A Tribute To Pope Francis

I was saddened to learn about the death of Pope Francis. While not a practicing Catholic, it is tragic when a spirit such as his is taken from us. While he may be gone, we should remain hopeful that his legacy will continue, and that his example will inspire both the clergy who are tasked with determining his replacement, and the faithful who continue to live and pray and believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ.

I can't say I always agreed with Pope Francis. In some ways, he disappointed me in a similar fashion as Barrack Obama. Both represented significant firsts in history, Obama as the first African American President, Francis as the first Jesuit pope. And both held great promise to alter, for the good, the larger meaning of the office to which they were elected.

Don't get me wrong, I believe both changed their respective domains significantly, yet I feel that each fell short of the promise I held for them. Whether due to the sheer difficulty in altering the direction of such diverse entities, or the constant battle against the forces that defend the established status quo, I was not satisfied with the reality as compared to the hoped for vision. 

Of course, this is also a reflection of my personal demon, lack of patience at the pace of change. And further, my chagrin at the American electorate and the Catholic lay community, for their hesitancy, at best, fear, at worse, to embrace the change represented by the two leaders.   

In Pope Francis' case, his push to reach out to people often marginalized, if not outright ostracized and condemned, in an attempt to broaden the tent of the Catholic community, specifically the LGBTQ+ community, but also those Catholics who were divorced, marked a drastic change from his predecessors. Yet, he fell short of my hopes that he would bring the Catholic Church into the 21st century (or perhaps even just the 20th century) by altering its prohibition of birth control methods other than rhythm and withdrawal before ejaculation, allowing women a more active role in the sacraments, and stepping back from the belief that sex between members of the same sex are "acts of depravity."

Of course, even just considering such drastic changes to such a stagnant religion could be considered earth shattering. Problem is that it seems clear he was never going to take such steps, always falling short of real change.

Still, his more aggressive stance concerning the treatment of immigrants was laudable, especially his directness in calling the Trump administration's mass deportation plans not consistent with the teachings of Christ who emphasized treating all people with respect. While all popes advocated for immigrants, after all, wasn't Jesus an immigrant himself, Francis specifically called America's current treatment of immigrants to task, didn't just hide his disdain for those policies in generalities.

And certainly, Pope Francis seemed far more accessible to the masses by mingling with them at every opportunity. His final weekend, Easter weekend, was marked by ceremonially washing the feet of everyday people, not just cardinals or other members of the Church's hierarchy.

As is the case for President, I often wonder why someone would want to be pope. It is a no win situation in that whatever policies one adopts, whatever traditions one attempts to change, whatever direction one leads towards, half of the constituents, or flock, will embrace, and half will resist. 

While in the case of a presidency there is a chance for the populace to alter their choice, once chosen as pope, the job lasts until death. One might think that such knowledge, that only death can remove you from office, would embolden a pope to make changes with less regard to popularity or push back. Perhaps that is the attraction that America seems to be enthralled with currently, choosing a president who clearly prefers an unending term, who can then do whatever he likes without fear of accountability. 

While steering the ship of state, when the state encompasses a population as diverse as America's seems hard enough, imagine trying to do the same when the "electorate" lives all across the planet, and exceeds 1.3 billion people.

It surely takes a person with an advanced sense of self, or an advanced belief in their access to a divine influence, to lead with confidence when making changes that effect so many other humans. It is an enormous job, an enormous responsibility that can only be accomplished successfully by someone with great self esteem, as I mention above, but, paradoxically, someone who is humble enough to understand that even such great power pales when compared with the omniscience of the Creator. 

That is where Pope Francis far outpaces the likes or Trump or Putin or Orban or any of the myriad autocrats, dictators, and tyrants who recognize the power they wield but fail to understand the true purpose of such power, to make the world better for as many people as possible. 

Francis, through his belief in the spirit of his religion, his love for Jesus, his love for God, was conscious of that goal. So, even if, in my mind, he fell short of what I hoped he would accomplish, he knew that whatever he advocated for was achieved through the lens of that love of the Almighty, a lens that leaders like Trump don't have the least bit of a clue in understanding.

Francis was a leader in the only sense that matters, but still a human being with his own faults and shortcomings. So, while I might regret that he didn't do more, I know that he did the most he could do because he did it always aware of the source of the opportunity he was given. 

He believed in something bigger than himself and that is what a true leader, president or pope, should always remember.

Finally, let's hope that there is not a backsliding when the next pope is chosen. My fear is that we will see a more traditionalist being uplifted, rather than someone who might continue to work for changes that will expand the Church, rather than chase young people away. 

I have read a few articles detailing those men (sadly, only men) that are considered favorites to be presented after the white smoke appears. Will he be the first pope from Africa? Or an Italian pope chosen who will revert back to a more traditional papacy? Whoever emerges, let's hope that he can match Pope Francis' humility, connection to the people, and willingness to push the Church forward, not backwards.

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Before starting this post, I searched previous entries to see when I had mentioned Pope Francis. I found just three, the most recent being from this past February.

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2025/02/jd-vance-and-ordo-amoris.html 

 

The other two were not specifically about Pope Francis but I thought I would add links to them anyway.

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2015/10/why-we-should-defund-planned-parenthood.html

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2015/08/gay-catholics-and-other-odd-labels.html

 

Also, like this post, I have a number of entries under the topic of religion. I read a few, and liked the following one the most.

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2010/06/following-letter-was-published-in-my.html

Contact

I watched the movie "Contact" last week, in its entirety. It was not the first time I have seen it but it has certainly been quite a while. For those of you who have not seen it, or don't recall the plot, it is a fictional story about our first contact with beings from another world.

The lead, played by Jodie Foster, is, to say the least, obsessed with the stars and exploring and understanding the universe, and yes, potentially contacting other civilizations. Despite losing her mother who died giving her life, and her father when only nine years old, Ellie makes the most of her intelligence and drive. She eventually attains a job with SETI, the organization which focuses on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

There are a number of twists to the story, not including the fact that the Foster character, Dr Eleanor Arroway, does detect a message from space, setting forth a world wide project to build the "machine" as per the blueprints sent by this alien culture. 

One of those side stories is her relationship with Palmer Joss, the character played by Matthew McConaughey. After a brief encounter in the beginning of the story, at a time when both are early in their careers, they meet again when Ellie is up for the "chair" in the machine, and Palmer is on the committee to choose who will occupy that seat. 

What is really interesting about their relationships is that Ellie is a true scientist who needs proof for everything, while Palmer is more interested in theology and God's place in our lives. A true example of opposites attracting.

In the meantime, there is the James Wood character who sees conspiracy and danger in everything, the Rob Lowe character who sees religion, his religion, in everything, and the Tom Skerritt character who, while also a scientist, knows that getting funding and being influential and successful, not to mention getting chosen for the chair, means telling people what they want to hear, regardless of sincerity.

Which means, of course, that he is chosen for the coveted seat on the machine. Unfortunately for him, the Jake Busey character, a religious zealot, blows up the machine killing the scientist in the process, and ending the attempt to contact those who sent the message.

But not totally, because the John Hurt character, who has already assisted Ellie in her career with funding, reveals that a second machine was being constructed, and that she has been chosen for the chair.

And so Ellie journeys to another solar system through a series of worm holes until she lands on a beach uncannily resembling the beach mentioned in a conversation between her and her father, who just as coincidentally shows up to greet her.

Not to be deterred, Ellie realizes that the aliens have accessed her memories and created this scene with her father to make her more comfortable. Think about that for a second. An alien culture with no ties to Earth, whisks a member of that planet to a far away destination with a focus on making her feel safe.

Wouldn't it be nice if we treated those people who come to our country, looking for opportunity and freedom with such compassion?

Anyway, when Ellie returns to Earth, she is alarmed to be told that she never left, that the pod she was in passed through the machine straight to the ocean below, and that the whole process took seconds, as opposed to the 18 hours that she experienced.

At this point, I am reluctant to reveal the ending as in some way it is disappointing, although typical of the thinking that seems to hold sway in certain types of government officials. 

Contact was released in 1997, almost thirty years ago. Despite the time distance to today, there is much relevance to the film, particularly in the areas of skepticism of science and the relegation of women and minorities to secondary roles in the world.

While the movie does not delve into the conflict between religion and science as represented by the Rob Lowe character, who is depicted as someone less interested in living his religion and more interested in using his religion to control people, and tell them who god hates, it is certainly illustrated in the Jack Busey character who kills himself while destroying the machine. 

Strange how, while he is clearly portrayed as an evil person, consumed by ideology and violence, he puts his money where his mouth is and dies for his beliefs. In the past I would have preferred hypocrisy over violence, but lately I have been wondering if people who pretend to be religious but spew hate are actually far worse than the zealot who uses violence to make his point.

Too bad we even have to think about that choice.

The other obvious relevance is the anti-science attitude that has engulfed many sections of society, from those who wish to jail the scientists who developed the strategies that reduced the spread of COVID, to those who actively spread misinformation about vaccines, to even the growing percentage of Americans who doubt our landing on the moon, or who think the Earth is flat.

In some ways, the anti-science attitudes demonstrated in Contact were represented as fringe, even comical. How have we regressed so much that today's conspiracy theories have such sway, even to the current head of the health department of our country, not to mention the occupant of the White House. Fringe has become mainstream.

As for inequality, the theme of Ellie being denied recognition for her talents, and even for her discovery, plays out a few times. The man for whom she has real affection, Palmer Joss, sabotages her chance at the chair by using his intimate knowledge of Ellie's disbelief in God during the hearing to select who will represent the world. At the end, he admits to her that he undermined her chance, not because he was concerned that someone with more faith should be selected, but because he loved her and didn't want to lose her. 

He puts his sense of happiness over hers.

At least the scientist who lies to the committee about how someone who believes in God should represent Earth, is transparent in his deception. 

Both men represent that age old theory that the man knows best, for himself and everyone else.

As for minority representation in the movie, there are few people of color other than the Angela Bassett character who represents the white house. (Bill Clinton is depicted as the president, with actual real statements from him which loosely refer to what is happening in the movie, without specifying contact with aliens.)

Unfortunately, she plays along with the James Wood character at the end when the truth of what happened is revealed. Can you say compromise yourself to be a part of the establishment?

For no other reason, Contact is worth seeing again, as it asks some questions without real answers. Makes you think without restricting any thoughts. Perhaps even inspires you to imagine that we might be just one of thousands of lifeforms in the universe and so, like two fleas fighting over who owns the dog, we might want to expand our sense of us and them, whereby us is every Earthling.

And maybe even seek leaders who embrace diversity, equity and inclusion knowing that without such characteristics, we will never be able to interact with extraterrestrials, let alone continue to thrive on this pinpoint of rock in the vast expanse of the universe.

----

I have posted under the label "Movies and Life" a number of times in the past, most recently with my post about the Bob Dylan biopic. Here are links to a few other movies I have discussed, their relevance to life, and the lessons I derived from them.  

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2014/08/lucy.html 

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2019/08/easy-rider.html

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2023/06/everyday-workers-and-walter-mitty.html 

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2023/05/a-film-about-man-called-otto.html

Another Oval Office Circus Act

I saw a few clips of the meeting today in the Oval Office with the El Salvadorean president. The highlight, or extremely low light, was when he joked that he couldn't return the man mistakenly sent to his death camp, "How would I do it, smuggle him in?" was the gist of his response.

And of course, he was smiling as he said this, as if the illegal imprisonment of a man was some kind of laughing matter. Not to be outdone, Trump sat right beside him with that disgusting smirk that he displays when he thinks he has outsmarted everyone.

Contrast that sad performance with his tongue lashing of the Ukrainian president about a month ago when Trump was appalled that Zelensky would dare to try to educate him about the history of Russia-Ukraine relations, about how Putin has violated every ceasefire agreement, and about who started the war in the first place.

But, as is all so clear, Trump only has one yardstick for his affections and respect. If you kiss his ass. Zelensky refused, while Bukele has learned from Putin that if you praise Trump, you can get anything you want. 

It would be laughable, if it wasn't so horrific.

Think about it. Bukele thumbed his nose at America and the Supreme Court of the United States, but Trump and his Nazi cow of an attorney general sat there, nodding that they were impotent to force this Central American wanna be dictator to return a prisoner America is paying him to house. That's right, the self proclaimed master negotiator can't figure out a way to broker the return of someone costing the American taxpayers money to stay in El Salvador!

I guess that whole waste, fraud and abuse only applies to programs that the billionaire co-president doesn't like.

Trump is a joke that is no longer funny. He is a danger to America, a threat to our rule of law, and, frankly, a threat to the world's economy with his "tariff is the most beautiful word in the dictionary" nonsense.

As I have said many times, I will never understand how any everyday, working class American thinks that this president cares about them, and doesn't see that everything he does is for the super rich class which is destroying democracy with their use of the historically horrendous Citizens United decision, or, in some cases, merely to stroke his own ego.

If it is still possible for him to get a boner, he must get one every time he changes course on tariffs and causes world wide markets to plunge and soar, knowing he did it! At least Melania is spared.

The truly sad part is that all the enablers, from Mitch McConnell who stole a Supreme Court seat from Obama for his party and ideology, damn the country, to Mike Johnson who pretends to be a constitutional lawyer only when it aligns with Trump's sordid vision, to all the MAGA voters who have been duped by a reality TV star into thinking he is some kind of expert businessman, will suffer in the end, as we all will, just like poor Mike Pence who defended him tooth and nail for four years only to be thrown under the bus when he wouldn't violate the Constitution for him to remain in power.

Even sadder, when their lives are in turmoil, they may still worship at his feet, being too far gone to climb out of that rabbit hole and admit their mistake. Or to admit that Trump, while not the cancer that is eating away at our collective soul, illustrates that very cancer with his every royal decree (executive order). 

What is even more amazing, is that there will be Fox opinion hosts, as well as the even further right people on NewsMax, etc, who will actually defend the belief that the great almighty United States of America, can't get a prisoner sent by mistake to a far smaller, far less powerful and influential country to be returned. Not even by the Art of the Deal author!

And so the decline continues.

 

One Trump Voter's Remorse

While I may have mentioned that I am working part time now, I don't believe I have provided any details about the work. I am employed at a small chain grocery store, stocking shelves with the thrice weekly deliveries of grocery products. I work with a reasonable diversity of people in terms of age and gender. And, perhaps unlike some work environments, we did discuss politics during the run up to the November election.

So, it came as a surprise when one of the young men I work with admitted to me a few weeks ago that he had voted for Trump. I say surprised because in our discussions last year, he did not express any particular attraction to Trump, and considering that he is a college student struggling to pay tuition while living on his own, perhaps due to my experience with my children and their friends, I had assumed he was leaning towards Harris. 

The good news is that he was willing to admit to me that he regretted his vote, partly, I hope, because he knew I would not lose it over his admission, but also because I gathered that he couldn't discuss his sense of remorse with all that many people. 

One of the reasons for his unhappiness with his vote and the direction of the new administration, was purely selfish. He had been interviewed for a post office job late last year, a job which would provide a substantial raise, and was told that he would be hired in the near future. At this point, given the fact that the USPS is laying off thousands of employees, he is far from sure that it will still occur.

Many people complain that their vote doesn't matter, or that no matter who is elected, it won't effect their lives. Yet for my work friend, he knew for a fact that his choice in November might lead directly to the loss of this job. 

There were other things that have transpired in these first few months that he didn't like, so his regret wasn't just for personal reasons.

When I asked him why he voted for Trump, I framed it as a request to know why he didn't vote for Harris, as, from my perspective, I think it important for democrats to understand the reasons why it wasn't obvious to other voters that Harris was the better option.

His answer was multi-leveled. He didn't know enough about Harris, which I accept as a legitimate answer. He wasn't happy with inflation which he blamed on Biden's policies, and then connected to Harris. Again understandable, if not the full truth of why inflation occurred.

But then he alluded to the fact that so many of his friends, male friends, were excited about Trump. He knew that some of Trump's bravado and pseudo-macho attraction was superficial, but was reluctant to not be "that guy" who went against the grain and voted for Harris. 

This was what surprised me, in that he was tacitly admitting that it was peer pressure that led to his ultimate voting decision, even though he wasn't fully on board with his friend's attraction to Trump's rhetoric. 

What is really ironic, is that this was his first presidential election. His first foray into advanced citizenship, and he was already disappointed with the choices as he was not thrilled with either option. And additionally, he seemed genuinely upset both with the choice he ultimately did make, and the state of America due to that choice.

And that is what bothers me the most, that he is already skeptical about our current version of democracy, after only one experience. Skeptical that democracy is working as it should, skeptical that both parties seem focused on what is good for them, not what is good for the country.

Even more than that, while I accept my sense of hopelessness, or I should say lack of optimism for our country's near term future, I have a hard time accepting such gloom by a young adult with the vast majority of his life to come.

Perhaps that is the silver lining to my friend's pessimistic outlook. Perhaps he will do more research when 2028 rolls around. Or communicate a contrary perspective to those friends who leaned so heavily in Trump's favor. 

Do I think my friend is one of the far too many millions of Americans who are labelled low information voters, regardless of party preference? Not necessarily. But I do think that had he done a little more research, listened more carefully when Trump attacked the federal work force, and expressed his love for tariffs, he may have voted differently. And if we assume that there are tens of thousands of other Americans who fell victim to nonchalance when it comes to civic duty, or just plain lies and falsehoods, maybe the election of 2024 will be a catalyst for a more informed voter.

Why, Joe, are you expressing a sense of optimism?

Well, maybe guarded hopefulness.

As I sit here, after the last few days of a bloodbath in the stock markets, there has been a slight rebound. Did we hit the bottom already? Was that the step back before two big steps forward? Will my friend reconsider his regret if the post office calls him next week, or if he attains a different job to help him finance his young life, school tuition, etc?

I'll let you know.

In the meantime, maybe the best lesson I can take from my friend's revelation is that perhaps I should have communicated more reasons why I was voting for Harris, as opposed to reasons not to vote for Trump. Was that our biggest fault, that democrats in general did not give the low information or independent voter more valid and compelling reasons to vote for Harris? We certainly had a list as long as one's arm of reasons not to vote for Trump, but maybe all that talk was just chalked up to political rhetoric and partisan party politics.

Certainly, those members of the Cult of Trump were never going to be swayed to desert their leader. But perhaps a better approach to those center right and center left people who voted Biden in 2020, or those who were voting for the first time, may have helped Harris, and other down ballot democrats, win the day.

Should there be a midterm election, and I am far from positive of that eventuality, it may be enough to take back the House by just pointing out how awful the current administration is performing. But a dose of positive messaging from the dems should also be employed to sway those voters like my friend who were on the fence in 2024 but ultimately chose the GOP candidates.

 

 

No Longer A Complete Unknown

Yesterday I watched the Bob Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown". To be honest, I was a bit hesitant to watch it which was why we didn't go to a theater to see it when it first came out. 

As I said to a friend who did see it on the big screen, one of the  reasons for my reluctance was the actor portraying Dylan. Timothee Chalamet, while a fine actor, seems so young to me. Yes, reverse ageism, I know. Not that I have seen him in that many movies, but his performance in Dune, Parts 1 and 2, left me less than impressed. I thought Kyle Maclachlan's depiction of Paul Atreides was much better, although, again, my opinion is certainly biased as my memories of Dune, both the books and the1984 movie, is much more ingrained into my life. 

Anyway, in this case, I was very happy that I watched the movie, although more because I was very reflective as I watched it, less due to the movie's content and story line. Don't get me wrong, I experienced a bunch of strong emotions during the film. Chalamet's version of the Dylan classics Blowin' In The Wind, It's All Over Now Baby Blue, A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall, and Don't Think Twice, It's All Right were wonderful, but nothing hit me like the reenactment of Dylan's appearance at one of the Newport Folk Festivals when he sang The Times They Are A-Changing assisted by the crowd who sang the chorus with him. 

The scene just by itself reminded me of how sad I occasionally feel about being born a decade or so too late, to have missed the "real" 60's. Those festivals when all of our folk and early rock idols performed on one stage, just beginning to hone their skills, and find their voices being one of the things I regret having missed.

Of course, had I been born in 1949 or 1951 I would not have missed the Vietnam draft, which ended in 1973, three years before I became eligible in 1976.

Would I have protested the war? Fled to Canada to avoid the draft? Or worse, been unaware of the seismic changes that were happening, but not necessarily well documented for many Americans, and certainly not universally approved by the parents, and "establishment" of the time?

I often ponder about how people my age, who spent their late teens and early twenties during the mid 70's through the early 80's, especially those in my circle of friends who were admonished and punished by society at large, and the adults in their world in specific, for our rule breaking, law bending, and outright rejection of the norms of the day, can be so conservative now. 

Was is just normal adolescence and young adult rebelliousness? A phase, soon to be replaced with the responsibilities (and if you follow the rules rewards) of adulthood?

I recently had a conversation with two different people about the tendency for people to become more conservative with age. Both disagreed with me, at first, to which I responded that they may have been the exceptions that proved the rule. I didn't respond with the theory that birds of a feather, flock together, meaning that perhaps my choice of whom I converse with reflects my own bias of being left leaning as it is certainly true that I struggle to have meaningful encounters with people who support the current administration, which I consider radical right. And the exact opposite of the teachings of Jesus Christ, himself being the epitome of liberal thought and woke behavior.

At the end of those two discussions, both people admitted that they understood my point that people tend to become more conservative with age because they have more to lose, possessions, comforts, even family. 

For instance, I didn't mention to one of those two, my mother, who has told me more than once of her experiences as a young lady with legal discrimination, in specific, when she would sometimes ride in the back of a bus with those who were required by law to do so, that she herself exhibited a lean away from her moral base when she and my father moved us from Mount Airy, a section in Philly, to the suburbs when the neighborhood started to "change". Of course, their participation in the white flight from cities in the late 60's and 70's was to protect their children. I do not doubt their decision was based on love for us, but what or whom did we need to be protected from?

As I have written more than once, I have lost faith in the American electorate at this point. Do not see a good outcome on the horizon, at least in the short term. But if I am to be consistent with that belief, then I must challenge myself to question my romantic perception that I would have protested the Vietnam War, or fled to Canada, or been an active demonstrator against the immoral actions of our government at the time, if I am not prepared to do something now, when I consider the current administration's actions as mean, amoral, vindictive, cruel, and certainly un-American as I define that term.

Talk is cheap, as they say, although with this administration, even speech they don't like is under attack. Fortunately, my readership is minuscule compared to heroes like Liz Cheney, so the chance of any actual suppression against me is highly unlikely.

So, while that might make it easier for me to continue to attack the president's all out war on decency and democracy, it doesn't require me to have some skin the game.

It is easy to be outspoken or a rebel, or anti-establishment when one is a complete unknown.

In Bob Dylan's case, he never really became mainstream despite his success. And, in fact, when he evolved, musically, and took heat from those who just wanted to hear the songs they loved, or grew up with, as those audiences did in the movie at his last Newport Folk festival when they booed him for going electric, he didn't care. He played the music he wanted to play, that meant something to him, and in a style that reflected his changing personality and outlook on life. 

Unlike so many artists who dilute their message for money or fame, Dylan, for the most part, did not, to his credit but certainly also to his detriment. 

So, again, what am I prepared to do?

Attend some protests? Get arrested? 

How about (potentially) sacrificing some financial security, to literally put my money where my mouth is?

I am pleased to say that we cancelled our Amazon Prime membership in protest of Bezos's refusal to allow the Washington Post to endorse a presidential candidate, Harris, to attempt to gain favor with Trump. 

We have also sold our shares of Amazon stock which was easy enough, but what about any mutual funds or ETFs which we might own that have Amazon in their portfolio, or even just 5% or less? Is that tantamount to throwing out the baby with the bath water? There are certainly many other stocks within such financial vehicles whose CEO's and/or stockholders have not kissed the ring.

A similar reasoning would apply to Tesla stock which again, may only represent a fraction of the dozens of companies in a mutual fund, yet makes me feel dirty and hypocritical knowing that I am helping Elon, if only in a microscopic way.

But there are many large corporations that are part of a balanced portfolio, or embedded in mutual funds and ETFs that invest in technology, consumer staples, or merely companies that provide consistent dividends, which are buckling to Trump's abhorrent executive order against DEI policies. Their compliance sickens me but enough to jettison those financial vehicles, and, perhaps, some slice of our financial security?

Are there enough companies that are holding the line, or will even those currently resisting, eventually comply when pressured by their customers or share holders?

And what about Facebook, which I use everyday yet which has recently relaxed its moderation policies, same say in response to Zuckerburg's growing relationship with Trump. Do I stop using it in protest of Meta's new policies which clearly enable more hate speech, especially towards the LGBTQ+ communities. Or is it enough that I do not share such hateful opinions, or that I unfriend acquaintances who do so, which I have done, twice in the last year.

Reflection. 

The good news is that I know what I should do if I were to be consistent with my posts, and my values. But do I have the will to follow through, or like most people, decide that what one person does is of little consequence, so why bother?

------

I have referred to Bob Dylan at least three times in the past. The first time was after hearing his song God On Our Side. I posted the following along with the words to that song in December of 2015. Here is a link to that post. 

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2015/12/god-on-our-side.html 

The second time was in May of last year after listening to Dylan's iconic Blood On The Saddle CD in my car. The song, called Idiot Wind, reminded me immediately of the so many inane utterances that have emanated from Donald Trump's mouth. Here is that post.

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2024/05/idiot-wind.html

Finally, I again referenced Dylan's God On Our Side song, but this time without posting the words, instead referencing the general belief by all people on both sides of any war that they invariably believe that their particular god is not only supportive of the violence they are committing against fellow Earthlings, but encourages them to do so. Here is that final link.

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2024/11/gods-side.html

Dear Joe Biden

I have only posted once before under the title Joe Biden. As I reflect on that, compare it to the more than twenty times I have posted about the Trump Presidency, I must honestly accept that I was not as critical of the Biden Administration as I should have been, that I engaged in a sort of myopic, even tribalistic perspective.

Of course, I could excuse this lack of criticism with the simple reality that compared to Trump, I agreed with most of Biden's policies. That while I saw in Trump a mean, selfish, poor excuse for a human, I considered Biden a good man who did not always make the proper choice. I guess I was able to excuse his mistakes with the reasoning that he was doing his best, what he thought was best for America, while Trump only does what is good for Trump.

That being said, I read the other post I wrote about Biden. Here is a link, written just after his presidential victory in November 2020.

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2020/11/congratulations-to-joe-biden.html 

At the time, and this was before the horrific events of January 6th, 2021, I advocated for Biden and the Democrats, and all of America, frankly, to begin the process of ignoring Trump, the belief being that his love of attention, if not rewarded, would drive him out of the spotlight. 

But more than that, the post discussed the pandemic. 

There is much written in the world of psychology about the power, for good and bad, of denial and suppression. When I wrote that post, only (what a sad adjective to use) 250,000 Americans had been killed by COVID, less than 25% of the eventual total. We were still months away from a vaccine. Very few children were back to school, nor would they be for quite a while. Masks were as commonplace as shirts and pants. Remote work was gaining in popularity but still a novelty for most Americans. Supply chain shortages were prevalent, although at least we could get toilet paper.

I truly believe that historians will debate at what level, not whether or not, America has experienced some type of mass denial or suppression of that time. That, rather than analyze the foundational reasons for why a zoonotic disease was able to spread around the world, killing millions of people, a million here in America alone, we pretend it didn't happen, and worse, suppress the reality that the president at the time was totally ineffective in establishing a nation wide program to reduce the sickness and death, at one point musing on TV that perhaps we could figure out a way to inject bleach safely as a way to combat the disease. 

That not only didn't we hold him accountable for the fact that more people died in America from the pandemic than anywhere else, and that our mortality rate was towards the bottom of all nations on Earth, and worse than almost all of the "civilized" countries, but that we blamed the consequences of the pandemic, the supply chain shortages and interruptions, and inflation on the following administration. And worse, far worse, rather than praising the vaccine that assisted in the world's recovery, we now have an anti-vaccine movement that is so strong that we have one such advocate in charge of our nation's health and human services department which oversees the very people that worked so hard to provide us with that vaccine.

But perhaps that is not enough to excuse Biden for his mistakes. So let's review them.

As the consummate politician that he was, Biden believed far too much in the theory that politics, the art of negotiating with those across the aisle to create laws and policies that helped most people, was still in force in America. I would have thought that he would have learned that during his time as Obama's VP, or perhaps he thought that having a common enemy, COVID, would unite the two parties to put aside their differences.

He was dead wrong. So, while he spent a lot of time and energy, for good reason, getting the vaccine in as many arms as possible, he neglected the border. And when it became clear that he needed to act, he fell back to his politician instincts, and again spent far too long negotiating with the GOP to fashion an immigration policy that was never going to be approved as long as Trump controlled the party. Then, when he finally acted unilaterally, it was far too late, the proverbial closing the barn door after the horse had left.

As for inflation, he spent too much time pretending it would dissipate on its own. Not that there weren't many economists who thought the same, but his focus should have been on communicating with the American public that he felt their pain. And yes, that perhaps that last stimulus check could have been more precisely directed, not distributed as widely as it was.  

I was also quite disturbed by his tacit endorsement of Israel's slaughter of Palestinians as revenge for the atrocities of October 7th, 2023. Clearly, anyone who made the short term choice to register their complaint about Biden's handling of this crisis by withholding their vote for Harris, has been proven wrong, considering Trump's outrageous comments of forcing the Palestinians to go to other countries, or that America might create some kind of new Riviera where they used to live. 

Immigration and inflation sunk the Biden administration and the party as a whole, not necessarily because it was their fault, it was partly, but because they didn't act decisively enough when it came to illegal immigration, and did not connect or pay attention enough to working class Americans in the case of inflation.

But his biggest mistake was not adhering to his original plan of being a one term president. Again, perhaps he didn't consider that Trump, who had been rejected so resoundingly in November of 2020, would maintain his hold on the GOP, especially after stoking an attack on the capitol building through his election results denials and lies. Still, he should have made it clear sometime in 2022 that he wouldn't seek another term. And, without endorsing any candidate, he should have provided a clean slate for the Democrats to have an open primary campaign so that the electorate could make the best choice. 

While it may be true that whomever emerged from the primaries would have still had immigration and inflation as anchors around their neck, they may have been able to fashion a response that could have separated themselves from Biden and provide an alternative to both Biden and Trump, while Harris, out of loyalty or lack of vision, could not.

Of course, this criticism about Democrats, that rather than act, they spend too much time trying to convince everyone that they are right, is nothing new. Whether one blames it on the fact that the Democratic  tent is bigger, holds a wider slice of opinions, or just that they are not willing to storm the castle, as the GOP faithful demonstrated on Jan 6, is besides the point. 

The DEM approach of two steps forward, one step back is bad enough, but far more acceptable to where we seem to be now, barely one step forward, a bunch of steps back.  I would say that had Biden acted more like Trump, declared a mandate for change (after all, Biden's electoral college victory was similar, plus he had a far bigger popular vote victory), and made things happen, I might sound hypocritical, but perhaps that is the only tactic that works today.

It is one reason why the attacks on Tesla vehicles, even the violent ones, do not bother me as they would have before Trump, seeing that the GOP recognizes no restrictions on their behavior, as long as it can be wrapped in an American flag and called patriotic.  

I originally thought of composing this post because of a dream I had about Joe Biden a few nights ago. In it, I pleaded with Joe to go public concerning some of Trump's more outlandish claims, especially the one about Biden's pardons not being valid because of the use of the autopen, or because he didn't sign them at all, being mentally incapacitated.

Don't get me wrong, I don't expect Biden to start appearing on the news shows every week, calling out Trump and the GOP for their attacks on democracy, careless tariff threats, and abuse of the federal government's spending power by attacking anyone who disagrees with Trump's "vision", not to mention their open threats against any judge who interprets the law differently than they, but I do expect him to appear a few times in the next six months to both contradict the attacks on his mental acuity, and to present an obvious alternative to the insanity of the current administration.

But more importantly, as I emphasized in my dream conversation with Biden, he must refrain from attacking the voters who elected Trump. In fact, I encourage other Democrats as well to focus their criticisms on the GOP, its policies of meanness to citizens and non-citizens, its attacks on the federal work force, and the myriad other objectionable actions on display on a daily basis. But stop attacking the voters. 

Perhaps even stop attacking the MAGA movement itself. While I still have some semblance of hope that like the McCarthy era which featured blatant Constitutional violations against Americans considered not "American" enough whether due to their alleged association with Communism or being gay, or just disagreeing with McCarthy's perspective of what Americans should think, the MAGA movement will also burn itself out as the people labelled as anti-American begins to include everyday citizens who just have a different opinion, and who believe in their rights to express those opinions. 

In the meantime, Biden, Harris and every Democrat who believes in our experiment with democracy needs to continue to speak out, whether it be monthly or daily. 

That is the message I gave to the ex-president in my dream, and that is my emphasis with this post. 

Anything short of a strong, continued series of statements which present facts, and an alternative vision, (and that is critical as well), will only extend our current path towards an autocratic government. 

Also, we need to separate the MAGA loyalists from the super rich who are aligning themselves with Trump and his movement, not because they really believe in its tenets, but because they know they can use the movement's energy to enrich themselves, and lock down control of where we are heading as a country, and who will, and who will not benefit from that change in direction.

As my dream ended, my final advice was for Biden to dig out those dark, aviator sunglasses, and embrace, at least for the next year or so, that badass personality that passed by much too quickly during his term.