I’m sure we’ve all seen the meme, these last few days. More or less it seems wanting Don Trump and his administration to fail is equivalent to being Al Qaidi, at least to some people.
Tonight this was my response.
There's a meme going around right now that goes, more or less, rooting for Don Trump to fail is like rooting for your pilot to crash your plane. I've seen it posted by people I respect, people I like, even people I love.
Nonetheless I'll make this clear: I want Don Trump to fail.
It's not because I don't love America. I don't want the plane to crash. For me...and millions like me...it's more like we're trying to prevent a crazed pilot from deliberately crashing. We don't like our chances but we have to try.
Pretty much everything he wants to do I consider bad for the United States of Ame/rica.
Repeal the Affordable Care Act, denying tens of millions of people access to real health care. I'm one of them. It's not charity. I pay premiums just like you do; probably pretty close to the ones you pay.
I don't believe in repeal and replace. If they had a replacement plan they'd have offered it years ago. At best they'll offer junk insurance that offers a fraction of the coverage. I passed on those worthless plans for years and took my chances. Multiply me by 30 million.
They want to dismantle Medicare. Medicare has done more to reduce poverty among the elderly than even Social Security. Block grants to buy insurance will not even begin to replace the system.
Nor will these moves do anything to control health care costs which the ACA, whether you care to admit it or not, has done.
When he's done with the ACA and Medicare, Social Security will be the next on the chopping block. They don't want to replace the money taken from the trust fund for decades; they'd rather finance more tax cuts for the wealthy.
Trump's talked of dismantling NATO. NATO has kept the peace in Europe for over half a century. In the first half of the last century two European wars claimed over 100 million lives. Their has been no repeat since.
The mutual defense clause of the NATO pact has been invoked exactly once. Who were we rushing off to defend? No one. Our allies invoked it after 9/11, when we were attacked.
For generations Soviet and Russian leaders have dreamed of destabilizing NATO. Now Trump talks about doing it for them.
He wants to defund Planned Parenthood AND end access to safe and legal abortion for women in the United States. Right now abortion rates are lower than they've been in decades. Why? Because of groups like Planned Parenthood.
Outlawing abortion won't end abortion. It will only inconvenience the well off, who will still manage to get them undercover and safely. It will endanger the lives of poor women, who will simply turn to whatever means they can.
This is just a small sample, just the tip of an iceberg, but my post is already long. But know it could go on for many, MANY pages.
I learned a long time ago not to conflate the President of the United States with the United States of America. I was still I child on that August night when I discovered the he WAS a crook, and those who stood up to him were heroes.
Frankly, I find it insulting when folks tell me I'm trying to crash the plane because I won't knuckle under, won't quit, won't offer my support...as insignificant a gift as it is...to a man and an administration whose policies I believe will do dramatic harm to our nation.
A President is just a guy we hire to do a job. Most have been adequate. A few have been transcendent. A couple have even been threats to the country.
The United States has, to date, survived all of them. I expect it will survive this one. But I also believe that this time we are really pressing our luck.
Yeah, generally I deal in sarcasm and snark but I've set that all aside here. This is genuinely and deeply how I feel in my heart and why I cannot, will not, join hands with the administration of Don Trump.
I know many of you are deathly sick of my politics. You can tune out, block me, whatever you feel you need to do. I'm not going to carry grudges against people I care about.
There's a reason why, in certain quarters, one of my nicknames was Asshole Dave. And really, I'm fine with that. I have no problem whatsoever with being judged by what I say and do.
I believe our country is in serious trouble and serious danger. I'm not going to talk about it 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. But I'm not going to pretend otherwise either.
Peace.
Keep fighting my friends. Rebellions are built on hope, after all.
