Tea Party Fear Mongering

Fear mongering by the ultra-tea-party-conservatives is seen as their recipe for success. I find it fascinating that conservative talkers are only able to use fear when talking about America. They are unable or unwilling to see anything positive when it comes to what is taking place on our shores.

If all you listened to is Tea Party radio, you would think that America as we know it was gone; that the zombie apocalypse had taken place, and it was every man, woman and child fighting for themselves. Long live America as the saying goes. The red, white and blue will not be the same until the tentacles of government are out of our lives; unless, the right sees the moral imperative to stick their tentacles into everyone’s business be it the bedroom or uterus.

For this right-wingers government has a place in both of those aforementioned cases, but on the other hand it needs to get rid of taxes on businesses and stop trying to regulate them to death. Businesses can be trusted to do the right thing, but individuals cannot. The right’s need to find a boogey man is well placed in history. They are the party of how awful the world is when they are not in control of the White House.

The fact that Osama bin Laden is dead cannot be celebrated as a victory for America because a Democrat was in the White House at the time of his capture and death. The fact that the Dow Jones is soaring at its highest peak in history cannot be celebrated because a Democrat is residing in the White House. These are only two of a multitude of examples of how the self-serving needs of right leaning politicians and pundits are more important than the needs of America.

You Tea Partiers keep pretending that you don’t love government because that is a lie. You love government when it serves your purposes. When it doesn’t, you have no use for government. This is irony at its best. All Americans should be proud of the accomplishments of our government and the people that serve. But, in this day and age it is impossible to make that happen. There is too much malice and distrust.

What makes Tea Party radio so compelling is the fact that on nearly every broadcast the sky is falling. America as we know it is on life support, and if you do not believe and act in accordance with their right-wing views, then, you are adding to the problem. Science takes a backseat to phony fabrications of doubt such as because I say it ain’t true, then, of course whenever a scientist says something I don’t agree or it does not fit into my world view it is a lie.

Or, if an economist says that the Affordable Care Act is saving money, that economist is a hopeless liar because their world view does not match up with mine. In fact, anyone that disagrees with the Tea Party is a lying son-of-a-bitch. There is no way to argue with this type of logic. “I am right and you are wrong because I say so."

This leaves the country with nowhere to go; it puts all efforts to move the economy forward at a standstill. It means that fear mongering by both sides of the aisle is the only political cudgel available and each side is ready to use it to beat their constituents and each other.

Until the fear mongering is stopped, there will be no forward progress politically, which is what the Tea Party wants. They are like the little boy that takes his ball and runs home when he cannot win the game. In this game of chicken, they have the power. They feel enfranchised by their ability to say, “My way of the highway”.

They feel no need to compromise their values and belief systems because this would be completely contrary to what they stand for. The only political recourse they possess is fear mongering and hope that enough people will jump overboard and swim to a Tea Party lifeboat where their independent thinking will be beaten out of them before they are allowed to crawl to safety.

Remember all you Tea Partiers, be careful what you wish because it may become true. You sure didn’t like it when the IRS put a little heat on your deceptive nonprofit status. What is good for the goose is good for the gander unless you are a member of the Tea Party and, then, everyone else’s motives must be scrutinized and vilified because they do not think like us so they are the enemy and must suffer as such until they see the light and fall in line.

Intolerance: Thy Name is Tea Party

Intolerance takes on many forms from the comments of Donald Sterling to ultra-right-wing talking heads of the Tea Party spouting off about the lack of freedom in America. You may say, “How is complaining and whining about the lack of freedom intolerance?” It is intolerance in that their constant diatribe is a completely erroneous and baseless lie used to attack anyone or view that does not fit into their blueprint of their world order.

These people will not tolerate any dissensions in the ranks at any level. They will beat the drums against anyone that they feel will not carry out their agenda in lock-step with their philosophical underpinnings. This is the definition of intolerance. Moreover, they love to attack liberals or progressives and label them as socialists and do not consider this as intolerant speech.

These people that they like to identify as such usually fit under one tent branded with a capital D. The hated Democrats were the enemy that all true conservatives could rail and rally against. They represented the evil empire of knowledge and acceptance, which believed that people no matter their color, religion or sexual orientation were welcome to join just as they were. This group was an easy target for the ultra-conservatives who saw themselves as knights on white horses out to save the world from all the evil that came from these despicable creatures.

The world was right when the lines of good and evil were so clearly demarcated, however, something changed in the water once the Tea Party rolled onto the scene. Clear and traditional boundaries between political parties and ideologies suddenly evaporated. Those called traditional or moderate Republicans are now the target of ultra-conservatives. They are seen as traitors to the cause of freedom, liberty and Christianity because they see the value in the idea of compromise.

For the Tea Party, any and every one that refuses to follow their lead is the enemy. These fanatical followers of narrow-minded policies are unable to see that freedom and democracy are based on the tradition of compromise.  Compromise is as hated a word as socialist, liberal, progressive and moderate Republican.

If it wasn’t for George Washington and his ability to broker a deal, there would be no constitution and we would be living under the Articles of Confederation, which nearly destroyed what we understand to be the United States of America. These new right-wing, Tea Party blatherers would have one believe that any dissention that is not initiated by them is un-American.

But, it is more than that. Whenever you question these ultra-conservatives’ motives, you are now infringing on their freedom, but when they are attacking progressive philosophies, they are exorcising their God given freedoms. For them, freedom is a one-way street in which they are in sole possession of the right-of-way, and the rest of society better get the hell off the road or be run over in the process.

It is the arrogance of this position and their talking points that I find so infuriating. They see themselves as the only ones that know what is going on in the world, and the rest of us need to bow down to their intellectual superiority. No matter which side of the aisle you fall, you must subvert your views to theirs or be attacked mercilessly.

What they fail to understand is the power of dialogue and how it has been used and is being used to foster the growth of the democratic principle known as: cooperation. George Washington so believed in this principal that he forsook the idea of political parties and saw them as the bane of our republic. He believed that they would lead the country into the kind of impasse that is transpiring today.

For the ultra-right-wing, Tea Party conservatives there is no concession possible in politics. This concept is as foreign and distasteful to them as water is to cats. They will do any and everything in their power not to concede a position or idea no matter the costs. It is time to end their reign of terror over the American people and vote them out of office, moreover, demonstrate through the power of the polls and grassroots organizations that money does not determine the fate of America and we will not stand for their brand of intolerance.

Right-wing Tool: Steve Deace

What does it mean not to think straight? Does it mean that you are gay? Of course it doesn’t mean that. Is it a bad joke or just a play on words? As Americans we are no longer supposed to make jokes like that because we are being insensitive to racial, ethnic or gender groups. PC does not only mean Politically Correct it means that you can't say anything about anyone unless they are a white male. It is open season for white men. Just ask Steve Deace.

For white men like Steve Deace it is hard to understand how jokes and comments can be offensive. They have been doing them for so long that they don’t even think about them as they come tumbling out of their mouths, “Asians can't drive.” Or, “Of course he’s smart, he’s Asian. Or, “There they go again, playing the race card.” Or, “If you’re gonna come to this country, speak English.” Or, “Why can't they act like a man; come on Nancy, butch it up.”

To those white men, especially a conservative, white man, like Steve Deace those are all true statements and everyone knows they are true. White men know that everyone else is thinking the same thing, but they are too afraid to say anything. It’s time for white men everywhere to stand up and be counted just like Steve who stands up for all conservative, white men no matter their religious upbringing or sexual orientation.

He tells it like it is. His stance on homosexuality is ground breaking. “All these people who say they are gay really are gay, but this is a choice that they are making, and it is a choice that is going to send them to hell, so if they are really worried about their place in eternity, they need to make different choices or burn for their sins.

Wow, that is revolutionary and so insightful. He is a conservative, white man’s white man. He goes on to attack American abortions doctors and Planned Parenthood as the murders that they are, but there is something more to this than meets the eye. These murders are the funding backbone of the Democratic Party if Deace is to be believed.

These Democrats are more than anti-white man. They are anti-fetus. Moreover, they are financially benefitting from all the abortions in America. Can you believe it? Everyone not just white men need to hear this and understand the implications. All you people of color are really under attack from the Democrats and not the Republicans through this destruction of human life.

In Steve Deace’s world, here is how the liberal world works. He stated on his radio show that there are 4,000 abortions in America every day of the week, and that each abortion cost $500, therefore, abortionists, i.e., the Democratic Party makes 2 million dollars a day killing innocent babies. Furthermore, if you multiply this number by 365 days a year because abortion clinics do not take days off for weekends or holidays, these clinics in the killing business make 730 million dollars a year to put into the coffers of the Democratic Party.

Those are some amazing statistics. As a white man, I am shocked by what is going on in Steve Deace’s head. Where did he get his statistics? How does he know that Planned Parenthood who he implies only performs abortions and are using the monies from these procedures to finance the Democratic Party? If he is pro-business why is he against this organization’s ability to make money? Oh, they are making it the wrong way. Just as gays and blacks and non-Christians and illegal immigrants are ruining America for true Americans like him, his wife and their children. 

Steve Deace also likes to preach that the liberals and the left are intolerant. How can that be? He is on the radio spouting forth his religious based intolerance five days a week. Where is the intolerance that is negatively impacting his life and work? I guess fake indignation pays well.

I am glad to be an American. I am glad that people like Steve Deace are allowed to preach their hate speech. It sickens me to hear it, but they have the right to say it. The rest of us also have the right to change the channel, boycott the radio station and demonstrate against the intolerance inherent in self-serving pronouncements and their messengers.

Good luck to Steve Deace and the rest of his flock. Much like Westboro Baptist Church, his brand of intolerance will fade into the background and become noise that the tolerant will champion no matter how ugly his speech.

Common Core or Standardized Mediocrity

What is the most fundamental relationship in the universe? If you ask a theoretical physicist, you will get one answer, and if you ask a humanist philosopher, you will get another. Neither will have any bearing on your daily life.  What is the point of either of these positions? There is no point. It only means that we are not want of food, shelter or security.  We are safe and secure enough that as a civilization we can spent our time contemplating pointless abstract concepts.

If you are hungry or homeless, you will not be able to consider any of this theoretical garbage. You will be worrying where your next meal is coming or where you are going to sleep that night. When your basic needs are not being met, then, all is lost except the essentials necessary for survival. Too often this is the situation for many of my students who are deemed less than competent when measured on state standardized tests.

Too often they are too busy struggling with basic needs to worry about how to analyze Edgar Allen Poe or which culture inquiry should be used when reading Amy Tan. Furthermore, Medieval British Literature review has no connection to their world, thus, relevancy is lost as well as a class full of young, vibrant minds. As an educator the Common Core is not the answer for everyone. The idea that one size fits all is absurd.

The federal and state‘s idea that Common Core aligned with Smarter Balance will solve the problems plaguing our schools are completing erroneous. These theoreticians and politicians have no understanding as to the elemental flaw in their thinking. Instead of attacking the central issue (basic needs not being met), they are pretending to solve a problem that does not exist as they imagined.

The changes that are being forced on public schools are destroying intellectual creativity, flexibility and initiative, thus, limiting the possibilities for future generations. If the point of all this reform is to create a permanent underclass damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. However, if we are to help the next generation to succeed, this is exactly the wrong way to confront the problem.

Standardization creates mediocrity and this is where testing institutions and politicians are pushing public schools. If you work in a private school or a charter school, none of this homogeny is required as part of your curriculum. Innovative ideas are desired in these institutions while the same kind of ideas are given lip service in public school where teachers are forced to teach larger and larger classes while being told to raise test scores or else. All of this in lieu of inventive thinking beyond a testing box.

Public school teachers’ jobs are on the line if their students do not demonstrate measurable, consistent growth, on standardized tests, furthermore, if this happens, these same educators are deemed ineffective because they were unable to inspire those youngsters under their supervision to outperform the targets set by their state, district, school and department when filling in the blanks. This has nothing to do with thinking on your feet or thinking abstractly. It has everything to do with filling in the correct blank because everyone knows that life is black and white and that there is only one right answer.

The thought of learning for the sake of learning no longer fits in this new schema because students need to be focused on the endgame just as their teachers are required to do in this latest educational paradigm. In this new world order, students are considered to be weak of mind if they are seen as daydreamers or have no clear plans as they head off into the world following high school graduation.

The idea of finding yourself without an authority figure giving you and your future a stamp of approval is absurd in today’s public school culture. Educators of all ilk be it public or private stand as godlike figures pointing their charges in the correct direction. If you are the good student that knuckles under to the powers that be, then, your future will blossom as the lotus does, begging to be plucked and place upon the mantle to be admired until it is no longer viable.

In many ways, educationally, we are now on the path to become more Chinese than the Chinese in that we now demand lockstep in our public schools by adopting common core curriculum and tying monies for financially strapped school districts. The federal government’s use of money to lure states and school districts to adopt this curriculum is akin to blackmail.

If you are for the standardization of education, mediocrity, uninspired teaching, then, this standards based curriculum is all you can ask and more. Katy bar the doors because there will be a feeding frenzy as states stampede to the front of the line with no idea why they are doing it except that there is money to be pocketed.

Republican Death Knoll

What I find most frightening about the Republican Party is not the lies that they tell, but the insidious way they are destroying the party from within. They seem to be engaged in an incestuous relationship, and believe that this is the way to win back the Senate and the White House through alienating hard working Americans that do not fit their idea of what it is to be American.

The alleged mainstream wing of the Republican Party encourages, no begs for the most despicable fringe elements to be recognized, and will allow them to say the most outrageous things so that they can massage these outliers and bust their poll numbers in state and local elections. The majority of the country is disgusted by these hateful, local displays egged on by federally elected officials through their acts of indifference and insolence. Check You Tube and watch as Tennessee Republicans representatives agree with some of the most egregiously false and divisive statements made at public meetings.

This is the way that the fringe works. They make the most shameful comments and their shrill voices bring them attention and momentary adulation, but in the end it leaves their candidate sitting on the sideline looking for a new job. These strident voices leave the vast majority of Americans shaking their heads and thinking that these people need to be on the Maury Povich Show where their behavior can be viewed by a contemptuous audience ready for blood.

Therefore, one by one serious, thoughtful and reasonable Republicans are being forced out of their party such as Charlie Crist in Florida and being replace with the likes of the Ted Cruzes of the world. This is a destructive event for democracy. For democracy to work in America, we need to have two strong parties whose ideas may be different, but they are able to work together to reach comprise for the betterment of the country.

Demagoguery by our Republican brethren has taken on a life of its own in that these alleged leaders makes use of popular prejudices, false claims and promises in order to gain power for the sake of power and not the common good of Americans. Make an internet search and see how leaders from Mitch McConnell to Rand Paul make up facts to exploit fear in their constituents as a means of keeping or gaining leverage in their upcoming political fights.

The newest inner party fight is over inequality and in this case rhetoric and not action is at the forefront of the Republican stance, however, they cannot even get on the same page and are fighting each other as much as they are fighting the Democrats. This demonstrates the heart of the Republican problem: their inability to work together. If they are unable to work together, how can Americans expect them to work with the Democrats to solve our nation’s problems?

It is this Republican on Republican infighting that is tearing the party apart. This new extremism can be seen in Michigan. How can Democrats and Republicans work with anyone whose first words out of her mouth are to attack people for their sexual orientation, and say they should be thrown out of the Republican Party as a woman in Michigan did in her speech to be elected to the state RNC? This demonstrates callous, insensitivity and bigotry that are at the heart of the NEW Republican Party.

This behavior shows how narrow and restrictive the Republican Party has become, moreover, within their legislative districts, this conduct is seen as admirable. Whenever you find people that believe the way you do, you can say and do anything that matches their disposition. Conversely, if you want to expand your prospects, you must go beyond your comfort zone to seek consensus with others that may or may not believe the way you do.  This seems so obvious, but to nearsighted politicians like the Tea Party Republicans this idea is kryptonite.

This is the heart of the problem for the Republicans. They are at a crossroads that will determine their fate on the national level, but if they cave in to the demands of ignorance and hate, their destiny is sealed for decades to come. The death knoll for the Republican Party is beginning to ring. Will there be anyone that is willing stand up against this vile bigotry to set this once proud party back on track as a viable alternative to the Democrats? I think not; like the Whig Party, they too will fade into oblivion.

Cutting Through the White Noise

Opinions are like assholes everyone has one or knows one that wants to broadcast their white noise in streaming Digital Dolby Technicolor. The white noise has become so loud lately that it drowns out all the other white noise so you hear nothing.

In this digital age, we all know how to filter through the white noise to find those stories and events that are important to us, and in less than a blink of an eye send them off into the nether regions of the internets so that all our friends on Facebook or our followers on twitter or instagram or Pinterest or where ever we think that the most people will see that important story reside so that they will agree with us as to its importance.

For this to happen, we have to be introduced to said story, and that is where our internet providers or cable companies come in as they decide what to filter and what to send to us, the masses, via the independent messaging systems formally called: the news.  It might be yahoo news or msn news or NBC news or Fox news or any of the thousands of other sources for digital information. It matters not because once you hit on that link, you can go anywhere that they want you to go.

They cut through the white noise using their filter. And, once you are in their filter, they decide all content. All you have to do is sit down and click. You get to watch or read or listen to whatever information is provided and prioritized for you. This includes the advertisements that are picked for your viewing pleasure.

There is no thinking. It has all been done for you. No wonder our country is at such odds with each other. At no time in history have no few controlled the content for so many. And, it has never been easier to find likeminded individuals to rally around.

As good sheep, we go along for the ride. There is pleasure and pain in being directed to think and feel a certain way. It takes away the pressure of having to do real research and look for facts on our own. We can find the filters that we like and use them to find the answers that we are looking for to prove the theories that we hold so dear.

In this way, we are always right. We do not have to spend any time worrying about counter-arguments or different points of view because they are no longer in our field of vision. They are the white noise that is so irritating and obnoxious. They have no value as they hold contrary ideas to ours, thus, are not relevant to our world view.

Ask the Republican Party how this myopic vision worked in the 2012 Presidential Election. Let’s just say that they fell flat on their face. This fact in no way has stopped the Republicans from relying on this constrained, dogmatic perception as they seek their future political fortunes. In fact, it has only doubled their efforts to insulate themselves from outside criticisms.

Beyond politics, what I see from individuals to large groups are people looking for well-suited ideas to reassure them that they are on the righteous path to Elysium. Many want to to justify their belief systems in a vain attempt to live out their virtuous anger or say, “I told you so”. As childish as that may sound.

Many of you may think that I have some nerve to attack the digital world and all the members of it. It seems to be rather presumptuous for anyone to speak for the huddled masses. Too bad. It is all too obvious even to the casual observer. Start looking through the blogosphere, and see if I am telling the truth on some level.

This may all be true, but it is much too simplistic and primitive. I agree and only wish that I was smart enough to parlay these ideas into a research position in some think-tank and spout them out to a larger more cantankerous audience and see the sparks fly.

So, keep checking out all the people that agree with you, thus, justifying your position on any issue that matters. You will always be able to validate what you think and why you are always correct. This corroboration is extremely important in this age of cooperation and consensus building. Remember, you must cut through the white noise at all cost. It is your opinion that matters.

Time Shifts

There is a tenuous relationship between the here and now. We like to think that we live in the here and now, but that is an illusion just as the idea that there is a clear chronological time continuum that leads our lives in a straight line from beginning to end. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Logic would dictate that time is linear and maybe your watch supports that perception, but time has a mind of its own and leads us humans in any but a straight line. How often have you fallen asleep in a car and when you awake you are completely disoriented because of the distance traveled and the hours that you passed in your unconscious state? It is consciousness that dictates our connection with time. Ask anyone that has come out of a coma. Their link with time completed dissolved during that state of altered consciousness.

We all experience a lost sense of the time construct when we fall asleep. Time becomes meaningless during those hours of nocturnal rest.  These time shifts can be easily induced without falling asleep as in surgery or cannabis ingestion. What about when you are trapped on a plane or a classroom, maybe it is that meeting where time slows and you begin dreaming of the soft sands and warm waters of the Bahamas. You have just experience a time shift.

These are only momentary interruptions in what many see as a straight line of time. Too often we in the western world are ruled by chronology. We fight against time and try to put it in a little box and tie it up in a pretty little bow. But, when we open that box, time has played a number on us. It has left us in the dust, and we wonder where the time has gone. That is one little joke that time plays on us humans who do everything in their power to measure time and try to make it conform to our belief systems.

All you have to do is ask the Mayan’s about their measurements of time or the Afghans when 2014 is coming; maybe, the ancient Chinese would give us a better understanding of time and its influence on culture, or not. Everything we do in this country is predicated on the idea that time moves in a straight line. We are slaves to time as we define it. It all starts with that alarm clock that regulates daily habits. It drives how we educate children and dictates when we can and cannot work.

We try to control time with technology. We come up with time saving devices. There is no way to save time at least not yet. It is not like our artificial creation that we call money. You cannot put time away and use it at a later date though many of us would like to do that. Time marches on to its own drummer and we are along for the ride.

We have other odd dealings with time. Many people do not want to experience what we call the ravages of time. Many want to pretend that they not only can stop time, but they can reverse time. I don’t know how it all started, but we have created doctors who sculpt the human flesh to look as it did in days gone past.

It in no way looks as if you have lost 20 years. It looks more like your skin has been stretched too tight over a drum. That is neither here or there, it creates an illusion that time has stopped, and in the best case scenarios has been reversed. We only see what we want to see.

This technology does nothing to stop the degradation of cells. It is meant to create the illusion of youth. Aging is seen by some as giving into time. These procedures may make one a wrinkleless corpse, but it will no way change the landscape of cellular structure. Whatever time you have on this earth, enjoy it anyway you choose even if it means some sort of pulling and tucking.

Remember time goes beyond the spinning earth and slithers into black holes whose gravitational pull may be greater or lesser than we can hypothesis as well as their impact on the universe as a whole. If the universe came from nothing, then we have nothing to lose.

On the other hand, time is a man-made construct designed to make sense of limited days that this reality affords us. Put your time to good use or don’t. It is all up to you. You are the captain of your ship and get to sail it as you wish. But, when your time comes to an end, I hope that you have filled the minutes and hours and days and nights with memories that bring you a smile at the end of your time.

Teaching in America

When you look ahead at what is to be, what do you see for yourself? Is it a world where you live on the edge? Do you live in a place where money is in short supply, and are you being told that you are the problem because the system is fine? I live and work in a place like that. I am a public school teacher.

With all changes facing educators today, we have been told by outsiders that the public school system is fine, but you the teacher need to change and not the organization. Here are a few of the issues that we face: raise graduation rates or else; you have no idea what is important to learn so follow these new guidelines; prove with paperwork that your students are progressing. If you refuse to follow these directions, then, you are subject to termination.

I have received email that a certain student or students are only failing my class. The implication is that I am the problem and not the student. If I was a better teacher, then, these students would be passing my class. The days of students being responsible for their learning has long since passed.

More than this is the fact that schools no matter their clientele are being graded using the same rubric. There is a school in the Seattle School District that houses students classified as medically fragile. Many of these school age children are unable to read, write and take care of their basic bodily functions, yet they are required to take the state mandated tests, and if they don’t, their lack of scores are counted as a ZERO against the overall average of the entire school. What an affront to these students and their parents.

Another insult when it comes to public schools are two separate but important issues: vouchers and charter schools. These two entities take millions of taxpayers’ dollars and puts the money in the hands of private businesses and individuals. All the while stripping those monies from the public schools that most need them.

In both of these cases, the aforementioned businesses do not have to follow the same rules as the public schools that they are to replace. There is no teacher training required by the state to work and teach under these conditions. How do I know? I was a private school teacher in the great states of Washington and Colorado without ever having to go through a teacher training or preparation program. 

More to the point, the students being taught under the above situations are not required to take any of the state mandated tests required of public schools. Moreover, teachers in these institutions are not subject to the same ongoing teacher training requirements to be recertified every five years as public school teachers are required to do. This is not sour grapes. These are the facts.

It is Bill and Melinda Gates and their foundation that are behind many of these changes, and they want to tell public schools how and where to spend their money, how they need to evaluate public school teachers and they are the hidden money behind common core, which was developed by academicians and researchers that have never set foot in a public school classroom and practiced what they are selling.

In the 19^th Century, these men and women would be call snake oil salesmen and women. They are trying to pull a fast on over on the public while using Gates money and their personal degrees to leverage their position.

Not only have teachers, administrators and politicians knuckled under to these tactics, but now the textbook manufacturers have given way as well.  By doing so, these publishers have created 10 lb. tomes for our students to lug around full of revised curriculum that has yet to be scrutinized.

As a public school teacher for the past 20 years, I am flabbergasted by these events; not merely for myself, but for all the teachers that will follow me. These phony prescriptive measures are the latest means to disembowel our public schools and federalize a system that demonstrated strength through local control.

Public schools are on a fool’s errand with this new wave of corporatism in the classroom. This is not the way to educate our citizenry. One of the cornerstones of American Democracy is under attack by the elitists 1%. Be extremely wary of that man or woman who is telling you how much better schools will be if only you incorporate their cure.

Picture: A Momentary Flash of Your Life:

There is something so fresh and new each time you pull out a picture from a shoe box or look at one pasted in an album. One day you may look a little closer, and you may see behind the canvas that has been painted for you. You may remember the feeling or smell the air. You may be able at that moment to put away the anger or the angst of daily living and feel a tranquility or excitement. It is your picture and you get to hold it any way that you like.

I am not talking about the millions or billions of electronic pictures that hide in the background of your phone or live endlessly on the internets. I am talking about the honest to goodness pictures that are printed, and you can hold in your hand and touch. They may be slick on one side and dull on the other. They tell a story of your past and can be passed from person to person for hundreds of years.

These memories were created and live in a new day and a new time. They clutch bits of humanity. A brief moment is captured and released. No matter what, these pictures always tells a story. There is always someone behind the lens and those posing or being frozen in time and space in front of it. It is a miracle of technology. Moreover, whoever picks up that picture gets to make up any story as they see fit.

Sometimes there is nothing so sad as a picture. There may be smiles or hugs staring back at you, but you never get to go back except in your mind. There is no time traveling machine that will whisk you away so that you may jump back into that picture to relive that moment. This fact is what makes me sad sometimes. I look at moments stopped in time and wish to have them back. I would like a do-over or I just want to relive that time once again with those people.

This may or may not happen to you, if it does, you may, at some point in your life, want to print up some pictures. It is only natural. You will want something more substantial than a bunch or 0 and 1’s floating carelessly in some server or in the nether reaches of some electronic device. You have only two true choices: pick carefully and judiciously or print them all and see what is really there. This is only the beginning of the project. After you begin printing, you have to decide what to do with all those pictures and where to put them for safe keeping.

In my life, shoe boxes have been great repositories for pictures. You might want to go buy a pair of shoes so that you have a safe place to store your memories. I am in no way saying that you must have a shoe box. Any box will do.  Go look for where and how your parents and grandparents have hidden their memories and take them out. Open the box or boxes or albums and see what you can find from the past and make up your own stories. But, once you have printed your pictures and found a place to store them, you will want to display some of them. This is where the hard work begins.

You will want to be careful about the picture frame that you choose and the picture that needs to be placed in that frame. It is the matching of the two that will tell much about you. They tell a story beyond the picture and give insight into the workings of your mind. The story has more to do with you than it has to do with the picture.  What do you see in the picture? Why did you use that particular frame? Why does that picture need to be protected and displayed when all the others are gathering dust in your shoe boxes or turning brown and curling in old picture albums?

It goes beyond those ideas. How are you going to tell your story to those that want to know you? How are you going to bring to light the important or not so important moments that have made you who you are? You are in no way the sum total of those pictures nor are those pictures you. They are a momentary flash of your life. They are a time where someone stopped life for eternity or until the picture fades away or is lost.

It is a picture.

Time To Take On The Bully Boeing

If you don’t take care of yourself no one else is going to do it for you. This is where the union comes into play. In the world of work, this is the one entity that has been developed to help the working man and woman. It is in no way a perfect organization, but without it American workers are left to the wolves. You see this when companies set up manufacturing in states that view unions as the enemy.

All you have to do is look at what is happened in Wisconsin or Detroit or here in Everett. American companies are making record profits, but they are doing any and everything in their power not to give anything back to their workers or the communities that support them while their CEOs make 1000% more than their average worker.

Boeing in our state is making more money than it knows what to do with, but it wants concessions from the state and from its workers. They talk out of both sides of their mouths as they shout that their workers need to be trained in math and science be it here in Washington or in South Carolina. Yet, they are unwilling to contribute to the public education system in any meaningful way.

They are too busy putting dollar bills in the pockets of politicians instead of contributing to public schools with their tax revenues.  They must be courted because other states are so desperate for Boeing that they are willing to give the company free or highly subsidized land for their manufacturing facilities. These states are ready to push through or already pushed through right to work legislation that all but makes it impossible for unions to function and thrive for hard working hourly employees.

This is business in the 21^st Century, but it resembles late 19^th and early 20^th century business practices. At some point, someone needs to stand up and say the emperor has no clothes. That someone must be in a position of power in the industry or government for that idea to register with the public. To be effective, this aforementioned maneuver must originate with a coalition of groups that must work together to bring these travesties to light. This is where the media comes into play.

Here in Everett, the Herald has brought up some of these issues, but they too often treat Boeing with kid gloves. It is sad to see the fourth estate has become so demure in its reporting. 60 Minutes once a bulldog in reporting the issues has become a shadow of itself. It is time for the American workers to stand up to these bullies. Boeing is not the company it once was. It has no connection to Puget Sound region.  I wonder what Bill Boeing would say about what has happened to his company.

I do not know what is going to happen when machinist in District 751 vote on Boeing’s counter proposal; it matters not; Boeing has already won. They have put fear in the machinists, the politicians and too many of us in the Everett area. I can see them rejecting the vote to flex their muscles. This way they can show the 22 other states and workers what is at stake. But, what will that do to their long-term employment?

More than that, Boeing has some big, bad secrets that are not that secret: all 787’s built in South Carolina must be flown to Everett to be completed. Errors and the lack of skilled workers back on east coast make it impossible for Boeing to fly 787’s directly to customers without first coming to Everett. They can say that is the fact that the planes need to be painted, but it is more than that.

Moreover, Boeing loves South Carolina because it can pay the workers so much less, and corporate is trying to use this fact as leverage against the Everett plant and its workers. I’d like to see our news organizations start investigating Boeing and their management practices as well as the production situation in regards to the 787 in Everett and Charlestown.

However, that would mean taking on a large multinational company and seriously investigating how it works. Why Boeing has decided to attack and punish the workers that have put it in the position of being one of the most profitable companies in the world not just the United States. On the surface, this seems daunting, but there are people in the company at all levels willing to share their stories. We need someone unafraid of embarrassing Boeing. It is time to take off the gloves and reveal the truth behind the curtain because they have shown their willingness to abandon Washington and its trained work force.

Where Are Our Visionaries?

We are no longer a people of action destined for great things. We are a people of talkers destined to talk about some incident until no one can hear it or cares to hear it. And, when we take action, a faction of American politicians and pundits do everything in their power to derail and demonize any program or idea that does not fit into their limited scope no matter how positively it will impact the country as a whole be it healthcare or food programs or highway and bridge repair or NASA.

As a nation that one time set its sights on the moon and beyond that built the largest transportation infrastructure the world has ever seen, we have become rather pedestrian in our present visions. We still build the deadliest weapons ever imagined, but we no longer seem to have the ability to see the big picture as far as society stands. Politicians are unable and unwilling to take risks to propel us forward.

We are trapped in a twenty-four hour news cycle. We can only see the small and petty. We do not trust each other and can longer no come together to better society and more forward.  There is no way for people from differing ideologies to step up and compromise. It is this my way or the highway philosophy that signals the decline of a once great country, which brought together divergent opinions to drive the ideals and ideas of America forward. It is a sad and disheartening time to be an American.

As a country and a society we are at a crossroads. We are at a place that where politicians in so called leadership positions want to jettison many of the beliefs that the government is here for the benefit of society. I realize that in 1980 Ronald Reagan signaled the beginning of the end in terms of the benefits of modern government as far as creating a safety net to protect all Americans no matter their situation. Today, there are far too many politicians that want to punish Americans that they deem as being unproductive and a drain on society while giving away more and more of the American Dream to corporate America.

This is nothing new as societies go throughout history. The powerful always use their influence and position to protect and enhance their interests on the backs of the weakest in society, and when the government sides with the wealthiest, then, we as a society have to decide if we really want to go this way and penalize the lowest on the economic scale.

Starting in the 20^th century the American experiment became an idea that wealth could be spread through more of society under the guidance of the government. American capitalism was never purely a libertarian ideal. Throughout American history the government has stepped in and regulated commerce and behavior. Sometimes to the benefit of the wealthiest and sometimes to the benefit of the poorest. There has always been volatility between the classes, which is why governmental interventions are used to stabilize economic tensions. In the last 6 years, we the people just made 10 billion dollars from GM by giving them a loan to prevent bankruptcy. This is not the first time the government has stepped in to help business.

So we have to ask ourselves the question, “Is government the problem or the solution?” This is a critical moment in history where we are faced with important decisions that will determine the trajectory of our society for a generation. The battle over government intervention will get uglier before it gets better. The distrust and anger is palpable. But, as Americans, we must take on this problem.

Healthcare is the first and foremost issue for Americans today. The lies and misrepresentation of the new system are flying across the air waves. It is these extreme views that are helping to eat away at the fabric of our society. And, it is the average American that will be hurt by all these attacks and misrepresentations.

It is disgusting that politicians and pundits alike are lying through their teeth and want to refuse to help their fellow citizens. The majority of these talking heads have never missed a meal or been denied medical coverage in their lives. They are unable or unwilling to empathize with others who are hurting and not being served by the capitalistic system in its present configuration.

In their world, there is no room for hungry children, there is no room for the uninsured and sick in our country. It is time for those in power to get off their high horse and see what it is like at the bottom rung of the ladder. All Americans need to look beyond our on individual needs and think about the needs of society.  This idea is not communism or socialism.  It is humanitarianism. We will send food and supplies half world away but we will not feed or cloth or immunize an American child in need.

In the future, where will the visionaries come? Who will work for the greater good of society whether it is to develop the next extraordinary space mission or take care of the sick, hungry and tired? Have those words emblazoned on the Statue of Liberty become fiction?

Riddle Me This Batman

Riddle me this batman. What is this life all about? Why are we here? It seems all a waste of time to run around and act all important and then to die. What do we have to offer? Why do any of this if we are only dead meat on the hoof? There seems to be no meaning to anything. Every year I watch as 400 plus children make their rite of passage into adulthood, for what: to work for 40 years with no guarantee of healthcare or a decent retirement or stuff or the lack of stuff.

It makes me question everything that I have held as important. What is there to parenthood? Marriage? Work? To know that all I am going to do is die and someone else is going to rise up in my place as I rose up in someone else’s place can be unnerving. That is the cycle of life. Really, it is the cycle of meaninglessness. We give life meaning with things. Things that we accumulate. Things that we have to see and feel. We work and work for this stuff. When the stuff is not enough, what next?

Look to today. Go no farther. Do not plan for a future. It will drive you crazy. We are trapped in the material world as Madonna so aptly put it. Future means nothing until it is upon you. You can work, save and do it all correctly and never see the fruits of your labors. The future can be stolen in the blink of an eye. 

What is there to show for my father after his death? Nothing of substance. What about my grandfathers? Nothing. Grandmothers?  Nothing. What is the point of living if you are not living for today? Tomorrow will never come. No one is going to worry about yesterday when they are worrying about tomorrow and too often forget about today.

Today, we put everything in a cloud. Life exists in a transcendental world of servers using 1s and 0s. In a blink of an eye this information can vanish just as we do. Time has no friends. It marches on regardless of our personal desires. It evaporates all in its way.

I look around and see a temporal world that only believes in change and that change too often throws away the past. It is beholden to a tomorrow that will never come and a yesterday that is all but forgotten. There is hell to pay when you never play the game that runs in the present. A present that has no memory except what we give it, and when we die, that memory is extinguished like our presence.

Life is all the same no matter the scale. It can be as simple as putting the dishes put away correctly or cleaning bathrooms or as complex as billion dollar mergers. All the same in the end. It is all destiny. We are destined to die. We are destined to fill our time until we die. This is not morose. It is fact. What are you to do with your time between birth and death? You can get no more elemental than that. That is the only fact that matters. Most philosophers filled their time with meaningless hyperbole. What is your destiny?

Are you going to spend your time trying to justify your existence only to die like the rest of us? What are you about? Are you going to dance the dance of death or life? It is up to you. You can let the world drive by or you can get in the fast lane. No matter what you chose, it matters not. You will die, and if you are remembered, it will be a caricature of your life. Make time meaningful for yourself in the present. That is all that matters.

Rock on.

Blank Spaces

Every time I look at a blank page I want to start with, “the door opened…” What does this mean? It really is nothing. On the other hand, it is all about running away or looking for something new to change the pace of life and get me out of the rut of daily life. There is so much daily repetition that it is shortening my life. Leaving me a shadow of myself. A large, gigantic shadow, but a shadow none the less.

I turn to the screen to fill in all the blank spaces of life. What are we to do with all these blank spaces? Do we color them? Where do we find the markers that will change our trajectory? We must look past the end of our noses. We have to open closed doors and look into dark corners of our minds to see what is hidden.

When you find what is hidden, grab on to the tiniest of ideas or visions. Roll them around on the tips of your fingers. Put them in the palm of your hand and feel their weight. Don’t put them in your pocket because you will forget them, and they will become lint that you pull out of the dryer lint trap. Your car keys will crush them and you will be right back into your old routines.

Take this revelation and put it on your bedside table. That is not the greatest place for it to live, but at least it can breathe and stay alive. It will not suffocate like it would if it was in your pocket. Now, you can take the time to look at it from all sorts of angles. You can think about how you are going to fit it into your life. You can break the cycle of boredom and repetition. Break out of your comfort zone.

Put your new vision into action. Step outside of yourself and look in the mirror. If you look long enough you can see the future and the past. Time is of no meaning at that moment. You will become one with the universe. Okay so that is a bunch of hokum; who gives a shit. You have to give in to the unknown. You have to be willing to take a leap of faith, or you will wake up and it will be the same day different year.

What do you have to lose? Nothing. You can always walk back through that door and put your vision or idea back in your pocket. You can forget about the future and live in the world you have created before that idea pushed itself into your frontal lobe. There is no genie that has to be put back into the bottle. Everything is as it should be. Chamber that round and holster that revolver. The lights will come on and gas will be in your car. Order will be restored to your world and all will be right.

Is that what you really want?  No. You want to look into your pocket. You want to find that ray of sunshine and feel that warmth on your face. You will run as fast as you can from the rain and clouds as they bare down on your being. All right that was a little dramatic, but you will be curious as to what could be. You will think about how the change will affect your place in the world and your feeling of self.

Or not. I mean the ball is in your court. There is something to be said for being content with your daily routine. There are no surprises to make you feel out of place. Change is something that can upset the balance in your life. It is not always welcome.

If none of this is for you. You will always know when dinner will be served. You know what your bedtime is no matter the season. There is such safety in this knowledge. You can breathe easier knowing what to expect. That is not for me. I will be looking for a bit of magic. It will give me a new reason to live. It will let me explore all I don’t know. I don’t care if the heat will be on or if there will be gas in the tank. It is the little surprises that bring satisfaction to my world, but not yours, so be it.

 

Go in peace.

Credit Lie or Keeping the Poor in Their Place

I can’t write about love, lust, education, politics or religion. What is there left? War? It is the same thing over and over. No matter what time period we study the cycle is repeated from generation to generation. The only changes are technology. The idea of killing or being killed is imbedded in human DNA. Modern warfare not only uses weapons, but also uses wealth as a means of stratification and centralizing power. Look at the way Germany was punished after WWI or look at how we punish those in our society with bad credit or the lack of credit.

I want someone to argue against this idea. Come on you peaceniks or social economists. Prove to me that my thesis is wrong. Show me how humankind is altruistic as a whole. I am serious. Humankind is selfish and greedy. Jesus is used as a weapon to separate the wheat from the chaff. By this I mean that humans want to feel good about themselves, so they set up food kitchens and warehouses so that the homeless can be housed. Lately, these do-gooders have created tent cities. Yet none of these institutions have created something that will put these people on the path of full integration into society. As a country, we do not want this to happen.

These institutions are not set-up so that you are giving a hand up. They are set-up so that we can keep these people away from our neighborhoods. We don’t want their kind infecting our homes and way of living. We (as a society) need these people on the bottom of the economic scale so that we can feel superior. We can give them bread and not teach them how to bake. We can give them fish and not teach them how to fish. This way we can feel good about ourselves and still keep the riff-raff in their place.

We need a stratified society for us to survive. The wealthy understand this fact. They are desperately afraid of what would happen if people revolted against this stratification of society, and the rest of us go along with it because of our own greed and anxiety about our place in the world. This goes beyond our borders and around the world.

Credit has taken off and been heavily supported by the wealthy to provide the middle class with all the trappings of being wealthy and none of the benefits. It is a full proof system to keep all but the wealthiest on top and in control be it politically or economically. It is like a movie set all pretty on the outside and empty once you step behind the credit façade.

Credit is the great lie. Look how the World Bank uses credit against what is euphemistically called developing nations. They extract a pound of flesh for every euro or dollar that is lent to these countries. None of these countries are able to get out of debt and grow beyond the idea of developing.  They are in no way on the path to become a first world country.  What would happen if the European Union, the United States or China wanted to do the right thing and pull these countries up? Another war would break out under some phony premise. Can you say Iraq?

We depend on these countries feeding at our economic trough. We need to be able to manipulate their economy and politics for the benefit of our economy and politics. Foreign Aid is the number one way that first world countries keep third world countries in their place. It becomes the perfect way for them to do our political and military dirty work. Ask Yemen. However, look what happens when we overreach with our greed and phony magnanimity: Libya.

This idea of the value of credit is an old trick of the mob. I just lent you money, or do you remember that favor I did for you? Now, it is time for you to reciprocate. One problem for first world countries is the fact that so many third world refugees are flooding our shores. These unwanted immigrants are upsetting the balance of power. They are bringing us down. Germany experienced this phenomenon when the Berlin Wall fell. We need to model our behavior after the Germans if stratification is to remain in place.

One last idea. There will never be a One World Government because there are too many plutocrats in too many countries that need and will protect their piece of the pie at all costs.  They are doing everything in their power to remain on top and keep the tide of poverty at a manageable level so that credit can be used to placate the masses here at home and across the globe.

The credit lie infects all societies in all countries. In some places, it is the credit card that takes advantage through banking manipulation. In other places, it is parents selling their children for money or goods. Maybe it is the World Bank extending credit to countries on the brink of collapse. In all these cases, there are winners and losers. It is always the same: those doling out the money or goods are the winners and the borrowers are the losers. Think about your own economic position. Who has the power?

Corporatism Takes Over Democracy

The measure of a man or a woman is their ability to stand up for what they believe no matter the situation. This can be painful and heartbreaking as people that you once saw as friends turn on you. They pretended to believe as you did, but their beliefs are as phony and flat as the characters in a movie.

In this day and age why does it seem to be so difficult for men and women to stand up to the mob and say, “The King has no clothes”? It is ironies of ironies that public officials are more worried about pleasing those in the business world even if it means taking the entire country down. They are too small minded and swayed by Super-PAC money to look at the big picture and see what is needed in the long run for the country as a whole.

At one time, the battle was states’ rights versus federal rights. I am sorry to say that this is no longer the case. These Representative and Senators hold corporate interests above the interest of people that voted them into office. They are taking marching orders from secret business donors and special interests that are in no way aligned with the country’s needs.

This is corporatism at its worst. As a country, we can thank the Supreme Court for opening up the flood gates for this type of industry influence that pits the few against the many. There is no end in sight for the kind of change that these hundreds of millions of dollars bring.

It takes a strong person to stand up the type of pressure that this kind of money brings. There seems to be a moral relativism that has overcome the House of Representatives and the Senate. Everything is relative to the amount of money being deposited to one’s reelection campaign. These are men and women who are ruled by money and not their conscience.

The question to me is, “At what point do their morals and values kick in, and they see the errors of their ways.”  That idea sounds like a bad morality play told by Hollywood in the 40’s as the country was glossing over racism and sexism that has plagued us for over 400 years. I do not hold much hope that there will be significant changes in how the federal government operates anytime soon.

Where does that leave the country? It leaves us caught in a quagmire of greed and self-interest that wants to punish the weakest in our society. These corporatists are trying to reverse a hundred years of gains made by the working and middle class, so that they are able to replenish their coffer at 19^th and early 20^th century levels.

It must be fantastic to be able to say that you make 100 times more money than the average worker in your company. Why stop there when you are capable of having a politician or two in your pocket through your Super-PAC. That seems to be where we are going as a country. If this isn’t a rehash of the good old days, I don’t know what it is.

Maybe, we should rekindle the idea that racism and sexism aren’t so bad? The waving of the Confederate Flag in front of the White House may be a sign that the country needs to reverse all the gains that women, minorities and gays have experienced in the late 20^th and early 21^st Centuries. Why should those people be seen as equal?

White males have taken so many hits over the past 40 years that it is time to reverse their fortunes. Women need to be seen and not heard. Gays need to get back in the closet and brown people need to move to the back of the bus.

If corporatists had their way, this is where the country would be headed. They would allow a few exceptions as long as those men and women towed the company line. I am not sure what the company line is or might be, but I know that it will be detrimental to the country as these billionaires gain more power and influence in our federal government. It is time to take action against such blatant anti-democracy. Vote against candidates that represent these morals and values.

Fight for the Soul of the Republican Party

What is the primary reason that we are here? We are born to die. Seriously, what is the point? It is absurd to think that there is any meaning to life. Some seek money, others seek fame. The majority live a life of quiet desperation. There is nothing new in this idea.

What needs to remembered is that you are required to give meaning to your own life. Each individual is solely responsible for their own sense of happiness.  There are plenty of people that will try to manipulate others for their own satisfaction. You must do everything in your power and run as fast as you can from these people. They are the definition of a succubus.

An evil demon set on your personal destruction. Too many people dream of finding such beings so that they can feel alive. They live for going from one crisis to another. Their pathology leads them to being an enabler. It is such a sad state of affairs to see such people in our government. These people want one and one thing only: to ruin of our government and our way of life by creating one phony crisis after another so that they in no way have to deal with the real issues that face our country.

Men like Ted Cruz and Rand Paul feign the idea that they are the healthy change that is needed for America to move forward. They are so self-centered that all they can think about is their own personal positions no matter the topic or situation. They see the world in small personal terms.

These Tea Par Anarchists want annihilation at all costs. There is no big picture for these lawmakers that does not involve some sort of self-destructive behavior. They are acting like a drunk on a two week bender. Once they put the bottle to their lips there is no stopping them until they pass out. They need an intervention. The only intervention that will have any meaning to them is being voted out of office.

The problem with this scenario is that the men and women who enable and encourage the Anarchists are unable or unwilling to see that their way of life is going to be destroyed by the people they elected. These bar-flies have no idea how bad it is going to be until they wake up with a pounding hangover and see what has happened to their bar.

It has been burned to the ground. There is nowhere to go and celebrate. These Tea Party Anarchists are jumping for joy. They have wreaked havoc on the very people that voted them in, yet they are proud of the fact that these same people will no longer be able to suck at the government teat. They are victorious once again on a tiny scale.

When it comes to the gigantic bar known as Washington D.C., they have no power to carry out this kind of damage on the large scale they so wish. Their two week drunk will lead to the loss of billions of dollars, but that is it. They were forced to capitulate. But, they are ready to go on another bender as the latest talk about Benghazi illustrates.

Their drunken dream of taking over Washington D.C. was a fantasy best left to the comic books. They made their power play and fell flat on their face. There may be a political price for such aberrant behavior. Gentlemen and Gentle Ladies be ready to be put in the back of the caucus.

You will be taking a back seat to the adults in the Republican Party if and only if they have the moral character to put those drunks in treatment facility. It will take a 12 step program to make substantial changes to a Republican Party that has acted and enables such deviant behavior. In the next two months, that is what needs to happen if the country is to move forward.

Until then, strap on your seatbelt and enjoy the ride. The fight for the soul of the Republican Party is still up for sale. Watch out for those carrying a flask in their suit pocket or purse. Don’t fall for the old trick of going back to their offices for a drink and cigar. It is not what you think. Jim Jones has nothing on these charlatans.

The Tea Party is a Terrorist Organization

The Tea Party Subversives are trying to steer the federal government in a new direction. The Republican Party radical wing has decided that national elections are no longer the key to success.  They see local control as the means to power. Unconsciously, they are have become the anti-federalist.  They have in no way clearly articulated this idea to their constituents or to the country as a whole.

They say things like, “Government is the problem, not the solution.”  Of course they in no way mean this. Because if they did mean it, they would be advocating for anarchy. Moreover, if there is a natural or a man-made disaster in their district or state, these men and women, who say they hate government, are the first ones at the feeding trough. Ironies of ironies. Furthermore, in no way, are they willing to cut off the government funding for the special interest groups and businesses that fund their political campaigns, more irony.

They are only anti-federalist when it suits their ends. Remember, for all politicians, the means justify the ends, therefore, for these Tea Party Subversives, shutting down the federal government is a logical means to ending Obamacare even though they have no plans to replace this law with other legislation.  If they are able to eliminate this legislation, it will only be the beginning of their Machiavellian collusions.

What they don’t realize is the ACA is a federal law that cannot be eliminated on the local level. You must be able to run national and statewide campaigns to impact federal law. You may be able to keep winning in Gerrymandered congressional districts, but you will not be able to overcome federal laws with this strategy, with or without a divided government, which says to me that these Tea Party Subversives have no desire to govern. They are a seditious organization set on disruption and destruction of the federal government without any plans on how to replace it. They have taken a page from the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Why govern when you can create crisis after crisis so that you can embolden your power base, thus, never accomplishing anything but disorder and damage. This way you can stay in power as you raise the emotional ire of said base. This is great way to grind government to a halt.  What do these extremists do next? Will there be a backlash to their tactics in their home districts? Not yet. Unless the Republican leaning women in their districts take a stand against these tactics as well as those used by the Tea Party Subversives to dismantle women’s reproductive rights.

I see these diehard fanatics as so ideologically ensconced in their belief system that they will go down with the ship no matter the cost. Fanaticism centers on people who can't change their minds and won't change the subject that they are perseverating over. These people have very strict standards and little tolerance for contrary ideas or opinions. They are unable or unwilling to see other points of view. Tea Partiers believe that they have the corner on truth, and will do anything to maintain their position even if it means the obliteration of an idea, person or institution.

  That is where we stand with the Tea Party darling Ted Cruz threatening future government shut downs if he and his Republican trouble makers don't get their way. Compromise is not a word in their lexicon.  The question remains, “How do we overcome this self-destructive behavior?” We don’t. This era of self-indulgence must run its course. Like all children that are throwing tantrums, we have to wait until The Tea Party runs out of energy, then, and only then, can the adults in the room change the discussion to a productive topic.

 

The Democrats and the President must refuse to negotiate to with these traitors . You never negotiate with terrorists, homegrown or otherwise. You let them fall on their own swords. When these Tea Party Subversives realize there is no hope, they will back down, but it will not be anytime soon.  They will regroup and attack again. They are against governing. They are bent on the collapse of the federal system or their own ideological position. Keep a close eye on these Tea Party Subversives and the next steps in their political machinations, which are Anti-American.