Can we try to "Make America Good Again"?

Far be it from me to lay claim to any special abilities to see into or predict the future. It's not like it was difficult to anticipate events of the past week (or indeed, all of the vitriol and atrocities spoken and committed by Trump supporters over the past 2 years).  Anyone with a pulse and two functioning brain cells could have foreseen this 36 months ago at the start of the campaign season, could have offered guarantees of the outcome if they'd only been paying attention and applied the smallest inkling of critical thought to the last presidential election. What we've seen in the last week, is the culmination of all that #DonTheCon campaigned for--to make anger, ignorance, and lies in defense of stupid white men the law of the land. Yep, that was the entire platform.

#MAGA "Morons are Governing America."

As I said, I can't claim to have any special skill in prognostication, but I did write about this way back in June 2018 HERE, about how our current #NotMyPresident "leader" and the GOP are creating homegrown terrorists. And HERE writing about the beginning of the end of the US as a beacon of freedom.

I just didn't go far enough in shouting out a warning about what was coming. Perhaps I was in denial--we'd never let the racism, hatred, bigotry, and discrimination get so bad in this country that we'd ever again see two black people hunted down and killed, as they'd been back in the civil rights era, would we? No! We'd never sit idly by while some maniac wound up his sycophants to such rabid heights that they'd attempt to murder political opponents. Of course not! Not in the USA. That sort of nonsense happens in third world countries, banana republicans, and Russia, but never here. And certainly, as the champions of freedom around the world, the country that charged in and liberated the concentration camps, freeing the Jews, gays, political dissidents, academics, and all the other thinking people that Hitler had to suppress and murder so he could continue to spread his evil and lies, we would NEVER allow persecution like that in our country; never allow attacks on and the murder of Jews in Synagogue. Not here.

Until now. Until the past 3 years---starting with people accepting this insane man as a viable candidate to the highest office in the land. Our slide down this slippery slope into the hell our country began with people making excuses. "Give him a chance." Despite there being zero evidence that he deserved a chance as he belligerently railed against and made fun of liberals, the media, the disabled, women and anyone and everyone not an old, white, conservative male. Those still holding out any defense of him by the time the election rolled around were delusional. There was no other possible reason to continue supporting him after the vile campaign he ran. My favorite delusion comes from the "christian" Right (aka fascists): "I don't like the man he is, but I like his policies." WHAT?!? His policies are every.single.thing.Christ.Opposed. So, if that's your reason for supporting him, congratulations. You failed Sunday School. You failed Christianity 101. You failed at being a good human being. Stop deluding yourself. God knows you aren't fooling her or anyone else.

But some still did, and when he won, they offered, "The office will change him, he'll rise to the dignity of the position." Within days, he shouted down reporters doing their jobs, urged his crazy followers to attack those reporters (and indeed, anyone who questioned his propaganda), and blathered on about "fake news" each of the many times he was caught in a lie. By November 15, it was clear to everyone (again, everyone with the capacity for thought) that no, he isn't going to rise to the expectations of the office. He's lowering the bar for our country and the position to the least common denominator--his supporters.

As if "Pizza Gate" wasn't ridiculous and pitiable enough for every single person in the world to see what a lunatic was in that office. Didn't we all laugh and say, "no one could possibly be stupid enough to believe that!" But his followers did. One even charged in, single-handedly, rifle at the ready, to save the day. What sane person could believe such a preposterous and obvious fiction, much less act on it?

Words to live by.

And yet, here we are. It's difficult to fathom how far we've sunk so quickly. Did the majority of the German citizenry feel like this in 1933? Had they spent the previous few years thinking "He'll change," or "Someone will do something about this"? Did they feel terror when they knew Hitler's  claim that communists were behind the explosion at the Reichstag was false? That it was just a means to an end, allowing him to easily manipulate a willing legislature--through fear and promises of "greatness again"--into turn over power to him and the Nazi party? Did they feel a terror similar to what so many of us here and now feel when similar claims--"it was the liberals," "it's the democrats"--echo from the mouths of lunatics like Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, and anyone at Fox News? They spew their blatant lies, misinformation, and innuendo, casting blame and aspersions on those of us who are mortified by these events, those who are targeted by the GOP's new brand of "nationalist" nuts, decrying as victims the criminals behind these attacks.

Let me state this in no uncertain terms: every single one of these acts was perpetrated by a Trump supporter, by "nationalists" like Trump proudly proclaimed himself to be just a week ago. That's what the EVIDENCE and FACTS--and even the words of the perpetrators themselves show. Yet, there are those who will still believe the conspiracy theories spewed by the propaganda machine that the White House has become because it feeds their anger and justifies their violence and hatred of their fellow human beings.

Will we, the people, act in time--in mere DAYS--to save our country from them?

I certainly hope so.

Until then...as I've asked in astonishment many times before: How can anyone still support or defend this immoral, lying narcissistic lunatic? While each time I've asked in the past, I've been amazed and disgusted to hear people still suggesting he and his supporters deserve the benefit of the doubt, this time, there is no doubt. If you still support this man, this party, and this direction for our country, you are not a good person. You are an evil, mean, despicable person with a black heart and soul. You can no longer hide behind the shield of "voting for my beliefs." Your beliefs are clear and what you believe in is being a spiteful, violent bigot. Your vote shows what you believe, and it's ugly. It's shameful.

I will never again underestimate the depths of ignorance and hatred rampant in this country.

Perhaps in the upcoming midterm election and in the next presidential election, we should elect a leader who wants to "Make America Think Again." I'd even he happy with someone who wants to make America GOOD. It would be lovely if we could live the way we perceive ourselves to be, as we break our own arms patting ourselves on the backs for being "God-fearing" and a "Christian" nation. How about we get back to just not going out of our way to hurt anyone and every who doesn't look like us? How about we at least stop proudly striving to be idiots?

THE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY OF SECESSION, or Why We Should Let Them Go

Can you believe those damn bleeding heart liberal democrats—communists, socialists, and welfare recipients, the lot of them--won so big in this election? Always taking all our money, taxing us unfairly, then spending our hard-earned dollars on lazy, no-good welfare recipients! It's outrageous.

Are any of these recipients of our good-will and tax money appreciative? Hell no. And I for one don't want my tax dollars going to someone who is too lazy to earn their own money. Do you want to know what's wrong with our country? All you have to do is a little bit of math.

Just look at these numbers: In 2005 (most recent numbers available), out of the total taxes paid to the federal government, for each $1.00 we pay, only $0.91 comes back to us in our home states or territories. Those other $0.09? Gone: off to Washington, DC or to overseas military bases, or, sometimes, to help some foreign country that couldn't help itself, that expects us to bail them out.

Some people have decided that it's better to keep their tax dollars right at home, in their own states, and use the money to benefit themselves. "We don't need no stinkin' federal government taxing us then redistributing our wealth! SECEDE, I say! SECEDE!"

The secessionists don't want their hard-earned money going to some place that hasn't paid their fair share into the system. That's the equivalent of welfare and good, small-government, capitalist Republicans don't abide by that.

Well, I'm all for those states doing the fiscally responsible thing and seceding from the Union. Their secession can benefit quite a few states, especially those who receive back less than they pay into the system.

Is it fair that those poor residents of New York only receive back $0.24 of every dollar they pay to Uncle Sam while South Carolinians get back $1.31 for every $1.00 they pay? Is it fair that the red states, those who voted Republican, get back, on average, $1.38 for every $1 they pay—a 'welfare benefit' of $0.38 per dollar—paid for the most part by blue states? Is it fair that for every tax dollar those damn Yankee, liberal, democrat states in the northeast pay, the southeastern states, those that want the Federal government to stay out of their business, receive an average of $1.69, while the Yankees only get back an average of $0.74?

http://capitolfax.com/2010/04/12/todays-maps-for-thought/ 

This map shows how states fare on their tax dollars. Those in red receive more than a dollar back for every tax dollar they send the federal government. Those in blue receive less than a dollar. Funny how the states most opposed to taxes and big government, those who vote "red" (GOP) are the ones benefitting the most from the "socialist" redistribution of wealth, isn't it?

Hell no, it's not fair!  If the recipients of federal government largess don't appreciate it, continue to deprecate our great country and the duly and fairly elected President, if they don’t like our generosity, screw them. Let's let them secede!

There are a number of states that agree that they should be allowed to secede (mostly ones with poor public education so their citizens are bad at math.) These states are sick of the "socialism" and want to secede from the Union.

Fifteen states have filed petitions to secede since the election last week. With few exceptions, I think we should not only allow them to secede, but thank them for doing so! Fiscally, letting these states go would be the responsible thing to do. It will be to the country's financial benefit. How?

Those states that stay in the Union and grant secession to the petitioners will get to keep their hard earned dollars. Right now, the reason most true-blue states get back less from their tax dollars than they pay into the system is because it's being redistributed to the very states that want to secede (see what I mean about them being bad at math?) Cut loose the states that want to secede, and the remaining states get a windfall profit.

We can only hope the petitioners to secede don't actually ever learn their numbers and renege on their effort to leave the country and go it alone. If they do, Louisiana will figure out that they'll lose the extra $0.78 they get back for each dollar paid in taxes (they get $1.78 back to their state for every $1.00 they pay in Federal taxes)—money that those  bleeding heart liberals in the blue, northeast states will be able to keep! True, Louisiana might struggle a bit as an independent country, but let's five them a well-deserve a round of applause for wanting to practice what they preach. Given their history of cronyism and backroom politics, I'd expect they'd become a third-world country in very short order.

Alabamans, who now get back $1.66 for every $1 paid, will have to do some belt-tightening, but it works out well for the states that are currently supporting them. Kentuckians can kiss good-bye their $1.51 for every $1.00 paid in Federal taxes, freeing up those 51¢ for the states who are now bearing the burden of Kentucky's vehement opposition to welfare and socialism. North Dakota (gets back $1.68 for every $1.00 paid) and Montana ($1.47/$1.00) also complain about socialism and welfare and would like to secede, thereby saving the states that remain in the Union a big chunk of money once they no longer have to support those welfare-recipient states.

Letting Mississippi go is the real money-maker and budget-balancer for the rest of the country: for every $1.00 they pay in taxes, they get $2.02 back! Considering they're almost always dead last in education and healthcare rankings, it makes you wonder what their state government is doing with that money, doesn't it? But hey, "states' rights"--you go, Mississippi.

North Carolina will lose out on their net gain of $.08 per dollar paid ($1.08 back), Indiana will lose 5¢ that they get  back in addition to each $1.00 they pay, and Georgia will lose out on the $1.01 back per dollar paid in federal taxes--not too bad of a drain on Federal tax-payers, but welfare nonetheless, and every penny returned to the coffers of the states whose generosity is so little appreciated is a good thing. So, to these states, I say, "B-bye!"

Florida and Texas might be about okay, once they raise taxes. They get back $0.97 and 0.94 for every dollar they pay, respectively. Maybe they'll continue to help out some of their southern secessionist neighbors? No. Probably not. They don't believe in "socialism."

I just have to wonder, though: If these states are so hell-bent on living according to their principals, of opposing big government assistance and social-welfare programs, why do they accept the welfare from the rest of the country to begin with? Why don't they just give back the money that isn't rightfully theirs?

 

FOR MORE INFO:

To see which states are the biggest drain on our taxes, and which are carrying the greatest share of the load, go to:

http://taxfoundation.org/article/federal-spending-received-dollar-taxes-paid-state-2005

http://capitolfax.com/2010/04/12/todays-maps-for-thought/