Never Go #FullAnakin

October 30, 2019

Worried about our country? Then you need to stop going #FullAnakin.

“If you’re not with me, then you are my enemy.”

At the end of Star Wars Episode 3, Anakin utters these 10 words and cements his turn to the dark side and enters into a battle that will necessitate and complete his transformation into Darth Vader.

With this simple statement, Anakin has chosen his side. He has chosen his tribe, and in doing so has eliminated any chance of being helped by those loved and cared about him…those with whom he had already established good will and common ground. He had alienated completely those people who called him friend.

In our fast-paced world of social media and 24 hour news cycles, we have changed the way we communicate. We now “speak to each other in tweets, soundbites, and talking points. Social Media has made people “brave”. They can now throw whatever rhetorical bomb they want, and never have to deal with the consequences. They just unfriend or block the person to avoid the blow-back. We no longer have to look someone in the eye and deal with the consequences of our statements, face to face. We view every conversation in terms of wins and losses, instead of an exchange of ideas. “Adult” conversations now sound more like those of our children. We have lost sight of the middle ground. We have lost what was once taught as a vital skill…the ability to disagree agreeably.

I wonder if politicians know and understand this and use it to their own benefit to either get or consolidate power? Hmmm, maybe if we keep the rubes fighting about things, they won’t pay attention to what we, their elected “representatives” are actually doing, or not. Hmmm. I wonder if our politicians would make grand speeches about what they think, or what they disagree with, or who is evil and must be stopped, or who is committing a silent coup? Maybe they’ll even introduce (non-binding) resolutions to show everyone just how virtuous they are, know they’ll never actually have to DO anything?

How do you know if you’ve already gone #FullAnakin?

Are you #MAGA or #AlwaysTrump? Are you #Resistance or #NeverTrump? If you’re either, you’ve already gone #FullAnakin.

If everything <insert politician/personality name here> does is completely awesome or completely evil, you’ve lost the ability to call balls and strikes. No one is always/never anything. You’ve gone #FullAnakin.

If someone voices disagreement with an opinion you have, do you view it as an attack? Is a grave injustice and offense to the very core of your being? Is your first reflex to label them a racist/fascist/communist/Evil McEvilDoer? If so, you’ve gone #FullAnakin.

Let’s take the impeachment process currently underway. Is President Trump (or “45” as the woke folks call him) guilty or innocent? If you already have an answer to this question, you’ve already gone #FullAnakin. This includes those Senators and presidential candidates who have already stated how they would/will vote, BEFORE they’ve seen any actual evidence based on the actual articles of impeachment that haven’t even been passed by the House of Representatives, yet.

How to cure yourself of #FullAnakin syndrome?

First, recognize that there is more that unites us than divides us. We are a nation that believes in the idea that is America, that we are all equal under the law. We are a nation that believes government is the guarantor of rights, not the granter of them. We believe in the individual, and the individual’s worth. We are a nation that believes all citizens have the right to express themselves and pursue their happiness, so long as it doesn’t violate the rights of another.

Second, don’t assign to malice to what is more easily/appropriately explained by ignorance or a mistake. Think about it. When someone you agree with makes an error, do you assume it is due to ill intent, or do you give them the benefit of the doubt and assume the error is due to a lack of information or understanding? If you do that for those with whom you agree, what could possibly be the rationale for not doing so for those who don’t? Imagine the goodwill you could create with those people. Imagine how they would treat you and they you. For example, does everyone who believes in universal healthcare really only believe in it so they can take all your money, give it to poor people, and boss you around? Does everyone who disagrees with universal healthcare feel the way they do because they’re cheap and want grandma and children to die? Of course not. Different people have different ideas on how to solve problems. Not all of their ideas are good, but is there really a measurable quantity that are evil? See how that works? It’s not hard.

Third, get out of the tribe/silo you’ve put yourself, or allowed someone to convince you that you belong in. Recognize that the United State of America IS your tribe. Your neighbors you disagree with, your family you disagree with, the person who disagrees with you that you’ve been friends with since childhood…THEY ARE ALL YOUR TRIBE. It may sound cliche, but when I joined the Navy, one of the first things pointed out to us was that there is only one color in the Navy, and that is Navy Blue. It’s a little simplistic and maybe clumsy, but it hammers the point home…although we look different, come from different backgrounds, hold different beliefs on issues, have different preferences or orientations, we are all ONE FAMILY. Anyone with siblings knows you pick on your family. You fight with your family…sometimes there are even bloody noses, black eyes, or fat lips. But once it’s done, it’s done. They’re YOURS and YOU’RE theirs. That’s what happens in a family. On the flip side of that, God help anyone who isn’t your family who tries to start something with your family. Family stands and fights and fights for each other, and that is who we are. Imagine what would happen if a person who disagreed with you on an issue stood next to you and fought with you and for you on another issue? Imagine what would happen if you did the same for them? How much more willing would we all be to work in good faith with each other on the larger things that we do have genuine disagreements about?

If our Republic is to survive, if the idea that is America is to survive, the we MUST start behaving like adults. We have to be able to hear opinions and ideas we don’t like without taking our ball and going home…like children. We need to have rational, productive conversations centered around principles and solutions with the people we disagree with.

It is time for us all to start acting like adults.

Spies Like Us – 21st Century Edition

Dave

January 10, 2020

Anyone who has seen Spies Like Us clearly understands what happened to the Ukrainian airliner….

Here is the truth “they” don’t want you to know:

On that Ukrainian Airlines flight was a Ukrainian official who had just received verified proof from the Ayatollah, himself, that Vladimir Putin is both President Trump’s master and lover.

The CIA caught wind of this 4 hours before the flight was due to depart and dispatched 2 GLG-20s from super special SEAL Force 73 to Tehran to take over a Tor missile battery. They were in place and ready as the Ukrainian Airlines flight lifted off. Less than two minutes into flight, the GLG-20s engaged the airliner, taking out the Ukrainian official and incinerating all the evidence.

Yes, this is satire.

I mean no disrespect to any of the 176 victims or their families. The above is just as insane as those in Washington looking to make political hay out of finding a way to blame President Trump for the Iranians shooting down a civilian airliner that had just taken off FROM THEIR OWN DAMN AIRPORT.

I get people don’t like the guy, but give it a rest. He did right. He killed a terrorist on par with al Baghdadi and bin Laden. Instead of escalating after Iran’s “retaliatory strike” he let them save face and back away (so far).

God knows he’s much closer to 50/50 on what he gets right and wrong, but people’s inability to see he got this right says more about them than it does him.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Who Are America’s Veterans

Dave

November 10, 2019

Since the dawn of America, there have been approximately 565,000,000 people who have had the fortune of calling themselves “Americans”. Since our Declaration of Independence in 1776, less than 10%, have been the guardians of the American ideal. The guardians of our liberties and freedoms. They have stood against evil, both at home and abroad.

In America, we have a title of honor for these guardians and heroes: Veterans

Since the founding of our nation, we have seen and experienced many evils. Some at home, some abroad.

One of the greatest evils in our history was on our own soil. We were faced with an internal crisis, that was frankly, a battle for the soul of our Republic. The evils of slavery could no longer be ignored or allowed to continue. The Declaration of Independence reminds us, “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”. During the Civil War, our nation paid a terrible price, where the lives of more than 750,000 American sons were lost. While there would remain much work to do once the war ended, it was a price that needed to be paid, in order to work our way towards a more perfect union. We as a country, are very similar to each of us as individuals…we frequently fall short of our ideals, but still strive to be better tomorrow than we were today.

During the 20^th century, we fought two world wars. During these wars, we faced the evils and horrors of genocide and ethnic cleansing throughout Europe. We witnessed invasions of peaceful nations. We saw entire countries enslaved. We witnessed the horror of The Holocaust, where more than 6,000,000 Jews were systematically exterminated. Other groups including the Poles, Russians, the handicapped and infirm, the Romani, and homosexuals also met a gruesome fate. More than 520,000 of America’s sons and daughters laid down their lives to stop these atrocities, to liberate those who had been invaded, and to ensure those atrocities never reached American shores.

In the thirty or so years following World War II, the spread of Communism and totalitarian soul-crushing regimes again drew our nations’ sons and daughters into service. During the Korean and Vietnam Conflicts, roughly 113,000 service members gave their last full measure of devotion in the service of our nation.

In the late 20^th century, the sickness of ethnic cleansing reared its ugly head, again. This time throughout the Balkans, where more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were exterminated, and more than 4 million people became refugees. America, along with her NATO allies, once again answered the call to put an end to the evil of genocide.

At the dawn of the 21^st century, America faced an enemy that they had not before…non-nation state terrorism. September 11, 2001 saw our nation attacked with commercial airliners and box-cutters. Whatever your perceptions on the genesis of this threat, America’s sons and daughters have spent the last 18 years engaged in this struggle. Almost 7,000 of them have given their lives to prevent another 9/11.

In short, America’s veterans are, and have been, the greatest force for good, and the greatest force for liberty the world has ever known. They are the best among us and demonstrate the values and ideas our nation was founded on. They are the people who step forward and say, “send me”. They are the ones who stand up and swear to, “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic”. They are the ones who freely “bear true faith and allegiance” to the Constitution of the United States of America. They are the heroes among us who will pay the price of liberty with their lives, if that is what’s needed. Of the roughly 55,000,000 heroes who have served our nation since its inception, 1,450,808 have paid that full price.

Our nation’s veterans have seen the evils of the world face to face and continued to charge forward. They battled against slavery. They battled against piracy. They battled against genocide, oppression and totalitarianism…not in some abstract way, but with their lives. They did so with honor, courage, and commitment, not just to their nation, but to each other.

We all have a debt to repay. We have the responsibility to earn the opportunities they have provided for us.

Be worthy of their service. Be worthy of their sacrifice.

Whether you realize it or not, they did it for you.

Election Issue: Abortion

Dave

November 2, 2019

As the Democratic primary heats up and we get closer to the 2020 election, you’re going to hear a lot of bombastic rhetoric. Let’s cut through the noise and discuss it like adults. Be sure to leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments below.

To the 20% on the batshit left and the 20% on the batshit right, SHUT UP AND LISTEN, but don’t speak.

To the 60% in the “middle”, the #SilentMajority, yours is the voice that is needed. Yours is the voice that isn’t interested in “winning” or “owning” or dragging the Overton Window one direction or another.

Here is what most of the #SilentMajority believes:

#Abortion is a necessary and terrible choice.

No one wants to force a woman to carry a child conceived by rape, incest, or anything like that…..those women who choose to do so are the most gracious and amazing among us. Those who choose not to are understandably human, and don’t rejoice in their choice. They deserve our grace.

No one wants to force a woman to carry a child to term if it might jeopardize their life….those women who delay/cease cancer treatments in order to give the baby a fighting chance are also heroes. Those who choose to end a pregnancy to receive the life saving treatment do so at great cost to their emotional health and should be granted the grace they need in the aftermath of such a difficult choice.

Here is the bullshit that the #SilentMajority doesn’t want to hear from either “side”:

1. There is never a reason for abortion.
2. An abortion can and should be able to happen at any time…up to moments before birth.
3. We don’t want to hear opinions, or even worse, policies that are solely designed and predicated upon establishing “woke”, “virtuousness”, “biblical conservatism” bona fides.
4. We know when the right says doctors are allowing mothers to abort lives after birth it’s bullshit they don’t even believe that is only designed to throw red meat to and gin up their base.
5. We also know it’s bullshit when the left paints every attempt to put reasonable controls on abortion as an attempt to control women’s bodies, or it’s just the patriarchy strengthening its hold on society. If it’s designed to solely throw red tofu to their base, we see it as such.
6. We also know that the heart wrenching, worst case abortion scenarios you hold up as examples are in fact true and necessary, but, they are not representative of the average abortion.

It is time for the middle to stand up and take charge of the children masquerading as “leaders”. It is time to be what we are….the adults in the room. If your state legislature is like NY or others on the far left…rein them in and hold them accountable…that is your job. If your state legislature is like AL or others on the far right…rein them in and hold them accountable, as is your job.

If you allow this to continue and do nothing, YOU are responsible for what your representatives do in your name.