Tag: with respect…

A New Day

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Countdown to January 20, 2021

 

As I’ve crafted a vision for carrying out my Administration, I’ve attempted to envision what I would need to do starting on DAY ONE. Contemplating what I would do if I were allowed the HONOR, and for whom I would be working, I want to ensure that I maximize my time in office, in order to start righting every life-threatening error undertaken since January 2017. Anything I can do to avert unnecessary loss of life…

I want to pursue it immediately. 

 

Historically, the day of the inauguration is a festive occasion, with the newly elected President attending all of the official inaugural balls. In 2009, there were 10 of them, all held in honor of the Office. And of course, the parade and the ceremony itself.

 

As I sit here today… I do not FEEL celebratory. I don’t particularly want to go to a parade.

 

In my post titled “Day One” (published 7/20/2019), I outlined the three “DAY ONE” campaign promises I’ve committed to since I began my campaign:

  1. Ending FGM in the United States by Executive Order.
  2. Ending the deployment of US Armed Forces at the Southern Border.
  3. Closing Guantanamo Bay prison and ALL immigrant holding facilities opened since 2016.

And since July, we’ve been made aware of even MORE life-threatening situations that demand immediate attention from a new President… the ongoing occupation of Crimea by Russia is unstable, we’ve withdrawn our support for the Kurds, NATO is under stress as American Leadership stands in decline, and on, and on, and on…

 

How can we celebrate when families are STILL SEPARATED… when we’ve ABANDONED a key ally… when we’ve placed LIVES in jeopardy by withholding military aid to a nation, dependent on our PROMISE of assistance?

 

The grandeur and decadence engaged in by the current occupant of the White House leaves a sour PIT in my stomach, as American Farmers have filed for bankruptcy at an increased rate… up 25%.

We watch a man who lives in a GOLDEN PENTHOUSE, tax American Families with SELECTIVE TARIFFS designed to make HIS portfolio grow… and STILL, everyday we suffer more mass shootings.

We listen to an old man RANT and RAVE about “illegals”, as he empowers HIS administration to TAKE CHILDREN AWAY from their MOTHERS… all while his wife calls on us to “Be Best”.

 

To swear an oath on that day and then turn around and pop corks, would be insulting to every instinct that I have. Men and women are being separated from their children and locked up in holding cells, housed in empty strip malls across America. They’re being held for MONTHS on TRUMPED UP charges, with only the shirts on their backs…

I would be just as hypocritical, as the outgoing President currently is.

 

…

 

BUT this “vision” of that day is too in error. Attempting to view what will BE, as we sit WITHIN this temporal bubble, it distorts the image. It becomes tainted by the alternative reality we currently find ourselves IN, colored by emotions, that come from issues that did NOT seem to exist in the recent PAST.

 

“… 20 years has gone so fast.”

 

“Once upon a time…”, or so the story goes, lingers in the back of my mind. “Back in MY day…”, if you prefer. But, I know the lens of nostalgia paints an unfair picture of our PAST as well, because these issues have been with us all along, bubbling just below the surface.

Damn the shadows that have grown from our LIGHT! The shadows that have grown do so because we have allowed it. Our SILENCE on issues deemed TABOO and UNCOMFORTABLE, creates SAFE HARBOR for the deceptive and the bad actor. Using our FEARS as leverage, they steal from us our Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, by forcing us to live in FEAR of disclosure… forcing us to live in fear of our own WORDS.

 

An OPEN and HONEST pursuit of KNOWLEDGE is HONORABLE, especially if it’s an investigation of a persistent evil. Cast aside your prejudices and preconceptions, and let us build for ourselves a NEW DAY… because what we see on our horizon, threatens the GOOD FORTUNE our democracy was built upon. We are now called to HONOR the promise with which we were entrusted.

IF there is ANY DOUBT as to the GREATNESS of the United States, speak it NOW. THIS is the time… THIS is the place. Is THIS the greatest form of governance that humanity has EVER KNOWN? Is OURS truly a GREAT NATION?

The wealth and security created over the last TWO CENTURIES and shared in by EVERY nation on earth, stems from OUR Constitution…

 

Do we now CHOOSE to walk away.

 

The wealth of the FEW, can also be the wealth of the MANY without vilifying and bankrupting, because we ALL know: the strongest capitalist among us would be NOTHING without the people who support their endeavors.

Our lots have been cast… UNITED WE STAND!

“The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt.”

-John Philpot Curran

 

We must remember who we are doing this FOR… Our Constitution is a gift for ALL MANKIND! Entrusted to us, and given with a promise that ONE DAY, we too shall do the SAME.

JC

On the Eve of Equality

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone

 

Of course…  I’m just paraphrasing. The phrase does vary some. It all depends on which version YOU read, what language you speak, what continent you’re from… even the AGE of the ancient text from the religion that you believe, because ALL of them teach the same guiding principle: No one is without fault.

 

I WANT to believe I am without fault. As I retrace the steps in MY life, I’ve tried to end friendships and relationships on EVEN TERMS. I know I still owe a few hundred dollars to a handful of people. Literally… TENS of dollars! Amounts so insignificant, if paths were to cross today they’d be brought up more in jest than in demand. Or at least… I hope.

Perspectives are individual and personal. MY view of the world is different than ANOTHER person’s, and so-on for each one of us. We live our lives according to the law as it is lived in OUR lives. Not in perfection, not in isolation, but definitely in evolution. As we accept new ideas and new people into our lives, our views CHANGE, and we see things in a new light. It reshapes the lens through which we view ourselves.

Knowledge and understanding of the views of others EXPANDS Justice, it does not CHANGE it. It expands our definition of what is “right”. It can also make us reconsider what it is we define as “wrong”.

 

On the Eve of Equality, I find myself taking stock of MY deeds and MY actions. When I think back 20 or 30 years, well… I was a teenager! As I consider my behavior as a young man, I cannot say I was a saint. But, I CAN say any offense I’ve committed against another has been confronted and settled, and understanding has been reached.

Any debt in that regard has been paid. Not simply in terms of Legal Justice… but also in terms of individual, personal understanding and Justice. I would not want crimes committed against me to go unaddressed, and I have attempted to live my life the SAME WAY.

I have always seen women as EQUALS. As a young man, I was unaware of the inequality faced by women. Now, looking back through this new lens, I hope everyone I’ve ever worked with truly felt respected and appreciated, and always felt judged based on their abilities… as that has always been my intent.

 

I see it as a sign of STRENGTH to examine yourself and to question your actions, and say ‘I’m sorry’ when it is required. It’s NOT a sign of weakness or deficiency. Once you learn what you’ve been doing is wrong, and you do NOT take corrective actions in your life… THAT is weak. You’re making a conscious decision to continue to do what is wrong. That is not the path of enlightenment. On an evolutionary timescale, that mindset is a dead-end.

 

Even though they are found on the same side of the equation, Vengeance should not be equated with Justice. We must endeavor to BALANCE the scales, and at the same time avoid turning a criminal into a victim… and vise-versa.

And, as always… with compassion.

 

JC

Faith

Some might see it as a “lie”, or maybe just insincere. I’ve been open and honest about myself. Like I’ve said before, I’m part of an endangered species… I’m a Progressive Liberal from the State of Kansas. I know, it’s a bit shocking! But don’t worry,..

Our numbers are on the rise.

 

I’m a REGISTERED Democrat and have been since I turned 18. In the State of Kansas, only a registered Democrat can vote in Democratic Primary elections; just as only registered Republicans can vote in Republican Primary elections…

Independent voters are allowed to vote in BOTH. I’ve always found that to be dishonest.

When I started this campaign, I didn’t want to run as a party-affiliated candidate. I actually received an email from the chairman of the “Independent Party”©®™, telling me their party is the BEST because they’re “independent”, and they invited me to join…

NO. Thanks… but no.

I am a CANDIDATE running for office. I am NOT the representative of a financial organization or a business interest. I’m NOT advancing the agendas of generational political kingmakers, or a hereditary diplomatic dynasty.

I’m running as MYSELF, presenting ideas on policy that I would pursue if I were able to. Not as someone who is duty-bound to follow agendas crafted by special interests and political donors. Or campaign positions taken at the expense of the people, that I would be REQUIRED to support no matter how I felt about it personally… because I would be BEHOLDEN to a party for my political survival.

I don’t want my candidacy to be judged on my commitment or devotion to someone else’s ideals. If people agree with what I’m saying, then I hope they will encourage me with their support… in whatever form that happens to be. I am accepting resumes for pro-bono and volunteer campaign assistance and I am always grateful for any financial contribution.

 

RIGHT NOW questions need to be answered. Affirmations must be made. Is OURS merely WORDS printed on a faded piece of parchment… or are they INFINITE, worth MORE than the sum of what they convey? Worth more than the day they were WRITTEN. 200 years ago, young men fought and DIED for an IDEA, untried and newly born. Today, it is INSTINCTUAL for every American Citizen to consider service in defense of our Nation, to HONOR the spirit of DIVINE JUSTICE… judgements that extend beyond this mortal realm.

Do we believe in the BEDROCK principles upon which our modern society was founded? Do we STILL believe OURS is the BEST and MOST JUST form of governance? Or should we allow it to become merely WHITEWASH, covering a dark and corrupt decay hidden just below the surface.

Today, more so than almost any point in our Nation’s history, we have before us the ability to CHOOSE our collective destiny. In 2016, the American People spoke LOUD and CLEAR. Now, after almost 20 YEARS of thorough examination, we MUST conclude-

CHANGE IS IN ORDER. The current ORDER must CHANGE.

That change CANNOT be born of partisan passions or self-interested greed. If the Senate Majority Leader insists on packing our courts with judges that hold extremely conservative political views… even at the EXPENSE of our Constitutional norms that he swore an OATH to defend… then it seems only fit that the people send a PROGRESSIVE Legislature to Washington in 2020, prepared to present BOLD and COMPASSIONATE solutions to our problems. We have LOTS of work to do and conservative courts will ensure we stay within the law.

If we STILL believe Equal Justice Under Law is SUPERIOR to life-long “elected” leaders, or rule by Democratic Monarchy where CHILDREN are elevated to power without regard for the character of the child, then PARTY POLITICS and DARK MONEY INTERESTS should NOT decide our fate!

To STAND on this precipice now, where once MANY have STOOD before. As kingdoms have fallen and legislatures dissolved into our history’s written pages, they cry out to us HERE, wishing only to be SO FORTUNATE… because we have what they did not. We have the gift, given by BLOOD and by OATH…

We have the power to AMEND.

We have the ability to WRITE our own destiny. We have been given what THEY were not… we’ve been given a second chance. The Right to Redemption. A second chance that may NOT come again, BURNT BRIDGES are HARD TO REPAIR.

 

Party Politics be DAMNED! Competition brings out THE BEST, and if political parties are to survive, it will be because those parties give their endorsement to outstanding INDIVIDUALS. Leaders who stand INDEPENDENT of the influences we see at work in our government everyday.

The Parties should not be responsible for presenting to us the candidates from which we are allowed to choose. The candidates should run regardless of party endorsement. The candidates’ IDEAS should drive the debate. The Parties can endorse whomever they choose, just like EVERYONE ELSE.

Candidate driven, ideas-based discussions. An OPEN and HONEST presentation of FACTS, based in an intellectual arena SECURED by a system that cares for only ONE THING:

Preservation of the HONOR and SANCTITY of the Highest Office in this land.

 

There is no religious requirement to hold office in this land, but that does not mean we seek leaders who have NO FAITH. When we dig at the CORE of what makes up our National Identity, we find nothing SOLID… nothing to grab hold of and point to as “real”. Ours is an identity based on HOPE, shaped by our FAITH, and fully realized only when EQUALITY reigns supreme.

Our Constitution is based on a MORAL CODE older than any established religion practiced today- “Do unto OTHERS as you would have them do unto YOU.”

Our expectations of others comes from WITHIN ourselves. Our SHARED HISTORY guides us now. If we listen, we will find which way to go.

 

“… with liberty and justice for ALL.”

 

So may it be for 200 MORE.

 

JC

A Restoration.

I did not have clarity of thought when I was a young man. As a child, my father would constantly remind me, “Children are to be SEEN, not HEARD.” He would communicate silently that I was rambling on and on and on and on… by hand gesture. Pinching his fingers and thumb together, as if they were the mouth of a sock puppet, telling me without a word to SHUT UP!

I would usually get the hint. As I try to remember how I acted in my childhood, I remember so little. I don’t remember carrying on like that, but I DO remember the annoyance with it. The problems it would cause at school. The constant drifting within my own mind, consuming HOURS of my life.

In my teenaged years, I became angry and rebellious. Once, during a heated argument with my father, he told me, “Someday you’re gonna have a kid who’s JUST like you!”

Yeah… ha ha, OLD MAN… whatever.

 

Well, you KNOW… with OLD AGE comes WISDOM, I suppose!

I’ve learned EXACTLY how I was as a child by raising my youngest son, Garrett. He is exactly like me in almost every way, and where he and I differ, he is EXACTLY like his mother. She might NOT admit it… but she can be a bit STUBBORN, too.

Shortly after Garrett was born, I sought counseling as part of my recovery and treatment for Alcoholism. During these sessions, the therapist and I discovered… I have ADHD. He referred me to a psychologist, who confirmed what we suspected.

I have been on medication now for 10 years. IF I had been given the opportunity to be diagnosed BEFORE THEN… my life would have been MUCH different! The ability to FOCUS my thoughts… more than that, the ability to control my mind, and actually make the thoughts STOP! CLARITY of the mind… CONFIDENCE comes with CLARITY, two things I could not find as a teenager.

Recognizing the symptoms I had as a child, remembering the problems it would eventually cause in MY life, I realized at an early age that Garrett would need help, as well. Being able to make that decision for him at an early stage in his development has changed his trajectory. He will not have to face the same hardships that I did…

 

… isn’t that the WHOLE IDEA? To LEARN from mistakes. To take lessons from the PAST and reinforce them, to build a STRONGER FUTURE.

 

I began caring about my mental health at age 30. Since then, the steps I have taken to live a happy and productive life have opened up possibilities I would never have been able to TRY… all within the last 10 years. We’ve been working with Garrett to ensure his mental health and well-being since he was 8… I am jealous of what he will achieve by the age of 40!

 

I have ALWAYS challenged authority. As a parent, I’ve found myself questioning the accepted social dogmas of raising a child. “When I was YOUR AGE… that’s how WE were raised, so that’s how it’s done.”

My step-mother would make me eat scrambled eggs with chopped green peppers in them. I did not like them. I was NOT given a choice. Today, as an adult, I have developed an allergy to nightshade vegetables. Was her demand really necessary? At what point should a child be treated more as an individual, with the right to decide CLEARLY, that green peppers ARE disgusting?

Should we make demands of our children, ones that we didn’t like THEN and do not like NOW, simply because they were made OF US? Consider the amount of CHANGE that has happened in the last 20 years!

I told my boys about a time I had a flat tire on a highway in central Wisconsin, and had to walk damn near 10 MILES to reach a phone! They didn’t seem to fully understand what things were like… just a FEW YEARS AGO. On the other hand, I have to keep reminding them of the POWER they hold in their hands. Every time they ask me how to spell something, I answer, “G-O-O-G-L-E”. They take it for granted… they have the ability to answer ANY QUESTION, instantly! My god… You know, back in MY DAY…

To avoid mistakes in the future, we look to lessons from our PAST. With old age DOES come WISDOM, and from wisdom we gain UNDERSTANDING… and THAT is how we find PEACE, through COMPASSION.

 

Tonight, my thoughts are with the Iranian PEOPLE. My thoughts are of PEACE, and ALL that can come FROM it. My thoughts are of INQUIRY, not condemnation. My heart aches as we are moving BACKWARD, not striving together for a BETTER FUTURE… as we have DONE, so recently in our PAST.

As tensions grow, I want to extend a message of PEACE from THE PEOPLE of The United States of America. Not from the elite. Not from the elected. My voice comes from the suburban expanses of endless cul-du-sacs and asphalt city streets. It comes from the families who’ve put the ‘RED’ in our ‘RED, WHITE, and BLUE’… and may do so WILLINGLY again someday.

The American People fight for PEACE.

We curse the war and bless the PEACE that follows. We DEMAND our leaders pursue PEACE AT ALL COST, in order to avoid losing that, which has NO PRICE. There is a disconnect now in the United States between the WILL OF THE PEOPLE and the policies being practiced. The American People are beginning to UNDERSTAND this, and we are starting to ask the questions… “WHY?”

Questioning OURSELVES. To become stronger than we were YESTERDAY… and tomorrow, stronger STILL.

“We seek PEACE. WHY is it NOT SO?”

“But THEY attacked US?! WHY…?”

The American People STILL BELIEVE that ours IS the greatest system of governance ever envisioned… AS DO I. To continue working toward that more perfect union envisioned by our Founders, we must come to terms with the fact that our government has NOT been used AS INTENDED for many YEARS. The American People must remember WHO WE ARE, and for WHAT we STAND…

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The United States of America is the HOME of the REVOLUTIONARY! We give SHELTER to those who fight FOR JUST CAUSE. We do not turn away. We do NOT close our doors. We have walked the path of war. We have fought, side-by-side to defend the land of others, and laid to rest our soldiers, side-by-side with THEIRS… with hope that it would never happen again.

Our FOUNDING FATHERS were REVOLUTIONISTS, fighting in-kind for principles and ideals not yet BORN. Seeing how society WAS all around them, watching the depravity that comes alongside corruption, knowing the consequences that come when leadership becomes SELF-ABSORBED, dripping in-excess… They STOOD UP and BRAVELY questioned, “WHY?”

They stepped beyond themselves, and asked the questions that lead to only ONE CONCLUSION- we are ALL CREATED EQUAL.

Their theoretical form of government today, is OUR reality. BORN OF imperfect men, BORN-OUT by our SHARED HISTORY. A common goal REALIZED… or rather, one that has been entrusted to US, to complete.

REVOLUTIONS often happen at the POINT OF A SWORD, through the SITE on a barrel…

 

PEACE only comes once we’ve PUT THOSE WEAPONS DOWN.

 

Wars have been fought to promote the idea of PEACE. PEACE has been SHATTERED under the guise of an avoidance of war. And EVERY TIME… we KNOW what will happen. We KNOW who will fall VICTIM, and we KNOW who will be to blame.

Who we ARE, we CANNOT change. Who we will BECOME is always OUR CHOICE! Do we wish to be DEFINED by the flaws of our PAST? Should we stand against evolution or change, simply to enshrine the PAST… chaining it to our FUTURE? Let us REMEMBER what once WAS and dedicate it, with HONOR, to a RESTORATION OF JUSTICE today. If PEACE IS WHAT WE DESIRE… we should not start a war to PROVE IT.

When we commit to the pursuit of PEACE with the SAME LEVEL of PASSION we commit to the pursuit of JUSTICE… we will SEE BOTH.

I am PROUD to live in the country that helps DEFINE the word REVOLUTION.

JC

… in Rememberance of Those No Longer With Us.

It wasn’t the first. It wasn’t the last. As much as we all wanted it to be true, Never Again was unattainable. It FELT like it could happen, and if you closed your eyes and believed it hard enough, it was true…

Until Santa Fe High School in Texas.

And the reaction to it would be the same as it was to Parkland, and the one before that- “Thoughts and prayers”, “Isn’t it a shame…”

Our elected Representatives shed tears and demanded action… demanded answers. THEIR leaders sought to SILENCE and SUPPRESS their concerns, cold and callous- “We should not jump to conclusions”, “We shouldn’t over-react while emotions are still raw”.

On this day, three hundred and sixty-five days ago… 350 mass shootings ago, we witnessed the death of a POLITICAL IDEOLOGY that has given rise to Institutional Discrimination, Government Sanctioned Murder, and protection for Sexual Predators.

On this day, one year ago, in a community in Florida, a Political Stronghold in Washington, DC, was murdered by a High School Student carrying a CELL PHONE. When reached for comment, the Speaker of the House of Representatives offered his “thoughts and prayers” for those effected by the tragedy.

The destruction of this one event was not fully understood at that moment. The deaths caused by this SINGULAR event would mount in the months that followed. Spreading from one chamber to the other, slowly becoming apparent to everyone WITHIN government, the “rot” caused by their death spread OUTSIDE government. Soon, the emblem of the 2nd Amendment, the NRA, would be dead as well.

… I would like to offer my thoughts and prayers to those effected.

And as we remember those effected by the tragic events that unfolded that day, we remember in sadness. Still engulfed by the LOSS, the scene still fresh in our mind’s eye. Do not mourn for those we have lost, for they realized what their mission in LIFE truly was as soon as thier time here had ended. In the course of a well lived life, of success and longevity, pain and loss are inevitable. To NOT experience it somehow makes the achievements less valuable. Without the pain, we do not fully appreciate what it is we were missing… and how much better things could be.

On the day of the shot heard ’round the world, pain and loss were reality. On the Beaches of Normandy, at the Battle of Gettysburg… the same as it was one year ago. It is not understood in the moment. It is not realized at the time.

But it is memorialized, and it is consecrated… to be remembered throughout all time.

Wars are fought to secure peace. Tens of thousands die in efforts to ensure prosperity. Individual sacrifices given freely, and fully, to Just Cause. Victory was assured that day one year ago, in a High School in Florida. Let us never forget what we have lost, and how greatly appreciative our Nation should ever be.

#NeverAgain✊

…
Rest in peace, Speaker Paul Ryan, and everyone who gave rise and support to the agendas he stood for.