PEOPLE REALLY DON’T KNOW HISTORY AND WHITE REPUBLICANS WANT TO KEEP IT THAT WAY

By Ruth A. Sheets

Americans in general really don’t know US history.  History is hardly taught in elementary school in lieu of extensive emphasis on math and reading (you know the subjects that are covered on standardized tests).  History is too often seen as that throw-away class in middle and high school that many students groan over as they enter the classroom, despite talented enthusiastic teachers. 

I never understood that negativity about history.  It was my favorite subject from 4^th grade on (yes, we did have history in elementary school 60 years ago).  I loved all the interesting people and places we learned about.  When I was away at camp after 4^th grade, my parents sent me a history activity book to work on when I had down time.  I was thrilled!  I even got some of my friends interested in it.  Each two pages covered one bit of American history, English-American history.  The only activity I remember was about 1619.  There were three small pictures on the page:  several Black people, some white women, and white men sitting in a room together.  The story was that in 1619 three important things happened that changed life in the Virginia colony:  a ship load of women arrived as servants and potential wives for the mostly male Jamestown settlement, the first Black people were sold to planters as indentured servants, and a formal government was established called the House of Burgesses. 

I do not know why this is the lesson I remember except that I somehow felt for the women and Black “servants.”  Even as a 10-year-old, I knew that Black people would only be servants for a short time.  After that, any Black people brought to Virginia and America in general would be enslaved.  I also knew a bit about what it might be like for those women.  They would be married to a man, maybe by choice or sold to him as a servant if they didn’t have money to pay their passage.  I knew the men were in charge, but they didn’t interest me.  The activity was to write about what I thought it would be like to be a member of one of those groups.  I chose to write about a white woman indentured servant.  There was only room for a couple of sentences and I don’t know what I wrote, but I didn’t forget that concept.  As a high school junior, our History teacher gave us a similar assignment, a slave or indentured servant in or around Jamestown.  I again chose the servant because I don’t think at the time I could imagine what it would be like to be Black or a slave.  Those activities helped me to see that history was not just events as it had been for me and most students in 7^th through 9^th grade.  It was people living their lives, quite different from mine, but also somewhat similar.    

Right now, history is in the news.  It’s not a discussion of ways to better involve American citizens, especially students in learning history.  It is because some white people, mostly men want to rewrite American history to delete people, policies,  and events that don’t fit with the way they want history told.  They claim it is to protect their (fragile) white children from the discomfort they might feel when learning what actually happened in our past.  They claim it is not wise to look back on difficult times. 

One of the biggest movers in this rewrite is Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.  He, a non-educator descendant of Italian immigrants, and the sycophants he has gathered think they know what a US history curriculum should include, even in Black history.  He even found a couple of Black people to go along with this whitewashing.  One wonders what he had to pay them, and naturally, out of taxpayer money.

What do they think should be included in this “new” US History curriculum?  Well, as much as I have read and studied history over the years, I learned some “new” things.  The DeSantis rewriters decided to tell us all that enslaved persons got to learn skills they were able to use when they were free.  They neglected to identify actual people for whom this was true, nor did they mention what would have happened to any of those “apprentices” who didn’t learn the skill to their master’s satisfaction.  Then the new curriculum claims Black citizens were as much the cause of the “riots” as the white people in what have hitherto been correctly referred to as “massacres” of Black citizens.  I understand the team included in the curriculum a few well-known Black leaders but rework how they are presented and their positions on the issues of the day like abolition and equal rights.  Frederick Douglass almost seems white in their telling.  The curriculum resources are from a right-wing company that has already whitened their materials so much as to be unrecognizable as actual history, fantasy is more like it.  Those materials are expensive, but districts will be forced to buy them with their limited funds.

Some very important pieces are conveniently left out of their curriculum for high schoolers. 

• - Enslaved children and other family members were sold away, often without warning.

- Horrors were committed on the ships that brought enslaved persons here from their homes in Africa, an utterly inhumane process.

• - Slave catchers roamed the roads all over the north and south to snare any Black person whether free or not.
• - Our Supreme Court ruled that Black persons could not be citizens so could not sue for their freedom.
• - Many thousands of Black soldiers fought in all our wars including the Civil War where it was clear to them they were fighting for freedom for themselves and their people.  They were rarely respected or thanked for their service.
• - After the Civil War, white gangs and mobs like the KKK were able to terrorize Black individuals and communities with impunity.  In Wilmington, NC in 1898, such a mob killed or drove out the whole city government because it was mixed black and white.
• - Massacres took place in many communities:  Tulsa, East St. Louis, Rosewood, to name a few, just because whites were mad some Black people had more than they had.
• - Over 3,400 known lynchings took place in this country between 1883 and 1968.  Nearly all of them “at the hands of persons unknown.”  In fact white folks were rarely held accountable for anything they did to people of color (or women).  The government rarely intervened until after 1955 when the modern Civil Rights Movement forced the government to pay attention, a little.  The attacks and bad behavior of white southerners could then be seen on television.

Then, there’s the police.  Police forces learned a lot of their tactics from slave-catching bands.  The entire police culture in this country is bathed in hatred of people of color and bullying.  Putting those factors together has left us with police departments that frequently abuse Black citizens, even killing them when they think they can get away with it.  Their favorite line, “I feared for my life.”  That reality will not appear even in college courses in Florida and other red states.

And, of course, the courses won’t discuss the small and large incivilities against Black Americans and other people of color every single day that were and are never expected to be corrected.  White folks have watched the slights and insults from infancy and have learned just how it is done and practice frequently.  Those white curriculum designers and their approvers don’t want to be called racist, but alas, there is no other term quite as fitting.

So why is this curriculum twist happening now.  There are several reasons, the most obvious, DeSantis is running for President of the US  and wants to make a mark with the Republican base that is incapable it seems of thinking for themselves.  They are mostly white or white wannabees and want to be reminded daily just how special their whiteness is, and how superior it is and has always been compared to everyone else’s skin color and culture.

The problem those ultra-right-wing Republicans have now is that this nation is diverse and becoming more so.  Black women in particular and people of color in general are finding positions of significance in our society and some white people, just as in Jim Crow days,  are angry and scared that someone they don't like and feel is inferior to them has something they don't have.  Red state legislatures are giving those scared white people voting superiority as they try to suppress everyone else’s votes.  They permit police to murder Black citizens with impunity or near impunity (qualified immunity).  They refuse to pass sensible gun regulations and are OK with people carrying guns around, “for protection,” they say, but I could find no reference to anyone who has recently done any protecting with a gun they are openly carrying.  Besides, it is really only open carry for white men, whatever the law says. 

The rogue Supreme Court has even further weaponized white folks by overturning Roe v. Wade so the white male state legislators could wreak havoc on women, particularly women of color in the Confederacy and confederate wannabee states.  Affirmative action can no longer be used by colleges and universities in their admission process, I am guessing it is, despite claiming otherwise, because too many people of color are taking the slots those scared privileged white people think belong only to their children, their kind.  Maybe fewer people of color in college courses on history, will mean fewer challenges to their white-centered curricula, a win-win for them. 

So, white Republicans are deciding what will be included in US history classes concerning the role of Black Americans in our history.  White people will be deciding that AP Black history classes are only OK if they include what they want included and ditch what they don’t like (the Black Lives Matter Movement is out, for example).  White legislators get to decide  what will make their little white kids uncomfortable so they can purge it from the education of all children at the same time they are banning books that would tell a different, more accurate story.  As far as I can see right now, they are doing it with impunity since our government again is doing little or nothing to stop them.  Unless we halt this encroachment on our right to teach and learn the truth in our public schools, anger and resentment among privileged white children will continue unabated and Black people and other people of color will again, be marginalized in this nation’s story.  That should be unacceptable to every American.

TRUMP INDICTMENT FATIGUE SYNDROME – DON’T GET IT!

By Ruth A. Sheets

By now, probably most of us are feeling worried, possibly overwhelmed with Donald Trump taking center stage again and again with his unamerican, anti-democratic actions and the legal responses to them.  Robert Reich, Labor Secretary under President Clinton, Professor at UC Berkley, and economic activist wrote about a dangerous condition he calls “Trump Indictment Fatigue Syndrome” (TIFS).  It is a condition that can bring on bouts of inaction, weariness, fear, frustration, anger, each individually or all at once. 

A fourth Trump indictment has been handed down by the Fulton County, Georgia prosecutor, Fani Willis.  The indictments are clearly serious because they are all about undermining our system of government, our way of life, but they are also a "true crime" story, the kind so many people love to watch, read, or listen to. A series of crimes have been committed, there are a massive number of clues that must be sifted through by the detectives and others involved, and the criminal is identified and at the end, prosecuted. I am thinking this could be an acceptable way for us all to look at what is going on, maybe even a way to make it less disabling and even activating.  The problem, unlike a TV episode or even short series, this one never seems to even get to the climax before some other impossible event happens.  It just goes on and on and the Trump indictments are like plot points that bring out more of Trump’s alleged crimes with reminders that this has never happened before, a president has never been indicted and that we are on untrodden ground. 

It is ridiculous for any human being to have been able to commit so many crimes in his life and get away with nearly all of them as Donald Trump has. That in itself is remarkable, but knowing that this particular human being was made President of the United States is even more startling.  While president he continued his crime spree, and there are a lot of people who want him back in the White House, indictments be damned!

The most despicable person to become president in my opinion was Andrew Jackson, the 7^th president.  He committed countless crimes against the American people, Native Americans and enslaved persons in particular, yet came off as the man of the people.  I guess Jackson fit the "white male hero" so well that what he did was considered "just faaan." (Translating Southern, fine)

Nixon used to be the second most appalling president on my all-time crime parade, that is until now.  Trump’s lying, insulting, threatening, manipulating, gaslighting, etc. never stop, and our media just love it. When any human being lies in public while in office more than 30,000 times about important as well as trivial things, and Trump did that all in only 4 years, something is wrong.  When there is a sizable portion of our population that wants to re-elect that rather ignorant authoritarian serial liar to our highest office, that indicates a society in trouble.

Since the 4^th indictment came down from Georgia on Monday, August 14^th, coverage of what the indictment includes, the 19 defendant players, and the 41 alleged crimes has been nearly non-stop.  Coverage of the horrific wildfires in Maui and the arrival of a tropical storm in Southern California are the only break from Trump and those are so heart-breaking they bring no relief.  

Then, on top of the newest set of charges, more revelations are delivered almost daily about some additional bit of information learned, a defense lawyer’s claims, a demand any trials be set far into the future, and Trump’s frequent threats, despite a judge’s order that he cease such threats.   

Judge Aileen Cannon of the stolen documents case is proving herself as ignorant of the law and inexperienced as everyone knew she was from the day she was assigned the case.  We all should wonder how she ever obtained a life-time appointment to any federal court, but no one has to wonder for very long.  The Trump Judge-appointing merry-go-round during his administration spun through a whole lot of young, partisan, pretty ignorant judges assisted by the Federalist Society, a shady ultra-conservative group that does not have the best interests of this nation at heart (or anywhere else).  The Republican Senate essentially approved whatever was sent their way, particularly the attractive ones.  I am guessing that since Trump needed a few women on board in case people properly called him a misogynist, he picked a few pretty, ones he could count on to rule in favor of Trump and his minions indefinitely.  So far those judges and justices are doing quite well for him, and we hear about it regularly.

News reports that do not mention Trump are rare.  Just as from before his 2015 escalator ride through to the present, it is almost nonstop.  Some now actually hint that these criminal indictments are serious and that Trump is in trouble.   They mostly will not say the word “lie” when Trump has clearly told one or ten, but are no longer quite so glowing in their coverage.  They still do interview Trumpers and Trumpettes who fondly display their general ignorance of our democracy, but it seems fewer of such interviews are being shared.  That number could rise as the campaign advances. 

It really is getting exhausting and rather repetitive and many of us are on the verge of coming down with TIFS.  This is an anti-democratic condition that people living in a democracy should avoid and for which the only cure is fair legal intervention.

I have been thinking about this condition for at least 8 years but over time the name of the “illness” has changed according to events.  At first it was “Oh God Not Trump Again Syndrome (OGNTAS).”  Than it evolved or rather devolved into the “What The ___ did Trump Do Now Blight” (WTFDTDNB).  I named the conditions for the phrases people moaned every time the national news hit the papers, airwaves, or internet.  

We really do not want to catch this debilitating syndrome.  Here are a couple of things that might help us all avoid TIFS and its debilitating effects as well as the various conditions brought about by listening to Republican candidates who have absolutely nothing positive to offer our nation should they ever get elected: 

• - First, limit the amount of time spent reading about, watching, or listening to the reports from Trumpland.  Walking away after the first 5 minutes each day is a good start.  
• - Get the basic facts related to the various indictments.  That can help with filtering out things that are off target and definitely not worth your time. 
• - remember that Nothing, and I mean nothing serious is going to happen now until Trump shows up to the Georgia courthouse in the next few days and it is unlikely extreme quantities of new information will come out before then, but the 5-minute recap would catch it if it does.
• - minimize how much you want to see Trump with his entourage walking into the courthouse in Atlanta.
• - play a game with the five minutes, getting a different news source each day and note the slants, the hype, the number of times they have to replay Trump's blurts and whines. I have heard as many as 5 blurts in about 6 minutes, I think it was on MSNBC.
• - Talk with others as a check to see if you or they have been infected.
• - Go for walks, read some fluff, take several deep breaths every time you think of the orange monster, - -
• - Sign petitions to be sure the upcoming trials are televised.
• - Vote in every election you possibly can for people who have a well-developed moral compass whose needle always points to rights for all people, honesty, respect for the beings that share this planet with us, and the other positive virtues.

A lot of Republicans would love it if Democrats, progressives, and caring people in general were to become infected with TIFS as the Trumpers and Trumpettes work to spread the affliction.  They are banking on Democratic and Independent apathy and we don’t have to practice it for them.  We don’t have to catch TIFS, but we will need strategies and determination to avoid it.  Good luck to all of us/US. 

VALUED TRAITS OF REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP PART III: USE AND ABUSE OF RELIGION

 By Ruth A. Sheets

Christian Nationalism is a central focus of the current Republican party, even if they don’t call it that.  Of course it is and has been for a long time.  It may be helpful to have a definition for Christian Nationalism as if the name itself isn’t clear enough.  It is the belief that the United States of America was founded as a Christian nation (white of course too).  The founders were all Christian and wanted this to be a Christian nation, just didn’t say so.  It means that whatever is done nationally will have a Christian bent. 

This idea showed up periodically throughout our history when there were national stresses and people’s fears drew them into a conservative Christian movement that had to justify itself and its desire to impose its precepts on everyone else.  If one could claim the Founders wanted this to be a Christian nation, then we have to enforce it, right?  

To be clear, this nation was not founded as a Christian nation, a white one, for sure, but not a Christian one.  If the founders had wanted that, they would have enshrined it.  They didn’t.  Among the founders were some Christians like John Adams, but he was not in favor of imposing his religion on the nation.  He believed that once out from under the yoke of Britain and its established religion it would not be a good idea to reimpose such a thing no matter which branch of Christianity was chosen.  There were numerous deists like Jefferson and Franklin who believed God set the worlds in motion, then stepped back to note what happened.  Even Washington thought one’s faith was personal. 

There were “Christians” like the slave-owners who tried hard to find a means in Christianity to justify one human being owning another for the purpose of making the one rich and the other a victim of whatever violence or kindness the owner chose to impart.  They did find a few biblical passages and the book of Philemon that worked for them, so they created a church that ignored the “love your neighbor” parts when it came to African-Americans, or twisted it to mean loving them was making them work hard as God commanded.  It worked best to pretend Black Americans were not even real human beings, more like animals.  One has to work pretty hard to do that when it is clear the enslaved persons were as human as and probably more humane than the owners.

The current batch of Christian Nationalists got wound up around the time of Richard Nixon (a "true" Christian, you know).  He and the men around him saw their approval of the violence against Vietnam War protesters as their Christian duty to those who had already sacrificed so much in the war, or something like that.  Covering up crimes they had committed against the American people was OK too.  Nixon hobnobbed with Billy Graham, a popular evangelical minister who dished out an easily-digested form of Christianity that beyond verbal “acceptance of Jesus as one’s Lord and Savior” there were few demands except for issues related to sex, of course.  The word “sin” appeared often, but didn’t really mess with the good feeling gospel too much.  It was about being saved.

Over the years, that self-centered brand of Christianity began to morph into doing  what the preacher said was right with certain scripture (mostly Psalms, some parables,  and Revelation) thrown in.  It kept evolving  and forcing itself into the lives of people who are not Christian.  The evangelizing moved a bit away from the church onto the TV screen, involved a lot of blaming others for the mess the world was in, an intense begging for money , which would bring one closer to salvation.  One could prove oneself worthy by giving most of one’s money to the evangelism leaders who lived in style while the donors often lived from paycheck to paycheck. 

The guys (and it was mostly guys) knew this kind of Christianity could not last forever.  They needed it to evolve even more.  They wanted “causes” to insert regularly into their message.  There were plenty of people around they disapproved of, targets.  They needed “respected” evangelical preachers to clamp onto a cause or two and push for condemnation.  Men like Pat Robertson of “700 Club” fame and Jerry Fallwell of Liberty University jumped in.  As southern white men, they naturally resented Black Americans, poor white people (I guess because they couldn’t send in enough money), women (the bastions of sin), and gay men, Sodomites.).  At the same time, they wanted rich white people to believe that their wealth was a direct gift from god for their personal “righteousness” (Oooo, that word is used a lot).

Then, a woman, they had to have a woman to prove to women this Christianity was legit) Phillys Schlafly told women that God’s will for them had three parts:  first, their purpose in life was to care full time for hubby and the kids; second, abortion is murder; third, not having children is a sin against God (or something like that).  The hypocrisy was right in your face, a woman lawyer,  constantly on the road, spreading her gospel of patriarchy, male supremacy, and the cult of the little wifey.  Gotta love it!  Nearly all of these “new” Christians were Republicans desperately pretending Nixon wasn’t a crook and that Ronald Reagan would save our nation from something (it wasn’t clear from what since Reagan wasn’t a practicing Christian.  They said he was, though.

Something happened in the 1980s that fueled the fires of Republican fear and hatred, AIDS.  Since it showed up first in the gay male community, the TV preachers claimed it was God’s punishment against gays.  That crew liked to claim “God’s will” or “God’s punishment” for a lot of things that happened, 9/11 being one of the best examples (that was supposed to be punishment for homosexuality).  Floods and fires in northern states are God’s punishment, but somehow, not the disasters in the South, those were just nature.   

TV Christianity did not stay on TV.  It moved into political meetings, campaigns, and non-religious gatherings.  While schools and other public institutions were getting away from prayers at events because of more inclusivity, Republicans made sure every one of their gatherings had a super Christian prayer that had to emphasize that what they were doing was God’s will and should not be questioned.  Even Democrats were “bullied” into saying “God bless the United States” at the end of speeches and appearances.  

This increasingly oppressive brand of Christianity I and others, call "Pseudo-Christianity" because it has very little to do with the Christianity of scripture, but a lot in common with some historic flavors of Christianity that were used as clubs to beat into submission, anyone who didn’t go along with the state's pronouncements and cruelties.

Right now, Republicans all over the country are hefting their clubs ready to strike down anyone who does not agree that this is a Christian nation and that Republicans have the ear of god and have the right to hurt anyone who will not go along.  They want to put “The  Ten Commandments” in every public school and building even though they themselves can’t follow, recite, or explain them, or even which ten (there are several in Hebrew scripture).

Catholics, white evangelicals, and other believers in this pseudo-christianity, hold misogyny as almost a sacrament.  They make up all kinds of laws they say are Christian particularly about abortion, even birth control, when their real aim is to control the lives of women.  They assume Jesus was ignorant of abortion and of homosexuality and transgender persons, which he would not have been, living in a crossroads of the world like first century Palestine.  If Jesus were so against these practices, he would have said so; he didn’t.   He did tell people to love their neighbors as they love themselves and reminded people that our neighbor is everyone.  And beside loving God, loving one’s neighbor is the greatest commandment.  If these points are presented to pseudo-christians, they claim we don’t know what we are talking about or that we are somehow heretics (maybe witches), just as their ancestors did.  It seems some people choose not to learn from history.  In fact, Roman Catholic American bishops are rebelling against Pope Francis’s points like, “who am I to judge?) related to LGBTQ persons, and the Pope is supposed to be infallible, but I guess, not when he is preaching Jesus’s message.

our current Supreme Court shows us why no religious group should have a majority anywhere perhaps except, maybe in their own churches.  On the Court there are 6 Roman Catholics, 5 of them conservatives (there is one high Episcopalian there too who was raised Roman Catholic).  They have tried to rewrite our Constitution, taking away people’s rights to bodily autonomy (they have no medical expertise, but rule as though they do).  Their brand of Christianity also sees white men as superior to everyone else and anyone who tries to challenge that will be ultimately crushed:  right to abortion care, Affirmative Action, voting rights, gun safety, etc.  One Black  and one female justice are on board with this racism and misogyny.  Those justices act as though everything they do to warp our Constitution they swore to uphold and defend is god’s will.  Pseudo-christian institutions are permitted to stop covering birth control on their insurance plans, not bake wedding cakes for same-sex couples, and deny same-sex couples a wedding website (even though there was a fraudulent case with this one).  Abortion was overturned even though it was a near 50 year precedent well, because the Catholic Church doesn’t approve of it, no matter what other religious entities believe, even in a democracy.   

Republican religionists are continuing to rework Christianity to suit their own personal comfort. There is little of the gospel, but a lot about wealth being from god and deserved by whoever has it. There is a lot about fear, hatred, anger, and the negative emotions that can be used to control and manipulate vulnerable people. There is a deep lack of understanding of anyone who is not rich, white, "straight," and male. The desire is there to control the movements of everyone so they can be sure that the power-grabbing of the Republican religionists is not questioned, kind of like what happened in Nazi Germany and fascist Italy in the 1920s and 1930s.  Remember, both countries were very Christian and the "church" often participated in the cruelties. Pseudo-Christians say they don't like hearing themselves positively compared to the Hitler crowd in Germany and the Mussolini contingent in Italy, but I think, they doth protest too much. I think they secretly love it and are trying to live up to the comparison. They are pushing laws that are clearly unconstitutional: book banning (1st amendment), anti-trans laws (14th amendment personhood), voter suppression of non-white, non-Republican voters (ignoring the 15th, 19th, & 26th amendments), pushing the use of "The Ten Commandments” (1st Amendment freedom of religion), arresting and harming journalists (also 1st Amendment freedom of press), planning to take trans children from their parents (kidnapping), "letting" children work at dangerous jobs (the child labor laws), and on and on. Where are our Dept. of Justice and our courts? Have the Christian fascists infiltrated so deeply they can't or won’t respond on behalf of our democracy?

Pseudo-christian bullying is raining down on people who will over time become helpless to stop it because the targets as usual, are vulnerable people, “the least of these.” White male legislators and their female, Black, and Latinx surrogates just can't help themselves. They are so desperate for power and so scared they might have to share it with OMG! women, people of color, trans persons, LGBTQ persons in general, poor people, Muslims and atheists, immigrants, young people, they just have to participate in Hitleresque behaviors. They don't want their racism, misogyny, homo/transphobia, antisemitism, and xenophobia publicly attributed to them. They are comfortable with being those things but don’t want those words attached to their names.  After all, their comfort is paramount, isn't it?

Yep, pseudo-Christianity, AKA Christian Nationalism, has taken over the Republican party. It is now just out in the open for all to see. What are We the People going to do about it?

VALUED TRAITS OF REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP PART 2 – THE REIGN AND REIN OF IGNORANCE

 VALUED TRAITS OF REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP PART 2 – THE REIGN AND REIN OF IGNORANCE

By Ruth A. Sheets

Ignorance is the lack of knowledge on a specific subject.  It has also come to be an insult for someone who doesn’t understand proper behavior for a particular group or situation.  Republicans today highly value ignorance (first definition).  They want their followers to be ignorant of what is really going on in the world and of what their leaders are doing.  The top leadership wants to elect candidates who are mostly ignorant of “the big picture,” and in the case of “the ‘freedom’ caucus,” ignorant of almost everything except what makes them angry and hateful because those emotions can be useful to the leadership.  I define Republican leadership as those who control the Republican money sources and political power, thus the actions of the party.  

It seems clear the less knowledgeable Republican legislators are, the more valuable they are to the party.  If a legislator doesn’t know much about the important issues, they are more easily directed to respond “appropriately.”   When they don’t, they are reined in and quickly informed they will suffer what has happened to others who didn’t comply; their time in power will be over if they don’t straighten up.  Those who have integrity and actually think, are also expendable. 

 Repeating talking points so as to appear “informed” to constituents is essential.  The candidate or legislator could get overwhelmed with the many elements of a complex topic, but no problem, talking points can simplify everything, and little to no knowledge is necessary.  In fact in the modern Republican Party, knowledge is an obstacle.

 Donald Trump, the reigning Republican standard bearer,  is ignorant on many topics, in fact, most topics.  But, there is one thing he is very knowledgeable about and skilled with, how to con folks.  He knows very well how to get some people to believe he is quite a genius who has become very rich by his own talent.  His blustering lets them think he is courageous and his claims “I love you” seem genuine to them.  Once they have latched onto him, they rarely stray because they just know they are right about him.  It takes an enormous talent for a mostly ignorant old man to get so many people to believe such utter nonsense.  He counts on his fan club to be ignorant and pliable.  He has learned over time by sending up test balloons, just which lines connect with most of those followers.  Anything he says that does not get a big cheer first or second  time around is dumped.  A new phrase, slogan, insult, or whine will be sent up later in the rally or at his next public event.  Three word slogans work best.

I often wonder why people are so willing to go along with such outrageous manipulation.  It seems to me people would be highly insulted, and want to get away from someone who would treat them so cavalierly, but I have seen little evidence of it among Trumpers and Trumpettes.  Maybe ignorance of the true nature of someone who seems exciting and who spews the anger, hatred, resentment, and fear they are feeling is irrelevant.  Wanting to belong is an intense human need.  Trump uses that “need” to foster and demand loyalty from his supporters that he can’t reciprocate.  The less his fans know, the better for Trump, his handlers, and the Party.  I believe there is no more depth than that to Trump.

 A character who depends even more on ignorance for his “work” is Ron DeSantis.  He uses a different approach, but is successful, at least in Florida.  He knows a little about a lot of things but is sure of his own brilliance and everyone else’s ignorance.  After all, he graduated from Yale and Harvard!  He has learned that the Florida legislature is made up of rather ignorant Republicans.  DeSantis pretty deftly uses their ignorance to encourage anti-American, often unconstitutional cruelty into bills he wants them to vote on, frequently with little or no discussion. (How can they discuss what they don’t really understand?  They can’t and they don’t!)  Any Democrat who dares challenge what the legislature is doing is shouted down, ignored, or insulted, all according to plan.  DeSantis wields cruelty with a minimum of discomfort to himself.  After all, he can blame the legislators who passed the bills.  He just signed them.  Neat, huh!  Even better, the legislators’ ignorance lets DeSantis convince them they have done a great service to the people of Florida, and god’s will too, a twofer! 

DeSantis can hardly stand to be around people and regularly shows his distaste.  He seems to be OK, though watching people suffer while he does nothing to help. People may try to fight his cruel actions, but of course, with minimal success.  DeSantis appears to see himself as a genius that is untouchable.  Everyone else is, well, not.  Democrats even helped him out last year, staying home, letting him be elected governor so he’d do even more damage in a second term. 

 Much of what DeSantis has done would not have passed if ignorance were not at the center.  Our Ronnie knew that.  His big first move was during COVID when the best defense we had included :wearing masks, social separation, and washing hands.  Then vaccines came available and DeSantis sent up a test balloon about COVID vaccine, wearing masks, and getting kids back in school.   It is hard to know if he is really ignorant of how to stop viral infections or if he didn’t care and just lied to a population stuck in a kind of COVID isolation stupor.  He lied about COVID vaccines and got the legislature to disallow mask mandates,  and Kids had to be back in the classroom.  He played even more on general ignorance when he made fun of wearing masks and ignored the risk of kids in multi-generational homes bringing COVID home from school to their grandparents.  We know people died due to these breaches in trust, but we will never know how many because no specific public records of it were kept, and DeSantis doesn’t care that some minions happened to die.  Yes, he is that heartless and believes he is untouchable by people who question his actions, and so far he has been proven right in Florida. 

After last year’s election, DeSantis now thinks he has a mandate to do whatever he wants to certain Floridians.  Again he preyed on people’s ignorance of issues of gender and race and went for banning books on topics he knew Republicans could be manipulated into wanting banned.  He made up a series of claims/lies about transgender young people and the “terrible” parents who would use DRUGS on them.  His ignorance on the topic is deep, but it doesn’t matter.  He has the Republican Party’s cruelty generator on his side as well as the pathetic Florida legislature.  So, he and a bunch of ignorant red state legislatures will hurt a lot of vulnerable young people and their caring families.  What kind of people go after vulnerable kids for no honest medical reason?  Not people with integrity!

Then, DeSantis, a white men, descendent of Italian immigrants, has decided he has the right to dictate US history related to African-Americans.  He began by condemning Critical Race Theory which is a graduate school subject, lying that it was being taught in K-12 schools so had to be stopped.  That was not sufficient pain for Black Americans, so he forced an AP course on Black history to cover topics the way he would do it.  Again, not enough, so he pushed for banning books about Black heroes like Rosa Parks and Frederick Douglas.  That wasn’t enough either, so he and his “Department of Education” decided they must rewrite the US History curriculum to minimize the contributions of non-white Americans.  The new version claims slavery provided benefits for the enslaved people, and the examples they cited were not even people who would meet that criteria.”  The truth, there were no benefits for enslaved persons!  DeSantis’s excuse for all this anti-Black American activity; he doesn’t want little white kids to feel uncomfortable.  When I first heard that, from his own mouth, I laughed out loud.  What blatant ignorance and cruelty.  DeSantis in his own ignorance is telling the world that little white kids are far more fragile and incompetent than the African-American kids whose families had lived the history he wants to set aside. 

 Women’s right to bodily autonomy was another target of our Ronnie.  He has no idea what women experience related to reproduction (despite his wife having had kids).  His 6-week ban proves his cruelty and ignorance as well as that of the rest of the Republican leadership.  Every American should be asking, how is it that untrained white men have any right to make medical decisions for women, trans youth, or anyone else?  I await the next steps DeSantis will take to further devalue the contributions of people who are not rich, white, “straight,” pseudo-christian males.

 Our Supreme Court conservatives are on board with such white male ignorant incompetence, and appreciate and practice it.  OK, ignorance has worked well for conservatives on the Supreme Court and some lower courts for decades, but 13 years ago it was made very clear.  The Supreme Court’s ruling on Citizens United is one of the most ignorant rulings of the Roberts court.  It claimed that money is speech and corporations are persons, and that corporations should be able to contribute as much money to political campaigns and candidates as they choose.  They don’t even have to report it if done right.  Johnny Roberts was and is so desperate for white Republicans to be in power everywhere, he and his majority gave permission for white-owned, even foreign corporations to buy elections.  Was he ignorant of what that would do to our political system or was he along with his conservative cronies deliberately undermining our democracy?  It would be fun to think “ignorant” but I am pretty sure it was about undermining too.  

Then, there’s Samuel Alito, writing in the Dobbs case that overturned a 50-year precedent, Roe v. Wade, for no compelling reason.  The ignorance in his written decision is appalling.  He clearly had no concept that abortion has been part of (women’s) history for millennia.  Then he cited ignorant Medieval and 17^th century British misogynists to make law in this country.  Of course, the other conservative crew were on board.  They compounded their cruelty by giving pregnant persons’ bodily autonomy to red states where they knew ignorance reigns, where many legislators don’t even know what their state constitution says about abortion, human rights, or probably anything else.  Amazing!  The Reds jumped in to quickly pass cruel abortion bans and fight every challenge.  

Republican ignorance goes on:  global warming, vaccines, science in general, US History, our Constitution, economics, elections, etc. etc.  Ignorance is the theme of Republican governance.  Their pride in their ignorance is astounding.  I bet Republicans are proud of their cruelty too, which complements their ignorance.  That’s a potent form of power that Republican leadership is fostering these days.  They rarely have to explain the off-the-wall laws they are coming up with; I’m guessing they couldn’t even if asked.   One thing that is certain, they have nothing to do with democracy and everything to do with taking away rights and doing harm to the most vulnerable Americans and for what?  Maybe it’s that vulnerable people often make easy targets.  It’s happened before.  Cruelty is their point, yoked with ignorance.

It is hard to have a democratic system when one of the major political parties sees ignorance as a virtue, both the ignorance of their leadership and that of the underlings who either serve their masters in legislatures on the courts, or in other party positions.  Then there is the cultivated ignorance of the followers who are being groomed to ask few questions, to believe and do what they are told, and to blame everyone but themselves and their masters for whatever negative happens to them while collecting kudos for the things that are positive, even if they had nothing to do with or actually opposed them. 

We who still value knowledge must make it a gem to be sought after, and ignorance a temporary condition that should be corrected through knowledge.  We need some smart people working on how to do this.

 

TRAITS OF REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP PART I - THE WHINE CHRONICLES

By Ruth A. Sheets

In the past half-century, Republicans have decided that having positive personal character traits hinders their success.  They no longer try to hide their lack of positive qualities:  integrity, caring, empathy, competence, or skill with governing.  In fact they are proud of it.  I will go into Republican whining first as I believe it is their most potent means of communication which they use in all media, on every issue,   without self-critique.

I just finished reading an article from June 22, 2023 by a Republican columnist for “The New York Times,” David Brooks.  NOTE:  I am not current because my braille magazine is always a few weeks behind and an additional week or so till I get to it.  Anyway, the article is entitled, “The Age of Spectacle Is Upon Us.  I often find Brooks interesting even though he is a staunch conservative.  He usually explains his point clearly and it makes a kind of sense even if I rarely agree with him.  This article was a whine, nearly from the beginning, not what I expected. 

The issue, the Los Angeles Dodgers planned to honor at a game, a community service group in LA that does a lot of work for people of the city and beyond.  The group, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is an LGBTQ drag group that regularly mocks norms.  Brooks’ whine involves him telling the Dodgers that a baseball team shouldn’t be honoring anyone that mocks religion in any way.  The group wears elaborate nun costumes and each member has an outrageous, let’s say suggestive  name.

It’s OK that he stated his feelings about the outrageous nature of the group’s performance, but he went on to say that each area of “culture” should have its own sphere and never the twain shall meet.  That’s a problem.  He says that baseball should do baseball, as should each individual entity and not host the antics of members of another culture, LGBTQ service folks in this case because they are a spectacle.  He cites a rabbi and a philosopher to try to prove his point, but as far as I am concerned, he was not successful.  It is OK to have “Pride Night” or “Hispanic Night,” but clearly not honoring a group whose outrageous presentation he finds objectionable.

A baseball team and other sports entities are part of the larger community, a community that helps support them, provides roads to get to the venue, adds trains, buses, and other public transportation for fans the days of the games, etc.  The team should be and usually is an integral part of the community.

Probably everyone in LA and beyond is aware of just how outrageous the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are and appreciate them for that.  Since reading the article, I learned something more to the story.  The first time the Dodgers invited the Sisters, there was so much whining among a certain group of conservative Angelinos and others that the invitation was withdrawn.  The backlash was so intense, the uninvitation was withdrawn and this  June, the honor was given them at the ballpark.  The other area baseball team, the Angels also extended an invitation which was not withdrawn. 

Brooks hinted that some “religious” folks like nuns wouldn’t bare anyone spoofing their religion, and whined, threatened, and whined some more to get the Dodgers to take back their invitation.  That may be true for some, but, having lived for a summer in a convent with amazing nuns, I suspect Brooks is wrong.  Real nuns of whatever religious tradition would probably find the Sisters humorous and want them to keep going with their good works, even likely to work with them in some of their projects, and that is what happens.

The whine continues, claiming that the boundaries among the cultural spheres are falling and that’s a truly terrible thing.  “An evangelical megachurch sounds like a political rally,” college professors “now see themselves as political activists, and “corporations are taking political stances on issues that have nothing to do with their core businesses.”

I honestly don’t understand what Mr. Brooks is stressing over.  He sounds as though he is saying crossing cultural boundaries is a new, but bad  thing.  It isn’t!  But, conservatives do need a way to whine about the changing culture as though what they knew previously is the way it always was.  Sorry!  Medieval clowns, jesters, and others mocked religion at times, corporations have regularly openly contributed to political candidates, even ones that wouldn’t benefit their business (in fact, donating to get legislators to support their businesses should be illegal).  Many college professors for at least the past 60 years have been activists at times.  For example, the Vanderbilt Divinity School professors threatened to quit if the student civil rights worker, James Lawson whom the university had kicked out for his activism, was not reinstated.  That was back in the early 1960’s. (interesting story) 

Why should we separate spheres when so much of life has intermingled?  Yes, there should be a separation of church and state because we are a democracy with no established religion.  That does not mean one’s religion should be jettisoned or hidden if one is elected to office.  It is that one’s personal faith or lack of it should not make laws that could seriously negatively impact others’ faith or lack of it.  Our own Supreme Court, though has broken that boundary of law, tradition, and practice by handing down awful decisions that are religion-based, religion enforcing:  overturning Roe v. Wade, letting business people with a certain set of values, refuse to serve people they claim their religion doesn’t like. 

It seems to me the difference between what the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are doing and what white evangelicals and Roman Catholics are doing with their laws that mock Christianity are in the same ballpark, so to speak.  They both make up presentations of Christianity that are exaggerated and selectively pick and choose what they will “mock.”  And, yes, the Christian right does mock Jesus’ teachings by ignoring the most caring and inclusive ones to push those that can be twisted to hurt and devalue their fellow human beings while proclaiming their own personal righteousness.  How is that less offensive than the shenanigans of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence?   A whole lot of people are and will continue to be harmed by the right-wing pseudo-christian actions , while the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence will continue to serve struggling people in LA and other communities around the world.  

Republicans are expert whiners, knowing just how to pitch their voice and select their words to try to focus people’s attention on a group or issue they don’t like.  They claim they are doing god’s work or at least “righteous” work; it isn’t.  Then the whining continues as they wheedle compliance from their friends, families, supporters, leadership, and rich donors.  Instead of being the member of Congress or senator for all the people in one’s district or state, Republicans who are elected get away with serving only those who either voted for them or share their religious values, if they do anything to help anyone.

What David Brooks and his partners in this article fail to see is that conservatives today (as in the past) have very little to offer anyone as far as an honest platform is concerned.  They don’t want to pass laws to help anyone but themselves and their donors.  Tax breaks for the rich work so very well; don’t help people who are poor, or workers who are regularly exploited and underpaid.  They won’t affirm our right to:  read what we want, control our own bodies, attend quality public schools available to everyone, vote in every election if we are an American citizen 18 years of age and older, have health care that is affordable and decent, to receive the Social Security and Medicare we paid into during our work lives, and more.  These are under nearly constant attack from the right-wing pseudo-christians who whine constantly about how continuing these costly programs will break our economy and our nation’s budget.  They forget to mention the military’s super budget.  Of course!  So, those conservatives whine about a community LGBTQ service group mocking religion.  It is a nothing issue because they and their whining don’t effectively address our real challenges.

Republicans, you know, the white ones, whine without evidence, that they are the ones being denied their rights, and that they value “law and order.”  To prove it, they are OK with dumping people in jail for possessing small amounts of drugs, prostitution, letting their middle-school kids play in the park without constant adult supervision, firing a gun at the ceiling to startle and stop a physical abuser, protesting a police training center designed to militarize police more than they already are, and so much more as they fill the private for-profit  prisons with as many people of color as they can.

On the other hand, those “law and order” Republicans whine that they can’t imagine their cult leader in jail for inciting insurrection, stealing secret documents, trying to perpetrate a coup, witness tampering, trying to get other Republicans to cheat to overturn an election, rape, bribery, and more.  They whine, “It isn’t fair!  Democrats are making this a political issue.”  Republicans see their Donnie above the rest, and not a criminal like those other guys, the ones who deserve to be in prison.  That does not make it true.

So, let’s see if I have this right:

• - possessing a small amount of marijuana, jail, inciting a coup attempt, no problem.
• - prostitution by choice, bad, inciting insurrection, OK
• - getting an abortion or helping someone to get one, murder, bribing public officials, necessary.
• - protecting one’s Black family by having a gun around, bad, lying to protect yourself, good
• - stealing a small nearly worthless item from a store, jail, stealing top secret documents, acceptable!
• - mocking religion while doing quality community service, bad, forcing people to bow to someone else’s personal religious beliefs, holy.

It has been said that it is by their works that they are known, including their willingness to cheat, their proficiency at lying, and how well they whine about how put upon they are, while  “putting upon” everyone else.  If folks were paying attention they’d see that if conservatives and MAGAs are going to whine so much, they should have a legitimate cause, just as parents tell their whiny toddlers.  They don’t!

I say, “you go Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence!  Keep doing your good works and ignore the whining!  And LA Dodgers, better late than never, keep honoring the groups in your city who are actually doing the work of making life better no matter how outrageous they appear.”  Doing just what is expected does not get people to appreciate our diversity.  It puts people in the box that makes the white establishment comfortable.   What does that get us:  a lot of whining child-leaders like Trump, DeSantis, and their emotional clones who care about no one and nothing that does not keep them comfy.  As the Dodgers and Angels have shown us, we can do better.

THE BLAME GAME

By Ruth A. Sheets

Blaming is part of life.  As far as I can tell, everyone does it at some time or other.  Blaming people for what they have done makes sense when a crime has been committed, for example, but not when the blamed person could be killed by a government or individuals who don’t like what that person stands for or has done. 

One can blame people and circumstances for doing or causing something and that blaming can be true, like that storm blew down a tree or Joe started the fight.  Blaming can also be a powerful lie that identifies the wrong person or cause for something that happens, like me blaming my siblings for something they didn’t do or Trump blaming everyone but himself for his bad (one might say criminal) behavior.  The latter I call lie-blaming.  Lie-blaming can even be deadly:  vaccines cause COVID and  vaccines and wearing masks caused all those COVID deaths, or the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.  Lie-blaming can be especially problematic when wielded by politicians and others in authority:  Marjorie Greene and her Q-anon BS, Moms for Liberty (a group name that is already a lie before the blaming begins), and an indicted former president who lie-blames nearly everyone he has ever heard of who does not give him total loyalty.    

Alas, guilt is rarely a side effect of lie-blaming.  It would be great if political leaders around the world would feel some guilt when they start their lie-blaming of others for either things they themselves have done or that the blamed have not done.  I know that is wishful thinking, but it sure would save a lot of suffering.   

Just imagine it, Gov. DeSantis of Florida deciding to rightly blame himself for the harms resulting from the various anti-American and inhumane laws he pushed forward to prove his bonafiidies as a macho, white Christian nationalist Republican man!  I think DeSantis and others see racist, homo/transphobic, misogynistic, and fascist ideas as positives though they wouldn’t use those terms.  Most people don’t agree, and to some extent DeSantis and his club know he must “please the minions somewhat if he would gain the level of power he craves.  It works for DeSantis to blame the “woke,” a group he never has to define so it can morph as needed to reflect his purposes/biases at any particular time.  You see, DeSantis sees himself as god’s gift to the world, smarter and just plain better than everyone else.  Ugh!

Lie-blamers also sneak in the old “they made me do it” line, the “blame the victim” strategy that has permitted enormous suffering over time.  “If they hadn’t done ____ I wouldn’t have had to ____.”  They act as though they have no biases; they are just telling it like it is.  For DeSantis, The insignificant people are making it so hard to be a rich, white, “straight” pseudo-christian man in Florida, America, you know.  Where have we seen such blaming, such abuse of power before?  Could it be . . . 1930s Germany and Italy?  Or, is it just privileged people who make assumptions that everything they have and are came only from themselves and their own efforts because they are just soooo special?  And, if they don’t get everything they want, it must be that someone else is to blame.

Putin of Russia is a terrific lie-blamer, a master because he knows the majority of his people are too cowed to do anything about it.  He blames the West for making him attack Ukraine, his generals for failing to give him an instant victory, and his super rich playmates for not sufficiently bowing and scraping to him and his every whim.  People die because of Putin’s blaming, individually as they happen to fall out of windows (or succumb to poison), and collectively from his wars on his neighbors and his support of other dictators.  Despite Putin’s (and some Republicans) lies, the West didn’t force Putin into attacking his neighbor Ukraine; his desire to be Putey the Great did that.  His generals may have been inept, but they did not know what they were getting into due to their master’s magical thinking.  The oligarchs were just doing what Putin wanted, making lots of money for themselves and, by the way, Putin too, and Putin wanted a much bigger cut.

Then, there’s the Blamer in Chief,  I imagine Donald Trump rarely if ever accepted responsibility for a single thing he did in his life that harmed others or caused chaos.  He lie-blamed people around him for his own shortcomings or actual criminal behavior.  He has clearly broken numerous laws and violated expected norms over and over, but it couldn’t have been his fault!  For him, impeachment twice was a joke he didn’t worry much about because he knew his senatorial cult members would acquit him.  Trump knew full well he lost the 2020 election and that the January 6th insurrection was his followers responding to his call to a coup but he chose to blame ANTIFA (whatever that is).

Now, Trump is blaming President Biden for the indictments and potential indictments he has faced and will likely face.  Biden has deliberately absented himself from the whole process, allowing local prosecutors and the special counsel to do their jobs, but our Baby Donnie doesn’t care about what is true or even what makes sense.  As the spaghetti guy, he just keeps throwing spaghetti lies against the wall hoping at least some of them will stick and he will know which strands of his lie-blaming will work with his cult.  Since they don’t seem to actually listen to what Trump is saying as it makes little sense these days, they cling to the mood of self-righteousness and “poor little me” he is projecting.  As long as he blames, insults, and threatens the right people and programs they will stick with him, even though many of his proposals will actually do harm to them personally.  They will be hurt but he will be sure to tell them whom to blame for their pain as he has done all along.

We keep hearing from pundits and occasional reporters that the polarization in our nation is terrible, yet they neglect to inform viewers, readers, and listeners that the Republican Party and conservatives in general are the primary orchestrators of this polarization through their whining that everything is not the way they remember it or that someone must be taking the American dream from them or that those people “aren’t like us and are trying to erase us white people.”  American right-wingers initiate and stoke the politics of fear, which is very effective among vulnerable people who choose not to find out if any of what they are learning is true.  They cling to Fox or whatever news source gives them the most comfort that they are right because it affirms their fears of the other.  Then guns are thrown into the mix and the right-wing hope is that their decades-long preparations will lead to chaos they can exploit to cement their power-grabbing, then blame it on someone else.

We can stand against this culture of lie-blaming and lack of accountability and We the People would do well to get started then, keep moving.

-              The media could stop daily playing Trump’s mouthing off with his lie-blaming and whining, or just mention occasionally that Trump is still out there, same old same old.

-              - President Biden could publicly call out the bad behavior, tell the stories of some of the people whose lives have been threatened and changed as targets of folks blaming them for just doing their jobs.  This must be a major speech, given in a community where its residents have experienced the harm.

-              - Credible threats are not protected speech, online or not and need to be investigated and prosecuted.

-              - Push voter registration (automatic registration would be best (Republicans truly hate that, though).  Amendments 15, 19, & 26 say every citizen 18 years and older has the right to vote, not just those Republicans approve of.

-              - Vote in every single election for candidates who actually care about this nation and are not caught up in childish whining and blaming, but have positive ideas for improving life for all of us.  There are a lot out here if we look for them.

-              - Question  public officials and media who are lie-blaming.  Ask where they got their information.  Demand proof.  Make it clear if they are lying and blaming the wrong people it must be made known, or shock, maybe in that situation, no blame should be handed out at all.

-              - Stay informed as to what is going on and get information from more than one reputable source.   

I know if we think about it collectively, we can come up with even more strategies for identifying the lie-blaming, who it is aimed at, and who benefits.  Then we need to find even more effective ways of confronting the political lie-blaming that threatens people’s lives, demanding our media and public officials call it out wherever it appears. 

Keep in mind, though, sometimes it is essential to blame the right people for their bad behavior, like the fossil fuelers who hid a report that proved they knew about global warming mor than 4 decades ago and did nothing to move toward ending it, in fact fought against other people’s attempts to act.

We can act if we remember our democracy is on the line and rather powerful groups are using lie-blaming and other strategies to take democracy away in favor of power for rich white men and corporations.  We did that rich white man thing throughout history and it brought us to nearly constant war and possible climate disaster.  We need to try something different.  It’s time!

SOME MORE JULY 4TH THOUGHTS

By Ruth A. Sheets

There is so much going on politically right now I am having some difficulty keeping track of it.  I suspect this may be a challenge for many others too.  It would be pretty easy to sit back and say, “well, there are just too many people working to undermine our democracy, how can I, one little person do anything to stop them?”  We all can do a lot but we need to see how we and our democracy are being undermined so we can act where we can.  

A reading from the Christian Scripture Book of Romans this past week got me thinking about sin.  St. Paul was worrying about sin and why he keeps doing sin.  I am not sure why he kept doing it, but I have come to the conclusion that a working definition for sin could be, “doing harm to another person.”  This harm may be physical like killing, assaulting, raping, or in another way using violence or force to do harm.  It can also be emotional harm where through words and actions one belittles, deliberately insults, gaslights, harasses, or lies to or about anyone for the purpose of doing emotional harm.  Then, there’s stealing, cheating, or committing vandalism, again with the intent to harm.  It does not matter what the other person’s response is if, for example, they say, “it’s OK and I forgive you.”  The sin is committed when we step over the line and intend to harm someone else.

This year when Independence Day came around, it occurred to me that people regularly commit sin against our society.  Many people over the years, mostly men) probably because they have had the most power to do harm), have done a lot to try to shape this nation so it will favor themselves and their group, usually white men.  Their sins have done tremendous harm to those who happened to be in the way of advancement meant to benefit those, usually also rich men.  

We are currently in one of those times when we are faced with a critical mass of folks willing to do as much harm as they can get away with, and right now, they are getting away with a lot, just as in the past.  The lying that has brought us into wars is probably the most harmful action, but name-calling and accusations, cheating and stealing by banks and racist financial institutions have done their part too.  Consider the War in Iraq beginning in 2003 started by lies, the McCarthy Communism insanity of the 1950s accusing people of being communists as though it were a crime, and the Great Recession of 2008+, banks cheating and misinforming mortgage holders.  The people causing the harm knew they were doing it, but thought they would get away with it, and for the most part, they did.

What do those folks have in common, a desire for power, the ability to intimidate people, and the money they accumulated.  They showed a total disregard for the people they hurt and the damage they caused our society, and all of it deliberate.   

When the attack on the society comes from people or institutions that are well-known, it is easy for others to latch onto the perpetrators, hoping some of the “glory” will spill onto them.  Maybe as a bonus, they can take their revenge on those who have less than they do  expecting they will have the nominal blessing of the ones in charge.  Those midlevel influencers don’t realize they, themselves are pawns of those at the top and are only useful as long as they do what they are told, hurt the right people, and stay out of the way when not needed.

On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump and a select group of men (and a couple of women) planned an insurrection.  All knew Trump had lost a fair election, but just couldn’t stand to see Trump and his cause (whatever it was) defeated and out of power.  They made sure Fox pundits and others were on board first, then began spreading the word to those midlevel influencers like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys whom they were sure they could count on.  Some members of Congress were all in too and even gave “encouraging” speeches in support that morning.  People who thought they came to hear speeches and Trump himself, got purposefully or inadvertently caught up in the theatrics directed by Trump and friends.  By the time they reached the capitol, they knew what they were doing was wrong, but they no longer cared, just as Trump and the others hoped would happen.  Trump supposedly tried to get down there with the insurgents, I guess hoping he could get in on the violence, watch a few members of Congress get killed so he could claim a national emergency and stay in office.  It didn’t work out that way, but people were killed, hurt, and the members of Congress were terrorized.  The coup wasn’t successful, but a whole lot of people participated and took notes as to how it might be done in the future.  That is sin from beginning to end.  I bet nearly every person in the crowd as well as the instigators would call themselves “christian.”

In addition, something really harmful, therefore sinful is going on in our states, and by “Christians.”  In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis decided to ban books (against the first amendment), deny health care to women and trans kids (with no medical knowledge on DeSantis’s part, of course), dictate what students will be taught in school (with no education credentials and a whole lot of racism and homo/transphobia), and bus immigrants based on lies to Martha’s Vineyard (to prove a point or something).  Once those actions, those harms were going on in Florida, they spread like a disease to other states in the Confederacy or in Confederate wannabe states.  Texas regularly ignores our Constitution, but nothing happens and Gov. Abbott, like Gov. DeSantis, sits and grins at his success.  That’s sin, too.

In Tennessee earlier this year, 2 state representatives were kicked out because they stood with constituents when they protested that the legislature had done nothing to stop gun violence after a mass shooting in Nashville.  Fortunately, both men were reinstated by their constituents.  The harm done by that legislature and governor didn’t stop there.  On Saturday, a federal court said it was OK to deny medical care to trans kids while they were waiting for a court decision.  In addition, they demanded medical records from a Vanderbilt University Medical Center clinic that treats trans kids and other medical issues young people have.  I and many others thought medical records are entirely personal and no one could get them without the patient’s permission.  I guess not in Tennessee.  Vanderbilt turned the records over and didn’t tell any of the patients until it was done.  The whole anti-trans people action is sin!  We don’t know how those children and families will be harmed by that decision, but it is pretty much guaranteed that they will be.  I can’t believe Vanderbilt could not have protected those records from the ignorant hateful Tennessee State Attorney General.  Did he even need to have an honest reason?  I suspect it was just power of position and the anticipation of the cruelty he could inflict.

The powermongering and money-grubbing mostly centered within the Republican Party is not going to slow down on its own.  The leaders and their most ardent followers will not willingly give up the power, money, and ability to do harm to those they don’t respect.  They are addicted and are so deeply overwhelmed by the euphoria that comes from their positions or perceived positions they will use them to the fullest doing as much harm as possible as they orgasmically hunt for the next targets for their venom.    

The Republican Party has 6 of our Supreme Court justices on board with the harm and they are doing as much of it as they can get away with and they can get away with a lot while they tell states they can decide about a woman’s reproductive rights and whether colleges can diversify their student body using race as a factor, and can let businesses discriminate against LGBTQ+ persons (hey, even using a case that wasn’t even a case).  All of these have done significant harm while the 6 sit back, smile and believe they have done god’s will.  They haven’t, but they no longer care.  Power, money, and causing others’ pain are powerful drugs, and they partake frequently.

We the People will have to be the ones who ultimately decide whether or not we are going to permit the constant denigrating of our fellow Americans and trampling on our Constitution.  We are up against a formidable opponent because they have been planning and practicing this bad behavior for decades while We the People just lived and tried to do better.  

To start, we must find ways to get every citizen registered to vote, then to the polls or to vote through absentee ballots or mail-ins.  We can’t let this to chance because the Republican harm machine is moving forward at a rapid pace.  They have nothing real to offer anyone outside their leadership circle but pain and more pain.  Our Department of Justice needs to start acting on behalf of We the People as states pass laws that are clearly against our Constitution, particularly the first and 14th amendments (our basic rights) as well as the 15th, 19th, and 26th voting amendments.  Maybe getting some of the planners of Jan. 6th indicted would help a bit too.  There is no time to sit back and just watch.  We must do what we can right where we are, then expand outward, tapping into the expertise of those who have been working to stop the harm/sin for a long time.  We can do this!