DENYING DENIAL – Fighting the False with the Hypothetical

Have you ever tried describing something quite obvious to a person who’s in denial about its very existence? It’s like talking sense to an addict.

This is what’s happening on a massive scale with the Trump debacle. To be fair, part of his base will admit to a few of the reality-show president’s glaring flaws of personality, character, intellect, comportment and leadership.

But they like what he says he’s doing for them, so the flaws don’t matter. At least they’re honest enough to acknowledge some of what’s right there in front of them, manifest in the man’s very words and actions.

  If you don’t like what credible journalists—or 
  even scientists—say, just claim they’re all lying.

The rest of Trump’s base is not so honest. They manage to salve what’s left of their consciences by simply refusing to admit the man is what he has proven himself to be. None of the Twit’s behavior, they insist, rises even to the level of mildly objectionable…because it doesn’t exist.

Not his sexual depravity or abuse; not the business improprieties; not his admiration for—nor collusion with—sworn enemies of American democracy; not his emoluments; not his obstruction of justice; not the corruption; not the nepotism… Not a thing.

Oh my God! These folks would grant carte blanche to Mao Zedong or Josef Stalin if he promised to beat back all the bogeymen Trump’s convinced them are swarming at their door.

Reasoning with these poor suckers is useless. You lay out the proof; you point to examples; you support your contentions with credible sourcing. And their response? Denial. One of two classic devices pathological liars have used since Adam and Eve blurted “What apple?”

Or the other: fake news. If you don’t like what credible journalists—or even scientists—say, just claim they’re all lying.

  What specific actions by some fictional
  president would make Putin and other enemies
  of democracy wring their hands in delight?
 
WHAT IF?
The more truth you lay out for these cretins, the more threatened they are by the prospect of being exposed for their ignorance—or, worse, their true motives. So I’m exploring another approach: instead of trying to fight lies and deception with facts, fight them with something sure to utterly disarm them: hypotheticals.

Here’s how it works:
They say Donald Trump is not immoral. I respond, “Okay, let’s assume for a moment that that’s true. Tell me, please, what would it look like if some future U.S. president were immoral? Exactly what behaviors would be extreme enough to make you uncomfortable?”

They maintain the Twit is not a puppet of Vladimir Putin, methodically undermining democratic institutions, alienating time-honored allies and dividing Americans into warring factions. “I hear you, but if that were happening, what would that look like? What specific actions by some fictional president would make Putin and other enemies of democracy wring their hands in delight?”

They insist their guy knows what he’s doing and is a capable leader? “That’s a good one, but let’s just say he is. List for me some behaviors that might convince you otherwise.”

TAKING THE BAIT
Get the idea? Okay, now those of you for whom facts still mean more than beliefs, let’s get out there and kick some disingenuous butt. Lull your Trumpie friends, relatives or co-workers, by your apparent acknowledgment, into a sense of victory, of smug superiority.

Then totally destroy them using their own propensity for the make-believe against them. Can’t you just picture how they’ll squirm? If they fall for the ruse they’ll be tricked into describing their hero as the incompetent, immoral traitor he is. If not, they’ll just be left speechless, betraying their own ignorance.

Either way, you win. Right?

ACT YOUR RAGE! – Stand Up to the NRA

In a poignant expression of what a vast majority of Americans are feeling, a member of the other day’s audience at the vigil remembering victims of the Dayton massacre interrupted Ohio governor Mike DeWine’s comments, blurting out, “Do something!” As DeWine continued, others added their voices, building to a chant no one could claim not to hear.

Do something? Do anything constructive to control the use of firearms designed for nothing but killing large numbers of people quickly? They will not.

Not as long as not a single republican member of Congress dares face the wrath of the National Rifle Association.

And here’s the most incredible part. These gun-totin’ cavemen insist that their right to bear arms is so they can defend themselves against a tyrannical government.* And yet right under their noses the very government they’ve so fervently been praying for—the regime a sworn enemy of our country has helped deliver for them—has them armed to the teeth, defending their front doors from immigrants, queers, and any number of other contrived bogeymen, while robbing them blind from the back door.

A ruthless, morally dead oligarchy runs rough-shod over them and over one timeless American value and virtue after another in favor of the rich and powerful’s insatiable lust for control, and they claim not to notice it. It is textbook tyranny, the kind any fool should recognize…even with his head up his ass.

     They are high on their taste of power,
     motivated and energized. They are
     counting on our complacency.

A CYBER-9/11
So, our supreme leader, this gutless, draft-dodging, spiritually empty joke of a president, continues his trademark politics of division. Three times now, right after mass shootings, the liar in chief has read scripted words from the teleprompter promising to do something, hoping to placate the ninety percent of Americans who support common-sense gun control measures, only to renege on those words days later.

He is clearly empowering not just the growing list of this country’s enemies around the world, but the real perpetrators of most of these recent mass murders: red-white-and-blue, all-American Billy Bobs who, goaded by his hateful rhetoric, are emboldened to act out their rage.

Meanwhile, Trump’s self-declared soul-mate, Russian megalomaniac Vladimir Putin, and the president's other despotic role models around the world wring their hands in delight. How could an assault on American democracy possibly be delivered to them any more spectacularly? It is nothing less than a cyber-9/11.

What can be done? One can use whatever platform is available to them to speak up. One can hope the NRA will implode on its own depravity. Or one can get involved in supporting political candidates with the cojones to defy this cowardly, thoroughly corrupt republican party and its gun-toting partner-in-crime.

These are the real enemies of our country. They are high on their taste of power, motivated and energized. They are counting on our complacency. We must show them they are wrong.

* Actually, the second amendment of U.S. Constitution says the right to “keep and bear arms.” exists in order to maintain “a well-regulated militia,” not so every Billy Bob out there can be a bad-ass.

STOLEN GLORY – When Sacred Symbols Become Sacred Cows

Don’t get me wrong. I love this flag. I respect it as one symbol—perhaps the most emblematic—
of our country, the United States of America.

To me the flag stands for all that’s tried and true, old and new about this great nation. First of all, the idea, that bold original vision, of a government whose structure and values would stand the test of time and become the envy of the rest of the world.

But, like any symbol, a flag starts out as a nearly empty vessel that gets filled with associations, with its enduring meaning, only over time. The US flag—the one with a circle of stars that the Continental Congress mandated in the first Flag Act of June 14, 1777—was at first little more than an exercise in graphic identity: stripes for the original 13 colonies; stars for each subsequent state, colors connoting the country’s aspirational values.

Since then it has acquired countless reinforcements of that image, the vast majority of them involving decent, even noble, policies and actions. There have also been blotches of shame.

I honor Old Glory, despite those blemishes, for representing our country’s sincere efforts to follow its citizens' best instincts. For global leadership. For well-considered change and growth. For the sacrifices citizens have made to defend those precious bedrock values: “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

CARE AND FEEDING
Symbols, whether those representing nations or corporations or movements, need constant attention to make sure the values they represent do not lose their power or become tainted. Some, like the hammer and sickle, while they surely have positive associations for those invested in them, conjure nothing but repression, cruelty and fear for others around the world.

The swastika, which for centuries had enjoyed mostly positive artistic and spiritual associations, got twisted into the very embodiment of evil when appropriated by Nazi Germany. [Sadly, the full extent of such monstrous mutations often becomes evident only in hindsight.]

       Make no mistake, the hijacking of symbols
       is one of the very hallmarks of tyranny.

Fortunately, symbols of my country have been stewarded wisely, managing, despite some great failings, to retain their time-honored respect and admiration for generations.

Until now.

THE TRAITOR TEST
Witness what is happening to our great USA flag during our country’s current convulsion of aggrieved, me-first nationalism. A newly-empowered minority, emboldened by their hero, a reckless, morally bankrupt, aggressively insecure president, would like to hijack the star-spangled banner to represent not America’s characteristic leadership, generosity and optimism—values all Americans can share—but their own misguided beliefs.

Here’s what that looks like: I have Facebook friends—Trump supporters—who’ve apparently gotten sick and tired of getting called out for their fear-based, anti-tolerance posts. Having lost all credibility for their continuing praise of the most dubious president in U.S. history, they’ve turned to symbols they see as unassailable.

They’re the same kinds of sacred cows that oppressive regimes around the world always lionize: the flag, the “office” of the supreme leader, the military heroes. Oh, and, in evangelical America, let’s not forget God.

        “We’re watching you, just waiting for
          another sign that the reason you abhor
          the current degenerate administration in
          Washington is that you hate America.”

It’s one thing to put out there an image of the U.S. flag or of some poor combat vet who’s lost his or her legs to an IED. I’m happy to “like” or “sad-face” that. But it’s another thing entirely when they challenge you to either accept their view of patriotism—saturated with their own warped interpretation of national values—or be labeled somehow traitorous.

                              

“We’ll just see who’s patriotic enough”—read redneck reactionary enough—“to share this.” Of course, the implication is “We’re watching you, just waiting for another sign that the reason you abhor the current degenerate administration in Washington is that you just plain hate America.”


SMALL STEPS BUT PERILOUS
Make no mistake, the hijacking of symbols is one of the very hallmarks of tyranny. One need only look to history (like science, something these nationalist zealots despise for its honesty) to know that mindless flag worship is a favorite device for rendering truth dangerous.

      They are very small steps, indeed, from a
      symbol used in inspire, to one used to incite,
      to one used because it becomes mandated
      by those who have usurped power.

A collapsing country’s emblems, even those once standing for visionary ideas, begin taking on new meanings, defended with new fervor. At first, the tainting may be subtle—like who would care if people wave their little American flags at a Trump rally. But then folks are seen waving them at white nationalist rallies and in other expressions of intolerance which, in kinder, gentler times, we would have thought beneath us as citizens of this land of freedom and equality.

Before long, you can’t run for office without an Old Glory flag pin, or conduct a meeting without reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

They are very small steps, indeed, from a symbol used to inspire, to one used to incite, to one used, alas, because it becomes mandated by those who have usurped power.

In the words of American abolitionist Wendell Phillips:

 “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty;
   power is ever stealing from the many to the few.”

Well, you alt-right lemmings, I’m here to tell you that neither Old Glory—nor the Pledge, nor the White House, nor the wounded vet, nor the American eagle (nor any symbol of our good ol’ USA)—is yours for the taking.

So go ahead and wear your little Make America Great caps. Recite your pledge. Salute all you want. But Old Glory is the flag of every American, not just those who look like you, think like you, love like you or pray like you. In fact, I would remind my Trumpist friends that what our star-spangled banner represents also belongs, in ways your fear has apparently obscured, to those who aspire to become Americans. Like your ancestors.

APPEASING A THUG – The Misplaced Notion of Moral Equivalency In Hyper-partisanship

As mid-term elections loom, many Americans—I think from both sides of the divide—are bemoaning the sorry state of our political and social discourse. I keep hearing the suggestion that any return to civility will require both sides to tone down their rhetoric and try to see each other’s point of view.

Yes, they say, Trump and his neocons bully, degrade and lie…but the “liberal elite” bitches, moans and schemes right back.

This well-intentioned attempt at some kind of balance should concern every American as much as the political and cultural rift itself.

      When someone breaks into your home, starts taking
      your stuff and threatens the future of your children,
      there is no requirement, no expectation, of civility.

There is no moral equivalency in responsibility for the bitter enmity between Trumpublicans’ systematic trashing of cherished, hard-won American values to feather the nests of the rich and powerful, and the Progressives’ impassioned resistance to it. No more than there was in the deadly Charlottesville standoff between white supremacists and decent, mostly peaceful counterprotesters standing up to them—a clash which Trump was quick to blame on “both sides.”

Nope. When someone breaks into your home, starts taking your stuff, perhaps tells you to get out because you’re not like them, and threatens the future of your children, there are not two equally-valid arguments. There is no requirement, no expectation, of civility. You yell; you scream; you strike back the best you can with whatever you’ve got. And you don’t stop until they’re caught and gone.

A SNOWFLAKE’S CHANCE IN HELL – Fear and Loathing In the Trump Era

Listen to this deluge of campaign ads! Notice how much of the republicans’ message is about fear? A couple of spots running here in MN epitomize it: “I would never vote for so-and-so; he won’t protect us;” and “So-and-so will make Minnesota a sanctuary state for criminals.”

Fear is much easier to incite than any positive passion like hope, excitement or love. With fear, all you have to do is dangle it out there and people—mostly folks who are, I suspect, already deeply insecure—will bite.

It reminds me of Stephen King’s approach to engendering fear. He realized he can stir more fear by merely suggesting the presence of some horror than by actually showing it. That’s because we human beings are so good at filling in the gory details in our imaginations.

Of course, it helps to objectify and demonize the thing you want folks to be afraid of: Cujo, Christine, the Mist…immigrants, the media, smart people…

       It’s easier to be against something that someone
       else’s vision and hard work have created than it is
       to do the work of creating something better yourself.

A CONSTRUCTIVE VISION
There’s another spineless premise at work in the republicans’ message. Attacking someone else—someone you portray as The Enemy—requires none of the clarity and courage it takes to say what it is you stand for. Easier, it seems, to be against something that someone else’s vision and hard work have created than it is to do the work of creating something better yourself.

Both these intertwined, negative attitudes—fear and negativism—are not only gutless, they’re lazy and undisciplined. They require no constructive imagination, no work whatsoever. And, worse than the ignorance inherent in them is the fact that the beliefs they rest on involve not defensible truths, but—to use their proponents’ own term—“alternative” facts.

ILLUSTRATION: iStock/dane_mark

The problem we progressives face in coming elections is that we’ve found no one—yet—on the national level to lay out a vision of the kind of peaceful, prosperous future intelligence, creativity, joy and hope can inspire. Unlike fear, positive concepts like this have to be articulated. And they have to convince conservatives that being constructive just might address their complaints as well, or better than, being destructive.

Perhaps the most difficult nut to swallow, for both sides of the divide, is that the new, positive approach must embody a measure of reconciliation.

        Not a person famous for nothing but fame
        itself, but one with deep insight, an expansive
        outlook and real integrity.

WHO WILL TURN THE TIDE?
During the disastrous second term of George W. Bush, the only solution I could imagine was for a charismatic leader to emerge who might articulate hope for a nation still on wobbly knees from 9/11. My prayers were answered.

Sadly, though President Obama embodied nearly everything we needed as a leader, he failed to use his eloquence to full advantage. And, for reasons I’m convinced the neo-cons are too smart to ever say out loud—though Trump is all but doing so for them—he was met with a degree of political rancor and obstruction one would have thought reserved for a true tyrant.

Once again I’m praying for a charismatic leader, one who can make the distinction between beliefs and facts, articulate a view of the future that doesn’t require Americans to talk circles around the values we know undergird this great country. Not a person famous for nothing but fame itself, but one with deep insight, an expansive outlook and real integrity. One with a deep, selfless love for both country and planet.

Tall order, right? I figure it won’t be the first time the loving power I call God has called on us to be his instruments in delivering a miracle. So please, please, even if you feel insignificant, even you’re deeply disillusioned with our political system, don’t give up. Come Tuesday, November 6, get out and VOTE! And while you’re at it, see if you can help a couple of other people who might otherwise not be voting to do so too.

We can do this…we must do this!

STOLEN CONSCIOUSNESS – The Trump Disaster Goes Deep

Intelligent, caring Americans are fighting to save our country from the massive indiscre…oh, hell, let’s call them what they are: crimes of the most incompetent, corrupt, unstable president in its history.

Somehow, while we were shrouded in the fog of our political complacency, this reality show imbecile and his handlers—both here and abroad—have managed, methodically and rather quickly, to take over and hobble our democracy. This has backed the majority of Americans—those of us who reject the junta’s ignorance and fear mongering—into a corner, evoking a massive, national fight-or-flight response.

Flush with adrenaline, we naturally focus on what appears to be the most egregious, in-your-face threat of the day—insults to allies, collusion with enemies, sabotage of democratic institutions, betrayal of environmental responsibility, stifling a free press, condoning of racism…it goes on and on.

But while we’ve been so intent on fighting off the assault on our country’s hard-won freedoms and values, there’s been another, deeper, much less obvious victim of the abuse.

         The worse he proves to be, the better
         they like him...and he feeds on their
         utter lack of self-respect.

DOWN FOR THE COUNT
Like a filthy old HVAC system run amok, Donald Trump has sucked the air out of the room. After a year and a half of gasping for breath in this vacuum, anyone who remembers what truth and decency are is, in a slight twist of the word, losing unconsciousness.

The media—shame on them—have been unable to resist ennobling his every vile or vacuous word. Social media’s gotten so saturated with both his foolishness and legitimate resistance to it, that folks can no longer get a word in edgewise about their kids, pets, travels or personal epiphanies.

Nope, just as this sniveling bully-brat has somehow always managed to do, he’s made it all about him. Apparently, as P.T. Barnum said, there’s no such thing as bad publicity. In fact, for his rabid base, the worse a leader—not to mention human being—he proves to be, the better they like him. And he feeds on their utter lack of self-respect.

The toll this great nation will endure for a generation or more will involve more than our freedom, our respected standing in the world, the livability of the planet or our humanity toward one another. It will—already has—involve the loss of our higher consciousness as a nation, our sense of who we are and of the essential interconnectedness of all Creation.

I dare say, for inciting a degree of polarization and lack of civility unknown in my lifetime, it will also affect the health of the millions of people around the world who feel assaulted, abased by this bully. Ironically, as decent people fight for a sane, healthy future for our offspring, chronic stress shrinks our own life expectancy.

  Truth doesn’t play nice with their fear-mongers.

OBAMA CARED
Say what they will about Barack Obama or his policies as president, he was without doubt a real, thinking, caring human being. An evolved person—curious, aware of both himself and others, able to adapt to changing circumstances, whether they required he be fully present in the moment or articulating a grand vision. 

There used to be many other such evolved and evolving leaders, of both political parties. But Donald Trump and many of his henchmen are sworn enemies of any kind of evolution. In fact, they’re systematically weeding out anyone, at any level of government, who pretends allegiance to demonstrable truth over blind loyalty to their visionless, self-serving doctrine.

Truth doesn’t play nice with their fear-mongers. It makes the fear real...but just for them.

EYE ON THE BALL 
So, one moment I’m thinking the very best thing we could do to resist this unprecedented assault on our personal and national values is to simply out-think, out-create, out-care Trump and those working his strings. To avoid falling for the distraction and continue living, despite the aggression, as evolved and evolving human beings.

The next moment, I’m back in that fight-or-flight response. Who cares if the man who’d replace him is even more frightening than he is. Just get this robber of all that’s honest and decent out of my house.

I’m disappointed in myself for this vacillation. That I ever allow my best  instincts to be sapped by the impulse to defend myself against the violation of my life and that of my country.

So, do you experience this same dilemma? How do you deal with it? Are you any better able than I to keep your eye on the ball and remain true to yourself? If not, how do you cope?

P.S.
Assuming that the wheels of justice turn too slowly to squash this swarm of bugs before this fall’s midterm elections, I’m able to find some hope that decent people who still recognize what it is that has made America great will turn out en masse to vote.

We need political candidates, at every level, who’ll articulate a renewed vision of a world that runs not on people’s basest instincts, not at the whim of a ruthless oligarchy, but once again on hope, mindfulness, love and generosity. One that answers to an authority higher than aberrant interpretations of patriotism and and Christianity, or a sniveling bully and his self-loathing, suicidal following.

So find out who are some of the congressional candidates whose races could go either way. Not just in your own state, though that's a good start. Pick a few from other parts of the country. And pitch in...whatever you can afford. A good place to start is the DCCC. (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) Locally, you might consider volunteering to knock on doors or make phone calls, which experts keep saying is quite effective.

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES – The True Colors of a President Who Knows Neither

SILVER SPOONS AND RED HANDS
A reality TV star is running this great nation into the ground under the flag of narrow-mindedness. A spoiled-brat bully who grew up with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth. A textbook narcissist who's never had to face the consequences of his impulsive, egocentric decisions.

Taught from an early age that decency is a liability. (You don’t have to be nice as long as you win.) Has repeatedly bought, bribed or browbeaten himself out of any culpability—including for sexual assault—or responsibility—including for military service.

  His little tantrums on social media...seem to 
  hold the same perverse appeal to his fans as a 
  ransom note from a psychopathic kidnapper.

This emotional adolescent has always done exactly and only what benefits him and strokes his ego, no matter whom it hurts. Anyone who’s ever tried to hold him accountable for his misdeeds is subject, first, to his little tantrums on social media—which seem to hold the same perverse appeal to his fans as a ransom note from a psychopathic kidnapper.

If that doesn’t get him out the jam, he unleashes his high-powered lawyers on them. His mantra: when people call you out on your illegal, immoral behavior, double down. Crush them. Whatever it takes—lies, threats, countersuits… And in the rare case in which all of this fails, there’s always the big, secret payoff. Bribe them into submission.

      He’s acting out all those insecurities on 
      our country and every single one of its 
      citizens as if to punish us for our ignorance.

FOOLS GOLD AND BROWN NOSES
Compensating for deep-seated insecurities, this small, small man has left a swath of human carnage in his fool’s gold wake - personal relations, business associates, employees, marriage partners…anyone unwilling to enable him and his outsized ambition.

And now, cast in a role he sought only as a prank—and fully expected to dodge—he’s acting out all those insecurities on our country and every single one of its citizens as if to punish us for our ignorance.

As if this scourge weren’t reprehensible enough when he was just a rich, influential businessman and celebrity, he now holds what is arguably the most powerful position in the world. Through his outrageous decisions and behavior as US president, he’s now on track to hurt not just those stupid enough to do business with him, not just those aggrieved and fearful enough to vote for him, but untold millions of innocent people here and around the world—for generations into the future.
 

         It is our only reasonable hope for 
         exterminating this infestation gnawing 
         at the foundations of our decent, daring, 
         democratic nation.

This man and the shameless brown-nosers who do his bidding must be stopped. Fortunately, one institution of this great democracy that still survives, despite this junta’s—and its unlikely, clearly anti-American allies’—best efforts to throttle it, exists for just this purpose: free and fair elections.

SHOW YOUR COLORS
Whatever flaws America’s electoral-college voting system may have, it is, I’m afraid, our only reasonable hope for exterminating this infestation gnawing at the foundations of our decent, daring, democratic nation. Speak up. Get behind candidates—even at the local level—with the decency and courage to stand up to the reckless tyrant in our midst.

Support the Mueller Investigation’s freedom to uncover the facts about Russian assaults on democracy and the crimes committed by Americans involved in the Trump campaign to facilitate foreign influence.

Vote…and see if you can’t help someone who might not otherwise be able to get to the polls do so.