Addendum

The last post reminded me of something I've heard about before, but tends to slip my mind. 

Mainly that international organized crime is a growing threat, though it's hard to get specific details. Russia is sometimes called a mafia state, for example, and that is saying something specific about how Putin governs. 

It reminds me of something I thought, back when I was on an organized crime kick and reading up on it. 

See, the members tended to have a worldview where they looked down on the typical law abiding citizen. They will spend a lot of time and energy coming up with crooked ways to make money. 

But aside from their possible influence in adding expiration dates to milk, they're pretty much parasites. 

Think about it. 

If all the people they prey upon disappeared, who would be growing food or building cars?

All the things they enjoy depend on the people they look down upon. 

Take it the other way, and think about what would happen if all the people who think like them disappeared. 

There might be some unpredictable second or third order effects (i.e. resisting a despotic government generally means using black market ties, which means crime. I got on that organized crime kick because it seemed to fit with counterterrorism after all) but for the most part humanity would be fine. 

Perhaps even more than fine, especially if they're going around collecting kompromat so they can manipulate powerful people. 

Death Threats

On the one hand, I understand how scary this is to individuals. 

On the other hand, the consequences of intimidation to this degree are pretty horrible, and I don't know that there's any way it'll get better besides refusing to let them intimidate you. 

I guess I'll just say they all have to make the choice they can live with, but I think I'd rather they just outright resigned. If that has happened enough masse, maybe we wouldn't be stuck in our current situation.

The Madness Begins

He isn't even in office yet, but the chaos of his first term is already appearing. 

He or one of his staff proposes some crazy thing (often illegal if done as originally reported), there's pushback, then they either flip flop entirely or say it's actually something else that's borderline legal, and it just never really ends. 

I will probably wait until there's more actual action and details before saying much about the possible court martial of military generals supposedly because of Afghanistan. I initially thought the issues with that were pretty obvious, but in retrospect the average American probably doesn't actually know. 

Let's see what actually winds up happening first, though. 

I did find myself thinking a bit more about that 'Kingdom of Heaven' concept, though more in the context of an old favorite - the story Hope for the Flowers. 

If I had to explain why I take issue with the 'chriatians' supporting Trump, it's that they are engaging in the fight to get to the top of the caterpillar pillar - whereas I think God actually wants us to learn how to become butterflies. 

I wonder, sometimes. What a society that enables that would be like. 

In the story, they mention that spinning the cocoon is instinctual. There's not a clear guide telling you what to do, or how it would help. 

I think I've felt that before. That instinctive sense that this is something that will help me become who I want to be. 

Alas, they rarely have worked out. I get why, in a sense. It's hard to tell a large bureaucratic organization that they should let you do something unusual or different. Especially if you can't give a clear argument for how it will benefit them. 

At the same time, it's so frustrating. 

And I know that I'm not the only one who has experienced that. 

I wonder, if everyone is given the resources to follow those instincts - what would happen? 

Would people only go for the 'cool' things, and we'd have a scarcity of people doing the boring and tedious but necessary tasks? Or will that scarcity lead to better pay, so more people choose them? Or will it spur more automation? Or maybe people can take short stints doing them... 

How much of the competition for those 'cool' jobs is associated with the desire for financial stability or public recognition anyway? I've never liked the suggestion that people in power deliberately want the average American to feel financially insecure. I don't believe that sort of motivation makes for good employees, but that's the sort of thing I'm sure the billionaires wouldn't listen to me on. 

A society that makes it easier for people to follow their instincts, to pursue their goals in life and develop their interests and skills. 

It's a shame we seem to have gotten farther and farther away from that over the years. 

Addendum

 Yesterday I talked a little about why I feel so upset about Trump's electoral win. 

There's a lot more I could say, especially on the role of civic law vs heavenly law, but I actually want to tie what I said back to an earlier post. The one about the endgame in chess.

See - Trump and his supporters gained power through cynical lying and manipulation. And while that obviously has given them control over all three branches of government, I would still argue that it is like  building a house on sand. 

First - there are numerous Americans who voted for someone they thought would 'Make America Great Again'.

That means the Trump administration has to deliver success. Real improvement in the quality of the average American's life. 

Scapegoats and fingerpointing might work for a bit, but it will only last so long. There are some very real and sincere doubts about how this whole deportation thing is going to work. Are they rounding up all the agricultural workers who harvest our food? In which case... won't food prices rise? Or will Trump make some sort of deal to overlook agricultural workers, in which case he'll have to hide his inability to deliver on his promises.

Like - there are reasons most politicians didn't say the things Trump said. He's managed to get people to overlook his inability to actually accomplish much of anything by shifting the blame and various other techniques. I have no idea how long that can last, though. He did deliver on the Supreme Court... and now the Supreme Court is seriously discredited and legal precedents are all in question, but I'm sure his people think they can deal with all of that given enough time.

Which leads to the second problem - you will reach for the same tools that helped you succeed in the first place.

Opposition and disagreement will be handled with the same cynical lying and manipulation. After all, it 'worked'. Right?

Label everyone who opposes you 'antifa' or 'liberal', say they're the reason why you aren't able to deliver that fantastical utopia you promised, divide and conquer...

Basically, you wind up going down the exact same path every other autocratic dictator does. I'm sure they all think they could have done great things, 'if only'. If only they weren't betrayed by people who disagreed with them. If only they had more power. If only they could round up everyone who got in their way and punish them.

It's that exact same tendency, though, that is the reason why they keep running into obstacle after obstacle. They create enemies where they don't have to, they constantly have to keep up the lying and manipulation, and as soon as they make a mistake or let the mask slip everything they built will wash away like sand.

That's the endgame.

It may get delayed, one such leader might maintain control until the day they die, and only one of their successors faces the consequences, but it's just a temporary reprieve.

You can not build anything worthwhile and lasting through lies and deceit.

There is no 'but they started it!'

And if your argument is 'but then we'll lose'... then maybe you should lose. Better to lose than to win in such a way that you betray everything you ever stood for.

Further Musings Roughly Related to Election 2024

 I am still coming to terms with the results of the election, and what it means.

The core of the issue, I think, is what this says about my fellow Americans - and not in an abstract sense. It's friends, acquaintances, and even family.

I don't generally say this out loud, as there's no point to it - but every time someone expresses support for Trump my opinion of them plummets.

I normally refrain from inflammatory remarks, because the people who don't already share my opinion of Trump are just going to roll their eyes and not listen... and the ones who do, already know. 

I also haven't thrown out terms like 'traitor', because it has a legal definition and needs proven in a court of law.

But there's another definition that I think fits - 

One who betrays another's trust or is false to an obligation or duty.

The false electors, the claims that Pence could change the results of the election - I keep bringing up Jan 6 because even though there are a lot of other things we could say about Trump's first term, this one is pretty cut and dry. 

He betrayed his oath of office in order to try to change the results of the election.

So when I see someone displaying a Trump sign, or hear someone say they supported him, what I really hear is:

Traitors are fine

(So long as I like their politics)

Recriminations are still flying about, and people have all posed their own explanations for that, but none of them feel very satisfying.

I think partly because the relationships between leader and led are not that clear. Are my fellow Americans gullible dupes, led astray by cynical liars? Did they fail to do their due diligence, and actually research the candidates? Are they really okay with everything Trump stands for, and this just reveals who they really are? Was it outside interference - Russia, Fox News, or some other candidate to blame? Was it an inability to evaluate sources? A lack of critical thinking?

Do they just not understand how serious Jan 6 was? And think this is just like 'normal' politics?

Obviously, the answers vary - even for each Trump supporter.

Where this leads me, at the moment, is to something that seems unrelated and pretty far out there. At first, at least.

Let's start with 'Americans were led astray by cynical liars.'

They're like shady car mechanics who take advantage of people's ignorance. I get that many Americans don't have the time or interest to do thorough research into the issues. That with full time jobs, families to raise, dinner to put on the table - you're lucky if they can spare any attention for the news of the day. And a long post about why mail in voting is more secure than an electronic booth (it's related to this), or why fake electors are so concerning, or what the Posse Comitatus Act is and why the president can't just order federal troops to do certain things.

These things are long, dry, and not something you can easily fit into a single meme. Most political experts know at least some of it, or have access to people who do, which means that when they exploit that ignorance they are generally doing so in bad faith.

They know better. And they don't care.

How to handle that is something we have been struggling with for a while now, and Trump's win has truly set us back.

Not in the sense of 'Democrats lost out'. This isn't about partisan differences. It's about America as a whole, and his win has set us back in numerous ways.

Not least because there will be even more power hungry and immoral copycats who see his success and think that's a strategy worth emulating.

A generation of ambitious individuals who think that cynical lying, false promises, and blatant emotional manipulation of people's worst traits are the key to getting what they want.

Which is why I want to focus more on that aspect. On those potential copycats who see what Trump has done and are thinking about doing the same.

Or rather, I want to focus more on the enablers and strategists who come up with these plans.

Because if their goal is simply getting into a position of power, then (at least right now) it looks like they succeeded.

But the how impacts how successful they will be, and starting off with a start like that sabotages all your future efforts.

That's the part I wanted to talk about, though even though I can see what I am trying to say, putting it in words is a challenge. I keep falling back on some of that Catholic upbringing, and start talking in religious terms.

So let's go with that.

Let's talk about the Kingdom of Heaven. Let's talk about "a process, a course of events, whereby God begins to govern or to act as king or Lord, an action, therefore, by which God manifests his being-God in the world of men."

It's spoken of like a utopia, a perfect place that is unlike this cruel, cold, and careless world. Many people of faith long for it, and justify all sorts of things in order to try to make it manifest faster.

And I think Trump's election puts any such thing even further out of reach.

That's quite a contrast to his christian supporters, many of whom think his electoral victory is somehow a 'victory for God' instead of a huge setback.

So I figured I'd explain my thoughts a bit.

God, as far as I can tell, does not want mindless minions.

If I look at the history of religion, what I think he wants is something more like 'mindful people knowingly and willingly choosing good.'

If we look at how a child grows into an adult - when they are young, the parent establishes the rules and enforces them. The child often doesn't know or understand why they matter, and do as their told (or face punishment).

But as they grow and mature, the child turns into a teenager and starts testing their boundaries. Starts figuring out which rules actually are good and which ones aren't relevant. They sometimes make bad decisions, but in the process they gain experience and start internalizing their own rules.

Then, when they make decisions, they are doing it because of their own internalized rule... and not 'because Mom/Dad said so'. Nor is it 'because I will go to jail if I do it.'

Getting to that point means tolerating exploration, experimentation, and letting people figure things out for themselves... but they pay off is that you don't need to have some external force constantly enforcing behavior.

People choose to do so willingly. Because they've decided it's a good idea.

The thing I dislike about these so-called 'christian nationalists' is that, just like al Qaeda and other fundamentalists, they are trying to take away that choice.

Instead of letting people learn for themselves and internalize their own moral code, they keep trying to treat people like toddlers who don't know what's good for themselves. They think they have to enforce 'God's will' - which really seems like their own interpretation of what God wants, since I think if God cared more about enforcing rules than respecting choice that He would be far more direct about things.

I've said it before, and I know it goes against most of the thinking for people like that, but their emphasis on this shows a tremendous lack of faith.

They clearly don't believe God's will can manifest unless they force it on everyone else.

But that's enough about that.

This concept, btw, is associated a bit with the idea of what truly gives people confidence.

Because true confidence doesn't come  from 'never facing any sort of obstacle or problem'.

It comes from knowing that you have the skills and resources to handle any obstacle or problem.

The second requires far more work. It means building up those skills and resources. It means teaching people, helping them grow, letting them build experience - even experience that isn't always positive.

I bring that up, because if I were to envision a 'Kingdom of Heaven' it would be one where people are knowledgeable, experienced, and skilled... to the point where they are not tempted by demagogues and power hungry manipulators. Where fear and hatred have no power.

Where they know what that path leads to, can recognize it when they see it, and reject it.

If we had more people who could do that, then it wouldn't matter what cynical lies and misinformation are spread on the internet. In fact, it would backfire and cause people to reject them for it.

And from that perspective - the Kingdom of Heaven is long, long, loooooooong way away.

 

Election 2024 - Further Thoughts

 A heavy feeling is weighing on me as the ramifications of another Trump presidency sink in.

I had really hoped we'd be able to avoid this. I didn't want to see how he would further warp the America I know and love.

I've had numerous ideas for posts over the past couple of days - some more angry, some more thoughtful, some more focused on the details of the election and some more focused on larger historical trends.

I've also debated writing much of anything.

I've been posting less these days, and that's partly because it just feels like an exercise in screaming into the void.

No, that's not quite right. The big issues, the ones that permeate this era (like growing income inequality or the threat of climate change), are like the blue lighting in a movie. The effects are everywhere, but your eyes soon adapt and your attention is more drawn to the immediate action.

Talking about them generally is just repeating what the people who care already know. The issue is with the people who don't care...

And I highly doubt they're reading my blog here on the internet. So what difference does it make if I write twenty posts on the problems with letting income inequality continue to grow? 

I had thought something similar about Trump, tbh. Sure... he had his base, and they were never going to accept anything negative about their idol. And that base apparently included some wealthy people I would have hoped knew better (the wife of a Supreme Court justice really didn't see any problem with January 6?!?!?! That level of ignorance is pretty horrifying in someone who you'd expect to pick up by osmosis (if nothing else) some basic understanding of the Constitution.)

But I had thought most of the Americans who were more objective would have understood just what a threat to democracy Trump poses.

I mean - I get that most people do not have the time or energy for it. Nor the interest. Being able to explain what the reading of the states votes were on Jan 6, why Pence couldn't change the results, why the fake electors were a problem, and how all of that combined to undermine the Constitution is not something I would expect the average voter to understand.

But I expected.... Idk. Something like the wisdom of crowds. Like how you might not know enough to repair your car, but you have a buddy who does and you get their advice. 

The arguments that Trump and his allies made were in such bad faith that anyone with any sort of knowledge of the issue knew they were lying liars who lie.

Just like Trump's claims that mail in voting was less secure (and his claims about voting fraud in general).

These are issues that are too nuanced to fit in a handy meme. That yes, there is sometimes voting fraud. It generally gets caught because states have procedures in place (like checking voting rolls against death certificates, which can take time)... and that such fraud is rare and not nearly in large enough quantities to change the results of an election.

It's basically the difference between winning by 100 or winning by 99 votes.

But it's much easier for Trump and his allies to shout from the rooftops about voter fraud, and allege that the election was stolen - and in the process undermine trust and faith in our elections, and prep his supporters to support more drastic action if he loses. (and yes, it is amazing how quickly they dropped all those arguments as soon as Trump legitimately won. Not questioning the results any more, are we?)

It's disgusting.

It's sickening.

And he just got elected president, again.

His allies are already muttering about changing the limit on two terms in office - just like Putin did in Russia to allow himself to remain in control.

I really hope that effort goes nowhere, but we're already at this stage and nothing seems to be more than a speed bump in his steamrolling over democracy... so who knows?

I do wonder how much he'll pay attention to public opinion this time around. Does he think he still needs to win another election, and therefore he needs to be careful? Or does he think that this time is it, and will the mask come off? ('He' can also refer to all the people around him, especially as he's aging.)

That'll be something to watch, because what he was elected to do is not what he and his supporters want to do.

It reminds me of something I heard long ago, I think about the English civil war? Supporters of 'the king' claimed they were standing up for the king... even when it actually want against what the king explicitly said he wanted.

They supported 'the king', which is really an image of what they image a king is, that was only loosely related to the specific individual who was actually the king.

I know that's a complicated one, sorry. Let's just say - people voted for 'Donald Trump', the loud mouthed billionaire that they think will take on the entrenched interests that have dismissed the average American's concerns and led us to this state. 

One where hard work doesn't lead to prosperity, but instead to constant stress as you live paycheck-to-paycheck, one car accident or health problem away from bankruptcy or worse. 

There's a lot more to it than that, and different people express the sentiment in different ways - and blame different people for it. But that's the core of the problem, really.

And rent and housing prices continue to rise, and instead of addressing that there are people on Twitter deciding that no... people really just don't need that much space and can just move in to lesser apartments or share costs with other people. 

As if disposable income doesn't make a huge difference in how much people spend, and when 90% of your check is allocated to food, housing, car payments and student loans there's not much left over to boost the economy with other purchases. Seriously - you can fight for a larger slice of an 8 inch pie, or you can work to turn that 8 inch pie into a 10 inch pie. One of these options is better than the other.

Anyways, I got off track again. 

The point was that the Donald Trump that won the election is not necessarily the actual, real Donald Trump. 

And the mandate he and his supporters are claiming may not be a mandate for what they actually are planning.

Then again, I did not expect Trump to win like this so what do I know? 

Unfortunately, it looks like we'll all be finding out.

Election 2024

One of the articles discussing Trump's win caught my eye, because it was pointing out how many Americans voted for things like an increase in minimum wage or ensuring abortion remained legal - and yet (although it's hard to say how many of those voters did this) also voted for Trump, who stands for the exact opposite of all that. 

It got me thinking about how, amongst his supporters at least, the image they have of him seems to bear no relation to reality. 

I was even talking to a lady today who was on disability and hoped he'd make it better. 

... 

Hoped Trump would make disability better. 

She also brought up how Trump donated his salary. 

Anyways, it got me thinking about how perception and image works. And it reminds me of when he first became president. 

Back then I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, and one story I recall - which got a lot of press at the time - was how he went to Carrier in Indianapolis and got them to save jobs. 

Here's an article discussing what actually came of that. 

It was little things like that which made me decide that he was a con artist, promising things he couldn't deliver.

I know that marketing, misinformation, disinformation, etc are powerful forces. More powerful than I want to believe.

Yet I still thought that, as Abraham Lincoln said, “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”

And I especially thought, after all the time we've had to see him in action, that others could also see that.

Sure, I've seen some of the practically blasphemous memes shared on social media. I personally find them disgusting. I mean, Jesus was all about 'love your neighbor' and learning to be more forgiving and compassionate. And the good Samaritan was partly a story about someone who back then would have been considered a foreigner or outsider. 

You might even say - an immigrant. 

And Trump is very much the opposite of that. 

Even aside from his breaking his oath of office and taking a wrecking ball to the American ship of state, he preaches hate and fear and brings out the worst in everyone. 

I don't know what they're smoking to adulate him so much. 

Anyways, I think that is perhaps part of the problem. 

He has developed an image at complete odds with the reality. 

Now, he's old and not really in the best of health so maybe he won't be as much of a wrecking ball... But he's also destroyed a lot of guardrails and surrounded himself with some pretty terrible enablers. 

But it does seem like many people voted for that image rather than the reality. 

I don't know if, when, or how they'll realize that but it'll probably be a mess when they do. 

Hopefully it'll be before he swings that wrecking ball too many times.