A Season of Disaster

In case you're keeping score, the Republicans are horrible in crisis and merely awful in normal times. They are not capable of devising sensible policy, fixing healthcare, controlling our borders, restoring the middle class, bringing back the white male fantasyland they tout, respecting women, caring for the sick and elderly, regarding people of color as humans, or acting in good faith. This is not an accident. Their abominable and wretched behavior is by design. This is a party bent on looting every single ounce of value from this country behind the facade of racism, homophobia, and misogyny. They are not here for Puerto Rico, New Orleans, Miami, Houston, or even Alabama. The Republicans are political pirates who are here to plunder your property and your information. They are ghouls of our unfettered greed and hate. They are here to debase, destroy, and sell. They are the walking and talking toxic waste of white supremacy and capitalism.

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What is my part in this? It's easy for me to condemn 'them' or those people. It feels righteous and superior to not only have the ammunition of words, but the vindication of history. But this is not enough. Grudgingly I have to accept responsibility for what I see before me. Yes, even Trump and the GOP. The debasement I see being enacted is -karmically- coming from my own deeds. The destruction I am witnessing is coming from my own actions, words, and thoughts. I live in a world that has a lot of benefits, but that also has a lot of tragedy. I play a part in my world. All of it.

This changes my response to racist. I condemn the action, but I can only fix it by refraining from similar deeds. My own prejudice has ripened before my eyes. It is horrible. I have to fix it, and I will.