“My every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families.” Donald Trump

Well, here I go, once again. I suppose if I was a better disciplined writer, I could just stay with what got me doing this word thing in the first place. It started for me by telling my story for the benefit of my young grandson. I considered it an insurance policy to keep me alive longer than the actuarial chart’s inescapable math. 

Somewhere along the way, I read about the Golden Record, a compendium of an incredible array of history, science and the arts from a global perspective, going back to the beginning of our story. It was launched into space on the Voyager, back in 1977 and it’s still moving out into far away space, billions of miles away. 

Carl Sagan, a brilliant astronomer and communicator, was largely responsible for the creation of this record. It even had graphic instructions about how to experience our story, just in case. ”The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced space-faring civilizations in interstellar space, but the launching of this ‘bottle’ into the cosmic ‘ocean’ says something very hopeful about life on this planet.”

My objective was to create a positive story about my life experiences. Its own kind of exposition, a found bottle in the hands of my grandson, something very hopeful about my life on this planet. I have learned from all that’s happened to me and am grateful for it all. God knows, I had my share of unhappiness and disappointments and so will he. The gold in a life is finding the vein of the precious ore of learning from all that comes our way on our own voyage. The memoir was intended as a gift, not fool’s gold.

For many years, following the completion of the memoir, I have been writing stories on my blog. Up until recently, I have tried to keep my stories very personal, all about my life and what’s been going on. In a way, each one was a kind of celebration. I knew I was writing my stories to you and for you. Frankly, I think most of us look outside ourselves, inspired by another. This being human business can be pretty tough. I have never been interested in amplifying the challenges, just sharing them.

No matter how hard you may think you’re steering clear of what is going around us all, it seeps into all our lives. As long as you have any kind of techno hardware, it’s in the air these machines breathe, belching on to the screen, regardless of size. I have really been thinking hard about how to maintain even a speck of joy, before it gets devoured by yet another poisonous encroachment on our freedom to be who we want to be, who we are meant to be.

What is going on makes me think about a poisonous snake with no known anti-venom. It sucks the life out of its victims, a list it makes up to suit its needs of the moment. Now, here is what is going to happen to that snake, a scenario that popped into my addled brain, when thinking about surviving its bite.

The snake’s idea of America is very dated, as evidenced by the sloganeering. Viewing the middle class as the manufacturing sector of our economy died a while ago. All these proposed tariffs will not rejuvenate our manufacturing corpse. Technological advances like robotics and cheap, foreign manufacturing have eaten our factories. At the same time, destroying the integrity of social services is a slap in the face to us all.

This America First strategy is simply going to make all the billionaires buried up Trump’s butt, even wealthier. Government is incredibly inefficient, but keep in mind all the fat cats, who are sucking on its teat. It’s tragically funny that the vast majority of MAGA’s rely on all sorts of government subsidies that are disappearing under the chainsaw of our insanely fascist, unelected co-president, Herr Musk. 

There is no doubt that our government is incredibly inefficient, but it is not because of its employees. It is because of all the insane rules that make it impossible to accomplish anything of substance. The government needs surgery, not amputation. Liberals have been great on passing laws to improve our lives, but implementing them has been a joke, sucked under by the quicksand of bureaucracy. Getting the job done has nothing to do with eliminating the jobs. It is about letting people do their goddamn jobs! Trump promised change, but we are getting destruction instead.

Washington is the real Deep State. All these folks are so disconnected from people like us. They have been personally profiting from their decisions for years, regardless of party. They are pretty much all hucksters, selling the American Dream, which turns out to be a nightmare for all those, who work for a living.

Now, when his loyalists cheer things like killing medical aid to third world countries, while the bodies of the casualties start piling up, the stench of the cruelty will become hard to ignore. We are a country of immigrants, built strong by them. Oh, by the way, “them” are “us”. This country thrived on slavery and we have not graduated to some higher, ethical standard either. Capitalism is addicted to perpetual growth, always on the backs of those with the least.

The criminal in Our House is cutting all the programs so many people rely upon. Prices will continue to rise, as compassionate, government subsidies continue to evaporate. Why should a poor kid get a healthy, free lunch at school? Why should a veteran, who gave his leg for his country, be taken care of? Fuck the kid and fuck the soldier. Speaking of soldiers, why gives a shit about The Tuskegee Airmen? Who cares about a bunch of Native Americans, who used their Navajo language to save thousand of their brothers’ and sisters’ lives.

Funny, I just looked at that last paragraph and saw the reference to “brothers and sisters”. I’ll be damned, there it is. We feel so estranged from each other, a malignant strategy fostered by us humans, pretty much forever. The true American Family is unbelievable, living under a roof of miracles. Politics builds its base, thriving on our differences and inventing them if they don’t exist already. 

I don’t know how many times I have written about being the worst Zen practitioner in the world, and I swear I am. At the same time, I have said that the Buddha would smile and we’d exchange shakas, should I meet him on the never ending road to spiritual liberation. I am trying to stay on that road, too. This dude talked about forgiveness, with compassion for all others, once you are able to forgive yourself. 

Everyone seems to be talking about the other, as if they are no relation and that is a huge miscalculation, playing right into the mouth of that poisonous snake. There is no question that Covid 19 contributed to feelings of loneliness and vulnerability. Divided we fail and united we fly to the heavens, the idea of a home for the American Family. We have so much more in common than we’d like to think. I don’t know if anyone is going to come along to try and patch us together, something never tried before. Is it naive? Absolutely. Hatred closes the heart, suffocating it, because it won’t breathe the air that belongs to all of us, everywhere. 

Look no further than Gaza for my Heart Theory. Israel, aided and abetted by the snake, is murdering innocent people. If you voice your concern, especially on the campuses of higher learning here, our hateful government will deport you and punish the school by withholding millions of dollars, primarily used for very positive purposes within their community. 

Not only is Israel murdering innocent men, women and especially children, they are targeting reporters. This week,  they purposely killed a 21 year old Palestinian reporter, who could simply not stay quiet, while choking on this full fledged genocide. They blew up his car. I am so sorry, my young brother, Hossam Shabat. Israeli settlers beat the shit out of one of the directors of the Oscar winning film, “ No Man’s Land.” Hamdan Ballal was brutalized and abducted by the Israeli Army, IDF. I don’t understand why any of this alright. What the fuck is going on?

On the flip side of the above coin, demonstrations have been taking place in Gaza against Hamas. Like our own Washington Hamas, they are only interested in their agenda and don’t care about the human catastrophe they are helping to foment. Israel loves Hamas, because they help justify their genocide. Without them, Israel would be totally exposed for their cold-blooded murder of innocent people, like Hossam Ballal, for telling the truth. 

Yes, we are in a mess, attempting to deal with our own country. The level of complete incompetence, starting with the President and working its way through ranks of the government loyalists, is stunning. If you think sloppily releasing secret military plans to a writer for the Atlantic is some highlight, it is just the beginning. Moves are made and then unmade. Ultimately, the snake will swallow itself, you’ll see. Plus, dogs in heat have only one thing on their mind. His Washington legion of loyalists are no different, having Adolf Trump’s derriere as their target, lips at the ready, licking their way right over the cliff.

We are witnessing the greatest test this so-called democracy has ever faced, rivaling the Civil War. Both are about the law. Back then, one side wanted to enforce the laws and the other wanted to rewrite them. This time, it is a bit simpler. This is simply about the rule of law and arbitrarily ignoring it, when it gets in the way.

You know, I guess I have always taken the rule of law as a given. If you break the law for whatever reason, you’re in trouble. If you ignore the law, the same applies. In a way, it is these rules that have kept the country from coming apart. There is a process of creating a new law or changing an old one. Welcome to a purposeful disregard of the law and the chaos that ensues. 

We have no choice, but to take OUR country back, making the government actually work for all of us! If the Jan. 6th mutineers broke no laws, so can’t we. The way of the heart is a super highway with no speed limits. The checkered flag belongs to all in the race to save America.

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https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/1292459/episodes/16872773-the-american-family