Proper Loyalty

In the aftermath of AG Pam Bondi’s decision to not investigate the posting of classified information related to an imminent military attack using an unsecured platform, perhaps she might be reminded that her task is the administration and impartial application of the law and that her loyalty should properly be to the sacred principle of justice; not to the demands or dictates of any one president. 

Through the Glass Darkly

Donald Trump is a placeholder; he has no vision save his own self aggrandizement. He’s been the useful idiot for the cadre of oligarchs whose vision has always included the privatization of services heretofore the privy of accountable governmental agencies. Their playbook as reflected in Project 2025 is fully formed and it’s implementation is well underway; JD Vance merely awaits his turn at the throne with Elon Musk perfectly poised to continue his role as a modern day Rasputin. 

Cost Cutting for the Common Good

In response to the assertion that Elon Musk’s recent illegal and indiscriminate termination of vital services and government jobs is merely the altruistic efforts of a humanitarian seeking cost reduction for the benefit of the American people, allow me to respond accordingly…

Of course, the elimination of wasteful spending in government is a value with universal appeal but the wholesale slashing of jobs and services without regard for their deleterious consequences is dangerously irresponsible. There are an abundance of examples of long-standing cost overruns within the DOD for instance that need not not entail the firing of loyal and vital personnel; and which would result in more significant savings to the taxpayer. That said, the increased dispersalof vital services to the American people is already within the capacity of the wealthiest nation on the face of the Earth. I would suggest an increase and enforcement of the corporate tax rate on the top 1% (obviously not an original idea) together with a serious redistribution of public funds to allow an upgrade in the delivery of services across a wide range of agencies for purpose of raising all boats and establishing the fundamental principle of equity originally envisioned by those who have preceded us. This can be an important adjunct to the effort to reduce costs across the board and also underscores the value of promoting the common good.

Consistent with this vision is the notion that public and private sectors of the economy can coexist for benefit of all the people; not merely for a privileged few. Coexistence of two seemingly competing principles or elements of society need not be a matter of mutual exclusivity. All things are possible under the sun! 

One National Family

 The recent attempt by the DOD to delete from the National Archives Jackie Robinson’s web page as part of a larger purge of DEI related material (without coherent justification) revealed a profound misunderstanding and misapplication of the underlying concept of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The current administration conceives DEI as an imposition of a set of mandates the purpose of which is to elevate a wide range representatives (eg: POC, women, LGBTQ+, veterans, and the disabled) from the population at the expense of a presumptively more qualified group (eg: white men). The utter fallacy of this conception was vividly exposed when the eminently qualified Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General CQ Brown, and the Chief of Navel Operations, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, were summarily dismissed by a DOD Secretary (whose own qualifications consisted of excellent camera presence, undying loyalty to the top executive, and the alleged ability to perform 100 sit ups in a single day) in deference to a misguided interpretation/understanding of DEI policy while replacing them with manifestly less qualified individuals. The zero sum notion implicit the current administration’s actions fails to understand that DEI is not a threat from without but rather an affirmation of a fundamental reality within American society; namely, that we have been, and are ever-more-so now, a multi-cultural nation represented by a diversity of people expressing a wide range of ethnicity, gender, identity awareness, physical conditions, history of national service, and individual talents to be celebrated and included into the fabric, consciousness, and character of the nation. It is clearly apparent that the Trump administration and its assembly of loyalists are keenly aware of the nation’s rapidly changing demographics and instead of welcoming this reality as the inevitable and positive expression of an open, pluralistic society, the current regime regards this social evolution as a threat to the white dominated culture of our often inglorious and diminishing past. Not unlike the extinction of the dinosaur, this iteration of a dying species of political mentality is causing considerable havoc in its final death throes. And die it must to eventually give way, as a result of its own depleted moral core and the vacuity of its corrosive hateful message, to the emergence of a people embodying the truly universal values of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Let us demonstrate to the world that we are such a population.

Of The People

 Apparently it has taken the elevation of a fascist into the highest office in the land to finally recognize the wisdom and widespread appeal for the message Bernie Sanders has embodied for well over a decade. After an organized effort by the Democratic establishment to marginalize his truly populist agenda in 2016 and 2020, perhaps only now will we see real change in America and a robust challenging of corporate control of both time-honored political parties, which has sacrificed the middle and working class in deference to an oligarchical system of self-serving billionaires. What we’re witnessing across the country is an organic, grassroots uprising from the bottom up with the likes of Sanders leading from behind the people in active revolt.

A darkened Horizon

 Don’t look now but we’re one strategically manufactured false flag operation away from an official suspension of civil liberties through the implementation of indefinite martial law. It’s already in the playbook. Have a great day knowing that the trains will still run on time.

The Way Forward With Poetic Assistance

Responsible citizenship going forward will be characterized by organized, determined, thoughtful, and peaceful resistance to the conscious effort currently afoot to replace our democratic model of governance with a privatized, corporate-led authoritarian vision of America’s future. As the poet reminds us: ‘The lines have been drawn and the curse has been cast; the slow one now will later be fast as first one now will later be last; And the present now will later be past for the times [indeed, once again] are a changin’. To paraphrase further with mixed verse:…with clear-eyed vision, ‘watch with one last look the chimes of freedom flashing’; Listen closely for ‘the chance might not come again’ and ‘don’t speak too soon for wheel is still in spin and there’s no telling who that it’s naming’; Remember that ‘the rules of the road have been lodged and its’s it’s only people’s games that you got to dodge’. So its’s alright, America…’we can make it’!!