Ancient philosopher Aristotle reckoned, “Well begun is half done.” While cycling, you’re entitled to call hills well begun “half won,” since momentum carries you part way up if you charge hard beforehand. Takes determination and effort to escape a gravity hole or scrape yourself out of depravity hell. Half a presidential term usually isn’t enough to evaluate an administration’s accomplishments or crimes.
Began communicating online during 1980’s when everyone who texted was savvy about computers so somewhat intelligibly conversant. Respondents once understood courtesy and logic. Social media reversed this situation. In 4 decades of expressing self among blogs, bulletin boards, listservs, personal email, social media, and websites, learned volumes about human behavior. Life became unpredictable when knee-jerk oppositional overwhelmed sensibly conventional.
Nothing worthwhile comes from arguing with antisemites, bullies, cat fishers, cowards, cretins, criminals, cultists, denialists, extremists, fanatics, fascists, gaslighters, ghosters, grifters, homophobes, hucksters, louts, misogynists, narcissists, nazis, nincompoops, psychos, racists, simpletons, trolls, xenophobes, or zealots. Without dumpster diving and sorting through garbage speculations proven false in previous century, intellects can’t derive factual consensus. But process can be sped up by first identifying with whom you’re dealing. Etiquette matters, but rude manners should cost bores more.
Cat fishers extort and scam money from lonely people looking for love. Cultists justify their lazy allegiance to known celebrities rather than research character merits and track records. Deplorables reduce casual convo to “get help”, “Kool-aid drunk”, “love it or leave”, or strawman fallacies, then selectively delete own comments to make yours look odd and paranoid, though a 75% majority either agreed, ignored or liked. Remaining 25% correlate to one in four people with antisocial personality disorders who psychiatric scientists say constitute every community. Gaslighters and narcissists answer by belittling and browbeating to make you doubt yourself while they shore up own insecurities. Misogynists hate women so much they’d deny their majority and rights. Trolls renounce you personally hoping you’ll inadvertently blurt evidence they can use against you.
Whole Earth Catalog cofounder Stewart Brand flippantly advised, “We are as gods, so we might as well get good at it.” Well, reality of American majority might be diametrically the opposite. Fully 12% are illiterate in any language; 15% are retired beyond caring; 18% are school kids; 25% are trumpkins who bow to their Orange Jesus, a creamsicle crime lord in 3X marshmallow golf shorts, who has been twice convicted of fraud and twice impeached by House of Representatives. He’s been continuously investigated and relentlessly opposed not because he made political enemies for promising to “drain Potomac swamp”, rather because he’s a lifelong lowlife and pond scum with brain fog from drug abuse and sadomasochism. Remaining 30% include leaders and workforce reasonably anxious about issues and policies such felons might influence.
During last 2 years nation shrugged off a major pandemic and slew of attacks from domestic terrorists, both fanatical and financial, while deficit reduction and job growth set historic records. Corporate gouging, price hikes, school shootings, and worry whether family will die or fail incite discontent. Civil liberties, creative freedoms, democratic rule, and third estate are under relentless attack by would-be tyrants. Threats to your choice, health and wellbeing ought to give you pause for thought. If you forfeit rights while seeking security, you’ll be denied both.
People who suffer vent. They blame identifiable scapegoats, imaginary conspirators, or ingratiating politicians who’ve made promises they couldn’t keep resulting in disappointments, embarrassments, or losses. Some countenance hate crimes, random insurrections, and vigilante justice, then decide to avenge without knowing who's responsible. Ideology divides, dreams unite.
Vampires suck life from all they enthrall. Egomaniacal orators and giant tome writers cause same harm: They drain you dry by canceling your presence, monopolizing your time, or pushing you aside. Just think of what good a child could do if parents were simply supportive rather than sociopathic or stupefied. As everything in nature, humans exist in time-space haunted by memories that refuse to die. Hard enough to find inspiration without blood suckers abusing, demotivating, exploiting, or heaping insults upon you.
Politics are infested with vampires, who use patriotic, religious, and security arguments that defy logic, reason and sense to pick your pockets and secure their seats. You can’t just ignore them lest everyone including you suffer mightily. Too many boomers dropped out, thereby left this mess. What kind of dunce heeds Republican agenda of corruption, division, strong-arm tactics, and transfer of trillions from workers to an oligarchy? With only 25% voter affiliation nationwide members of this minority party could never get elected without arm twisting, ballot tampering, district gerrymandering, domestic terrorizing, ego stroking, electoral fudging, fear mongering, financial attacking, price hiking, school shootings, and vote suppressing.
Overlords pay Carlson, Hannity and Murdoch millions to spew propaganda for them 24/7 nonstop. Nothing new, been going on since Nixon, then Reagan, two Bushes, then worst, Trump. Investment transferred $50 trillion from US Treasury into offshore accounts of 850 billionaires, while 30 million families sunk below poverty line. Dictators desperately desire everyone’s compliance despite own crimes, even if that destroys everything that sustains society. An old French saying, "You grow to hate those you've wronged," explains why GOP wants to strip the poor and retired of earned entitlements, including social security you’ve involuntarily paid into for an entire career. Once they gain congressional and court control, none of these issues matter anymore, because it's all about blind hate, callous domination, donor support, and trickle “up" tricks. GOP hasn't introduced any domestic or international policies since Reagan; they vote lockstep with their totalitarian goal of destroying democracy.
Must mind what John Stuart Mill said even before Edmund Burke, “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends than that good men should look on and do nothing.” Labann warned about this decades ago. Speaking out and standing up define democracy. Ambitious bullies want to rule world, but they don’t know what to do, so leave details to whomever they think they'd like, never some unassuming public servant who’d quietly and selflessly perform, rather some charismatic snake oil salesman in their own image who'll promise whatever constituents want yet never deliver.
Certain candidate ads don’t mention party for whom they are running. These closet Republican bimbos, con artists, flip-floppers, rapists, and the totally unqualified blame Democrats for problems they created. Could be explained by brain defects (crack babies, FAS, years of substance abuse, etc.) or mental disorders (antisocial sociopathy, dementia, depression, low self esteem, mania, narcissism, etc.), not that one should ostracize or vilify those who are mentally ill. When challenged in social media, they immediately call for a sidebar lest they be exposed.
Without exaggeration, what’s at stake during this midterm campaign are citizens’ access to ballots and expectation to have votes counted; climate action with energy diversification; constitutional freedoms of self determination; continuation of earned entitlements for healthcare and retirement; correction of social and taxation injustices; and criminalization of medical care choices. Already $30 trillion in debt, nation can’t keep handing public treasury to an oligarchy.
“Systems wrecking the environment are the same harmful systems that are dividing people and causing social inequality. Patriarchy, racism – these things are very connected to extractivism and destroying the environment. I think that these fights need to be connected. Feminism, the fight for social justice, anti-racism, anti-fascism and climate justice are in many cases the same fights.” Greta Thunberg, teen activist who already knows that conservatives, dictators and fascists are an existential threat to humanity.
Bicycling commuter Labann has decided to start a carbon credit registry, and become someone from whom you can purchase carbon offsets, a $2 billion/year racket that supposedly exonerates wasteful corporations from their environmental impact. Labann’s standards go further than most by consuming 80% vegan and zero beef, maintaining a junglelike yard as a nature preserve, recycling 75% of solid wastes, shutting all but one low energy light at night, supplanting miles driven with those biked, and supporting local farms directly by riding to their stands for purchases, thereby mitigating semi-tractor trailer trips to supermarkets, winding up below 3 tons of carbon footprint per year. Analysis shows all these activities annually avoid nearly 14 tons from national average of 16 tons of household carbon dioxide emissions, yours to purchase for a price of $5/ton, or entire lot at a discount of $50/year.
“Money cannot buy happiness, but it’s more comfortable to cry in a Mercedes than on a bicycle,” supposedly said cancer victim, chain smoker, and screen actor John Wayne, who might also be deemed a mass murderer as a macho role model who promoted tobacco abuse, among the top 5 deadly habits that shorten life along with continual stress, excessive sitting, inattentive motoring, and poor diet. Patrizia Gucci upped ante by substituting a Rolls Royce.
Wayne didn’t originate saying, which has been around since Jean Jacques Rousseau in The 18th Century in various forms alongside a contradictory saying, “Money is the root of all evil.” Greediest repeatedly cite both to stifle competition so as to leave more for them to grab. Money can be another tool gathering dust, while spending can also be a deadly addiction. Too much success sucks, while poverty can kill you from hunger, violence, and whatnot. When will people learn that balance and moderation are better?
Self interest masks heinous sin; guilt elicits flimsy excuses. Lies put proverbial lipstick on greedy pigs. Legitimate excuses could silence you forever, but perverse pleasure can be had by sticking a pin in an inflated opinion. Losing a delusion soothes more than learning a truth. Rolling among those asleep, Labann doesn’t delve too deep, makes a point, and moves on. While you still can, take care to exercise your right to vote without fear, or don't complain about results of campaign.
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