Remember when

 

Bare feet

            I can still remember the feeling of the cold linoleum floors of grocery stores on my bare feet during the summer. We could go barefoot in stores then. The times changed. “No shirt, No shoes, No service” came along. There wasn’t a constitutional outcry that our freedoms were being taken away. No riots in the streets. No ‘Freedom for the right to be barefooted convoys’ took to the roads. No protests.

            When the government and businesses claimed the right to limit or ban smoking there were protests. Having a healthier environment and not risking the lives of innocents won. We have a lot of regulations/laws protecting us. Law protects every aspect of our daily lives from the food we eat, the streets we drive on, the planes we fly in to the buildings we live in. Our lives depend upon the rule of law. That’s our democracy. Not everyone for their self. The reality was that the Constitution protected us. That’s what it was designed to do.

            There are people around where we live that don’t like stopping for Stop signs. They just drive through them because they want to. People around here also pass on hills with double yellow lines because they want to. Lots of people speed because they want to. They are a threat to others by going ahead and doing what they want. No concern for others. They are just exercising their personal freedom.

They get people killed.

THEY

            Then along comes yet another pandemic only this one was worse than usual. Way too many people started dying. Then along comes the nobody-tells-me-what-to-do-crowd and they decided that wearing a mask, keeping their distance from others or getting vaccinated was just too inconvenient for them. “They” surfaced yet again and were not concerned with protecting themselves or their fellow man. They succeeded in killing a few hundred thousand people needlessly.

            They claim that they are being oppressed and they threaten people, from average citizens to elected officials, all over the country with bodily harm. They threaten civil war because they didn’t get their way. They threaten secession from the country because they are the true patriots. They claim that the freedom of our nation is under attack and that we need to be liberated.

Like Ukraine.

What Purpose

            The democracy of Ukraine has been invaded by the Russians at the direction of the Communist thug Vladimir Putin. Tens of millions of people that call themselves American patriots are taking his side. Their leader, former President Donald J. Trump, has now repeatedly praised Putin as have other Republican leaders, and are blaming President Biden, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and even Col. Vindman (now retired) for Putin invading Ukraine. Trump’s still calling our leaders dumb to anyone that will listen and broadcast his views.

            What purpose does that serve? Does that strengthen the fight against Putin? Who does calling Putin a savvy statesman and genius benefit? Is it just politics to solidify the support of their Putin-loving base? (And why are the base such big fans of Putin anyway? Could they articulate it? Do you think they even know?) Does what they are doing put America first? As we face the possibility of World War III are they trying for political gain or seeking a way to end this threat. Are they showing strength? Are they showing resolve? Are they showing a united America? Remember when Putin was a godless Communist to Republicans, as well as to everyone else?

It seems like only yesterday