Posts Tagged ‘kleptocracy’
Sad Truth
No matter which side of the current democracy debate happening in the U.S. is bombarding my inboxes, they share a common trait: it all comes down to the almighty dollar. Apparently, Elon Musk offered up $1 million to entice voters to pick the Republican party’s favored Wisconsin Supreme Court judge. At the same time, the latest email from MoveOn.org in the name of Robert Reich outlines “the most sweeping assault on the American mind in modern history.” It goes on to tell me “we need a massive movement” and then asks if I will help in the form of $5.00 a month.
So much for my dream of wandering in the wilderness for four years to avoid news of the most despicable people to ever gain control over every branch of our once reasonably sound government.
Since the current administration of evil-doers is rushing to slash funding of practically any government program you can think of that was created to help people, all those organizations that were barely functioning on what little money they received are now looking to the citizens for more cash. The occasional fund drive weeks of public radio and television will become full-time pleas.
The sad truth is that when Public Radio begs me one more time to give even more than my current amount of sustaining donations, I may need to tell them I can’t afford any amount if the Social Security program falls under the destructive cash-grab by the kleptocrats in office.
How many ethical judges will be able to survive the methods of achieving autocracies that have sadly been proven successful throughout history?
If only someone would have warned us this might happen and encouraged citizens to get to the polls and vote to save our democracy last November. I guess they should have also offered a cash incentive bonus.
To their credit, MoveOn did send me one protest effort that didn’t immediately ask for money. The “HANDS OFF” national day of action (Saturday, April 5) looks to rally thousands of people across the country for nonviolent protest of the brazen power grab underway. I fully support their intentions but don’t believe for one second that protests by the masses will worry the bullies in the White House one bit.
I’m not sure whose attention we need to get in order to turn this ship around. We can stop shopping at every big corporation’s retail businesses, but it seems like it’s the power holders in Russia who have control over the U.S. now. I don’t think they care one bit about the possible collapse of our economy. Wait. What am I thinking? That is probably an integral part of their plan.
They let the Orange-One and Musk think they are all powerful and getting wealthier by the minute while Putin sits back and watches Russia’s one-time nemesis of global order and Olympic competition wilt away into irrelevance. If I were Musk and his boss-in-crime, I’d be supremely cautious around high windows and flights of stairs in the presence of Putin’s goons. As far as theories go, seems plausible enough to me.
I wonder if goon is a high-paying position. Remember, it’s all about the money, and one probably needs to keep their goons contented to the extreme.
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Even Jim
I don’t know how obvious it comes across to those of you who regularly stop by my daily dose of “things and experiences” but it is generally my habit to avoid overtly naming targets of my discontent. That is primarily a result of my house of glass being particularly vulnerable to thrown stones. Not that I ever strive to completely conceal my true opinion, however.
I tend to avoid getting into a fray that involves two directly opposing views whose participants are unlikely to waver from each of their own stances. Few, if any, issues are clearly and precisely “either one or the other” due to the reality that inequality and the reserve energy stored within is naturally inclined to move toward equilibrium and a static state.
The world is much more a mixture than it is a stash of separated ingredients.
Still, there are people who want not to perceive it as a mixture. They find ways to cope with the hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance of their views in ways I struggle to comprehend.
In the United States of America, too many have allowed themselves to accept outlandish, bizarre manipulations of reality by Donald Trump and the mysterious cadre of sycophants who enable his narcissistic kleptocracy that is wreaking havoc on this nation.
For four years I have wondered who could stop this. Each protection woven into the threads of our democracy appeared to unravel as abuses were pressed into it. At one time in my life, I perceived impeachment as an incredibly significant event. These days, it seems like a discarded tissue after wiping a nose.
Now it has come to this. Even famously apolitical comedian Jim Gaffigan has thrown in the towel on appearing immune to the spectacle of destruction. He tweeted the f-word!
If Jim can take the risk to stand up against the idiocracy, I can, too.
People responded to Jim’s outburst, complaining that as a comedian, he shouldn’t be making a statement about politics. But the same people want a failed businessman who hosted a reality tv show where he fired people to be their political leader.
Some Trump supporters defend their choice as a quest for morality and law and order. How do they fail to see the dissonance between their goals and the person they elected to get them there? How’s that working for them? Do they believe any of the lies spoken by their President?
Enough is enough, I say. Too much, even.
I’m with Jim.
One responder to Jim’s tweeted rant commented, “…couldn’t disagree with you more. Wish you saw the truth.”
In the face of two such completely opposing views of what constitutes truth, me thinks someone is failing to mix all the ingredients.
Personally, I see Donald Trump as a blatant liar.
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One Theory
I don’t understand why issues like brash disregard for ethical protocols, such as a refusal to release tax returns or to divest financial holdings to avoid conflicts of interest, goes unresolved and then is allowed to fade from view. The issues were never addressed, but they seem to have disappeared from the national dialogue.
It’s as if time heals all wounds. If we stop talking about the evidence of potential for kleptocracy, things will actually be okay. Maybe there will be no ethical violations by billionaires in government.
It feels like the difference of perceptions to the issues unfolding before us in this country are vast. It is hard for people to merge varying possibilities, so they cling to one extreme or another. The political anger that led folks toward making their choice on election day, and the reactions to what has happened since, could be seen as a natural product of that.
A theory about that political anger caught my eye in an NPR article yesterday.
Relative deprivation.
Being deprived of something a person thinks they are entitled to.
That is one way to explain the anger of the moment.
I’m feeling a little deprived of a collective common sense lately. And decency. And diplomacy, but I’d settle for just the common sense, if that were even possible.
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Keeping Calm
I’m trying to keep calm and carry on. In the past, my prescription for maintaining a positive outlook about the world included turning off the broadcast news. I would, instead, get news from sources which allowed a choice over the content. I could pick what I allowed to infiltrate my thoughts. That involved scanning headlines of online publications or perusing the local paper at the day-job.
It’s not working so well for me anymore.
There are less and less headlines that don’t have something to do with a certain kleptocracy in process.
Now I am struggling with the option of isolating myself completely from the news of the day and focusing on whatever positive happenings I can cultivate from my immediate surroundings.
I can choose to associate with healthy people. I can commune with people who aren’t phobic about things they misunderstand, or are uninformed about.
But something is eating at me about a potential risk in that choice.
Should I turn my back on what is really happening in the world?
Looking back at some horrific outcomes that have played out in history has me wondering how I could live with myself if I chose to turn a blind eye in the way many others did at times when hate and fear became the rule of law.
Today, I’m sending love to those who are poor, suffering, oppressed, at risk, and afraid, even though I’m choosing to not read the latest headlines about their present predicaments.
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Two More
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Addendum: Why two days with no writing? Once again, I think I am following the adage, “if you can’t think of anything good to say, don’t say anything.” I don’t want to fall into the trap of over-focusing on the political, but my mind keeps getting stuck on our slow slide toward a kleptocracy which no one thus far seems able to do anything about. I’d rather focus on Love. .
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Relative Something 