Lyle Northey (Silent/Boomer)

The 4th of July is nearly here, our nation’s birthday and the symbol of our nation is still being held hostage by a minority of our citizens that claim they represent the stars and stripes more proudly than the rest of us. 

Most societies are complex, they have those that are very conservative and others that are liberal in their outlook. It does not matter what title or name they give to these groups; it still comes down to the idea that the more conservative you are the less likely you are to feel compelled to show interest in your neighbor’s plight. Self-interest is the name of the game, as long as I have what I need you are on your own. Another way to mark the difference is that the conservatives usually are landowners, and the liberals work on the land.

Landowners tend to either view that land as a way to cultivate it and reap the benefits or rape the land and rip out the assets. Either way they are not often generous in sharing the rewards of the enterprise. Our nation was founded by men that owned the land and because of that they had a voice where others did not and a king and the government behind him were doing their best to rip the wealth away from the colonies.

Even after the revolution was over the landowners kept power. They allowed the other men to vote, they just put stop gaps in place to make sure the vote would go the way they wanted to go, it is called the electoral college.  This was put in place to overcome the lack of education of the common man. Even when the practice of slavery ended, they held the power by wanting to give people of color ⅗ of a vote.

Today it is called gerrymandering. Working in the voting districts so that a minority ends up with the majority of the representation. A portion of that group runs around calling themselves patriots, when they in fact do not represent American values, and they defile our national emblem by hanging it on all sorts of vehicles and getting it filthy and allowing it to fly when it is torn and soiled. 

A patriot will answer the call to defend the nation against foreign invaders, a patriot does not take up arms against his neighbor because he does not agree with you about a certain policy, procedure, or law. These differences are the ones we discuss and find mutual ground to settle not threaten or are willing to kill because one or two people didn’t get their way.

We have a huge problem with homelessness, and it is costing us millions of dollars. We have the only country in the world that practices live shooter exercises in our public schools. That is also costing us dearly not only in dollars but in the mental and emotional problems of our youth, our nation’s future. Will someone turn off the dissenting bastard with the microphone and kick his ass out of the building?

A national political party allowed itself to be hijacked and that hijacker used what he has always used to get what he wanted. The more base the language and the more schoolyard bully tactics he could use seemed to fire up some that were never really into politics before and shouldn’t be now. Our political system is dysfunctional and has been since the early 60’s because they put through a rider on a bill that allowed them to make determinations for themselves about wages, health care, retirement, and benefits. They do not need to listen to the voters on any of those issues; it is all in house.

The second time around the bully did not make it back into office, very upsetting as he had hopes of becoming King. At any rate a lot of things happened that should not have happened and our court system, our news establishment, and law enforcement as well as several individuals have ended up with problems that we may not see over and done for quite a long time to come.

We are having armed individuals show up at voting places and what is their purpose? Are they there to help or intimidate voters. If you are uncomfortable with this type of show, then are you going to go vote? Threats, intimidation, and efforts to cast doubt on the voting process need to be treated as you would an armed robbery. Let’s take it a step further and call for disqualification of the candidate that has called for this type of interference. Can you see the blame game going on that issue?

    In leu of having the nation torn apart because of the outcome of an election just bar the person that has already proven himself to be unfit and tell that party to find another qualified candidate or withdraw. Qualified means someone who is actually supportive of the Constitution not out trying to destroy it.

The latest gambit is the one about a news person suggesting that maybe he can get a pardon if he withdraws for the election, and of course, this is out of the question as he is in the fight to protect you. This is the same type of story as the one about running a human bondage center out of the basement of a building that doesn’t have a basement. More hero worship or put me on a pedestal as I am your savior.

Power and the money that hopefully goes with it are the prizes in this game and the country and all the people in it are nothing more than pawns on the chess board.