The Berllin Wall

Es gilt viele Mauern abzubauen

Were they walling people in? Or out? Both, it seems. As much as they tried to keep people in, they also tried very hard to keep western influences out. Jeans, rock’n’roll, Coca-cola, all the symbols of decadence that Americans thrust at them. The Berlin Wall sent a message. Like a giant billboard, it shouted out to us. We heard fear. We heard weakness.

Read More

Is it still murder if the president orders it?

He’s been murdering people week after week, sometimes day after day, now month after month. We’re getting used to it. It’s not a big story anymore. It isn’t the headline. It isn’t the lead story. Oh, sure, at first, some folks were shocked, outraged, demanded an investigation. At first … but not now, not anymore. It’s become normal. Dog bites man. No big deal. Happens all the time. Not news.

Read More

“We have met the enemy and he is us.”

A favorite quotation from American founding documents is this partial quote: “We, the people.” Taken from the Preamble (and thus the first words) of the U.S. Constitution, “We, the people” is meant to illustrate the primacy of the people of the United States over other powers, especially the powers of the government formed by that same Constitution.
But this reading misses the mark. I take those opening words to reflect that the people and the government are one and the same.
This seems like an important point in the discussion of 2nd Amendment rights. It is also an important point in many other aspects of how the people and the government relate to one another. And understanding that point drives many of the policies we operate under, and advocate for or against, today.
If we hold that “the government” is some entity that exists outside of, separate from, and in enmity against, the people, then many of the policies of the Republican party follow quite naturally.

Read More

Declaration of Independence Day – A Weekly Remembrance

We designate one historic day each year to serve as our “Independence Day” holiday, but what about the rest of the year? Perhaps, in today’s America, we need to designate one day per week, not one day per year, as a day to reflect on and celebrate the origins of our country.

That day should be designated as “Declaration of Independence Day” – a day set aside to revisit the document that expresses why we assumed a “separate and equal station” among other nations.

One day each week to be a citizen-hero, to look carefully at what our government is doing and measure it against the ideals of those 56 heroes who dared be traitors so our rights were protected.

Read More

President “Not My Fault” (Sad!)

As if on cue, a defender of the White House rushed to respond…. Yes, Benghazi. Still. Clearly, and unsurprisingly, this passionate defender missed my point (and, by doing so, reinforced my point).

Nothing that is going on now is about President Obama or Secretary Clinton. What is going on now, and in the future, is about Trump – no one else is making the decision about what we do next.

Yet he could not resist. He cannot speak unless he is attacking someone – he must always attack, always denigrate, always demean, and always cast himself as a victim of that other person’s failings.

Read More