SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

Thought of the day for Sunday June 7th, 2026.. And Their Eyes Shall Be Opened" America has from it's inception been a nation of contradictions, when the first English settlers arrived in 1620, they claim to have undertaken the grueling voyage to the "New World" in search of Religious Freedom". Once they successfully established the Plymouth Colony one of the first things they did was to persecute the indigenous peoples, force them to accept the Christian Faith. Each day in schools across America, the school day begins with the Pledge of Allegiance, it is viewed as the patriotic thing to do, The last stanza of the pledge states "Liberty and Justice For All", but who is the all? I often wonder do those who are being held in ICE Detention Centers, many of whom were arrested inside Courthouses, or while going to court mandated meetings to gain their citizenship. I would argue that they no longer believe in the Liberty and Justice portion of the Pledge. Nor do those who have spent time incarcerated for crimes they never committed. For a nation that loves to espouse on the virtues of freedom, that condemns other nations for their records on Human Rights, America the last bastion of freedom incarcerates more people than Iran, Cuba, North Korea and Russia combined. Despite what should be obvious contradictions, it seems as if the vast majority of Americans simply refuse to face the stark reality, that is that America is a nation built upon layer after layer of lies. For those who benefited from the layers if deception , it is in their interest to continue the deception, to seek ways to place blame on others. That has been a constant tactic of both political parties, neither party will tell the American People the truth as it relates to how bad things are in this country. We know about the national debt, now approaching 40 trillion dollars, but are somehow optimistic that by some stroke of genius we can pay it down, America like the Phoenix can rise from the ashes. The sad truth is that America is a mere shell of what it once was, for the nation that lead the world is now a nation that relies on the world to purchase it's debt to keep the floundering US Economy afloat. One thing I can say about President Donald J. Trump is that he (Trump) unlike any US President before him has done more to expose not just American hypocrisy, but the hypocrisy of all of the former Colonial Powers. He has opened rifts with NATO allies, the Roman Catholic Church and has pitted American against American. That is essentially the objective of the Republican Party, for a political party in a country where democrats out number republicans by a ratio of nearly 2:1 they (Republicans) had to turn to extreme tactics in order to win elections. People will argue which party is more divisive, Democrats, or Republicans, the fact of the matter is both are divisive, the Republicans however found a niche with angry White Men. They Republicans in the 1970's flooded the airwaves with "Conservative talk radio giving voice to the grievances of white men who took on the role of the victim. New terms like "Reverse Racism" became part of the American lexicon, from there so-called conservatives crafted issues that resonated with White, male voters. They focused on issues like Immigration, Guns, ending Constitutional protections the Voting Rights Acts, Affirmative Action, the rise of the Feminist , LGBTQ movements. 40 plus years later the Republican Party is still focusing on the very same issues that won them election after election. That maybe why the Republican Party is overly loyal to a man, Donald Trump, than they are to the US Constitution, or their constituents. The same can be said about those who voted for Trump three times. The grand ideal of "Making America Great Again" has now morphed into Making Trump and his family great again. In the past year alone the wealth of the Trump family, their closet allies have increased by reportedly 8 billion dollars, more deals are being signed on near daily basis. This windfall for the Trump's while he is touting his accomplishments, such as 18 trillion dollars in foreign investment. Here in northeast Pennsylvania it is just the opposite, small and moderate size family businesses are closing, not a single foundation has been laid for the multiple factories that Trump said are "Popping up everywhere". Not a single campaign promise has come to fruition, yet Trump still is highly popular amongst nearly a third of American voters. Their devotion is not to America, The Constitution, or "To Forming A More Perfect Union". They're rationale is simply that Trump will address those grievances, that he would round up Black and Brown People, he would end Civil Rights legislation that Trump said "Hurt white people". That he would bring to a halt the upward mobility of fast rising groups like Black Women, who represent the "Most Educated Class in America. If we are unable to compete with Black Women then end any subsidies that allowed them to get ahead, ie. attack education and funding for colleges and universities. This may sound harsh , or unrealistic to some, but those were exactly the reasons for the destruction of the Black Wall Street in Tulsa Oklahoma, a host of other black cities and towns. That anger and frustration was held at bay for generations, but the election of Trump signaled a return to the "Good old days when Blacks, Immigrants and Women had no rights a white man had to respect. Not my words, but the words of the US Supreme Court in the Dred Scott decision. That was America, that is AmericaThought of the day for Saturday May 30th, 2026,, When the Bough Breaks...

                 It has been said that" The American People are slow to wrath, but when their wrath is once kindled it burns like a consuming flame" Theodore Roosevelt. I don't know if I fully agree with that statement, Americans may be slow to anger as it relates to our govt' , but the anger we have toward our fellow Americans, well that's a completely different story. We kill one another with such frequency we have invented new terminology to describe our murderous actions; we have terms like "Road Rage, Crashing Out, Snapping, Going Postal and a host of others. Murder is a daily reality in America, recent statistics show on average 55 Americans die each day via homicide. How can we be so angry at one another, yet not blink an eye when the Govt' rips apart the lives of countless Americans? We have been conditioned to believe that one side of the aisle in Washington has the best interest of the American People in mind, but if that were true how have conditions in this country gotten so bad?. The answer is relatively simple, both parties use the same tactics to sway the American People, they blame one another for the disastrous policies that have cost the US thousands of jobs, lead to the loss of healthcare for hard working families, loss of pensions, the ever decreasing value of the American Dollar, which has resulted in runaway inflation. The American standard of living plummets year after year, there was a time when families would take annual, or semi annual vacations, today that is a luxury afforded to the few, we are working longer, harder for much less in terms of buying power. 

                  Decades ago couples would marry, save their money, after a few years would purchase a home, the equity in that home would finance college for the kids, who after graduation would go off to out perform their parents economically. That was what was once called the "American Dream", home ownership, 2 children and a family dog. Today that dream has deteriorated into a nightmare, students who go off to college are soon awakened to the frightening reality that buying a home is a near impossibility, that jobs in the public sector that afforded their parents a comfortable lifestyle are now few and far between. Those that are available have had benefits slashed, the requirements have become more stringent. For those who choose a career in law enforcement, decades ago the requirements were a High School Diploma, or GED, a Drivers License and a clean criminal background. Nowadays some Police Departments require applicants to have an Associates Degree, or a minimum of 60 College Credits, others want their applicants to have a Bachelors Degree. Just imagine leaving a college, or university straddled with thousands of dollars of debt to compete for a job that starts out at on average 50,000 or less. While that may seem like a competitive salary once you factor in the rising cost of housing, a car, car insurance, food, clothing, monthly bills and taxes not much is left, I didn't mention student loan repayment. Both parties are equally responsible, both sides take in millions of dollars from corporate interests, both are heavily indebted to Israel, the Israeli Lobby, neither side has heard the pleas of the American working class for generations. I see posts on social media from individuals who favor one party over the other, but in truth the parties need one another. They take turns blaming the other side when in reality neither side does anything meaningful. They tout their accomplishments, which are few and far between, but what they deem as accomplishments are actually targeted for the richest Americans, the rest of us fight over the crumbs that fall from the tables of the 1%. Most Americans are completely unaware that 96% percent of the world's stocks are held by less than 1% of the world's population, that the wars we constantly fight are wars planned by a rich , powerful cabal that send our sons and daughters off to fight for them (1%) to further enrich themselves. Both parties know this well, both stopped representing the interests of average Americans years ago. I can remember the Reagan years when the assault on organized labor was in it's infancy, when he (Reagan) fired striking air traffic controllers. Not long afterwards we started to hear new terms like "Outsourcing", which eliminated public sector jobs. Jobs that once lifted Americans out of poverty were sent overseas in favor of higher profits. Cities that were once bastions of prosperity became wastelands, towns like Detroit, Flint Michigan that churned out American automobiles were decimated by programs like NAFTA. Democrats and Republicans feign opposition, each side fully aware their re-election weighs heavily on more jobs being cut, plants shut down. 

                    Today we have Trump in office, unlike past presidents he (Trump) has a firm grip on all three branches of govt'. His party (Republican) controls both houses of Congress as well as the Supreme Court, yet the agenda he put forth when he was running for a second term has all but been abandoned, yet he is still wildly popular amongst nearly a third of the US electorate. Most of his supporters are at a loss to describe their unwavering support, typically they refer to the Biden administration, what happened when he (Biden) was in office, I've yet to hear a Trumper defend Trump's agenda, that includes an Arch D' Trump, a 1 billion dollar tax payer funded Ballroom, a 1.7 billion dollar slush fund for convicted felons like himself, last but certainly not least the war in Iran that he said he would never engage in. The Democrats are essentially silent partners, they have no real answers for what to do to address Trump's mass round ups, his fleecing of the US Treasury, multiple violations of the US Constitution. They are hoping for success in the mid term elections, that if they have a majority they can reverse some of the damage. I say some because they (Democrats) are part and parcel of that damage, they voted for a number of disasters like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, like NAFTA, allowing young children to have gender affirming care at tax payer expense, the list goes on. After nearly 250 years of America's existence, why don't we have alternatives to the Democrat/ Republican stranglehold? How much longer can we continue down this destructive path before the bough breaks, Americans figure out that the real problem is not us, that the real enemy is neither Iran, or North Korea. The real problem is our broken system, a system that is beyond repair. Both parties have sat idly by while Corporate America has dwindled away America's resources, poisoned the air and the water. Allows US food producers to feed our children garbage they won't even feed their dogs. Once we figure that out then that anger will be redirected away from us killing us to a wrath designed specifically for them, those who call themselves our leaders