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This pen cannot write, so you can really see, the tears in this old man’s eyes.  Too sad for mere ink, too deep for mere paper.  This pen, not as strong as we need.

From this page that I write, I can’t fire a flare.  This pen, not that mighty.  No fireworks from here.

This needs to shake a whole country.  But how with just words?  My writings, not strong.  This pen, not enough.  The steel of the sword, too powerful to fight.

I look at this pen, the tears come once more.  What more can I do?  This is all that I have.  No real talents, no money, no influence or power.  This pen cannot trumpet what the world needs to hear.  This pen made of plastic, its only sound, a click and a scratch.  This pen, no match for the forces we face.

But I must tell the world.  I have found the Key.  A Key so lost, we didn’t even know it was gone.  Can just this flat paper show us the way?  It needs brass bands and spotlights, loudspeakers and beacons.  Can this pen make you follow this rainbow right here?  To find the Key that I’ve found?  This Key that’s been lost.  It’s been in plain sight.  This Key called a “given”.  Of course it’s still there, any thought, not required.  Don’t need to look closely, don’t need one last look.

Wait!!  Stop!!  They’re leaving!!  They still do not see it!  We need “BOOM”, we need “POP”!!  We need “sizzle” right now!!

Blast this pen!  What good are you, huh?  No country shaking, no fireworks, not even a tear.  The pen that I hold cannot wake us to see, this Key we need, so desperately.

The Key still lies orphaned, out there in the field.  Alone and unnoticed.  No throngs to extol it.

All I have, not enough, to bring it to bear.  That steel must be hard, as hard as I’d feared.

I’m sorry if this pen, not as strong as it needs.  I’m sorry if this pen, not as mighty as hoped.

We need to feel that wet tear.  See that rocket’s red glare.  Something must shake us, to find this Key that is there.

I hope the pen, stronger, that it’s mightier than steel.

 

Excuse me sir, I wonder if you could help me?  I guess I’m not from around here.  My destination’s not on this map.  Everyone I’ve spoken to, they just shrug their shoulders.  They’ve heard of it, just don’t know where to find it.  Like Atlantis or Shangri-La, it seems to be almost mythical.  But I’m positive I wasn’t just dreaming.  I could have sworn that it was real.

I’m pretty sure someone wrote it down somewhere.  Something about the foundation or cornerstone of something.  Something, somewhere important.

I’m sorry.  I know you’re busy.  I don’t wish to interrupt.  I can see you’ve got important things to get to.  I’ll ask someone else, or just keep looking.  I’ve heard there’s a shining beacon.

I’ve asked friends and family.  I’ve ask news outlets.  I’ve ask respected Congress members.  I’m answered with silence most of the time.  Skepticism, when there is a response.  Oh yeah, three people with words of encouragement.  That might only mean there’s four people delusional, or they Love me and don’t want to hurt my feelings.

Maybe this place doesn’t exist at all.  Maybe I just imagined it.  But I’m not that creative, not all that smart.  I could not have come up with this on my own.  It must have been something I read before.  Something someone planted in my head.  Some sort of propaganda tool, whispered to me when I was vulnerable.  Maybe hidden in the creamy part of an Oreo.

Maybe I better just sit down.  I’ve always heard if everyone tells you you’re drunk, then maybe you better sit down.  Does that work if the whole bar is loaded?  What happens when insane is normal?  And normal tells you to sit?

I really do thank you for your time.  I’ll just keep on looking.  I have a copy on my wall back home.  My phone says to check the first thing inside, The National Archive in Washington, D.C., in the United States of America.  It says we can find this destination there.  Maybe it wasn’t just a dream.

This War on Terror.  How does it end?  Does anybody know?  Where does it stop?  When will we see the headlines, “War Over!  Terrorists Surrender!”?  Have we noticed that there is no land to occupy, no flag to take, no dictator to eliminate to end this war?  Do we realize we have given one person the power to cross any border, to fire missiles or bombs, even send in special forces, American boots, into any country that person deems a threat.  With no need to go through Congress each time any more.  Congress didn’t declare war on Pakistan, no Congressional declaration needed against Yemen, against Libya, against Syria.  Are we at war with them?  Does anybody know?  Did I miss a “day of infamy” speech or two?  We the people have appointed the United States as the world’s judge, jury, and executioner.  Is this what “might makes right” looks like?  Is this our global “manifest destiny”?

Isn’t that what King George III believed?  Only one has the wisdom to decide?  No international forum.  No coalition needed.  That one person can hold so much power?

We have ceded all that power to the hands of one person, until the terrorists are gone.  Until the War on Terror is over.  Have we tried to imagine what that looks like?  How and when can we say we’ve beaten the terrorists?  When will there be no terrorists and we can get back to normal, where only Congress has the power to declare war?

I’ll tell you when, never.  Because we have declared war on an intangible, on a concept, on a cause.  So there will always be targets to strike.  They have terrorists in Yemen, in Syria, Pakistan and Libya.  They have terrorists in Indonesia, in Egypt and Turkey.  There’s terrorists in France, Norway and Mexico.

This is an endless war.  This is a border-less war.  Our President now with permanent war powers, with arbitrary targets and objectives.  What does the Syrian Air Force have to do with the threat of terrorism here?  What qualifies someone as a terrorist anyway?  Targeting civilians, certainly.  But with our might, the numbers of “collateral damage” are higher by far.  We don’t mean to, we even sacrifice our lives to avoid it, but two thousand pound bombs don’t care and munitions don’t always go where they’re supposed to.  And when we launch so many, the numbers really add up.  “Intent” becomes irrelevant if we “accidentally kill” twenty thousand along the way.  The word “terror” itself is arbitrary, intangible.  How do you go to war against it?  Most importantly, how does it end?

We know war evolves.  Actually, much quicker than mankind.  And we have to adapt to changing conditions, of that there is no doubt.  This is a new type of enemy, elusive, rarely visible, and yes, very dangerous.  They indeed would use weapons of mass destruction if acquired.  But we need perspective.  This enemy will never overrun our borders, they can never enslave our people.  This is an enemy that can never “win”.  We ourselves kill more Americans with cars and guns in a month than they have in twenty years.  We spend more of our national treasure, lose more of our national esteem, give up more of our Constitution against this enemy than they ever merit.  Maybe this is how they destroy America.  This, how they take away our Independence and our Freedom.  They allow us to display our arrogance to the world.  They allow us to show our unbridled self-righteousness, allow us to show that we think we are the world rulers.  They let us show the world our disregard for international law, with no respect for the Geneva Convention, no regard for sovereign countries, no regard for our own base Constitution, our own laws.  That we can indeed, just make them up along the way.  That we will abandon our very Founding Principle if we are frightened, thus, abandon you in the trenches.  They can show the world the referee is corrupt and not to be trusted.  The game truly rigged.  The Imams can say, “See, I told you.  They think they’re God.  They believe they are the ultimate power, the world’s judge, jury and executioner.”

This, the very thing our country was created to fight.  The irony, blatant.  The destination more frightening than the journey.  Where does this end?  What is our goal?  When does the sailor get to kiss the girl?  When does the ticker-tape parade begin?  Can we achieve this peace from the end of a gun barrel or the tip of a cruise missile?  How many do we have to kill to prove our righteousness this time?

War has evolved.  Mankind, not so much.  Fear, our baseline once again.  Foundational Rights, our “collateral damage”.  This war with no end.  This intangible enemy we try to fight with hardware and steel.  War has evolved.  Stone lost against better stones, horsemen lost against better horsemanship, tanks fought tanks, jungle fighting fought jungle fighting.  Oil rig firefighters know, you can only defeat big fires with a stronger fire.  Likewise, you can only fight intangibles with stronger intangibles.  War has evolved.  So must we.  This intangible, border-less enemy can only be defeated by our bigger intangible, our stronger cause, and here on Earth, you can’t get any bigger than “all”, “created equal” and our holding to this as “unalienable”.  This enemy can only be defeated by our ideals, by the steadfast adherence to principle.  By the bravery, the sacrifice, the moral high ground held resolutely.  This enemy can only be defeated by our evolved “shot heard ‘round the world”.  This, the only way to win this war.  This, the only way to end this endless war.

Our Founding Fathers gave us this cause, this ultimate intangible weapon, to fight these terrorists, to win against the enemies of peace.  This cause, much stronger than nuts and bolts.  This American strength on a much bigger scale than mere elemental or chemical reactions.

This, in our modern age, with our evolution of war, is the only way to occupy land, is the only way to take a flag, the only way to eliminate a dictator.  This, the only way to fight this war.  The only way we will ever end this war.

Try to imagine what it was like. July 4, 1776. You’re a patriot standing on the streets of Boston or Philadelphia. Maybe Stillwater, N.Y. or a farm outside of town. You hear the news. America has declared our Independence. We have declared to the world we are no longer kingsmen. Imagine those patriots as they thought, now, I am a free man. Can we possibly imagine, standing there at that moment, how that first breath of Freedom filling our lungs must have felt. That breath you breathe right now. The same one taken by each and every patriot on that day for the first time in history. A breath they had never known. A breath they had never tasted. When I try to imagine it – it overwhelms me. That first breath. What was that very first taste of Freedom like? Can you imagine? A taste that reaches your soul?

Try to imagine how it might have felt to look with your new eyes, the streets, the buildings, the fields, seeing all around you, a whole new beginning. The endless opportunity. The Hope. The chance to prove your own character. To be able to see the very birth of Individual Freedom. Right before your eyes. Imagine how that must have looked, through our patriot’s eyes. I wonder if we can see it.

Imagine, those first strong steps these patriots took – the pride they must have felt. The feeling of I am born equal. My voice – as important as yours. It would puff your chest, it would strengthen your handshake, you now look a person straight in the eye. Everything is different. A rebirth for all. I wonder if we can imagine that feeling in America on July 4, 1776.

I wonder if we can imagine – what declaring this for all people would feel like?

I know we can imagine their first taste of Freedom, that first sight of Hope, the pride of those first strong steps. For them, as it was for our patriots. Imagine.

I can’t imagine what it would look like through the eyes of that young lady on July 4^th, 1776. She was there at our country’s celebration with the birth of this new nation. I wonder, could she see all the joy and the back-slapping, the spring in their step and the smiles on the faces? What could that have looked like to her – that look of Hope? Could she see it right there, what Freedom looked like? I still can’t imagine what she could see, through her eyes.

She heard the church bells ringing, heard the toasts of congratulations, the laughter, the song and the revelry. New sounds, different sounds, the sounds of Freedom. I can’t know how that would sound, to her young ears.

Did she smile seeing what Freedom looked like? A freedom she could see with her own eyes and hear with her own ears. She could have witnessed that pure joy. She could have reached out and touched Freedom.

I just can’t imagine what she could see, through those beautiful, soulful eyes, as she carefully, once again, drew the bath for her master.

I can imagine, I do know, no one can see through tears.

 

I’m a thirteen year old boy in Mosul, Iraq. ISIS fighters in my house, using my family as cover from coalition forces. If I survive, a lifetime of choices in my future. My eyes wide open, my brain in high gear.

Our coalition struck, the fighters, now gone. My Mother, baby sister, big brother as well. I saw it all. Bullets flying, this close to my head. Explosions, walls crumbling, my whole world shaking beneath my feet. The chaos, the shouting, the cursing, the silence. Then the screams of pain realized, poised to haunt me forever.

“As cover” meant nothing. Both sides do I hate. The only epiphany I have, both sides do I hate.

I’m that same young boy, in that very same moment. My family held hostage. My future, my eyes, my mind, just as open. The attack never comes. ISIS indeed was right. My Mom is still here, baby sister still smiles. I saw it all, no bullets, no explosions. Our walls still intact. No screams do I hear to haunt me till death. My world clearer now, my feet still on Earth.

The epiphany I have, “As cover” meant something. The good, I see true.

“As cover” meant something. My family, my life. Whose forces held us dear, above their own life?

My future still open, eyes still just as wide. My choices, still there for me to decide. To whom do I run? For whom should I care?

I know now, “As cover” means something. And that will always be there.

I don’t really like to write this blog.  I don’t like putting myself out there.  I know I’m not very good.  I’m trying to convey the most beautiful song in the world and I can’t carry a tune in a bucket.  But I’ve discovered the cure to what ails us and I’m resolved to getting it out any way I can think of.  My brother says my blog is mostly preaching to the choir.  The people it needs to reach, not even seeing it.

That’s why I enjoy driving my truck around.  I enjoy parking my truck.  I enjoy sitting at stop lights.  I have a camper shell on my truck with three exposed windows.  And on these windows, I have, as large as I could get written –

All are Created Equal (over-arching and in beautiful cursive)

America’s Founding Principle. (Bold and underlined)

Please think about it. (The main gist)

(With a suggestion) You can visit foundingprinciple.org

So now I know, whether driving or parked, more than the choir is seeing it.  Every person who reads the back or the side of my truck, hears that bell ring.  Every person in the car behind me, the people who are beside me.  The folks passing my truck on the parking lot.  They see it, whether they want to or not.  And you can’t unsee something.  You can’t unring that bell.

Probably many don’t like it, for so many reasons, but no matter what, the bell still rings and reminds us of the fact that it is America’s Founding Principle.  I don’t look at faces.  Don’t look for reactions.  I’m only here to ring the bell.  You can think about it as you wish.  But I’ve accomplished my first goal.  People can’t help but at least think about it.  Can’t help but put these two together.  Even if it ticks you off.  The bell has been rung.

All are created equal is America’s Founding Principle.  Everyone knows it’s true.  They might think about that the next time they wave our flag.  Might think about it the next time they vote.  It might cross their mind in daily life.  Every person that hears that bell ring, cannot erase it, cannot delete it, they cannot just make it go away.

I can ring this Liberty Bell.  The words etched in stone.  Simply written on the sides of my truck.  I can sing this song.  The words already waiting.  The notes, left to the imagination.  I can’t afford billboards or brass bands or sky-writing, but I know I ring that bell every time someone reads my truck.  And it’s all Americans, not just the choir.

I realize the danger, to so much more than my glass.  I’m putting everyone I love at risk.  But there’s a sense of security I can’t really explain.

It feels like my Country has my back.

 

Warning:  This letter has the ability to insult most people on the planet.  It can seem anti-religion, anti-race, anti-country or creed, anti-sewing circle and anti-family.  Anti-any of the groups we belong to.  I can assure you, it is not.  It is only anti-divided, anti-separate, anti-apart.  It is meant to promote the idea that yes, enjoy family and those unique ties, enjoy church and the shared love.  Religions around the world know Love is God.  That Love is world-wide. You should love outings with “the guys” or “gals”.  I myself, love being with folks with whom I share similarities with.  We speak the same language, share like experiences, can agree on so many things.  It feels comfortable and natural, an important part of my life.  A good part of my life.  We need this as humans.  It is perfectly fine to do this.

Most of us have been a part of a team.  We know the comradery, we know the pride of teamwork in achieving a goal.  These, all good things we should never lose.  Competition, a healthy part of life.  But competition minus respect is something different.  Demonizing the opponent, too helpful, too easy.  It can relinquish responsibility for our own actions by blaming someone else.  “It’s all the terrorist fault, we have nothing to do with it.”  See how easy that is to say?  How easy that is to feel?  Replace “terrorists” with Whites or Blacks or Republicans or Democrats.  This, the slippery slope we rarely hear of.

We need to love new ideas just as much as our Small Town, USA.  We need to love opening ourselves up to different concepts just as much as being with our friends at church.  Trying things outside of our box.  Enjoy people’s differences as much as you do our similarities.  You’ll find differences with similar people and many things similar with folks who are different.  This, the gist of our Founding Principle.  Comforting and exciting all around, often at the same time.

This letter, meant to shock, not offend.  But we need to face up to our pre-existing condition called Tribalism.  Our most divisive trait.  Realize it has and does serve us well.  But mostly, we must realize the danger it poses. Divided we fall means all of us.  Mankind itself.

 

 

The United States, the world, has a pre-existing condition.  The fatality rate, 100%.  The pain from this disease, immeasurable.  The magnitude, barely fathomable.  The appetite of this affliction, as infinite as universal life.  Mankind, doomed without the cure.

Sorry folks, Trump is not the problem, only a symptom of this malady.  To alleviate this symptom will not be the cure.  Nor will aspirin or heroin, beer or champagne, money or power, laser-guided bombs or laser-precision surgery.  The distance you can travel or the measurements of your fence will never be the cure.

For this pre-existing condition, borne by us all, is truly diabolical.  This disease makes you feel good.  It camouflages itself as a gift, as something that has and always will protect you from harm.  This disease will give you friends, folks you can relate to, with things to talk about, to laugh about, things to get mad about with.  It will give you people you feel you can trust.  The assurance that you are not alone.  It tells you that you’re the smart ones.  That you “get it”.  That others are the problem.  If you can just get away from them or eliminate them somehow, life would be much easier, much simpler to manage.  Peace and happiness will surely follow.  It whispers to us that difficult, self-reflection, soul searching, now unnecessary.  It can prove to us how good we are with peer respect and show us how terrible others are with snapshots and blanket statements.  This disease allows us to justify our actions, allows us to be unencumbered with rules, because now, we’re protecting our loves from harms imagined or pre-conceived.  The ends now justify the means.  This disease pronounces “us” with a hiss.  This condition conjures up persecution and self-pity as an ally.  All our hard work, the sacrifices of our ancestors, all we have earned, at risk of being taken by the undeserving.  This disease gains strength in hubris.  Metastasizes with our pride.

This pre-existing condition goes to such lengths to kill, it can even save our life, can save the life of our loved ones.  For now, we can see harm coming from our past experience and have prepared the power to stop it.  It will promise protection against evil, even after death if we join.  It will comfort us.  It tells us we are safe here.  It becomes a natural part of our being.  We don’t even notice it anymore.  This disease feels normal, reliable, steady.  It makes us feel strong.  It gives us the intense satisfaction of being right.

This disease feels good.  It’s easy to see how it spreads.  The siren’s song undeniable.  Our vision, quite limited, mostly in miles, only in generations.  Everything this affliction can offer us is so inviting.  It can blur the past, waxing nostalgia, turns Norman Rockwell into reality.

This disease can even fool us into believing such a place exists where, with this disease in tow, we can feel safe.  Where our neighbors are like us.  Where things can stay the same or even get better.  It makes us think we can draw a line or move away, build a fence, a wall perhaps, that can keep us safe and the bad guys out.  It can make us believe that it’s possible for me to stay in the city and you can stay in the country, that we can indeed, stay where we belong.  It makes us believe this is feasible, even desirable.  It somehow convinces us we will be better off this way.  Apart.  Separate.  Divided.  It convinces us that this way, the strong will survive and carry mankind into the future.  It completely shuts off logic, math and physics.  Logically, compromise and assimilation are stronger, more sustaining than conquering.  People learning to cooperate together, with diverse concepts, united, much more superior in the long run than constant battle.  Mathematics proves, with every single person unique and different in their own way, we can never actually get to a point where it’s just “us”.  Physics proves a tangible wall can never be tall enough.  Yet this condition can twist our minds so much, reality is no longer a factor.  Science can be ignored, compassion, a sign of weakness, humanity, a pipe dream, critical thinking, for wimps, blind loyalty, the only qualification.  It swoons us into disregarding history, to believe in only us and no one else.  The only source of truth.  Those who disagree are infidels, liars or fools.  It convinces us that fear should be our driving force.  That there is honor among thieves.  The dividers, the heroes.   And that strength comes from hardware and steel.

This disease kills by slowly closing our minds.  Chokes us, little by little by hardening our hearts and exterminates us, drip by drip by blackening our souls.

This pre-existing condition has many names.  The more names, the stronger it becomes.  As many names as differences between us.  It goes by the name of Christians.  It can add more names with Methodist and Catholic, Protestant and Baptist, dividing us even more.  It goes by the name of Islam, rejoicing in the names Sunni and Shia.  Its name is Black or White, it’s called rich and poor, growing stronger with each class line drawn in between, above and below.  This parasite loves Republicans, embraces Democrats, it revels in Blond Hairs or Brown Eyes, unionists and the country club.  It loves borders and bunkers, is best friends with the Apocalypse.  It spotlights the terrible and minimizes, even ignores the positives.  It knows we cannot fight it divided, apart, and separate.

Its tool is fear and masquerades as love.  It can blind us so much, we don’t even see the weak as they fall by the wayside.  This ailment, this disease, this killer, this pre-existing condition, mankind’s most heinous malady.

Throughout time there has been a race for the cure.  Along the lines of mankind’s history, there has been people who had the courage and foresight to say, “Let’s not kill the stranger.  Maybe we can learn something we hadn’t thought of.”  Although at first, they were probably killed by that stranger or their own tribe, eventually we, somewhat, got the idea that interactions can be beneficial and we were better off with it than we were without it.  This disease took its first hit.

I believe this deadly creature took its worst blow on July 4^th, 1776.  Finally, a whole country born to fight it.  America cut a head off this disease back then, another in 1865.  We have battled to cut the heads that grew back since then, many, many times.  The beast never dying, always coming back.  Able to build immunities, learning to blend in even more, to become acceptable, with more powerful weapons, able to reach farther and deeper than ever before.

But it seems ironically, as I’m told, this monster cannot grow another heart. So it is the heart of the matter.  That’s the target we seek.  It’s perfect for the heart to be the key for mankind’s survival.  In turn, it’s perfect that the heart is the cure for this deadly condition.  We must stab the heart of this beast with the heart of our country.

To stop this disease, the heart is the goal.  So examine the heart of this country we love.  “…all men are created equal…” at the heart of us all.  What’s at the heart, the very purpose of this, our Founding Principle?  At its heart, the battle against this relentless foe.  Our country’s stated goal, to fight this killer.  To fight division, to fight our tribal instincts.  Its sole purpose, to unite our people.  The only way to unite every person?  Pronounce us all Individual.  Every single person unique.  A tribe of one.  Every single person like no other.  Each a minority.  Unanimous together.  All alike in the fact that we are all different.   Each and every one of us, an Individual.  To end our tribal divisions.  To unite our country.  To bring about a new world.

The heart of this country’s goal – to save mankind.  So imperative this goal, our Founders placed it as the one Founding Principle in this Brand New World.  They staked everything on this one Principle.  The survival of Humanity at the very heart of our beloved country.  The most noble cause known to all of mankind.  The eradication of this disease at the heart of our existence.

How can we forget or lose, even abandon this cause?  Is this pre-existing condition that strong?  Are we indeed, not strong enough?  I draw from history, while I still can.  I see how far we have come from the trees and the grasslands to the generations I have personally witnessed.  I see mankind is amazing.  I know we can be that strong.  We need to know this about us.  Each of us needs to know it about ourselves.  Go to the heart of the matter.  Look inside America’s heart.  Look inside your own.  Find that strength you know is there.  Find that key to kill this disease.  Find the love for our differences that this is all about.  Discover every person much more, so much more than we see.  Only this can unite us all.  The fact of our differences, each person, unique.  Only this, our common bond.  Equally unique.

This key can open a whole universe.  Infinity can be seen.  Hope lives here.  Charity lives here.  Love lives here.  Freedom lives here.  It has so much more to offer than a box or a line or a wall.  Look at the heart of America.  You’ll find that key.  Think about it.  Then tell someone.  Speak about it.  The most important and complex sentence in history deserves at least this.

I know we’re hitting a mountain with a stick.  The sighs of “impossible” can be heard world-wide.  The quest, so daunting, this condition, so ingrained.  Know that our Founders and patriots back then, from Independence Hall to the ports of Boston to the fields of Carolina had those same doubts, the same thoughts, heard those same sighs.  And look what they did armed with this stick.  Patriots have swung it now for 241 years.  Surrounded by that same cynicism.  Yet strong with that key measure of Hope.  Our Founders gave us this stick, as strong as all man.  This mountain we hit, not as strong as it looks.  Millions before us have found the resolve, have found the strength of this stick, they found the heart of “ all men, created equal”.  Our differences actually the catalyst which unites us.  This why, it’s so hard to grasp.  Our differences, our common bond.  All created equal in that every individual unique.  Each and every one of us with Life and Freedom unalienable.

Fight exclusive tribalism.  You’ll recognize it when you see it.  You’ll see it when someone hates Muslims or Christians or Jews.  Hates Blacks or Whites. Hates Gays.  Hates Republicans.  You’ll hear it, too.  It contains hate and usually ends with a hiss.  Fight this tribalism.  Fight this terrible disease.  Here, try this stick, made from the heart of our country.  You have found the strongest, most noble tool on Earth.   Please, for the sake of mankind.  Hit this mountain with it.  I’m there with you, along with the millions long before us and even more millions now.  Speak of this Principle.  Make sure when your tree falls in the forest, it does make a sound.  For someone heard it.  You do indeed, make a difference.  Mankind will thank you if this disease is cured.  And won’t be here to, if we don’t.  Spread the words.  This is who we are.  This, what America stands for.  This, our very Founding Principle.  To make: Out of the Many, One.

 

 

 

Fake news, witch hunt, deep state, slippery slope, Obamacare, Benghazi.

We despise this propaganda tactic.  Say the same lie over and over again thinking people can be hypnotized into believing it.  It’s a shame when people use this tactic and a shame when people fall for it.  But keep saying deep state and fake news without parentheses’ in every sentence you can.  Make it normal.  Keep repeating it in every conversation.  Write it in your tweets so people have a visual of it.  Bring up the words every time you can. I’ve seen these words said and written randomly, not even fitting in the sentence.  Keep saying deep state a thousand times and people start truly thinking about it and many start to truly believe that all our intelligence agencies are conspiring against this one man.  And now believe there is only one source you can trust.  (The one that says he’s right).  Folks truly start to believe a complete and absolute lie with this tactic.  It absolutely works.

I know on me, too.  I have thought about witch hunts and deep state more in the last year than I ever have my whole life and I don’t even believe it!  So this tactic makes us, at least, think about it.  For some, even consider it.  And many others, it’s hook, line, and sinker.  This tactic works.

Most reasonable people despise this tactic.  It assumes we’re stupid and gullible.  It takes no creativity to come up with.  It is so simple to implement.  It’s child-like, very boring, only cavemen use it.  But it works.

Yes, even on us.  How many of us know where it is or even how to spell Benghazi? (I had to look it up)  But we all know Hillary had something to do with it.  We all heard this lie spoken over and over.  Three years of Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi. (Congress actually withheld security funding)  But say this lie over and over and it becomes fact.  All of us are susceptible to this tactic.  How many of us believe the Affordable Care Act is actually called Obamacare?  We hear the same thing over and over and we start to believe it as fact.  It’s a human trait.  Let’s face it.  This tactic works.

I know I don’t want to dumb us down.  I know simplify is almost a bad word.  But this tactic works so well with a lie, what would happen if we used it with a truth?  What would happen if we used this tactic with the Truth We Hold?  Say our Truth out loud and often.  Connect it with all that you can.  Maybe even randomly, out of the blue, say “all are created equal is America’s Founding Principle.”  Over and over again.  Bring up our Unalienable Right to Life with every report of a shooting.  Bring up America’s Equal Principle when Justice is bought by the haves or taken from the have-nots.  Mention this Principle when the Rights of the Individual are taken when we ban Muslims “until we figure this thing out” or label immigrants as “murderers and rapists”.  Where did their Individual Rights go?  Our Founding Principle fits perfectly right there and there and there.

Say our Truth over and over.  All are created equal is America’s Founding Principle.  We’ve seen what happens with this tactic using lies.  What is it called with this tactic and our Truth?  Is this manipulation?  Is it “sinking to their level”?  Both I despise.  Torture to me is 18 seconds of a soap opera.  Using primal emotions and tendencies to achieve your goal, this is not something I even wish to see, let alone do.  I believe it demeans all involved.  I believe we are better than that.

But it works.  It works great even with a lie.  We’ve seen the effects all through history.  Lies told over and over can engulf whole countries, entire worlds.  This tactic is truly powerful.  It can even overcome our humanity.

What would happen if we came from the opposite direction?  What could we engulf with the Truth we hold?  And we said our Truth over and over.  All are created equal is America’s Founding Principle.  What would happen if we just reminded our friends and family, our co-workers, our representatives and media platforms of this Truth?  And they reminded folks they touch, of this Truth which they heard or had seen in a tweet.

What would happen if we heard of this as much as we do about fake news and witch hunt?  If nothing else, we would think about it more, maybe more than in our entire life also.  What would happen if we thought about equal, unalienable Rights more, because we heard the words said, and saw the words written there and there and there?

Has anyone tried this tactic with the Truth?  I can’t think of any one thing Democrats say over and over.  Democrats don’t have a slippery slope, didn’t come up with death panels or throwing Grandma off a cliff.  Those town halls were filled with angry Grandmas all believing they were next.  Say it over and over and people believe it or at least start to consider it.  Say it over and over and pro-choice becomes pro-abortion.  Say it over and over and humane immigration laws becomes open borders.  Say it over and over and eventually we can believe all of our intelligence agencies and 90% of our news outlets are conspiring against this poor man.  This tactic works.

This tactic is still very real.  Democrats and Independents have got to wake up to this reality.  We have to fight back.  With simple tools if we must.  An honest hammer is stronger than any lie.  I know it’s just a simple hammer, no new design, no new, interesting tricks or gadgets to it.  But it still works as it always has.  A hammer, whether it’s used to build or destroy, is still a simple hammer.  And it still works.

Let’s use this tool to hammer out our Truth.  Great things can come from simple carpenters.  Keep hammering nail after nail.  Say it, write it, tweet and text it, post it and send it e-mail.  Let’s try our Truth said over and over.  I’ve found it doesn’t get boring.  Fact is, the more I think about it, the more exciting it becomes.  The more I wonder why, the more brilliant this sentence becomes.  The more I look at it, the more challenging its goal becomes to me.  The potential of this sentence becomes exhilarating.

People without much Hope, please find this.  Believe me, I know.  I, too, have imagined a step beyond the cliff and felt no Hope at all.  This feels completely opposite.  It’s like I’ve found a Hope I’d forgotten about.  A Hope that was waiting for me.  This sentence can defeat despair, can bring purpose to a Life.  It truly can give Hope thought lost.  Especially when we know we’re not alone and that we’re not starting from scratch.  This quest embarked upon quite some time ago by a country born to give Hope.  Our country’s glorious heritage is the struggle for this goal.  Many patriots have gone before and have handed this torch to us.  Their fight is our fight.  We are not alone.  We can join this most inclusive club.  You’ll find noble purpose at your side and Hope still very much alive.  You’ll find a peace you too may have forgotten or maybe never even known.

But we can’t wait for some new invention.  Something shiny and creative and never used before.  Right now we have this simple hammer.  And it still works.  There is no shame in using it.  We have America’s Founding Truth.  There is no shame in saying it.  Simply, honestly, I find no shame in that.

So I will say it over and over.  I wonder what we can build with a simple hammer and the Truth We Hold.

 

We must stop this now!  I’m not going to wait for another bloody Revolution.  I’m not going to wait for another Gettysburg to occur.  I’m not going to wait for the concentration camps to get full.  All these deaths, all these wars, all this suffering, to decide just one notion.  The notion of superior blood.  The superior blood of Kings.  The superior blood of races.  The superior blood of Nazis.  All these wars, fought to the death, with the blood of so many.  To decide this notion of superior blood.  To decide this notion of whether we’re equal or not.

You’d think we would know what side we’re on by now.  The outcomes, so far, one- sided.  But the Loyalists still live, the Rebels still here, Nazis, very much among us.  The notion of superior nowhere nearly dead.  I’ll bet it’s even inside us.

In the ash heap of history, the coals can stay warm.  Just some fuel and some fanning, all it needs to relight.  I know, we know, that ash heaps on fire.  It’s been burning for years.  We chose to ignore it.  We may have even enjoyed the comforting warmth from its glow.

But you can see the flames are higher now, licking at the curtains.  Something must be done right now!  We must see this fire burning out of control!  Superior blood still fueling and fanning.  Screaming, “It’s them, not us.  Blame the weak, not the strong”.  The songs of a tyrant all sound the same.

We now boo Free Speech, the Golden Rule, as well.  We take from the poor before we give up that bling.  The advantaged, now victims, we must join and help them.  We know where the problem lies.  With those people, with them.

The leaders that we’re electing now, all across the land, show the South is indeed rising.  The fire is hot, once again.  We now routinely try to stop or negate the greatest power, voting.  Equal opportunity suppressed, we essentially apply sanctions and blockade our very own people.  Then blame them for not succeeding.  That’s right here and right now.  Let’s build a wall, what the heck, ban a whole country, and demonize a whole religion.  At the bottom of the pot you’ll find once again, this is all about the notion of superior blood.

The South is rising again, but this time it’s worse.  This time it’s in Wisconsin.  In Iowa and Nebraska as well.  The South rises in Maine.  Even in Pennsylvania now.  All those deaths for one notion, and it still lives on.  The notion of superior blood.

This country was born to fight this notion.  Our Founding Principle states it.  Right there, for all to see, in black and white.  All created equal.  We started against a King.  Our fight against the notion of superior blood.

We have paid countless lives to suppress this one evil, this notion of superior blood.  When will we see it?  In us and in “them”?  When will we see that there is no “them”?  This is what America fights for.  It has been since day one.  The idea of unalienable equal Rights, and the notion that I am no one’s equal and that no one else is mine.  No one my master.  The notion that no blood, superior to mine.

Superior blood!  This country is made to fight you!  All these wars, all these battles, all the souls lost over this notion.  America born to fight you, from its birth on day one.  First statement, first document, declared on that first day.  “…all men are created equal…” this is who we are.  All these lives lost, throughout all these wars, this is what we gave them for.  The fight against the notion of superior blood.

I’m not going to wait!  I’m not going to let us throw this away. Too much has been given.  Too much has been lost.  These lives will not be lost in vain, over my dead body, too.  Because I’ve seen what always happens.  These fires, how much they consume. The horrible suffering that always comes with it.  Each time, many times worse than before.  I’ve seen the cause, it’s there each time.  The notion of superior blood.

Complicate it all you want.  For heritage or land.  For loved ones or honor.  I know every soul had their own unique reasons, many noble, not perfect, both sides more complex.  But boil it all down.  It’s always been found.  At the bottom of the pot, when it’s all said and done, steaming and hissing, it’s the notion of superior blood.

That ash heap is burning.  Most of our states are on fire.  The polls brimming with racists and bigots, though most “know” they are not.  “I’m not racist, just realist.”  This thought is prevalent, no one wants to admit it.  “The Blacks are a problem, the Mexicans, invaders.  The Muslims want to kill us all.  My blood might be superior.”  We still can’t decide which side we’re on.  After all of these years, after all of these wars, after all of these deaths, we still can’t decide on the notion of superior blood.

We need a new concept of what “superior” is.  Maybe it’s more, yes more than we thought.  Maybe its resilience when a whole planet seems against you.  Try to smile when it’s always uphill.  Try to sing when your loved ones get stolen.  Carry on, even with no Hope at all.  Maybe there is a strength you just can’t imagine.  Maybe there’s more to it than thought.  Question superior.  Do we know what it is?  Maybe through these centuries, our concept has been wrong.  Evolution, another way.  Maybe it’s we who need to grow up.  Maybe, not think we know it all.

Superior blood has lost all these wars.  It should give us a clue who the good guys are.  It should give us a clue about superior blood.  It should make us decide what side we’re on.  Exactly what that flag waving stands for.

We must stop this now!  While we still have a chance.  We have the tool to stomp this out.  It’s been staring us right in the face since day one.  The goal of America herself.  To fight this notion of superior blood.  She decided long ago, it’s the bedrock where our flag is planted.  She knew what side we were on.  In this fight against this notion.

We must stop this now!  The progression we have to see.  Math has no reason to lie.  It will be billions this time, this fire will consume.  It’s happened every time.  We can’t wait for another battle at Camden, or another slaughter like Gettysburg, with now our sons and daughters in that ditch.  Our grief then, horrible to imagine.  We can’t wait until we open the gates of Auschwitz again, to decide which side we’re on.  On this notion of superior blood.

And the reason our Country was born.