it will surely be the downfall of the great experiment America was born of – a government of the people, by the people, for the people. If we continue along the path we are on now, we will become a country whose citizens:
Turns a blind eye to social injustice,
Condones immoral behavior from their leaders
Believes anything that those in power tell them rather than educating themselves.
Allows their government to be run by and to the benefit of the wealthy few.
Once we have allowed this, we need not worry about our enemies because, in time, we will destroy ourselves from with-in
It is only in the thinking of a free and educated country that we will inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, and avoid the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. An encroachment that tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create a despotism,
Donald Trump’s lust for power, greed, and corruption is an intrinsic characteristic of human behavior, and while most of us make a conscious decision not to embrace these traits, Trump has shown himself not to be one of them. As a nation, we must not be blinded to this and consider he is above reproach simply because of the {R} after his name. We must strive as Americans to rise above the evil that seeks to divide us. We must stand together and keep moving forward as a society. We must marginalize those who refuse to embrace the diversity that made us great in the first place. It is only through one unifying voice that we will be able to change the despair of today into the promise of tomorrow. It is our moral responsibility to foster an atmosphere that strengthens the capacity of society at large. To point out corruption where it exists and build transparent and accountable systems of governance to ensure that the vulnerable are not taken advantage of. For a society that boasts of being so enlightened, this should be an easy task, but alas, it is not. Sadly, a segment among us are caught up in their prejudices easily manipulated to embrace as their leaders anyone who enables their innate distrust and, in many cases, hatred of anyone who doesn’t look or think like them. To believe that only the Donald Trumps of the world can protect them.
But of course, Trump promotes this narrative only to increase his power and wealth and promote his hate agenda. He does this through lies, corruption, and without any concern for Americans.
He tries to silence those of us who would rise to question him by questioning our patriotism, but we must not allow his noise to cower us into silence. We must remain vigilant and continue to point out his hypocrisy, hatred, and corruption at every turn. If we do not, we are doomed as a society. As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said:
“In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousandfold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations.
Some of us are Republicans, some Democrats, and some independents, some people of color, some not. Some heterosexual, some homosexual, some bisexual. Some Christian, some Muslim, some Jewish, some atheists but in the end, we are all American, we are all humans, and we will never move forward as a nation until we come to understand that.
November 3, 2020, is election day. But it is not like any election day we have ever witnessed. This election day, we must wake with a single purpose, to go to the polls and take our government back from the charlatans who profess they have been elected to serve the people when the truth is they serve only themselves and the all mighty dollar. Individuals who have proven that they don’t care about our democracy or our lives if they interfere with their pursuit of wealth and power. We must remove those from the halls of government who preach hate and look to divide us—those who lie and are corrupt. We must vote to restore democracy to what it is meant to be – The voice of the people.
On November 3, 2020, we are voting for the soul of this county. We are the coalition of the righteous, and we must rise and defeat them before it is too late. We must show them that we are moving forward as one country, not backward. Forward to a country where:
Racism based on the color of one skin is fading away.
Discrimination based on one’s sexual orientation is vanishing by the day.
Disrespect of women is no longer accepted as one of society’s dirty little norms.
Bullying someone because they don’t fit into a box society says is normal is waning.
The division is being increasingly replaced by unity.
Exclusion is being increasingly replaced by inclusion.
Be it by mail or in person, early voting, or the day of, we must let our voices be heard loud and clear. The voices they are so desperate to silence and truly make America great
The year is 2040 and in retrospect I wonder why we were all surprised at the fall of America. How could we have been? It had been in the making for the last 25 years.
As a people we turned a blind eye to our leader’s corruption, so there was no one to turn to when we inevitable became victims of that corruption.
As a people we let our leaders lie to us about any and everything, so there was no one to trust when we inevitable became victims of those lies.
As a people we cheered when our leaders undermined our worldwide alliances claiming to put America first, big, and bad we said, so there was no one willing to help us when we were in trouble.
As a people we embraced our leader’s rejection of the constitution, a document that had served us well for over 200 years, so there should have been no surprised when our government inevitably collapsed.
In retrospect how could we not have seen it coming.
A Bad Beat is a poker term for a hand in which a player with a solid hand loses to an opponent who is statistically unlikely to win but hits a lucky card (or two) and unexpectedly takes the pot. The losing player is then said to have suffered a “bad beat.” In looking at the 2016 Presidential election, some may say Hilary Clinton suffered a bad beat. But the reality is the bad beat went to Donald Trump.
Trump, who I firmly believed right up to Election Day expected to lose, had mapped out with others (Roger Ailes?) how to turn this presidential run into post-election BIG MONEY. But then the unthinkable happened he won. All the big money dreams derailed, but worst now, there would be a massive spotlight on everything crooked he was involved in. From the moment he watched as FOX NEWS, what other channel do you think he was watching, declared him the winner he went defensive. Lying and doing one over the top thing after another to distract America as he tried to cover up his actions in an attempt to stay one step ahead of what he knew was coming for him, the truth and likely jail time for him, his friends, and his family.
His Shaggy defense of saying it wasn’t you have kept his base at bay, but his lies, deceit, and attempts at cover-ups haven’t protected many of his friends who, Rodger Stone aside, faced with prison turned on him. It has slowly begun to drive people who initially were in his corner, mostly for their good, away. More and more isolated, his act gets crazier and crazier and more dangerous for the United States.
Hopefully, we are coming to a conclusion in which Trump, however it may happen, resigns or is impeached from a position of power he was never qualified to hold and probably really never really wanted. After all, with Trump-like, everything else was just supposed to be about the money. A bad beat indeed for Donald.
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