Why Are We Really Supporting Ukraine?

21 Sep 2022 21 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: biden, blinken, Brink, democracy, equality, freedom, justice, proxy war, russian, ukraine, USA, war

As the proxy war between the the USA and Russia continues in the Ukraine, I am still left wondering “What is the real motive for this war.” It is all too easy to believe the propaganda put out by the US State Department such as the interview that follows with the US Ambassador to the Ukraine. According to this narrative, it is all about freedom, peace, justice, and equality for the world.

Perhaps, I am simply a cynic at heart or perhaps it is due to my 76 years of experience with similar protestations when it came to wars and military efforts elsewhere such as in Vietnam, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, Iraq, Libya, Kuwait, Syria, and Afghanistan. Efforts that beg many questions.

Are we really fighting for peace, freedom, and democracy in the world? Should we be fighting for these values? Are we consistent in our values or are we simply USA Hypocrites? Is America the Good Guy and Russia the Bad Guy? Am I being “Unpatriotic?”

Read the following interview and let me know what you think.

VOA Interview: US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink – June 18, 2022

Brink: I might put it a little different way. I think those of us who are such strong supporters within the U.S. government, within the American population, for Ukraine, support Ukraine because we see, or we think we see, and understand the future that Ukrainians want. And that is a future where Ukraine is free, independent, prosperous, sovereign and gets to decide its own future. To us, as Americans, it really appeals to also who we are. So, what I would hope, what I plan to do and what we are doing is supporting Ukraine in this immediate task of prevailing in its effort to defend itself that is crucially important. I think everybody would agree. And I think the government here and the people here would agree that another important task is and will be and will remain the reform effort, which will secure Ukraine for a future for Ukrainian children and their children.

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VOA: And this war is not only about Ukraine. Ukraine is fighting for a bigger goal, for democracy. Is Ukraine fighting for European values as well? If Ukraine fell, what could be the consequences?

Brink: Well, Ukraine won’t fail, and we will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes. And as I mentioned, this is obviously very important to Ukraine, and it’s also really important to European security. It’s really important to America, because, as President Biden has said, it’s both morally outrageous what has happened, this unprovoked, unjustified attack on a sovereign nation. But it also is in America’s vital interest to have peace and security in Europe. So, this is something that has repercussions that go well beyond Ukraine. And for this reason, we all understand very much what’s at stake. And that’s why we’re here to help Ukraine prevail.

For the full interview click on the link below:

https://www.voanews.com/a/voa-interview-us-ambassador-to-ukraine-brink/6623182.html

I appreciate any comments that you have time to post. Thank you for considering these questions.

Why Public-School Education is Dying – Part 3 of 5 Parts

08 Jan 2022 3 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers, Critical Race Theory, democracy, education, gender issues, right wing attacks on education, school board controversies

In Part 1 of this blog on education, I stated that, “I am going to dive into the major reasons that are leading to the death of public-school education.” In this part, we will look at the role that our political leaders play in murdering public school education in America.

How our politicians are helping to kill public school education

Kill or murder? I have used both words to describe what the Right-Wing political faction is trying to do to public school education. Let me be clear on this point. The Right-Wing politicians and their cronies in the media are systematically and deliberately trying to destroy public school education and any semblance of a free and open democratic educational system whether it be in kindergarten or in a university.

Liberals in America have always supported at least in a token sense a system of democratic free public-school education. Their support dwindles when it comes to the university level. When it comes to eliminating elitism in schools and eliminating anti-intellectual bias, liberals have too often watched from the sidelines when conservatives have been on the attack. This is to say that conservatives support elitism and anti-intellectualism while liberals twiddle their thumbs and remain silent.

I want to trace a chronological picture of the attack on public education from when I first noticed it up until this past week. We will start by going back to 1973 when my daughter entered kindergarten.

1973

I was twenty-seven years old and had been married for six years. We were living in Providence R.I., and I was attending Rhode Island College days and working nights. My daughter Christy had been in a Montessori School since she was three and my wife was working part-time. With Christy turning six soon we decided to enroll her in a public school. Two advantages for us were cost and proximity. The public school would be free, and it was only a few blocks from where we lived.

I walked down to the public school to see about enrolling Chris. When I arrived, I was shocked. The school had broken windows all over and the ones that had been repaired had thick Plexiglas installed inside of windowpanes. The school yard was full of junk and debris. The whole place looked like a prison that had just survived a prison riot. I turned around and went home. I was never going to send my daughter to this school. I would sell my soul first.

After some discussion with my wife Julia, we found that our only option was an expensive private school up the “East” side of Providence near Brown University where all the rich people lived. The school was called Gordon.

The Gordon School is a racially diverse nursery through eighth grade coeducational independent school in East Providence, Rhode Island. Child by child, the Gordon School community cultivates successful students by inspiring joyful learning, encouraging intellectual leadership, fostering an empathic spirit, and stimulating a drive for positive societal impact.

The tuition at the time was a fortune for us. We were living in a 3^rd floor apartment and paying 75 dollars a month rent. We budgeted everything including purchasing light bulbs. The cost for Gordon in 1974 was almost 3 thousand dollars a year. Currently, the tuition varies by scholarships and financial aid but the web lists Gordon tuition for 2021 as $39,000 a year. For us, it was either this or send Chris to the dilapidated run-down school I had visited. Christy went to Gordon for two years until I graduated college. After graduating with a degree in Health Education, our family moved to a small town in Wisconsin called River Falls. There Christy was entered into the public school system where she remained until after high school.

At the time, I never made any connection between Republicans and their desire to destroy public school education. I was pretty radical in my politics, and I voted Socialist Labor, Citizens Party, Green Party and any other party except for Republicans or Democrats. I did not like conservatives or liberals. The only thing I was aware of was that teachers were low paid and public schools in the inner cities were severely under-funded. Things were much better for public education in small towns like River Falls.

1982

I enter a doctorate program at the University of Minnesota in Vocational Education. I read “Anti-intellectualism in American Life.” This book was written by Richard Hofstadter in 1963 and in 1964 won a Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction.

“Here the politician expresses what a large part of the public feels. The citizen cannot cease to need or to be at the mercy of experts, but he can achieve a kind of revenge by ridiculing the wild-eyed professor, the irresponsible brain truster, or the mad scientist, and by applauding the politicians as they pursue the subversive teacher, the suspect scientist, or the allegedly treacherous foreign-policy adviser. There has always been in our national experience a type of mind which elevates hatred to a kind of creed; for this mind, group hatreds take a place in politics similar to the class struggle in some other modern societies.” — R. Hofstader

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After reading Hofstader’s book, I began to see a connection between politics in America and the problems with public education funding. I still did not see any conspiracy and I just assumed it was a case of prejudice and bias with random attacks against education.

1997

I finished my Ph.D. program in 1986 and had been working with a management consulting firm for seven years before going on my own in 1993. I was now working part-time as a private consultant and teaching part-time at Metro State University in Minneapolis. I would drive to school to teach MBA night classes. On my way to school, I would turn on AM 1440 Patriot Radio and listen to Mike Savage, Hugh Hewitt, Laura Ingraham, and Mike Medved. They were all extreme right-wing commentators. I listened to them over four years for two or three nights a week on my commute between White Bear Lake and downtown Minneapolis.

Each one of these commentators were well educated at an American University. Savage obtained a Ph. D in 1978 from the University of California, Berkeley, in nutritional ethnomedicine. Hewitt graduated cum laude from Harvard University with a B.A. in government in 1978. After studying at the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt received his Juris Doctor (JD) degree in 1983. Ingraham earned a B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1985. She then attended the University of Virginia School of Law, where she was a notes editor for the Virginia Law Review. She graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in 1991. Medved entered Yale University as a 16-year-old undergraduate. He received his B.A. with honors in 1969, and later attended Yale Law School, though he did not finish his JD degree.

For over four years, I listened to these “scholars” bash educators. Bash teachers. Bash universities. Bash college professors. On and on each of them would go night after night after night. Labels and epithets like commies, pinkos, intellectuals, liberals, socialists, subversives, and anti-American were consistently used to denigrate teachers and professors. It was assumed and even a creed that most universities and schools had a “liberal” orientation.” To these commentators, a liberal orientation was akin to being aligned with Satan. A liberal was the devil incarnate and was on the side of “god-less communism.”

More and more I began to understand that the right-wing hated educators, hated free thinking and hated anything that had any vestige of a liberal arts education associated with it. I still did not see any conspiracy though and I assumed it was simple ignorance and fanatical beliefs that united the Republicans, White-Supremacists, Neo-Nazis, and other Right-Wing fanatics.

“Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.”— Thomas Jefferson

2010

I read “The Fifteen Biggest Lies About the Economy” by Joshua Holland.

“We have all grown accustomed to conservative’s conspiracy theories about the corporate media having a far-left bias and college professors indoctrinating American youth into Maoism.” — J. Holland, 2010

Holland goes on to describe how a cabal of rich right-wing billionaires including the Koch Brothers organized to fund a group of “research centers” such as the Heritage Foundation. The purpose of these groups was to counter what they saw as a left-wing bias in education and the media. These groups heralded the start of organized right-wing think tanks to fund laws, bills, newspapers, radio shows and other narratives that would combat liberalism and progressivism in American politics. These groups would routinely rely on the strategies of Madison Avenue to get their messages across.

masks I began to see more clearly that the right wing was orchestrating a systematic attack against not only universities but also against public school education. However, it has only been in the last few years that I realized how ubiquitous this assault was. The appointment of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education under Trump was a message that meant the right-wing were more powerful than anyone had yet realized. The attack on public education is now an all-out assault.

What I still did not see was how the now noticeable decline in public support for American Democracy was highly correlated with the right-wing attack on public education. The right-wing and their political allies have been undermining public education with a goal to replace it with a system of elite education. The purpose of right-wing education is to train people not how to think but what to think. Fundamentalists, technocrats, wealthy elites, corporations, and right-wing politicians see no value in “free-thinkers.” If you believe Thomas Jefferson, democracy can only survive with people who know how to think and not just what to think.

November 2, 2021

D. Vance, a Republican candidate for Senator of Ohio gave a keynote speech at the National Conservatism Conference (November 2, 2021) titled “The Universities Are the Enemy.” He said:

“I think in this movement of national conservatism, what we need more than inspiration is wisdom. And there is a wisdom in what Richard Nixon said approximately 40, 50 years ago. He said, and I quote: ‘The professors are the enemy.’”

download On his campaign website, under the heading “Protect Conservative Values,” Vance complains that “hundreds of billions of American tax dollars” get sent to universities that “teach that America is an evil, racist nation.” These universities “then train teachers who bring that indoctrination into our elementary and high schools.” The speakers and presenters at this conference read like a “who’s who” of Trump loyalists and big lie theorists.

Finally, it is clear to me that a conspiracy or call it a concerted effort exists to defund public schooling, to undermine confidence in public education and to create a system of private for-profit schools or elitist academies that will educate the rich. The poor will be left where the poor have always been left, at the bottom of the heap. Democracy will be destroyed, and authoritarians will dictate religion, politics, education, and work rules. There will be no independent thinking in America since independent thinking and democracy go hand in hand.

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December 16, 2021

I pick up the local newspaper, the Casa Grande Dispatch to read an article discussing a curriculum debate at a school board meeting. Seems as though several people are challenging the right of the schools and educators to decide what should be in the curriculum. Conservative parents and right-wing politicians are increasingly trying to dictate curriculum. Often their assumptions about education or ill-formed and simply ignorant. Regard the quote from one of the attendees at this meeting:

Loudoun

“Once this curriculum is in place they will have to teach it, whether they agree with it or not.” Said David Logue, a deacon at Passion Church in Casa Grande. “Although I don’t have a lot of information on this, I am against it. It is ungodly.”

This deacon admits that he does not know much about it, but he is “AGAINST IT,” because it is “UNGODLY.” How can any intelligent person be against something, without even knowing what they are against? And to call it ungodly? What in heavens name is “ungodly” curriculum? Episodes like this are taking place all across the USA and they are not isolated instances. They are not random happenings. The right-wing politicians have been fanning the embers of discontent with the public schools in this country for some time now and the results can be seen at school board meetings in every state in the Union. No one is clamoring for more education about democracy and freedom of speech. Instead they are screaming because of things they know little or nothing about like Critical Race Theory and Diversity Education.

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December 29, 2021

“Republicans eye new front in education wars: Making school board races partisan” by Andrew Atterbury and Juan Perez Jr. The assault on education today is not just about Critical Race Theory or Diversity Education. It is a war on school boards to help determine the course of American Politics. It is not a question of teaching students “how” to think, it is a question of teaching them “what” to think. Make no mistake, the conservatives and Republican Party want to turn the clock back on history. They want a one-party majority of white conservative reactionaries. They have a design for a “white” America free of the influence of minorities, women, the poor and the less educated. This design is not based on a balanced diet of hopes and dreams and visions of what America could be. It is not based on any concept of democracy by the people and for the people. It is based on a unilateral one-sided elitist view of what education is for and who should receive education.

loudoun-county-school-board-3

“There’s still no equality in education,” said Young, a plaintiff in a lawsuit from the Southern Poverty Law Center to keep public money in two Tennessee school districts instead of diverting the funds to unaccountable private schools. “To me, it’s still a form of segregation.” — Weekend Read: 66 years after Brown v. Board, schools across the South still separate and unequal

The problem has been that good liberals and progressives have not realized that a war on education is being waged. This months Southern Poverty Leadership Report (Winter 2021, Volume 51, Number 4) has an article titled, “Calculated: The right’s attack on the U.S. education system.” The words in the title are very appropriate. The attack is “calculated.” The battle for school board partisanship is being supported by a coalition of conservative leaders — including representatives of the Heritage Foundation, Manhattan Institute, and the American Enterprise Institute.

The word “attack” is also appropriate. We are not talking about reform or change. Conservatives want nothing less than the destruction of public-school education.

“Anti-mask efforts are, in essence, anti-public education tactics, a wolf cloaked as libertarian policy designed to devour the public’s fain in public education…. The aim of undermining public education as schools are increasingly gutted of funding and support with each legislative cycle, is to make privatization more appealing than public education.” Calculated: The right’s attack on the U.S. Education system.

In Summation:

I have given you a chronology of my experiences and insights concerning some of the attacks on public school education by the political right. I started out by seeing the demise of public-school education due to its paradigmatic inefficiency at meeting the needs of twenty first century students. Along my journey, I found an all-out political assault on public schools by Republicans and conservatives. You might think I am being a hypocrite when I condemn the Republicans since I also condemn the current model of public-school education. However, my solution to providing a democratic education system is very different than what the Republicans want to create. I will talk more about this difference in the final part of this series on education.

“There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.” — Jiddu Krishnamurti

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John,

I appreciate your observations on trends. As a parent you knew what was best and chose a different school; and today parents want to keep the school and change the curriculum. Your graphics emphasize each of your points. Seeing the discontent, the elite provide the alternatives in either charter schools or private schools. Catholic and other parochial schools, and religiously affiliated universities were for families who wanted to instill their religious beliefs while educating. Home education movement does the same. Again the monetary sacrifice to do so. The poor have no choice and tolerate what is given in “free”public education. — Socorro

A Lament for an America that I Believed In

23 Nov 2021 16 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: America, decline of american empire, democracy, democracy in decline., education, empire, freedom, january 6th, media

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I sit here looking out my window and wondering what happened to the America that I grew up believing in. A nation that was founded on the values of truth, justice, and equality. The land of the free and the home of the brave. A country dedicated to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Today, I look out the window and see a country that bears no resemblance to the place where I thought I lived.

I look out and see rich politicians marching through the streets asking for more and more money to support their never-ending campaigns. One election is no sooner over, then another one begins. I give money to one candidate, and I immediately get phone calls, emails, and texts asking me to support fifty more candidates. I am not worth ten percent of what most of these people want but they act as though I along with other Americans are bottom less pits of money.

abcnl_ahmaudarbery_1635976650478_hpMain_16x9_992 I look out and see lawyers with Magna and Summa Cum Laude degrees from Yale, Harvard, Cornell, Brown, and other Ivy League Universities who can fashion legal arguments designed to circumvent and pervert any sane person’s idea of justice. They have corrupted our Criminal Justice System into a Criminal Injustice System. The winner in a court room is the one with the most money who can hire the best and brightest lawyers. An argument by one defense attorney claims that a self-styled vigilante shooting three unarmed people is a tragic case of self-defense. Another defense lawyer for three murdering racists suggests that the victim in the case was shot because he had come to Satilla Shores “in his khaki shorts with no socks to cover his long, dirty toenails.”

st,small,845x845-pad,1000x1000,f8f8f8.u13 I look out and see corporate executives who will ignore the danger posed to the environment and climate because they can make more money today than by creating a sustainable system. I see too many people willing to “shop till they drop.” A materialistic mentality that supports the greed endemic in Corporate America. A focus on short-term thinking that drains the earth of the resources it needs for sustainability in order to reap mega-profits today. The “hell with the future” is the motto of Corporate America.

I look out my window and see a country wherein 74 million people supported a man almost totally devoid of ethics, morality, character, or conscience. People who knew that this man was defective but instead voted for him either because they were racists, sexists, greedy or selfish. A country where too many people discriminate against others who are different in race, religion, or gender identification. People who will vote for someone because he takes vengeance against groups they regard as enemies. People who will vote for a bully who is a coward and a draft dodger. People motivated to support the candidate that will promise them lower taxes. People who demand their rights but ignore their responsibilities.

I look out and see people that claim to be Christians but who call for their political opponents to be killed or assassinated. People claiming that ethics and character do not matter as long as a leader will support their particular religious beliefs. People who believe that Jesus came to preach vengeance and retribution rather than love and charity for all.

I look out a window where my views of America and the world are becoming more and more appalling. Each day brings another senseless mass killing. Tomorrow brings an even more bizarre crime into my consciousness. I process some of these visions with friends mainly to check to see if I am going crazy or if my mind is becoming warped.

1623107527880_nn_mal_ca_road_rage_shooting_arrest_210607_1920x1080 Is there any meaning to what I am seeing? Am I just getting too old? Is my brain incapable of understanding things anymore? Journalists are murdered because they report the truth. Innocent people are slaughtered while they watch a Christmas parade. A pregnant woman is shot eleven times on her doorstep. Fifty or more people rob a series of stores in what the news calls “mass grab fests.” A six-year-old child is killed in a car seat by some maniac with road rage. There is no bottom to the bizarre. No one can imagine what the next day will bring. All attempts to discover what is causing these problems or how they can be stopped seem futile. They are meaningless crimes without rhyme or reason in a world that George Orwell would never have imagined possible. Up is down, right is wrong, facts and truth do not exist, everything is fake. There is no sanity.

Interlude:

A friend of mine once told me that you catch more flies with sugar than vinegar. An old maxim to be sure. He wanted to advise me that if I expected to get readers, I needed to write positive helpful pieces. Ideas that would help make people’s lives better. Ideas that were useful and people could do things about. I have no disagreement with that bit of wisdom.

CG-Mtn-Trail-SML This morning while doing a 4-mile run in the Casa Grande Mountains, I thought a lot about his advice. I realize that much of what I have said above could be considered a rant. I would like to think it was somewhat of a catharsis. Another friend told me yesterday that I sounded like a man in despair. I resonated with the word despair. I regard optimism as ideologically unsound given our present world. Many people have advised me to stay hopeful. There is a fine line between hopeful and optimism. I am not sure I can manage the divide. Despair on the other hand fits my mood just fine. Despair is defined as: “The complete loss or absence of hope.”

What does my mood do to my readers? Well, I can always say “Don’t read my stuff, if you don’t like it.” I don’t get paid to write. I don’t sell you anything. I don’t even put commercials up on my site. On another level, I write for myself and no one else. I mentioned the word cathartic before. Writing is one way, I feel alive. I gain some hope from sharing my ideas with others if only one person writes back and says “Yes, I agree with you.”

Hope springs eternal, right? But we need some foundation for hope. Can hope be built on fantasies, unrealistic ideals, and wishful dreams? How does reality impact our chances for hope? Can hope exist when reality denies any possibility of hope? I am not sure I know the answers to these questions. I think I might have to go on a quest for hope. In the meantime, I will go back to my window and tell you what else I see as I look out at the world.

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I look out and see a nation which was built on the assumption that checks and balances would protect a new democracy. The legislature, courts, and executive branches would each provide a check and balance against the unbridled assumption of power by any one sector. The basis for this assumption was the belief that each branch would have the best interests of the nation at heart and not partisan interests. This of course was never 100 percent true but never has there been the divide and partisanship that exists in the USA today.

download (1) We have elected people that will support an insurrection against free and fair elections. The most important element of Democracy. People that prefer to ignore that on January 6^th, we almost had a coup against democracy in America. On November 17^th, we had these same people vote to ignore the censuring of one of their comrades who parodied the killing of an opposition opponent.

The foundations and pillars of Democracy in America are rotten. Jefferson believed that democracy could not survive without an educated informed citizenry. Information would come from a free and impartial media while education would come from a system of free and impartial public schools. The media today are nothing but paid shills for corporations who spend vast amounts of money on advertising designed to get people to stay in debt buying stuff that they don’t need.

81XUsTIXJxL I look out my window and see a public school system that is being dismantled by racists, bigots, elitists, and sexists who do not want the schools to actually teach anything that might be construed as controversial. Two thousand five hundred years ago, Socrates was executed for trying to teach the children of the Athenian elite to think for themselves. Schools and educators are still being attacked for trying to teach children to think. How can our future generations create a better world when they are besieged with information that keeps them in a past that never existed and feeds them myths about the way the world works?

I look out and see people who are more worried about the shortage in Christmas trees and the price of gasoline for their vehicles than about getting a virus shot or the problems of global warming or environmental pollution. Citizens who sacrifice at the altar of lower taxes while complaining about the rising inflation. An inflation they blame on a President while they ignore their own cupidity and its relationship to the law of supply and demand.

The End?

Many so-called Christians say the end is near. Jesus will come to judge the living and the dead. I don’t believe that anyone is coming to judge anyone else. I don’t believe that our planet is near its end. I don’t believe that there will be any kind of a global conflagration. I do believe that the end of the American Experiment is very near. We should have a clock for democracy like the doomsday clock. The doomsday clock is supposed to tell us how close we are to destroying our world with dangerous technologies of our own making. The present time of the doomsday clock is 100 seconds to midnight. We need a “democracy clock” that would tell us how close we are to losing democracy in the USA. I would say that we are at one minute to midnight.

74 Million Americans voted for a man who does not believe in democracy. A man who does not believe in our military, our schools, our courts, our media, or our system of elections. It would be foolish to think that these 74 million voters believe in any of these systems either. Thus we have nearly 31% of our electorate who either do not understand democracy or would prefer an oligopoly. We have 34.2 percent who did not bother to vote. The remainder or 34.8% voted either Democratic or other party.

51FOE8gFffL._SX326_BO1,204,203,200_ Will the USA survive? All great empires have eventually declined. It took 300 years for the Roman Empire to fall after it began its decline. We are witnessing the decline of the American Empire. How long will it take to fall is well beyond my ability to foresee. If history is any indication, it will take many years and the decline will be gradual but punctuated by episodes of tragedy and elation. The tragedies will far outnumber the elations. Study any system in decline and you can see the gradual disintegration that accompanies all declines. It is already clear that our Public Education, Political Systems and Legal Systems are in decline. Trying to stop the declines is futile. You cannot stop the decline of an old bridge or an old building. You must rebuild from the ground up. Sadly, I see neither the drive nor the desire to do the work that needs to be done to help restore democracy in America.

Organizations Trying to Make a Difference

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https://www.raze.org/  RAZE’s mission is to educate, advocate and coordinate in rural communities so they may gain access to civic education, engagement opportunities and voter registration

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The Great Divide: An America Torn Asunder by Divisions

15 Sep 2021 9 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: democracy, democrates, discrimination, great divide, greed, hate, intolerance, libel, lies, media, newspapers, paradox of tolerance, Politicians, prejudice, republicans, slander

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I published the following blog a few months ago. I think it needs to be more visible. If you agree with the ideas in this blog, would you please share it with other people or groups that it might help. Democracy is in crisis today in America as never before. It has not ended with Trump being defeated since his followers and minions are still out doing their best to overturn Democracy in America. Only an informed and literate citizenship can defeat these efforts.

The number one subject for bestselling non-fiction books in the USA today concerns the chasm that separates Republicans from Democrats. Rural voters from urban voters. College Educated people from non-college educated. Conservatives from liberals. Fox viewers from CNN viewers. Your facts from my facts. Your truths from my truths. Your lies from my lies. Your views of reality from my views of reality.

This divide is decried by all the pundits and experts. Not one of the writers on this subject has anything good to say about the divide. Perhaps they harken back to the old saying, “United we stand and divided we fall.” Or the adage that, “A house divided cannot stand.” Whatever the reasoning, no one thinks that a USA as divided as it is with nearly 75 million people voting for Donald Trump and 80 million people voting for Joseph Biden is helpful for our nation. Keep in mind, it is not just the sheer numbers that alarm people, it is the magnitude of the crevasse that scares people.

hate-spesech The abyss It is so big that there is no bridging it. None of the sides can see the other side. None of the sides has any common ground with the other side. None of the sides understands the language that the other side speaks. We might as well be earthlings talking to Martians. There is no lingua franca. Many of the “well-meaning” experts exhort both sides to try harder to bridge the gap or to work more diligently to listen to the other side. It seems to be assumed that all it will take to jump the gulf is good intentions. I cry bullshit on this. As the old aphorism goes, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” It will take more than good intentions to heal the wound that infests our country.

Before we can fix what ails America, we must clearly understand what brought this divide about. What are the causes for this divide, and can they be healed? I see three main causes for this chasm. They are: 1. Greed, 2. Demonization, and 3. Media. Let’s look at each of these three elements and see how they contribute to the divide and what if anything can be done about them.

Greed:

Corporate greed and materialism have driven a wedge between the haves and the have nots in America. A larger gap than ever before exists between the rich and the poor. The number of people seeking free food and standing in line at food banks has only been higher during the Great Depression. The requirements for a digital elite versus a computer illiterate fuels the growing income gap. The Opioid Epidemic is only one symptom of this inequality in the USA. Many people cannot afford medical care or adequate housing as well as food.

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For years now, materialism has been touted as the backbone of American commerce by corporations and the media. Inflammatory news events sell advertisements which drive people to the shopping malls, ball parks, restaurants, and performances. Special events like “Black Friday” abound where people, “shop till they drop.” There is a vicious spiral to these events since the final outcome is to keep people needy and wanting more. The theologian Matthew Kelly says you can never satisfy wants only needs. Pursuing wants will always leave you wanting more. Eating, sleeping, exercise and love are needs that can be satisfied and will bring you happiness. You can never be happy pursuing wants.

materialism and spending The wants advertised on the TV and in the media are never fulfilling. We have a nation of brainwashed consumers who mistakenly think that more toys, bigger houses, more guns, and luxury cars will make them happy. We are a nation on a never-ending treadmill of consumer materialism where like rats we keep spinning the wheel and hoping to find happiness, but happiness never comes, and drugs take its place.

There is no sanity in our economic system. It is a zero-sum game. It is a great deal like the lottery. Next week there will be 100 million losers, but one winner will get a billion dollars or more. The value for the lottery keeps going up which entices more and more people to buy lottery tickets, but the number of losers also keeps going up. Where do the profits for the lotteries go? Not back to the people, regardless of what they tell you. Our society is being sold hope where hope is the most elusive product in the marketplace.

images As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, the tensions in society grow ever more divisive. We see more road rage, more senseless shootings, more violence between men and women, less loyalty between employers and employees. The underpinning of society that should be based on human integrity and morality is replaced with an opportunism based on an amoral value system. Whatever we can get as long as we break no laws is considered to be moral. We see most politicians that have no commitment to anything except to collect more money so that they can stay in office. Their highest goal is to help the rich get richer, which of course includes themselves.

Jesus said that money is not evil, it is the pursuit of money that is evil. The evil in America comes from a frenzy for more that separates Americans from each other. Like a horse race where there can only be one winner, there are only going to be a few rich Americans and many more poor people scrambling to be the “King of the Hill.”

I do not believe that the divide in this country can be erased until we eliminate the gap between the rich and the poor. It is not simply a matter of conversation or discussion. It is a matter of inequality. A poor person cannot talk to a rich person unless they can shout over gated walls and armed security guards. The biggest divide in America is between the haves and the have nots. It is between the will haves and the may never haves. The haves in America expect to have more and probably will get more. The have nots do not know where their next paycheck will come from or whether they will be able to buy food for tomorrow. No amount of discussion or listening skills is going to solve this problem.

Demonization:

Speech-Bubble-Montage_2-1 (1) I am not talking about the devil here or about spirituality. I am talking about a kind of insidious propaganda that has been spread by many groups and individuals. In this propaganda, one side of America is labeled as moral, ethical, righteous, and just. The other side is the opposite. The other side is everything negative. The other side is a composite of all the demons and evils that Americans believe in. The other side are communists, fascists, atheists, anti-democratic, anti-patriotic and un-American. One side is good. The other side is evil incarnate. You cannot talk to evil. You cannot discuss with the devil why he wants your soul. You cannot debate with Satan over the values that he has. Heaven and hell do not have weekly discussion groups. The language heard today, and what the media publishes drips with hate, innuendo, and disdain. The language fosters violence. I doubt the Founding Fathers ever conceived that the First Amendment would protect such speech. There are three elements that contribute to a hate speech culture that demonizes the other side:

Malicious Labeling:

freehatespeech Malicious labeling is the name calling that goes on between both sides today wherein each side is labeled. You can hear it on almost every talk show program in America today. Name calling and name labeling. Commie pinko leftists! Intellectual elites! Radical socialists! Racist rednecks! Fascist dictators! Politicians, commentators, newscasters, and radio talk show hosts all use malicious labels to insult and demean those they disagree with. What have we let this country become when we allow such name calling? This kind of hyperbole demonizes the other side and creates a divide that cannot be overcome by rational conversation.

“I think the political process has degenerated into name-calling and extremism, and I think that that’s unfortunate.” — Bill Bradley

Anti-Government Diatribes:

extremismword_hp111319.1200x0 I do not think that the Founding Fathers of our nation believed that Government was evil. Certainly, they felt that there could be too much government intrusion on the rights of the populace. They invoked certain safeguards to protect both human rights and states rights. Nevertheless, they did not demonize government and not a single one of the Fathers ever referred to government as evil. Edmund Burke, the famous English conservative said, “The government that governs best is the government that governs least.” He never said, “government was evil.” It has become common place to hear refrains denigrating the role and necessity of government. This steady drumbeat of antigovernmental rhetoric has created a group of people that have no value for government and who support the idea that government should be abolished.

“A primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty more pressing than communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?” — George Washington

Legal Advocates of Violence

loyal white knights and aryan nations in texas july 2016 from vkdotcom_0 A few years ago I began to wonder why groups like the KKK, Aryan Brotherhood, Antifa, The Proud Boys and many other such groups advocating violence against the government were not labeled as Terrorist Organizations. I asked a lawyer this question and he replied, “it is all politics.” I found that almost all the groups listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “hate groups” were designated as “extremist groups.” This means that they are not illegal, and they have the right to organize, march, rally and basically spread their hate across America. In 2019, The SPLC listed 940 hate groups across the USA. If any of these groups was labeled as a “Terrorist Group,” they would be on the same list as the Taliban, Boko Haram, The Mafia, Mexican Cartels and Al Qaeda. What is the difference between an extremist group and a terrorist group? It might surprise you to learn that a terrorist organization is defined as follows:

In the United States of America, terrorism is defined in Title 22 Chapter 38 U.S. Code § 2656f as “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents”.

In general, terrorism is classified as:

The use of violence or of the threat of violence in the pursuit of political, religious, ideological, or social objectives
Acts committed by non-state actors (or by undercover personnel serving on the behalf of their respective governments)
Acts reaching more than the immediate target victims and also directed at targets consisting of a larger spectrum of society.

15963 If this definition does not apply to the groups that tried to storm the US Capital on January 6^th, 2021, I do not know what does. Just yesterday the Canadian government labeled the Proud Boys as a Terrorist Organization. This delegitimizes the group and takes their rights away. For Canada, it is a start. I am wondering when we are going to get started in the USA on such an effort. The First Amendment was never construed to allow hate speech and the advocating of violent actions to overthrow the government. Why do we not have the political will to outlaw these groups? We seem to have little compunction in penalizing Black groups like the Black Lives Matter Movement or the Black Panthers. We have a different standard when it comes to White Supremacy groups.

The Media:

000f25f2-6bf0-11e9-994e-1d1e521ccbf6_image_hires_015902 The newspapers, TV and the Internet are today the major carriers for the hate and vituperation that has spread across America. On one side of the divide, we find the NY Times, the Washington Post and CNN News. On the other side, we find the NY Post, the Washington Examiner and Fox News. There are countless other purveyors of extreme and fanatical views. Each side reeks of headlines supporting nonobjective views and biased reporting. If objective reporting ever existed in the USA, it has been murdered and buried by the most pervasive media to ever exist. The media carries the hate and violence that is created by politicians, pundits, radio commentators and hate groups and ensures that it gets widely disseminated. Without the media, much of the divide would never have occurred. Hate needs a platform to be spread and the media is more than happy to host anything that it believes will sell itself and its advertising.

Conclusions:

We are not going to overcome the divide that separates Americans today by platitudes and wishful thinking. No amount of holding hands or singing kumbaya together is going to unite Americans. We have a systemic rot in our system that is caused by the extremism in politics and media that has created this divide. We need to enact reasonable laws to stamp out this rot while also protecting free speech but not hate speech. There is a difference between hate speech and free speech. If we cannot figure this difference out, we will never close the divide that exists in America today. You can defend the First Amendment all you want, but there are limits to everything and that includes so-called Free Speech.

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Then-CIA director Gina Haspel said the US was ‘on the way to a right-wing coup’ after Trump lost the election: book

Some “Inconvenient” Truths About Afghanistan

19 Aug 2021 5 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: Afghanistan, David Vin, Debacle, democracy, Fatima Bhutto, Haroun Dada, Moira Donegan, Shadi Hamid, Stephen Wertheim, stupidity, USA

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Before you jump on the bandwagon blaming Biden or deploring the US debacle in Afghanistan, read this article. It is full of “inconvenient” truths. Once again, we are getting our faces rubbed in the mud because we deserve it but we want to fix the blame on someone else. Republicans blame Democrats and Democrats blame Republicans. Even the “liberal” press is blaming Biden. The saddest part is our unrequited promises to the Afghanistan people that believed America could save them. The effort to instill democracy in Afghanistan was a great example of hubris and arrogance based on greed and self-serving interests.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/19/what-lessons-should-the-west-learn-from-the-defeat-in-afghanistan

Fatima Bhutto , Stephen Wertheim, Moira Donegan, Haroun Dada, Shadi Hamid and David Vin

Another Lying Statement from Donald J. Trump

07 Jan 2021 1 Comment

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: capital, democracy, destroy, immoral, impeach, liar, liar in chief, republicans, trump, unethical

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This morning Donald J. Trump released the following statement. This comes on the heels of spending nearly four years with the help of Republican leaders and sycophantic followers trying to destroy the democratic foundations of America and nearly succeeding. Thus, as his one time followers flee the White House, like rats leaving a sinking ship and some Republicans call for his impeachement, he issues the following statement:

“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20. I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again.” — Donald J. Trump 1-7-2021

IF you believe this man who has repeatedly lied and lied and gone back on anything he has said, you are a total fool. He has only said this so he does not get removed from office and so that he can continue to try to destroy this country. Even in this statement, he is denying reality and waiting until January 20 for an “orderly” transition.

This man needs to go to jail. There have been few people I can think of who deserve to be behind bars more than Donald J. Trump.

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The following article was written several months ago. It should now include treason as well as the deaths of thousands of people due to his handling of the Coronavirus Pandemic:

The A to Z of Things Trump Could and Should Have Been Impeached For:

Here is what some of the rest of the world is saying about Trump and his supporters.

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Reconstructing the Great Speeches – Frederic Douglass: “If There is No Struggle, there is No Progress”

13 Aug 2020 3 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: biden, black lives matter, democracy, dictator, fascism, frederic douglass, freedom, harris, justice, Malcolm X, racism, speeches, trump, tyranny

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Actually, the name of this speech is the “West India Emancipation Speech.” However, the line from Douglass’s speech that “If there is no struggle, there is no progress” is one of the most memorable lines in the history of speech. I first read about the life of Frederic Douglass sometime around the end of the sixties. As you may know, this was a time of social unrest and many assaults on the systems that governed the USA. I had become involved with a number of leftist groups and was reading Marx, Marcuse, Anarchist, Socialist and other writings belonging to what might be called a genre of “radical” literature. I became interested in anyone who championed change in our government, and this of course led me to a number of black authors.

I first read about the life of Douglass (1818–1895) in his autobiography (“Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, 1845). When I finally decided to go to college at the age of 25, I was required to take a speech class. The year was 1971 and I was 25 years old. The school offered me the opportunity to test out of the class. I was required to do a speech in front of a professor who then would decide if I could bypass the class. I decided to do an excerpt from Douglass’s “West India Emancipation Speech.” I was enamored of this speech years ago and today it is still one of the most memorable speeches that I have ever heard. Evidently, I did a good enough job on the speech since I was given credit for the class and I did not have to take it.

Context:

Frederic Douglas gave this speech on August 3, 1857 at Canandaigua, New York. It was an address concerning the history of the West Indian slaves in their own struggle for freedom. After years of slave revolts and civil disorder, England had abolished slavery in the British West Indies in 1834. Douglass used the anniversary of this event as leverage for speaking out against slavery in the United States. It epitomized his views concerning the role of struggle in the battle against slavery. The slaves in the West Indies achieved their freedom only after many years of struggles and reprisals against the British slave owners.

81IYcBLyoIL Twenty-three years later, when Douglass gave his speech, the turmoil in the United States over the issue of slavery was growing. It had always been a major source of dissension in the United States, but things were coming to a boiling point. The Dred Scott decision had recently been rendered by the US Supreme Court. This decision held that black people were not citizens and that slaves could not sue for freedom. In March of 1857, James Buchanan was sworn in as the 15^th President of the USA. Buchanan was no friend of the abolitionists and he joined the Southern leaders in attempting to admit Kansas as a slave state. He strongly supported the Dred Scott decision and today he would be considered an ardent racist. The contrast between Lincoln who was elected four years later and Buchanan in terms of their policies towards slavery was the final straw that led to the Civil War.

Frederic Douglass was born a slave but escaped from Maryland to the north in 1838. Douglass was 20 years old at the time. He had taught himself to read and write. He had natural skills for oratory and writing and it did not take him long to establish himself in the Abolitionist Movement as a leader and speaker against slavery. Frederic was a man of deep compassion and empathy for others. Douglas not only supported the rights of all minorities including Native Americans and Chinese immigrants to freedom and equality, but he also championed the rights of women to vote and to have full participation in government and civic affairs.

West India Emancipation Speech:

“The general sentiment of mankind is that a man who will not fight for himself, when he has the means of doing so, is not worth being fought for by others, and this sentiment is just. For a man who does not value freedom for himself will never value it for others, or put himself to any inconvenience to gain it for others.”

Reading this speech again after many years reminds me of how much I still adore the words and thoughts that Douglass has voiced. I would not want a man as a friend who will not stand up for himself or others. I loathe sycophants such as those who surround Trump. I hate (yes hate) people who will abuse, denigrate, or attack other people. I have fought physically and verbally to defend people who were helpless or were being bullied. I would do so now and tomorrow. The meek may inherit the earth but they will need the angry antagonistic people like me to acquire their inheritance. I am glad that I do not profess to be a Christian because I do not believe in turning the other cheek. Not once, not ever. If there is a hell, I will go proudly to it knowing that I have fought to defend the rights of others.

“Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow.”

No nation or people in history were ever given their freedom by others. Those who want freedom must take it for themselves. Douglass was well aware of the struggles of other nations to achieve their independence. He noted the struggles of the Turks and the Hungarians and the Irish to achieve their independence.

“I know, my friends, that in some quarters the efforts of colored people meet with very little encouragement. We may fight, but we must fight like the Sepoys of India, under white officers. This class of Abolitionists don’t like colored celebrations, they don’t like colored conventions, they don’t like colored antislavery fairs for the support of colored newspapers.”

The sentiments that Douglass voiced here are hard for many white people to understand or accept. When Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) the 4th Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee wanted black people as the leadership of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the sixties many white people were indignant. How could they want to kick us out? “We have marched, we have rallied, we have sat side by side with black people to help overcome racism and now they are turning on us?”

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When Ture supported the concept of “Black Power” many former white supporters were threatened. In a “Black Power” speech in 1966 Ture said: “It is a call for black people in this country to unite, to recognize their heritage, to build a sense of community. It is a call for black people to define their own goals, to lead their own organizations.” Black Power reflected the anger and pent-up disappointment with a system of white power that was forever promising blacks’ freedom and equality but never delivering on the promise. Many white liberals thought that black folks were now going to far.

White leaders in the Civil Rights Movement did not and could not understand the needs of black people to lead their own struggle and fight for freedom and liberty. Black people knew and understood that freedom achieved by others or given by others was no real freedom. The fight against racism meant that blacks must lead the fight and white supporters must follow. Frederic Douglass understood this concept one hundred year before the term Black Power was first used.

“Let me give you a word of the philosophy of reform. The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of earnest struggle…. If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.

His words have never been truer. Greece fought the Persians. Rome fought the Carthaginians. England fought the Spanish. The US fought the British. The Chinese fought the Europeans. Throughout history, countries have only achieved their independence by a struggle that as Douglass noted: “This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle.”

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Today we see protests against racism that are led under the banner of the Black Lives Matter movement. Some of these protests and rallies remain peaceful while at times others have become violent. Many decry the violence, looting and physical attacks on the police that sometimes break out during these rallies. I don’t defend the violence as necessary not do I defend the attacks on police as warranted unless they are in self-defense. However, I do understand the difference between cause and effect. When you are in a shell game, they tell you to “Keep your eye on the ball.” This is almost impossible to do. It is also impossible during the middle of the racism and prejudice that surrounds us to remember who the enemies and oppressors really are.

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The police that are supposedly there to “Serve and Protect” seem more likely to be there to “Preserve and Protect” the status quo and the interests of big business. Too often, the mere presence of police in SWOT uniforms and riot gear at rallies serves to antagonize and provoke more violence. The very nature of SWOT uniforms and riot gear is both threatening and violent in and of itself. To stand there peacefully holding a sign while surrounded by people with batons, mace, tasers, automatic rifles and handguns takes a fortitude that not many people have. If you want to criticize a Black Lives Matter rally, you should first come out from your gated community and join a rally. See how you feel when law enforcement is present and looking over your shoulder with a rifle.

Should the rallies result in physical harm to others or to property? The answer is obvious, and it is no. But when I hear the outcries against such violence, I think back on Douglass’s words that:

“Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.”

I repeat these words from above since I think they bear reflection. Douglass knew that many abolitionists thought that slave revolts were “prejudicial to their cause.” The same is often heard today when rallies turn violent. But I want to ask, who is making this claim? It is easy to stand on the sidelines and applaud but not so easy to stand up to violence being inflected physically on those who are protesting peacefully as has happened during Trumps recent Bible photo op outside the White House.

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.

download Today we are witnessing a descent into tyranny and demagoguery the likes of which have never before been seen in America. We have a President who lies whenever he speaks. We have a Republican party that abhors social justice and will do everything they can to suppress the rights of Americans to vote. We have a base of supporters for Trump that are racist, fascist, and anti-democratic. Lured by whatever sirens they listen to; they support the right of Trump to do whatever he wants to do. They call him their Messiah and voice unconditional support for his attacks on the press, minorities, immigrants, women, blacks, Latinos, disabled, foreign countries and even the disabled. A President who is willing to sacrifice thousands of lives to support his quest for a second term.

On a recent trip, I passed a sign in front of a house that read “Apathy is not an option.” I am sure I know what the person meant who posted this sign. Douglass would know what it meant and would fully understand that anyone professing a desire to stand on the sidelines would soon find themselves ruled by a tyrant. There is no option today except to fight. To paraphrase Patrick Henry, the chains of Americans are being forged in the White House. They are being forged in the Senate. They are being forged in the Supreme Court. They are being forged wherever the Republican Party has attained a majority. Quietly submit and you will attain the full measure of tyranny and injustice that your acquiescence has earned.

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Deconstructing Fairy Tale Enigmas and Conundrums

04 May 2020 6 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: America, cinderella, democracy, dreams., education, fairy tales, gerrymandering, goldilocks, reality, Thomas Jefferson, three bears, voter suppression

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Once upon a time there was a town that had a rat problem. It decided to hire a Pied Piper who could lure the rats away from town with his magic flute. Okay, you probably know the rest of the story. He got rid of the rats, but the town managers refused to pay him. So the Piper got out his magic flute and lured all the young children away. They were never seen again. Incredibly sad. But is it plausible? Let’s examine a few questions here:

What kind of a flute could lure both rats and children? Wouldn’t the frequencies required be different? Could children hear the same frequencies as rats?
Where did he take all the rats? What would stop them from coming back again?
Why did he steal the kids? Why not lure the town managers away? Wouldn’t it be nice if we could get rid of our politicians that easily?
Most importantly, what happened to the kids? If they survived, how would the Piper feed hundreds of kids? If they did not survive, how did he kill them? Would the Piper really have been nasty enough to murder hundreds of little children? And if he did, who would ever hire him again?

Lots of questions but we simply accept the story as it is told. And that my friends is the problem. We go through life simply accepting fairy tales without ever questioning them. For instance, the Trickle-Down Fairy Tale. This tale says that if we give lots of money to the rich, the money will somehow work its way down to the poor. Most poor people I know believe this fairy tale. Most poor people are still waiting for it to happen.

Deconstruction is defined as “A method of critical analysis of philosophical and literary language which emphasizes the internal workings of language and conceptual systems, the relational quality of meaning, and the assumptions implicit in forms of expression.” I am going to use this concept loosely to look at several old and new fairy tales. We will look to see if we can find the obvious truths that we take for granted. Searching for the truth often requires us to cast common myths and assumptions aside and pursue the dangerous and mysterious. I am going to apply deconstruction to the enigmas (“A person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand.”) and conundrums (“A confusing and difficult problem or question.”) that are inherent in most fairy tales.

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Cinderella:

Once upon a time there was a lonely and mistreated girl named Cinderella. Cinderella is a popular fairy tale with its stereotypical evil step-mother and beautiful but hapless heroine. Cinderella lived with her two stepsisters and her evil stepmother who made her life hell. But along came a fairy Godmother who turned things around for Cindy. Throw in a handsome prince, money and a giant castle and you have the stuff of a fairy tale that still thrills young girls and would be princes. But I have a few questions:

Ok, I will give you the fairy Godmother with superpowers to transmute organic material into other organic material (mice to horses) as well as pumpkins into a carriage. But if she has such powers why can’t they work past 12 Midnight?
What was Cinderella’s plan after the prince fell madly in love with her? Was she going to get anything else from her stepmother to help with next steps? It does not seem like there was any long-term strategic plan here.
Do you really think that the King would let his heir apparent marry a commoner, no matter how beautiful she was? If that was the case, why couldn’t the fairy Godmother give Cinderella a million bucks or at least make her a princess?
Where would Cinderella learn palace etiquette? Would she be accepted in court with the manners of a scullery woman? I doubt it. I think divorce would have been pretty quick.
What about the poor stepsisters? So they were ugly. Doesn’t this story smack of discrimination on the basis of looks and beauty? Where was the Godmother for the two ugly stepsisters? Seems to me that they were the ones who needed the most help. All Cindy needed was a makeover and a gown, but the two sisters needed extensive plastic surgery.

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Anybody Can Be President in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave:

This is a wonderful fairy tale. It is one that we all grow up hearing and ultimately believing. “In the USA, anyone with drive, passion and a vision can be President of the USA.” But let’s be realistic. Looking at the statistics, we see that:

44 out of 45 Presidents have been white
45 out of 45 Presidents have been male
36 out of 45 Presidents had a net worth in today’s dollars of >$1,000.000
0 out of 45 Presidents have been Latino
0 out of 45 Presidents have been Asian
0 out of 45 Presidents have been female
0 out of 45 Presidents have been Native American

Not since Harry Truman (1953) have we had a president worth less than one million dollars net worth. Now if there are 328,000,000 people in the USA and we subtract from the total amount of people living in the USA those with little chance of becoming President, (I list each of the above characteristics that do not seem to play well with one’s odds of becoming President) we can see how many people really do have a chance of becoming fulfilling this fairy tale.

328.2 million people in the USA (2019)

-76.29 million Black and White men under the age of 35. (Must be at least 35 to be President.)

-73.29 million Black and White women under the age of 35

-85.1 million Black and White women over the age of 35 (Not good odds since none have made it yet)

-27 million Latino women

-15.4 million Latino men under the age of 35 (Not excluding Latino men over 35)

-9.7 million Asian American women

-4.66 million Asian American men under the age of 35 (Not excluding Asian American men over 35)

-3.2 million Native American women

-1.77 million Native American men under the age of 35 (Not excluding Native American Men over 35)

I have not forgotten LGBTQ people, but I have not found a way to eliminate them by ethnicity or gender from the general census data. I did not subtract Asian American, Latino or Native American men over the age of 35 who I think may still have a better chance of being president than a woman. African American men over the age of 35 are also included since their probabilities are now somewhat higher since President Obama’s election.

Subtracting the groups that are not likely to see a presidency in the near future we are left with: 31.79 million men over the age of 35 who have a chance of being president.

We will assume that you will likely need to be a millionaire to be elected President. 5.8 percent of the US population are millionaires. Let’s estimate that between 3 to 4 percent of all millionaires are either males over the age of 35. The rest of the millionaires being either female or males under the age of 35. Then we multiply 31.79 million x 5.8 % to find the Final Total number of people in the USA who may rightfully feel that they have a chance to be president. Trumpets please. The final number is:

1.113 million

Thus, if you are born in the USA, and you are a male over 35 who is rich your chances of becoming President are about 1 in a million. White males will no doubt continue to hold an advantage for the foreseeable future. Well, at least that is better odds than winning the lottery. However, the lottery pays a lot more.

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Goldilocks and the Three Bears:

Once upon a time there was a mischievous and naughty little girl named Goldilocks. Goldilocks was spoiled rotten by her parents who gave her everything she wanted. They named her Goldilocks because of her bright yellow hair. One day Goldilocks decided to go out for a walk in the woods. She soon came upon a small cottage and decided to peek in the windows. She was a very nosy child. Upon looking through the window, she spied a table with three bowls of hot porridge just sitting there. She did not see anyone inside and decided that she was hungry and that she was entitled to a bowl of cereal. She held the belief that everything belonged to her and that included the porridge. She tried the door and upon finding it open, she entered the home.

Have you noticed that Cowboy Stories, Comedy Romances and Fairy Tales all have happy endings? For the rest of us, it’s death and taxes.

At this point, I am sure that you remember the rest of the story. She eats three bowls of porridge. Do you think she was maybe obese to begin with? She breaks the little bear’s chair when she tries to sit on it. Proof that she was too fat! And then messes up all the bear beds and finally gets caught by the bears when they come home. At this point, Mama bear would probably have messed up the kids face for messing with her nice clean beds. But as far as I know, Goldilocks gets out alive and runs home where her parents continue to spoil her rotten. So a few questions to deconstruct things if you will indulge me. I will give you the anthropomorphic bears as a gift even before we begin.

How did a fat kid get so far into the woods that she found a bear den or cottage?
Where did the bears purchase their furniture and porridge? Do fairy tale bears shop at the same stores as humans?
Bears can run at speeds upwards of 30 mph, how come they could not catch Goldilocks?
Why were the bears eating porridge? Is that a traditional bear food?
If the bears lived that close to other human dwellings (Assuming a fat kid could not walk too far) how come no one warned Goldilocks about the bears?
What is the moral of this story anyway? Spoiled kids should not mess with bears or eat porridge that does not belong to them?

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The United States of America is the Greatest Democracy on Earth:

This is one of my favorite fairy tales. According to this story, there was this exceptional group of people who banded together to form a more (and almost) perfect nation where democracy ruled. It would be a government of the people, by the people and for the people. According to the Fairy Godfather, who was named Thomas Jefferson, everyone in this country would be free except: Black People, Indian People, LGBTQ People and Women.

This country would be based on a democratic form of government where each person had one vote (Except Black People, Indian People and Women). Representatives would be fairly elected and would make great and wonderful decisions for the people based on their superior knowledge and intellect. Democracy would be a rule of the majority with CONCERN for the minority. Thus Black people could continue to be happy down on the old plantations, women could continue to stay barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen and Indians could happily walk many miles to their new homes on the reservations. What a great place America would be.

There was only one snag though. Jefferson said that you could not really have a Democracy without two things:

An educated citizenry who could make informed decisions.
A free press which would keep people informed.

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Now, in the fairy tale, voters are all given equal opportunity to vote. There is no voter suppression, Jim Crow laws or gerrymandering. A vote is a vote is a vote. Also in the fairy tale, the government is “for the people” not “for the Corporations.” Representatives are looking out for the best interests of the people and not big business. There are also no bad guys in the fairy tale. These are the things that make the fairy tale so great and insure a happy ending. In real life we have the greedy lobbyists, the corrupt politicians, the sycophantic followers and the corporations who buy votes. Real life does not have happy endings.

But before we finish with deconstructing this fairy tale, we must say something about Jefferson’s two conditions for a democracy noted above. In the fairy tale we have great public education systems where people are taught to think for themselves and to be able to tell lies from the truth. In real life of course, schools do not teach critical thinking and students cannot distinguish lies from truth. However, they are excellent at finding the right answers to exam questions.

Turning to the issue of a free press, in the fairy tale, we have courageous journalists who seek out the truth and who will print it regardless of the consequences. In the fairy tale, journalists are motivated by a desire to inform the public and to ensure that information about critical issues is widely available. In real life, most journalists are hacks whose major skills involve writing good clickbait lines to draw you into an extensive amount of advertising designed to make money for the corporations running their newspaper. Profits and not information are the motivators in real life for newspapers and media.

So there you have it. I have deconstructed some major fairy tales. If you live in the USA, I am no doubt sure that you have read or heard of all of these. Just to be clear, I love fairy tales and the fantasies that they give us. Without fairy tales, we would have to live in the real world 24/7 and who could do that without going out of their minds?

“There must be possible a fiction which, leaving sociology and case histories to the scientists, can arrive at the truth about the human condition, here and now, with all the bright magic of the fairy tale.” — Ralph Ellison

It’s the Economy Stupid! The Five Myths of Capitalism – Part 1 of 5

18 Apr 2020 6 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: capitalism, Citizens United, corporations, democracy, freedom, greed, Karl Marx, lobbyists, pollution, supreme court

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There are many theories about what drives progress and change in the world. Some say Ideology changes the world. Some say Technology is the main driver of change. Karl Marx, one of the most famous or infamous men in history, (depending on your beliefs) argued that Economics is the main driver of change in the world. Much of Marx’s theory is summed up by the term Historical Materialism which can be defined as:

“A theory of history which states that a society’s economic organization fundamentally determines its social institutions and the way that people live and benefit from the means of production in that society.”

marxism-capitalism-1-638 Most of what people learn about Marx is far removed from his actual ideas. Given that Capitalism has been diametrically opposed to the very name of Karl Marx, it is not surprising that he is routinely disparaged. Even at the University level, it is rare to find anyone studying Marx very deeply. Many educators and instructors describe Marx’s economic theories as “Totally Discredited.” Few people in America have any good words for Karl Marx. Any politician in the USA who might suggest that Marx ever said one good thing or had one good idea would court instant political death. Marx is the devil in our Capitalistic system.

the economy Marx did of course hate capitalism. He saw Capitalism as a system that exploited workers and allowed the greedy to benefit at the expense of those less fortunate or less aggressive.

“Capitalism: Teach a man to fish, but the fish he catches aren’t his. They belong to the person paying him to fish, and if he’s lucky, he might get paid enough to buy a few fish for himself.” — Karl Marx

10665231_470379489743928_2447670465163187643_n The antipathy directed towards Marx and his critique of Capitalism has discouraged any real in-depth understanding of the limits and myths of Capitalism by most Americans. Capitalism resides in America on the same level as Mom, God, and Apple Pie. Woe to anyone who would dare to attack Capitalism. In the United States, Capitalism is as hallowed an institution as Christianity. In fact, most Christians think that Capitalism and religion go hand in hand, which to a large extent they sadly do. Unfortunately, not all Capitalism is the same. In America, we have a home-grown version that is more appropriately called Corporate Capitalism. What is the difference you might ask? Well it gets even more complicated since economists define four types of Capitalism. These are: oligarchic capitalism, state-guided capitalism, big-firm capitalism, entrepreneurial capitalism. The type of Capitalism that I am going to talk about is known as Big Firm Capitalism or Corporate Capitalism. It has been defined as:

“Corporate capitalism is characterized by the dominance of hierarchical and bureaucratic corporations… A large proportion of the economy of the United States and its labor market falls within corporate control. In the developed world, corporations dominate the marketplace, comprising 50% or more of all businesses. Those businesses which are not corporations contain the same bureaucratic structure of corporations, but there is usually a sole owner or group of owners who are liable to bankruptcy and criminal charges relating to their business. Corporations have limited liability and remain less regulated and accountable than sole proprietorships.” — Wikipedia

Before we proceed further, you need to understand one thing. I am not against corporations per se. We gain many benefits from corporations. Corporations are a large part of the foundation of our economy which from strictly a monetary perspective has been phenomenally successful. The USA has perhaps the most successful economy in history. I have no problems with the monetary contributions of corporations.

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The problems arise however, in that there are Myths of Corporate Capitalism which serve to hide the negative impacts that corporations have on our country and the rest of the world. Today, corporations are global entities and their excesses are felt not just in this country but all over the globe. I believe that unless these excesses are reined in by intelligent oversight and a rewriting of corporate law, they will destroy this country. Each of these excesses is a Deadly Disease that by itself could do the destruction. Together these five excesses are leading America away from the vision of our founding fathers. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were based on the belief in a democratic system of government that was of the people, by the people and for the people. We are increasingly standing by while our country becomes a government of the corporation, by the corporation and for the corporation.

The Five Myths of Corporate Capitalism that are destroying America:

Corporations are people

supreme court decision Over the past 40 years, the Supreme Court has radically expanded constitutional rights for corporations. The original charters for corporations written in the late 19^th century, allowed corporations powers never before seen in companies. The abuse of these powers soon led to a considerable amount of legislation designed to reign in some of the most egregious of these abuses. Laws such as the Sherman Anti-Trust Act passed in 1890 to stop monopoly practices and the Clayton Antitrust Act passed in 1914 to stop unethical business practices were somewhat successful at ameliorating corporate abuses. Unfortunately, corporations were still left with considerable power to thwart the goals of democracy and good government.

From the early 20^th Century onwards, corporations continued to use their power to bribe, cajole, and persuade policy makers to give them privileges that once again extended their power. They have since more than made up for the power that they lost in the early part of the 20^th century.

“Today, the biggest companies have upwards of 100 lobbyists representing them, allowing them to be everywhere, all the time. For every dollar spent on lobbying by labor unions and public-interest groups together, large corporations and their associations now spend $34. Of the 100 organizations that spend the most on lobbying, 95 consistently represent business.” — “How Corporate Lobbyists Conquered American Democracy” — The Atlantic, Lee Drutman, April 20, 2015.

corporate power Corporate interests easily dominate the interests of the common person. The common person has nowhere near the financial clout of corporations. In 2010, the Supreme Court passed the Citizens United Decision which gave corporations unlimited power to finance and support political candidates running for office as well as to lobby on behalf of any laws that they wanted. This decision basically upheld the idea that corporations had a right to free speech much like any citizen of the USA and that campaign spending was simply a manifestation of free speech. Corporations are now being treated as living breathing people despite the fact that corporations can live forever, and corporations are not organic entities. They are not born, and they do not die like any other creature on the face of the earth.

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Corporations already had almost unlimited power to influence and coerce politicians to do their will. The Citizens United Decision took all the brakes out of the system. You have often heard the parody of the Golden Rule “He who has the gold makes the rules.” This trope is now a fact of life in America. Many people no longer bother voting because they believe that voting is a waste of time. Everyone knows that politicians need an exorbitant amount of money to support their campaign and that once elected they immediately start building their money up for their reelection. They get the lion’s share of this money from big business interests and associations that support big business interests such as the National Rifle Association (NRA).

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According to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission that cover activity from January 1, 2019 through June 30, 2019, congressional candidates collected $389 million and disbursed $172.2 million, political parties received $353.7 million and spent $279.9 million, and political action committees (PACs) raised $958.2 million and spent $818.7 million in the six-month period. If you total these figures up for money raised in just the first six months of 2019, it equals $1.701 billion dollars. If there were 100 people in the US Senate and 435 people in the US House of Representatives, this equals approximately $3,179,400 dollars for every one of those politicians in office. Of course, some will get more, and some will get less, but the majority of this money will be spent helping to support the reelection of each and every one of these honorable men and women.

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Here is a little experiment to show you what this campaign funding could buy. Consider that the Federal Minimum Wage in the United States as of 2020 is $10 dollars per hour. A person on minimum wage working full time earns approximately $21,000 dollars a year. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1. 8 million Americans work full-time at or below the minimum wage. If you double the average election campaign fund to equal a full year of collecting money you will get approximately $6.2 million dollars. Now divide this campaign fund by the average yearly minimum wage of $21 thousand dollars and you get 295. In other words, one year of campaign funding (an average) would fund a person now working on minimum wage for 295 years. If you earn the national average of $86,000 dollars a year, it could support you for 72 years.

To say that something is wrong here is an understatement. We have a sort of self-perpetuating money machine here. Every year corporations get greedier and seek more profits. According to Corporate Law that is their primary reason for existence. Numerous pundits and corporate sympathizers extol the virtue of greed.

“Workers Should Be Very Thankful That Corporations Are So Greedy” by Jeffrey Dorfman

One of the most popular movies in the eighties was Wall Street. In the movie, Michael Douglas gave a “Greed is Good” speech which was actually applauded by audiences all over the United States. Some corporations have been sued by stockholders for not being greedy enough.

Every year budding politicians need more and more money to get elected. Corporations are money banks for anyone desiring to run for office. Corporations provide the funds that politicians need to wage a successful election campaign. Once elected, elected officials are then beholden to the major corporations and lobbyists whose help they will need to raise the money to get reelected.

Corporations are more than happy to support candidates who will pass bills that help them to make more profits. Other bills they like are designed to ensure that they can pay less taxes, have fewer environmental regulations, fewer safety and health regulations, pay lower wages, decrease employee pensions and benefits, defeat unions and avoid onerous consumer liability claims. Any politician who is willing to support the former goals can find numerous corporate lobbyists willing to donate money to help them get elected. The Citizens United Decision guarantees that corporations can give as much money as they want without breaking any laws. After all, it is free speech.

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“Warren Buffett worth nearly $80 billion dollars points to the Forbes 400, which lists the wealthiest Americans. ‘Between the first computation in 1982 and today, the wealth of the 400 increased 29-fold — from $93 billion to $2.7 trillion — while many millions of hardworking citizens remained stuck on an economic treadmill. During this period, the tsunami of wealth didn’t trickle down. It surged upward’.” — Entrepreneurs, January 24^th, 2018

In Part 2, I am going to cover the second myth of Corporate Capitalism. The Myth that laissez faire will somehow result in corporations being self-regulating entities for the common good.

“According to a survey from the Pew Research Center last year, 60 percent of American adults think that three decades from now, the U.S. will be less powerful than it is today. Almost two-thirds say it will be even more divided politically. Fifty-nine percent think the environment will be degraded. Nearly three-quarters say that the gap between the haves and have-nots will be wider. A plurality expects the average family’s standard of living to have declined. Most of us, presumably, have recently become acutely aware of the danger of global plagues.” — The Atlantic, Kate Julian, April 17, 2020

I think you will enjoy my five part series. I write for the understanding of the average person and not necessarily the economist or the Ph.D. However, if you want a more rigorous and thoroughly detailed analysis of the problems with the Capitalist system. See the following study by the Roosevelt Institute.

https://rooseveltinstitute.org/publications/new-rules-for-the-21st-century-corporate-power-public-power-future-american-economy/#:~:text=In%20New%20Rules%20for%20the,thinking%20about%20the%20role%20of

The United States of Trump – Part 1

23 Feb 2020 6 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: bigot, democracy, democrats, dictator, fanatic, fascist, hitler, nazi, republicans, right wing, trump, trumpism

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My name is Michael Donald Trump. I am eleven years old today. It is the year 2100 YOL. My father is getting ready for church services. We are going to have a birthday party for me after church today. My father, sister and I go to church every week from 7 AM until 12 PM. My mother must get there early as she helps with the baking for the lunch after church and also sings in the choir. Every Wednesday night, I go to Bible school for three hours. My older sister is 13 but on Wednesday nights she goes to homemakers’ school where she learns things like cooking, cleaning and how to take care of a baby. She has reached the age where the District Executive will select a husband for her and in the next year she will be married and leave home.

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My school is run by the Evangelical Church of Trump. Our Evangelical Church Leader is a Senior Executive in the Local Republican Party. At school, we learn a great deal about Trump History, taxes, Republicanism, Americanism and other subjects. The teachers are very strict and any messing around will get you a night in the stocks. After school, I am bused to the local mining operation to help the workers with some of their chores. Every student in the UST (United States of Trump) must contribute back to the community. If the local Work Commander thinks we have done a good job, we are allowed to play sports on the weekend. We can choose from baseball, football, hockey or golf. No other sports are allowed.

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My father works at the mines. He went to the same school and church that we now go to. Every community is allowed only one church and one school. My mother stays home. She is a good mom, but the Local Work Commander says that she is not pulling her weight in the community. He says that she has only had two children and it is expected that every mother will have at least five children. My mom says that she is trying but it is not her fault. One of my siblings died at childbirth or so I was told. There is a rumor that she was sent to the Default Clinic because she was born with a genetic birth defect. My mom has been warned to keep trying and that there are penalties for non-compliance.

I have a grandfather and grandmother on my Father’s side who are local representatives for the Republican Party. There is only one party in the UST. Our Supreme Chief Executive Officer abolished all other parties many years ago. He argued that it is too confusing for people to have more than one party and that all we really need is one party to see that people keep order and do what they are supposed to do.

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I am not allowed to talk to my grandfather or grandmother on my mother’s side because they have been labeled as descendants of heretics and state enemies. The story I have been told is that many years ago when then President D. J. Trump was in the process of becoming Supreme Chief Executive Officer, my great grandfather on my mother’s side joined an opposition group of liars and cheats who were called Democrats. They did everything they could to block President Trump from becoming Supreme Chief Executive Officer for life. But President Trump labeled the Democrats as terrorists and they were ruthlessly sought out and either executed or deported to Siberia.

Our Evangelical Church Leader has taught us that things really started to become great in the United States of Trump once the Trump family was installed for life. In order to become a Supreme CEO, you must belong to the Trump family by birth. Leadership in our country is based on a strict sequence of hereditary seniority.

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Once President Trump became Supreme Leader, he started to remove all the rapists and criminals from our country. First, all people of African descent were exported back to Africa. Then he sent all Asian people back to their homes in China, Vietnam, Korea and Japan. After he finished the Great Border Wall, he sent all the rapists and thieves back to Mexico. During this time, he also had to deal with the radical terrorists who were called Democrats. With the help of the Army and Marines he was finally able to eliminate this terrorist group.

President Trump then had his title changed to Supreme CEO. In his honor, the Republican Party changed the name of the United States of America to the United States of Trump. His birthday is now a national holiday. He eliminated several other holidays like Martin Luther King Day, Presidents Day and Washington’s Birthday. We have had many other changes in the country.

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The Equal Rights Amendment was abolished, and women were able to regain their rightful place in the home as mothers and home makers. Abortion was banned and all women were to be married to a man. Every woman was expected to contribute at least five children to the UST. Some women were against this, but they were deported to Siberia and eventually the opposition fell in line. Gays and other sexual deviants were outlawed and any lascivious behavior on the part of sexual deviants was deemed a crime against the state and subject to strict prison sentences and public whippings.

All libraries, radio stations, tv stations, and schools underwent what Supreme CEO Trump called a radical reorganization. Millions of books were eliminated. Now all book authors must be approved by the Republican Party to ensure that they will comply with the facts and truth as known. PBS, SNL and NPR were closed down. The Washington Post and Time Magazine were sold to the Central Republican Party. All local schools were taken over by Republican Evangelicals who oversaw a major revision of curriculum and textbooks. We were told that all false facts and lies would be eliminated from the school system and that we would be educated only in the truth.

All non-Christian religions were banned, and an Executive Order was issued that stated all religions must teach strict Evangelical Republicanism as defined by the central Party headquarters. The Ten Commandments were installed in every court in the UST and the calendar was changed from CE or Common Era to YOL which stands for in the Year of Our Lord. Only men could be ministers and churches must adhere to the truth as defined by the Central Republican Party. A minister or church leader must also be ordained by the Local Republican Party.

Oh, you may wonder if I am related to the Trump family, but genetically the answer is no. However, several years ago, an executive order was released that all families would carry the last name of Trump and all male children must have the middle name of Donald. My father could pick any first name for his male children, but the middle and last names were to be in honor of the Greatest Leader in the History of the United States of Trump.

There is more to this story so come back next week and find out what happens to young Michael Donald Trump.

“The one indisputable reality of dictatorship is that dissent, insult, and malevolent language do not go unpunished if it is allowed at all.” — Ferdinand Marcos

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It’s the Economy Stupid! The Five Myths of Capitalism – Part 1 of 5

The United States of Trump – Part 1

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