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.

Monday, February 15, 2021

Part of what's wrong is why Trump got elected and acquitted

Trump got elected because he wasn't a politician and people believed that he was anti-government and might change things in Washington. Well, he may have lowered taxes, and got tough on China, but he also lied, changed his mind often enough that you might think that he was slightly deranged. And, he just tried to subvert the constitution and the legal system and stay in office despite losing the fairly conducted election. He spread lies that some people actually believe. They have no sense of truth. They follow, blindly. I never believed that the United States would see a day when an elected official would act as Hitler did in the 1930's. We are a democracy. 

Honestly, I don't like the government either. Well, the Senate, and particularly the Republican Senators, have now shown us why. I am angry at their inability, their selfishness, their distorting of the facts, in order to justify acquitting him to save their power. They try to cover their lies and betrayal with statements pretending outrage, hiding behind their lies that have allowed a serious criminal act to go unpunished. It is a disgrace.

But, they have no shame, no feeling, no serious belief in their responsibility to the people, and to protecting the laws of the country, and our constitution. Funny, how they don't speak about unconstitutional when describing Trump's acts. Their unconstitutional is based on Mitch McConnell's clever play to delay the trial until Trump was no longer President; as though that is what is important. It is another lie. 

I'm an independent, I vote for the person, and what I believe to be the best solution, for the moment. But I don't know whether I could vote for a Republican again, for a long time. Well, at least there were seven who have principles. We'll see whether their political careers survive. I hope so. I have enormous respect for them for voting with their conscience, rather than protecting their power.

The rest of the Republicans believe that it doesn't matter to their power base that they have behaved as they have. They think that after voting for acquittal, a few strong words of criticism of Trump makes their actions all right. 

Remember Nuremberg, when we declared that each of the accused Nazis were personally responsible for their actions? They voted to say that their power is more important than the truth of what took place. And, in our country!

Freedom only exists when each one of us takes personal responsibility for their actions. It is the basis of freedom. And why most people don't want to be free. As an East German actress I met many years ago said, when I asked her if she was happy to have come to the West, and was now free to live her life as she wished, during the years when the Berlin Wall still existed, "No I don't like freedom. It's too hard."

Yes, freedom is too hard for the majority of the people on the planet. Most countries on the planet are ruled by dictators. People living in those countries may be angry, they may be unsatisfied, but instead of changing their lives, they choose to be led.

The Senate has betrayed the country. Hurrah for a weak, irresponsible group of Senators who have chosen to lie, and have allowed an attempt to overthrow the government to go unpunished.