Upset and not gonna take it anymore!

When you’re not looking, the world has a way of knocking you on your butt. I think that’s a big reason why I try to keep my blog light and positive. I like to give readers something to hold onto in the dark and inspire them to fight for another day.

I’ve written a few posts on President Donald Trump and his policies, but I generally tend to avoid polarizing topics. Yet, the news on this Labor Day and in recent weeks has been dismal and I need to get a few things off my chest. Here’s several things that have bugged me.

–Republicans used to believe in:

Somehow under Trump, these things have slipped by the wayside.

For example, I’m not sure how you can say you support Law Enforcement and Law and Order and then support the January 6 pardons. It’s not possible in my mind to explain the two. In fact, The Trump Administration offered military funeral honors Capitol rioter Ashli Babbit. How is that right? State’s Rights? On one hand Republicans send the abortion issue back to the states to decide, but then sit on their hands when President Trump calls up the National Guard to invade Washington, D.C. and potentially other cities. Limited Government? Heck Trump has the Federal Government in business with Intel and the recent purchase of Paramount. And finally, Trump conveniently forgets that Putin is the epitome of a bully and started the war in Ukraine.

–Who’s at the door? We have immigration challenges. I won’t argue that, but we’ve turned “give me your tired, your poor” into “bad boy, bad boy whatcha gonna do when they come for you.” The clandestine way that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents wear masks and conceal their identities during enforcement operations has turned our society into a police state. It’s eroded public trust and raised fears. Where’s the accountability? Where’s the due process?

–Protecting our kids. A crazy guy tried to blow up a plane with a shoe and the whole world had to take their shoes off before boarding a plane. Meanwhile, since Sandy Hook there have been more than 200 school shootings in the U.S. resulting in over 300 dead children – a whole plane’s worth – but we continue to do nothing about guns or mental illness in America.?

It gets better. The Trump administration cut funding that would have been used to identify potential mass shooters from Minnesota a month before a shooter opened fire at a church, killing two kids. The funding wouldn’t have touched law abiding citizen’s guns. It should have been something that even gun proponents would have been on board with since it dealth with mental Health. But, since the program originated in a different administration, Trump and company viewed the program as partisan.

You can’t make this stuff up. Either we care about our kids or we don’t.

–Flag burning. My father served in the US Army. My son served. I could never burn the flag. The memory of the 2,500 American soldiers who died on D-Day during the Normandy invasion, would prevent me from ever touching a flag in that way.

Yet, I understand that good citizenship goes beyond hugging the flag. I understand that the U.S. Constitution protects everyone’s rights to free speech. Others have said it better:

• “America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You’ve gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say, “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.” You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.” — The movie The American President.

It get’s better. How about these words of wisdom from a famous Liberal radical.

• “We have a First Amendment which says the right of free speech shall not be abridged. It is addressed in particular to speech critical of the government. Burning the flag is a form of expression. Burning a flag is a symbol that expresses an idea.” –conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

–Government data. I saw that drug deaths in the U.S. have plunged dramatically and steadily since the summer of 2023, according to the latest preliminary data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That sounds good, but unfortunately thanks to Trump’s changes, I’m suspicious of any reporting now that comes out of the government.

It could be the government information on vaccines or economic data. I have no faith or trust. Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he didn’t like the data, why should I believe what comes out of his administration?

–Trump’s lies and name calling. The Trump Administration was in a tizzy last week that California Governor Newsom was making traction mocking him. Does Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt think we’re clueless? Trump has made insult politics an art form. There’s even a Wikipedia page that tracks his names, everything from “Low Energy Jeb” to “Alfred E. Neuman” to describe Jeb Bush and Pete Buttigieg. In more recent days, he’s complained about “ABC fake news” and “Gavin Newscum.”

Where’s the dignity and respect of the office? Where’s the leadership? Where’s the concern and empathy for others?

–Freedom of religion. The First Amendment in the U.S. prevents the government from establishing an official religion on favoring one religion over another. It protects our rights to practice our faith as we chose. Despite these protections, states like Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma have passed laws mandating the displays and teaching of the Ten Commandments. The proponents in these states are banking on a more conservative -learning Supreme Court to overturn past rulings and allow religious expression to be incorporated into public education. I’m a Catholic and I still think this is wrong. It discriminates against students with different beliefs. Public schools should not be promoting or endorsing one religion over another.

–Time to look elsewhere? Thanks in large part to my rural hometown roots, I grew up a fiscal conservative. Yet, Republicans continue to push me more and more to other options and possibly changing my party affiliation. Their actions show that they care little about normal everyday people like me. All they care about is getting Trump’s approval and the financial contributions that come with it. Will anyone in the Republican Party besides Liz Cheney and former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger stand up to Trump?

And oh yea, most of these things are from the past several weeks. Don’t get me started on the past six months.

Actor Jeff Daniels summed up my thoughts to a T: “Under Trump we’ve lost decency. We’ve lost civility. We’ve lost respect for the rule of law. We’ve normalized verbal abuse and bullying. He is everything that is wrong with America.”

Yes, we are better than this! 2028 can’t come fast enough!