POLITICS

A Terrible Price

Article published on November 24, 2020

The battle against COVID-19 required competent and steady leadership. To stop the spread of the disease, we needed our President to be honest, smart, and humble.

Honest, because we needed to trust him. We needed to know that what he was telling us about the disease was factual and true, so that we could make well-informed decisions to keep ourselves and our family safe.

Smart, because infections disease epidemiology is complicated and heady stuff. We needed a president who could read briefings and synthesize and extrapolate the relevant data. We needed a President who could sit down with scientists and listen to what they were telling him and effectively make sense of it, so that he could communicate what he learned to the public clearly and concisely. Being able to do this would result in public confidence.

Humble, because COVID-19 was an unknown and ruthless disease. What we learned early-on was subject to change as new data became available. We needed a president who was humble enough to admit the challenge would be extremely difficult and would require Americans to work together in a coordinated and unified manner.

We needed honesty, intelligence, and humility from President Trump, and he was glaringly 0 for 3.

COVID-19 has killed more than a quarter million Americans. Tens of thousands of those deaths can be blamed on the incompetency of our President. It has wrecked our economy, devastated small businesses, and crippled families. It also shined a light on an immoral and criminally incompetent leader, and in all likelihood, ended the Trump presidency. In a weird twist-of-fate, if not for the virus and incompetent leadership that ensued, we might have lost our democracy.

What a devastating price to pay for electing a conman and reality TV celebrity to the Presidency. I hope we learned a lesson as a nation – that cheap populism makes for a dangerously shaky and ineffectual national platform, and that honesty, intelligence, and humility matter in a President.

Man's Malevolence

Article published on August 27th, 2021

Mankind is a misnomer.

For as long we’ve existed, man’s kindness has been matched by his cruelty.

We’re a volatile and combustible mix of the easily misguided. Too often (under the influence of others), we drift towards our darker nature, nestle up to fear, hand reason over to blind faith, or swear a misguided allegiance to political tribes. In the past, this has led humankind down dark paths where we deny our fellow man freedom and dignity on a mass scale.

That’s been our history.

We’ve seen how the fluidly we move from our better selves to our darker nature and how easily influenced we are by the world around us. We’re not immune to the momentum of tumultuous events. And, because we’re more connected (technologically speaking) than ever before, we’re more susceptible to being collectively influenced, manipulated, and pushed towards our darker nature.

This is nothing new. We’ve teetered on the edge of darkness before. Manipulated by political and religious movements that feed on fear, hate, and irrationality. Unfortunately, I believe we’re teetering one of those precipices now, as world events push mankind towards our darker nature.

I still believe America can be a force for positive change. I’m not talking about nationalistic flag-waving “USA, USA, USA!!” patriotism, but rather all of us living by and promoting the ideals and ideas of Western Democracy.

To make mankind kind again, we must consciously engage in acts of kindness, resist being influenced by fear and fear mongers, put reason above religion, and ditch political tribalism for critical and idea-based thinking.

The uptick in political, social media posts about what’s going on in Afghanistan reveals just how shallow and vulnerable we’ve become. Sadly, the willingness to parlay human tragedy for political hay (I’ve done it myself) represents troubling fault lines for our country.

Joe Biden did not blow-up Americans and Afghanis at the Airport in Kabul – religious extremists did. Instead of focusing on the enemies of reason and rationality, many Americans devolve into sectarianism, focusing their contempt on the American President.

I’m not suggesting Biden not be held accountable for missteps and intelligence failures that occur on his watch – he should be. But, instead, I’m suggesting that we remember Biden is not the enemy. Biden is not a religious extremist. He believes in American ideals. Our fight is not with him; it’s with ISIS, the Taliban, and any of the other man-made entities that are hellbent on pushing us to a darker existence.

I’m also suggesting that we differentiate malevolence from incompetence when critiquing our leaders. But unfortunately, that requires nuanced and critical thinking – lost skills in America today.

Every President has moments of incompetence. Kennedy had his Bay of Pigs; Obama had his healthcare rollout. Bush fucked up majorly with his weapons of mass destruction debacle. Reagan screwed the pooch with Iran Contra, and Jimmy Carter botched a hostage rescue.

Humans are at the helm of intelligence. They push the pen and ink onto intelligence reports, and leaders act on the assessments. And sometimes, they make mistakes. And when this happens, citizens should speak up and demand accountability.

But Malevolence is a different kettle of fish.

Malevolence is knowing a pandemic is deadly but telling others just the opposite for personal political gain.

Malevolence is proposing our military shoot protesters in the legs or that leakers of information be executed.

Malevolence is spreading lies about election security and promoting insurrectionist movements against America.

Malevolence is courting and praising dictators for the control they have over their citizens.

That’s Malevolence.

Let’s not confuse Incompetence with Malevolence.

And malevolent leaders and wanna-be dictators thrive in periods of uncertainty. And sometimes, in a storm of uncertainty, citizens become blind to malevolent leaders.

Let’s stay vigilant.

You’re un-American!” “NO, YOU’RE UN-AMERICAN!!

Article published on March 29th, 2021

How is it in a country full of Americans, half of us consider the other half un-American, and vice versa?

To me, this seems like a fairly recent development.

Some people who know me today might categorize me as a “Godless libtard, who cares more about immigrants than real Americans.”

These same people probably didn’t categorize me at all 10 years ago — even though I was pretty much the same person then — a progressive liberal atheist.

On the flip side, 10 years ago, I probably didn’t categorize some of the people I knew as “fascist-leaning individuals who’d rather wrap themselves in the American flag than care about their fellow human beings” — but that’s how I’d categorize them today.

So, what’s changed?

In terms of our politics, I don’t think we’ve changed all that much. The biggest difference is the manner and degree to which we broadcast our politics. That’s totally different than what it was 10 to 20 years ago.

Today, we have access to a social media soapbox, and many of us get up on that soapbox, and with a keyboard as our megaphone, we share our opinions (and other people’s opinions). We speak our values; we argue politics, and whether we realize it or not, we present our views on what it means to be American.

I used to think this was a good thing. Now, I’m not so sure.

Too often, our use of social media results in a singularly-focused and myopic view of one another, to the exclusion of the many things we likely have in common – a love of music, parenthood, art, literature, sports, science – the things that we could (and used to) connect over, but now, choose not to, because of political tribalism and a strange social media sectarianism.

Social media magnifies and intensifies our political differences, making it difficult to recognize or even care about things we have common. This unintended consequence benefits foreign enemies, who flood social media with content designed specifically to deepen the divide between Americans — and it's working splendidly. Facebook has turned out to be the perfect crowbar to our Pandora’s box- dividing our American house and weakening our country from within.

How do we combat this?

The genie is out of the bottle in terms of social media. It's unrealistic to think people are just going to stop using it – and let’s face it, it’s a bit of an addiction.

Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter rely on two very human traits; the desire to communicate with one another, and our desire to fight with one another. Combine those two things with an insatiable need for affirmation, and you’ve got the perfect weapon for division and discontent.

The “thumbs up” or “heart” emojis are like herrings to a seal, as soon as we receive them, we instantly bark out more opinions on Trump, Biden, Guns, Abortion, Religion, and Immigration — widening the gap between one another, burning bridges, fueling hate.

Weirdly, social media is weakening the fabric of our country by allowing us to show others who we are, and what we believe in. We were a stronger / less vulnerable country when I didn’t know your politics and you didn’t know mine. If we both liked the Beatles, that was a good enough foundation to at least be kind and respectful to one another.

I looked back at some of my early social media posts, a lot of them had to do with my kids, a shared newspaper article, pictures from family gatherings, photos from sporting events or school dances. You know the schtick, obnoxiously proud mom or dad posting stuff about their son or daughter — often embarrassing them in the process.

“Ah, the early and innocuous days of social media.”

I looked at some of the respondents to those early posts. Interestingly, I’m pretty sure if I shared similar kinds of posts today, many of the same respondents would make a point of not responding.

No emoji herrings for me!

Many who responded fondly to my innocuous posts in the past, probably think I’m an asshole today. In their eyes, I’m a meme machine – a opinionated jerk – an atheist – an intolerant liberal fuck — and I totally get that.

When 9 out of 10 FB memories are rants about politics, you might have a problem (talking about myself here), and who can blame others for seeing you solely through a political lens, if that is all you show them?

It’s not easy to un-see what you see on social media, and some posts leave an indelible mark on our opinion of others and vice versa.

My High School has its 40th reunion this Summer. Our last reunion was in 2016, before Trump won election — before the war, so to speak. But even at that stage, you could see battle lines being drawn on social media. I even remember a plea from one of the organizers to refrain from talking politics.

A lot of shit has transpired since 2016. I know I’ve annoyed the fuck out of Trump supporters on a near daily basis (and vice-versa ). I wonder if we’ll be able to put our megaphones down for 5-to-6 hours and just pretend that we’re not offended by one another? I hope we can, though I expect some top gun-like maneuvers, as we buzz around the clambake tent, trying to avoid in-coming liberals or conservatives who might be looking to engage.

Social media has wrecked us. It's a shame, I wish it were different, and I don’t know how or even if we can fix it.

I think the best approach is to talk more about what we have in common — lead with those things, rather than politics – broadening the perspective might help lower our emotional temperature.

Truth, lies, opportunism, and the disintegration of Josh Hawley

Article published on January 31, 2021

Josh Hawley saw an opportunity in the angry, throbbing-with-hate, wild-eyed, vein-popping crowd of Trump supporters.

He felt the energy of that crowd’s rage and understood if he could harness it, he could jettison himself to the front of the 2024 Republican presidential pack. The only thing that stood in the way of that happening was the truth.

For months leading up to the 2020 Presidential election, and every day after it, Americans were fed a constant diet of lies that the election was rigged. Those lies breathed life into the January 6th insurrection that resulted in 5 dead, including a capital police officer.

Josh Hawley knows that President Trump did not win the 2020 election. He understands that every election comes with some irregularities and that in the 2020 election, those irregularities were minor and had no impact on the outcome. President Trump got drubbed by more than 7 million votes in an election deemed by Trump’s own election security expert as the most secure election in the history of our country.

Hawley’s motives leading up to the events of January 6th were seditious. His explanation of why he voted to overturn a free and fair election is both laughable and disingenuous.

Hawley said the people of Missouri had concerns about the integrity of the election, and as their senator, he was obligated to make sure their voices were heard.

If we listened to Hawley’s words in a vacuum, they sound reasonable and almost noble. But Hawley’s obligation as a US Senator is not to blindly support the concerns of his constituency, especially when those concerns are based on false information and lies. No, his job as a Senator is to tell those people the truth, even if that truth is complicated for some of them to hear – even if that truth becomes somewhat of a hindrance to Mr. Hawley’s political aspirations.

But Hawley did not do that. Instead, he used the divisive and volatile climate to elevate his own political profile and boost his presidential aspirations. This was a test of Josh Hawley’s character, and he failed miserably – and it’s an example of why character matters in our representatives.

I’m reminded of when John McCain was confronted with a lie about President Obama and how he responded to that lie.

McCain was holding a town hall, answering questions from his supporters, when a woman took hold of the microphone and said she did not trust Senator Obama because he was an Arab. Now, this woman was not alone in her fears – she and the nation had been fed a constant diet of lies about the President’s birth origin and religious affiliation.

McCain could have used that lie to fire up his base – he could have viewed all those false stories about Obama as campaign kindling, and he could have used that moment with that woman to sew division, doubt, and fan the flames of bigotry. Doing so might have given him a boost politically. But instead, McCain took the microphone from that supporter and respectfully told her that she was wrong – that she was misinformed and that senator Obama was not an Arab, but rather a decent American, who he happened to disagree with on the issues facing America.

That moment was a test of John McCain’s character, and he passed it with flying colors. McCain was not stupid. He understood the potential benefits off manipulating the lie about President Obama. But to John McCain’s credit, he understood that correcting that lie was far more important than any political momentum to be gained from it — because lies like that, the lies that divide Americans, are dangerous to democracy.

Regarding the lie about a rigged election, Josh Hawley and President Trump did the exact opposite of what a true leader should do: confront the lie head-on and stop it in its track. Instead, Trump and Hawley consistently propagated rumors that they knew were false for opportunity’s sake.

Truth is the sticking agent in the masonry mix of democracy. Without it, the foundation of our country crumbles.

Under the Trump administration, the truth became a malleable political commodity. It was hammered, reshaped, forged in lies, and repurposed for political gain.

Every administration plays with the truth on occasion, spinning it to suit this or that political reality. But spinning the truth is not the same as creating your own version of it to deceive and manipulate the public and to galvanize your own political power. That’s not spin – that’s propaganda. That’s a weapon.

The desecration of truth that happened during the 4-years of the Trump administration is the strongest argument for why character matters.

A presidential candidate with a high moral character knows that manufacturing a false truth for self-gain is inherently wrong. On the other hand, a presidential candidate with low moral character sees manufactured truth as a tool, a means to an end. And when such a person gains access to power and the levers of government to wield that power, our democracy enters a dangerous and precarious situation. The culminating consequence of 4-years of manufactured truth is what we witnessed and experienced collectively on January 6th, 2021.

The Trump administration had a strategy for truth, and truthfulness was not part of it.

The Trump strategy for truth was this:

As long as we hold the reins of power, we’ll use alternate facts, cherry-pick data, and create a version of the truth that serves our political agenda and strengthens our hold on power.

We’ll weaponize our strategy by publishing our version of truth on communication platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

We’ll use these channels to magnify and reinforce the lies about voter fraud and a rigged election. And our supporters will spread these lies (knowingly or unwittingly) either way; the lies will take root.

The strategy, like Donald Trump himself, was utterly devoid of ethics.

But it worked.

For 4-years, the Trump administration designed their own version of the truth to meet a pre-defined set of facts. Then, they leveraged conspiracy theories and right-winged websites to discredit actual truth and to stand up their own version of it. Finally, they injected their version of truth into the public square with mindful malevolence, feeding the masses lies and misinformation through every available communication channel.

The internet and behavioral algorithms helped spread the lies incredibly and quickly.

Trump’s 4-year disinformation campaign and an all-out assault on truth was a mass poisoning of America’s mind by a well-oiled propaganda machine. The result? A cult-like following impervious to any information that goes counter to the narrative pushed by the President and his administration.

But unlike Jonestown or Waco, the Trump cult hasn’t succumbed to arsenic-laced Kool-Aid or fiery smoke. Instead, this mass poisoning continues to propagate, grow, and metastasize. And now, America is riddled with a cancerous, malformed notion of truth.

The biggest threat to our nation and our democracy is the continued bastardization of truth and the potential for that strategy to become a framework or playbook for the next power-hungry demagogue.

Patriotism Polluted

Article published on July 2nd, 2021

What does it mean to be a patriot?

We're finding that it means different things to different people and that patriotism today is shaped by where you get your information.

Many Americans view the insurrectionists who stormed the US capitol as patriots, mainly because of what they were told by a lying president and by conspiracy-based news sources, neither of which benefit from a truthful accounting of the 2020 presidential election.

The former President's attorney general, William Barr, stated that he knew the President's claim that the election was rigged was "total bullshit." More than sixty cases were brought to courts across the nation by the President's legal team -- all of them, including the case heard by the US Supreme Court, were rejected as baseless bullshit.

But the court's decision, and all the states that ratified the results of the 2020 election, don't matter to Americans who continue to get their information from the former President, or conspiracy "news" agencies and websites, mainly because both are telling Trump supporters what they desperately want to hear.

Millions of Americans simply don't want to hear the truth because they are too uncomfortable with what that truth reveals. They'd rather live in the comfort of the lie than the discomfort of facts. I don't think this is a liberal or conservative phenomenon – it's a human one that is further complicated by the sheer quantity of misinformation available to people.

Under normal conditions, people eventually resign themselves to the truth, even when the truth is painful – they can be honest with themselves because the truth is plainly evident and indisputable. It's what Hillary Clinton supporters and the supporters of every other losing presidential candidate went through.

Disappointment, denial, acceptance.

But we're not living under normal conditions. This time around, we face a cult-like leader who cannot accept the truth of his defeat because of his narcissism. Trump is bolstered by a cottage industry of conspiracy-based websites that profit from lies and misinformation. Add to all of that, a congress of cowards who fear being "primaried" out of a job does nothing to help their country.

Now that the former President is in legal jeopardy, we should expect him to react as any criminal backed into a corner does, with desperation, fear, and violence.

If American democracy is to survive, she'll need to rely on true Patriots in the coming months.

Why I Broke Up with Facebook

Article published on October 8th, 2021

You might have some real friends on Facebook. But Facebook isn’t one of them.

Facebook and Instagram use artificial intelligence and algorithms to learn our views on race, identity, religion, and politics. They don’t come straight out and ask us about our views or interact with us in a meaningful way. Instead, they collect data from what we share, like, comment on, and engage with on their platform.

They analyze the data and come up with a profile of me and you (conservative, male, republican, pro-life or liberal, female, democrat, pro-choice), and based on that profile, they determine what content to send us. And the content they send us reinforces our views, solidifies our attitudes, and affirms our opinions.

Facebook knows which content pulls us in and which content we breeze over.

Facebook knows what we like, who we like, and with whom we like to share.

What’s the danger in that?

What’s the danger of analyzing and understanding our behavior and then delivering us content based on that understanding?

Isn’t that a good thing?

No, it is not.

And here’s why.

We share more about ourselves with data scientists at Facebook than with our priests in the confessional.

But the priest (in theory) wants to counsel and help us. Facebook wants to use us.

To Facebook, we are a commodity. And when you’re a commodity on a technology platform with a data-driven business model, you’re prone to exploitation and manipulation by powerful and self-serving individuals and institutions.

Facebook and Instagram are a conduit for misinformation and lies. We saw this real-time with the Big Lie about a stolen election.

We felt it with the constant stream of misinformation about COVID-19 and the COVID-19 vaccine.

The people who consumed and bought into those lies are lost. Perhaps forever. Tragically, they’re part of a growing community of people who believe misinformation. And as humans, we long for a sense of community – more so, it seems, than truth.

I don’t think Mark Zuckerberg or the other executives who launched Facebook did so with bad intentions. They had a business model and the technology to make that business model successful.

What they didn’t account for was the consequence of their success.

Categorized and codified by cold calculated algorithms, Facebook incentivizes our human desire to be with people who share our views, while fueling our dislike of those who don’t.

Because of Facebook, our society is more divided, less trustful, and has more built-up animus than ever before.

We are seeing the unintended consequences of technology and human nature smashing into one another.

That’s why I broke up with Facebook.

For me, the detriments far outweigh the benefits – it’s scary, because sometimes I think the best and only way to fight misinformation is to counter it with truth.

If lies and misinformation can spread fast on FB, why not use that platform to spread the truth?

I think many of us buy into that argument.

And so, we get caught up in this endless battle with others. We live for hours at a time in an environment of constant combat and argument – we look for mistruth, engage the enemy, and fight the fight.

Post-to-Post combat.

Blood pressures rise.

Friendships get wrecked.

Family members are disowned.

Nothing gets solved. We just become agitated at those who don’t share our views.

We willfully retreat to our camps – we lose empathy – we lose trust – we lose any sense of the things that hold us together as a country and a society.

We lose our ability to compromise and discuss coherently and intelligently with whom we disagree.

Facebook is toxic, destructive, and a danger to society.

We should turn away from it en-masse.

You, me, Facebook and our dickhead President

Article published on July 3rd, 2019

Facebook friendships are tenuous things. Examine them closely, and you’re bound to notice some cracks in the foundation.

How many times over the past 3 years have you been stunned at posts from Facebook friends, wondering to yourself why the hell are we friends?

If you use Facebook regularly, you’re forced to reconcile the word “friend” with a fuck-load of posts that are diametrically opposed to the values you hold. Still, we hold on to our Facebook “friendships” – why is that? I suspect it has something to do with our relationship to the word “friend” itself and the social context it holds (outside the realm of Facebook).

In life, we’re taught that friends stick together through thick and thin. Being friends means accepting each other’s differences. We’re taught that friendships are a thing to value and that we shouldn’t dismiss them capriciously.

We’re hemmed in by the meaning of the word “friend.” We feel the weightiness of its definition and the social-contractual obligation that comes with being a friend.

So, we stick.

For a lot of us, our Facebook friendships are based on a shared high school experience. We became “friends” on social media because we shared the same teachers, coaches, classes, dances, parties, proms for four years. We suffered together, and we exalted together. So, when Facebook came along, I guess we thought that sharing 3rd period Spanish some 30 years ago was a good enough glue and something we could build on.

Then, along comes Donald Trump, and with him, a strong need to express ourselves (both for and against). And now, when we read each other’s posts, we realize that 3rd period Spanish some thirty years ago is the only thing we have in common.

Nostalgia is pleasant, but it can’t bridge the gap between bigotry and tolerance, so let’s stop thinking it can.

I want to live in a country that welcomes the stranger and demands equality under the law, has a healthy respect for dissent, and always strives for truth. As a child, these values were instilled in me as “American values” and serve as the pillars of democracy. And because of that, these values became part of my “American identity.” Thus, these values are at the heart of who I am as an American.

When I see “friends” treat these values fluidly or as something to skirt around when they come in conflict with one’s politics or religion, it pisses me off. When President Trump employs fear and lies to chip away at these values to shake our citizenry’s confidence and divide us, it pisses me off even more.

The continued support of this President puts my “friends” in an ugly light. If I were to meet you for the first time today (as opposed to 30 years ago in 3rd-period Spanish), I would choose not to associate with you, and I certainly wouldn’t consider you a friend.

Americans who were paying attention in 2016 knew that Donald Trump was dishonest, morally deprived, and vacuous. That’s why most of us didn’t vote for him. But because of the electoral college and the help of a hostile foreign nation, we have a national security threat sitting in the oval office.

After nearly 4 years of this egotistical asshat, still no replacement for Obama Care, no progress on fixing our infrastructure, no bold initiative to combat climate change, and no relief or reform on the high cost of college education and student loan debt.

What we do have is 34 indictments related to Russian Interference in the 2016 election, overwhelming evidence of obstruction of justice, a tax cut for the wealthy that failed to trickle down to the middle class, a lot of cozying-up to dictators, thugs, and autocrats, an increase in hate crimes and white nationalism, a cabinet built on nepotism rather than competence, a divided nation, a dismembered Washington Post journalist, and a lot of brown children in cages.

What happened to us? Under this President, America has been transformed from that shining city on the hill to an unstable tenement house, its occupants at each other’s throats, all to the glee of a narcissistic, petulant man-child rapist.

The President is petty, dishonest, vindictive, unethical, and shallow. For the last 3 years, these traits have been on display for everyone to see. In addition, there is video, audio, and text evidence that the President is demonstrably uninformed and a shitty human being.

And yet, so many “friends” turn a blind eye to it all. As long as abortion rights are being restricted, immigrants are being punished, unemployment is low, who cares about character, truth, honesty, and integrity.

If you decide to vote for this President in 2020 because the economy is doing well, unemployment is low, and “USA, USA, USA!”, then you are no friend of mine.

I’ve never ended a friendship over politics – but let’s stop pretending this is about politics. It’s about values – decency, competency, and respect for truth, honesty, and integrity.

I won’t put friendship above these things.

That’s not compromising; that’s compromising my values.

The Malleable Beliefs of Evangelicals

Article published October 22nd, 2018

What happens when your political idol’s actions and words diametrically oppose what your religion promotes?

Do you stand firm by your faith, or do you bend to political idolatry?

Is it worse to be ostracized by your church or shunned by your political, social group?

Oh, the pain and discomfort of internal conflict!

But wait, there’s another way!

With the advent of Republican Jesus, you can stand by your religion AND swear allegiance to a demagogue who espouses the opposite views of your lord and savior!

Isn’t America Great?

Republican Jesus is no less wonderous than the birth of Original Jesus (or Extra Crispy Jesus, for that matter).

People have been bending religion to fit their world and political view since the beginning of time. All gods are man-made. When you start with that fact, everything you see in today’s Evangelical community regarding politics makes perfect sense. And let’s face it, it becomes easier to bend and contort one’s religious views in a world where God is less visible than ever before.

Fuck being uncomfortable with contradiction; let’s be Christ-like and Un-Christ-like in the same breath! Once you start, it’s easy! After that, it’s a brand-new, all-encompassing, carpet-bomb-the-caravan-and-fuck-the-disenfranchised religious freedom!

Step 1. Cherry-pick your favorite bits and pieces from that book written in iron-age ignorance.

Step 2. Infuse it with a political ideology that suits your worldview.

Step 3. Well, you get the gist.

Before the first charlatan saw religion as a money maker and a kingmaker, religion’s primary purpose was personal and somewhat benign (at least initially).

Religion eased our fear of death and explained the unexplainable. In the hardware store of life, you could find religion in the aisle for caulking and other “gap fillers.”

Now that politicians know just how fluid the beliefs of Evangelicals are, they are taking full advantage. And the President is leading the way.

To politicians, malleable faith has become the low-hanging fruit of our electorate. Evangelicals’ susceptibility to authoritarianism and an innate fear of different people represents political opportunity, money, and votes at the ballot box.

Today’s Evangelicals are evolving (how ironic!) before our very eyes. In a swirling tsunami of hypocrisy and verbal gymnastics, Evangelical leaders dismiss adultery, kidnapping, and murder, so long as political bedmates deliver favors unto them or to their America. And the Evangelical flock follows blindly. Their relationship with the President is like a loveless marriage – purely transactional in nature.

They give him support; he packs the court.

All the contradictions of the President’s behavior to their faith get dismissed or obfuscated.

I suspect, like the rest of us, Evangelicals understand if Donald Trump (or either of his sons) knocked up the help, there’d be an abortion doctor on the doorstep faster than you can say “fetus.”

But Evangelicals have struck a Faustian bargain with the Orange Devil, simultaneously turning their heads and supporting his un-christlike policies.

Anyone with an ounce of intellect (and intellectual honesty) knows Trump is less Christian than a salamander or a turd. Instead, Trump uses his relationship with Evangelicals in a quest for power and money.

To the skeptic and realist, all of this is as clear as day.

Our best hope for turning this shit show around are young people, who are generally less religious than their parents, and who see the marriage of politics and religion for what it really is, a marriage of convenience that benefits the few and endangers the rest.

Let’s hope they get out and vote because the longer this goes on, the harder it is to stop.

From 169 to 168, an Election Night Casualty

Article published on November 8th, 2012

Watching the election returns last Tuesday night was all about the numbers. Which candidate will get to 270 first? How does Romney’s path to the presidency change now that PA’s 20 electoral votes are in Obama’s column? Will Obama finish with 332 or 303 electoral votes?

But for me, the most surprising number was 168. That was the number of Facebook friends I had the day after the election – one less than the day before.

In the month leading up to the election, I often logged on to Facebook to engage in spirited discourse with my Republican friends. Then, Tuesday night, I went there to revel in the joy of victory with my Democrat friends.

On election night, I watched Chuck Todd move battle-ground states into the Obama column with the wave of his hand – like a mythological soothsayer. As the night wore on and it became apparent the President would be reelected, I felt euphoric and somewhat vindicated (selfishly so). Vindicated because I had argued with some republican friends that Obama’s vision for America was better than Romney’s and that most Americans would see it that way. It was a choice between two very different views about the role of government in America. It was about social and economic justice.

I enjoyed watching Karl Rove deny the science of polling (the same way his party denies climate change and evolution), only to be smacked down emphatically by truth.

In the heat of an election, candidates and voters can let their emotions get the best of them – taking on an aggressive tone and speaking words that they usually would not. As my son and I sat on the couch watching the returns, the network cut away to Todd Aikin’s concession speech on election night. It was a divisive speech, ungracious, and full of the vitriolic views typical of Tea Party candidates. I immediately typed a statement on Facebook. I referred to Mr. Aikin as the dime-sized part of the human anatomy directly south of the tailbone and north of the nape of the knees. I tapped the Enter key without forethought or hesitation and sent my words into the infosphere. A few seconds later, my son admonished me with a “that’s not a very nice thing to say, dad,” and of course, he was right.

I am convinced that my actions resulted in being “unfriended” by an old high school classmate. It had been many years since I had seen or spoken with him in person, and if not for Facebook, we probably would not have kept in touch. My friend’s Facebook page was like everyone else’s, reflecting his likes and dislikes, from pop culture and sports to politics and religion. He has strongly held views about the role of government (keep your hands off my money, but my god in your classroom, and put this trans-vaginal probe in your vagina).

Politics is a blood sport, and to the victor go the spoils. In this case, those who elected Obama are the victors. The President has a sacred responsibility to make good on his campaign promises.

At the same time, the President must be mindful of the 49 percent of American’s who voted for Mitt Romney’s vision of America. Some Republicans would argue that Obama does not have a mandate. I strongly disagree. That said, the President has a difficult road ahead – pushing his vision for America while at the same time keeping the 49 percent who disagree with that vision “in the fold” of the American family. He needs to extend an olive branch to Republicans while staying true to his principles – no easy task. Push too hard and risk further fracturing the country; don’t push hard enough, and the same risk applies.

While the President does his part, I will do mine by reaching out to my Republican friend to get back to 169.

Black Lives Matter, Stop the Steal, and a Demagogic Puppeteer

Article published on February 14th, 2021.

The impetus behind the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement is systemic racism.

People join and support BLM to protest a system of justice in America that treats people of color differently than white people. From that perspective, the BLM movement comes from a noble place – the desire to right a wrong in our society.

This past Summer, the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer sparked outrage and widespread protests, deservedly so.

Rising up and taking to the streets to protest that murder was an entirely appropriate response by Americans. And, if I remember correctly when some of those protests turned violent, that violence was condemned by democrats and republicans alike.

Most Americans agree that violent protests cannot and should not be tolerated. That said, it's essential to understand the psychology of a riot.

Martin Luther King said:

"I think that we've got to see that a riot is the language of the unheard.

And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the economic plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years."

The BLM riots resulted from America failing to acknowledge the mistreatment of black and brown citizens by our justice system, which has been going on for years. Prolonged injustice needs only a spark to lead to protests and riots, and the George Floyd murder was that spark.

Contrast that with the January 6th "stop the steal" protest, which turned into a violent riot.

The January 6th protest had nothing to do with prolonged injustice. It was not borne out of years of systemic racism. Instead, the January 6th protest was a planned and calculated attempt by our President to disrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

The impetus for the January 6th protest was the "Big Lie" that the 2020 election was rigged. Of course, there is not a shred of truth to that claim. But, as we all know, Donald Trump does not care about the truth. So, he pushed the false claim of a rigged and stolen election to millions of Americans in the weeks leading up to the January 6th rally. And on that day, he again lied to the thousands in attendance.

None of this is in dispute. We know that President Trump spread lies and false claims about the election. We know that he assembled the rally on January 6th to disrupt the certification of the election by congress.

The primary difference between the BLM protests and the Stop the Steal protest is the legitimacy of the issue being protested.

Systemic racism is a genuine problem in America. We have data showing black and brown citizens are treated more harshly than white citizens by both the police and by the courts. In short, for BLM protesters, there's a legitimate issue at hand and a real reason to be angry. George Floyd's murder by a white racist cop brought an ugly and graphic clarity about racial injustice to millions of Americans.

In contrast, Trump supporters' protesting on January 6th was not justified. The very foundation of the Stop the Steal protest was built on lies. There was no widespread voter fraud.

How do we know that the issues protested on January 6th were not legitimate?

We know this because:

The votes were tabulated, and Joe Biden had 7 million more of them.
The votes were recounted several times, and Joe Biden still had 7 million more of them.
Every challenge that the President's legal team brought to the courts was defeated resoundingly.
The Trump Administration's Attorney General reviewed the claims of widespread fraud and said there was none.

The indisputable truth is that President Trump lost the 2020 election.

If someone I trusted lost an election and then went on to tell me for weeks at a time that the election was stolen, I might have stormed the US Capitol as well.

Take what Doctor King said about riots and apply it to what happened on January 6th:

I think that we've got to see that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear?

They failed to hear that my vote was stolen – that the election was rigged, that I won't have a country anymore if the election is certified.

I honestly believe that millions of Americans believed what Trump told them about every day for weeks before and after the election – that it was rigged and stolen. And for the thousands that showed up on January 6th, the only way to stop the steal was to stop the certification, and that meant storming the Capitol building. So that's what they did, at the behest of our lying President.

The issue many of us are grappling with today is how did we get to the point where millions of Americans are resistant to facts and immune to the truth?

How did this happen on such a mass scale? I believe it was the perfect storm of the browning of America, globalization, religiosity. Throw in an opportunistic and depraved leader, and what happened on January 6th is not that surprising.

More than any other President in our history, Trump understood the value of other people's fear. He understood that he could use that fear to his own advantage.

Connecting with people over fears about our changing demographics, what it means to "be American," growing secularism, and loss of manufacturing jobs, would override everything else. Trump understood that fear, national identity, and religion resonate with people emotionally.

Trump knew the quickest and easiest way to get people to vote for and support him (no matter what), was to connect with them over fear.

Trump's connecting with voters over fear didn't engage in meaningful dialog. Trump did not pursue the complicated path of addressing our changing world. Instead, he commiserated. Not that Trump was empathetic. He wasn't. But he understood the power and practicality of commiseration.

Trump saw if he could get the disenfranchised to believe he understood their fears around abortion, immigration, and globalization – he would have them in his pocket.

Once he achieved that, he could "shoot someone in the middle of 5th avenue," and it wouldn't make a difference to his supporters.

Trump's fake commiseration around religious issues, immigration, and globalization led to a fact-resistant base of supporters. This encouraged the President to embark on his Hitleresque desire to rule a nation.

Trump knew that once he connected with people over fear, he could lie to them with impunity and that they would follow him off a cliff or to the doors of the US Capitol.

Trumpocrisy

Article published on December 17th, 2021.

The other day, I watched former President Trump praise his relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Ill in a televised interview.

I listened to the former disgraced and seditious-prick-of-a-president say how well he got along with dictators and autocrats and how he admired their strong leadership.

None of this surprised me.

Trump is an easily manipulated, egotistical fool. Leaders like Kim Jong-Ill and Vlad Putin simply blew a little smoke up the orange one’s undies to court favor with Trump.

What disheartened me most about the interview was the applause from my fellow Americans in the audience.

When did getting along with murderous dictators become a praiseworthy trait in an American president?

Had President Obama or candidate Clinton said anything remotely like this, they would have been crucified by the very same people who were applauding. As Forest Gump would say, Trump supporters and hypocrisy go together like peas and carrots.

Republicans and Democrats have always differed on policy. But when it came to condemning brutal dictators and autocrats, we stood together.

That used to be common ground.

Why is this no longer the case?

What changed?

Well, for one, we had four years of being led by a self-absorbed, morally corrupt, and intellectually vapid president. Trump rose to power by tapping into many Americans’ grievances and fears around race and then, with purposeful malevolence, sold them a solution based on a warped definition of Americanism.

Trump understood that a divided country was his only path to power. So, from the onset of his candidacy, all the way through his presidency, he divided this country.

Five years later, we see the result in a fact-resistant confederacy of MAGA-hat-wearing morons and the cowering politicians who fear them.

Trump and his supporters are the blood in the boner of an alt-right movement in America — and you can’t reason with a boner.

But usually, over time, it subsides on its own.

Hopefully, that happens here.

Values and the personalization of politics

Article published on October 11th, 2021

America succeeds and prospers when its citizens get along with one another. And in a country where politics often ignites passion, getting along with one another means not digging too deeply into each other's political views.

So, Americans consciously do not let how we vote to affect our relationships. It's not always easy, but one thing that helps us keep the peace (and the republic) is a shared set of values that transcend politics.

We might have divergent views on taxation, education, healthcare, and foreign policy. Still, we unite around a core set of values rooted in our humanity: honesty, decency, kindness, integrity, and empathy. These shared values allow you to tolerate my politics and me to tolerate yours.

So, what's changed in America? Why are we so quick to disregard that unspoken rule that keeps the personal and political separate?

I suspect Trump supporters are saying to themselves, "I'm not acting any different than I've acted in the past. I'm simply voting for the Republican candidate – why all this outrage?"

And I agree with them. Republicans are not acting any differently than they have in the past.

What's changed this time around is not you or me – it's the President.

The President openly derides anyone who opposes him. He constantly pits Americans against one another.

He's been a human wrecking ball to the long-held American values of "welcoming the stranger, dignity for all human beings, equality under the law, respect for dissent, and love of the truth."

Donald Trump is demonstrably mean, dishonest, and apathetic. He is the antithesis of the values that we assumed transcended politics and united us as Americans.

So, when I hear vociferous support for the President, I see indifference to the personal (not political) values that I hold firmly — honesty, decency, kindness, integrity, and empathy.

America's never had to deal collectively with a leader like Trump. The personalization of politics comes from the jarring realization that honesty, decency, kindness, integrity, and empathy do not transcend politics for Trump supporters.

Have you Had Enough?

Article published on July 28th, 2021

After five years of crap, I keep waiting for the tipping point.

I keep waiting for my Trump-supporting friends to say they've had enough. I want to believe in their humanity. I'd like to think that after listening to yesterday's testimony from the officers who defended the capitol on January sixth, they're saying to themselves:

"You know what? I'm a proud Republican and a conservative, but what Donald Trump and members of congress promoted in the lead-up to January sixth – and the lies they continue to spread today, are despicable. I can no longer support Trump or any other politician who espouses those lies. I'm fucking done with Trump."

That's the humane response that people who care about this country hunger for. And we keep waiting for it. We long for the days to argue and differ on politics, not humanity, not democracy, not basic human decency and integrity.

For more than 5 years, there's been no normalcy around our politics, and that's because America voted into office a sociopathic fascist with low-level intelligence. And even though he's no longer President, Trump continues to control the Republican party.

For more than 5 years, more than half of the country sat bewildered at the number of people who went along with the Donald Trump shit-show, cheered him on, and sent him money.

It was a deflating realization that America was not what it claimed to be.

We kept hoping that maybe this was just an example of people being caught up in their personal and familial political history :

"I grew up in a Republican family, I support conservative values, I've always voted red."

We kept waiting for Republicans to have an epiphany.

We kept hoping for that "lightbulb moment," where Republicans would wake up and see that Trump was not a Republican or conservative; he was only interested in politics in so far as it benefitted him. Yesterday's testimony should have been that moment for my Trump-supporting friends.

If you still support the former President after yesterday's testimony from capital police officers, then please, just fuck off.

I've no space in my life for shitty human beings.

Support the John Lewis Voting Rights Act

Article published on December 23rd, 2021.

Republicans not supporting the John Lewis Voting Rights Act is an act of self-preservation.

Republicans know that making it easier for black and brown people to vote, makes it harder for Republicans to hold on to their job.

So, rather than engaging black and brown voters and trying to understand issues from their perspective, Republicans are supporting legislative barricades that restrict access to the ballot box and make it harder for black and brown and poorer people to vote.

In America, the gap between “the haves” and “have nots” has a racial element to it and the gap grows wider every day. The truth of the matter is that Democrats are proposing programs to try and stop the gap from growing, while Republicans are fine with the current trend.

To put it more bluntly, Democrats are more likely to support programs that help level the playing field, while Republicans long for the good ole days when black and brown people worked in a field.

America’s population is browning. Republicans see this tinting as a threat to their vision and version of America.

To Republicans, this feels like an ominous fade to black scenario.

And the only way Republicans think they can prevent this from happening is to hinder black and brown people from voting — and that’s what they’re doing by blocking the John Lewis Voting Rights act, while supporting state laws that make it harder for black and brown people to vote.

Republican attacks on voting rights are another shameful assault on our republic and a further tugging on the thread that holds our democracy together.

Once Upon a Time When the GOP had Integrity

Article published on October 20th, 2021

America has more than her fair share of fascists and white nationalists.

Some of them even serve in congress.

The vast majority, if not all, vote republican.

Donald Trump is a White Nationalist. That’s why White Nationalists supported his presidency.

When someone says they supported Trump’s policies but not his white nationalist and authoritarian views, its no less ludicrous than a German citizen in 1939 saying they support Hitler’s economic policies, not his views on the Jewish population.

In throwing your support behind a president, you have to look at the totality of the man – not just policy bits and pieces that you can align with and rationalize to yourself and your friends.

As we saw with President Trump, it’s the totality of the man (all of his views and values) that set the tone and attitude of his administration. Under Trump, the party’s platform was built on divisiveness, hate, mistrust, and anger, and that’s exactly what was reflected in most of Trump’s policies and actions.

It’s important to keep in mind that the anger, hate, and mistrust of government and institutions that Trump used to divide America and strengthen his position politically, are alive and well today. Those feelings and attitudes didn’t magically disappear when Trump was trounced in the 2020 election.

Many Americans who supported Trump are simply waiting for him, or the next Trump-wannabee to come along and validate those feelings, while cultivating and promoting policies that weaken our democracy and march us down the path to authoritarianism.

Colin Powel was a lifelong republican, military man, and honorable public servant who understood the danger of authoritarianism. When he saw fellow republicans refuse to stand against a dangerously authoritarian president, he called them out for their cowardice and left the party.

We need more republicans of stature to do what Colin Powell did – speak up and shine a light on the dangerous and dark influences taking hold of their party. And more importantly, we need strong and outspoken leaders in the GOP to provide a roadmap for getting the party back on track to decency, integrity, and basic American ideals. Without a roadmap, we’re going to see the GOP continue its downward spiral towards authoritarianism.

The four years of the Trump administration laid the groundwork for dismantling democracy in America. Colin Powel understood that and voiced his disdain for Trump and the political cowards who failed to stand up to him.

If democracy is to survive in America, we’ll need more voices like Colin Powel’s.

Donald Trump, Cousin Eddy, Josef Goebbels, and the GOP

Article published on September 5th, 2021.

Donald Trump saw masses of hateful and uneducated Americans as an untapped resource. So, he pandered to them from the beginning of his campaign, all through his presidency. He adroitly tweaked their xenophobic fears and white nationalistic attitudes and transformed them into votes. He effectively made them the foundation of today’s Republican party.

Republicans would have blanched at welcoming these types of people under their tent in the past. But once invited, they’ve spread like invasive vegetation, choking out moderate republican and authentic conservative voices.

Today, a uniquely unqualified brood of jackals and jackasses like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, “Gym” Jordan, and Devin Nunes has turned the GOP from a party of ideas to a demeaning cult of personality, with zero ideas.

We see them scrambling to prevent the release of phone records that will likely show collaboration with the President in his attempt to subvert the 2020 Presidential election.

When Donald Trump became President, the old guard Republicans lost control of their party. Today the GOP is controlled by many cousin Eddies’ (from Vacation), except this version of Eddy doesn’t have an ounce of decency or kindness.

In fact, he’s more like an Eddy / Josef Goebbels hybrid, and he’s parked that God-awful RV smack-dab in the middle of the Republican party.

Instead of taking out the trash, Donald Trump opened the front door and dragged the garbage into the GOP. Decent/moderate Republicans find themselves between a rock and a hard place. If they turn on the Cousin Eddy Goebbels, they’re likely going to be out of a job.

So, moderate Republicans sit and watch the transformative ruin of their party.

Democrats should work with Republicans to help them get back control of their party for the country’s good. They should reach out to moderates in exchange for expelling the growing number of Eddy Goebbels from the party – it might be the only way we save our country.

Fault-lines and Fissures

Article published on August 16th, 2021.

To the people who blame Joe Biden solely for what’s happening in Afghanistan after America’s 20-year campaign there – your partisan underwear is showing.

What’s happening in Afghanistan today is not the fault of one person alone. But to understand that you’d have to remove your partisan glasses and take a deeper look at the history of our involvement there. I know that takes a little time and effort. I know it’s easier to bash-post the President, especially if your objective is to knock him down a peg or two.

A government does not fall as quickly as it did in Afghanistan without severe foundational problems. And such problems did not occur overnight (or since Joe Biden became President).

Our military success in Afghanistan only masked the many issues that plagued an ineffectual and weak Afghan government. The Afghan military lacks what the Taliban have in spades (a core of fighters willing to die for a cause).

That so many Americans are eager to use the human tragedy of Afghanistan to score political points reveals dangerous fault lines in our society.

The Great Divide

Article published on April 23rd, 2021.

Even when faced with video evidence of George Floyd being slowly murdered by rogue cop Derek Chauvin – Even after listening to the testimony of fellow police officers and expert medical witnesses – Even after the last syllable of “guilty on all 3 counts”, many Trump supporters are still unable to get on the right side of the issue when it comes to racism in America.

Why is that?

I think the Chauvin verdict was a difficult pill to swallow for ardent supporters of the “law-and-order” president.

With the recorded murder of George Floyd, Trump supporters, like the rest of us, saw with their own eyes what Black Lives Matter protesters and activists like Colin Kaepernick have been saying for years – that there’s a serious problem in America.

And here’s how fractured our country is. When it comes to the George Floyd murder and verdict, many would rather remain silent, than take a position that might inch them closer to someone on the other side of the ideological divide.

The deafening sound of silence from Trump supporters at the end of the Chauvin trial shines a light on the deep chasm in America today. This divide exists because many are willing to elevate ideology over truth and humanity.

A House Divided

Article published on May 9th, 2021.

Republicans in Congress want to remove Liz Cheney from a leadership position because she refuses to lie.

Let that sink in.

How do GOP voters continue to support the party that removed her if she's removed?

This isn't about removing a republican who isn't conservative enough. This isn't about punishing a rogue politician for going against the platform or for shitting all over long-held republican beliefs. In fact, Liz Cheney embodies the conservative principles that for years defined the GOP.

The effort to remove Cheney stems from her audacity to speak the truth and contradict Donald Trump's outrageous lie about a fraudulent election.
It's as simple as that.

The GOP has devolved from a party of ideas to a cult of personality.

They've cut a deal with the devil to save themselves from a rabid, fact-denying, and hateful base of voters.

How will rational republicans react to what's happening to their party? Will they fight, or will they just say, "fuck it" and go along with a dangerous game of "Follow the Liar?"

Is there a deep enough desire to return the GOP to a party of ideas, or will they bend to the will of conspiracy theorists, religious charlatans, and a crazed pillow salesman?

Anyone who rationalized their vote for Donald Trump based on being loyal to the GOP has some serious soul searching to do.

Will republicans do the challenging work that entails, or will they let someone as despicable as Donald Trump become the architect of the new republican party?

The Second Amendment Outlier

An outlier differs from all other members of a particular group or set. So, you can point to an outlier and say, “that’s the differentiator.”

When people ask why America has way more mass shootings than other countries, finding the outlier becomes an exercise for politicians, media, and citizens alike.

Republicans, who are close bedfellows with the gun lobbyists, always point to mental illness as the reason for mass shootings. But when you compare mental illness in America to mental illness in other countries, you see that Americans don’t suffer disproportionately. It doesn’t matter if you’re French, Italian, Spanish, or English. We’re all at the same level of crazy.

Mental illness is not an outlier for mass shootings.

In America, when someone feels jilted, wronged, or bullied, they can stroll into a gun store, log in to a website, or walk to the back of their daddy’s closet and get a weapon like the AR-15. You can’t do that in other countries. They have laws that prevent that.

So, access to guns is an outlier.

Everyone knows that gun access is an outlier, but Republicans continue to focus on everything but guns. They put all their words and energy on other factors — steering clear of gun access like an infectious disease. For example, after the school shooting in Uvalde, TX, “hardening” targets (making it more difficult for potential shooters to access schools) became a focal point for Republicans.

But “hardening” targets ignores the root problem. Even if we transform our schools into virtual fortresses, an angry or desperate person with a gun will find a way. When a wanna-be mass shooter gets their hands on an AR-15, they understand what they can achieve. They’ve seen what success looks like – they just need to pick a target. And if they can’t walk into a school, they’ll walk onto a playground, or they’ll walk into a mall, movie theatre, grocery store, or their place of work – as we’ve seen repeatedly.

Knowing that we can’t create universal safe zones, anxious Americans begin to feel like fish in a barrel. A feeling that wherever we go or send our children, we’re potential victims of an angry man with an AR-15 who can murder multitudes in seconds.

An obvious solution is to address the outlier directly and limit access to weapons. Passing laws that up the age requirements for purchasing guns, requiring background checks, or banning certain types of weapons, such as the AR-15, would likely reduce the carnage.

The problem we face is that other outlier, which is the second Amendment to our constitution.

A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Two hundred and thirty-three years after passing the second Amendment, Americans are reciting it as pushback against health and safety measures for fellow citizens. That’s where we find ourselves today.

With the 2nd Amendment, millions of Americans believe a well-armed citizenry provides a valid “check” on tyranny. And if you’re waging war against your government, you better be packing serious heat. A pistol and a 12-gauge can protect you from an intruder, but they’re no match for the 87th airborne.

That message, where citizens become patriots to fight against a tyrannical government, has been marketed and sold with great success. It’s a message that taps into our deeply held beliefs around freedom, independence, and rugged individualism. And the byproduct of this successful messaging and business model is a country awash in weapons.

I’d also argue that the mindset of “the patriot” and the mass shooter have some things in common. If you push these people too far, they’ll respond in kind.

We’ve seen members of congress posing with and filming campaign commercials with the AR-15. Marjorie Taylor Greene created campaign posters of herself posing with an AR-15 and threatening other members of congress. We’ve seen angry citizens at town halls across America talking about taking up arms because they believe the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

Whether it’s an 18-year-old incel looking for revenge, a deranged congresswoman from Georgia, or millions of Americans hoodwinked by lies and conspiracy theories, each sees guns as a means to solving their problems. Unfortunately, that socio-pathogenic attitude has infected America profoundly.

Passing laws to stop mass shooters from arming themselves will inevitably affect law-abiding citizens. But if you believe the polls, most gun-owners are OK with that. Moreover, gun owners are more than willing to be inconvenienced by regulations if that means their sons and daughters are less likely to be mowed down in 3rd period English.

The people who are not willing to make concessions are politicians. A politician who budges on guns will likely lose the NRA as a friend and endorser. And because most politicians have less backbone than a jellyfish, it’s unlikely they will do what is right and in the best interest of their constituents.

And so once again, America sits at a crossroad of gun rights and our right to health and safety. Politicians are left standing with their dicks in their hands, unable to make decisions and pass laws. And as they wrestle with the politics of guns, innocent people will continue to be mowed down in classrooms, grocery stores, movie theaters, concert venues, malls, and parking lots.