Yes, it’s true that when you look at me, you may see fear, you may see worry, you may see stress, you may even see me cry, but those emotions are part of what it means to be human. And I am, after all, only human. As a human, I am not ashamed of those emotions because I have learned that sometimes it is necessary to shatter the present to build a stronger tomorrow.
I originally posted this two years ago but considering where the Trump administration has taken this country it was worth a repost.
America today seems to be more divided than ever. Hate for anything that is different from you is at an all-time high. The current administration stokes this fire with a message of division. The exact opposite of what has made this country great, the contributions of so many from so many different races and cultures It is done so they can enrich themselves and maintain their power. They are skilled at tapping into your inner prejudices and making you believe they are on your side, but the truth is the only side they are on is their own. As always, this situation can best be summed up from the lessons Star Trek continues to teach us.
1. Why the current president strategy of division among people so he may maintain his power is flawed.
The prejudices people feel about each other disappear when they get to know each other.
– Captain Kirk
2. How unity and not division is stronger for all of us
I am pleased to see that we have differences.
May we together become greater than the sum of both of us.
-Surak of Vulcan
3. Why our current President view of himself is flawed
Believing oneself to be perfect is often the sign of a delusional mind.
-Data, to Borg Queen
4. The strategy of our current President believes in maintaining power
Evil does seek to maintain power by suppressing the truth, or by misleading the innocent.
-Spock and McCoy
5. How many of the innocent who voted for our current feel today
After a time, you may find that “having” is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as “wanting.” It is not logical, but it is often true.
-Spock
6. Why the thinking of many who defend the current president simply because he has an (R) after his name or are afraid of losing votes from his base is wrong
You cannot explain away a wantonly immoral act because you think it is connected to some higher purpose.
– Captain Picard
7. What the president walk-back of his statements in Russia showed us about him
It would seem that evil retreats when forcibly confronted
-Yarnek of Excalbia,
8. Why we must act as a people not as republicans or democrats
Without followers, evil cannot spread.
-Spock
9. Why we must act now both republicans, democrats, and independents
Act, and you shall have dinner; wait, and you shall be dinner.
-Gowron, Klingon proverb
It’s no secret where I stand politically on many of today’s issues or how I feel about the current POTUS. But despite my feelings for the man, I recognize he’s not stupid. He may not have gone to Oxford like Clinton or was editor of the Harvard Law Review like Obama, but you don’t become President being stupid, and he surely knows how to connect to his base. With that said, I wonder if I’m the only one who finds it puzzling that moments after announcing he was declaring a national emergency, he said there is no emergency. It’s almost as if he was giving the courts the ammunition to overrule him. Why? Well, once he gets the funding, that’s it. The issue kind of fades into the background, but if he’s overturned, he gets to hit the 2020 campaign trail riling up his base – see, I tried to protect you, I did everything I could, but those Democrats and liberal justices they stopped me. They left the floodgates open for illegal immigrants to come to this country and rape our women, murder our children, take our jobs. But the fight is not over; vote for me in 2020, and I’ll find a way to overcome these crazy liberals and protect you. Cue the Make America Great chants. If I didn’t despise how he has divided this country, I’d almost call this strategy genius.
How was it that Donald Trump, when all the exit polls showed otherwise, was able to capture the Presidency of the United States?
How is it that Donald Trump, when polls show he has one of the lowest approval ratings of all time, able to keep GOP politicians from revolting against him? Why is it that Donald Trump has made such little effort to expand “his base” and seemingly is unconcerned about it? I’m here to tell you it’s because of America’s dirty little secret. You see, when we watch one of the many “campaign rallies” Trump held before the election and amazingly continues to hold after, at taxpayer cost, we see what many liberals characterize as his base. Low income, poorly educated white males and females. Liberals see a stereotypical person they likely refer to as Billy Bob with a smirk and his wife sporting Make America Great Again hats, spewing hatred and fear against people of color. It’s why Trump continually uses the wall and cherry-picks acts of violence and other criminal activities by immigrants in his speeches.
Why he throws out lines like shithole countries, liberals summarize Billy Bob is so poorly educated that he easily fooled by Trump because Trump appeals to their greatest fear. That they are losing a grip on “their” country, but what Trump and the GOP know is a number of well educated, highly compensated, extremely polished individuals who deep down harbor the very same fears. They are Trump’s shadow base. They have friends who are people of color. They’re children play with your children. They are registered Democrats, and they never say they like Donald Trump. Their social media is likely littered with posts you’ve liked denouncing Trump. But when they get behind that voting curtain and are all alone, they’re pulling the lever for Trump. Why? Because way more than “Billy Bob,” this was their country.
White men of power had a long uninterrupted run of success in this country. They were the majority, ran all the big corporations, and controlled the country’s politics. But then census data projected the US would become ‘minority white’ in 2045. More and more people of color began showing up in the executive lunchroom and on the country club golf courses. Then the unthinkable happened Barack Obama won the Presidency. Not only did he win, but he and his family were also looked at with the highest level of respect around the globe. It wasn’t so much about Obama’s politics. However, it would be naive to dismiss that completely; it looked at a well educated, articulate man of color stand in front of the world as America’s leader. Sure there had been plenty well educated, articulate men and women of color in the spotlight before Obama, but none had ever been President. Obama represented a glimpse into the future of this country. For some, that was a frightening future now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t think the vast majority of white people are arming themselves and storing canned goods to prepare for the coming brown people apocalypse. I’m more hopeful than ever that this country is headed in the right direction, if ever so slowly, concerning race relations. But there are still a few dinosaurs out there who hide in plain sight, fearful of the future. They’re America’s dirty little secret. They’re Trump’s shadow base, and it would be best not to underestimate them again in 2020.
I recently asked a friend what the secret to their success was? They replied that they were unafraid to walk the path of the unknown. Many fear that path and avoid it, but often, at the end of that path, opportunities are abundant. That may be the case, I replied but walking the unknown path is fraught with risk. While there may be an opportunity to advance waiting at the end, there is just as much chance that there will be perils that, when encountered, will set you back. This is true, my friend replied, but I have faith in the Lord, and as such, I have cast away my worry, and I step fearlessly onto the path knowing that He will guide me and bless me with the courage to face and the strength to overcome any dangers that I may encounter along the way. You see, they continued with faith. I know that the path may be that of the unknown to me, but I am not walking that path alone; I am being protected and guided by the Lord, and with Him, there is nothing to fear, and all things are possible.
Come this November election, get out and vote, be it for Clinton or Trump, because what makes America great is the passing of executive power peacefully from one President to another based on the results of a democratic election.
With that said, let us understand that this election, more than any other, is for the soul of America. Clinton may have her warts, but almost everyone who gets to this level does. But with Trump, we have a candidate who has run a campaign based on divisiveness, bigotry, racism, and misogyny for all intents and purposes. He has advocated violence against those that oppose him and mocked the physical disabilities of others. The NYT ran an editorial today asking is he racist. His supporters will denounce it as the liberal media looking to take him down, but the fact is when there is a 40-year trail of smoke, there is likely some fire there as well.
America is unique in that, above all other countries, its identity is based on the many’s contributions and cultures, not the one. America is a true melting pot. But with that comes the inherent problem of certain individuals always willing to pit one group against another to maintain their so-called position in society or advance that position. It has happened to many groups. The Irish American people faced prejudice, racism, and discrimination after immigrating to the United States because they were poor, uneducated, less skilled, considered disruptive, and were Catholics in a land of Protestant dominance. The largest mass lynching in U.S. history took place in New Orleans in 1891 — and it wasn’t African-Americans who were lynched, as many of us might assume. It was Italian-Americans. The reaction of our country’s leaders to the lynchings? Teddy Roosevelt, not yet President, famously said they were “a rather good thing.” The response in The New York Times was worse. March 16, 1891, editorial referred to the victims of the lynchings as “… sneaking and cowardly Sicilians, the descendants of bandits and assassins.” And John Parker, who helped organize the lynch mob, later went on to be governor of Louisiana. In 1911, he said of Italians that they were “just a little worse than the Negro, being if anything filthier in [their] habits, lawless, and treacherous.” I could write pages on the African American’s systematic discrimination in this country, but it is well documented. From slavery to Jim Crow to ongoing racism, America’s African American experience is one of perseverance and survival.
Now I am not naive enough to not acknowledge that there are evil groups of people who would kill others for a variety of reasons in today’s world. But I do believe that it is for this precise reason that we need to come together as a people, not pull apart. We are in a better position to combat evil together than apart. We can not look to those who only know how to prey on our fears for leadership. We can not look to those who spew hate to combat hate. We can not look to those who pine for a time when this country was full of division, but instead, we must continue to move forward toward a country of unity.
Come this November, this election is for the soul of America.
Carl's Place 