Michael: A lot of people are saying the US is the laughingstock of the entire world right now because of our president, but the fact is that even the wookies on Endor are mocking the American electorate; and not without good reason. So we’ve got that going for us. ”Mike Pence's aid is a Never Trumper" according to President Donald Trump because she testified against him on the Ukraine phone call. That’s good enough for his supporters. Recently a friend of mine who works in a coal mine told me he was a trump supporter because he was a coal miner. All I could do was shake my head. The largest coal mine in the western US was closed in AZ recently, which was owned by the very company he works for in WY. It's not President Trump’s fault that the coal mines are closing, but it is his fault that those affected and his supporters believe in economic and political fantasies, and don't think they even need to consider reality since he doesn't; and no one calls him on it. "They wash the coal; and make it clean." Trump says with conviction. His supporters also believing that. A family member recently told me he can't support Democrats because "they'll take away our 2nd amendment rights". This family member who I love and respect has been a felon for 20 years and has absolutely no 2nd amendment rights whatsoever. "Democrats only want to take your guns and have open borders!" "Vindman and Yavonovitch are traitors" Trump says(in spite of the fact that they are highly vetted and distinguished patriots and painting the democrats with such a broad brush is entirely inappropriate) and the walking-dead zombies of the Trump cult believe it all without question.
Such departures from reality cannot go unchecked without resulting in the inevitable and complete destruction of our nation and all it stands for. Democracy requires an ability to appeal to reason and a belief in the pursuit of Liberty and Justice for ALL. A belief in equality and Justice which entail the right to be governed in a non-corrupt manor. A belief in the objective existence of Truth. The hypnotic effect of trumpspeak seems to have rendered his cult members beyond the reach of reason. This is incredibly sad as well as incredibly dangerous and it sends us sliding down the slippery slope into fascism. As I have watched the Impeachment hearings I have come to realize that the Republican Representatives and Senators no longer believe that the citizens of the U.S. have a right to expect their government to operate with integrity. Neither intellectual nor constitutional integrity; and that they no longer uphold the values espoused in the American political philosophy. That is why after forty years I am walking away from the Republican Party. I love my country, God, and most importantly: The Truth.
So did the founding fathers, which is why they engineered a form of government in which as Lieutenant-Colonel Vindman so aptly put it during his testimony when asked by republicans why he risked coming forward: He said he still believed America was “A country where Right Matters”. Read the Declaration of Independence for substantiation of the fact that it is supposed to be just that. Most telling however is the fact that they(the sitting republicans) can’t seem to wrap their heads around the idea that an individual would take personal risk for the Nation’s benefit. The patriotic notion of sacrifice for county is foreign to them. As is an inherent reverence for the Truth. As a man of integrity I am going to stand with Colonel Vindman. I’m going to support the notion that America is a nation where “Right matters”. The only question that remains is: What are you going to do? The Republican party no longer reflects my values nor the values of the founding fathers. That’s why it’s as good as dead as is evidenced by the most recent election results and the ridiculous positions its supporters take and try to defend, as exemplified by their dear leader. Lindsey Graham said during the primaries of the last election that if we nominated Donald Trump it would mean the “end of the Republican Party and that we would deserve it." He was right. His current stance shows the degree to which the malignancy of trumpspeak has infected his personal integrity in particular, and the party’s as a whole; and how it's too late to successfully treat that malignancy and save the party. Sadly, It's over. Idiocracy in real life. RIP GOP.
