When it comes to the uncertain times we are living in, we should all take a page out of Liz Cheney’s book on sacrifice. The time is now for all of us to take a stand on the world stage against the tyranny of the majority, and we need to fight harder than we have ever had to fight.
In an interview with CNN, Cheney said, “I’m fighting hard. No matter what happens on Aug. 16, I’m going to wake up on Aug. 17 and continue to fight hard to ensure Donald Trump is never anywhere close to the Oval Office ever again,” and she knows that it may cost her a seat in Congress. She knew that her Vice Chair position for the January 6th Committee would put her job in jeopardy, but she still did her duty under the oath she took to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America.
“No matter what” is how every American should be centering their ideology regarding life in the U.S. because democracy depends on it, and it is looking scary for the 2024 election that a madman can rule the country again. We are quickly losing our constitutional rights with the radical SCOTUS decisions and state governments’ oppression of women and minorities. It’s nothing new for this country to stomp on the rights of citizens, but it feels like we keep digressing into barbaric times.
It is important to stand up for what you believe, even if it goes against what the majority wants, but it is not okay to strip away a person’s choices and freedoms because of biased viewpoints when you serve public office. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Ginni, are too much in the spotlight when it comes to the state of our union. Precedents are being gutted. Rights are being decimated.
It’s not the time to sit back and shake your head if you disagree with the state of our democracy. As Americans, we have to vote, sign petitions, and use our voices to protect the rights of citizens of this country. (Note the word “citizens” rather than using demographic characteristics) We must stay informed and be involved in the political process. That is a right we have that other countries do not have. We have a democracy, and the government works for us, right?
My hope is to see things change in the aspects of participation, activism, and involvement in light of the evidence found during the January 6th Committee hearings. Upcoming hearings may have Ginni Thomas being subpoenaed, and they will present the evidence of her involvement with the insurrection. With the Thomas conundrum happening in the Supreme Court, I don’t think she will follow through with cooperating with the committee, but I hope I am wrong. We need to see that evidence, but I am sure she will hide behind Clarence’s coat tail and lawyer up.
The direst of all political circumstances needing to be put in the spotlight is the election of 2024. Donald Trump and his lies could find their way back to the White House if charges are not filed federally against him for all of the crimes he committed while sitting in the Oval Office for a 4-year stretch. There is not a sane imagination on this planet that could imagine another 4 years of living in this world that is run by and under the control of a man who is just as crazy as Vladimir Putin. We feel the war in Ukraine, and the personality and ideology of Trump are no different than Trump’s bestie, Putin.
Where do your opinions on these issues lie? Do you feel comfortable with the state of democracy in this country, or do you feel like we are failing ourselves like I do?
The Voice of the Voiceless 
Amy, thanks for this.
To put this in perspective, people complained about the conservative judges that were appointed by Trump after 2016. To his credit, he shared a prepared list from whom he would pick and Republicans galvanized around this issue. Now, Roe v Wade is overturned and corporations can escape liability more easily when they screw people.
He said he would take us out of the Paris Climate Change Accord and he did as the GOP has been greatly funded by fossil fuel companies who want to continue their profit margins. The EPA was gutted and climate change data and articles were removed from governmental websites. He also came one vote from repealing the ACA which would have left over 20 million Americans without insurance.
What happened was not news. He said he would do these things. I just picked these three issues, but I could go on. If people think issues like this (and gun governance, civil rights, women’s rights, integrity, child care, etc.) are important, they need to get out and vote. Republicans do a better job of marketing than Democrats. A key reason Trump won in 2016 was getting people who were not wild about Hillary to stay home or vote for Jill Stein.
And, for those who claim the GOP will be better with the economy, here is one fact I want people to look up. Since 1921, there have been 13 Republican and 13 Democrat White Houses. Under which White Houses have the most jobs been created? What too many don’t know is the answer is Democrats and it is not even close, with about twice the number of jobs as under GOP ones.
Donald Trump likes to claim what a great job he did with the economy turning things around. The truth is he on his inauguration in January, 2017, the economy was in its 91st consecutive month of economic GDP growth, there were six straight years of 2+ million annual job growth, and the stock market had more than doubled under his predecessor. To Trump’s credit it continued and got a little better for a little while with the sugar rush of the tax cut, but due to the pandemic and his poor handling of it, he left us with a recession.
So, please do some homework and listen to what they will do. And, for those who still do not want to believe the above, presidential historians have ranked Donald Trump in the bottom five of US presidents primarily due to his seditious actions leading up to and on January 6 and his hoax-calling botch of the pandemic.
Keith
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Hi Keith! I always enjoy the input you give when I ask questions like this to the public. I think the points that you bring forth for me and my readers to consider.
I especially like the point that you make about job creation under the guidance of our POTUS since 1921. I remember back when I was in my pre-teens that my mom and grandmother would talk about how good it was to be Democrat for the middle-class, and my father was the opposite (kind of anti-government, which was weird) as a Republican. I think if we do not explore outside of those socially motivated conversations to do that homework on the political process that we (the country) will never get out of the recession or the messes of our past mistakes.
I agree with you about the votes between Hillary and Trump. In that election, I lived in backwoods Arkansas (no offense to Arkansans in general), and the county I lived in was very suppressive of the votes with intimidation etc. I did not know how to be part of the process, but I did chance it and voted…however, I wrote in a vote because neither of them were fit to serve. I think I failed the process by doing that, but I couldn’t vote for bad people.
Things like that happen all over the country when it comes to the participation part of our democracy. I hope we can start rising above the mess and mistakes. I really do.
Great advice to my readers and myself, Keith. Always a pleasure to read your comments and interact with those comments!
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Thanks Amy. I enjoy how you tease up the topic and invite readers to join in. You deserve more followers than you have given what you say and how you say it. Keith
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Thank you, Keith! I am honored that you say that, and I hope to market this blog a little better soon. I think I need more content, and my summer session had me buried in the books 🙂 I appreciate you, and I am so glad that I have your support! Amy
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