WHEN EVIL STALKS

by Ruth A. Sheets

Evil does not just happen.  It has a cause (and it is not Satan).  The cause is human action and occasionally mental illness.  I dismiss mental illness here because of its limited impact.

The evil I want to discuss is the creeping evil that starts relatively small, then grows as it is nurtured.  Spouse abusers don't start their relationship by one partner beating up the other.  If so, the relationship, unless it is a forced marriage, would stop right there.  The future abuser begins with charm, laughter, joking, to entice the victim into complacency.  If the future abuser slips and commits some violence, there is always a quick apology and promise it won't happen again.  Over time the future abuser divides the spouse from family and friends, isolates the partner, and increases the violence/abuse.

I suggest, as others probably have, the Trump administration is like the spouse abuser, but on a larger scale.  Mr. Trump started out as a barely functioning real estate guy.  He had lots of money from Dad and a big mouth.  He associated with high-profile people and made sure he stayed in the public eye, a kind of fun guy.

Some people around him saw that Mr. Trump liked power, obtained with as little effort as possible.  He published a book that he didn't write.  The book, for some who wanted to make a name for themselves in business, won fans to this deal-making genius.  Mr. Trump went through bankruptcy numerous times (some say 4, others say 6), and each time he came out losing very little.  Everyone else involved took the hit.  The explanation, "It wasn't my fault and I'm only using the tools the Government permits."  His reputation didn't suffer with anyone who mattered.  The abused were powerless to do anything.

Mr. Trump was given a reality show where he strutted around, yelling "You're fired!" no more was necessary, and won a whole new fan base.  He had little to do with the show except come in at the end and look like a CEO.  As always, other people did all the work while his name kept getting bigger.  Who cares about the "fired" ones.  It was all about Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump had his eye on politics for a long time.  He shaped his "beliefs" to what he thought potential supporters believed.  He realized his best chance for any kind of success would be among conservatives, although it is not clear that he was particularly conservative.  To get onto the political map, during President Obama's administration, Mr. Trump's was the voice in the background trying to undermine policies.  He made outrageous claims like that Mr. Obama was not born in the United States, and    that Mr. Obama was a Muslim, (he isn't, but who cares if he were).  Both were carefully designed to show Mr. Obama was not a legitimate president or even American, not like us.  Mr. Trump's prestige  grew.

The evil dripped slowly, albeit loudly; it was spreading into the national discourse.  The whole thing might have been stopped then if the media had unanimously agreed not to cover ANY birther BS, but instead, they amplified it.  That is exactly what Mr. Trump needed to launch his presidential bid.

Mr. Trump had no political experience whatsoever, but claimed he was an amazing businessman, a lie, of course, but his fans didn't care.  They were getting used to his lies and even reveled in them.  As his campaign progressed, Mr. Trump used the co-opted the media, all of it.  it didn't matter what he said or did not say. the media was on board.  And, if they wrote or said anything that did not speak of Mr. Trump in the most glowing terms, he called them fake or claimed the "election is rigged."

Mr. Trump  surrounded himself with people who knew how to make use of his name recognition and media attention.   every word Mr. Trump said was recorded and shared.  The media was by then afraid to use the word "lie." even though much of what Mr. Trump said was untrue. Hardly challenged, Mr. Trump's followers swallowed the lies as facts.  This too was planned by Mr. Trump's handlers.  To them, Mr. Trump presented himself as a strong man who would cut through the crap in Washington and "drain the swamp."  When asked to explain, he was vague and dismissive, knowing it was all just talk. 

He bullied his way through the Republican primaries and debates.  By this point, Mr. Trump was like a runaway freight train.  His fans, people who think they like "strong" men set themselves on his path permitting no deviation.  When interviewed (which was often), Mr. Trump's followers could only say. "He says what he thinks and he'll do what he promises."  They could rarely identify which things they liked about his plan, probably because there was little substance to it.

Mr. Trump tried out his racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic statements on his campaign crowds to see which would work.  If the crowd cheered, the comments stayed in, if not they were gone until they could be reworked to be more acceptable.

Mr. Trump tapped into America's deep racist streak.  Some whites looked at the world and perhaps, for the first time, noticed that white is a minority (as is every other group).  Mr. Trump spoke to their fears, telling them he would fix things for them since it was those people who were the source of all their righteous woes.

Evangelical Christians were co-opted too.  As crazy as this sounds, it shows how easily evil can creep into communities where people might otherwise stand against it.  Evangelicals perhaps thought of Mr. Trump as a work in progress.  They excused him of everything they would never have permitted in a member of their community.  They dismissed true people of faith as unworthy

So, Mr. Trump was elected with lots of help, small and large drops of evil that buoyed him up.  He didn't win the popular vote (by nearly 3 million votes), but that was in some way a boon for him too.  He could use that to  distract the country from the small evils he would perpetrate.  The Russia investigation, a feud with the FBI, nomination of incompetent, inappropriate, often evil people for all positions in the government would hide the actual dismantling of the government and the programs that supported the American people.

Mr. Trump, by the second year of his term, had pulled in the majority of the Republican leadership.  They too have capitulated, gradually, but inexorably.  Nearly anything Mr. Trump wants, they will agree to with few exceptions, that is until now.

Immigration has been a point of contention for Mr. Trump and his followers for years.  He began his campaign by accusing Mexicans who come here of being rapists.  He has tried to ban Muslims and for no reason except that he can, he tried to stop the "Dreamer" program )DACA), only temporarily halted by the courts.  He stepped up deportations, taking people who have families here to support, who have been here for decades and who have made positive impacts on their communities.  He wants a ridiculous wall and kept claiming it would be higher and higher, as if that would stop desperate people.

In April, he started separating children as young as one year old from their parents at the southern border (as a deterrent), with no specific plans to reunite them.  Children were sent to "baby jails" (now euphemistically called "Tender Age Shelters).  They are cages where children are held without their parents.  Mr. Trump hoped no one would notice, and at first few did.  To date, nearly 25400 children have been separated and taken away.  Mr. Trump makes a lot of claims about the children which sound a lot like the claims about Jewish children made by some Germans in the 1930s, like "they're an infection."  Alas, for Mr. Trump and his evil team, people did take notice and actually stood up to stop it.  Mr. Trump finally signed an executive order to stop stealing the children from their parents, but neglected to say how those already stolen would be reunited.  The order allows establishment of family jails to take the place of the baby jails.  Amazing!  Beware, though, we will all pay for this in some way.  The machine of evil is whirring on and it is guaranteed something currently off the radar will come to bite us or someone else while we are focused on this cruelty.  A man like Mr. Trump who has lied and cheated his way into power will not stop just because he has been checked.  Watch for it!

WHEN THEY ARE WRONG

by Ruth A. Sheets

In the Pennsylvania legislature, Republicans are working to change the way judges in the state are elected.  This isn't because the current system is not working, but because it is not working for them. 

The Republican party is furious that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the Republican-drawn/gerrymandered districts as unfair.  Of course, the Republican legislators know very well that their district lines were not drawn fairly.  A lot of time and effort was put into making sure that despite the fact that Pennsylvania has significantly more Democratic voters than Republicans, the Republicans would always have most of the US Congressional and state representatives in their column.  They want the courts too.

This phenomenon is becoming a frequent presence on the American political scene.  Republicans are the most common practitioners.  What is this phenomenon?

When you are caught doing what you know or suspect is wrong, unamerican, or probably illegal, double down on your wrong actions.  If possible, make those you don't like or respect suffer even more.

-Don't hold hearings and a vote on President Obama's nominee for Supreme Court justice (as the Constitution requires), then approve someone perhaps, just barely qualified but conservative enough he will approve anything you want the Court to do for your party and your followers.  then approve only the most ult-right, compliant (to conservative whims) nominees for all Federal court positions, nominees who will regularly rule against women and minorities.

- Your voter I.D. law doesn't pass muster, so work to eliminate as many voting days as possible to inconvenience and discourage poor and minority voters.  Then, make voter registration as difficult as possible for those who don't have easy access to the few registration locations. 

- Purge voter rolls, close to Election Day, mostly of Democratic voters, of course, and when caught, take the case to the Supreme Court which 5-4 says, "OK," when they should have said "No.  Everyone has a right to vote."  Now it's legal, Don't get caught cutting too many minorities on purpose, though.  Just accidentally.

- Migrants and refugees are a terrible problem and those people just keep coming.  We'll build a fence, no, a wall, hire thousands of people to guard the southern border, destroy cashes of water and supplies that would help people crossing the desert.  Since the people keep coming, we'll call them animals and take the children from their mothers at the border as a deterrence.  Oh yes, then the Republican president claims these actions are the fault of Democrats, a lie, but what can you expect.

- Women want control over their own reproduction.  They are moving into the male sphere.  Tell women that birth control is harmful and that abortion will destroy them for life physically and emotionally.  Oh no!  Women know the truth!  We have to stop them, so we'll force insurance companies not to cover birth control.   We'll approve of clinics that lie to patients about everything related to their reproduction.  We'll keep making it harder and harder to get an abortion.  We want the Supreme Court, that we have packed, to say abortion is illegal.  Why is abortion so horrific, you might ask them.  Ummm, it must be in the Bible or something.  Oh wait, it's murder, or something.  Oh yes, it's definitely murder.  We should punish the women who have abortions and the doctors who perform them.

In case it isn't clear, the common factors in all these cases are race, sex, and poverty, white -- or wannabe white, rich -- or wannabe rich, male (Republicans) and everyone else (Democrat and Independent).  To indicate that a Republican might be racist is the greatest insult, they claim.  I don't understand this.  The amount of thought, scheming, and effort Republicans and their allies use to figure out these ingenious actions against African-Americans, immigrants, and women, one would think they were proud of their work and should stand up and state what all Republicans believe deep down.  White, rich men should rule because they know what's best for everyone else, the inferiors who must be kept in their place. 

This situation will not improve until more people stand up to the fear, anger, and privilege Republicans deliberately infuse into everything these days.  The media will not help because they have become lazy and just skim off the top the people and events they will cover. 

Voting at all levels is the key.  Candidates that spew phony patriotism, imply inferiority of any group of people, and toss off easy answers to complex problems do not deserve anyone's vote.  These candidates are wrong and will only double down on their racism, sexism, and xenophobia to no one's benefit but their own.  We must keep this in mind as we face the lies, deceit, and scheming of the 2018 election.

THE APOLOGY PROBLEM

by Ruth A. Sheets

Lately, apologies are the thing.  Make a slip of the tongue, apologize.  Harass a woman or minority person, apologize.  Get caught bribing someone or making employees open false bank accounts, apologize a little.  Cheat on your partner or visit an escort service, apologize, if you're a Democrat, then resign from office.  Tell some jokes that might offend a member of Mr. Trump's followers/White House family, definitely apologize.  Make sexist or racist comments in public, apologize, well, sort of. 

Apologies can be a way of moving a relationship or connection closer to balance after a crime or even a slight has been committed.  Apologies are important when they are sincere and appropriate.  The consequences of apologies, however, are not in any way equal.

People have apologized for things they have done, sometimes even for things they have not done.  Often people's apologies have been false, said just to make a situation go away.  And, if the apology was appropriately moving, the "right" person could be forgiven anything.

It seems apologies now are only for certain people, in particular, Democrats, liberals, progressives, some men.  On "The Late Show" recently, Stephen Colbert had Bill Clinton as his guest.  He demanded an apology of him for the Monica Lewinski affair that took place twenty years ago.  Mr. Clinton, like him or not has apologized so many times since then it is ridiculous.  He was president at the time of his fling with  Ms. Lewinski, but she was a willing participant.  Yes, a man has more power in this situation, but to claim that Ms. Lewinski had no part in what happened is to remove her agency.  She, of course, is not expected to apologize for putting herself in the position to be drawn into the affair (or whatever it was).  She could not have walked away?  Was she threatened?  I am not blaming her, but when do the apologies end? 

I am concerned about the relentless nature of the demands for Mr. Clinton's apologies.  It seems Republicans and conservatives are rarely held to account for much.  I don't remember anyone asking for George W. Bush's apology for lying to start a war with Iraq in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed and many more were displaced.  His lies were deliberate, convincing Congress to support military action that was inappropriate.  Part of the campaign against Hilary Clinton was that she "supported" the war, the manufactured war. 

Mr. Trump brags that he never apologizes for or regrets anything he does.  He has cheated on his wives, lied over and over to the American people, threatened our allies.  Where are the demands for his apologies?  Republicans are in charge of all branches of the government and they will demand nothing in the way of apologies from anyone in their sphere, including for actions that are clearly unconstitutional. 

It seems for conservative Christians and Republicans (they mostly overlap), a quick apology, possibly sincere, is just the ticket.  It "lets" God forgive whatever behavior over and over.  That, of course, does not work for anyone else because they are just not as holy or worthy, or maybe, rich.  Mr. Trump is special for the Evangelicals because he doesn't even have to apologize and he is recognized as holy.

So, Mr. Clinton will keep having to apologize while those who actually cause real harm like Mr. Bush, the sexually abusing coaches and doctors, and religious zealots won't unless they choose to.   Harvey Weinstein will and should pay for his abuses (not enough), a "liberal" you know, but the banks and companies that wrongly foreclosed on people's homes, overcharged poor people for services they didn't want or need, and produce destructive products make minimal apologies if any at all.  At most they will pay minimal fines and just keep on keeping on. 

The demanded apologies must stop.  They mean nothing and are only used as an attempt to humiliate certain enemies.  There is no "repentance" and rarely an attempt to change behavior or make amends to those harmed. 

Skip the tearful, pathetic apologies and tell us what you will do to fix what you have done.  And truly, we need to have some way of prioritizing wrongdoing.  All acts are not equally heinous and should not be treated as such.  Honest journalists need to step up and put an end to the apology demanding.  Just accurately cover what happened, minus the apologies unless  they are from the journalists themselves for getting swept up in Mr. Trump's misdirection and deceit. 

WHAT HAVE REPUBLICANS DONE FOR US? (revisited)

We all hear Republican candidates claiming they want to “Make America Great again,” and before that "Take America back again."  They seem to want to return our nation to some mythical time when things were better.  I can’t help but wonder, better for whom. 

If we look at what Republicans have done in the past few decades, it is not clear what that mythical time looks like to them.  It certainly is not a place most Americans would like to live in.

I have been trying to think of one thing the Republicans have done for America in, let's say, the past 40 years.  That should be long enough for a party to do something positive for the nation.  It is true they have made the rich richer, given tax breaks to the wealthiest, started a few wars, tortured a lot of prisoners, vastly increased the prison population of the country, ran a completely incompetent "war on drugs," but what was gained by  any but the top 1%?

I have only considered contributions by Republicans to American society since 1980 or so.  Going back further would have been too painful.  Check out these important categories that touch the lives of most Americans and Republican contributions.

Education:  Republican education reformers came up with vouchers which take tax payer money and give it to private and religious schools while neglecting the public schools as much as possible.  Charter schools were introduced, a vehicle for giving public money to private companies and individuals to provide educational services, whether or not those people or companies are competent.  The current Secretary of Education is totally behind these measures and contributes part of her fortune to promote them. 

Health care:  Republicans tore down every attempt to introduce programs that could assure each American of affordable medical services.  They convinced many Americans that “Obamacare/socialized medicine” would be terrible for Americans when what they meant was it would be terrible for the wealthy medical insurance companies who sponsor their campaigns. (It actually  did not.)    Even extending insurance to poor children involved a fight.  They are still working hard to get rid of the Affordable Care Act that provides many millions with coverage they can afford, through sneaky underhanded means, tucked in bills passed at midnight.

Jobs:  Republicans say they create jobs, but they are not too interested in the quality of those jobs and whether or not those jobs provide a living wage.  They work constantly to break unions and to fight raising the minimum wage.  Most Republicans barely blink when a presidential candidate tells poor people that their kids should be hired as janitors so they can learn to “show up on Monday,” as Mitt Romney did in 2012.  The unemployment rate is going down, but wages are barely rising. 

Family Values:  Republicans would have us believe they have a lock on what it means to be family while ignoring their own principles.  It is OK, though since they ask forgiveness after they are caught and are immediately assumed to be repentant.  Some of the most prominent among Republicans speak of the sacredness of marriage while not honoring it very well themselves.  Their hatred of immigrants allows them to break up well established stable families so one or some of the members can be deported.

Women's Rights:  I know this is not really a Republican issue, but since nearly 50% of Republicans are women, it automatically becomes one.  Many of not most Republicans want to prohibit use of all birth control as well as abortion but do not want to provide assistance after the baby is born. "That would foster dependence on social programs."  The Republican  position should accurately be called “Right to Birth,” not “Right to life.”  It is not sufficient that they choose not to use these family planning techniques themselves, they want to dictate what everyone else is allowed to do. Republican state legislatures work very hard to criminalize abortion and the women who choose to have one.  At midnight they pass laws that outlaw abortion before most women are even aware they are pregnant.  They would prefer that abortions never be granted, that is, of course unless their life or their wife's life is at risk.  

Government Programs:  Republicans don’t want to have Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, Social Security or other Government programs, yet these are often the only safety nets that stand between citizens, even Republican citizens, and disaster.  Republicans do not create better programs, they just put barriers in front of people who need what currently exists.  Why, In their minds, of course there should be work requirements for those receiving Medicaid, the poorest, most struggling people among us.
  
Civil Rights:  Most bills that have come before Republican Congresses and presidents related to civil rights have been either ignored or watered down to mean essentially nothing.  Police are being militarized and that equipment is often used against people of color.  Segregation in our communities, schools, and other public places is nearly as strong as ever.

Size of Government:  Republicans claim Government is too large, and should be "drowned in a bathtub."  But under every Republican administration, our government grew significantly, particularly in the areas of the military, the war on drugs, homeland security.  Growth is good as long as the right people benefit.

Tax Reform:  Republicans HATE taxes.  They want all the benefits of having decent roads, police, fire, and deportation services, safe bridges, airports, sports stadiums but they don't want to have to pay for, and will work hard to avoid paying for them.  Companies are permitted to take profits off-shore, and for quite a while, companies were given tax breaks for moving abroad.  Any tax breaks go mostly to the wealthiest 1%.  Republicans think that's fair.

Environment:  President Nixon signed the Environmental Protection Agency into law in the early 1970's, but despite the amazing clean-up it has overseen, current Republicans are working very hard to dismantle the regulations that protect our air and water, so even the one really positive thing Republicans have done is being corrupted.  Make as much money as you can and to hell with the destruction caused.  Someone will clean it up later. 

So, what do Republicans have to offer America?  It is certainly not anything to benefit average Americans.  If the past is any indication, unless we can get some Republicans out of office, our nation will continue on this destructive course, and the rich will get richer and the rest of us poorer.

CLIMATE LIARS

The Environmental Protection Agency was founded shortly after the first Earth Day back in the early 1970's.  It's mission was to clean up and protect our air and water.  This was a tough mission since air pollution at the time was horrific as were our waterways.  Ohio got to watch one of its rivers burning and citizens of New York City and Los Angeles often could not see a blue sky.

Over the years, the EPA has worked hard and fought to clean up  our air and water.  There is still a lot to do, but until recently, the Agency was moving in the right direction.

We now face an even more critical period in our nation, and the world as a whole.  We face the possible collapse of the environmental systems that support the entire planet.  The cause, global warming.  It is called "climate change."  It is a change in the climate, but the truth is, the change is global warming.  The warming began with the Industrial Revolution a couple hundred years ago and is continuing, even increasing. 

In short, nearly all environmental scientists know global warming is caused by human activity.  What activity?  The burning of fossil fuels:  coal, oil, natural gas, releasing into the air, gasses known to act as a warming blanket, creating a planetary greenhouse.  Animal farming and leaky natural gas wells also contribute large amounts of methane, a very potent greenhouse gas.
  
The current head of EPA, Scott Prewitt is what some call a climate denier.  This means he does not publicly acknowledge any change in the world's climate.  Besides, if there were any change, it could not be caused by the actions of people, Right?

Mr. Prewitt is a lawyer.  This means he attended at least 7 years of college.  Unless Mr. Prewitt attended a school like Trump University, he had basic science and math classes which teach reasoning and logic.  He would have learned about the scientific method and the ways scientists investigate an issue, testing and retesting.  As a law student, he would have learned how arguments are structured and that each position needs to be backed up with facts.

Mr. Prewitt, Mr. Trump, and all the other folks dubbed "Climate deniers" know global warming is happening.  They have seen or heard the evidence.  They know that 100-year storms are occurring every few years.  Sea levels are rising, droughts and floods are happening more frequently than at any other time in recent history. 

It is easy to see these "climate deniers" as quaint, stupid, foolish, or any of a variety of appropriate adjectives.  However, they are, in addition, really, climate liars.  They are lying to their constituents, the American people.  They know what is occurring. 

Why would people like Mr. Prewitt knowingly put all our lives at risk by weakening or eliminating regulations that have served to lower human impact on the environment?  Why would they want the United States to drop out of a climate agreement signed by every country in the world but one (Syria), and now us?

The only word I can think of is GREED.  They are hoping to make a few quick bucks before there will be no choice about the use of fossil fuels.  I suppose they think they can accumulate enough money to cushion the blow that is coming. 

The media is partially to blame for the prominence of climate liars.  In some kind of "search for different viewpoints" they think they must put up a climate liar every time an environmentalist is interviewed.  This lets people think the viewpoints are of equal weight.  They are not!  

The climate is changing.  The change is being accelerated by human activity.  We, as a global community, need to act now.  That's it.  Everyone knows it or at least suspects it.  Those in power who publicly deny these truths are lying to themselves and to everyone else.  They are CLIMATE LIARS!  Done!

GO TEACHERS !

Teachers have been maligned in many ways over the past 2 decades.  We have been blamed for our students' poverty, their inability to focus, their negative behavior (when they exhibit such), students' lack of progress, and so many other things.  We are given more and more work every year.  Our ability to teach is infringed every day by administrators and politicians who could not do what we do.  And, we are told "You have off every summer, what are you complaining about!" 

Funding for our schools is cut over and over.  Important programs like libraries, music, and art are cut.  Those who do the cutting do not send their children to the schools without these programs.  But, they do institute charter schools in the poorest communities.  charter schools and their private owners are paid top dollar for doing less with more, while public schools must constantly do more with less. 

Adversarial relationships are developed between parents and community members and teachers by conservative media that would love all public schools to be taken over by dogmatic thought-control institutions that can steer our children's minds to a place where they will question nothing. 

We force students to take standardized, "gotcha" tests that don't measure what they know, but the level of stress and frustration they will tolerate while "proving" they are ignorant fools. 

In many states, teacher salaries are insufficient to cover daily expenses while financial guys who don't work nearly as hard are paid millions.  How is this right?

Enough!

We teachers are sick of it.  Sometimes, striking is the only weapon we have when the situation becomes so bad we can no longer function in any meaningful way.  It is interesting the states where teachers face the harshest conditions and lowest salaries are the most conservative?  Hmmm!  These are also the states that have vilified unions, which in most places are the only protection teachers have.  It's time the public learns that unions are the only force in our country that has truly championed workers over time. 

I am 100% behind the teachers all over the country who are walking out for their rights and the rights of their students to have the resources they need to succeed!  This is a start, but we have a long way to go to bring our schools to a place where schools are seen as essential, charter schools are held accountable, teachers are respected as professionals, and students are given more options related to their education.  Schools must have sufficient resources to select and teach a curriculum that emphasizes critical and creative thinking and problem-solving.

This is asking a lot, but it can be done.  In 1957 when the Russian satellite Sputnik was launched, America stepped up and enhanced its educational programs to prepare students for a challenging science-centered future.  We need another similar program to develop well-informed, thoughtful, creative citizens prepared to face a changing world where global warming will impact everything. 

So, pay teachers a professional salary.  Evaluate curricula and select those that are strongest related to truth, critical and creative thinking, and problem-solving in the real world.  Re-instate music, the arts in general, and libraries in the schools.  Incorporate technology in ways that will allow students to broadly explore their world through guided inquiry.  Truly embrace diversity and provide resources to shape each students education to actual needs.  Employ sufficient staff to support the work of the teachers. 

Then, here is the inexpensive part.  Encourage media outlets to promote the teaching profession as exciting, challenging, and essential for the future of our country. 

OPPORTUNISTIC INFECTION

by Ruth A. Sheets

Last week I read a book written about 20 years ago, The Least of These My Brethren by Dr. Daniel Baxter.  It is a memoir of a doctor who served on an AIDS ward among the poor and homeless of New York City in the 1990's.  The book took me back to my time working with people with HIV and AIDS in Nashville a few years earlier.  The illnesses from which Dr. Baxter's patients suffered were similar to those experienced by the people I worked with.  I heard again the names of the diseases and had flashbacks to the late 1980s and the suffering I witnessed. 

The diseases people with AIDS suffer from are referred to as opportunistic infections because they arise from the destruction of a person's immune system.  HIV, however,  is the actual underlying cause. 

A flash of insight came to me.  Donald Trump's election to the American presidency is an opportunistic infection in the American system.  The underlying cause is as insidious to our country as HIV is to the human body.

Our nation's HIV is inequality.  At some level, pure equality is not possible.  Many factors help to determine each person's starting point in life.  Where were you born?  Who were your parents?  What genetic contributions did your family make?  What environmental contributions did your family and community make?

Clearly people have different abilities, different gifts, different likes and dislikes which may or may not come from birth.  The shaping of these into the person each of us will be is steady and ongoing. For many, our birth circumstances provide advantages which generally only increase over time.  Others' disadvantages are so overwhelming any improvement is nearly miraculous.

Probably, if you asked anyone  living in America, the response would be that equality is a goal toward which we should strive.  Everyone should have the same rights.  Everyone should be able to vote, have a job, worship as they wish, be able to speak freely, and pursue happiness.

The problem with equality has been identified often, most recently for me by my sister who reminded me that to someone who has privilege, equality seems like oppression.

Privileged Americans do not actually want equal opportunity.  They want their advantage (which of course, they see as equal opportunity).  Since people of privilege, in their own eyes, work harder, create more, in short, deserve everything they have and earned it "fair and square."  They achieved it entirely on their own. 

Their belief structure says poor people are poor because they are lazy.  They don't work very hard.  They don't care about their homes or neighborhoods, or anything else for that matter.  So, "if they worked as hard as I work, they would have the same opportunities I have." 

Privileged Americans have a similar set of beliefs about every group that is not their own.  Women aren't as dedicated to their work and besides, belong in the house taking care of the children they must have.  People of color just aren't as good.  God made them to be less, so they should be grateful and happy with what they are given.  Refugees and immigrants in general are going to take my job and wreck my neighborhood, so we can't let them in. 

The American government is supposed to support these beliefs.  The most recent tax law makes that clear.  Cut taxes on the rich because they earned that money and the folks who need assistance are takers and don't deserve it.  We give them too much already.

The challenge is that some of these thoughts are not conscious. Most privileged Americans do not go around thinking, I'll sue that college for letting that obviously inferior black guy in instead of me (although some have done that).  They don't say to themselves, "I'll sexually harass that woman to make her feel more inferior than I actually think she is."  But privilege allows these beliefs to be manifest on a regular basis.

When challenged that their actions are racist or sexist, privileged folks claim they most certainly are not and that we are all just too PC (politically correct).  When managers are being held to a new, hopefully corrected standard, they whine that they are being picked on  and targeted.

Into this land of privileged advantages came Donald Trump, a bearer of privilege disguised as sympathy for those who could have what he has, if only those horrible other people didn't always get in the way, taking their jobs, moving into neighborhoods where they don't belong, getting handouts, leaving the givers poorer.

Mr. Trump has infected the nation with a cancerous nationalism that can ravage the body if not checked.  His "me first" approach to everything introduces a creeping fear that "maybe I won't get what I am entitled to, since we are giving so much to the undeserving."

Equality does not mean that everyone has exactly the same things, the same amount of money, lives in the same place, etc. etc.  That kind of system will never work, but it does mean that one's color, gender, nationality, educational background, religion, name, or any other factor does not automatically get you anything or deprive you of anything either.  It means we all have access to affordable health care.  We all have the right to choose what happens to our bodies.  It means we all have the same educational opportunities and chances to get meaningful jobs and affordable quality housing. 

If we had this kind of equality, someone like Mr. Trump would have gotten no traction.  He would have been seen as the pathetic human being he is.  He does not care about anyone but himself.  He claims to be a genius, but never reads, makes serious inquiries, or takes time to think through anything.  He throws tantrums like a toddler and bullies like a 3rd grader on the playground.  He is a terrible business man who cheats and lies his way through life, expecting everyone to be OK with that.   

Until we can figure out how to effectively treat our nation's underlying inequality, we will have to treat the opportunistic infections of racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, privilege, fear, and so much more.  Let's get going.  It's going to take a lot of us to rid our society of these deadly infections.