On a More Positive Note

It can be challenging to discuss our shared problems, whether they be local, national or global, without being negative, or even out-right depressed. The news is full of what appears to be insurmountable issues, from partisan politics, to ideological wars, to actual wars, to climate change. It is virtually impossible to find positive spins on our shared obstacles but plenty of comments on who is at fault.

So, certainly not being blameless in this area, I thought I might create a post with a more hopeful message. To start, I reviewed some of my past posts that were upbeat. Here are links to four of them that I enjoyed writing, and rereading.

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2019/06/happiness.html

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2017/01/seeking-silver-lining-2.html

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-future-of-politics.html

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2014/05/celebrating-milestone-and-future.html

Next, I turned to the July edition of National Geographic which featured a cover page with the words "Chasing the Unknown" and multiple articles on people who are doing just that, including another chapter in the ongoing Out of Eden Walk being conducted for the last ten years by Paul Salopek.

Within its pages are inspiring accounts of people who you will never see on a reality show, never see on the front page of a tabloid newspaper, perhaps never even read about despite their unique accomplishments, yet who never the less are adding to the data base of human knowledge in ways that may not be popularized yet may still effect generations to come. The literal unsung heroes of our time who toil in obscurity, yet accomplish such great achievements.

Men and women who spend large swaths of their lives researching the very first cave paintings, painstakingly unearthing the delicate bones of our unknown ancestors, or living with endangered animals in hopes of learning enough about their ways and needs towards reintroducing them into their native habitats. 

What is especially uplifting is that so many of these people are young, meaning under 35, with an incredibly diverse set of traits. Whether born in the US or abroad, they represent a wide range of cultural backgrounds, and a plethora of experiences upon which to improve their environments or those of the people they have chosen to help.

Reading about them, and realizing that despite their differences, gender, race, ancestry, etc, they share the belief that by making a positive impact, person by person (or even animal by animal) they make the world better, if even by just that much. It is both heartening and energizing. Imagine if that was the ultimate goal of every human. 

Have a problem with your government, imagine living in a country where education itself is illegal for girls over 12 years of age, as is true in Afghanistan. Now imagine spending your life teaching those young women, both surreptitiously in Afghanistan, and in a Rwanda where you have founded a school for that precise reason. Makes all our efforts seem insignificant!

There are times when I think that those who control the media, our political parties, even our religious institutions, prefer that we are always on edge, nervous, more attentive to the negative. As if, once they have convinced us how bad things are, they can tell us how they hold the only truth, how only they can lead us to happiness. Which, if it were that simple, would be one thing, but it seems that most of those in power at our media outlets, political parties, and pulpits, are more interested in telling us who to blame, as opposed to who we can help.

At the end of the movie Evan Almighty, "God" defines the ark as an acronym, Act of Random Kindness. It is His message and task to Evan, and one which he hopes Evan will share with the world. 

It seems that there are more people who are in need of assistance, physical, emotional, spiritual, than who offer such assistance. Wouldn't it be great if the opposite were true, that there was just not enough of those in need as compared to those willing to give? 

It all starts with that person you see in the mirror everyday. Help convince that image that helping someone, even if just by bringing a meal to an ailing neighbor, or getting a grocery item from the top shelf for a shorter person, or simply just smiling and saying hi to people you encounter as you navigate your life, creates positive energy and shifts the balance ever so slightly. You never know when such a random act of kindness will domino itself into a truly remarkable act of humanity towards someone you may never meet, but who will be grateful none the less. 

   

Trump and the First Amendment

It came as no surprise to me that ex-president Trump was indicted yesterday on charges related to January 6th. While not a constitutional scholar, or lawyer, or election rules expert, it seemed obvious to me that Trump worked tirelessly to overturn the 2020 presidential election through various methods. From lies about massive mail and election machine fraud, to exhorting a number of state legislatures to create "alternative" electors, to pressuring Vice President Pence to ignore the will of the people and disregard the election results, to encouraging an attack on the Capital then sitting idly by while rioters beat police officers, broke windows, and vandalized the building where our laws are created, Donald Trump, in plain sight, became the first president in our history to subvert the peaceful transition of power, and did so with no concern about America, our democracy, or our constitution. All because he is so insecure that he can't accept that he lost.

As I said, no surprise, other than it took over two years to get here. What did surprise me is that Trump's lawyers are talking First Amendment protections as his defense.

I have posted a few times under the banner of the First Amendment, so I searched my blog and read four of them before beginning this entry.

The first one listed was from just last year, in January. Within this post are references to the other three I just read, but I decided to provide a separate link for each anyway. The second is from August 2018, and the last two are from 2010. I thought it interesting to read my thoughts on the subject from 2010, to see if there was consistency in my perceptions as compared to the 2018 and 2021 posts, and as compared to my current position today. Feel free to check them out. You might be surprised at whose first amendment rights I defended. 

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2021/01/freedom-of-speech.html

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2018/08/opinions-lies-and-responsible-speech.html

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2010/09/testing-strength-of-our-freedom.html

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2010/03/hateful-speech.html

As for Trump's defense, that everything he said about the election, everything he did to subvert the will of the people, everything he and his minions offered as justification for his return to the White House, well, as I always tell my wife, there is always a grain of truth in every statement.

While in this case, the grain is microscopic, able to be seen only with an electron microscope, I agree that Trump has the first amendment right to tell all his followers that he won the 2020 election, and therefore all the machinations engaged in are the result of that opinion. Unfortunately, only an idiot would believe such drivel, and as Trump himself often says, he is the smartest person in the room at any given time.

If we assume that intelligence, of which he is chock full, is generally based on facts and an accumulation of knowledge, then after close to 60 judicial decisions against the various lawsuits filed by his carousel of lawyers, denials of election fraud from a host of GOP state election officials, his own federal election administration and Bill Barr, his hand picked attorney general, someone as smart as Donald Trump knows full well he lost the 2020 presidential election.

But denial is a powerful thing, especially when your self image is as damaged as Trump's. So, rather than listening to his staff and white house lawyers who told him there was no fraud, he sought out those who would tell him what he wanted to hear, even if it meant making up wild conspiracies about Chinese bamboo, dead South American dictators, and any other crazy scenario that justified him staying in office.

If Donald Trump knew he lost but tried to find a way to remain president, he is guilty of all the charges filed, and then some. If he truly believes that he lost due to massive fraud, then he is delusional, and should certainly not be elected to any future public office.

As for his first amendment rights to say whatever he wants, regardless of the veracity of his statements, as long as he believes them to be true, well, I for one think that the president of the United States should be able to distinguish what he wants to be true from what is actually true. 

But even more importantly, the president should be even more concerned about presenting the truth, based on facts, than any other person, because, as the leader of the nation, his words matter. He should be more responsible with his opinions, more discerning with repeating beliefs that are unproven, more cognizant of the fact that his statements are read by millions, tens of millions, which means they have even more impact and effect than most any other person's.

He should be more responsible with his words, yet Trump thinks it is in merely the simple act of utterance that he gains power and influence, regardless of facts. 

In essence, Donald Trump has subverted one of our most precious rights, the right to free speech, to mean that he can say whatever he wants because he was the president, as if that title makes his words more true.

The ongoing debates about the extent that the freedom of speech allows is an important one. But like everything else he effects, Trump has now lowered the bar in this debate to how many lies can be told, how far from the truth a statement can be, and how free a president (because remember, if you or I were accused of his crimes, there would be no debate), can be with his words, regardless of how much truth those words reflect.

The really sad thing, is that when an ordinary person says something about Trump, the truth of the statement, is never the issue. If Trump doesn't like the opinion, it needs to be suppressed. He doesn't give a whit about the real issues of the first amendment, he only cares about what he can get away with without any consequences. 

I am not necessarily all in for Trump to be dressed in orange in the near future. At this point, I feel sorry for him, and for all those who continue to kiss his ring, too far down the rabbit hole to find their way back to reality. 

I would prefer that he be pardoned (once convicted), allowed to renounce his American citizenship, and granted to right to emigrate to Russia or Hungary or Belarus with no return possible, where he can hobnob with people like him who crave power. Where the opinions of only the guy in charge matter, and first amendment rights (or any rights) are for the autocrat to decide. 

In a previous post I said that only in death would Trump be held accountable. 

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2023/04/accountability-finally.html

While I still believe that, I would settle for him leaving America forever, to become someone else's national problem. In the meantime, we can only hope that enough MAGA republicans actually read the latest indictment, and realize that it is time to jettison their once and future king and return to at least a semblance of democracy.