white supremacy – The Wallace Element

How Moderates are Killing America

. . .and the world

First, I spent most of my life as a moderate. That said, this country can no longer afford moderates, any more than it can conservatives. The problem with moderates—and again, I was one—is that they vacillate. They are incapable of forceful, decisive action, because they are always too ready to “see the other guy’s side.” We find ourselves in a world dying first from those who hate, covet, and destroy, and second from the strength afforded them by moderates who just want to see every side without making anybody uncomfortable. Moderation is fine if we’re talking about ice cream. I like chocolate, you like strawberry, no problem. Your teams are the Braves and the Rams, mine are the Cardinals and the Chiefs, we’re cool. But when we get to things like discriminating against people, denying their basic human and civil rights because “your” religion says it’s okay, we have a problem. Moderation is unacceptable. If “your” philosophy is based on “your” supremacy because of the color of your skin, moderation is out of the question. When 1%, or 3% of the country skates along on obscene wealth created for them by 97% of the country doing the real work while being denied a living wage in return, Moderation becomes obscene. The problem with ‘moderates’ is that they want to keep everybody happy and avoid conflict, and in the process tacitly approve and accept the worst abuses of the society, including the destruction of the very air we breathe, water we drink, land that supports us, and animal life we drive to extinction, through their unwillingness to address the issues in any meaningful way. They embolden the worst humans among us, their abuses and destructiveness, by simply keeping their mouth closed. “Unity” is a myth, unless the stakeholders—as in all of the people—are served, protected, and respected. “Unity” is the cry of the abusers, far too often and too consistently heralded by moderates, who mistakenly see “peace” and “unity” as the same thing. We now find ourselves in a near apocalyptic state environmentally, socially, and economically, largely because of decades of moderates siding with the destroyers and greedy by preaching “unity,” when what they really mean is “let’s just not have any trouble, ok?” Moderates will not serve or save the environment. Moderates will not stop the rise of white supremacy neo-Nazism. Moderates will not ensure the rights of all Americans in the face of “religious” bigotry and racism. Moderates will achieve none of these things because they do not have the strength. They don’t have the stomach for the fights we absolutely must now win. They are unable to face the reality of the fight that must be made, and so they preach peace, let’s not have any trouble here. And to them, that is unity. Their unity is acquiescence to the likes of Trump, McConnell, the 1%, the KKK and neo-Nazis, the insanity of the evangelical church, the greedy polluters who count their money while the world strangles. Moderates are the Neville Chamberlains of today. They see themselves as deal makers, the crafters of reasonable compromise. Check your history. “Reasonable compromise” has always been a sliding step into retreat. We can’t afford them. I’ll vote for Joe Biden, simply because absolutely anybody would be better than Trump. Biden at least doesn’t want to be King. But Joe’s “moderateness” is in reality more angled toward the right wing. He is not a centrist. He ideologically incapable of taking sufficient steps to save us from any of the nation-destroying forces we’re facing, and in terms of an environmental apocalypse, he is a disaster.

They fear Ocasio-Cortez; and they should

The ultra conservative gang is pulling is afraid, and they are pulling out all the stops. In this case, it’s Ben Stein. He was funny in some movies because his mode of speaking was about the same as his mode of thinking. Now he’s the latest wealth-is-for-the-wealthy striking out at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He’s out of his depth. He is attempting to compare her to Adolf Hitler because she promotes social programs, a socially responsible government, and a more equitable distribution of wealth in our country. She—gasp—actually believes things like: millionaires and billionaires ought to pay their fair share of taxes; people who work full time should earn a living wage; every American should have affordable health care; LGBTQ Americans are people too and should be treated equally.

Let’s be VERY CLEAR. What Ocasio-Cortez is talking about is a reasonable and responsible combination of government and social consciousness as a government and nation. The GOP has done all it could to enrich the richest and destroy the middle and lower economic classes. they like it that way. And now they have given us Donald Trump. We have already seen the fruits of Trump’s Hitler-like promises and psychosis—as discussed by MANY historians, sociologists, psychologists and psychiatrists who have a much firmer grip on the subject than Mister Stein. Ocasio-Cortez is nothing like either Hitler or Trump. She is the direct opposite. Remember what Joseph Goebbels said, to always accuse the other side of that which you are guilty of yourself. He also applauded lying your way to power, and advised to make the lie a big one, and keep saying it, until you convinced people to believe it. These happen to be two of the most prominent, and effective, tools in Trump’s crooked bucket. Now Ben Stein has bought in.

Ben Stein is attacking Ocasio-Cortez for one reason and one reason only. He supports the concept of very small government and is dedicated to the trickle-down economic theories the GOP has used since the Reagan era (that’s 40 years), to continually unbalance the economy and the social strata of America. Ben Stein is a believer of the concept that, as Al Capp put it so eloquently in “Li’l Abner,” what’s good for General Bullmoose is good for the USA.” He supports the belief that 1% of the people should have all of the money, all of the political power, and all of the control.

General Bullmoose is in the White House right now. We can see how that’s working out.

And about that “small government” thing. It was feasible and reasonable in 1790 (the year of the first official census), when the population of the country was under 4 million. In a nation of 300 million plus, a nation in which 99% of the people are more in danger from their own country’s massive corporations than any outside threat, the government must be large enough to stand up for that 99% against the 1%, as well as the threats posed by racism, white supremacists, and rampant, vicious religious cultism. Think far-right evangelicals. Social responsibility maintaining stability through equity in the economic system are vital necessities for a government that represents ALL of the people, as opposed to the wealthy few and the violent cultists.

That is the kind of government Ocasio-Cortez is talking about. Ben Stein should be ashamed to even attempt comparing her to Hitler. But then, he believes the 1% should rule. They’ve been consolidating their wealth and their power for four decades. Ocasio-Cortez is talking about restoring the political and economic balance all Americans deserve, and all of America needs. The far right white supremacists don’t like it. More importantly, the 1% doesn’t like it. To make things more awful for them, she is tough. She isn’t going to politely sit down and let the old guard on either side of the aisle tell her to be quiet. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is also smart, and determined to get a fair shake for all Americans. She is a Tigress. Put her and Mitch McConnell in a locked cage WWE event, and she would have the old traitor on the mat begging for mercy with his last breath in seconds. I doubt she’d even work up a sweat. Donald Trump’s bone spurs start acting up almost as bad at the mention of her name, as they do when he hears the word Pelosi.

That’s why the wealthiest among us hate Ocasio-Cortez. It’s why they fear her. And they should.

Thanks Donald Trump – Now It’s Official

Thanks Donald Trump. Wow. Those are words I thought I would never utter. And yet here I am, saying, thanks to the Donald. In fact, Trumpsey old boy, I thank you from almost as deep in my heart as the depths from which I despise you. With five little words, you gave today’s Republican party its official mantra.

It doesn’t matter. We won.

Crooked Presidential elections? Don’t worry about it. White supremacists and neo-Nazis running for office? Hey, no big deal. Suppressing minority (especially black and brown minority) voters? Forgetaboutit. It doesn’t matter. We won.

Exploding the national debt with massive tax cuts for the wealthy, then saying it’s the fault of those dare to receive Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid? Come on, it’s what we do. Continuing depression of the middle class? Please. Move along, there’s nothing to see here. It doesn’t matter. We won.

Vilifying the free press because it exposes what Republicans are doing? Attacking one of the Constitution’s most fundamental guaranteed freedoms, that of free speech and the right to protest? Promoting violence against the press and peaceful protestors? Well of course. You should expect nothing less. Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t matter. We won.

Working to make this a nation run by a specific religion in violation of the Founders’ specific intent that church and state must be separate? Well, why not? We like it that way. It doesn’t matter. We won.

Sexual assault of women? Come on, boys will be boys. Women should just submit and enjoy it. Conniving to subjugate women to the subservience of men and 2nd class citizenry? You expected maybe something else from us? It doesn’t matter. We won.

Why should you expect Republicans to exhibit any modicum of morality, ethics, or honesty? That just isn’t who twenty-first century Republicans are. And you know what? It doesn’t matter. We won.

Collusion with a hostile foreign power? to win that crooked Presidential election? That was necessary, of course. Otherwise, how would we be able to say It doesn’t matter. We won.

Promotion of a con man, serial liar, racist, sexist supporter of white supremacy (there were some fine folks in that neo-Nazi crowd at Charlottesville), morally and ethically vacant Donald Trump? Sure. Nomination of Nazis and white supremacists, sex abusers, and violent bullies? Sounds good to us. It doesn’t matter. We won.

Yes, indeed. The corrupt and often criminal state of today’s Republican party is the reason so many long-time party stalwarts are embarrassed and infuriated by what the GOP has become. It’s why author, scholar, and policy expert Max Boot, who worked on the presidential campaigns of John McCain, Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio, voted for a Democrat for the very first time in 2016. He voted for Hillary Clinton. In a recent interview, Mr. Boot said that the Republican party needs to be burned down, with the hope that something positive might possibly rise from the ashes.

Corrupt. Crooked. Unethical in the extreme. Morally bereft. White supremacist. Religious cultists. Regressive. Racist & anti-civil rights. Anti-immigration. Pro 1% and anti-everyone else. Enemy to the average American worker. It’s all okay. It doesn’t matter. We won.

I suppose there still exist, somewhere out there, a Republican or two or three like the ones I once knew during the days I frequently voted GOP myself. Maybe they’re hiding in a bunker somewhere. In the hope they may occasionally stick their heads out, or surf the Internet and stumble on this blog, I give them this message. They can take a step in the direction of disenabling the current GOP by voting Democrat in two weeks. Straight Democrat. Perhaps, if these deranged Republicans currently driving the country hellbent toward full-fledged Fascism and economic ruin, if these unethical, immoral, white-supremacist, mean-spirited Republicans now in power can have that power taken from them, these midterm elections might be the start of slowing down our descent into a darkness from which we might never recover.

Because it doesn’t matter. We won, is no excuse at all for what Republicans are doing to this country.

The Real Reasons Nazism is Rising in America

If you think, that the hatred of Obama, the hatred toward progressives, and the rise of Nazism in America today is really about economics or America’s standing in the world, or abortion, or anything other than two words, you are wrong. Dangerously wrong. Let’s just cut past the BS and speak the ugly words that are at the root of America’s peril today. The words are RACIAL HATE, and BIGOTED HATE.

Barack Obama was America’s first black President. He didn’t divide America. Racial hate as a result of his election divided and still divides America.

Same sex marriage was affirmed and transgender citizens were confirmed to have the same rights as ‘straight’ whites.

The tragedy, the murder, that took place in Charlottesville as the result of the city being attacked by KKK and Nazi white supremacists, proves it.

Donald Trump’s response proves it.

What is this “Great America” the far right wants reinstated? It’s the nineteen forties and fifties and early sixties. It’s the period between 1945 and the Civil Rights Movement of the nineteen sixties, when Jim Crow rode high and proud and roughshod over the African American community. It’s the America before the courts and the bulk of society stood up and said that black Americans have the same rights as white Americans.

It’s the era before the LGBTQ community found the courage, and support, to come out of the closet. It’s the America before the bulk of society, and the courts, stood up for the law against the bible and affirmed that those with a different sexuality were human Americans too, and deserved the same rights as straight Americans

America’s standing in the world, and its leadership, were high at the end of the Obama era. It took the Trump administration less than six months destroy that, perhaps for a generation at least.

The economy? Forget about it. Barack Obama’s policies improved America’s economy throughout the latter half of his first term and all of his second. Don’t believe me? Check it out.

The ACA? Please. It if was really so bad it would have been long gone by now. The Affordable Care Act was, and is, successful to a degree that Republicans can’t come up with a better plan. The problems associated with it, namely rising rates, lies directly at the feet of a Republican controlled Congress determined to undermine it by threatening to not make government payments to insurers as was intended. Well over 20 million additional Americans have health insurance thanks to the ACA. Yes, some Americans also lost health plans due to premium raises. Why? See the first half of this paragraph.

Nobody is perfect. Nobody, even Presidents, can please all of the people all of the time. Obama made some decisions that I disagreed with. None of them are justification for the ugliness we are seeing.

But the frightening rise of the white supremacy movement, thugs carrying automatic rifles and shouting obscenities while waving the KKK banner and the Nazi flag, let me repeat that, THE NAZI FLAG, is due to three things.

1. Racism, and the hate that goes with it; 2. Bigotry, and the hate that goes with it;

3. a -God help us- President that agrees with it.

NO, It’s Not Okay

*Miy response to all of those well-meaning (and not so well-meaning) people telling me not to ‘overreact.’ Just relax, ‘they’ say, and it will be okay. No. It won’t. Not without a fight.

Benjamin Franklin was asked, “Well Doctor, what have we got, a Republic or a Monarchy?” To which he replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it.” In that reply is a warning, that we must be ever vigilant and prepared to fight to keep the Republic our Founding Fathers crafted.

Don’t tell me to relax. Don’t tell me I’m overreacting. Don’t tell me it will be okay.

No reason for alarm? The nature of Donald Trump has been exhibited consistently throughout his career, displayed by his own words and actions. The word sociopath has been applied to him not just by myself, but by observers including psychologists, based on his behavior and what comes out of his mouth.

No reason for alarm? He wonders why we do not use nuclear weapons. He does not believe in global warming, the perils of our streams and rivers and animal life, the dangers to the environment, and selected as a running mate a man who is a creationist and believes homosexuality can be ‘cured,’ a man who actually believes in forcing ‘therapy’ upon the LGBT community.

No reason for alarm? Donald nurtured and received the support of the kkk, white supremacists, a criminal foreign national with his own agenda, Julian Assange, who helped Trump’s campaign with very selective, stolen and doctored private emails.

No reason for alarm? Donald Trump asked for and benefited from the assistance of one foreign nation, Russia, whose leader he admires, and is celebrated by one of the most repressive regimes on earth, North Korea. He is celebrated by Syria’s regime and by ISIS.

No reason for alarm? Trump has the support of a vindictive religious extremism and reaches out to it.

No reason for alarm? Germany was also a democracy before the citizenry invited Adolf Hitler to take over. The German government had checks and balances, though they weren’t as strong as those in the United States. The German people relinquished their checks and balances little by little, until Hitler had enough power to cancel the rest of them.

No reason for alarm? Religious extremism and white supremacy now control our Presidency, as of January, 2017.

No reason for alarm? That same religious extremism and white supremacy also controls both houses of our Congress, and has cowed the moderates within the once Republican party. There is no effective voice of reason existing within their party.

No reason for alarm? This religiously extreme white nationalist supremacy group now has it within their reach to also control the Supreme Court.

No reason for alarm?
Checks and balances. The Executive, strike one.
Checks and balances. The Legislative. Strike two.
Checks and balances, The Supreme Court. Strike three and out.

No reason for alarm? If you are really trying to tell those of us who study history, those of us who know that this Republic exists for everyone or it exists for no one, to sit back and relax and it will be all right, you are either one of the people behind the curtain, or delusional, or simply in a state of extreme hope because you are afraid to face the possibility of the Republic collapsing within itself.

No reason for alarm?
“Well Doctor, what have we got, a Republic or a Monarchy?”
“A Republic, if you can keep it.”
In that reply is a warning, that we must be ever vigilant and prepared to fight to keep the Republic our Founding Fathers crafted. I choose to believe there is every reason for alarm. I choose to keep that Republic. I choose to fight.

No reason for alarm? You might want consider choosing to wake up.