Perspective

The United States has changed a lot since it's birth in 1776, but even before it declared it's independence, it started the the postal service (1775-Ben Franklin)

That sounds very progressive and down to earth---but who really benefited.

The postal service has never been free and stamps didn't get started until 1847.  US registered mail started in 1855.  Pony express started inn 1860. Home delivery in town started in 1863 but in rural areas, you still had to go to the post office to get your mail until 1896. 

In addition to that, mail didn't help everyone. 

Mail was dependent upon literacy and before 1800, schooling was a family matter.  By 1875, about 80% of people could read (but not across the board, this was non-immigrant white people) 

Until the 1950's, half of the US population stopped school by 8th grade.  By the 1960's 40% were graduating high school.   

These days, about 20% of citizens have problems with reading/writing and 54% lack proficiency.  Proficiency was not discussed until recently.  By 1979, racial reading literacy differences were gone.

Percentage of persons 14 years old and over who were illiterate (unable to read or write in any language), by race and nativity: 1870 to 1979

Year	Total	White			Black and other
		Total	Native	Foreign-born
1870	20.0	11.5	–	–	79.9
1880	17.0	9.4	8.7	12.0	70.0
1890	13.3	7.7	6.2	13.1	56.8
1900	10.7	6.2	4.6	12.9	44.5
1910	7.7	5.0	3.0	12.7	30.5
1920	6.0	4.0	2.0	13.1	23.0
1930	4.3	3.0	1.6	10.8	16.4
1940	2.9	2.0	1.1	9.0	11.5
1947	2.7	1.8	–	–	11.0
1950	3.2	–	–	–	–
1952	2.5	1.8	–	–	10.2
1959	2.2	1.6	–	–	7.5
1969	1.0	0.7	–	–	3.6 *
1979	0.6	0.4	–	–	1.6 *

 By 2020, 87% of students were graduating from high school.  

Estimates are that 19% of high school graduates are still illiterate.

Equality is not all that equal.  At least most of us are currently benefitting from the 7 day a week package delivery even if we can't all read our mail.

changing the world is easy, improving it hard.

 I don't know about you, but this third trump campaign---threats of dictators, taking the social security i'm now pretty dependent upon, hypertension requiring the medicare that arrives at 65---all they craziness----it's making me anxious, giving me worries, causing some paranoia.  I don't think I'm alone.  I have ran into multiple people that literally relax when they say something about the election and I don't bang the drum for white christian nationalism or wag a flag around to prove what a great patriot I am.  They relax.  We get to discuss our fears.  We get to say, outloud, how scared we are if the hate, divisiveness, extreme conservativism and talk of violence continues.

For a moment, we don't feel so alone.

For a moment, we know the whole country has not lost it's mind.

So many of us have family members that want to rant about "libtards" but can't bear to hear anything negative about the GOP.  

I finally found a bit of peace, not in the certainty that Harris will win:  I had that certainty the night of the 2016 election and woke up to a president trump.  For 2 years at work, I had to listen to rush limbaugh broadcast loud and proud from the open door of the manager over me.  People were becoming ruder to their coworkers, Older male power players upped their inappropriate behavior to the women employees.  Those in charge became more and more male, more and more vocal in their authoritarian responses to every problem.  

The Tea Party, a silly group of vapid conservatives that wanted to be remember as patriots like the boston tea party (is throwing a ship load of tea in a river really that amazing of an act) had become the MAGA movement.  

We, except a million or so of us, survived that 4 years.  Gun violence was up, unemployment was up, the GDP was down, the stock market down, and we elected Biden by the biggest margin of any president ever.

He has done an amazing job.  Our corporations and billionaires have managed to keep the Trump tax rate for the rich so far, and they managed to keep their profits higher than ever, and unemployment was never lower.

And the general consensus is---he, the current president--is no longer competent.  BUT the 2016 president, who was NEVER competent and scared those of us with brains half to death, is still running, on lies, on threats, on word salad, and on promises of  "be a dictator on day one" and "no one will ever have to vote again"

The only answer is simple.

Vote

Live each day with moral responsibility, honesty, and integrity.

Do Not Give IN TO DESPAIR!

And stop acting like WALL-E was an instruction manual for our future.

2024 begins

 It's a new year, and like the reality of most new years, it looks remarkably like the previous year.

The world has rising fascism, rising natural disasters, unrelieved climate change continues, and the most corrupt US president ever--worse than Nixon, worse than Reagan at his most senile, worse than Andrew Johnson and worse than Andrew Jackson.  If you took the worst of each of those guys, you would get trump.

And we, the civilized we, the government we, the we that includes every person that voted against the Donald; we, are sitting on our hands.  We are waiting for the Justice system to work.  We are believing  the "we the people" part about our country.  We are relying on "equal justice under the law"  and the rule of law to deal with a man that never met a law he wouldn't break---for a profit, for attention, for likes on social media, and he is actively campaigning to run for president, again, after arranging an insurrection, after stealing classified government documents, after attempting to have clerks, judges, district attorneys and anyone trying to hold him accountable for his actions disabled through his cultish followers desire to please him.

It has been 3 years!

No criminal resembles the behavior of Trump more than Charles Manson and his "family".  No dictator resembles the behavior of Trump more than Hitler.  

But we, the "we" I already described are handling him much like a handwringing old lady that is afraid of being seen as rude.  

Come on, 2024.  Don't be the last year of the country with high ideals, equality, equal opportunity, equal justice, and freedom---not just for the white and christian, not just for the white, male, and straight, and certainly not just for the top 2% financially.

Let the great experiment continue to improve the lives of ALL OF US!