10.4.2023 – they foolishly sought

they foolishly sought
power riding the tiger
ended up inside

“… remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.”

From the inaugural address of John F. Kennedy, on January 20, 1961.

It is worth pointing out that the paragraph with this quote in it starts out, “To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free …”

Today, I don’t think of new states but old states.

Our state.

This Country.

This Country that is in such a state that I don’t think Mr. Kennedy could ever had dreamed in his worst dreams.

This Nation has a Constitution of checks and balances.

The checks and balances are the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government.

Like a three legged stool, each branch both supports and checks the others.

Of late …

The Supreme Court of the United States of America, a branch of Government I always took for granted as being above Government and the one branch that could be counted on to do the right thing has been marginalized by politics, greed and social media.

The Supreme Court seems to be broken and it doesn’t work like as it was planned to work.

In the Legislative Branch, the United States Senate is deadlocked so that any one Senator can prevent, delay or change the daily business of the Senate.

While that isn’t great, it is better than what the United States House of Representatives did when they themselves, the members of the House, took the House out the Legislative branch part of the equation and pretty much ceased to exist as a functioning part of Government.

The Legislative Branch seems to be broken and it doesn’t work like as it was planned to work.

Within the Executive Branch of the Government, multiple Government Agencies are held in question and from Health to Education their existence is in doubt.

The Department of Justice, say that out loud, the DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE is seemingly dismissed by half the Country.

The US Military, part of the Executive Branch is being denied promotions and the Soldiers and Sailors themselves, the Men and Women who DEFEND this Country have to worry about whether or not they might get paid.

The Executive Branch seems to be broken and it doesn’t work like as it was planned to work.

On top of all this, the whole thing is based on free and fair elections.

Elections were supposed to give us all a voice in Government by selecting between the best and brightest candidates the two party system could offer.

Everyone seems to be in agreement who the next two candidates for President will be.

Everyone seems to be in agreement the no one really wants either candidate.

These are the best the Two Party system can come up with?

The Two Party system seems to be broken and it doesn’t work like as it was planned to work.

Regardless of your party affiliation, is there anyone left in the United States today that feels they can trust the next election?

Elections seem to be broken and it doesn’t work like as it was planned to work.

The Checks and Balances no longer work and I can see easily how a faction within this country will endorse the idea that we, as a nation, need to step away from the Constitution and bring in somebody as a caretaker, a benign, good natured, the best interests of the people at heart, type of … Dictator to take over until we can get things sorted out.

What scares the stuff out of me as I am starting to think that this was the plan all along.

I am hoping I am wrong.

I am hoping that this Country, this Nation can rise above this.

I am hoping that those who feel the need for a caretaker, a benign, good natured, the best interests of the people at heart, type of … Dictator keep in mind what Mr. Kennedy said.

“… remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.”

*Handwritten Draft by JFK of his inaugural address*

9.30.2023 – purpose remaining

purpose remaining
in the dark, clear from the mind
ever in the light

Of late watching the Congress of the United States, a Congress of Representatives that has been laid down in the Constitution of United States. a document that starts with the preamble:

We the People of the United States,

in Order to form a more perfect Union,

establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility,

provide for the common defense,

promote the general Welfare,

and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity …

I am reminded of an odd bit of writing by TS Eliot in a play titled, The Cocktail Party.

One of the guests in the role of the Unidentified Guest, says,

There is certainly no purpose in remaining in the dark
Except long enough to clear from the mind
The illusion of having ever been in the light.

I just get the feeling that those folks in Congress enjoy being in the dark world they have imagined and created because it clears from their mind the illusion of ever being a part of the a Government that created a Constitution that called upon them, as Representatives of the people to work to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.

They stay in their own dark, small world to clear their minds of any such illusion that they themselves were selected and elected to do any such thing.

Not much but I find it difficult to account for what is going with Congress in any other way.

8.25.2023 – 9653 or

9653 or
1135809
all there in the words

In 1920, Eugene V. Debs, in jail over charges of sedition for statements he made about the United States and WWI, ran for President as the Socialist Party Candidate.

In, 2023, Donald J. Trump was arrested on charges based on statements he made about the 2020 Presidential election.

Debs was imprisoned in the Federal Petitionary in Atlanta.

Trump was booked in Atlanta.

Debs’ inmate number was 9653.

Trump’s booking number was P0-1135809.

There are some similarities there

But similarities cease when we leave their numbers for their words.

During his trial, Debs said:

Your honor, I ask no mercy, I plead for no immunity. I realize that finally the right must prevail. I never more fully comprehended than now the great struggle between the powers of greed on the one hand and upon the other the rising hosts of freedom. I can see the dawn of a better day of humanity. The people are awakening. In due course of time they will come into their own.

Prior to his attest, Trump said:

Can you believe it? I’ll be going to Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday to be ARRESTED by a Radical Left District Attorney, Fani Willis. She campaigned, and is continuing to campaign, and raise money on, this WITCH HUNT. This is in strict coordination with crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ.

At his sentencing, Debs said:

Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.

After being released on bail, Trump said:

I really believe this is a very sad day for America, and it should never happen. If you challenge an election, you should be able to challenge an election. I thought the election was rigged election, a stolen election, and I should have every right to do that. As you know, you have many people that you’ve been watching over the years do the same thing, whether it’s Hillary Clinton or Stacey Abrams or many others. When you have that great freedom through challenge, you have to be able to otherwise you can have very dishonest elections. What has taken place here is a travesty of justice. We did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong.

It’s all there.

All there beyond numbers.

8.22.2023 -palingenetic

palingenetic
ultranationalistic age
meet the enemy …

In the book, The Winds of War, Rhoda Henry is in Berlin and sees all the Third Reich icons and says to her husband Pug,

“What on earth does NSDAP stand for?” Rhoda said, peering out of the window of the embassy car at the multitudinous gilded poles.
“National Socialist German Workers Party,” said Pug.
“Is that the name of the Nazis? How funny. Sounds sort of Commie when you spell it all out.”

I like words and I write this blog to recognize unique word usage but when I ran across palingenetic ultranationalistic this morning in the article, US businessman is wannabe ‘warlord’ of secretive far-right men’s network by Jason Wilson (The Guardian, 8/22/2023) I had to stop and say, “What on Earth is palingenetic ultranationalistic.”

According to Wikipedia, palingenetic ultranationalistic is the effort .. to attract large masses of voters who have lost their faith in traditional politics and religion by promising them a brighter future.

The palingenetic myth can also possibly stand for a return to a golden age in the country’s history so that the past can be a guidebook to a better tomorrow.

… there will be one great leader who battles the representatives of the old system with grassroots support. It appears as one mass of people with only one goal: to create their new future. They have infinite faith in their mythical hero as he stands for everything they believe in. With him, the country will rise like a phoenix from the ashes of corruption and decadence.

Sounds sort of Commie when you spell it out.

North Korean type Commie.

Joseph Stalin kind of Commie.

But it seems to the be the basis for a secretive, men-only, invitation-only far-right network here in America.

Still sounds sort of Commie when you spell it out.

Not that spelling it out helped me too much.

Wikipedia tries to help explain by using palingenetic ultranationalistic in a sentence.

National-anarchism has been argued to be a syncretic political ideology that was developed in the 1990s by former Third Positionists to promote a “stateless palingenetic ultranationalism”.

Have to say I haven’t seen so many poly syllabic words is so short a sentence in a long time.

I did notice that according to the article this far right network is a registered non profit under section 501(c)(10) of the Internal Revenue code.

Jim Harrison once wrote something along the lines of if you really want to take a stand and protest against the government, stop paying your taxes.

So I feel a little less threatened that these folks are concerned about their non-profit status.

Or should I feel more threatened?

Kind of like Tony Soprano hustling around to get his W2 ready.

Never the less, the article was chilling and the comments about warlords and maximum leaders brought to mind Mr. Big Brother from George Orwell’s 1984.

” … on the face of the coin [was] the head of Big Brother. Even from the coin the eyes pursued you. On coins, on stamps, on the covers of books, on banners, on posters, and on the wrapping of a cigarette packet — everywhere. Always the eyes watching you and the voice enveloping you. Asleep or awake, working or eating, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or in bed — no escape. Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters inside your skull.”

Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters inside your skull.

Who are these people?

Where did this people come from?

As Pogo said back over 50 years ago, we have met the enemy and they are us.

8.19.2023 – but cannot in good

but cannot in good
conscience support candidate
unworthy unfit

I shall continue to affiliate with the Republican Party, but I cannot in good conscience support for President a candidate who was not the real choice of his party and whom I regard as unworthy and unfit to be the Chief Executive of this nation by the tests of ability, public policies, official record and independence of character.”

The above quote from Illinois Politician Harold Ickes appeared in the New York Times today, but 103 years ago in the article, H.L. ICKES DESERTS HARDING AS ‘UNFIT’. (NYT, August 19, 1920)

103 years ago, political parties were pushing candidates unworthy and unfit to be the Chief Executive.

Mr. Ickes was talking about Warren Gamaliel Harding, who had just been nominated by the Republican party for their candidate for President of the United States at the 1920 convention.

Mr. Ickes would later go one to serve as United States Secretary of the Interior for nearly 13 years from 1933 to 1946 under Franklin Roosevelt and Harry S Truman.

The 1920 Republican convention was the one that made the term ‘smoke filled rooms’ famous.

The convention took 10 ballots to nominate Mr. Harding, who according to legend, was called into a meeting with the Party Bosses, in a smoke filled room and the Party Bosses asked Mr. Harding if there was anything … ANYTHING … in his background that might cause problems if he was nominated.

Mr. Harding, according to that legend, asked for 1 hour to think about it and came back and said nope, nothing in my background.

About Mr. Harding’s acceptance speech, Mr. Ickes said, “He proclaims himself a reactionary. He would turn back the hands of the clock and satisfy the aspirations of men’s souls by talking of a full stomach. No more uninspired and uninspiring utterance from a public man is on record in American political history.”

You remember Mr. Harding?

Even he himself felt the he was in over his head as President.

President Harding once said, “Somewhere there must be a book that tells all about it, where I could go to straighten it out in my mind.

But I don’t know where the book is, and maybe I couldn’t read it if I found it!

There must be a man in the country somewhere who could weigh both sides and know the truth. Probably he is in some college or other.

But I don’t know where to find him. I don’t know who he is, and I don’t know how to get him.

My God, this is a hell of a place for a man like me to be!”

According to Wikipedia, “In 1923, Harding died of a heart attack in San Francisco while on a western tour, and was succeeded by Vice President Calvin Coolidge.

Harding died as one of the most popular presidents in history, but the subsequent exposure of scandals eroded his popular regard, as did revelations of extramarital affairs. Harding’s interior secretary, Albert B. Fall, and his attorney general, Harry Daugherty, were each later tried for corruption in office. Fall was convicted though Daugherty was not. These trials greatly damaged Harding’s posthumous reputation. In historical rankings of the U.S. presidents during the decades after his term in office, Harding was often rated among the worst.

We, as a country, are once again in a cycle where the election mantra might be I cannot in good conscience support for President a candidate whom I regard as unworthy and unfit to be the Chief Executive.

Seems like folks who should be saying this, are not saying this.

For us and this country, my God, this is a hell of a place for us to be!