NOTE: for 518 days, I have tried to keep politics out of this blog. That ends NOW.
I wanted to write about writing, but sometimes the world mandates what you must write.
________________________________________________________________________________I wanted to write about writing, but sometimes the world mandates what you must write.
“It was all probably part of his plan,” she said.
We were on a social media thread, this unknown-to-me female and I,
arguing over the separation of children from their parents at the border.
arguing over the separation of children from their parents at the border.
“He needed to get things moving to solve the problem, to enforce the rule of law. It was all probably
part of his plan.”
part of his plan.”
I could barely breathe as I typed my response. “And you’re ok with him traumatizing children
as part of his plan? As a political maneuver?”
as part of his plan? As a political maneuver?”
After which she called me negative, angry, and hateful. “You didn’t answer my question,” I typed, “You’re ok with him traumatizing children as part of his plan? If so, I’m honestly sorry for you.”
She never answered that question, but others have. On a separate thread, someone posted the
much-circulated picture of an approximately four year old child crying in a cage, with the
question: “Are you Trump supporters ok with this?” Many answered proudly that yes, they were,
and other comments far too vile to repeat here.
much-circulated picture of an approximately four year old child crying in a cage, with the
question: “Are you Trump supporters ok with this?” Many answered proudly that yes, they were,
and other comments far too vile to repeat here.
They were proud.
In my youth, not long after McCarthyism had died, not long after blacklists and internment camps
and the HUAAC, my mother used to say, as dramatically as she could manage, “God save me from
good Christian people.” I didn’t then really know what she meant, but I get it now. For years I have
railed (with friends and in public) against the stereotyping of all things Republican/conservative/right
as “bad” and all things left/liberal/Democrat as “good.” It is still worth noting that such sweeping
generalizations are never true and always divisive, but I have no time for that argument any more.
I am neither Democrat nor Republican - I have been an Independant my whole voting life, and I
approached the 2016 election as one, and have approached every issue since the same way. The
Republican party once deserved the moniker “Grand Old Party,” and the Democrats the label “the
party of the people.” Neither is true any longer, and hasn’t been for some time. I have been guilty
more than once of enjoying an “outside” position more than I should, proud of weighing each issue
and each candidate on merits, and not party affiliations or recommendations by unions or interest
groups. I have enjoyed the pride of feeling right in a logical approach based on evidence, on careful
research, on factual basis. But let me say this right now: I am neither a moderate nor a centrist. I
take sides.
and the HUAAC, my mother used to say, as dramatically as she could manage, “God save me from
good Christian people.” I didn’t then really know what she meant, but I get it now. For years I have
railed (with friends and in public) against the stereotyping of all things Republican/conservative/right
as “bad” and all things left/liberal/Democrat as “good.” It is still worth noting that such sweeping
generalizations are never true and always divisive, but I have no time for that argument any more.
I am neither Democrat nor Republican - I have been an Independant my whole voting life, and I
approached the 2016 election as one, and have approached every issue since the same way. The
Republican party once deserved the moniker “Grand Old Party,” and the Democrats the label “the
party of the people.” Neither is true any longer, and hasn’t been for some time. I have been guilty
more than once of enjoying an “outside” position more than I should, proud of weighing each issue
and each candidate on merits, and not party affiliations or recommendations by unions or interest
groups. I have enjoyed the pride of feeling right in a logical approach based on evidence, on careful
research, on factual basis. But let me say this right now: I am neither a moderate nor a centrist. I
take sides.
And I can’t think of a single person in the current administration who I would count on my side,
or want to be on theirs. I am wholly, completely, and to my bones, opposed to them. They are, in
unmitigated terms, my enemy.
or want to be on theirs. I am wholly, completely, and to my bones, opposed to them. They are, in
unmitigated terms, my enemy.
I wanted to keep this blog about writing, but sometimes the world mandates what you must write.
