Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man

All of us love our mom’s, dad’s, grandma’s, and grandpa’s in our own ways. But, how many of us truly, no matter the amount of love we have of them, want our in-laws or grandparents living with us 24/7/365? More on this in a moment.

I first want to call attention to somethings more dangerous to all of us.

One is the extremely large number of our fellow Americans who remain unaware, are apathetic, have given up hope, or any and all of the above as we move to a dictatorship over democracy. So many in our great country are doing nothing to stop an American Hitler, yes an American Hitler, which we can no longer deny, to take over all aspects of Federal law. 

As he and the Republicans, along with the billionaires, with the support of other dictators around the world, write or ignore laws and the courts, are creating a country in which only the very rich have any freedoms. All signs are these Republicans and billionaires are essentially deciding which part of our country they will control for their own financial gain while the rest of us start a chapter in our lives in which we will truly struggle to survive.

Trump, with the full support of Republicans, are lawfully dismantling the very nature of government, democracy, that gave them power. Elected Republicans are following almost exactly what Hitler did in Germany in the past, and what Viktor Orbán of Hungary has done recently. They have been doing it in plain sight, not hiding it at all, and it is a huge part of the “big beautiful bill” going through Congress right now. The House of Representatives recently passed it by one vote (215-214) with two, at least for this vote, principled Republicans voting with the Democrats to try and defeat this horrendous bill. 

This reconciliation bill, meaning it does not require the normal 60 votes in the Senate to pass, only a simple majority is needed, is now in the hands of 52 Republicans. Having the simple majority, if Senate Republicans vote along party lines, the bill will pass in the Senate. The only action left after that to destroy our way of life, is Trump himself.

As I move into a few major things to call attention to, keep in mind that dictators (aka authoritarians or the billionaire class), don’t give a hoot about anyone who is not helping to enrich them. This means if you are not of working age, and actually working, you mean nothing to them. You are a drain on society and it doesn’t really matter if you live or die as you have no worth.

The terrible horribles of this reconciliation bill are the following in order of importance:

1. It strips all courts, including the Supreme Court, of its power to rule in contempt of court. What this means is, all the rulings in the news against the Republican Trump administration’s unconstitutional actions will continue with no consequences. If a judge cannot hold anyone in contempt for not following the ruling, the judicial system has no teeth, making courts meaningless. Trump can order you picked up off the street, placed on a plane, and trafficked to any foreign nation or jail, at his personal whim. When a court tells him or one of his lackey’s they can’t do that or face potential jail time for contempt, the Trump Republican administration can just laugh in their face, ignore the ruling, and there will be nothing that can be done about it. What this really means is, none of us will be safe regardless of citizenry or Constitutional rights. Call your senator and tell them to vote no for this bill.
2. Massive cuts to Medicaid in the amount of $880 billion. This translates to move then seven million people to losing a support system that assists them in their daily survival. Medicaid is one of the major supporters of our older citizens, such as our moms, dads, grandmas, and grandpas in nursing homes. If they lose the Medicaid coverage, where will they live and how will they have support for higher medical bills? Medicaid also helps low-income children and families, pregnant women, and people with disabilities. If you have a child with special needs, the loss of Medicaid dollars means you will be solely responsible for the full cost of care for your child. Call your senator and tell them to vote no for this bill.
3. Massive cuts, around $300 billion, in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which helps low-income families, mainly children (around 13.8 million), with help buying food. A popular bit of misinformation is mainly Blacks or other minorities receive these benefits. Actually around 63% of Whites receive benefits with the remaining 37% all other races. Call your senator and tell them to vote no for this bill.
4. Closes the U.S. Department of Education. This Department helps oversee billions of dollars of federal dollars to states each year including Title I and Special Education. Historically, that is up until the Trump Republicans took over the White House, it also pursued Civil Rights action against those who did not provide the necessary care to Special Education students and English Language learners who struggle, for good reason, with learning. Without the U.S. Department of Education’s oversight, millions of children who struggle for many reasons will face the loss of services needed to help them survive and thrive in our country and economy. Call your senator and tell them to vote no for this bill.
5. Formerly creates the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). This is currently a group of individuals, mostly teens and 20-somethings, along with Elon Musk, who have been hacking into highly sensitive government data without any one to stop them. It is estimated this small group now has all the government’s private, and usually separated, information from Social Security numbers to our IRS records. This means they now have the ability to have a full profile of all our sensitive and private information to do with as they will. Call your senator and tell them to vote no for this bill. 
6. There is, within the 1,000 page bill, a hodge-podge of other things that will make our lives more miserable in the short- and the long-term. The bill gives the Trump Republican White House the authority, without any check or balance to stop his actions, to increase logging in our national forests without environmental impact reviews—think loss of trees and future mudslides; rolls-back clean energy incentives—think more extreme weather; increases the ability to mine, drill, and log in our national forests and other public lands—think no more beauty and quiet in our national parks and even loss of national parklands; personal control to Trump over economic policy—think the ups and downs of the stock market meaning losses for retirement investments, erratic rise and fall of tariffs, dictate pricing to benefit his billionaire friends, and run our great nation as his own personal company (which for the record, he has bankrupted many of his personal companies); makes current independent federal agencies fall under the direct authority of Trump Republicans—think basically, what he says goes regardless of the Constitution and our laws of the land; gives the Trump Republican White House the power to use funds appropriated to specific agencies for specific tasks as he wishes; lets the Trump Republican White House choose which funds to release, block, or delay providing power over Congressional directed funds do with as he wishes; and so many other truly hideous powers and actions. Call your senator and tell them to vote no for this bill.

As you read these, did you see the pattern? A pattern that is almost as direct as possible that only the Trump Republican White House will make decisions about how our country is run, who gets Federal help and who doesn’t, and the ability to do whatever Trump decides in all Federal matters. This is dictatorship, authoritarianism, king-like, or some might even say Godly, powers. This bill takes away the authority of the judicial and legislative rights guaranteed by the Constitution in a fully legal manner.

Just as Germany did for Hitler to come into full and complete power of that country. I would hope all of us know how well that turned out for all but the billionaire class (and even some of them didn’t survive).

Are you awake yet!?

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I’ve often said we all need to be involved in saving democracy in the ways which fit our lives and our comfort levels. These can be blogging, reposting on social media, calling your elected officials, letters to the editor, donating to organizations, and/or marching in the streets. Nothing is too little or too much. Here are some ways to get involved whether from the comfort of your own homes, or on the streets, over the next few weeks:

• Call your U.S. Senator to demand they fight the Republican administration’s defiance of the court in following laws and the Constitution. The switchboard number is 202-224-3121. They will connect you with the correct senators. If you get their voicemail, which I do often, make sure to leave your name and address for your call to be registered as received.
• Call your congressional members and let them know as one of the people they represent, it is past time for DOGE to be dismantled. Call this number and the switchboard will connect you to your representative or senator: 202-224-3121. Even if you don’t know who your members are, they will find them for you based on your address, which they will ask you to provide.
• Call the White House switchboard to express your disappointment in what is happening and that DOGE must go: 202-456-1414 (switchboard) or 202-456-1111 (comments). I recommend the switchboard myself.
• Sign up for General Strike and commit to participating.
• Download the app Five Calls to help let your elected officials know you are paying attention and don’t approve. Website: https://5calls.org/ 
• Join a local group of Indivisible.
• Participate in the action items of50501: 50 Protests, 50 States, 1 Movement.
• Continue to boycott companies who have bent the knee or no longer believe in equality. Don’t buy from national chains or companies, such as Target, Amazon, Tesla, Walmart and any others who are bending the knee and capitulating to authoritarianism and the billionaire class.
• Write letters to your local papers expressing your disappointment and tell your stories of how the Republican administration is harming your families.
• Please say thank you in some way to the universities, law firms, companies, and organizations not bending the knee and capitulating to the Republican Administration.
• Mark your calendar for the next big nationwide protest, Saturday, June 14.
• Do something, anything, peaceful to fight back!