Plus Ça ChangE,

Ça Rempire

Sun 8.20.23

Below is an essay by the actor Margot Kidder posted on the site Information Clearing House on the Democratic convention of 2016 and my response to it. I repost this to show how we are now even in worst straits than seven years ago, and yes, the elections were always rigged.   I’m so sick of it, the corruption, the sleaze, the ongoing slaughter in Ukraine.  

My Fellow Americans, We Are Fools

Margot Kidder

There is something I am going to try and explain here after watching the Democratic National Convention this evening that will invite the scorn of many of my friends. But the words are gagging my throat and my stomach is twisted and sick and I have to vomit this out. The anti-americanism in me is about to explode and land god knows where as my rage is well beyond reason. And I, by heritage, half American in a way that makes me “more” American than almost anyone else in this country except for the true Americans, the American Indians, am in utter denial tonight that I am, as you are, American as well.

I am half Canadian, I was brought up there, with very different values than you Americans hold, and tonight after the endless spit ups and boasts and rants about the greatness of American militarism, and praise for American military strength, and boasts about wiping out ISIS, and America being the strongest country on earth, and an utterly inane story from a woman whose son died in Obama’s war, about how she got to cry in gratitude on Obama’s shoulder tonight I feel deeply Canadian. Every subtle lesson I was ever subliminally given about the bullies across the border and their rudeness and their lack of education and their self-given right to bomb whoever they wanted in the world for no reason other than that they wanted something the people in the other country had, and their greed, came oozing to the surface of my psyche.

I just got back from a rather fierce walk beside the Yellowstone River here in Montana, trying to let the mountains in the distance reconnect me to some place of goodness in my soul, but I couldn’t find it. The scenery was as exquisite as ever, but it just couldn’t touch the rage in my heart. The visions of all the dead children in Syria that Hillary Clinton helped to kill; the children bombed to bits in Afghanistan and Pakistan from Obama’s drones, the grisly chaos of Libya, the utter wasteland of Iraq, the death and destruction everywhere caused by American military intervention. The Ukraine, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Chile, you name it, your country has bombed it or destroyed its civilian life in some basic way.

When I heard all the Americans cheering for the military and the pronouncements of might coming from the speakers in the Wells Fargo Centre, I loathed you. I loathed every single one of you. I knew in my gut that what I was taught as a child was true, which is that YOU are the enemy. YOU are the country to be feared. YOU are the country to be disgusted by. YOU are ignorant. And your greed and self-satisfaction and unearned pride knows no bounds.  
I am not an American tonight. I reject my Puritan ancestors who landed in this country in 1648. I reject the words I voiced at my citizenship ceremony. I reject every moment of thrilling discovery I ever had in this country.

You people have no idea what it is like for people from other countries to hear you boast and cheer for your guns and your bombs and your soldiers and your murderous military leaders and your war criminals and your murdering and conscienceless Commander in Chief. All those soaring words are received by the rest of us, by us non-Americans, by all the cells in our body, as absolutely repugnant and obscene.

And there you all are tonight, glued to your TVs and your computers, your hearts swelled with pride because you belong to the strongest country on Earth, cheering on your Murderer President. Ignorant of the entire world’s repulsion. You kill and you kill and you kill, and still you remain proud.

We are fools.

Dear Margot,

You could include France and England in the carnage.  They are pretty keen on doing their free shopping in third world countries too, but that’s beside the point.  I, whose family was Canadian, have felt as you presently many times.  What you did not note at the DNC party were the Bernie folks who are trying to do the right thing, get the crooks out of Washington, stop the wars, help out the little guy.  Did you notice how quickly they were booted out and replaced by paid seat holders told to cheer on cue?  What do you think happened to all those Bernie supporters?  I can tell you what happened; it’s an old story in American politics, they were disillusioned just like the people who voted for Obama were disillusioned when he came to power and gave us a complete volte face of attitude, opinion and position.  They came to understand that the system is rigged.  Many at this point give up on politics.  You see this reflected in voter turnout, only half of the eligible voters turn out to cast their vote in presidential elections, and much less for congressional elections.  If you look at who votes poor and/or ethnic people hardly bother to show up.  

I don’t agree with your assessment of Americans.  Short of revolutionary war, there is little that individuals and organizations can do, and even then they would be mowed down (Netanyhu’s favorite term) like the front lawn.  This is not a democracy where the will of the people prevails.  If we make enough noise, we get thrown a crumb occasionally, but it doesn’t change the script being followed.  For instance you’re able to publish your incendiary article without being arrested because you are powerless.  

We have so little power that those in charge can afford to ridicule us, belittle us.  The woman who rigged the nomination in Clinton’s favor and cheated millions of voters of their choice has been appointed to be part of Hillary’s campaign.  So there you have it, Up Yours!

Americans are not dumber than people from other countries.  To be sure, most know very little of the country’s machinations in the world, or they turn a blind eye.  Our capitalist country does not afford its people that luxury.  One needs shelter, transportation, food, medical treatment, electronic equipment, yes, the demands of our age, schooling, work, which is becoming more and more scarce.  We are at the mercy of a system that is not designed to meet our needs.  And so we hustle.  The greed, self-satisfaction and unearned pride you speak of is not reflected on Main Street, USA.  You need to look in the boardrooms and the agencies

 Ω     Ω     Ω     Ω

MANHATTAN SEERESS NOW ON EBOOKS

Eight o'clock Sunday morning, the police arrive at her apartment in Greenwich Village, "How long have you been living here?" The roommate Elizabeth, after having accepted her half of the deposit money and rent for their new apartment, has called the police. 

New York City doesn’t open its arms to welcome her, but she’s arrived and the adventure of her life is about to unfold.  She’s come from Maine with an invitation from Sarah Lawrence College to participate in the graduate writing program.

How one becomes a seeress is what this memoir explores. Stories have been specifically selected to illustrate, from the sublime to the practical, a spiritual journey introduced in each chapter by an atout, the Tarot’s major archetypes.   From the Fool, to The World, our human journey with its risk and folly unfolds. There is also an artist here alive to her new world seeking inspiration among artists on the Lower East side, learning the ways and foods of her Chinese neighbors, falling in love.