Our Fork in the Road
Bryan Kelly
Rosamond, Ca
23 February 2022
Hello, I am Bryan Kelly, Rosamond California.
Today is the 23rd of February, 2022
This is my first post, not counting the introduction. The topic is
Our Fork In The Road
Every day we find ourselves at multiple forks in the road of our path through life. Probably hundreds every day. Some are simple forks with two or maybe a few paths. Some have more possible paths than we can immediately count. What’s for dinner? What’s on TV?
Some forks are navigated by the individual or the immediate family, while at the other end, some are, in one way or another, negotiated by the multitudes.
Some affect but a few people while some affect an entire country, and even the entire world.
The topic of the moment is about one such fork in the road. A major fork that does has consequences for this entire nation, indeed, for the entire world.
I wish that we could consider the choices of paths ahead and the options that might take us down each of the possible forks in our road. It would be nice to weigh each option, have discussions, and make suggestions as to which path to take. And to even consciously take a specific path.
Unfortunately, we have already made some of those choices and are clearly on the wrong path. The effort required to effectively back up and switch to the better path will be incredibly difficult.
Setting up the punch line, here is a term that is relatively new to me: anocracy. A Google search provided this:
The term “anocracy“ characterizes a regime type featuring inherent qualities of political instability and ineffectiveness, as well as an “incoherent mix of democratic and autocratic traits and practices.” These regime types are particularly susceptible to outbreaks of armed conflict and unexpected or adverse changes in leadership.
Another term is semi-democratic. This was found next to anocracy. It is reserved for “stable regimes that combine democratic and authoritarian elements.” But if we go down that path, I suspect we will not be stable.
Back to our topic:
That fork in the road where we have taken the wrong path, is the choice between maintaining our democracy and going down one of several paths to some type of anocracy, some type of “semi-democratic” government, or possibly an outright dictatorship.
Those are strong concepts. I now support them.
In our 2016 presidential election we elected a person known to be severely flawed. To all those that paid attention it was obvious that he was a pathological liar, a racist, completely ignorant in how governments need to behave, and fundamentally dishonest. The list of disqualifying traits is extensive, but here are two more major traits. Traits that demonstrate we are on the wrong path.
He wanted, and still wants, control of the press, to be an absolute censor. He wanted, and still does, to close down on the media that he declares to be “fake news.” Which really means anything he does not like. Just to be certain, that directly opposes the Constitution, and the first of what is known as the bill of rights, amendment 1. I quote it now.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
This candidate did, and still does, want to destroy the freedom of the press. He has said it on multiple occasions. Is this what we really want from our elected officials?
And maybe just as important, he said over and over, about his opponent: “Lock her up.” He solicited chants from his crowds of exactly those words. He wanted, and still wants, to put his opponents in jail. How dare they oppose him? Never before in our history has any politician gone down that path. But now we have. And after he repeated that phrase, on multiple occasions, we elected him.
We are on the wrong path.
He has saved his highest praise for dictators such at Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong-un. He even stated that he wanted the kind of respect that Kim Jong-un received from his staff. Knowing full well that Kim executes those who are in his disfavor, at least once with anti-aircraft guns.[1] Just because he said so. Do you want a president that desires that type of respect? That desires that kind of power?
He has even doubled down on that. News reports from Feb 13, 2022, are that he contends that the supposed behavior of those in his disfavor was “punishable by death” at a “stronger time.[2] He has gone way beyond locking her up to executing her. Is that the type of person we want in the White House?
Consider what that tells us about those that follow and praise him.
While in office, he referenced the bad behaviors of “shithole countries.” Yet the irony of his comment, and something he is not capable of understanding, is that the path he trods leads directly to the status of a “shithole country.”
These are not traits of successful democracies. In these United States, these behaviors had never before been exhibited by a candidate for elected office. The magnitude of these behaviors shakes our republic down to the core. And despite this abhorrible behavior, we elected him.
And then,…, after watching four years of his unprecedented bad behavior more than 74 million[3] of us voted for him again.
Please let that concept fester in your mind for a bit.
Conclusion
At this point I wish to emphasize that that there is far more to present in making the case for the wrong path. This includes the ongoing claims of a stolen elections, for which not one shred of evidence has been presented. It also includes the large number of elected officials that pledge allegiance to him. And even worse, the large number of citizens that continue to proclaim loyalty to him. This is much worse because it is the citizens that are the backbone of any democracy.
The case that we are on the wrong path is not only easily made, but strongly made, that we are on the wrong path, away from democracy. Exactly which path we are on is not certain.
The reason for ending here is that I, personally, have other fish to fry. Not larger fish by any measure, just other fish.
The next installment will be on the era of history now referred to as “The Enlightenment,” the years between, approximately, 1600 and 1800. Which includes the writing of our constitution. That age exemplified some of the fundamental tenants of conservatives. Bad behavior was exhibited then. A good reference book is titled “Enlightenment Now, The Case For Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress.” The author is Steven Pinker and it was published in 2018.
Now a few questions are posed to you, dear viewers or readers.
Have you any new items that might enhance these concepts, this essay / podcast? More evidence that we are on the wrong path? Suggestions to convince more people of this wrong path? Maybe suggestions to get back on the right path?
Do you have disagreements with the positions taken here?
We would like to hear from you. In particular, we solicit participation from citizens of the California 23rd Congressional district. We need to elect a new representative. Please, help us to achieve that goal.
The website is: www.ca23rd.org
There is a bulletin board here: https://ca23rd.org/community/
We have suggested a few constitutional amendments here: https://ca23rd.org/amendments/index.htm
For email: president@ca23rd.org
Thank you for your time.
[1] https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-kim-values-20180615-story.html
“Hey, he’s the head of a country. And I mean he is the strong head. Don’t let anyone think anything different,” Trump told Fox News on Friday. “He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.”
North Korea executed five senior security officials for making false reports that “enraged” leader Kim Jong Un, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported Monday.
The five were killed with anti-aircraft guns, the National Intelligence Service said in a private briefing to lawmakers, according to the news agency.