Saturday, November 6, 2021

 To Be Or Not To Be


Believe it or not, this is not a blog about Hamlet, or the Theater, or the Creative Process. It is about the problem I’m facing about my role as an American citizen. For many years, I didn’t vote, because I thought that if I voted it was giving politicians my tacit agreement to keep doing what they were, and are, doing. But, this is a free country, one of the few I know, and voting is a basic privilege in a free society, as we’re seeing nowadays as some Republicans try to impose Trump’s false assertions about a fixed election, and make it harder for people to vote, because they want people to believe that the election was stolen. God forbid that people actually voted to get Trump out of office before he caused any more damage.


So, naturally, I voted for Biden. And what do I see? Not the moderate man I thought I voted for, but a man too weak to stand up to the Progressive sector of the Democratic Party. Progressive, or could we say Socialist? Or, dare we think Communist? Well, Communism wants to destroy the society that exists, in the name of creating a better world, in which all people are equal. The problem is, that better world fantasy is just that. Equality doesn’t exist. We aren’t born equal. It doesn’t exist. The best we can do is to try to give everyone the opportunity, the freedom to try to do what they want to do. But, Communism, or Fascism, two sides of the same coin, willingly destroy what we have, with the promise of something better. Granted, our world is flawed. But, these dictators, be they from the left or the right, try to impose their will on us, as though if we give up our freedom, we’ll live in a more perfect world. How can you have a more perfect world when you have human beings, and so many of them are not the healthiest people in the world? The world is a magnificent place. If only there weren’t any human beings in it.


My first awareness of voting was when I was twenty, and too young to vote. I forced my parents’ who normally didn’t vote, herding them to the polls to vote for JFK. After that, I voted for a variety of Presidential candidates, from George McGovern to Ronald Reagen. It depended on whom I thought would be the best choice for the moment. I consider myself an Independent, and what I appreciate the most about being American is the amount of freedom we have. I doubt that most Americans realize just how much freedom we have, and seem so willing to long to be led, to have the difficulty of being free made easier. 


Honestly, I’m angry too. But, not enough to be a terrorist or belong to some para military organization that thinks that all their personal difficulties are the fault of the Federal government. 


I think that the Republican members of Congress have behaved like a bunch of adolescents for quite a few years. And right now, the Progressive left is willing to prevent any form of moving forward to defend their political ideals. It really seems as though politicians, and Congress, are living in their own country, far away from us, and our needs. 


Where is the willingness, and the ability, to respect one another, have a dialogue, and find a way to move forward. Or, at least, get out of the way and let the country take care of itself. Surely, we need law, we need respect. How about honoring the ten commandments! They are still the basis of law. Without law, we have chaos. I, for one, don’t want to live in that world. Just look at Africa, or Haiti, or China for that matter. These places are incapable of freedom. Not to mention Russia, which had a Czar in the early twentieth century, as China had an Emperor. Both systems quickly became dictatorships. How can they become free democracies? 


The big problem is that the only way to be free is if each individual takes responsibility for their life. 


How can we establish simple respect, the ability to listen, without which we cannot confront the problems we have as a society? Unfortunately, we’re not going to get it from the people we elect to represent us, and who are supposed to do that for us. It makes you wonder what has to happen for us to change that, and be able to move forward.