Sink or swim

Mike Pence won’t endorse Trump for president— it’s like Darth Vader standing up to the Emperor! Is it because Trump tried to have him hanged on the steps of the Capitol? Fair enough. I’ve held a grudge over much less… So, I guess the question is, will the GOP split in half like the Titanic or simply sink to the bottom in one piece? Either way, the water’s coming in and the ship is going down.

Today’s Republican party reminds me of a sick, dying animal that snaps at anything and everything to get near it. Banning books, reviving the Comstock act of 1873, demonizing Taylor Swift: these are the desperate acts of the darkside, but the force for good is strong with younger generations— second only to Obi-Wan Kenobi because he has the patience of water moving through rock.

“Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can’t go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does.” ― Margaret Atwood

I like that. Be like water. Don’t get discouraged. Be patient and kind and whenever a narcissistic orange buoy gets in the way, just maneuver around it until we get our way, the way of independent freedom and choice. (Right here in Garfield County, we need to flood the commissioner meetings regarding their newly self-appointed role of selecting library trustees who just might ban books [which only highlights their obsoletion as most young, impressionable minds are online these days.] https://www.protectgarcolibraries.org/)

What kind of dinosaurs still think a demure white woman sitting in her kitchen is the way to reach Americans? The fringe Republicans are laundering the news faster than the money these days. Trump selling bibles is obviously a way for the church to contribute to his political campaign, which is illegal in this country because the old white guys who founded the United States were adamant about separation of church and state. Probably because they were fresh off the boat from a kingdom, but apparently the GOP was held back a grade or two and needs to relearn the lesson. Illustrated by the fact that they just made it more difficult for breeders to breed by restricting women’s healthcare in Alabama.

Makes me wonder if so many of us are conditioned and desensitized that, as a nation, we’ll just stand by like mouth-breathers and watch a dictator in the making. It’s not like it hasn’t happened before— again and again. The rinse cycle of fascism may keep the history book publishers in business, but I have a better idea. Let’s put A.I. in charge of Washington DC. Seriously, what do these people do that an algorithm couldn’t handle, and for a lot less of our taxpayer money. I know what you’re thinking, “what about the inherent bias that we see with A.I.?” Well, it couldn’t be any worse than what we’ve got now.

All the futuristic stories have robots taking over at the manual labor level, but I would rather start at the top— you know, where the big bucks are. Imagine a revolution where the machines take over Congress and we all get to vote through an app on our phones. Then at least we would actually know how the majority feels about the issue, instead of always getting stuck listening to the squeaky wheels. The incessant whining and whinging of these neo-nationalist talking heads is so fucking loud I can’t hear myself think, much less hear the cries of Native women who vanish in atrocious numbers every year. What kind of civilized society ignores the incessant rape and murder of their most vulnerable? A vulgar capitalistic one with an unhealthy appetite for watching others suffer, I’d say. Now is the time to redesign our representatives to protect and serve us, the people. Protect us from the corporate-owned clowns who are constantly trying to undermine our still-a-work-in-progress democracy.

Keep swimming, Jedi Knights.