The representatives in my state are nothing to write home about.
I know that the men and women that fought and fought hard to make this nation the nation that was promised in the constitution, are dying.
They are dying and they are leaving us to continue on.
There is an acting head of the department of homeland security, appointed without congressional approval or oversight, that has militarized warriors in large cities where their are protesters. They are unidentified and uninvited by the cities they are in. Rumor has it they are mercenaries supplied by Betsy Devos' brothers defense company. They are taking protestors into custody. No charges. No crimes. Releasing them with threats not to return to protesting. And this is approved at the highest level. I dare to guess that it was actually suggested by the current president.
The department of homeland security was created in 2002 in response to 9/11.
What happened on 9/11 was seen as the greatest affront to our nation since Pearl Harbor.
How many people died at Pearl Harbor during the attack?
The total number of military personnel killed was 2,335, including 2,008 navy personnel, 109 marines, and 218 army. Added to this were 68 civilians, making the total 2403 people dead. 1,177 were from the USS Arizona. https://www.bing.com/search?q=how+many+died+at+pearl+harbor+total&qs=AS&pq=how+many+died+at+pearl+harbor&sk=AS1LS1&sc=6-29&cvid=C996A24B8FB547E88B0959549969C91E&FORM=QBRE&sp=3
How many people died on 9/11/2001?
2,977 people died, and 19 hijackers committed murder/suicide, and more than 6,000 others were injured. The immediate deaths included 265 on the four planes (including the terrorists), 2,606 in the World Trade Center and in the surrounding area, and 125 at the Pentagon. https://www.bing.com/search?q=Total+deaths+on+9%2F11&cvid=54f3d309fb614438bf4e2d347ca8acb9&FORM=ANAB01&PC=U531
Both events cost the lives of less than 3,000 people. On the date I write this, over 140,000 Americans have died of Covid-19 since the beginning of the year.
I'm telling you that, for a little perspective, as its a virus, not a shootable enemy.
Our own Civil war cost us between 640,000 and 700,000 lives. War was in our fields and in our streets. People in uniform were shooting each other. People in uniform were shooting people not in uniform. People were starving in prison camps. People were freezing at campsites. People were dying of wounds and dying of disease and of hate.
And all to stop the ownership of one person by another. Most of those fighting didn't have actual skin in the game.
The black men that joined did, the rest were just doing what we regular folks do, following.
Slavery did not benefit poor white men in the south. The enslaved men were very frequently better builders and farmers and blacksmiths. The skilled jobs were actually being done for the cost of buying a person and providing just enough to get the owner's their moneys worth. The poor white men might be hired for things like overseer, but usually they struggled along on small and unattractive plots of land trying to feed their family. Apparently, all they had to look forward to was feeling superior to the people that weren't free.
The North, where slavery was already illegal, as much because the north recognized that free labor made it hard for poor whites to make a living, as for the ideal of religious right and our constitutional rights, went to war, because they were called to join as the south had seceded. The southerners were oath breakers. And, it's still what regular folks do.
War! War is mostly a stupid answer to a simple question.
The Golden Rule, a simple thing found by some name in every Religion and every philosophy, guaranteed that with a little thought, they all knew owning other people was wrong. They knew they didn't want to be owned.
A 4 year old could have told them that.
We currently have protestors in the streets supporting "Black Lives Matter". It's all about the idea, so crazy, I know, that Police shooting black people for not moving fast enough when they are told to, not staying out of white neighborhoods, even when they live there, not holding toy guns when they are children, is wrong.
That same generic 4 year old would agree with them.
But now, we have a militarized federal government organization ignoring all the laws governing this land to stop protests.
They did that at Guantanamo, waterboarding and imprisoning people with no charges filed, no judge and jury.
So now, we are going to do it where we live, on our streets, stopping our rights to protest, stopping our rights to assemble, ignoring our rights to remain free without charges being filed.
Our own police are all for that. They hate BLM; too many of our men in blue are only loyal to the blue, far too many, are also loyal to the white. Plus, for some reason, our police, instead of just joining the military, decided they wanted to be military-like with their fellow citizens. We appear to be in a modern war.
“no nation can maintain its freedom in the midst of continuous warfare.” said President Eisenhower, our last General turned POTUS. "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist." https://www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132942244/ikes-warning-of-military-expansion-50-years-later
Yet, here we are. Our nation has the largest military-industrial complex in the world. We spend more than any other nation. We spend more than the total of the next 6 high spenders. Our Country truly has the ability to destroy the world.
And our current POTUS, a man of limited self-restraint, is the Chief of that monster. The military currently leading us at the Pentagon has repeatedly refused to commit acts of war on our own citizens. But this POTUS loves to fire those that don't do what he says. He keeps going down the hierarchy till he finds someone that either agrees with him, or would love to be famous.
Now, our 18 year old DHS is acting every bit the adolescent that it is.
Shades of Kristallnacht, Gestapo, Putin's KGB, North Korea's Ministry of Social Security.
Paranoia?
It got bad in 4 years.
Trump hates brown people like Hitler hated Jews.
There are still children in cages that our country took away from their parents.
DHS is in urban camo and military gear throwing BLM protestors into rented minivans.
At least 35% of the people are still loving them some Trump.
John Lewis fought for at least 60 years and died at 80, the fight unfinished.
Put your flags at half-mast. We are a nation in peril.
Register to Vote.
Vote.
Wear your mask.
Social Distance.
And turn that phone into a video recorder if you see something going down. Be a witness for the soul of our country. Figure out how to live stream ASAP so you are prepared.
If we all fought like John Lewis, maybe those 4 year olds won't have to turn into 14 year olds that have figured out we are all hypocrites.
And remember, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
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