Did you read it?

I just finished reading the January 6 Committee Executive Summary.

Wow. Anyone who has been on the fence about who is responsible and who should be prosecuted for the events of that rueful day need to read it. It is incredibly well-written and provides a more-than-detailed timeline — in some cases minute-by-minute — of the events both that day and in the days leading up to it. The wealth of evidence supporting the idea of a massive and strategic effort to overturn the election is overwhelming.

DOJ, are you listening?

My big hope and wish for 2023 is that the DOJ indict the SOBs who attempted to destroy the US democracy through cowardly means, manipulating the ignorance and naiveté of those who had already been wistfully waiting for the opportunity to turn against the government that, ironically, gave them the very rights and freedoms to hold divergent views and (peacefully) express them through lawful protests, legal actions and other legitimate means.

The “deny, deflect, delay” tactics that have kept the majority of Americans from seeing justice done should be quickly put to rest with swift and sweeping indictments and appropriate punishments for every level and individual who participated in creating the lies and deceit that ultimately spurred insurrectionists to violence against the country and its institutions.

Particularly egregious, IMHO, is the manner in which this movement against democracy became intertwined with white nationalism and anti-semitism, and for the primary benefit of one individual (you all know who I mean). His self-serving greed and power hungry appetite was so obvious from the very beginning, that those of us who saw him for what he was never had any doubt about the repercussions of his words and actions.

How do you explain the other, intelligent and educated people within and without the government who enabled him to wreak such havoc on the institutions they swore an oath to protect and defend? They are equally culpable; in fact, perhaps more so, because they knew better. Those people remain in office and positions of power still. How do we reckon with that?

Maybe, what we need on every state ballot is an option to choose to oust these people from government rather than to elect or re-elect them. Or a proposition of some type that would block them from even being placed on the ballot in the first place. Oh, if it were only so!

I chose to leave

And, yes, I live in Mexico these days, where the government is not known for its high ethical standards, and where living in certain places puts residents smack in the bullseye of organized crime syndicates. But everyone here is aware of that and does what they must to protect themselves and their families. They have no expectations that the government will do anything to help them.

That said, however, I am less afraid here than I am in the United States, where the majority of people have guns legally and illegally. Where formerly low-crime states, like Idaho, where I lived for 16 years, are seeing surges in violent crimes and increasingly vituperative rhetoric against marginalized groups. Not only direct violence, but the indirect violence against women in the form of legislation against women’s rights to choose, and against people of color and LGBTQ+ communities by reversing the progress made over the past century and a half.

The Republican Party has become, in my mind, nearly on par with the Taliban, working to retain power by legislatively disempowering 51% of its population.

Reflecting on the past

Before you-know-who, I was proud of the US. Proud of the progress it had made in reversing centuries of inequality and discrimination. The election of Obama gave me hope and renewed faith in the people and the processes that supported a continuance of those advances: The right to marry whomever you chose, access to education and opportunities, the ability to be who you chose to be and practice whatever religion that resonates with you. Isn’t that, after all, the reason for the formation of the Union? As stated in the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. 

US Declaration of Independence

I didn’t leave the US because I didn’t like my life there — I LOVED it! Then came along a certain orange-tinted conman who released the hatred of those more interested in furthering themselves than in furthering the values the country has espoused since its founding. And, by doing so, corrupted the very fabric of our republic. That particular conman in turn used that hatred to further his own greed.

That is the key reason I left the US. I could no longer tolerate the hate-filled attacks of people I once held dear. I could no longer see that grassroots efforts that were previously effective in creating change were making a difference. Remember, the entire world protested during the women’s march in 2017! More than 5 million people took part. And yet nothing changed! We protested, we marched, we boycotted, we wrote our congressmen/women, and we voted… all to no avail.

I started my political life during the Vietnam war with school sit-ins and marches for peace. Fifty+ years later, I chose to let it go. To retire (or rather, UN-retire) in another country where I had no stake in the outcome. Where I could just “be”. While the government here may not be helpful at times, at least it isn’t blatantly trying to ruin people’s lives.

It is time now for the youth of America to step up. Indeed, the youth of the planet needs to rise to the occasion and put forth a new covenant with the earth and all of its inhabitants to do better, be better, cure the blight our generations have loosed on the world. I only hope they see the power they hold and that they seize it with both hands in order to securely carry humanity toward a better future.