Tales from real life |
Well, if they're not true, they oughta be! |
Rules are for suckers, laws are for losers! - The Gospel of Trump Do you remember the term “Moral Majority”? How about “Bible Belt”? Younger folks probably don’t know these terms from the Reagan era. I admit, I was taken in by those ‘good’ folks who made a show of going to church and promoting family values. Meanwhile, their candidate smirked about how clever it was to sell illegal drugs to finance illegal espionage activity. His administration set a record for indictments that is only now in danger of being broken. I didn’t always agree with their conservative views, but I really thought the moral majority were good people at heart. That quaint term is no longer in style. It's been replaced by a ‘me first’ philosophy in which winning is the only measure of success, the ends justify the means, and corruption is king. Today we suffer the tyranny of a self-righteous and entitled minority who dictate rules of behavior for others without even a pretense of personal decency or respect for the law on their part. Con artists, tax cheats, liars, and racists are tolerated as long as they win. Or even if they merely tell outrageous lies about winning. This base attitude extends even to the extent of supporting violent insurrection to overturn the presidential election and seize power. And, if anyone doubts their intentions, the amoral minority has published a plan, Project 2025, that outlines a return to a white patriarchy. It would be more accurate to call it Project 1825. Women, immigrants, and the poor would be reduced to second-class citizens with few rights and little opportunity. It’s often glossed over in American History classes, but only free, male landholders were allowed to vote under the original U.S. constitution. That is what Project 2025 envisions for our future. This amoral minority is led by a base man who argued before the Supreme Court that he is above the law, even to the extent of assassinating his political enemies. Six conservative justices, all members of what used to be called the moral majority, found in his favor. These same six justices handed down a separate ruling that public officials may legally accept ‘gifts’ from political supporters. To connect the dots, the second ruling made them immune from prosecution for accepting a bribe in return for the first ruling. There is credible evidence that the amoral minority will disrupt the 2024 election and put the choice in the hands of the House of Representatives. A conservative majority could then disregard the will of the voters and put their candidate into office, even if he loses by a landslide. The corrupt majority of the Supreme Court is expected to uphold this quasi-legal insurrection and confirm the destruction of western democracy. I don’t really understand why good people do bad things. People I once respected now seem stranger and more foreign to me than Haitian immigrants. But there is always hope. The media spotlights the lies about eating pets because a train wreck draws viewers. But in the background is a story of real Christian charity. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that in Springfield, Ohio, there are good people who’ve supported and defended a group of refugees seeking their God-given right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. My hope is that the amoral minority will fade away much like the Nazi’s after WWII. In twenty years, few of them will admit that they were once ‘good Germans’ who stood by and did nothing as their neighbors were murdered. They'll pretend, even to themselves, that they never supported insurrection and never voted for a dictator. When questioned by their children, they’ll repeat the line they’ve learned from their leader: “I never knew the man.” |