Dwain Northey (Gen X)

It seems that the 21st century has become full of tipping points especially in the last few years, Political, Economic, Climate, you name it we appear to be on the preface to catastrophe on multiple fronts.

In the first half of the 20th century, the world reeled from one shock to another: World War I, the Spanish flu, communist revolutions, a Great Depression characterized by rival trade blocs, and a global geopolitical crisis generated by the Axis powers that resulted in World War II.

The question is do we set ourselves up for trauma and drama at the onset of a new century, is this a historic pattern? The early 19^th century had America as a fledgling nation coming out of a Revolutionary War and the Great Expansion, so maybe it isn’t coincidence that every 100 years or so we find ourselves in some predicament.

The tipping point that I am most concerned about now besides the rise of authoritarians is the climate. The falsity that permeates the discussion of ‘climate change’, ‘global warming’ or whatever you want to call it is that we are killing the planet. Earth is estimated to be 4.54 billion years old, plus or minus about 50 million years. This planet has survived through a multitude of ice ages and heat ups, asteroid collisions and it is still here. We on the other hand are a minor blip in the history of this third planet that circles the star closest to us, the spinning water filled planet will be here with or without the pesky species that currently thinks itself to be master of all they survey. We are not killing the planet we are shortening the period of time that this spinning cosmic rock provides an environment that our fragile life forms can survive on it. If we want to continue to have a home, we, collectively, need to solve the problem we created.

Tipping points are possible at today’s global warming of just over 1 °C (1.8 °F) above preindustrial times, and highly probable above 2 °C (3.6 °F) of global warming. The geological record shows many abrupt changes that suggest tipping points may have been crossed in ancient times. Artificial intelligence models provide new evidence our planet will cross the global warming threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius within 10 to 15 years. Even with low emissions, we could see 2 C of warming.

The potential future effects of global climate change include more frequent wildfires, longer periods of drought in some regions, and an increase in the wind intensity and rainfall from tropical cyclones. Future changes are expected to include a warmer atmosphere, a warmer and more acidic ocean, higher sea levels, and larger changes in precipitation patterns. Scientists predict that melting sea ice and glaciers, as well as the fact that warmer water expands in volume, could cause sea levels to rise as much as 3.61 feet by the end of the century, should we fail to curb emissions.

All this being said, the goal of creating renewable sources of energy is more urgent than ever. Mankind has proven itself to be resourceful, but in recent history has also proved itself to be lackadaisical because of our current level of comfort. When we had to fight to survive, we proved as a species to be industrious and inventive, the downside was that with every improvement we made it made us more comfortable and thus lazy because the struggle didn’t seem real. The struggle for our kids and grand kids is going to get real and really fast, we need to get out of our comfort zone and use the big brains that we brag about having and find a way to solve the problems that our parents and grandparents created unintentionally while they were trying to provide a better future for us.

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

The polarization of our political environment has become toxic and the reason that I can surmise for that is the words that are used and the emphasis or ignorance of context.

In 2016 Hilary Clinton called Trump and his fervent legions ‘A Basket of Deplorables’, we all remember that statement that to the MAGA minority was paramount a literal slap in the face. “How dare Clinton refer to a group as deplorable?”  The exact quote was, “You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic—you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.” The MAGA media did not specify the groups that Cliton was labeling as deplorable, their reporting was that all Trump supporters were Deplorable. Pure case of emphasizing the comment and ignoring the context. I don’t know about you, but the groups Clinton specified I believe are truly Deplorable and I am sure that I could throw a few more into the bucket.

Also, in 2016 when Hilary lost the Electoral College but won the popular vote, republicans told democrats that we should just get over it we lost. In 2020 Trump lost by a sizable margin in both the Electoral Collage and the popular vote the cry went out that the election was rigged and stolen and 3 years later we are still hearing about it. What happened to ‘you lost get over it’?

Snowflake is another word that has been bandied about Republicans calling anyone who disagrees with them Snowflakes. This is rich considering that the group telling everyone else they are snowflakes cries foul at the slightest mention of anything that bruises their delicate sensibilities, to include challenging their belief that everyone should have a gun (unless your black, Muslim or Hispanic), that democrats want to abort babies after they are born, or that the fetus has more rights than the woman carrying it. It is sacrilege to challenge them…

Now let’s talk about the language Trump is deliberately using in his stum speeches. Trump told a rally in New Hampshire on Saturday he would “root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections.” This dangerous rhetoric is barely being mentioned and if you say something to a Trump supporter that immediately say, ‘1^st Amendment, he has a right to say it.’

I want to get this straight, when Hilary called specific groups Deplorable that was high treason, but Trump can label all democrats as vermin and that is his 1^st amendment right. Seems to me that that MAGA Mighty are the Snowflakes. Now why is the Verim comment triggering, some are asking. Well because the dehumanizing comment comes straight out of the authoritarian playbook. Hitler commonly referred to the Jewish people are Vermin and Mussolini use the same rhetoric in WWII. The practice of dehumanizing opposition is a common wartime method of subjugation of one’s perceived enemy, and that is exactly what the Mango Menace is attempting to achieve.

It is now surprise that when anyone, including media, points out the correlation to Hitler language in Trumps speeches are immediately labeled as Snowflakes.

I wish I was making this shit up… I really do.   

Dwain Northey (Gen X) repost from April 2023

A system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.

Great concept, right? We tout ourselves to be a great Democracy but is that the honest truth. I thinks some of our population is really trying to live up to that lofty objective while in recent times its been a , my way or nothing, stalemate situation.

There are intellectuals out in the world that assert the democracy isn’t a viable system and has inherent flaws.

Disadvantages of Democracy

• Preference to Quantity. The focus is on quantity rather than quality. …
• Incompetency. Democracies are governed by incapable people. …
• Based on Unnatural Equality. Democracy is founded on equality. …
• Influenced Sides in Democracy. …
• Misuse of Resources. …
• Corruption. …
• Conflict of Choices. …
• Less Participation.

Arguments against democracy

• Changes in leaders contribute to instability.
• Just political conflict, no place for morality.
• Consulting more individuals contributes to delays.
• Ordinary people are unaware of what’s good for them.
• Contributes to corruption.

Looking at all these reasons many would conclude that the political system of democracy is a failed experiment and we should go back to having a Monarch or an Autocratic system where the best and brightest would make all the right decisions and everyone would be happy. Wow what a utopia that would be. (I say sarcastically)

In China that has a unitary executive that proclaimed himself President for life asserts that 91% see their government as trustworthy as compared to the U.S. where that number is only 38%. That seems insane on it face, the fact that the Chinese government leaves out is that that 91% was of  36,000 people polled in a country that has a population 1.14 billion people that is a .00000032% of their people. Not such a lofty number when you see it like that.

100% of polled think I am the greatest guy I ever… the poll was me and my dog. See how that doesn’t mean a damn thing.

Really the founding principle if any democracy is freedom.

• Thought
• Religion
• Self determination

The current U.S. republican party proclaims that they are the party of freedom, well unless they collectively disagree with your freedom or it offends them on some moral or theological level. So yes they believe in the freedom to enforce their philosophy and or morals on you but that freedom is one sided… sorry that doesn’t sound like a freedom or a democracy to me.

I am the first to admit that democracy is messy and frustrating at times, when there are to many cooks in the kitchen things always get messy. We have proved in the past that when pushed we can come together and do what is best for all not just some. As a nation some thing have to change for the will of the people to again be the standard because now there are to many entrenched life time politicians pulling the string and far to many of them are controlled by big monied interests.

Currently huge percentages of the population are for safe abortions, restricting certain types of weapons and ammunition, marriage equality, moving forward on clean energy, any number of things but there are 100 senators and 435 congress people that we have entrusted to push forward those things. Unfortunately to many of them are owned by corporate interest and are steeped in their personal ideology to care what the majority of the public that elected them want.

Go back to the foundation a government of the people and by the people, not the one that we have now that is controlled by the big donations of corporations. Take the church out of government as the founders intended and if the church insists on preaching political doctrine from the pulpit then they can contribute to the tax base instead of being a welfare recipient of it.

I truly believe that mankind can solve any problem that it faces even if we are the ones that created the problem. I believe that Americans can get back to a place that we can collectively govern ourselves and be an example to others that yearn to govern themselves. Democracy is messy but it is better than the alternative. You have the right to vote, the right to protest, the right to elect representatives that will stand up for what is best for this nation, and if you don’t see anyone who you believe can do it, guess what you have the right to run for office and be the change you desire. This is America you currently have all these rights please participate so that you don’t lose them.    

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

I completely understand that there is a lot of information and misinformation out there and filtering through it is daunting for many. I have come to realize that there are many that are blissfully ignorant and have, because of their ignorance, even misconstrued timelines.

I had a conversation with these individuals, and they had many basic facts twisted, I did not berate only took a few minutes to clarify a few facts that they had stated. Their first point of timeline disorientation was that President Obama got is into Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11 and that Trump ended the conflict and pull U.S. troops out of the region. I had to correct his timeline by asserting that G.W. Bush was President after 9/11 and was the impetus for send U.S. troops to Iraq and Afghanistan and it was President Biden that actually pull the troops out of the region. They still believed that Trump was the hero in that scenario but had to admit that Obama couldn’t have been responsible since he didn’t become President until 2008 and we invaded Iraq in 2001.

Their rational for supporting Trump was because they had received a stimulus check from Trump and no other President had done that. They were under the assumption that because Trumps signature was on the check that he had personally sent every person that check out of his own money. I had to clarify that the check came from the U.S. Treasury, and it was in reality the Democratic House and 50/50 Senate that approve the stimulus because of the covid pandemic, Trump insisted on his signature being on the check, which was something no President has ever done. I had to ask how many checks they had received and the amounts, all they stated was that they got one check but couldn’t remember the amount. Didn’t say this out loud but thought that the amount was inconsequential, but the marketing move that Trump insisted on signing the checks was the indelible image that this and many other low information voters remembered.

I gave them some more information and websites to look up because they were convinced that the U.S. economy was in free fall that the inflation rate was through the roof and based on Trump rhetoric only, he has the acumen to solve the economic puzzle. I did have time to go into the numbers mostly because I was sure if I told them that GDP was 4.9% and inflation was 3.7% that that would not be anything they could comprehend.

I have a suggestion, when you run into a low information voter don’t berate them, listen to them, and gently introduce them to the facts. The person I was talking with didn’t get angry or tell me I was lying, they actually thanked me for setting some facts straight. I hope that they look at the websites I gave them and talk to their peer group and set the record straight. All we can do is speak the truth and hope that it can pierce through the noise.  

Now get out there and just talk to people some may actually listen.

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

I have always been taught, whether it be through the military or martial arts even basic business training that one alone can be easily broken but many together are far less likely to break.

Some people have a distorted view of strength and/or power. I am talking about those that think that they alone can accomplish any task. That is one level of narcissistic confidence. Then there are those that don’t need help or assistance in accomplishing things but only they can do those things, there is no other person that can do what they do. That may be true in some artistic endeavors, there wasn’t another that, at the time, could do the things on a guitar that Eddie VanHalen could do but that was primarily because no other guitarist had thought of doing the things he introduced into the genre.

I am not talking about specialized talents that I have no doubt that some exceptional individuals possess. I am in this instance referring to the Orange Menace that is trying again to ascend to the Presidency. In recent campaign events the wannabe and former commander in chief has said that we are heading for WWIII and only he can keep us from going over that cliff. “I alone can keep us out of another world war, I can easily do it… no one else can.” This is the same guy that praises Putin, Kim Jun Un, Victor Orban, Xi Jinping, “These are very STRONG leaders, their people know that they are in charge and don’t question it.” Donald wants the United States to be under Authoritarian rule with him has supreme leader. The Republicans 2025 project has outline how they want to bring our government all under the Executive branch and all functions of government under the unitary executive.

I guess that none of the people that want one man, one rule has looked at how that has turned out in the past. We put Sadam Husain in power in Iraq, he made himself the Unitary Executive, the country had ‘elections’ but those were rigged to keep Sadam in power. Then one day he pushed too far and was taken down for his actions. Putin has made himself leader, pretty much, for life by rigging ‘elections’ or outright assassinating the opposition. Fidel Castro made himself leader and destroyed Cuba because he alone knew what was best, even to the point of telling farmers what could grow, not listening to the same farmers that told him that those particular crops would not grow. Some of these governments lasted for a while but in the not-so-distant past most Authoritarian leaders led their countries to war and ruin.

Donald sees the trapping of power, the palaces, the riches that can be absconded from the people. He wants people to adore him and if they don’t, he wants them to fear him. Donny Dumb Ass does not or know how to lead or govern and has no intention of doing that, he, like the current Trumpublican Party want to Rule. He has never believed, ‘Of many one’, his entire existence has proved that from hiring people to do a job then refusing to pay them, starting charities, and stealing from them. This is what we can look forward to if Donald were to regain the Presidency.

The preamble to the constitution says, “We the People”, it does not put into power a Unitary Executive. Our constitution lays out 3 branches of government, legislative, executive, and judicial as checks and balance against one another. This system, as flawed as it has been. has lasted for nearly 250 years and has proven ‘better’ than other systems. Let’s continue to show Strength and Power as “WE” and not devolve into “ME”. Of Many One… has always worked because when one falls there are many to continue. If it is only One and that One falls the whole system falls.

Thanks for putting up with another rambling rant.