History, Understanding, Empathy, Respect, Wisdom

Posted on April 15, 2025 by Les

The Time’s A Changing

This morning, I enjoyed the sunny morning and freshly brewed coffee. I decided to quickly write a post about Trump being the catalyst of some positive things. He’s still a mentally ill old man, vindictive, sadistic, and nihilistic. He is the last person who should be near the reigns of power.

However, because of his despicable behavior and crusade for the stale old ways. He’s opened the door and unexpectedly let in a blast of fresh air. I think his ham-fisted approach has awakened the US. to the fog of outdated assumptions and mistaken perspectives he represent.

I Love The USA, BUT

I love the United States. It’s my home. But it can be much better. Some of what we’ve accomplished since our ancestors arrived in the Americas has been good, even noble. But our behavior over the centuries towards people we did not understand or respect has been appalling, genocidal. Today it’s becoming clear us.

Today Trump works to divide and control us. He is trying to white-wash our history. He is removing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives from our governments and across our private lives. He attacks our knowledge which is our valuable public wealth.

Built over centuries by the efforts of many hundreds-thousands of devoted people. Who have spent their lives collecting our public memory. It is the essence of who we are. Now, by attacking our memory Trump commits a form of genocide. He is attempting to erase the histories of millions of people who’ve built and are building our nation. They are the Spirit of America.

The United States is like every other nation and society. We tell ourselves lies about our history; fantasies reflecting who we want to be. But we are not our myths. We are not a special nation or guided by some divine power. We are humans. We stumble along the path that human history has created over thousands of years.

History is a record of our gradual improvement. Our destination is in our own hands.

History Shows The Past Doesn’t Need To Be The Future

We are a young nation. We are new comers, immigrants and their descendants. We are also descendants of the original peoples, explorers who arrived at least 20,000 years ago. We new comers were and are fleeing failure. We’ve been driven from our homes, or brought here unwillingly. All of us were searching for a better life. For some reason, we lost the dream of a hopeful future. Many others had their lives changed tragically against their wills. Their futures lost.

In an odd way we are all losers. Acknowledging this is part of maturing. The Americas are a land of changing futures. The Americas can also be a land of healing futures. The past doesn’t need to repeat if we are aware of it.

The Time’s Are A Changing

We need to appreciate our history and learn from the truly great ideals and actions we have done. We also need to take an honest look at the terrible decisions we have made. We must learn from the tragedies we created. Introspection is necessary for growing wiser and maturing. It’s time for us to grow up.

Maturing is a process. It takes time and effort. It begins as honest introspection. We remember our past and consider our interactions and impact on others. We try to see ourselves as other people have experienced us. What gives us joy, love, pleasure, pain, misery, anger. We see them in our shoes. We learn empathy which reinforces our understanding. With practice we become more empathetic. We see others more and more as fellow human beings. It is “Do On To Others As You Want Done To You”. This is respect, which leads to maturity.

Today Demands Maturity

The problems we face need mature leadership which begins with each of us. Waiting for our elected leaders to act responsibly won’t solve our problems. Our leaders need our guidance. Rather than being lead, we must lead.

Our problems are far greater than than any small group can handle. Solving our complicated troubles need:

  • The voices of all members of our society.
  • The creative thinking of all members of our American family.
  • The participation freely given and without fear of ridicule and intimidation.
  • Coercion is out of the question.
  • A consensus built from respect and trust.
  • To remove the barriers to knowledge, censorship and limiting research.
  • Equity in the law, health, finances, and opportunities for personal advancement.
  • To share, not horde.

The Powerful And Privileged Are Struggling

Today Trump and his Oligarchs are attempting to bring back tired old ideas. These authoritarian doctrines involve enforcing division, creating scarcity, secrecy, and ignorance. They want to impose empowered elites and dictate our actions.

It’s a rear guard action intended to protect the failed past. The time for these concepts is over. Trump, Putin, Xi and the rest are a dying breed. I believe that people around the world are seeing this. There are protests all over the planet demanding greater freedoms and the solutions for:

  • Hunger and Water
  • Poverty and Want
  • Illness and Suffering
  • Environmental Collapse
  • Oppression and War

The time is now. The people of the United States and the world know this and are letting the dictators and privileged know this. There are more of us than them.

Updates

04/15/2025 – Corrected illustration.

CC

Illustration Concept Les Phillips, https:/www.Les-Phillips.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Author Les Phillips

Posted in Awareness, Being American, Democracy, History, Mental Health, Politics, United States, Vladimir Putin | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What’s A Body To Do?

Posted on April 4, 2025 by Les
Let’s Get Moving! Action Relieves Stress and Depression
First World War poster edited for today’s times.

It Started Over Coffee

I’ve just completed my 78th orbit around the Sun. I never thought I’d live this long. I continue my journey through this unexplored territory. A week ago I was sitting in my favorite cafe. I felt good, Sitting at my favorite table with good friends. We were celebrating a beautiful Spring day.

Unusually, we talked about current events. Typically we avoid the topic as a courtesy to my conservative friends. But that day the topic of politics came up. I heard one of them say, “I don’t worry about what’s going on. We don’t have any control over anything. Why get upset?” I hear this from many people. I just nodded and went along.

But, I kept mulling it over. During the last few weeks I’ve struggled to write something worthwhile. I’ve written daily and at length, but it was hollow. I kept focusing on my past. Sometimes it was interesting, sometimes insightful and heartfelt. But not on point. I drifted, trying to justify my effort.

What my friend had said, “We don’t have any control over anything. Why get upset?” gnawed at me. I understood his meaning. Why do anything? We are helpless. We should focus on ourselves. We need to get along and not rock the boat. And I’d chosen not to disagree. I felt hollow.

This triggered determination I hadn’t felt in the last weeks. After my friends left the cafe, I got another coffee. Then, I pulled out my tattered copy of Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search For Meaning. I like to read a few pages at a time and then spend time thinking about it. I see if it applies to what I’m experiencing. And, it did.

Prison America

We live in an America that is becoming a nation-wide prison camp. Trump is busy fencing in our bodies and minds. Fences keep people out but they also keep us in. Trump, Oligarchs, and MAGA lie to our faces, hide information. They deprive us the ability to understand our situation. They are stringing barbed wire fences around our minds. They are stealing our free will and ability to decide for ourselves. They are stealing our ability to act and build a meaningful future.

Sipping my coffee, I read Fankl’s observations. He noted the forces in a concentration camp destroy a person’s will to act on their own behalf. These forces eventually destroy a person’s will to live.

The prisoner loses his hold on his inner-self, which is the ability to imagine a meaningful future. We decide to flee into the past. It is a free decision brought about by depression, uncertainty and hopelessness. This is a primary tool of oppression. It is an attack on all of us, including MAGA supporters. A prisoner in a prison camp has no idea when or if they will ever be free again. This proceeds to fearing for their existence. This is amplified as the chaos continues.

Frankl calls this a Provisional Existence. A period when planning for today is not possible because of the intentional chaos. Without a stable Now, we seek comfort by turning to tour Past. We want to escape our painful now. Without our now, our future ceases to exist. We are powerless. We can only focus on ourselves. There is no future nor reason to continue.

This intensifies the spiral towards our enslavement. Without being aware of our painful now, we blind ourselves to the opportunities that exist. These are opportunities to create meaning from our trauma. We lose our chance to build a meaningful existence in the now. This opens paths for planning a meaningful Future.

Problems Today Are Built From Lost Futures

I think that many of our problems today are based on lost futures. Many Americans live in a provisional existence. We can’t plan our futures because our lives are chaotic, under physical and psychological threat. Racism, sexism, bigotry and the such crush our now and destroy hope for the future. There is just more of the same old, same old.

Now and the Future

What keeps us alive and moving ahead? We live in a continuous state of expectation. What’s next? We live in the Now but look towards the Future. This can be simple. What’s to eat? When do I take the kids for a walk? When do we go on vacation? There are complex futures. How can I buy a house, pay for my education, make certain my family has health care? How and when can I retire? Planning for the future pulls us forward through life.

Frankl pointed out that the surviving concentration camp prisoners had turned their trauma on its head. The horrors they experienced were deeply personal challenges. They realized that their pain was an “opportunity to grow spiritually beyond themselves.” It was a test of their inner strength, their spirit. The prisoners chose to accept the challenges of the Nazis to keep their humanity. Every act maintaining their self-respect was a victory. Every act of respect and empathy towards others were victories. Each victory built a meaningful now and resurrected a future to move towards.

To be clear, these are spiritual victories, where we transcend our old selves. They build our resilience and determination in the face of seemingly unending abuse. We chose to make the current real. This choice enables us to act as we think is right. We become agents of our destinies in a powerful, moral way.

What’s A Body To Do?

We don’t live in a prison camp yet. But its psychology is being used against us. We can act on the behalf of ourselves and others. We have a challenging now that requires our attention and engagement. And, we have a future worth planning for and living.

To stay emotionally alive it is necessary to stay aware of our now. We need to use our empathy to allow ourselves to show our humanity and touch others. This a test that takes us beyond ourselves. We need to retake our power by acting. This requires our extending our hands to others. Some things we can do:

  • Joining a protest or movement,
    • Contacting our elected officials; local, state and federal by calling their office, writing letters
      and sending emails,
      • Attending public events like governmental board and committee meetings, hearings,
        • Write our local, state, and national newspapers and magazines. It’s a buzz when you get
          published,
          • Write comments on news articles,
            • Engaging in school meetings,
              • Voting in local caucuses, special elections and referendums,
                • Donating to organizations fighting for issues you are passionate about and reading their
                  newsletters,
                  • Talking to family and neighbors,

Our Future Is Still Alive

The more we engage with what is happening, the more we learn. We become more connected with each other. We develop more confidence. We take back our power to act. The positive power of life is bubbling all around us. We can celebrate it and grow beyond ourselves, becoming better versions of ourselves.

We are not powerless. Trump and the Oligarch’s future is not inevitable. Now is the time we can become our better selves.

Resist and Grow

About the Illustration

This is a US Army recruiting poster from 1916. It is the figure of the Spirit of Columbia. Not the country. It was another term for the US, like Uncle Sam. Unfortunately named for Columbus. But, it also represents Democracy and the American Dream. Progress has come slowly, freedom, in a diverse society, with meaningful equality and inclusion is a work in progress. That why I chose this poster. A reminder that we’ve been at this for a long time and will continue into the future. Democracy may be an old idea. But, it is alive and modern as now.

I am fascinated by old posters. They are glimpses of the emotional and artistic environment of the Past. I removed the text and inserted modern values. History informs us.

Posted in Awareness, Being American, Citizenship, Democracy, Politics, Relationships, United States | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Message to the White House 03/04/2025

Posted on March 4, 2025 by Les

Mr. President,
I’m writing as you speak tonight. I will be listening carefully to every word. Not because you will clear up all questions and provide logical reasons for your appalling decisions.

I understand you just find.

You are a terribly abused child, weathering away in an hateful old man’s body. Your parents raised you with the impossible expectation that you would be important. A successful gangster bullying your way through the world. Unfortunately no one trained you on how to be an effective leader or businessman. Instead, you were trained in lying, bullying, and being untrustworthy. You were trained to be hateful and hated. You are what the really wealthy hate, the crass nouveau riche, lacking class, education or culture. Unlike them, you can’t even be cruel with finesse.

These things may have worked in the 50’s to 2000’s but, our country has passed beyond that. Yes there many Americans who have fallen for your ancient racism and bigotry. Yes you’ve still got some of that tired razz-ma-tazz. But your magic is rapidly evaporating.

Tonight I listen to because it is my duty as an American to listen to your traitorous words. You were trained to be a looser and it is the only thing you have succeeded at.

In the future, you will end up being remembered as a dangerous hateful old man that broke everything you touched.

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This Is A Day Of Infamy

Posted on February 28, 2025 by Les

I have just watched the blackest day for United States credibility and honor in my life, in our history.

The President of the United States, Donald J. Trump showed us what I’ve known for some time. He is a treacherous coward who cares nothing for Americans or our sacred quest for Democracy. His behavior today, towards Ukrainian President Zelenskyy was shameful. It demonstrates how unfit Trump is to have any position of power. He has shown me, our nation and the rest of the World that he is an ignorant bullying, browbeating, blowhard.

No doubt there will be some Americans who celebrate Trump’s chest thumping tirade. This speaks very poorly for them.

But for the rest of us, Trump has opened his Kimono to reveal the rotting flesh of American history. The carcass of racism, slavery, wealth, and privilege.

President Zelenskyy is a genuine Hero. He is placing his life on the line for his people and nation. I have only the greatest respect and admiration for him. At the beginning of the Russian invasion in 2022, the US and the West offered him refuge in another country. He responded, “I need bullets not tickets.” That’s a genuine Hero.

Today, even while Trump and V.P. Vance yelled at him, berating him for not being “thankful” enough. He maintained his dignity as they lost theirs. They also spouted Putin’s talking points. Zelenskyy respectfully and firmly attempted to answer their challenges with truth and factual history.

Trump and Vance became more pitiful as they hysterically responded with more anger and lies.

The American people have clearly witnessed that the President of the United States is not trustworthy and a traitor. He betrays time honored allies and tries to extort our closest neighbors.

Now is the time for Republicans to end their cowardly charade. They must stop saying privately that they are “concerned” by Trump’s behavior. They need to publicly hold Trump and the others that share his beliefs accountable. Regardless of their position, they must be shamed. They should be removed from their positions and office.

The GOP must stand up for the United States, Democracy, and Decency. If they don’t, Americans across the nation, regardless of party, must take action. We must wage recall campaigns to remove these unworthy people from all levels of government, federal to local.

Today, Trump, sided with Putin and Dictatorship. He, by his cowardice and grovelling, has set us on the path to World War 3. Russia, China, North Korea and Iran have seen what our leadership is made of; pitifully little. They have little to respect for the US. Trump as demonstrated how inept he is. Today our enemies saw how craven our leadership is.

If we weren’t alone in the world before now, we are now.

This is a day of infamy. We did it to ourselves.

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Family Abuse; Impoverishment, Intimidation, Isolation

Posted on February 24, 2025 by Les

I’ve been thinking about our situation. How can I describe it? What condition are we familiar with, through personal experience or observation?

Emotional and physical abuse instantly come to mind. It’s on the news all the time, crime, exploitation, and political violence. It struck me that this trauma is very akin to family abuse. A parent takes charge of the family and coerces everyone else to yield to his/her whims. There is neither love nor respect for the family or its members. It is cruelty with the goal of breaking the wills of the victim and family.

But how is the United States a family? Our members come from around the world, representing a vast number of cultures, languages and beliefs. We don’t even look alike.

Yet, we are physically related, and we do look alike. Any differences are insignificant compared to the huge number of similarities. We humans are cousins. We can trace our heritage back1 to to a single woman and man that are the sources of our genes. It was a process that took hundreds of thousands of years. During which disasters nearly wiped out the existing humans several times, pruning the human tree. Each time the survivors carried a smaller gene pool, narrowing the diversity of our ancestors. There was no primal couple. Adam and Eve occurred at different times, tens of thousands of years apart. They were survivors of multiple environmental culling.

What about the United States? Physically, we are relatives, no matter where we come from. And we have formed a nation, a specific culture. Nations are families. In a democracy we structure our family by voting people into family positions. Idyllically, at the top is President and Vice President, who are our chosen parents. The Supreme Court are our wise selected grandparents who guide the entire family on what is appropriate. Our courts moderate family behavior. They look to guarantee fairness and harmony. Think of the House of Representatives and Senate as our agreed on aunts and uncles. All responsible for the well-being of the rest of us. Our Aunts and Uncles are the people we elect to represent us. They organize and evaluate our concerns and what we need and how to get it done. When functioning properly, each level of government feels an obligation to treat everyone else with respect and dignity.

Our national family is not hierarchical. No one is born into leadership. Ideally, we choose them because of their merit. How well have they served all of the members of our immense family? History has shown us that some of us claim special privileges to which they are not deserving. They act for their own good at the expense of the rest of our family.

Why should they show all of us respect and earnestly listen to our concerns?

Because they are us, elected from us to serve us. No one is special or above the rest. The elected representatives have been given an awesome responsibility to do what promotes harmony and success for the entire family. Their task is to make sure every member has the resources they need. They offer support for each person to achieve their best. No one is guaranteed success, but everyone is guaranteed the resources and support to try. Everyone knowing that they are equal to one another, treated fairly, and respected.

Today our family is being abused. Some of those we’ve elected have, because of emotional illness, become classic abusers.

When there is abuse, there is violence, psychological and physical. The goals of an abuser are to intimidate, isolate, and impoverish their victims.

I worked for about nine years in adult psychiatric hospitals and youth treatment centers. I grew to know many people who were child abusers, wife beaters, and murderers. I also knew broken folks who had been on the receiving end of the abuse. In fact, many of the abusers, beaters, and murderers also suffered terrible abuse. It was something both the attackers and victims share.

In the case of family abuse, the pattern of intimidation, isolation, and impoverishment is almost universal.

Today, Trump, Musk, and the GOP are enacting this pattern on our American Family. They act arbitrarily with frequent vague edicts that cause confusion and fear. They frequently call names and threaten people. They encourage people to behave aggressively. This is cruelty and intimidation.

Cruelty is a mental sickness that poisons everyone.

An abuser drives away friends and family, blocking emotional support and other perspectives of the situation. The trauma of emotional and physical abuse wears down the victim. They use their energy to endure rather than fight back. They become hopeless, seeing no way out. Trump, Musk, and the GOP have isolated us from our friends and allies. They have quit treaties and insulted our neighbors. The are trying to wall off the rest of the world. Russia and China are examples of what happens to people cut off from humanity. The bestial treatment of Russian troops by their officers and Putin results in their slaughter in the hundreds of thousands.

Trump, Musk, and some in the GOP echo the same lies. Putin tells these lies to his Russia and the rest of the world. Russia continues to feed masses of people, military and civilian, into the meat grinder. All because of lies, that our leadership is now telling us.

And Trump, Musk and the GOP are attacking the time-honored idea of American security, economic, health and military. The wife beater takes control of the family budget. This further isolates the victim by denying resources to act in their own defense. Without money we will end up on the street, reduced to invisibility and prone to cruelty.

What do we first think when we see someone living under a bridge? What do we think when they are in a tent encampment or walking the street with a cart full of their ragged belongings? Most often it is not compassion. We’ve been trained to be repelled by these lost souls. We’ve been trained to instantly think, what’s wrong with them? It is only after that, when our empathy kicks in. If it does at all. Only then we start to see what cruelty and neglect has done to our family members.

That’s where we are now. The United States is in the grip of some very sick people. Abused children who are now broken adults. Their aim is cruelty. They want ultimate life and death control. They are abusers who want to intimidate, isolate, and impoverish us. They want to shatter our precious family. They want to feed on our pain.

Background

I have been fascinated about who we are. I have also wondered where we came from since I was first exposed to the biblical story of Genesis. Once I began to discover Science the story of our origins and evolution became one of my life-long passions. Even as a child, I saw Genesis as a myth. It didn’t make sense. As I grew older and studied the Bible, I found the Old Testament increasingly insulting. Its simplistic implications were shocking. Its arbitrariness and cruelty were disturbing. In turn the New Testament was contaminated by the the ancient nonsense. It took years, but eventually I found the grains of truth. They were hidden in the sands of desert superstition.

02/25/2025 Edited for clarity.

Compiled and initially analyzed with Perplexity.AI, Deep Research

Posted in Awareness, Blog, Coup d"etat, Democracy, Mental Health, Politics, Public Health, Russia, Science, United States | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Family Abuse; Impoverishment, Intimidation, Isolation

Mème pour Mème – Meme for Meme

Posted on February 21, 2025 by Les

“Marie, as-tu entendu que quelqu’un s’appelle King ?
Antoinette, Non. Qu’est-ce que la folie ? Il doit être un imbécile.”

“Marie, did you hear that someone is calling himself King?
Antoinette! No! What Lunacy! He must be a fool!”

Un mème en mérite un autre. Celui qui rêve d’être roi est fou.
One meme deserves another. Whoever dreams of being King is crazy.

A few days ago, the new president re-posted an image of a fictitious Time Magazine cover showing him in royal regalia and the title Long Live The King. This mock-up of the cover along with at least one other similar meme immediately got mocked. Typically, I avoid such visual cliches. I chortle once and I go on my way.

But this demanded a response, a broadside. So, In the spirit of the late 18th Century. This is it.

Saying things like, “Long Live Me” and “I’m Number One” displays a weak ego. We’ve been shown, repeatedly over the last eight years and particularly this previous month, the president is mentally ill and can not be trusted with any authority. His cruelty is an indication of how badly he was treated as a child. He is a broken man that can not be trusted.

To those that voted for him, please reconsider your decision and join the rest of us to stop the madness and cruelty. Our future can be much better than the one we’re plummeting into.

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