Month: October 2019

I Couldn’t Say It Better

/ justdrivewillyou / 2 Comments

 

This poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, written ten years before trump’s election, couldn’t have been more prophetic.

 

PITY THE NATION

(After Khalil Gibran)

Pity the nation whose people are sheep
And whose shepherds mislead them
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars
Whose sages are silenced
And whose bigots haunt the airwaves
Pity the nation that raises not its voice
Except to praise conquerers
And acclaim the bully as hero
And aims to rule the world
By force and by torture
Pity the nation that knows
No other language but its own
And no other culture but its own
Pity the nation whose breath is money
And sleeps the sleep of the too well fed
Pity the nation oh pity the people
who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away
My country, tears of thee
Sweet land of liberty!

 — Lawrence Ferlinghetti
San Francisco, January, 2006

Get These Guys a Dictionary

/ justdrivewillyou / 4 Comments


“So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the President, without due process or fairness or any legal rights. All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here — a lynching. But we will WIN!”

— donald trump, tweeted 10/22/2019

 

“Sen. Lindsey Graham says he agrees with President Donald Trump that the Democrats’impeachment drive is like a “lynching.”

“The South Carolina Republican senator told reporters Tuesday that Trump’s description is “pretty well accurate,” adding that the effort is a “sham” and a “joke” because the president doesn’t know the identity of his accuser and the process is playing out in private.

“Graham told reporters on Capitol Hill that, “This is a lynching in every sense. This is un–American.””

— Associated Press, 10/22/2019


LYNCH

— verb (used with object)

  1. to put to death, especially by hanging, by mob action and without legal authority.

What am I missing?

I Believe in Marianne Williamson

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The Presidency is not merely an administrative office…It is preeminently a place of moral leadership.

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

 

Some time back, I blogged about Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson. I expressed doubt in that post as to whether she would be a great President.

I am here today to say yes, she sure would.

Acclaimed author Marianne Williamson is exactly the right person to be President at this time in our nation’s history, and I’ll give you the reasons why:

She is inspirational. Marianne knows how to get an audience excited. I’ve seen her get a crowd cheering an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence. Her love for this country, its people and its ideals, is tangible and contagious. She is capable of the moral leadership FDR spoke of, which would be such a refreshing departure from the flagrant immorality and absence of leadership in the current administration.

She is smart.  Because Marianne has a background as a spiritual teacher, she is quickly dismissed as an intellectual lightweight, even some kind of spaced-out kook. (Apparently, one can’t be spiritual and intelligent at the same time.) The people who have so dismissed her have never heard her speak at length, or have bothered going to her website to read her position on 24 different issues, domestic and foreign, along with detailed plans for dealing with them all.

You won’t read these from any kook. She’s put a great deal of thought into how to make this country, and its people, better.

Marianne knows the trouble doesn’t just lie with our current President. He is merely the most visible symptom of a long festering illness in America. And while all the other candidates discuss treatments for the symptoms, Marianne is talking about curing the disease.

Also, one thing I notice when I watch her speak: I never see her using any notes, never see her using a TelePrompTer. She doesn’t need them. Marianne knows what she wants to say, and says it eloquently, all on her own.

She is experienced. No, she’s never held any political office, and we’ve seen firsthand what kind of trouble that can get us in. But here’s what one writer had to say regarding her qualifications:

“No one even acknowledges that in the last 5 years Williamson has paid for and put together national conferences called “Sister Giant” attracting thousands of people to further women in US politics, uniting Democrats and Republicans, or that she raised money and awareness for Bernie Sanders Campaign in 2016. Add to that her decades of civil rights activism, AIDS charity and volunteer work, charity fundraising and the thousands of people she’s inspired in speeches of faith in a better American future — ladies and gentlemen, she’s overqualified.”*

She is a visionary. Marianne knows the best way to ensure a prosperous future is to invest in today’s children. Make sure they’re properly fed, properly educated, protected, and allowed to reach their full potential, for in their minds exist the solutions for tomorrow’s challenges. She believes in this enough to want to create a U.S. Cabinet-level Department of Children and Youth.

She is a liberal, left-wing Democrat, which suits me just fine, but she listens to conservatives, wisely acknowledging neither side is always right. As she likes to say, “Nobody has a monopoly on truth.”

She believes in the power of love. And I don’t mean love for your sweetheart. I mean love for your children, for your country, for your planet, for anyone who is different from you, for truth, for justice, for equality, for peace. An active, tough, unshakable love. Like Marianne has.

She is NOT anti-science, anti-vaccine or anti-medication, despite repeated, malicious attempts to portray her as all three.

 

But, listen: don’t take my word for it.

Go to marianne2020 and see for yourself. Watch the videos. Read her blog. Study her positions on the issues. Just like you would any other presidential candidate you’re considering. Then you can make up your own mind.

I have. I want Marianne Williamson to be my next President.

(Incidentally, this isn’t a paid endorsement. I’m not making a dime for anything I’ve said here, okay?)

In 2016, America got the President it deserved. Let’s get the one we need in 2020.

 

*CK Sanders
September 17, 2019
Medium