2014 christmas wishes

Freedoms Just Another Name...

We are beings of law, of culture and society just as we are of our religion, our morals and our upbringing. You work all week, belly up to the bar on Friday night, talk sports, politics, your love life, what have you. We come and go as we please, we wear what we please, we say as we please, we hang with who we damn well please, because we are free.

We are a civilized, morally and technically  progressive society, and we are free because our parents fought the great war, our grandparents fought the noble civil war. We are free because we are Americans. We have fought hard for our freedom, our right, to say and do as we please.

Yet there is a thread, a thought that perhaps something, is not quite right. A thing which you can not put your finger on, a lingering that bothers you every now an then, but easily swept aside by hanging at the drinking hole, shopping, fishing or perhaps, watching a movie.

You have it all, poor, black, rich, Asian, the sick, white, the insane, native, Christian, Muslim Americans all, we are free, free to not be bothered by nasty little lingering doubts. Indeed, here in America, freedom is of such importance that we give it to brick buildings and signed contracts and damn those who disagree.

And with all our freedoms, we have created a great many people with nothing to fucking lose!

The freedoms you have are illusions. Freedom is not about the right to own a home. You make your home. Not about free speech, man has always spoken his mind, and willingly paid the price. Freedom is not your right to choose what doctor you see, not about what politician you vote for or the right to choose who you hang with. That’s capitalism, Democracy and good decision making.

Freedom is about oppression, equality, the right to grow, to be more than what you are, to choose your course, to write your destiny, to fulfill your dreams.

Are you doing any of these things? Or are you simply existing? Paycheck to paycheck, tired of the long, repetitive days broken only by the annual vacation to Casa del Lobo. Perhaps you’re lucky, you’re financially secure, you’re really free.

You, in all your glory believe yourself to be free. Than let me ask you, why do you practice the Religion you choose? Why do you vote for who you vote? Why do you live in the community you live in? Why are you swayed by a movie to tears? How have you changed spiritually, grown as a person in the last decade?

Freedom is also about, and inclusive of, responsibility. Freedom, true freedom is about thought, introspective inquiry and action. It is freedom from fear. Fear of starvation, of assault, sickness, of recrimination, of abuse, of poverty, of death. True freedom requires you to take all the your mother and father gave to you, to establish that which is useful, and to note the rest. Chances are, you have not done so.

There's a good chance you have not studied the worlds religions, spoke out against inequality, volunteered in a local shelter, researched a political topic. You have not done so, because you believe you are free to not do so, and you rather not waste your time. That is not freedom and you have absolutely nothing to lose in doing so.

Swr 12 9 14

Rob, in 2016!

Are we Asses, or What?

Politics suck. Even more so when you’re on the losing end. Me? I hate to lose! Most people don’t know that about me, thinking I’m generally a nice guy, but boy, I not only hate to lose, I really hate to lose big time, and that’s exactly what happened November 4th.

I actually went into the election believing the polls were wrong. They were, but not to my Democratic advantage. The red wave was embarrassing and damaging to my entire belief system, and I’m still in shock. How could someone like Brownback in Kansas, or Ernst in Iowa be elected?

Yea, I don’t get it! Okay, maybe I do. It could be said Ernst was the stronger Candidate, character wise. She said some pretty outrageous things, had colorful ads, and she really didn’t make any serious mistakes, and she bashed Obama relentlessly.

Yep, that’s how she got elected, being colorful, not making mistakes, not having a strong opponent and hating the President. But that’s one race out of how many? How do you explain Brownback winning? A guy that ran his state into the financial ground, so much so, Republicans actually turned against him? Exit Polls suggest that people voted for him based on Brownback being white, male, conservative, Christian and because they felt the country was going in the wrong direction, even while their own Kansas economy was in disarray due to  white, male, Christian conservatives leadership.

Yea, I don’t get it!

I suppose I could blame Voter turnout, specifically Democrat turnout, as being low, and it was, but c’mon, so was Republican turnout. So, who actually bothered to vote? Everyone that hated Obama? Maybe? I don’t know!

I guess it’s a combination of colorful characters, political anomalies, and low voter turnout.
I guess the only thing messing from the above, is looking in the mirror, and asking what part the Democrats played in their loss, because that question is going to be asked by a lot of everyday, normal democrats, but probably not those politicians that need to be asking the question.

Bottom line is, you all let the reds have their way, you let Republicans define the entire election. There was no talk of issues, it was all about the President and his policies. You allowed that party to create an environment of fear, and even hate, long before Ebola. That was a mistake you paid for, and will pay for, because that hate has permeated the nation, setting the stage for a conflict you don’t even see coming.

From the moment Mitch McConnell declared his only job in his political life was to make Barack Obama a one term president, you should have been on the offensive. We should have been on the offensive!

We ran away and refused to have a seat at the public table, letting Republicans define every issue for the last six years. It was almost like, we went to bed after the ‘08 elections believing that just because we elected Obama, everything was going to be alright, our work was done, people had come to their senses. When Republicans started to gain traction, when the far right took control, we analyzed, mystified, mollified and did little else. And when we woke up concerned about the far right, we were too scared to do anything, and we ran, straight away from our beliefs.

And that’s why we lost last night.

Because the Democratic Party leaderships and politicians are nothing but cowards! They will reinforce that belief with the coronation of Hillary Clinton.

I won’t accept that.

Let me offer up another scenario.

Start with taking the ‘Financially responsible’ mantra back. The Republicans have been the most fiscally irresponsible party while in power for the last 50 years, and yet we allow them to claim otherwise. Second, start hitting them where it hurts, not their pocketbooks, their swarmy little claims that their ‘Patroits’. Let’s start callin ‘em what they are, what the far right really is, fascists! What moderate Republicans really are, corporate owned war hawks!


and finally,
Coronate a true Progressive.
That’s how we build the future, or we can die with the old!