Feel Like You’re Living In The Twilight Zone? Me, Too!

Politics in The Twilight Zone

Mental health counselors are dealing with unprecedented numbers of clients who are seeking help as a direct result of Trump-induced distress.

 

https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-why-experts-are-split-over-trumps-mental-health

https://vitals.lifehacker.com/therapists-tell-us-how-the-trump-era-has-messed-with-ou-1820224610

 

Uncharacteristically, scores of psychiatrists and other mental health practitioners (most of them Republicans) have been lining up to warn us about the signs and symptoms of a megalomaniac whose lust for power and the spotlight can launch us into a world war that no human can win.

https://www.msn.com/en-in/health/medical/20-life-forms-that-would-survive-a-nuclear-war/ss-AAlrclJ

 

And the National Rifle Association just voted Oliver North into its top spot. Yes, that Oliver North, the one who paved the way to supply illegal arms in the Iran-Contra scandal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_North

 

It’s so distressing that I’m planning to leave the country in a few years (see my last post) unless the midterms and 2020 turn things around. And even that probably won’t solve the problems before I’m shoveled off this mortal coil.

 

We are in a deep, dark hole.The soul of our nation is at stake. And it happened on our watch. That’s what’s most distressing of all.

 

Most of us didn’t even vote in 2016. (I did.)  I hope that will change this year and in 2020. It looks very well as if it might.  I’ll feel a lot better if it does.

 

We can’t sit idly by and let what’s been happening continue to happen. And I’m talking about BOTH sides of the aisle.

 

Yes, the GOP side is beyond the pale policy-wise–discriminatory, sexist, racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, homophobic, etc.–but the DEM side is complicit in some areas and emasculated (lacking sufficient will or skill) in most of the others.

 

There is no way the DEMS should be losing elections against the candidates and policies that the GOP puts forward, except that they aren’t putting forth the candidates or the vision most likely to succeed these days. They’re beholden to lobbyists and Wall Street, too–which is why we need to get money out of politics.  The DEMs have become GOP-light ever since the Bill Clinton (Third Way–southern strategy) era. (Remember, Hillary Clinton was an enthusiastic Young Republican and a supporter of Barry Goldwater, who voted against the Civil Rights Act back in the day, and she married a Southerner.)

 

Maybe we need a new party, or no parties at all, because everyone has been brain-washed into thinking only “their” party has answers. BOTH parties are racist, sexist and misogynistic. Only recently has the DEM party been pro-LGBTQI and pro marriage-equality–and see what happened as soon as it was? Things started moving forward again, toward progress and equity! (Yes, there was and is backlash, but it won’t last more than a generation, probably. We shouldn’t be against love; we should be against hate!)

 

WE KNOW THE ANSWERS: WE JUST LACK THE WILL TO MAKE THEM HAPPEN.

 

There are far more reasonable people, overall, than media is showing. We’re being shown the loudest, most  outlandish examples of “political discourse”–skinheads, KKK, white supremacist, and gun-toting lunkheads on the fringe far right;  Antifascists, Black Lives Matter advocates, and Democratic Socialists on what the media want us to deem the “fringe” far left in this country (which are moderate stances in all western nations but ours)–in an effort to cause an “us versus them” response. Because the last thing that politicians want us to do is join forces and approach them demanding the changes that will benefit the greatest number of Americans on both sides of the political divide: universal health care, free higher education, free child care so moms and dads can work, $15 minimum hourly wage, equal pay for equal work, etc.)

 

True, the ideological, extreme far right has no right to call themselves patriots or Christians; they’re the polar opposite of what American (and Christian) tenets propose: “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” for all; equal justice under the law, taking care of “the least of these,” etc. So if they ever get their way, America as a nation and Christianity as a religion will cease to exist as  praise-worthy entities.

 

Social justice is the ticket to a safer, saner world. 

 

 

But that isn’t the agenda of our present head of state, or of his minions or of his party. Oligarchs, plutocrats and corporations reign supreme in today’s real Twilight Zone. (P.S. Off and on throughout our history, they have.) It’s a constant political battle to bring them to heel.

 

We’re always just one generation away from losing the battle against greed and corruption. Every generation has to stand up, step forward, and engage in the battle if are to survive.

 

I’m old and tired. I have the words, but not the stamina any longer. I’m on my last legs. But to my last breath, I will always say “We can do better–and we ought to be engaged in doing it!”

 

Words have always been my “weapon” of choice. I’ve volunteered and protested, too, plenty. But it’s the words, the ideals, that call to us from generation to generation. It’s the spirit of America that’s calling out.

 

We can do better. Hold your representatives accountable. Vote them out when they disappoint you. As Mr. Rogers’ mother always told him when bad things happened in the world: “Look for the helpers.”

 

If your representatives aren’t helping YOU, they aren’t representing you. Let them know what you want and need. Let them know you vote and that you register voters.

 

Register to vote here…and share this link with others: https://vote.gov/

 

It’s up to you to make America the nation you know it can be. Don’t fail your country!

 

Instead of “My country, right or wrong!” make it “My country, voter strong!”

 

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” — Gandhi