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| Loving leaders are better leaders. |
King Trump serves King Trump and few to no others. He is a lawless president who uses his power to elevate his own fame and gain first, then the privilege of a few family members and cronies after that. For those of us who value truth, respect, ethics, diversity, opportunity, a clean environment, education, and optimal health care for all, Trump offers daily discouragement, fear, and oppression. He is the nemesis that I never thought would strike our shores--a true failure with regard to the hopes, values, and beliefs many of us hold dear when we think of the United States of America.
So what are we to do as we watch greedy Republican senators benefit from Trump-related financial support and/or cower in a corner in fear that this President will use his mob-like tactics to strike them down which was demonstrated in their votes against witnesses and documents in the impeachment trial? First, we must speak out by letting our political leaders know what we think and want. If we don't, we can't speak up when Trump's flood waters of corruption gain strength in the months ahead. He has passively accepted, and perhaps aided, Russian information wars, abused his power with Ukraine, and will likely continue to engage in such heinous efforts moving forward. He and his cronies clearly want to be powerful world leaders, and what is most frightening is that the power they wield is self-serving, bigoted power that elevates a few wealthy folk while leaving most others behind. This is against all that we represent as Americans--this is against our United States Constitution and long held egalitarian ideals.
As I live in Trump times, I wonder how people throughout history who faced great oppression, oppression much greater than this, survived. How did the Jewish people in Germany gain strength when they experienced the oppression, hatred, and violence closing in on them? These were good people living their lives with prosperous businesses, happy families, and caring communities who were devastated by powerful, violent, greedy, demented leadership and too many followers. How did so many African-Americans survive the inhumane treatment of slavery--good people kidnapped and treated like animals, stripped of their freedom, and made to work without benefits or respect to elevate the riches of the people who bought and sold them? How did so many other groups from the past, and still today, survive the inhumane oppression, hate, and violence they experienced or still experience?
These terrible times started small with one or two hateful, greedy persons--persons who put themselves above the freedom, health, law, and livelihoods of others. In my opinion, Trump and those who support and/or fear his mobster-like friends and actions, mimic the behaviors of so many heinous leaders throughout history--they are not good people, and they are people who are promoting a domino effect of bigotry, hate, violence, oppression, and inequity.
What else can we do to change this tide of hate, violence, oppression, and lawlessness?
If we can, we must support positive, good candidates with dollars. I know this is difficult because most in the middle class don't have big investments that are profiting from Trump's self-serving, short sighted, get rich quick leadership. Also, most in the middle class are paying big taxes because we don't profit from the tax shelters that many Trumpians enjoy. Yet, we have to find a few dollars, if we can, to support candidates who will forward American ideals and the will to serve all. I am donating to Elizabeth Warren's campaign because I believe she is the best candidate for President in 2020.
We must also stay educated by reading as much as we can and researching the issues and current events. We have to investigate the heinous efforts promoted by self-serving foreign powers and people in the United States too. We can't be fooled by bogus propaganda, and we have to research who owns the media we read and watch. In many cases, people are watching and reading media mostly supported by foreign and domestic manipulators rather than agencies that tell the truth of the matter. In other cases, the media we choose is mostly meant to be money-making entertainment rather than the truthful news. We also have to question acts that seem inhumane, oppressive, and prejudiced. We can't accept bigoted disrespect, self-serving decision making, and environmentally-unfriendly decisions, and we have to speak up when those events occur.
Further we have to live our lives with the values we expect and want others to exemplify. We have to be generous, respectful, and hard working for what is right and good too. Every act of greed, corruption, dishonesty, and disrespect adds to the negative tide of living and leading that Trump promotes. We have to work and live against this horrible Trump torment.
Trump times are hard times for so many Americans because he leads for an America and world that most of us disdain, a world and country filled with hate, bigotry, greed, and ignorance. Most of us don't want this kind of world. Most of us realize that if we don't work for opportunity, freedom, and good living for all, we fail in the long run to lead and live well.
In the days ahead, I'll think about what more I can do to work against the terror that Trump promotes. In the meantime, I hope that many will choose good, courageous, honest leaders unlike the Republican senators who voted against witnesses and documents in the impeachment trial. I hope that we will elect new leaders who work agains the corruption that Trump and his cronies promote--the kind of corruption that stands in the way of the freedom, equity, and respect we hold dear as Americans.