Following the Murderers: Part One

The Means

On the morning after Americans voted [1]  to elect Donald Trump President, I scanned several television and Internet news outlets to get a sense of the nation's reaction. I was a bit surprised myself by the Trump victory, but I realized it didn't matter who won. I was not prepared for the images of chanting protesters, marching demonstrators, and violent rioters [2] in the city streets and university student unions across America.

From New York to Cleveland, Chicago to Seattle, and from Portland all the way down the Pacific coast to San Diego, people were marching, looting, chanting, vandalizing, weeping, shouting, assaulting,  and petting emotional support dogs with a frenzied sense of urgency. At first, I thought the dogs were brought in to protect people from the mentally unhinged mobs. It took me a little while to realize the dogs were there to keep mourners from hydroplaning on tears down sanity's over-lubricated slope. Without the additional emotional traction provided by the dogs, the marching, chanting, weeping mourners would join the looting, vandalizing, assaulting mob.

I felt my grip slipping too. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't watching The Purge or a bizarre synthesis of reality TV show and shaky camera zombie apocalypse film. This was live television news.

Partially disoriented myself, I spoke the question aloud, “Did these people take the things Trump and Clinton said seriously?”

As I Regained my composure I had to reassure myself, “No, it wasn't possible for an educated, free people living in a modern, western democracy to be that stupid. No, it wasn't possible. They would have to be completely ignorant of the last century of American history. Hell, they would have to be completely ignorant of the lessons of history.”

Yet, there they were in all their marching, looting, chanting, vandalizing, weeping, shouting, and frantic emotional support dog petting glory filling the streets of major American metropolises.

My God, they really believed the diatribes, the caustic campaign bravado They honestly bought the barrels of corrosive buffalo dung wantonly distributed by both candidates over the last eighteen months... then chewed and swallowed! Do you know what is wrong with this type of people?

I do.

They are the true believers in an incontrovertibly failed faith. They are the same type who raised their right arms in unison and screamed, ”Heil Hitler!” at the Nuremberg rally in 1938.

They are the same type of people who brought Benny Mussolini to power.

That's right. They believe that government is there to solve their problems for them. Self-centered rage and self-indulgent despair was the human kindling provided by these kind of people. Then, all an aspiring mass murder need do is add a steady blast of hot air to begin the conflagration.

Words of discord lead to acts of discord. As words of war lead to acts of war, and the battle lines are being drawn by partisan politics. Those who divide us by every demographic they can devise [3] benefit from our destruction.

Divide and Conquer!

United we stand?

Divided we are all.

Don't worry, there will be a future, but there is no guarantee it will become a history you will be proud of making.

...the others do something else.

FOOTNOTES and SIDERANTS:

1 - Granted, by the Electoral College vote, rather than the popular vote. The very same Electoral College we've been using for over 200 years. The very same Electoral College which nearly all voters couldn't give a shit about even though it inherently violates the one person, one vote principle which democracy depends upon. Unless, their particular candidate wins the popular vote but still loses the election due to this systemically flawed system, they care! Oh, they care! They deeply and viscerally care for the full length of their attention span, which is roughly fifteen minutes. Then, they immediately revert to not giving a shit, with the exception of a few wacky political blog writers who still care about things like principles.

2 - It looked like a riot, sounded like a riot, and destroyed property like a riot, therefore, I will call it a riot.

3 -  Race, gender, age, income, generation, occupation, geographical location, religious affiliation, pro or con, left or right, republicrat or demopublican, whatever.

Something Wrong

Something has gone terribly wrong with America 

Edward Snowden has been called many things; a hero, a whistleblower, a dissident, and a patriot by those who are being illegally spied upon. He has been labeled a criminal, a fugitive, and a traitor by those doing the illegal spying. His disclosures have raised debates, doubts, and public soul searching over mass surveillance, government secrecy, and the balance between national security and information privacy. The question asked is “Which side of this argument between national security versus personal privacy is right?”

This may come across as Revolutionary, but the People I side with say, "We hold these Truths to be self-evident when one understands who possess Rights and Who Created both Rights and those Endowed with them." I know this sounds like fairly radical ideas I am peddling here, but it's this Principle which separates us from the chaos of...

Jim Sensenbrenner, the co-author of the USA Patriot Act. Along with Assistant Attorney General of the United States Đinh Đồng Phụng Việt, the Honorable(?) Jim Sensenbrenner backdoored the Fourth Amendment with one of the most draconian, sweeping, and far reaching pieces of (s#it) legislation ever signed into U.S. law. The USA Patriot Act has been the (s#it) fertilizer used to grow a bumper crop of legal vagaries which subvert the Fourth Amendment. Thank God we have "patriots" (pronounced: assholes) like “little Jimmy” and “Ding Dong” destroying our Bill of Rights to protect our freedom. Thanks guys, keep up the (s#it) work.

We're not Nuts, We're Screwed!

Have you ever lived through a near death experience. A “gripping the steering wheel, your car is on two wheels, and a semi truck is peeling the paint off the other side of your car” type situation?

After the adrenaline runs its course along with some freshly externalized bodily fluid, you are suddenly overcome with laughter, uncontrollable laughter. Have you ever been there? 

I have.

In that blessed moment, It's good to be alive. No, it's absolutely joyous to be among the living! You would be elated at the thought of a migraine headache because it's so awesome to be alive!

A mere eight minutes to the next rest stop on the road, and we've already forgotten just how wonderful it is to be a sentient being. Yes, no longer is a respiring, masticating, ovulating, or (whatever the male equivalent is) -ing human of the pre-expiration persuasion all things good in the world.

Now, you just need to change your pants. It's cold outside the car, your warm increasingly odoriferous car.  The restrooms looks menacingly dark and adult bookstore dirty, and there's a line. Not just any line, a Soviet era waiting for toilet paper sort of line. You have to stand at the end of this cue as each newcomer asks the same predictable question,”What's with the pants, dude?”

You muddled through some pathetic lie about your daughter's birthday. You don't care if they believe you, and that's for the best because they don't.

A measly eight miles earlier, you were dancing with the angels in the Presence of The Almighty while looking at the world and asking, ”What shall we do with this ball?”

Now, you're reduced to this considerably marginalized position of ignoring hushed rude comments and the obligatory snickers which follow happening right behind your back.

For one brief moment, simply having the next moment of life brought you sudden and profound Enlightenment. Satori!

But now, here, you're best hand at the poker table, your all in moment at the casino, and some freshly-fallen angel holds sway over the turn of the next card. Despair!

I had just such a situation after the results of the 2016 Presidential election were announced.

Thank God Hillary is not our Chief Executive for the next four years. Yes, praise Him for His Hand of Protection over America! Thank you for being this beings God! I am delighted with laughter. I verge on dancing naked before the Lord. I felt like Solomon in all his Wisdom. Satori!

But now, here I realize… Trump! 

Soiled pants. 

Dirty, dark restroom.
Long line.
Snickers.
This sucks!
God help us.
What is that smell

An afterthought:

After sharing such celestial and humiliating experiences with you, I feel there should be some Aesop's Fables moral to this story, and fortunately my feelings haven't led me astray...

America has spoken through her election process: 

"When given only two options, we will prefer the inept over the malevolent."

Hopefully, this will be counted to us as Righteousness.