No Time For Politics?
Later May Be Too Late!
6 Mar 2022
Bryan Kelly
Rosamond, Ca
Of the few people with whom I can communicate, none of them have time for politics. While I have Asperger’s and a vanishingly small list of acquaintances, this does seem to be a general trend. However, recent events have added some impetus to the need.
I don’t know where to draw the line at supporting my position or “setting the stage.” If you are ready for the main point, skip down to the heading: The Point.
As this is being written, Vladimir Putin, in the name of the country Russia, is in the process of invading and outright destroying the formerly independent country of Ukraine.
Worthy of note: This is not the Russian people, but the dictator and his cadre of oligarchs. For much more on that concept please visit here:
https://ca23rd.org/blogs/who_killed_all_those_people.htm
A very important part of this is the news that Putin has created laws making it a crime to protest his war, to report “false” information about the war, even for calling their actions a “war.” The latest news noted that such behavior would be rewarded with up to 15 years imprisonment. In Russia, that can basically be a death sentence.
Let’s bring this concept back home, to these United States, and let’s consider the former president.
Side note: I don’t hate the man, but I have never, ever, associated his name with the title he held or the place where he resided for four years. As bad as he it, he is the symptom. But that is the core of a series of essays that are in progress.
I must inject a general concept. I am not, and have not ever been, a big fan of Hillary Clinton. But my opinion of her, and hopefully yours, are fundamentally irrelevant to the situation described here.
Back to the topic.
During the 2016 campaign he repeated solicited chants of “Lock Her Up” from the crowds attending his rallies. “Lock Her Up!” This was directed at his opponents, Hillary Clinton. This was an incredibly ominous change in behavior. It was the first time in the history of these United States that any candidate for elected office behaved in this manner.
More ominously, the crowds responded to his solicitations of those chants. On multiple occasions. That is even more important than him making that statement. And the media said very little.
I hope this point has been emphasized sufficiently.
But to paraphrase a common thought: It got worse.
This is the article quoted:
From the article:
“The former president said the allegations were crimes that "would have been punishable by death."
These words were directed at Hillary Clinton and some that supported her. The former president has doubled down, or maybe quadrupled down. He wants to murder them. (The word execution is too polite.)
Compare this with what Putin is doing in Russia. Right now.
Back to us. Before our 2016 election it was quite clear that this person was the most unfit person to ever run for that office. Yet we elected him. And after watching this him in office for four years, 74 million of us voted for him again. Please read that number again. 74 million of us voted for him again. That fact may represent the greatest challenge to democracy that we, these United States, has ever faced.
This can go on at length. The stage is set for the purpose of this essay.
When I ask people to write letters and make phone calls, and maybe take action to get out the vote, the response is that they have no time to engage in politics. If they prefer to be polite, the response may take the form: I will think about it.
Presume you have no time to bother with politics. Then presume that the year is now 2030, or maybe 2025 and the former president has been inaugurated. Or worse, someone more intelligent but with the same goals.
Remember, he wants to lock up his opponents, even use the death penalty. Yes, he said so. Remember he wants to eliminate “fake news.” Yes, that means eviscerating the first amendment. He wants control over the press. He honors Kim Jon-un, Xi Jinping, and Vladimir Putin, considering them strong leaders and wants to be like them. He said so.
And now, he is president. He has a Republican congress. Yes, the ones that back in 2021 and 2022 started passing laws to tighten up voter registration and even the ability to throw out elections results they, Republicans, don’t like.
And this might even be as soon as the 2022 midterms.
So, in this future time, as democracy goes down the tube, as we become an autocracy, or even a dictatorship, might you reflect back upon the early months of 2022? Might you wonder that if you had done something then, just a few years ago, that history could have been different? Might you regret your decision that you did not have time to do anything back then?
Please consider that situation of 2030, or maybe even the close date of after the 2022 elections. Pause for a moment or two and think about that possibility.
Kazzzziiing. (Or some weird sound of being zapped back to the present.)
We are in the early months of 2022. You do have time to do something. Right now. I don’t know what you might prefer to do, pick something.
But, please, DO SOMETHING.