can it be our country, again ??? 12/9/2017 0 Comments   our first task is to recognize the truth about our situation - we are deceived into believing that it makes a difference between the "two" political parties, as if we actually had some form of "democracy'... by E.L. Christianson Jr. As a nation, we've been here before.  And, we knew then how to best handle the situation... Pay attention to our circumstances today... we should make this 'our country, again'. From history, The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 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. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security... Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies... it goes on - read the full text here: ​Our government has no legitimacy at all, none - we can substitute modern, appropriate words for 'colonies'. Probably our most important task, as citizens it to be sure that we avoid nuclear war, with anybody.  We can easily see that our illegitimate government constantly flirts with the powers of the world in a manner that seems intentionally designed to start a nuclear conflict.  It appears that the only thing that has saved us so far is self-restraint on the part of others. At this time, it is not necessary to get into all of the other wars we persistently wage all over the planet... all of the murder and destruction that takes place at our hands... It is amazing that we have deceived our selves for so long a period of time regarding the manner in which we pretend to have democracy in our country.  We love to mention world war two 'villains' as  points of comparison - Mussolini or Hitler and our favorite, Stalin.  There is no sense in that type of comparison other than to attempt to make ourselves 'feel good' We try to update that 'good feeling' by denigrating the likes of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, but these men actually worked for the good of their country.  Our only complaint with them involves the fact that they actually worked for the good of their country, and we like to call them socialists.  If only we had leaders here who worked for the good of our country. The electorate in this country has a willingness to accept candidates like Donald Trump and Alabama's Roy Moore and now, Arizona's Joe Arpaio. While hard to imagine, Arpaio had deputies frame someone in a fake assassination plot by purchasing bomb parts and delivering them to the defendant.  Equally hard to imagine is this person being in the senate of the United States government.  Hard to imagine but not out of the question... hard to imagine, but in this country, completely believable. And in the criminal justice system, a source of major problems in this country, we got a small glimpse of near justice recently: Michael Slager will serve 20 years in a federal prison for killing Walter Scott, a Black man, unarmed, and running away.  He was shot five times in the back.  This conviction is an extremely rare exception.  Almost all police brutality is 'pushed aside', 'buried under the carpet', and 'over-looked'. Cops are almost never indicted, let alone convicted for their crimes.  Less than 1% of cops who kill black people ever face 'justice' if it can legitimately be called 'justice'?  Slager could have been sentenced to life in prison and instead only got 20 years.   That's a victory for him !!! ​In 2017 thus far there have been 909 deadly shootings by police. Of these, 201 were black men and 9 were black women.  Go and count the convictions that result from this mass murder. As we always point our in our blog, history keeps things in perspective.  It is important to keep historical happenings in mind when viewing current circumstances: Nowhere is this more important than in the field of taxes.   ​At the end of the 2nd World War, we had our highest tax rate.  For those then making over $200,000, the same as making over  $2,700,000 in 2017, the tax rate was 94%.    ​“We now live in a nation where doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the press destroys information, religion destroys morals, and our banks destroy the economy.” ​― Chris Hedges. The new tax law proposals are a sad and cruel joke.  The main feature of the current tax proposal is to permanently cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent.  In addition to that, the bottom rate, effecting the poor the most, would increase from the current 10% and go up to 12%. The extreme giveaway to the wealthy elite and corporations, along with tax increases for the middle class, will pollute our ground, air and water.  The new budget will put more carbon into the air and put more profits into the hands of the polluters.  It will produce major cuts to popular and important programs.  It will cut the wind energy renewable energy tax credit by 40 percent.  It can only be described as a budget farce. The new budget will add an estimated $1 trillion to the deficit.  The larger deficit will then be used as a further excuse to cut further into environmental protection programs and social programs - further removing us from the things we value. ​Yeah, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another...  it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security... Such has been the patient sufferance of these people, at the very least since the end of the 2nd world war, and that's the truth !!!