I hate politics!
As I type those words, I understand anyone who knows me personally, is probably stroking out with disbelief. And for those who know me from reading this blog, I understand — based on much of my writing, that’s a fairly unbelievable statement. But the truth is, I fucking loathe politics!
So why (I hear you demand), do you keep writing about something you claim to hate? Yes, we know — you’ve also written about the entertainment industry, your lifelong battle with depression, consensual adult spanking, health issues, childhood molestation, yadda yadda yadda. But the vast majority of your posts have been about politics. So, if you hate politics, why do you keep writing about the topic?
Therein lies the problem.
We are living in an insane world. Sinclair Lewis’s 1934 novel, It Can’t Happen Here (which, if you haven’t read by now, you really need to), is happening here. We have a despotic, genocidal, homophobic, racist, misogynist, narcissistic, psychopath occupying The White House, and, with the assistance of the ReTHUGliKKKan party, he is turning this country into a Fascist state.
White supremacists and Nazis are marching in the streets, creating havoc. Much of the time, they’re doing so with the support of local police forces (the same police forces using violence against peaceful protestors). They’ve taken the words “anti-Fascist,” crushed them into a single word, “ANTIFA,” and are using it as propaganda (the same way Boomers like me, were programmed to hear the word, “Communist,” and think, evil!), to scare people. I guess World War II, that little skirmish our parents and grandparents fought to keep Fascism from taking over the world, is a forgotten memory.
Across the country we have a pandemic decimating the population. And no, I’m not referring to Covid-19 (yet). I’m talking about the epidemic of police violence, brutality, and murder, against people of color (the non-white variety). It’s really nice to hear people say, “All Lives Matter!” While I won’t argue the obvious bullshit of that statement, what I will say is, the white population of this country, can step out of their homes, or even be sitting inside their homes, without fear the police are going to come storming in, guns blazing. “Black Lives Matter,” because they are the target of this police violence, and abuse of power.
Yet when people take to the streets to peacefully protest, not only are they met with further violence from the police, as we’ve all seen — egged on by the Ignoranus-In-Chief — it’s the police, nationwide, who are vandalizing cars and stores, starting fires, and creating as much mayhem as they can. Why? So they can then claim the protestors are the vandals, thus justifying their obvious racist and violent tendencies. They can also stoke the fear of the white population, claiming “ANTIFA” is behind all of this, as if there actually was a coordinating organization called ANTIFA.
And let’s not forget the “Karens,” those privileged, racist white women, who have no compunction displaying their vicious hatred for people of color, even when they know they’re being videotaped for all the world to see. And unlike the police — who either figure they’ll get away with their actions because they always have, or they’ll simply edit their own video cams, or steal those of people taping them — many of the “Karens” are paying a price for their actions.
In the midst of all of this, we have the other pandemic — Covid-19. I’m sure I don’t need to remind anyone, had the Bloated Tangerine Buffoon taken action even one week earlier than he (pathetically) did, at least 40,000, of the 140,000 American souls lost to this virus so far, could have been saved. And this shit isn’t even close to being over.
Even so, towns and cities across the country are reopening businesses, restaurants, swimming pools, beaches, as if the pandemic is over. Why? It’s the economy, stupid! Democratic, as well as ReTHUGliKKKan politicians are being pressured to reopen everything, with only tepid “suggestions” people continue to wear masks and practice social distancing. Hell, in states run by ReTHUGGIE governors and legislatures, it’s not even taking pressure to force the reopenings.
People don’t like being inconvenienced by having to wear masks, and social distance from others. That’s why the truly stupid ones have been flocking to beaches, ignoring mask requirements, and flipping off the concept of social distancing. And people are terrified by the fact the unemployment rate keeps going up (as are Covid deaths, which are spiking again), as the majority of money Congress is supposedly setting aside to help people in need, is somehow, magically, ending up in the pockets of billionaire, multi-national corporations, not to mention (but I will), the pockets of friends and family members of ReTHUGliKKKan legislators.
Oh. And let’s not forget the Chicken-Shit Asswipe hiding behind the barbed wire fences placed around The White House (once known as “The People’s House”), having protestors gassed, so he can go out for a photo-op at a church (whose minister was among those gassed). I’m amazed the place didn’t burst into flames, the moment he entered, or held up the Bible (another book you just know he’s never read, or would read, if he was literate). Had he not been stopped, this flaming piece of shit would have ordered an air attack on American citizens exercising their Constitutional right to protest. But what’s a Constitution to someone who doesn’t know how to read it, and wouldn’t understand it if he could.
To all this, allow me to add a “Justice” Dept. being run by a criminal, a Supreme Court where ReTHUGliKKKan “justices” are making rulings, not based on law (with the blessed exception of this week’s LGBTQ ruling), but on their own partisan and religious views. Too many of these supposedly learned members of the Supreme Court, long ago forgot the fact this is a secular nation, with separation of Church and State.
And while I’m on a roll, how about the detaining/ kidnapping of children from people coming to this country, legally seeking asylum from the violence of their homelands. They came here seeking a better life for their families (as did the families of most of the people living in this country, minus the ones dragged here, and sold as slaves), and were met with worse than what they were running from. A group of Federal officers, ICE, acts as Twitler’s personal Gestapo, up to and including using the “we were only following orders” excuse.
With all this going on, how can I not write about politics, even though I hate the topic? Politics surround us. It divides families, even some where family members are, for the most part, on the same side of the political spectrum. It affects our being able to pay the rent or mortgage. It affects medical care, and being able to put food on the table. It affects the media, and what the public is allowed to hear, as opposed to what we’re not.
So, yeah. Much as I hate politics, and would prefer to spend the majority of my blog writing about (and my video/podcast, talking about) the things I love, that have meaning in my life, and feed my soul, until I know I’m not going to have to prepare an escape plan due to the Fascist takeover of this country, I can’t stop.
Allow me to start by saying, I did not write the following. It’s not mine, and I take no credit for it. I don’t know who came up with this, but they have my respect. This is the first thing I’ve read in a long time I thought important enough to share on my blog, even though I’m not the author(s). It’s started going viral on Facebook, but I’m posting it here, almost exactly as I received it (with a few edits for redundancy and grammar), because I think it’s that important an idea. 