They’re brain dead. Idiots. Bigoted. Racist. And they feel the same way about us.
They listen to their tv news, read their schlock newspapers and believe in unfounded opinion articles as news. And so do we.
Not me! You declare. So, I ask you….whatever place on the spectrum you live, have you read “the other side’s ” news? Ever? Just to try to understand why they don’t know what you know? Not even once? Once per day would be a good try.
I posted an article on Facebook recently that asked people to state their opinion after reading it. I also emailed this to some friends who are not on Facebook, to ask their opinion. The article, by NBC News, explains a study done by political scientists at Texas A&M. I am not going to summarize it here; it is THAT IMPORTANT that you read it for yourself. What I will tell you is that most people did not respond, and those many who commented back to me had NOT read the whole article. One said it was too biased. Another said he knew that NBC was a liberal organization so he didn’t bother.
So, I just wonder who is pulling the strings? Who are the puppet masters? Why are we allowing this?
I don’t feel like a sheep, following the leader blindly. I suspect you don’t feel that way either. And yet, for much of what is going on, we are experiencing a significant effort to keep us separated. To make us angry at people who don’t agree with us. To reduce them to less than equal status in our thinking….and then in our behavior.
source: RISE OF THE AMERICAN SHEEPLE: 10 Signs You’re A Sheeple
But we have had situations that have polarized us when, in truth, we really should all have a similar reaction. The horror of people being pulled from their cars and beaten. The rhetoric of our nation’s leadership making broad statements about a group of people based on…..pick one….color, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation….and many feel threatened instead of talking to people they personally know in that identified group of people to get first hand information about the situation. The unbelievable situation where children are taken away from their parents when they enter the US illegally, and about 1500 have been “lost”. The lack of transparency on the actions of some government agencies whose actions beg answers. The science showing us we are essentially killing ourselves, ruining the planet’s oceans, air and more. All these issues should really have a unified reaction by EVERYONE regardless of where they are on the political spectrum.
I think we each have a choice. We can continue sharing news that is phrased in ways to agitate and polarize or we can seek the truth behind the news and point out who the puppet masters are and why they want us distracted and separate. Follow the money is a truism.
When laws are passed to permit cars to hit protesters who are blocking a roadway, when peaceful protestors who point out the inequities of police treatment are distorted as demeaning the flag and the military, when the anger over abortion leads states to close clinics that provide all kinds of health services and screenings for people, when we incarcerate illegal aliens and separate their children from them and then “lose” some because of poor record keeping, and I could go on….we are being played. We are being made angry to uphold values we consider very important to the definition of what this country is.
source: Mercury News, Charlottesville, VA
Both sides feel this way.
We need to stop paying attention to WHAT is being said and start asking WHY. And like a curious toddler, the WHY question needs to be asked again and again until we finally get to the truth. And if, like an impatient parent, we are cut off from the explanation, as adults we know that is not right and we need to push some more.
Yes, there are people in this nation whose concept of what the United States should be would be to eliminate many of its current citizens and residents from being here. They do not think beyond their discomfort and fear. They do not recognize that there are consequences to deporting or otherwise eliminating a class of people not “desirable”. They do not know the slippery slope they propose would, inevitably, include them. How can I suggest this? I’ve read my history. Not only Nazi Germany but many other countries where tribal factions, religious schisms, ethnic identification have resulted in millions dead.
I am appalled when I see people threatening civil war if something happens they don’t like. They need to read. They need to watch some good films that will clearly show there is no winner in war, other than those who own the corporations who run the war.
So ask yourself when you have a reaction to something you read…..how can I bring THE TRUTH to people in a way they will listen, and join together? This means no knee jerk reactions or you are fanning the flames.
Be smart. Let’s turn ourselves around. What’s the goal?
I hate being manipulated. When I know someone is pulling some strings, I usually can maneuver around that, anticipating my choices before it comes to a final showdown.
However, there are issues we normal people never know…until the Freedom of Information Act opens sealed files. And so, we find out that we were puppets once again. Case in point is The United States’ entry into World War II because of the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. We were righteous in our indignation and because of the Japanese-German alliance, thereby could also attack Germany. That we should have been on that moral pathway two years before is something for another discussion. But here is a presentation of the facts that lead up to the attack on Pearl Harbor as I never heard them before.
The desire by those in power to further strengthen their wealth through trade and commerce, through acquisition of raw materials, has played out time and again throughout history. Just as our American government had us manipulating Spain with the explosion of the Maine in Havana harbor to start the Spanish American War. The goal always was to open more trade with other areas, notably, the Philippines. World War I’s eruption has been told often about how major powers chose certain actions instead of diplomacy. And more recently, we remember the non-existent weapons of mass destruction that had George W Bush to convince many here that we MUST go in and take out Saddam Hussein. Look what that lead to. But Cheney got extremely wealthy, so I guess opening the Pandora’s Box of a loss of leadership is a trade-off the power elite accepts.
We have just weathered a campaign season where it became greatly apparent how easily people are manipulated. Few verify things they read and I have had more than one Facebook Friend tell me if it not her job to educate me. I responded that she needed to educate herself and she has stopped talking to me now. She did not appreciate my posting facts to refute her emotionally laden editorial writing she posted as truth. It is important that EVERYONE wakes up NOW and slows down with their reactions to how the news is given. We MUST demand more information before our leadership takes us into a situation that will be dangerous to us all.
I remember back to the Gulf War II time when I cautioned we needed to verify before jumping into war. I was chastised by many that I was not being patriotic. Au contraire! It is a true Patriot’s role to help keep us in truth, justice, and what we were told watching Superman was the American Way.
Maybe EACH of us SHOULD do this. Maybe each of us should listen to a speech and then get the transcript and talk back. And maybe we need to talk to each other also.
So, driving home from a bunch of work-related errands this evening, I heard Speaker of the House Paul Ryan rah-rah at the Republican Convention. I felt the need to retort….so here goes:
Speech by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), Chair of the Republican National Convention:
Thank you all very much.
Delegates, friends, and fellow citizens: I appreciate the privilege of addressing this forty-first convention of the Party of Lincoln.
Oh, I really think the way they claim Lincoln to prove they are “good” is funny.I notice they do not claim more recent Republicans, which speaks a lot louder.
As part of my co-chairman duties, let me thank all the people of this beautiful city for looking after us this week. And above all I want to thank the men and women here from law enforcement for your service.
You know, standing up here again, it all has a familiar feel. Students of trivia will recall that last time around I was your nominee for vice president. It was a great honor, even if things didn’t work out quite according to plan.
But hey, I’m a positive guy. I’ve found other things to keep me busy. And I like to look at it this way. Next time there’s a State of the Union address, I don’t know where Joe Biden and Barack Obama will be. But you’ll find me right there on the rostrum with Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump.
“Postive guy”?????? Is that why the only word we’ve been hearing is “no”. No, we won’t meet to talk about the nominee for the Supreme Court.
Democracy is a series of choices. We Republicans have made ours.
Have we had our arguments this year? Sure we have – and you know what I call those? Signs of life. Signs of a party that’s not just going through the motions. Not just mouthing new words for the same old stuff.
Hmmm, wait a minute here, Paul. Your co-chair shut down the protest within the Republican delegates pretty quickly. Guess muzzling people is a Republican choice, too?
Meanwhile, what choice has the other party made, in this incredible year filled with so many surprises?
Seems like voting fraud is not just a Republican issue. People in power do not like to lose it. Yes, that was a jab at Hillary also.
Here we are, at a time when men and women in both parties so clearly, so undeniably, want a big change in direction for America, a clean break from a failed system. And what does the Democratic Party establishment offer? What is their idea of a clean break?
They are offering a third Obama term, brought to you by another Clinton. And we’re supposed to be excited about that?
Personally, I think getting a “third Obama term”, while there are problems and I don’t like everything he has done, would be preferable to spending billions to build walls, splitting up families, and registration of members of one religion. Not to mention the probability of a new war, possibly one we will not survive.
For a country so ready for change, it feels like we had been cleared for takeoff, and then somebody announced we’re all going back to the gate.
For a nation that wants change, let’s look at who is wanting what kind of change. Let;s also notice who refuses to change in teh manner of equal access to the law.
It’s like we’ve been on hold forever, waiting and waiting to finally talk to a real person, and somehow we’ve been sent back to the main menu.
It’s as if you’ve been having to share equal access to rights and the law with all kinds of people and that just is not comfortable.
Watch the Democratic Party convention next week – that four-day infomercial of politically correct moralizing. And let it be a reminder of all that is at stake in this election. You can get through four days of it, with a little help from the mute button. But four more years of it?
I’m sure you can manage the same way you managed the last bit…doing nothing.
Not … a … chance. The Obama years are almost over. The Clinton years are way over.
Two-thousand sixteen is the year America moves on.
Hopefully, with a gun or two in many hands, the movement will not be bloody.
From now to November, we will hear how many different ways progressive elitists can find to talk down to the rest of America … to tell voters that the Obama years have been good for you … that you should be grateful, and now, well, it’s Hillary’s turn.
Oh, I LOVED this one! Hillary aims her speeches at a 7th grade level. Trump at a 4th grade level. Sorry if Hillary is talking down to you. Why didn’t you learn to read and understand when you went to school like we did?
But the problem is very simple. There is a reason people in our country are disappointed and restless.
The solution is so hard that no Republican has come up with one.
If opportunity seems like it’s been slipping away, that’s because it has. And liberal progressive ideas have done exactly nothing to help. Wages never seem to go up.
Yes, opportunity has slipped away as fast as the middle class has lost ground. The wages that never seem to go up….well, who has been fighting raising the minimum wage? Hell, who has been hiring people at minimum wage while CEOs are taking humongous bonuses and profits have shit out the roof along with the rise in the stock market?
The whole economy feels stuck. And for millions of Americans, middle-class security is now just a memory.
Yes, the middle class and the poor feel a loss of security. But the rich are happy…..well, maybe not. They always want more.
Progressives like our president talk forever about poverty in America. And if high-sounding talk did any good, we’d have overcome these deep problems long ago.
It sure must be annoying to hear that there are poor people everywhere. And you are very right. Talk does no good. And apparently you and the Congress decide that work is not your shtick, so talk is all there is.
This explains why, under the most liberal president we’ve had so far, poverty in America is worse – especially for our fellow citizens who were promised better and need it most.
No, YOUR lack of positive responsiveness to help creative jobs, improve the infrastructure, and build educational opportunities to retrain people who have lost their manufacturing jobs because there are incentives in place for corporations to go elsewhere for cheaper labor, often with children.
The result is a record of discarded promises … empty gestures … phony strawman arguments … reforms put off forever … shady power plays, like the one that gave us Obamacare … constitutional limits brushed off as nothing … and, all the while, dangers in the world downplayed, even as the threats grow bolder and come closer.
Discarded promises like yours and your fellow Republicans to serve? Like the Judiciary Committee who refuses to even meet with the nominee for the Supreme Court? You brought it up: shady power plays? Are YOU throwing stones? And you are blaming the fact that Congress voted to approve the ACA because you and so many never read the thing? Hey! That‘s why you have assistants! Are you telling us you don’t read OTHER bills? Is that why there is nothing being done by Congress?
It’s the latest chapter of an old story: progressives deliver everything except progress.
Ahhh, blocked by the Congress, not much could get done. But wait a minutes, complain about Presidential order again now.
Yet we know better than to think that Republicans can win only on the failures of Democrats. It still comes down to the contest of ideas. Which is really good news, ladies and gentlemen, because when it’s about ideas, the advantage goes to us.
Yes, appealing to fear and hate is always a reachable emotion. Much better than idealism like building community and helping the least of us…oops, forgive me, I’ve been going to church too much.
Against the dreary backdrop of arrogant bureaucracies … pointless mandates … reckless borrowing … willful retreat in the world … and all that progressives still have in store for us, the Republican Party stands as the great, enduring alternative.
Enduring? You think a Trump Presidency will result in a viable nation? We WILL endure if we don’t get rounded up for being subversive.
We believe in making government, as Ronald Reagan said, not the distributor of gifts and privilege, but once again the protector of our liberties.
Ah yes, the Constitution. Thank goodness it says ALL people. EQUAL access. We Democrats remember that part.
it says Let the other party go on making its case for more government control over every aspect of our lives – more taxes to pay … more debt to carry … more rules to follow … more judges who just make it up as they go along.
Excuse me, no Democratic government wants control of my vagina. No Democratic government wants to say love is not love unless it is between a man and a woman no matter how they cheated on their spouses and no matter how many times they betrayed those wedding vows. And o, by the way, those judges follow that Cosntitution. Sorry, like the Bible, it’s very apparent you Republicans seem to like some parts better than others.
We, in this party, are committed to a federal government that acts again as a servant accountable to the people, following the Constitution, and venturing not one inch beyond the consent of the governed.
If the Congress passes bills that over 80% of the nation’s population does not want, are you acting as a servant to the people? Seems like someone else is pulling the strings.
We, in this party, offer a better way for our country, based on fundamentals that go back to the Founding generation. We believe in a free society where aspiration and effort can make the difference in every life … where your starting point is not your destiny … and where your first chance is not your only chance.
The Republican Party did NOT exist at the foundation of this nation. But that’s okay, raise the flag, say some words that sound pretty but the Republican party as governed by many governors, does NOT offer better chances to people who want out of their starting point. In fact, some states with Republican governors are really hurting now.
We offer a better way for America, with ideas that actually work. A reformed tax code that rewards free enterprise, instead of just enterprising lobbyists.
Free enterprise sounds great and most of your 4th grade followers have little concept of the rules that the government has for those who want to start a business. And Paul, don’t try to BS us about the enterprising lobbyists will be thrown out of the Temple I mean the Congress.
A reformed health care system that operates by free choice, instead of by force, and doesn’t leave you answering to cold, clueless bureaucrats.
A health care system that is accessible to those that can’t afford it? That means something like 60% of the current population will be out in the cold, clueless of how to manage their choices of food or medicine. But I guess when you decide Social Security Disability is spending too much money you might begin to understand a population with managed health is better.
A renewed commitment to building a 21st-Century military – and to giving our veterans the care they were promised, the care that they have earned.
Let’s talk about waste here also. Let’s admit we have the largest armed forces in the world. Let’s hear you admit you perceive we need more because we will soon be actively at war.
And we offer a better way of dealing with persistent poverty in this country: A way that shows poor Americans the world beyond liberal warehousing and checkwriting … into the life everyone can find, with opportunity and independence … the happiness of using your gifts, and the dignity of having a job.
Has the Republican Party EVER come up with a way to help people out of poverty? I must have missed that.
And you know what? None of this will happen under Hillary Clinton.
And you know what? None of this will happen under Donald Trump.
Only with Donald Trump and Mike Pence do we have a chance at a better way.
A better way for you…..not most, including the poor suckers who believe you.
And, last, let the other party go on and on with its constant dividing up of people … always playing one group against the other, as if group identity were everything.
Ahhhh, blinder and memory loss apparently. WHO has been saying all Mexicans are rapists? WHO has been saying all Muslims are terrorists? WHO has been saying all Democrats want is more money?
In America, aren’t we all supposed to see beyond class, or ethnicity, or all those other lines drawn to set us apart and lock us in groups?
Do you, Paul, ever sit down and spend a day (not an hour) helping in an inner city school? How about harvesting crops? How about mining coal? Let’s talk about how YOU intermingle every day with the poor, the people of color, the disabled, the homeless. Then we can have a real conversation about the groups in this nation that have to be considered.
Real social progress is always a widening of the circle of concern and protection. It’s respect and empathy overtaking blindness and indifference. It’s understanding that by the true measure we are all neighbors and countrymen – called, each one of us, to know what is right and kind and just, and to go and do likewise.
Your neighbors are not mine. There is a class difference and you know it. You have gates on the streets that enter your neighborhoods and the only people of color who enter are for cleaning your houses, mowing your lawns, keeping your pool waters sparkling. The true measure is that made by those people who enter your pristine neighborhood, happy for the work, but ashamed and sickened by your attitude.
Everyone is equal … everyone has a place … no one is written off, because there is worth and goodness in every life.
Everyone has a place is a line that tells it all.
Straight from the Declaration of Independence, that is the Republican ideal – and if we won’t defend it, who will?
Once again, history lesson. Republicans were NOT there at the drafting or signing of the Declaration of Independence. The people most like you were Tories, sticking to the ways of the King. The upstarts, the rebels, were young and breaking the rules. But again, the 4th grade education level of your constituents pays off as they didn’t really pay attention in US History class.
So much that you and I care about, so many things we stand for, are in the balance in the coming election. Whatever we lack going into this campaign, we should not lack for motivation. In the plainest terms I know, it is all on the line.
Hey! I agree with this! It IS on the line…for all of us.
So let’s act that way. Let’s use the edge we have, because it is still what earns trust and votes. This year of surprises and dramatic turns can end in the finest possible way – when America elects a conservative governing majority.
You had a conservative ruling majority in Congress and we saw very clearly what you did….nothing for the PEOPLE. Nothing for the veterans, nothing for the teachers, nothing for the people who want to know what country their food comes from, nothing for the people. Plenty for the powerful. We see how the conservatives are.
We can do this, we can earn that mandate, if we don’t hold anything back, if we never lose sight of the stakes. Our candidates will be giving their all, their utmost, and every one of us has got to do the same.
Yes, you can earn the mandate. And next week we will hear something similar and I probably will be annoyed enough to do this again. The candidates of both parties start out pretty excited to help their constituents…and then along come deep pockets with how many trillions of dollars to help dish out more empty words and lies, yes lies.
So what do you say we unite this party, at this crucial moment when unity is everything?
There are still some sane people in the Republican party who recognize what a mistake Trump is. Good luck to all of you uniting.
Let’s take the fight to our opponents with better ideas – let’s get on the offensive and let’s stay there.
Oh, you’re plenty offensive enough.
Let’s compete in every part of America, and turn out at the polls like every last vote matters, because it will.
Except where you need voter ID that is new and different from the one you’ve been using for years. Then your vote doesn’t matter.
Fellow Republicans, what we have begun here, let’s see it through … let’s win this thing … let’s show America our best and nothing less.
I’m still waiting to see your BEST for all people.
Thank you, and God bless.
And now, we will see. Get ready for next week’s version and then three and a half months of …… empty promises and probable lies. Equal opportunity no matter the party affiliation, I’m afraid.
goingplaceslivinglife 