Friday, November 11, 2016

VETERANS DAY - CALIFORNIA SECEDE? -- PROTESTS


SALUTE TO ALL VETERANS ..

(USA wars are fought in name of all citizens)


A Tribute always and especially to WWII Veterans 

---our nation would not be here today -- free as we know it -- if not for them.

T H A N K    Y O U   !

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A NEW COUNTRY ?      NEW CALIFORNIA

CALIFORNIA is the biggest economy in the U.S. and the sixth largest in the world.  

CALIFORNIA  population racial demographics already reflect what those of the United States of America are expected to be in 2044 -- a diverse nation of people -- based on the Census Bureau's projection:

"By 2044, the United States is projected to become a plurality nation.While the non-Hispanic White alone population will still be the largest, no race or ethnic group is projected to have greater than a 50 percent share of the nation’s total."


Some Californians are considering options for the state to secede from the United States.  
Such an action is partially based on  the rhetoric which the U.S. President-elect Donald Trump  has previously directed toward various Silicon Valley business leaders and their enterprises, including media ownership.    Specifics may be read at this link to the  Guardian article describing current seceding issues.

Here is a link to the official site for California secede.


NEW INFLUENCES
 
The 2016 Presidential Election outcome has increased the impetus for more California residents to give serious consideration to supporting our state becoming our own country.

The degree of actual support for California's secession remains to be seen.   Other states in past years have had residents suggesting seceding for their own various reasons, most recently  as described in Texas. (by Phillip Bump, Washington Post.)

Inquisitor includes comments that select social media is suggesting  some Californians may see if  other Western states such as Oregon, Washington, Nevada  may be interested in seceding.


MY PERSPECTIVE

I presently think  this grand experiment of our democratic republic is best successfully perpetuated if California remains within the union of our fifty states plus Washington D.C.  

Citizens responsibility is to consider the current needs required as we continue to
-- sustain the viability of our way of government with thoughtful voting choices
-- refine, define, change, alter and correct our mistakes by demanding officials act only
    within the parameters  prescribed by these three  USA documents known collectively as

The Charters of Freedom:
Declaration of Independence
The Constitution
The Bill of Rights


The Great Questions  

Has "the establishment" (including the President-elect, House of Representatives and Senate members) received, correctly processed, determined to rectify the existing  inequity situations  -- including the economic gap described in "The Rich and the Rest" by Christina Pazzanese?


How long can our nation's way of government survive as we strive ethically and morally  to provide liberty and justice for all -- to be a positive force in the world and for humanity?  



* * * * *

ELECTION PROTESTS developed as I began this post......

This is the United States of America.    Traditionally the hallmark of our democracy has been a peaceful transition of one administration to another.   In fact, current President Obama has initiated transition arrangements following candidate Hillary Clinton's earlier concession of the 2016 Presidential election to Donald Trump.

However, the offensive nature associated with President-elect Trump's conduction of his campaign has resulted in eliciting strong emotions from voters.    That coupled with the election's outcome triggered citizen protests which began earlier Wednesday afternoon  in New York City outside his Trump Tower residence --- he was the winner when the Electoral College votes were tallied, but received fewer popular votes than his opponent.

This is the second time in the past five elections the Electoral College winner garnered fewer popular votes than the opponent.   In 2000 Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the election to George Bush following the U.S. Supreme Court's intervention to terminate controversial vote-counting in Florida.    A candidate designated to be President based on winning Electoral College votes but not the nation's  popular vote had occurred only three times before in the 1800s.

Most recent developments are that protest groups in cities from coast to coast  have amassed, saying in reference to President-elect Donald Trump, "He's not my president!", stressing Trump did not win the popular vote.    Regrettably, vandalism, disruptions, freeway traffic blockage and some arrests began to occur Wednesday night around midnight necessitating law enforcement response here in Los Angeles as I wrote this.

Typically, only a few protesters are responsible for violence in such events -- always a risk they'll infiltrate the peaceful groups, but with their own destructive motivations -- such as looters, anarchists who desire and will instigate crowd chaos for their own agenda toward overthrowing our way of government.

Fascists, too, benefit from inciting violence as often citizens will relinquish their rights and freedoms to leaders/law enforcement for promised security -- only to eventually find themselves living in an autocratic form of government, a dictatorship presided over by a demagogue systematically depriving them of their rights.

 Undermining freedom in a democratic government can be a many years lengthy process, achieved in slight, incremental, sometimes seemingly innocuous small steps.   Systematic attacks and discrediting other government branches -- judicial, legislative -- also The Fourth Estate (the press) -- to create mistrust in all systems are part of the fascist pattern documented throughout history.  (Legitimate shortcomings in the branches and press must be addressed and corrected, but citizens must guard against being seduced by a leader's conspiracy intimations, intentional distortions of truth through innuendo, deliberate falsehoods.)  

These, hopefully, primarily peaceful protests in additional cities around our nation continue Thursday -- they include many high school, college students of the most populous millennium generation who may be most concerned about their future.   Those of us who are older care about the younger generations and the world in which they will live long after we've departed this earth.  We must pay attention.

After Trump's weeks, months of vitriolic diatribes, misogynistic,  racist, sexist, name-calling directed toward his opponents and others, his sudden measured adoption of rational manner the final week or so of his campaign, and his speech after the election may have aroused suspicions and mistrust in the minds of many citizens -- they may be wondering:

-- who is this allegedly prevaricating,  narcissistic, sociopathic, fascist-sounding person?

-- what are the ethical and moral values of Donald Trump?

-- what does the real Donald Trump truly believe?

-- who is the real Donald Trump?

Most of our citizens do not take lightly a leader whose behavior throughout much of his presidential campaign was insulting and  boorish, to say the least.  Some citizens might also even be inclined to interpret his tactics and some language he has used as mirroring that of fascists whose similar activities, words and actions are described in histories of the nineteenth and twentieth century.  Fascism is not compatible with the U.S. Constitution.

Let our republic have a peaceful democratic transition to the legally elected new leadership.

Let us actively oversee all actions of those we've entrusted to occupy government positions.

Let us use our votes and  all legal means to ensure governing individuals each actually fulfill their Oath of Office.

Let us guard and protect our privacy,  rights and freedoms. 

18 comments:

  1. WOW .. that is a lot of research and much to ponder. As I state in my blog that I entered today I am in shock but it has also made me very reflective and looking back as things have changed in my lifetime it helps to soften the blow.

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    1. I've encountered much change through my life and have mostly thrived on it. Only since the advent of the Digital or Computer Age, or whatever is the generally accepted descriptive term, have I seen so much change in so many areas of life at such an ever-continuing rapid rate.

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  2. I hope CA doesn't secede...please. When you figure out who the new guy is let me know.

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    1. I didn't expect this President-elect, so I'll see what develops with CA seceding. Possibly the reason it's so hard to figure out who the new guy is might be because he doesn't even know who he is.

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  3. An intelligent, well researched and well written post. I have read posts by very angry/sad bloggers but you have somehow cleared the air and stayed unemotional.

    Thank you. And good luck. we will all need it.

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    1. Thanks! Glad my words were received as you describe.

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  4. Especially like your final four "Let us . . ." statements. I intend to work as hard as I can to prevent us from moving 50 years backward on the path to realizing this country's full potential--liberty and justice for all.

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    1. That's what we need to do now, perhaps with a more intense focus than we may have had in the past.

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  5. Thank you for the kind words and especially for the link to the fascinating article.

    Trump may not know who he is, but Pence knows exactly who he is and so do we. He is the man who wanted to eliminate funding for HIV and transfer the money to "conversion therapy" for gays. He signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act that allowed discrimination against anyone if it was based on religious objection to their color, their beliefs or their lifestyle. Who presented a State budget that cut all funding for Planned Parenthood. And who declared that same-sex marriage was a sign of societal collapse. And this is the man Trump has chosen to lead his transition team. And worse, Trump has said that Pence will be in charge of domestic and foreign policy.

    I'm glad to have found your blog and look forward to reading the archives and future posts.

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    1. Glad to have your visit. Yes, I know of Pence and you've summed up well what he stands for. These next years will challenge us all to maintain the country our forefathers including some of my ancestors fought and died to create.

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  6. Thank you for the NYR url. I read the article and can only hope that there are others, those who matter, will read and understand and act on Masha Gessen’s points.

    Those in the British government who ridiculed and name-called Trump the most are suddenly changing their tune and offering to work closely with him.

    It’s enough to make you sick to your stomach.

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    1. Appreciate your comments and observations as we begin this new odyssey to preserve our democratic republic.

      Masha Gessen, 49 year old journalist who is a citizen of both Russia and United States, offers some significant points by which we can monitor the actions of our President-elect and the governing actions his administration institutes. For others unfamiliar with this NYR Daily article on surviving in an autocracy here's the link:
      http://www2.nybooks.com/daily/s3/nov/10/trump-election-autocracy-rules-for-survival.html

      This President-elect continues his assault on the Press begun during the campaign as can be expected given his orientation. The Press needs our support and we need the responsible members as never before who strive to meet the highest ethical and moral levels of their profession. During the campaigns we learned what the President-elect considers in his own words "bad Press" -- anything written or said about him, his ideas or policies that do not agree with or reflect positively on him -- even if he has presented a proven documented lie.

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  7. I think the US media, mostly TV news, did not do its job. I should be neutral when reporting, but also not letting lies go by, truth should be important. They could have editorials, of course, but then the public would not that these are the media’s opinion. I have read articles by several people who believe that D. Trump won’t last 4 years, that he will either be bored, or do something not ethical to help himself financially. I hope not, because then Pence would be president – a much worse individual for this country. I enjoyed reading your post – very well written, indeed.

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  8. I agree the TV news, media in general, did not fulfill their responsibility. I believe this to be partially the consequence of the worst case scenario associated with corporations owning TV networks, for example, as when G.E. took over NBC they ceased to view news as an obligatory responsibility in return for use of the public airwaves that belong to the people. Instead, news has been viewed as needing to be a money-making operation. Content has become overrun with an entertainment orientation and hard news watered down. The expansion of media in this digital world has been a double-edged sword, the consequence of which has resulted in a significant decrease in the number of professional news people and lots of others, many of whom are much less familiar, or have their own agenda, with the ethics and morality of news gathering and reporting. There certainly has been a decrease in much-needed investigative reporting.

    We're stuck with media power-obsessed people like Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes, Steve Bannon "the only openly assigned individual who has just been appointed chief strategist and senior counselor, an "equal partner" with Reince Priebus, the Republican Party chairman who will be chief of staff." The populace must assume some of the blame for not doing their homework instead of expecting to be spoon-fed -- for focusing their thought, time and energy on celebrity worship -- the opium of the masses some have said -- instead of attending to what their government representatives are doing, then demanding better, based on intelligent, reasoning and thought instead of going off half-cocked with the first celebrity snake-oil salesman flim-flam artist that comes along.

    The fact of Trump appointing Bannon in such a significant position -- an "executive chairman of Breibart News before Trump hired him in August to run the campaign -- should give citizens serious concern. The site has a history of publishing incendiary and divisive stories, many of which are outright anti-Semitic, misogynist and racist" CNN newsman Tom Kludt has reported. Bannon is reported to be a proponent of the White Nationalist Movement -- is this unifying in our nation which is becoming multi-cultural, or does this smell more like building an Aryan nation through fascism? Twentieth Century history tells us how that goes.

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  9. Thanks for the article. Brilliant. Autocracy is now elected and condoned by those who know better but are in fear.

    Frightening times indeed.

    XO
    WWW

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    1. Appreciate your comment. We can hope there will be courageous individuals with integrity in government who will take positions to protect all citizens freedom and rights. Meanwhile, citizens need to prepare now for the Mid-term elections.

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  10. How can ethical people vote for an unethical candidate and justify it in the name of expediency? I don’t know.

    “Some Californians are considering options for the state to secede from the United States.”

    That’s true here in Oregon too (where the conservative eastern part of state has long wanted, not to secede, but to form a separate from the liberal western half--as is the case in numerous other states--but talking about it and doing it are very different matters. No state can simply decide to up and leave the Union. If it could, we wouldn’t have had a Civil War.

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    1. Yes, as the Texas link I provided notes, seceding is not a new idea. Numerous states have had groups talking about doing just that for various reasons through the years. The Civil War was one other such effort we wouldn't want to repeat.

      People seem to have different ideas about what constitutes ethical behavior for themselves and in others, or what, if any, violations by others they'll tolerate. Interesting how the solution to resolving problems whether political, social, etc. for many people is to run away, avoid seeking some negotiation, or make good faith effort to compromise which is what a democracy is about -- that's the hard work of democracy it seems to me. Extremists on the whole spectrum of issues often seem to seek the separation path even on personal and professional levels so become part of the problem rather than part of the solution. Resolution is often possible on many issues in a manner that allows all to exercise their freedoms as a solution, but unfortunately there are those with a quite different agenda who instead prevent government from functioning. This happening may well be the final straw that brought our nation to such a contentious election and post-election state coupled with electoral college results prevailing over popular vote totals for the second time in this young century.

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