Thank you for this thoughtful and reflective essay. Yes, as President Kennedy said “we do .. some things … not because they are easy but because they are hard” and thank you for the reference to Michael Luttig’s essay and not starting your piece with “happy” 4th of July.
While the 4th holds significant emotional value for your family, for the rest of the country, not so much...
We have become the country we fought a Cold War against...masked secret police, surveilling citizens, kidnappings in broad daylight, building Gulags, jailing political enemies, accepting of corruption, no due process, a bought and paid for Supreme Court, and freedoms disappearing daily.
The anti-government project Reagan started is now complete under Trump...it is no longer of the people, by the people, and for the people, it is now of the corporation, for the corporation, by the corporation. This is why national pride dies...what's theer to be proud of?
The government is not the people. Trump and the MAGA crowd parrot the line that he received a mandate. The margins in the swing states were narrow. The majority in both houses of Congress is narrow. There are still federal judges working to uphold the rule of law.
I am no Pollyanna. What is happening now is vile and getting worse. But what will not end the shitshow is handwringing or giving up and giving in.
The flag and the anthem are mine as much as anyone else’s and I am not going to surrender to a third rate reality television performer and the puppet masters to whose tune he dances for the sake of the applause and the profit and the appearance of power.
Handwringing...not a chamce...we have become fairly close to being the Soviet Union of the 1970s...and unlike the Russians, the voters had a choice...they chose a convicted felon with no morals and no ethics...why did that happen? Because a small majority of uninformed, uneducated, aggrieved white people wanted their revenge...they are already discovering what the words "Buyer's Remorse" means...they bought the lies, they will suffer like the rest of the country...all of this is factual...me, I'm set for life, however, I despise the "I got mine" selfish bullshit that permeates my generation...we, the boomers, have fucked this country to no end...it will take decades to unfuck it...
Sadly, it was more than a matter of a small majority of uneducated white people. There was an increase in support of the GOP by demographic segments other than white people who felt aggrieved and ignored. Then there were the people eligible to vote who did not vote. And large donations (see, e.g. Musk) have an impact, and the fecklessness of the “legacy media” and horse race mindset of reporting. Add the pathetic campaign run by Bob Casey and some others. We need to look at and address all the whys and start addressing them, while we may still do so.
I won't address Citizens United, I want to see everyone of the 535 whores under the capitol dressed in jumpsuits, with patches representing who owns their soul. Our political system needs enema ...trust me, I'm a boomer and the boomers put this shithead in office. Part of it is a propaganda machine known as fux news. We live in the post truth era where your feelings matter more than the truth. The average magat has the attention of a fruit fly. Boomers are dying at about 10K a day, so by the next election there will be about 2.5M less magats, the low birth rate ensures there isn't anone to replace them as an eligible voter for at least another cycle. The other fools who voted against their own self interests will most likely blame everyone but themselves. One thing about magats, the have no mirrors and no shame in their souls.
An old retired soldier and professor, I did my PT around sunrise and then saluted the U.S. and Army flags on my flagpole. That will be my patriotism for the day. I'm furious at all those that are violating their oaths in willing servitude to this Trump/MAGA/America First BS. They aren't patriots, they're traitors! Their vision for this country is corrupt and perverse. "To protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, both foreign and domestic." Trump and his MAGAts are domestic enemies.
Our leaders have betrayed us, lured by riches and power. All three branches have sold out to greed for the almighty dollar. Our national slogan seems to have become “I’ve got mine so to hell with you”. It’s up to us, the citizens, to save this country and ourselves.
After what happened yesterday with the passing of the “Authoritarian Takeover Bill”, our best chance of stopping the wholesale takeover of our democracy and our country is if the suffering caused by this budget on those who didn’t vote or voted for trump can overpower their apathy.
Look inside yourselves- find where your strength comes from. Care for those around you. Just because this regime wants to starve the weakest does not mean we must let it happen ❤️❤️❤️
it is not a question of letting it happen, it is a question of what outcome do you want? Since 1980 the goal of the right has been to kill the government (drown it in a bathtub). Some would prefer not to draw that arc from there to where we are today. As I said i dedicated my entire adult live defending this nation and its constitution, for what? To see this country become what it claimed to fight? Good intentions don't matter these days. The country just abandoned its principles and has decided to abandon close 15% of the population.
After reading that poem I am relieved to see the author of both posts is you.
We are a quandry sometimes measuring the left or sometimes the right.
Let’s not measure.
Let’s pick the best way we can be and do it with gusto!!! Let others see that it is good to push for the good (I am assuming we are for a version of good)😊
I’ve been thinking just like you since 1995 when I was a fourth grade teacher who discovered fascists had taken over our schools and everyone else around me was acting exactly like these representatives and senators are acting - loyal to the administrators rather than concerned we were stealing education from society.
So I organized other teachers like me all over this country so we could stop it. Since 2002 we’ve been crying out at WhiteChalkCrime.com and EndTeacherAbuse.org and only a handful pay attention - not the media and not the politicians from either party.
Fascists know human nature. They know fear is more powerful than love. So all they had to do was get people to disrespect teachers so they won’t listen to them and then build power that steamrolls anyone in their way. They figured out a way to get most people to lose faith in both parties that allowed education, our great leveler, to be stolen from us. That’s what paved the way for Trump.
You’re so correct about what’s happening. The problem is even wonderful people like you don’t listen to people like me once power builds in a direction against us. Despite warning we were going to lose democracy for thirty years, I’ve been voiceless. That’s what fascists do. The secret for keeping them powerless is education. That’s why they started there.
However, their secret could become our power if we spread the word since we still can take back the schools by running for school boards in groups of four on a save democracy platform. I wrote a memoir of my teaching days, A Graver Danger, so people can understand education enough to take it back. I priced it low so it will get read; its price does not reflect its worth! It includes a plan to fix our schools once the good people get back into power. Reform hasn’t worked since the power-mongers who’ve hijacked them haven’t wanted our schools to work!
The proof that it all started in our schools is this: only morons would fall for Trump. We’ve become a nation of morons thanks to our corrupt schools.
You don’t have to just take it from me, a passionate educator. Abraham Lincoln had warned, "The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next."
It absolutely is! It’s all about who has the power. If you help the whistleblowing teachers gain power, we the people will gain power.
We’ve just watched our Congress capitulate. That’s what scared people do. That’s what our teachers did. That’s what our teachers’ unions did. It’s time to fix what we can fix by getting on school boards no matter your age, no matter if you have children since this destruction of our democracy all started in our schools, the foundation of our democracy.
I’m not watching parades or fireworks today. I’m spending the day figuring out how I can get more people to read my book and learn how we can get citizenship back and end violent competition when we live in a time in which only celebrities have a voice.
Tell her to join our group at EndTeacherAbuse.org. We have thousands of members and I help them network with others if they request. It’s really depressing without support.
Thanks you Olivia: Happy July 4 to you and mom. Send my regards to mom , happy anniversary Just know that heavy weight in your soul is been felt and carried with you by the multitudes that care and love you. My heart aches for your beautiful vibrant nation. The misery and despair that this Big deadly Bill brings to the millions is abhorrent. The disdain this present administration has for the hard working immigrants and citizen is sickening. Give no quarter to this apathetic loathsome cabal of vipers in the White House and the Heritage Foundation. Mr. Russell Vought , Peter Thiel , Scott Bessent ,JD Vance and all the other authors of this document of death to a nation. Trump is just the stooge of the Foundation. When 2025 is in full gear they will most likely kick him to the curb and instill JD Vance the man Peter Thiel bankrolled. Also the fact that Pete Hegseth has stopped sending arms to Ukraine has caused me grave concern. God Speed.
I believe in the highest standards of behavior available to humankind. Give love. Don’t model your behavior to this dictator. Watch for people you can help. Do what you can. Meditate to find that kindest part of your soul that is there❤️❤️❤️❤️
Today I hoisted our American flag on its perch next to the front door to honor those who have fought and sacrificed to preserve our freedoms and to make our country a less imperfect version of the ideals upon which it was founded. I am observing Independence Day but am not feeling in the mood to celebrate as in years past. America’s position as a global superpower resulted from the contributions of generations of immigrants and decades of cooperation with nations who largely shared our values as memorably expressed in the preamble to the Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
Recently I’ve spent too much time dwelling on the loss of meaning in the phrase “we hold these truths to be self-evident” when millions of our fellow citizens believe that an election was stolen and that an insurrection was “patriotic”. We live in a country where alternative facts compete with objective reality. And we live in a country where “all men are created equal” is aspirational for some and to be denied by others. What I’m taking away from Olivia’s Independence Day post is that the part of the preamble that we need to focus on now is the right of the People to institute new government based on the foundational principles. Thanks for reading!
Thank you for this thoughtful and reflective essay. Yes, as President Kennedy said “we do .. some things … not because they are easy but because they are hard” and thank you for the reference to Michael Luttig’s essay and not starting your piece with “happy” 4th of July.
Agree. We have “hard things to do”. Thanks for sharing, even though this is not a happy day.
❤️❤️❤️
While the 4th holds significant emotional value for your family, for the rest of the country, not so much...
We have become the country we fought a Cold War against...masked secret police, surveilling citizens, kidnappings in broad daylight, building Gulags, jailing political enemies, accepting of corruption, no due process, a bought and paid for Supreme Court, and freedoms disappearing daily.
The anti-government project Reagan started is now complete under Trump...it is no longer of the people, by the people, and for the people, it is now of the corporation, for the corporation, by the corporation. This is why national pride dies...what's theer to be proud of?
Freedom is an illusion in this country.
My forty years in the IC are for naught...
The government is not the people. Trump and the MAGA crowd parrot the line that he received a mandate. The margins in the swing states were narrow. The majority in both houses of Congress is narrow. There are still federal judges working to uphold the rule of law.
I am no Pollyanna. What is happening now is vile and getting worse. But what will not end the shitshow is handwringing or giving up and giving in.
The flag and the anthem are mine as much as anyone else’s and I am not going to surrender to a third rate reality television performer and the puppet masters to whose tune he dances for the sake of the applause and the profit and the appearance of power.
Handwringing...not a chamce...we have become fairly close to being the Soviet Union of the 1970s...and unlike the Russians, the voters had a choice...they chose a convicted felon with no morals and no ethics...why did that happen? Because a small majority of uninformed, uneducated, aggrieved white people wanted their revenge...they are already discovering what the words "Buyer's Remorse" means...they bought the lies, they will suffer like the rest of the country...all of this is factual...me, I'm set for life, however, I despise the "I got mine" selfish bullshit that permeates my generation...we, the boomers, have fucked this country to no end...it will take decades to unfuck it...
Sadly, it was more than a matter of a small majority of uneducated white people. There was an increase in support of the GOP by demographic segments other than white people who felt aggrieved and ignored. Then there were the people eligible to vote who did not vote. And large donations (see, e.g. Musk) have an impact, and the fecklessness of the “legacy media” and horse race mindset of reporting. Add the pathetic campaign run by Bob Casey and some others. We need to look at and address all the whys and start addressing them, while we may still do so.
I won't address Citizens United, I want to see everyone of the 535 whores under the capitol dressed in jumpsuits, with patches representing who owns their soul. Our political system needs enema ...trust me, I'm a boomer and the boomers put this shithead in office. Part of it is a propaganda machine known as fux news. We live in the post truth era where your feelings matter more than the truth. The average magat has the attention of a fruit fly. Boomers are dying at about 10K a day, so by the next election there will be about 2.5M less magats, the low birth rate ensures there isn't anone to replace them as an eligible voter for at least another cycle. The other fools who voted against their own self interests will most likely blame everyone but themselves. One thing about magats, the have no mirrors and no shame in their souls.
"...it is now of the corporation, for the corporation, by the corporation."
And that is exactly what fascism is!
You are so right pj.
An old retired soldier and professor, I did my PT around sunrise and then saluted the U.S. and Army flags on my flagpole. That will be my patriotism for the day. I'm furious at all those that are violating their oaths in willing servitude to this Trump/MAGA/America First BS. They aren't patriots, they're traitors! Their vision for this country is corrupt and perverse. "To protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, both foreign and domestic." Trump and his MAGAts are domestic enemies.
Thank you Olivia! 🇺🇸❤️
Our leaders have betrayed us, lured by riches and power. All three branches have sold out to greed for the almighty dollar. Our national slogan seems to have become “I’ve got mine so to hell with you”. It’s up to us, the citizens, to save this country and ourselves.
You described Lisa Murkowski perfectly in that statement.
We can love our country while abhorring the actions of the regime in power. RESIST like the original revolutionaries.
After what happened yesterday with the passing of the “Authoritarian Takeover Bill”, our best chance of stopping the wholesale takeover of our democracy and our country is if the suffering caused by this budget on those who didn’t vote or voted for trump can overpower their apathy.
Look inside yourselves- find where your strength comes from. Care for those around you. Just because this regime wants to starve the weakest does not mean we must let it happen ❤️❤️❤️
it is not a question of letting it happen, it is a question of what outcome do you want? Since 1980 the goal of the right has been to kill the government (drown it in a bathtub). Some would prefer not to draw that arc from there to where we are today. As I said i dedicated my entire adult live defending this nation and its constitution, for what? To see this country become what it claimed to fight? Good intentions don't matter these days. The country just abandoned its principles and has decided to abandon close 15% of the population.
After reading that poem I am relieved to see the author of both posts is you.
We are a quandry sometimes measuring the left or sometimes the right.
Let’s not measure.
Let’s pick the best way we can be and do it with gusto!!! Let others see that it is good to push for the good (I am assuming we are for a version of good)😊
I’ve been thinking just like you since 1995 when I was a fourth grade teacher who discovered fascists had taken over our schools and everyone else around me was acting exactly like these representatives and senators are acting - loyal to the administrators rather than concerned we were stealing education from society.
So I organized other teachers like me all over this country so we could stop it. Since 2002 we’ve been crying out at WhiteChalkCrime.com and EndTeacherAbuse.org and only a handful pay attention - not the media and not the politicians from either party.
Fascists know human nature. They know fear is more powerful than love. So all they had to do was get people to disrespect teachers so they won’t listen to them and then build power that steamrolls anyone in their way. They figured out a way to get most people to lose faith in both parties that allowed education, our great leveler, to be stolen from us. That’s what paved the way for Trump.
You’re so correct about what’s happening. The problem is even wonderful people like you don’t listen to people like me once power builds in a direction against us. Despite warning we were going to lose democracy for thirty years, I’ve been voiceless. That’s what fascists do. The secret for keeping them powerless is education. That’s why they started there.
However, their secret could become our power if we spread the word since we still can take back the schools by running for school boards in groups of four on a save democracy platform. I wrote a memoir of my teaching days, A Graver Danger, so people can understand education enough to take it back. I priced it low so it will get read; its price does not reflect its worth! It includes a plan to fix our schools once the good people get back into power. Reform hasn’t worked since the power-mongers who’ve hijacked them haven’t wanted our schools to work!
The proof that it all started in our schools is this: only morons would fall for Trump. We’ve become a nation of morons thanks to our corrupt schools.
You don’t have to just take it from me, a passionate educator. Abraham Lincoln had warned, "The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next."
It absolutely is! It’s all about who has the power. If you help the whistleblowing teachers gain power, we the people will gain power.
We’ve just watched our Congress capitulate. That’s what scared people do. That’s what our teachers did. That’s what our teachers’ unions did. It’s time to fix what we can fix by getting on school boards no matter your age, no matter if you have children since this destruction of our democracy all started in our schools, the foundation of our democracy.
I’m not watching parades or fireworks today. I’m spending the day figuring out how I can get more people to read my book and learn how we can get citizenship back and end violent competition when we live in a time in which only celebrities have a voice.
I’m going to share this with my daughter. She was a teacher in California. She will admire what you said here!❤️❤️❤️
Tell her to join our group at EndTeacherAbuse.org. We have thousands of members and I help them network with others if they request. It’s really depressing without support.
Thanks you Olivia: Happy July 4 to you and mom. Send my regards to mom , happy anniversary Just know that heavy weight in your soul is been felt and carried with you by the multitudes that care and love you. My heart aches for your beautiful vibrant nation. The misery and despair that this Big deadly Bill brings to the millions is abhorrent. The disdain this present administration has for the hard working immigrants and citizen is sickening. Give no quarter to this apathetic loathsome cabal of vipers in the White House and the Heritage Foundation. Mr. Russell Vought , Peter Thiel , Scott Bessent ,JD Vance and all the other authors of this document of death to a nation. Trump is just the stooge of the Foundation. When 2025 is in full gear they will most likely kick him to the curb and instill JD Vance the man Peter Thiel bankrolled. Also the fact that Pete Hegseth has stopped sending arms to Ukraine has caused me grave concern. God Speed.
Thank you Olivia for your thoughtful and important words and comments about the true importance and value of this day.
I believe in the highest standards of behavior available to humankind. Give love. Don’t model your behavior to this dictator. Watch for people you can help. Do what you can. Meditate to find that kindest part of your soul that is there❤️❤️❤️❤️
Today I hoisted our American flag on its perch next to the front door to honor those who have fought and sacrificed to preserve our freedoms and to make our country a less imperfect version of the ideals upon which it was founded. I am observing Independence Day but am not feeling in the mood to celebrate as in years past. America’s position as a global superpower resulted from the contributions of generations of immigrants and decades of cooperation with nations who largely shared our values as memorably expressed in the preamble to the Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
Recently I’ve spent too much time dwelling on the loss of meaning in the phrase “we hold these truths to be self-evident” when millions of our fellow citizens believe that an election was stolen and that an insurrection was “patriotic”. We live in a country where alternative facts compete with objective reality. And we live in a country where “all men are created equal” is aspirational for some and to be denied by others. What I’m taking away from Olivia’s Independence Day post is that the part of the preamble that we need to focus on now is the right of the People to institute new government based on the foundational principles. Thanks for reading!
Someone should set up a GoFundMe to raise $5,000,000 to by a citizenship, gold card for a random person in an internment camp.
This would highlight the absolute absurdity of all of this in a way that is undeniable.
Beautifully written, and such a moving narrative for July 4th
Thank you Olivia for this wonderful important message. Your words have given me a bit of strength on a day that I don’t have much🩵
Nicely written. You are an amazing person and so are your parents. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree😉.