Thank You Sir May I Have Another

Once upon a time there was a political party that came into power, sweeping all three branches of government. Believing they had a mandate, they were excited to do the work the People had sent them there to do.

But as they set about legislating, they soon found the minority party BLOCKED their agenda at every turn. As small gains accumulated, they continued to craft their “signature” legislation, just as they had campaigned on… for the People. But even within their own ranks they could not find UNITY.

As the President’s political base grew frustrated, he made policy changes and issued Executive Orders. He even directed the Department of Justice to pursue legal challenges to existing laws in an attempt to affect the changes Congress could not.

A grumpy old Senator of their own party even said NO at a crucial moment, killing an important piece of legislation… thereby setting in motion, a chain of events that would eventually lead to their losing the majority in one House of Congress… followed by TWO YEARS of infighting, fundraising, and INACTION… and then it was time for another Presidential Election.

It all seems like so long ago.

… right.

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Once upon a time… time seemed infinite. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, eventually the tide will TURN. ‘The fight continues. The struggle marches on.’ Maybe it’s the ignorance of youth. Maybe it’s just eternal optimism. Besides… who am I to complain about the passage of TIME?

The Righteousness of the Cause of Equality is timeless. It STANDS as the yardstick. We can measure the passage of time by the distribution of Equality. With each passing year more people are seen as EQUALS. Each passing year brings us closer to the goal… the realization of that Dream.

But my concern isn’t for the passage of TIME. Years? I have plenty of those. No matter how many pass, they’re all just a dime-a-dozen. I’m more concerned about the passing of LIVES… and as the YEARS pass, those numbers continue to add up.

The ACA. The American Rescue Act… piece after piece of crucial legislation, passed in such a way as to AVOID the subject that must be addressed. ‘THIS is how bipartisanship looks. This is how bipartisanship WORKS…’

**So long as it’s related to the BUDGET and nothing else.**

I’ve seen this show before. I know this song… I even learned that dance.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabuki

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What is the PRICE of our Political Theater. Who pays the admission fee for this SHOW. How many generations have now paid into that social system, a price irreconcilable with their actual loss?

Two years. Twenty-two years. Two hundred and forty years. Four Centuries… plus two more. TIME marches on. In the meantime… as we wait. Patiently at times. Other times not. We do not measure the passage of time in minuets. Days and weeks don’t suffice.

We measure the passage of time with EQUALITY. Slowly. Methodically. Surely.
It progresses.
No barrier. No border. No laws can bring about its end.

How much longer must we wait…
How much TIME must pass?

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George Floyd’s 7-Year-Old Daughter Speaks at Chauvin’s Sentencing – YouTube

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‘The fight continues. The struggle marches on.’

Until one day, once upon a time… it didn’t.

It wasn’t necessary anymore.

… tick tock tick tock…

-JC

“Bipartisanship”

The jig is up! Right there, at the 5:55 mark in the video. That’s their tell… it’s how they view their political opponents. That’s what they see as how Democrats act… the same way that they would act.

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Now, I’m not that cynical either. I do believe Ms. Abrams truly believes in what she’s selling. She believes in compromise and bipartisanship to create the right legislation… but there is no bipartisanship to be had! McConnell said so… and who thinks that there will be any bipartisanship to be had in an election year?

Any comity between these two parties will VANISH come January.

The MAJORITY presents the agenda and pursues the interests of the VOTERS, and the MINORITY either supports its ascent or they oppose it… and the PEOPLE decide if they should stay or if they should go.

There is no in-between. It’s
ACTION vs. INACTION.

That was their plan all along. Distract and delay. Feign bipartisanship in the interest of “the people”… ‘The people want bipartisanship.’ And now Democrats want to kill legislation because of a lack of bipartisanship, and Republicans WON’T BUDGE because of bipartisanship.

It’s the only thing they agree on!

Who benefits from INACTION… the DONORS.💰

They don’t want ACTION. More regulations. More oversight. More accountability. It would cost them more MONEY… and that’s WHY they want “bipartisanship”. Legislators legislate based on MONEY and the pursuit thereof. They work for the MONEY so they can get re-elected.

Bipartisanship is not what The People want… The People want ACTION. They want to see legislation passed that helps the American Middle Class, and whomever stands in the way of that action will be judged by THE VOTERS.

That’s why they’re trying to take the franchise away.

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What is a “wasted vote”? I’ve heard it plenty of times, ‘A vote for a third party candidate is like throwing your vote away.’

But seriously… WHY?

To every Conservative Republican who’s voted the party line over the last 30 years: What has it done for you? Stacked the courts at all cost… denied the dying wishes of a Supreme Court Justice… denied the Constitutional RIGHTS of a Black Man, while he was our Commander-in-Chief…

They’ve taken advantage of you. The Supreme Court has now AFFIRMED these laws, that multiple Senators and multiple Representatives have raised MONEY on for DECADES… all while they didn’t tell you the FULL STORY. At the 16:55 mark in the video…

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“Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn’t… nobody ever voted for that.” -Justice Scalia

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If you want to end abortion in this country, you have to reconcile that with the fact that women are treated as SECOND CLASS CITIZENS under our law.

EQUALITY is being denied to HALF the citizens of this Nation…
Intentionally.

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To every Progressive Democrat who now questions, ‘WHY should we even consider voter ID requirements? It’s a SOLUTION looking for a PROBLEM.’

For FOUR YEARS, every program on every progressive news outlet (MSNBC) shot up the signal flare daily about Russia interfering in our elections, and how we need to secure our elections from foreign interference.

Where is that passion now? Accurately directed passion, no doubt! We all STAND on the same side… the monied interests have us standing BACK to BACK, daring the other to walk the line.

The Democrats need to reconcile their desire to secure our elections with the fact that we need to verify our elections are secure. For every citizen… EQUALLY.

What is the PRICE of a verified United States ID? In terms of dollars and in terms of time spent pursing that ID? For a family of FOUR, how much does it cost to secure a PASSPORT for the entire family.

It costs well north of $1000 for a family of four to secure verified ID for international travel and it can take half a day to complete the process depending on where you live.

By ensuring a verified USID for every registered voter FREE OF CHARGE, we solve two problems at the SAME TIME.

On that thought… we might want to start thinking about opening MORE United States Postal Service locations throughout the country and hire more employees.

Right now, neither party is willing to do what’s necessary to secure our right to VOTE… why would anybody waste their vote on either of them?

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Let there be NO DOUBT in the results of our elections. Let us solve these problems BEFORE the elections, not resurrect bad decisions from our PAST.

I believe in the security of our elections. Let us secure ACCESS for every citizen, so we can clearly determine the Will of The People.

Voter Empowerment.

-JC

Four Hundred and Two

It is with a deep respect for the PAST that we fight amongst ourselves about the future. The past shapes this nation just as it does individual citizens, and physical scars are nothing compared to the toll taken by psychological trauma.

In this regard, the PAST is always with us, no matter how much TIME passes. Like a physical scar, the memory of that event can always haunt us, creating a defensive response. Instinctually… to avoid “breaking another LEG”.

That instinctual response never fully goes away. With TIME, it becomes a tool we use to ensure survival, instead of just a knee-jerk reaction. Over time we learn how to avoid being in those situations in the first place, so they can never happen again.

That process begins with knowledge.

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How we remember something can impact us, too.

For two years… the enslaved people of Galveston did not know, while their freedom was THEIRS. Two years! Babies were born. Mothers died. None of them were told. They were FREE.

Why did they not know.

WHY did it take two YEARS for this Executive Order to be enforced? Was there some mixup at the Post Office? Were they just misinformed… no.

For two years they held FREE MEN and WOMEN in chains against their will. Intentionally. Whomever controls the KNOWLEDGE sets the stage. By withholding critical information, they manipulated the lives of those slaves for their own financial benefit… even though they knew it was illegal.

Selective censorship of the TRUTH kept those people enslaved.

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Lies and deception by others can leave a major impression on us, but we must remember- our own MIND can deceive us as well. A perfect example of this would be “Childhood Amnesia”. Both of my kids, at about 12 years old or so, suddenly forgot important details from just a few years earlier… but that’s about right, if you stop and think about it.

The same thing seems to happen to many people with the passage of TIME. Add about 30 or 40 years and suddenly, details of events seem to change. Maybe not so much as they’re forgotten, but they take on a ‘Nostalgic Tinge’.

The faster an event is moving away from an observer, the more it shifts to the Rose-colored spectrum.

But this is nothing new. The same thing happened to our parents. As I think back far enough, I can remember snippets of conversations between my Grandmother and Grandfather about their parents, and how they were dealing with the SAME THINGS as they struggled to care for an aging parent.

Our imperfections are what make us uniquely special. We can endure harsh treatment and come out STRONGER on the other side. Because of our ability to ADAPT… because of our ability to REMEMBER. Because of our ability to FORGET.

We embrace these qualities in others, acknowledging that we are ALL merely human. Now we must hold ourselves to the same standard that we would anyone else; and understand that every one of us is susceptible to fallacy and vice… even ourselves.

Perfection is Of Divinity alone. The rest of us… we have to seek forgiveness whenever we’re wrong.

IF we are, as the story goes, created in the image Of the Divine, is it not a violation of His Will if we do not use these gifts we have been given. In order to spread the WORDS to all who have the ability to listen…

Knowledge is the message. Science is the language.
This is how we understand… this is how we learn who we are.

As people. As a nation. As a member of the Human Race. To honor those who’ve come before us. To ensure there will be more who will follow.

In order to honor the memory of this day, we must fully embrace WHY it came to BE. Not to glorify it. Not to exact some price of revenge, but to have a clear message. Something REAL and TRUE that we can point to and say ‘THIS is what we once were as a Nation, as a society… and now it is no more.’

“You can’t recognize and commemorate and celebrate the holiday of Emancipation, if you ALSO are not going to do what is necessary to bring about REPAIR.”👏
— Rev. Mark Thompson on @TheBeatWithAri

Lasting change comes with knowledge… and the desire to make it happen.#HR40⚖️ pic.twitter.com/qtLdAGgl94
— Jack Charbonneau (@MrJLCharbonneau) June 18, 2021

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It shows us WHY we are who we are. Why we cherish these values and STAND for these ideals… with conviction. Because we’ve been there before, and we choose not to go BACK.

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It is with reverence and humility that I celebrate Juneteenth. Let our History and our ERRORS stand as a testament to the Righteousness, of the struggle for EQUALITY…

No matter how long it takes.

-JC

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(Edited for spelling and punctuation errors- 8/9/2022)

The Situation We Find Ourselves In

Maybe I was mistaken. I’d always taken it for granted… I thought it was a given. The idea, that everyone born in the United States of America truly believes what we were taught in elementary school… that any one of us could BE President of the United States.

It just seems for a MAJORITY of us… a majority of the time we don’t have the grand scheme necessary to pull off such a feat. We’ll just leave that one to the “professionals”.

Besides, I have to pick the kids up from school by 3:30. Anyway…

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Maybe my world view is a little skewed. Having grown up here in the Great Plains, I may see things a bit differently. The Breadbasket of America feeds not only OUR Nation, the farmers of the Great State of Kansas FEED THE WORLD… this is HOME.

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https://kansasagriwomen.wordpress.com/our-projects/

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I went to school in what was once a farmer’s field. I earned the rank of Eagle Scout camping in fields surrounded by COWS. Endless rows of CORN. Wheat by the mile. All bound for destinations unknown.

The awe inspiring complexity of Nature, mastered by our scientific achievements, to silence the cries of hunger worldwide… grown in the field where I got my first station wagon stuck in the MUD, doing donuts early one spring. Luckily, the girl I was with had a pick-up truck.

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Ad Astra Per Aspera… to the STARS through difficulties. It is who we are. And we must remember why it is we are in the first place. Bleeding Kansas is also known as The Free State. We support a STRONG UNION. The future strength and stability of this Nation depends on it. It’s the reason we’re able to have these disagreements in the first place.

How much control should the Federal Government have in our elections? How much control should be left up to the States? Should unlimited amounts of MONEY continue to influence our elections? Should EVERY CITIZEN be allowed to participate… all of these questions only exist within the framework of Our Constitution.

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I live about 30 minutes away from a town named Lee’s Summit. It’s about a 45 minute drive to Lecompton, KS. I remember passing the Historical Marker as a young man, every time we’d drive out to the Free State Brewery on Mass street.

I take PRIDE in our State’s Historic fight for EQUALITY.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleeding_Kansas#/media/File:The_Tragic_Prelude_John_Brown.jpg

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I believe in the spirit of those who still dare to dream the impossible dream. From the Earth to the STARS… not because it is easy, but because it is HARD.

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As Neil Armstrong approached the surface of the Moon, he did something that was not expected by Mission Control… but it was prepared for. As the Eagle descended along its predetermined flight path, Commander Armstrong looked out his window and saw where his ship was heading. They were going to land in a boulder field, with rocks the size of houses.

He made the call and switched to manual control, stopping their descent. He took control of their spacecraft and flew horizontally just a few hundred feet off the ground, looking for a level surface on which they could land. The added time dangerously drained their fuel levels, as documented by the call from Mission Control:

“… 30 seconds.”

They touched down on the Sea of Tranquility 30 seconds later with no time to spare. Decisive actions SAVED that mission.

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In the early days of the space program, engineers working on Project Mercury didn’t want astronauts to have the ability to make those decisions. They wanted their space capsules to be controlled entirely by Mission Control, on the ground… back in HOUSTON.

It was only because of the insistence of the Astronauts themselves that the engineers decided to include pilot controls in their design. All of them were former military test pilots and they didn’t want to be seen as an equivalent to the ‘test chimps’ NASA was already sending into Earth orbit.

They didn’t want to be test subjects, simply along for the ride…
They wanted to control their own destinies.

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Commander Armstrong earned his seat on that flight a few months prior to launch. Because of his ability to improvise and react to situations as they develop, he proved himself more than capable of leading a successful mission.

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Any one of those Apollo Astronauts could have been in that seat for that flight… only ONE of them was fully aware of the dangers posed and where they would have to draw the line in order to SAVE LIVES.

It was the experience gained, through the shared ordeal they all went through, that determined who would be the FIRST man on the Moon. All of them were WORTHY of that honor… destiny determined who it would be.

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There was no way Neil Armstrong could fail, especially with the full support of every citizen of the United States. No one on Earth wanted him to fail… and he did so for ALL MANKIND.

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That is how we find our Compass. That’s how we find our way back HOME. Let this be our Guiding Light. Our message, our gift… for ALL MANKIND.

Those are the words of a Leader.

This Nation has so much to give. If we are not charitable with the gifts we’ve been given, we risk losing them.

History shows us, they are not ours. They’ve been given to us, to be defended… with a promise that ONE DAY, we would do the SAME. With Liberty and Justice for ALL…

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…when 90% of what you see is SKY, it’s hard not to dream of the STARS.

-JC

Independence

Our individual right to vote is the foundation upon which our Nation was built. Without our FREE and FAIR elections, this Nation would no longer STAND.

ONE PARTY has shown itself to be in opposition to the Will of the MAJORITY of the American People. The OTHER PARTY… I suppose we shall see. They say they are for securing our right to vote. Their ACTIONS suggest otherwise.

The URGENCY of the Democratic Party seems LACKING for such a high priority.

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The events that transpired on January 6th were not due to a swell of emotions in the moment or a wild tailgate party that got out of hand. There was a Call and Response to the madness that carried on for over FOUR YEARS.

The call for violence came from within a CO-EQUAL BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT. The MAN may have left… but the OFFICE still remains.

This is a Nation of PRECEDENT. As it stands, at this moment… Joe Biden could direct the SAME set of events. No law forbids it from happening… what consequences would he face?

**And still there’s INACTION in the United States Senate.**

No, we don’t need to investigate the events of that day… according to Senator Joe Manchin, the Senate hasn’t worked this well in over a DECADE!

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“(Sen. Manchin) sees the Senate now operating the smoothest he’s seen it in 10 years.” —Garrett Haake, MSNBC

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It seems our President would agree with that sentiment.

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https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/556760-white-house-biden-will-not-appoint-presidential-jan-6-commission

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If the President won’t risk his political capital on forming a commission to investigate the events of January 6th, why would a lowly Senator from West Virginia?

Why should any of them risk the potential political fallout when they can just PASS the responsibility on to a Representative, who will never have to face a public debate for her actions.

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https://sfist.com/2019/08/16/nancy-pelosis-three-primary-challngers-will-debate-saturday-night/

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Law Enforcement Officers DIED, and our Commander-in-Chief would prefer the REBELS had a say in what we should do next.

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/29/joe-biden-republicans-bipartisan-filibuster-senate

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They told him exactly what their agenda was 10 years ago…

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… I guess he’s just trying to Keep America Great.

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https://twitter.com/kevinmkruse/status/1374467896840097792?s=21

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As of this moment there are 86 legislative days left in the House and 83 legislative days left in the Senate.

Who’s agenda is being furthered in this moment… who’s agenda is NOT.

How are those bipartisan negotiations working out?

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Elections have consequences. We watched the ‘former guy’ bend the law to his Will for four years… it’s about time someone did the SAME for the American People.

If the Democratic Party will not do the bidding of the American People, they will be seen as supporting the agenda of the MINORITY… and in 2023, that will be their Party’s fate.

INACTION is the agenda of the MINORITY.

They campaign on Smaller Government. ‘Government is the problem’… they are PROUD of their inaction. It lies at the CORE of their beliefs… the beliefs that were BOUGHT and PAID FOR by the DONORS who profit off of that political stance.

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The first Presidential Election in which I could vote was ‘Indecision 2000’… The Daily Show knocked it out of the PARK that year. Having cut my teeth on the Impeachment of Bill Clinton, I was excited to finally voice my opinion and participate.

I didn’t bargain for the experience that played out.

Every nuance of the different positions played out in court, from the State level to the Federal level, reported on every news outlet… it was a real-time history lesson, eclipsing the sleazy one that had played out the SAME way just a few months earlier.

Indeed… EVERY VOTE COUNTS. Vice President Al Gore lost by less than 600 votes in the Great State of Florida. 537 votes in just ONE STATE… in an election where he won the popular vote by over 500,000.

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The problem was obvious. The inherent flaw in our election system could no longer be ignored. Systemic election issues in ONE STATE could disenfranchise HALF of the States in the Union. But twice now, in less than twenty years the MINORITY has decided where this Nation should STAND. By manipulating advertising DOLLARS in key swing districts, within certain demographics; through voter suppression tactics and zero-sum political campaigns… all funded by dark-money DONORS.

The Electoral College is the vulnerability. It allows the ascent of the BAD ACTOR who only seeks to further their agendas. The American People are not fooled easily, though. The BAD ACTOR cannot convince a MAJORITY of this country that they are right…

All they need is 46%.

Let there be NO DOUBT. The MAJORITY stands in the right.
Every time. We have the DATA to back that up.

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Traditions end when they become deadly. New ways are employed when they are found to SAVE LIVES. The Titanic sank and thousands died. Every ship now carries LIFEBOATS to accommodate every passenger.

Why would it be any other way?

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The MAJORITY stands for the rights of every American Citizen. The MINORITY fights to EXCLUDE citizens and keep them out of their Democracy.

The Filibuster and the Electoral College should go the way of the dinosaur, and so long as they continue to cling to the lies of Donald J. Trump…

So too, should the Republican Party.

-JC