Countering Dark Visions of Our Future

 There exists among us today those who promote division within our culture as they yearn for a return to some mythical conception of the confederacy (let us not forget, a rogue state dedicated to preserving the institution of slavery under the guise of state sovereignty) while dreaming of a ‘second reconstruction’. To them we might inquire: Do you envision one replete with the traditions of enslavement of fellow human beings and their life-long subjugation, the practice of serial rape, and the hanging of those who might dare to resist their oppressor? Or perhaps you envision a milder form in which one class of people is merely segregated from society, denied full participation in its administration, made subject to untenable living conditions, taught in sub-standard schools, caught in the grips of generational poverty, rendered as superfluous to the mainstream, and otherwise condemned to a state of hopelessness? Either way, your dark and backward vision is neither compatible with nor will be tolerated by a future society that will have long since bid farewell to its regrettable past and your evil intentions for its revival. You will be better advised to begin the ‘second reconstruction’ with the implementation of reparations!

Authoritarian Rule Over Party Doctrine

 It is beyond ironic that Trump is simultaneously violating the Posse Comitatus Act by ordering the National Guard into Los Angeles while also rejecting the sacrosanct Republican value of states rights and sovereignty.

Self Care

Note to self and to whomever it applies: remember to exercise self-compassion and forgiveness when deviating from the core value of embodying that which you want made manifest in the world.  Gandhi was also a mere mortal. 

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.