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Dear Joe

Dear Joe…..things have come to a head, and I’m very concerned over the state of things here in America. Who knew a virus could truly bring our country to its knees? Is that really what happened? Or did powerful people take advantage of a pandemic to see just how far they could go turning America…turning Americans, into something unrecognizable?

In response to fear, many Americans were ok with their freedoms being limited for a while. They stayed at home, schooled their children…..and believed their governments recommendations. And because they readily agreed for the public good, some asked “How far can we go? What else will they hand over? What else will they believe?

At that point, groups of powerful people began working within to drastically change our country. It became acceptable to loot and burn and assault property owners. Those in charge said it was understandable…that people were frustrated and needed to express that. But when opposing views emerged, a shocking thing became apparent: our freedom of speech, our right to have an opposing view, one of the cornerstones of this great country, was no longer a right. It was ok to destroy property, to express yourself in violence, but not ok to have an opposing view or express another ideal. Those in power encouraged people to harass those with opposing views….and harass their families. Meanwhile, these high ranking opportunists worked hard to “refund the police”….removing the protection the common man relied on, while at the same time hiding behind their own private security teams.

Since then, our society has continued to be eroded. Our government paid people to stay at home, crippling businesses already struggling after the pandemic with a lack of workforce. There is no one to process raw materials, leading to severe shortages of everything from food to building products. There are few to transport those items that are made, and fewer still to stock the shelves. Walmart can’t staff a customer service desk so you can return items, and self checkouts are becoming the norm to handle high demands for goods with no cashier’s. Shelves are bare of necessities like bread, milk, and other items.

Our experts can no longer agree on the best way to stay healthy, and whatever mandates are issued are ignored by those who demand compliance. Even Congress, demanding everybody be vaccinated with a innoculation that has shown disappointing results, and penalizing businesses who don’t fire those who refuse, has determined they are not to be held by the same standard. Congress is exempt from the mandates. Even those who got us through the biggest pandemic to ever hit this country….those who worked day and night, risking their lives to treat the sick and dying. You’ll see them fired if they don’t comply with a medical treatment you have no confidence in yourself.

And you, Joe…..elected to lead us through these troubling times….have let us down. You swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States. But every day you remove our rights, our freedoms, our protections under the law. You allow hundreds of thousands to invade our country rather than immigrate as outlined in our founding documents. You promise them freedoms I am denied, but refuse to protect us from the dangers they bring. You promise them they can have freedom and prosperity, and demand the funds be borne by those of us you have belittled, begrudged, denegrated, and despised.

I don’t know if you’ll ever see this letter. Because of things you’ve said I don’t know if you are even our true and active President. Quite frankly I’m not sure WHO is running out country. But some of us still remember..,Believe…in the United States of America. Some of us will hold that ideal, fight for it, work hard and do what it takes to preserve it. Because America is worth everything.

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Thanksgiving in America

Over 250 years ago, this holiday was borne through the settlers of a new world celebrating their first harvest free from tyranny and oppression.

But in 2020, in that same country and after generations of those early settlers have sacrificed and died protecting the freedoms borne in a new world…..we are experiencing a level of tyranny and oppression never before seen here.

Families are being told they cannot gather with family to celebrate Thanksgiving day. Police are being ordered to enforce these rules,citing families with Class C misdemeanors. In this state, that is the equivalent to public lewdness. Really??? Gathering with your loved ones is the same as hanging your tallywacker out for everyone to see? What country IS this???

One state is asking teachers to interrogate their students next week to see if anyone violated this….because they are prohibited from gathering with ANYONE outside the resident family. Last I knew it was illegal to interrogate children, especially without a parent or guardian present. But the teachers unions have grown so powerful I guess they are above the law. AND low enough to browbeat children into snitching on their parents.

I remember as a child celebrating our country’s Bicentennial. I remember the picnic that July 4th vividly….the BBQ cooked by the fire dept., The fireworks, the barbershop quartet singing patriotic songs. And I remember feeling so very PROUD….proud to be part of the greatest country, proud to be an American. Proud of those who lived and died and fought for my right to bear arms, my freedom of speech, my right to gather and protest, freedom of religion.

Those rights, all of them, disappeared this year. Who knew a virus could bring down the greatest country on the planet? Who knew the side effects of a virus could rip from us all that our Constitution stands for? All our flag stands for? Who knew that the memory of those who have died on battlefields throughout the world could be sold out so cheaply, and more importantly, how quickly? Who knew OUR OWN people, our leaders, would rip those rights from us as if we lived in some communist country?

I am sad….mourning the loss of My Country, this of thee….sweet land of liberty. Of thee I have lost.

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Democracy is lost

I am a true believer in the democratic process. My vote is not always the winning vote, but in a true democratic process, that is ok. Because democracy won out, which means we all win.

Democracy has been trashed, burned, thrown to the wind. There are people out there who have decided that YOU should not decide who runs our country, and that they know better than you do. They sent out unsolicited ballots. They hid the counting process. They have decided the outcome and are doing everything they can to ensure that goal succeeds. Even at the risk of taking our flag, our country’s values, our foundation…..and demolishing that. They don’t believe in democracy. They don’t believe in everything millions of men and women have died for in over 200 years. They don’t value your opinion or your vote. They only value the power that comes with their decisions and the outcome they want.

This power is dangerous. If they will disregard two hundred years of process, procedure, and the democratic way….what makes you think they will think twice about violating YOUR rights? Do they really care about what happens to you or your family? Do they care about your children’s futures? No. They don’t.

Don’t be fooled that this is a small thing. Because if we become one of the countries with “rigged” elections, we lose who we are as America. We lose all we have come to be valued for. Millions don’t flock here to have their leaders decided by coups and rigged elections- they are fleeing countries where that happens. Ask them why. Because it is corrupt, and that corruption bleeds into everything from that point forward.

I see a great change coming- a terrible, horrible change. Our country, our AMERICA, is being burned at the stake. You can see the smoke on the horizon, smell the terrible smell, and see the glow in the sky. And if we don’t stop it immediately, if we don’t fight with all we have, we will perish. All we know and love will perish. And a dark wave will sweep the land.

Sound apocalyptic? It is.

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Racism Today

We are now being told we should be ashamed for who we are, how we were raised, where we live and how much we make. That we should be ashamed to enjoy privileges we have earned for working hard.  More importantly, that we should be ashamed of the color of our skin as it makes us less. This is the heart of what we hated about racism in the past…..but it is now being held as the way to treat anyone who is white, affluent, wealthy, or has created any advantage by working hard and earning it.  Having a nice house is not being systemically racist.  Living a comfortable life in a comfortable neighborhood is not an example of systemic racism.  Enjoying the fruits of our labors is not systemic racism, even if those who don’t work don’t have the same things.  In America, if you work hard, you prosper. That does not make you a racist.

Racism is, by MY definition, pointing to any people group and speaking, thinking or sharing ideals that those people are less deserving or less capable because of their race.  We have spent 200 years in America abolishing racism.  Now, racism is at the highest I have ever seen in my lifetime…..but that racism we see now is rampant towards whites.  White women are now referred to as “Karen’s”, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice house is seen as undeserved, and those who were born white are now being described as inherently racist because of the color of their skin.  We are being told our neighborhoods and homes will be taken from us. Those whos’ battle cry is is BLM are being what they have always despised….they are treating others as despicable, less deserving, that their voices don’t matter and THEIR lives don’t matter.

We haven’t moved forward in the past few months, we have repeated history in a new and ugly way.  We have gone backward….lost ground as a society. An entire generation of children are seeing us at our worst, seeing the worst example set by us in decades. And they are learning by our example.

How can we change? We can Vote.  Legally, honestly, without fear.  Otherwise the worst is yet to come…and our Country, as we know it, will perish.

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A week of hypocrisy

It has been quite a week. One political figure got caught doing exactly what she knew was not legal to do, and then blamed the shop Owner because “she didn’t know”. An old addage comes to mind….”Ignorance of the law is no excuse”. But being as this figure had a hand in making those guidelines, was she really ignorant? If someone told me that breaking into someone’s business and taking merchandise was ok, would I really use that as an excuse to get away with it? Oh. Wait. That is happening too.

And then another political figure met with a man in a show of solidarity against racism. EXCEPT….the person he met with is vehemently and vocally racist. Against women, Jews, and anyone NOT like him. Mmmmm….its not like he makes any efforts to hide his beliefs. So why would someone running for the highest office in the land openly meet with him? Especially in a “show of solidarity against racism?”

I don’t challenge his beliefs. Because in America, we have the RIGHT to our beliefs. Even if I find them morally reprehensible, your beliefs are a protected right. But more and more our rights are being trampled, expunged, dismissed and deregulated.

Look at the truck driver and his wife who weeks ago were attacked. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time, dragged through the street, beaten….Did you see the images of him sitting, bloodied and broken in the street? How dejected and dispirited and demoralized he was? Did you see how many people simply watched? And then did you see an individual come up and kick him in the head? Leaving him for dead in the street? Can you see it?

Now, to borrow and slightly alter a quote from Matthew McConaughey in “A Time To Kill”.….”can you see him?

Now image if he were black.”

If the roles were reversed, if a mob of white men dragged a black man and his wife from their vehicle, beat them severely, urged on by others…and then one came back and kicked him in the head, leaving him for dead….what would happen then? The riots would start again….the destruction and burning of innocent businesses would start again. And if there were no public outcry, the protests would spread across America.

Those who are angry about oppression and racism and hate should be angry. Hate for any race, religion, creed, or belief is protected in these United States. Or they used to be. Today, it is ok to openly villify, damage, destroy, threaten, and suppress those who don’t believe what you do. Today, it is considered “appropriate” to spread hate and anarchy. Or is it?

In America, we celebrate freedom. Freedom of religion. Freedom of speech. And Americans are becoming intolerant of the intolerance. Those who claim to stand for the downtrodden and oppressed openly support downtrodding and oppressing those who don’t agree with them. And America is becoming tired. Tired of being afraid, tired of being told they can’t speak, can’t carry arms, can’t protect their families, can’t believe. If pushed too hard, America will take back its freedoms. The freedoms promised by our founding fathers, the freedoms our country was founded on. The freedoms that we hold dear.

Let Freedom Ring…..loud and clear. In your thoughts, your words, your actions. And in your vote. Let Freedom Ring.

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The Meek

Remember the saying “The Meek shall inherit the Earth”? Right now we have never been further from this. Today, the Meek are destroying our nation.

I understand those who are staying silent…those who don’t want to pay the consequences of speaking up. In the past, it was “safe” to have a difference point of view….because your right to believe was protected in both concept and in reality. But right now, speaking out can be deadly. Your neighbor, your neighborhood, can become deadly if you don’t agree with the radicals at this moment. It saddens me….that we standing up for what we believe in, IN OUR COUNTRY, has become deadly to you and me. To the average Joe. It saddens me that this price, the same price paid by our military, is too high a price to pay. It saddens me even further that this price is paid DAILY by innocent people in what used to be their safe space. Their country. Their city. Their neighborhood…even in their home. It saddens me that the price to protect our way of life, at home, could be our lives. And it saddens me to see the elderly and the very young paying that price. Not because they were standing up for what they believed in. But because others chose to exact that price on them for defending their business, or even just standing in their yards.

What saddens me most is the MEEK in our cities and states, in our leadership. This not only saddens me, but it angers me. Those we elect to lead us, guide us, and yes, to protect us, made a huge misstep. In their hatred for one man, they have become the silent supporters of those who trample on our rights, our freedoms, and even our lives. Our Governors and Mayors, who make excuses for the looting, burning, and destruction of innocent businesses, neighborhoods, and lives. Who have allowed it to continue night after night after night. Who don’t want help….because they hoped to use the chaos to blame their opponent. But it got out of hand.

It backfired.

Because those who are sitting meekly at home have grown tired. Tired of the chaos. Tired of being afraid. Tired of hearing how everything is the fault of someone else. Tired of seeing our leadership turn a blind eye. Tired of seeing atrocities usually reserved for foreign countries. And in their fear, their tiredness, and even in their meekness, a resolve is forming. It started quietly….this “no more”. It is building, every day…”No More”. It is growing, still only a whisper….”NO MORE”.

And those who are supposed to lead us, to govern us, to protect us and our rights….they heard a whisper on the wind this week. And how did they respond? By whispering back….”ok, maybe this needs to stop”.

But we don’t want them to whisper. We want them to cry out for us, to pound their fists for us, to rally FOR US, to fight FOR US, to condemn and challenge and stop the madness. For us.

So who will do this? Who will be our champion? Who will fight for what our founding fathers spent 200 years building, and a small group spent months trying to destroy?

Can you contain the chaos you wreaked? Can you put the genie back in the bottle? What will it take? Who will make us safe again, make us America again? Or will we ever be safe again?

Or shall the Meek, quietly growing, become a lion behind the curtain of a voting booth?

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Woman on a Soapbox- a Nation in Crisis

A woman’s perspective on the great nation I grew up in, where we are now, and where we are headed…….

My ex husband suggested years ago that I write a book with this title…..and that was 30 years ago. Our nation was not really in crisis then. At least compared to what is going on now it wasn’t…and now it is time to get on my soapbox.

I used to be, by my own definition, a liberal. I believed in the ability of women to achieve every goal available to a man, break the glass ceiling, in women’s rights, and have many unique or liberal views about a lot of things. I was raised by a very liberal mom, and a more conservative father….but I leaned more to the left than the right. But in the last couple of years, and especially in the last few months, that has changed greatly.

Don’t get me wrong….I consider myself a PROUD American. I believe in the Constitution, the ideals of our founding fathers, and that my country is the greatest civilization the world has ever known. But in the past few years, and especially in the past few months, this country and those in it have become strangers to me. How did we get here? Because lately, we have lost our right to free speech, our right to practice our religion, our right to walk down the street unmolested. We have lost our right to safety and security in our homes, our houses of worship, in our neighborhoods and cities. We have lost the right to be protected from those who did not believe as we did. We have lost…..

Our Sanity.

That is the only answer I have. We have collectively lost our sanity. As if COVID weren’t bad enough, there is something in our nations water. Something that has affected our brains. Because nowhere in MY AMERICA, would vandals and looters be allowed to damage property without consequence. Nowhere in MY COUNTRY would persons be allowed to assault innocent citizens defending their property. And certainly in MY COUNTRY would you be allowed to hurt those people, have your face on camera, and get away with it. In MY AMERICA, if you destroy my home, my business, my safety and my health, you pay the price. In MY AMERICA, our elected officials ensured my rights were protected, and those who violated them were punished.

But I obviously don’t live in MY AMERICA any longer. I now live in a country where a mayor, a governor, can make excuses for those who burned my life’s savings, my life’s work, my business. They tell everyone, OUT LOUD and in public, that these are just frustrated people expressing themselves. Really? But those same people, when the mobs came knocking on their front door, cried for help. Cried for the security they want to abolish.

I feel like I now am living in an episode of the Twilight Zone….I don’t recognize the images I see each day. I don’t recognize my country. I don’t recognize my government.

This is the situation that drove this blog. I don’t do social medial….and it is truly unsafe to be a “visible vocal” today. But I can’t sit here and do nothing…say nothing. And so this blog. I believe with every fiber of my being that one person CAN make a difference. I believe in the power of the pen. I believe in not only having a voice, but USING it. So maybe these words will reach a few. Maybe one or two will share in via venues I don’t venture into. Maybe my pond will ripple far beyond my wildest dreams. Because regardless of my circumstances, I am, and will always be an optimist. So I will write. Each day, based on what I see and hear and feel deeply about. Because we cannot stay silent. We are a nation in crisis….and silence is deadly.

My Body, My Choice My Freedom

I have chosen not to receive the COVID vaccine. This decision is not based, as some have insinuated, on my political beliefs. It is not based on “misinformation”….it is based on how I have made all the decisions in my life. I observe, I educate myself, I listen, and I think through the pros and cons. I trust my instincts after I have finished this process. And my gut tells me not to get this vaccine. I don’t trust it, I don’t trust those telling me I need it, and I certainly don’t trust anything that is being forced down my throat.

The call to arms, “My body, my choice” used to be seen as coming from liberal, right wing women. It was a mantra about birth control and the right to decide whether or not to fulfill a pregnancy. It became a major platform for one political party in the 80s and 90s.

Now, that same call…that same ideology, has become a bullseye for bullying, for determining where I can go, whether or not I can receive an education, or whether or not I am considered worthy to know or hire. By the same political party that used that phrase to win elections for decades.

Let me clear……I am a well educated, well spoken, independent woman. I think for myself and have never bent to someone else’s beliefs or views. I believe strongly in our Constitution, and I believe in the common good. And I used to believe the rights laid out in our founding documents were solid.

But they are not invincible. They must be protected and upheld and fought for. I have the right to speak, even of you don’t agree with my words. In fact, the exchange of words and ideas by different points of view helped found our country and is one of our core strengths. But now, I don’t have the right to say what I think. Different points of view are no longer valued. I don’t have the freedom to even use the written word…..they are now seeking to censure my texts and posts and tweets.

And now they are saying it’s NOT my body and my choice. That if they are wrong and I have a complication to a vaccine that is still being tested on millions of willing subjects, well…. it’s for the greater good. My life and health, if damaged or extinguished, was a small price to pay. And those freedoms we all used to enjoy as Americans? White privilege and nothing more.

The End of America as We Know It

Frustrated people stormed the Capitol yesterday….and they have been vilified for that. But those that are crying foul are the same people who just months ago were justifying the looting and burning of businesses….the beating to death of innocent people trying to protect their livelihood. Kamala Harris stated that the rioting of the fall would not and should not stop. Nancy Pelosi commented “people will do what they do”.

Protests and the right to do so are part of the freedoms we enjoy in America. Do I justify the destruction of property….or more importantly for the loss of life? No, I do not. But I also find the hypocrisy despicable. BLM stormed the Capitol and stayed a week. Trump supporters left DC last night. What was the difference? The only difference….the big difference….is that if you loot, burn, destroy, beat and even kill…..but it helps the far lefts agenda, it is acceptable behavior. If it is a group supporting the one President who will probably go down as the most vilified man ever to hold that office….that group is considered far worse.

Those who think that Antifa and BLM actions this last summer and fall were justified now have the power to change everything this country stands for. Right now they are saying that if yesterday’s group was a BLM group, they would have been gassed, arrested or killed and Biden is furious about that. But yesterday, people WERE gassed, arrested and killed. So banging your fist against a podium crying foul is ludicrous.