This Won't Do!

The Photograph taken by Ralph Johnson, says it all!  

 

For those inquiry minds who live abroad. A President of the United States can remain in office for up to eight years. This happens when he is re-elected to another term when he has completed four years in office. All Presidents wish to rule for a total of eight years but a few don’t. This was the case with Jimmy Carter, George Bush senior, and Donald Trump to name a few. 

 

This is very humiliating for a sitting President because he becomes for a whole period of over two months a “lame duck President” which means that a successor has already been elected and it is time to start transitioning out of office. That is exactly what didn’t happen with the last election. Instead, Donald Trump has been contesting the election results alleging widespread voter Fraud. Money and time were wasted because at the end of the day, the election results still favors his opponent Joe Biden.

 

Those results were not taken well by a group of right-wing supporters of Donald Trump who took matters into their own hands and broke into the Capitol breaking windows and destroying property. And when a mob gets the adrenal going, it becomes unstoppable. The civil unrest was surreal. It does not matter if you are right-wing or left-wing. When you move that far to one side you eventually meet as one of the same. People commented on Social Media: “I hate it when conservatives act like liberals!” “This type of thing does not happen in U.S. soil.” But it does. In the city of Seattle, for 23 days in June 2020, about six blocks from its capitol a neighborhood was claimed by the left-wing demonstrators and declared it “police free” In this instance the mayor looked the other way. 

 

Mike Murray said it best: “The edges of the left and the right are now rubbing shoulders, albeit way over on the dark side. Strange bedfellows indeed! But two wrongs will never make a right, else we run the societal risk of having the sum of human knowledge equaling zero (or even negative numbers).

‘O human race, born to fly upward, wherefore at a little wind dost thou so fall? .... Consider your origin. You were not formed to live like brutes but to follow virtue and knowledge.’ Dante, The Divine Comedy.

 

We now see a common pattern of unrestrained greed, political expediency, violence, destruction, insurrection, anarchy, and terrorism. Endorsed and encouraged with complicity by elected leaders of all stripes (mayors, governors, congress and presidents) who are filled to the brim with hubris, corrupted ideologies, daily deceptions and vacuous values. Their all-consuming self-interests and massively inflated egos suffocate We The People. 

 

This won’t do! 

 

We must weary our eyes of these wars. To those, like me, who are deeply committed to the American Experiment: let us unite anew in a common cause of replacing opportunistic violence and the politics of personality with vigorous and tireless civil discourse and dialogue; that we may listen better, think better, persuade better, and then act better - to the ultimate benefit of a more equitable, secure and empowering society for all. 

 

Yes, the best is yet to come — but we’ve got to make it happen!

Epilogue:

 My country, 'tis of thee,

Sweet land of liberty,

Of thee I sing;

Land where my fathers died,

Land of the pilgrims' pride,

From ev'ry mountainside

Let freedom ring!

 Our fathers' God to Thee,

Author of liberty,

To Thee we sing.

Long may our land be bright,

With freedom's holy light,

Protect us by Thy might,

Great God our King!”

 

We can be kinder and more conscious of the way we speak internally and externally, and encourage healing and intent within our relationships, communities, and the world. This is my hope for 2021! 

 

Con amor,

Vero