Lessons From The Atrocities of The Past

I'd like to start by saying that I am a firm believer in justice being served, a staunch supporter of the BLM movement, and think that civil rights are inalienable for ALL people regardless of beliefs, ethnicity, religion, or partner preference. Come to think of it, much of that is common sense and portions of it are nobody's business except for the person that holds the belief. Seriously, when you meet someone in a personal or business setting do you require their ID and a breakdown of how they live their life? I'd wager that to be a "no".

Regardless, currently America is suffering under the thumb of a delusional, wannabe totalitarian that incites hate with every word from his mouth (or keyboard stroke!). Would the riots and police-driven hate crimes have come to the forefront if the COVID-19 pandemic had not happened or if someone actually capable was in office? Maybe not now, but they would have eventually. America is governed under a rigged system that touts "The American Dream" but despite equality laws, leans toward those who already have the privilege.

I recently began watching Game of Thrones. (Yes, I know I'm a couple years late to the party - don't judge!) I'm only in season 2 and it constantly astounds me how much our political system reminds me of this show. Immature, blood-thirsty despot takes theoretical leadership of the country - check. Riots and widespread attempts to oust the idiot from power occur - check. Other regions that think he's a worthless idiot call for his head - check.

Don't get me wrong - Game of Thrones is far more blood-thirsty than current-day politics, but the premises appear to still be the same. Act like a marauding moron only concerned with your own greedy, narcissistic ideals and you will (eventually) lose your position of power.

Did I mention I'm also a total history nerd?

In the realm of history, I believe George Santayana said it best "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." We can absolutely see an example of that when Hitler attempted to invade Russia during the winter - the same fatal mistake that was made by Napoleon 100 years before. Not to say we didn't want them to fail - Both were egotistical dictators and both would have been the downfall of humanity as we know it. (Both would have also probably also been issued presidential pardons for their atrocities by Trump, but that's a different discussion) That being said, attempting to erase American history is not the answer.

There have been many calls recently to rename and remove everything from military bases to statues of the American founding fathers. I absolutely support removal of confederacy-based names and statues from everywhere in this country. We fought a civil war against slavery. They lost. Losers do not get statues. Furthermore, (for those of you that labor under this delusion) the south will not be "rising again" - unless we're discussing summer temperatures.

The confederate flag is to American citizens of color as the nazi swastica is to those of Jewish descent. It is not a symbol of power or nationality - it is a symbol of hate. Get rid of it.

Robert E. Lee may have eventually come to his senses, but point and case he was a leader of the confederate army in the American civil war - you know, the one his side lost. There should not be schools or military bases named for him. There should not be statues in his honor. Things like these are an affront to over half the citizens in this country and there is no amount of "oops, we goofed" that will make that right. Remove and rename!

With regards to the founding fathers and many other American Presidents post-Civil War, we need to remember that while it may not be right or fair, in their time they thought they were doing the best possible job for the nation as a whole. George Washington founded this country under the principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and freed his slaves - and while they were his slaves (because that's just how those times were - same as the serfs in the Middle Ages) treated them as trusted family members.

Harry Truman ascended the presidency into the enormous shoes that were the FDR legacy and he did positive things like expanding Social Security and implementing the 'Fair Deal' which included a full-employment program and a permanent Fair Employment Practices Act that was the groundwork for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which included the creation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Simply attempting to remove these people and others like them from our history is not how to fix our future. LEARNING from all of their mistakes will bring us much farther into the complete equality that should be our future than attempting to erase them from our past.

If it's confederate, make it leave. If it's a symbol of hate, there is no place for it in our country. If it was corrupt, remove it. But, if it's a part of our American history that holds value and paved the road for stronger, more positive change - leave it alone. Our country's history is a tumultuous one and we should strive to learn from the mistakes and atrocities of our past - not unintentionally bring them forward to repeat in the present.

Just my two cents.

~ The Girl In The Little Black Dress

Debating the Annoyance of Political Posturing

So I was watching the presidential debate last night, and a number of thoughts occured to me.  Let me preface my thoughts with the fact that I am a registered INDEPENDENT, meaning that I agree and disagree with entirely too many points on all sides to officially affiliate myself with any one political party.  Personally, I think all of them are rhetoric spouting hypocritical con artists.  That being said, I shall begin .....

Historically speaking, many presidents who are viewed as achieving great things, were opposed, fought against, and ridiculed during their terms as president.  George Washington (Federalist), Abraham Lincoln (Republican), FDR (Democrat), George H.W. Bush (Republican), Bill Clinton (Democrat), are just a few of our past presidents that achieved great things but were opposed by various factions of Congress and other political ideologists while in office.  Under the current economic landscape, I cannot imagine anyone taking office that will not have opposition of some form.  There will be agreements, disagreements, arguments, self-righteous congratulations, and water cooler grumbling gossip on every single issue addressed as we go forward into this next presidential term, no matter who is sitting in the Oval Office.  Additionally, our economy tends to be a "trickle down effect" in itself.  The true effects of changes made to policy and programs put in place aren't actually seen until those changes and programs have run their course for a couple of years at the least.  If you look at it logically, FDR, with his unprecedented 3 consecutive terms, was really the only president that was able to truly see and reap the benefits of his decisions while in office.  While other presidents are credited with certain economic gains or stability, a good portion of what occured while they were in power should actually be, at least in part, credited to their immediate predecessors.

One of the major points that I noticed, and that was pointed out by both candidates, is that both are striving for many of the same ultimate goals.  The lowering of rates for middle income families and small businesses, avoiding adding to the deficit, improvement to healthcare options for everyone ... they both agree that these things should be achieved.  The differences lie in how they each think we should go about achieving these things.  Again, it should be pointed out that the issues in the current economic landscape, and the gains that have been and will be made going forward over the next 4 years, should be, in part, attributed to those who were in office before them and the policies and decisions that were made during their term(s).  As far as I could tell from last night's debate, bipartisan effort is going to be extraordinarily important to whomever takes office, unless we're looking for 4 years of stalemate.  Regardless of whose policies and programs are better or more effective or logical, if all sides do not quit the posturing rhetoric and bury the hatchet to work towards the common goal of improving our economy at both a national and international level, our situation is only going to go from bad to worse.  Whether the person sitting in that fabled office is black or white, Mormon or Protestant, privledged childhood or poor, does not matter.  What matters is that all parties rally behind whomever is there so that positive steps can be achieved instead of just talked about.  If we could get all candidates to list out specifically their plans for growth in the aforementioned areas, then have a impartial group assimilate those plans into an excel spreadsheet comparison, that would be most informative and ideal, as the lack of specificity on how each side plans to achieve said goals was, and is, annoying at best.

I'm still undecided, and sticking with my Independent registry.

~ The Girl In The Little Black Dress