Category: Politics

Dear Mr. President,

Let me take this opportunity to wish you the best on your upcoming retirement. The country and you are very deserving of this unselfish service that you are giving your country.

You have been of great service to the United States of America. You have shown us how we can “Make America Great.” Notice that the word “Again” isn’t included. Sir, that’s because “Great” hasn’t happened yet. We as a country will be “Great” when we live up to the words of our founding Fathers and the living document called the Constitution of the United States that they wrote over 250 years ago. But, thank you for bringing greatness to our attention. We needed that.

“Great” will happen when all citizens of this marvelous country are treated equally and have the same access to life, liberty and and the pursuit of happiness as those with white skin. You have taught us to face up to our collective national ignorance about race.

“Great” will happen when Americans see government at all levels as a tool for bringing the Constitution to life for all Americans. Thank you for alerting us to the value of a government that works by showing us what it looks like when it doesn’t work.

“Great” will happen when Americans learn what is in the Constitution and how it translates into everyday life. Thank you for putting a spotlight on the Second Amendment. By doing so, you put the light on the entire Constitution. I have not been this attentive to the Constitution since my high school Civics class.

Sir, I need to list a few things on my mind before I continue:

• Re-unite immigrant children at the Mexican border with their parents
• Apologize for your Access Hollywood comments about women
• Create a fair tax policy for all (the rich pay their fair share)
• Release your income taxes.  The American people deserve to know where your money is coming from and how it might affect your decision making when it involves foreign countries.
• Stop the rapid spread of COVID.  Too many people have died unnecessarily (more or this later).
• Treat the Press with respect.  They aren’t “fake news.” You’ve done us all a great disservice by eliminating the word “Truth” from public discourse.
• Be honest and make it a habit to tell the truth
• Allow the Justice Department to do it’s job without interference (aka find an Attorney General that enforces the Constitutional laws of our great country).
• Keep your hands off of Democracy.  Don’t badmouth the voting process. It is fair and it is working.  Leave it alone.  Win or lose, the process is more important than the person.
• Leave foreign governments out of American sovereignty. We can make our own decisions without outside interference.
• Remember that you were Impeached for trying to tamper with a US election by enlisting information from a foreign government.
• Be humble.  To deny humility is a Faustian bargain.
• If you lose the election, step aside for the next president.  That’s how it is done in a Democracy.
• If you are re-elected, really drain the swamp this time.
• Protest is a Positive.
• There’s more to the Constitution than the Second Amendment.  You might want to consider that as the person who took an oath to protect and defend the Entire Constitution. 
• What’s this about the Turkish President asking you to drop charges against a Turkish Bank? And our own Attorney General willing to do it?
• And, let’s be honest. You never really had COVID did you?
• Don’t take any more photos with Red, White and Blue in them. They just don’t go with Orange.

COVID. I have been trying to figure out how to say this without being too blunt about it. But, I can’t believe that all of the mistakes that your administration has made on the handling of the Coronavirus have been done out of ineptitude.

It would be easier to think that your Coronavirus policy was done out of ignorance. I don’t think that this is the truth. How do I say this without using the “G” word. Your administration intentionally has allowed the virus to spread non-stop because that is exactly what you wanted. Maybe not you, maybe it was someone in your Administration or with outside influence on your administration. This virus has hit our minority populations with the largest number of cases and deaths.

The Affordable Care Act or “Obama Care.” You seem to take some special satisfaction in referring to the Affordable Care Act as Obama Care. I’m sure that the former president is proud to have his name associated with a measure that provides health care to millions of Americans who would otherwise not have it.

Congratulations to you and the minority of Americans that you represent on getting three Supreme Court Justices onto the court during your Term in office. I’m sure that you are collectively quite pleased with yourselves. Now you can appease the large share of your base that supports you only because they want to see the Roe v. Wade decision overturned. You must be proud to have based your re-election campaign on taking away rights instead of granting them. I do hope that you understand that you took two of those Justices away from another president, not that this means anything to you.

There. Those are a few things I needed to get off my chest. I’m sure that I missed a few, but this is good enough for me. I feel better.

Sir, I’ll close by saying that as much unnecessary pain as Americans have suffered during the past three years and ten months, that the suffering has made us all stronger and appreciative of our Democracy. It looks like more people will vote this year than in any past Presidential election in American history. Thank you for that.

Sir, I will further close by sayings that I might sound a bit sarcastic, but I mean all of this sincerely.

Finally, thanks again for your service to this country and enjoy playing retirement golf on your own dime.

A Grateful American

You might think that there is just no explaining the seemingly bizarre and unpredictable actions of this president and his administration of administrative incompitance.

But, I think that there is a pattern to the daily mayhem that is this presidency. Just to name a very few of the events that appear to fall into the category of inducing mayhem.

Taking children away from their parents and locking them up at the Mexican border, offering paper towels to Puerto Rican hurricane victims, a group called Q-Anon appears mysteriously online. In a California meeting with experts briefing the president about the wildfire, the president said that the climate will get cooler and the scientists don’t really know what the climate is doing. The promotion of quack medicine “cures” to treat COVID infection, things like Hydroxychloroquine. Just sweep the forest and the wildfires will stop.

Telling lawmakers to not worry about passing another much needed COVID Relief bill, but to put priority on rushing the hearings to consider this administration’s third potential Supreme Court nominee. Insisting that he leave the hospital and return to the White House while he is almost certainly still extremely contagious with COVID.

This list is long beyond your interest level in reading it. So, I’ll get to the point of this post.

Author Erick Larson’s book “In the Garden of Beasts” chronicles the experiences of William Dodd, U.S. Ambassador to Germany starting in 1933. It would be another six years before the Nazi’s invaded Poland and started World War ll.

The National Socialist Party, which would become the Nazi Party, was a prominent player in German politics, but was not yet in total control of the government. It is within this culture that Dodd, appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, had been inserted to represent the interests of the United States in a country exhibiting very disturbing tendencies in dealing with non-Aryan peoples. Many thought that the Germans were building for war. Some, like Dodd, held out hope that the German Chancellor, Adolph Hitler, really wanted peace.

Again, back to my point. In late October 1933, Ambassador Dodd met with Hitler. Dodd was convinced that the German Chancellor wanted peace, but his Consul General was skeptical.

To quote Consul General Messersmith: “I think for the moment he genuinely desires peace, but it is a peace of his own kind and with an armed force constantly more effective in reserve in order to to impose their will when it may become essential.” My point is coming.

Here’s my point. As you read this, consider the daily mayhem that the United States has lived through for the past four years and that doesn’t include COVID-19, multiple hurricanes affecting the Gulf and East coasts and devastating wildfires affecting the West.

Messersmith reiterated his belief that Hitler’s government could not be viewed as a rational entity. “There are so many pathological cases that it would be impossible from day-to-day what will happen any more than the keeper of a madhouse is able to tell what his inmates will do in the next hour or during the next day.”

I bring this up because what Messersmith was describing in 1933 Germany has parallels with the 2020 United States. The constant pathology in the White House has the effect of keeping Americans on edge, nervous, always off our centers just a little bit. This constant state of anxiety can be manipulated by unscrupulous leaders to create a state of fear and doubt which is capable of paralyzing the entire country.

This is what is happening right now in the United States. My request of you, wherever you are and whatever you do, is don’t buy into it. Overcome your fear and doubt and act boldly in any way that feels right to you short of violence against anyone.

Civil disobedience is fine, writing letters and postcards, marching with posters and banners, sending letters to the editor of whatever and whoever you are reading, record a message and send it to podcaster, radio station or website, write a blog. (That’s where this writing is coming from.)

Most importantly is to vote. Your vote is your voice. Make sure it is heard.