They were both brilliant people. My father was left-brained — a globally-recognized civil engineer — while my mother’s right-brain dominance helped her experience the world through emotion and art. He taught me to analyze serious questions from every possible angle, and she taught me to listen to my heart.

Between them, they inadvertantly taught me that it’s okay to have differing views — even VERY different views — and that someone who sees the world differently from me is not evil. I often think people are wrong (really! often! haha), but I rarely think they’re deliberately trying to harm others. (Note: There ARE a few exceptions to this.)

I live in a nuanced world. There is no single answer to most questions, and all points of view have at least some merit, even when I don’t ultimately agree.

It’s become a very lonely political space, and every day I feel further removed from my friends and neighbors who so easily attack those who don’t agree with them.

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Last night, I zoomed the school board meeting, where townspeople (and even people from other towns ) voiced their opinions about a book in our high school library that had been challenged. There were two microphones set up for their views: one in favor of keeping the book available to all students in the school, and the other wanting the book removed from the high school library entirely.

Many of the people who spoke, whether in support or against, addressed the book itself; its value / merit / flaws. Some got lost in the weeds. But one spoke instead about his neighbors and fellow townspeople with whom he did not agree.

He called them fascists.

Yeah… okay. There’s always one or two that can’t help themselves. They are so consumed by political hyperbole and dogma — so far down the rabbit hole — that they’ve lost the thread. But he was supported by applause. And that, to me, signifies that a lot of people in that room last night agreed that disagreeing was fascism.

I was, and remain, appalled.

People voicing concern about young teens’ exposure to more sexually-explicit content than they are ready for is not fascism, people, anymore than supporting that book as appropriate for 14 year olds is pedophilia.

Here we are in the Information Age, but nobody can use an ordinary dictionary?

“Pedophile!” “Groomer!” “Fascist!”

None of these are accurate in terms of how one views that book’s appropriateness in the high school.

They do share something in common, though: they are vicious and divisive.

I was on zoom last night instead of in that auditorium because there was no microphone for me. There was only room for up or down, yes or no, “good” and “evil”. Nobody seems to realize (or care) that there are non-polarized points of view.

I’m starting to think I’m alone on the planet. I have no voice.

Nowhere is there a microphone for me.

The post No Microphone for Me appeared first on Polimom Says.

Most people don’t know I was in the Army at all. I don’t talk about it and it isn’t a big part of my identity. But the military life itself became a HUGE part of my world for many years after, and so it is that, between one thing and another, I have something I need to say here on this Veterans Day.

Our country is in terrible danger. Our democracy is at risk, and the foundations our society is built on are being attacked.

And I am very, very angry today. Because these attacks aren’t coming from outside, from some foreign enemy. They are coming from inside — and they originated with the Commander In Chief himself— the (now former) President of the United States.

The integrity of our electoral process, and the free press, have been dragged through the mud for four years, and now we’re approaching a constitutional crisis because of it.

You want to honor a veteran? Uphold our values. Stop acting like your fellow citizen is your enemy.

Anything else — everything else — is dishonoring everything veterans stand for. On this Veterans Day, don’t waste your breath thanking a veteran… unless you are willing to stand up for what WE stood up for.

The post On This Veterans Day, STAND UP! appeared first on Polimom Says.

I heard, “Uh oh.  Here’s a Trump hater.”

I had no clue what the conversation was (other than, duh, about Trump), but I really had no interest whatsoever in engaging in a political argument at a bowling alley.  Many people cannot distinguish between hatred for the destruction Trump wreaked upon our body politic (a hatred I have) and hatred of the man himself (I do not).   Since such nuance is really not the norm in the bowling environment, I put my head down and my mind into closing up my bags.

Somebody else said, “You wanna kill her too?”

THAT got my attention. I looked up to see one of the other team’s members looking at me angrily.  I was shocked into reaction.

“What the hell are you people talking about?  Who’s wanting to kill me?”

Him:  “Nah, I don’t wanna kill her.  But we’re definitely gonna have to kill people who are trying to steal the election.  The liberals are ruining our country.”

The man was obviously insane.  He was standing there talking about killing people.  Going on about a civil war.  We went back and forth for a few, as I lost my hold on my temper.  

Me:  “Buddy, you don’t want to be coming after me.  I will NOT react well.”

Him:  “I was in the military, and I’m trained with weapons.  People like you won’t know what hit them.”  

People like me??  What does that even mean?  He had NO IDEA what my politics are.

Me:  “You piece of s&%t.  If you come down my road looking for me, I’ll be waiting there for you.  Bring it!”

I was shaking.  Pretty much freaking out.  Screaming at the guy, “Trump sucks!!”  I lost it completely.

On Jan 6 — two days after this unsettling, totally bizarre “conversation” — a group of people every bit as crazy as this guy joined a much larger group of “mostly peaceful” protesters, and proceeded to try to overthrow an election.  For all I know, he was there.  

But what about the rest of his team — people I know and considered friends?  They just sat there.  One had his head lowered into his hand.  Discomfort?  Clearly.  But they stayed silent while this man raved about killing their friends or neighbors.  Did they agree with him?  I’ll never know, but every time I see those people now, I wonder:  Do they want to kill me?

To this day — more than six months after the election — more than half of Republicans think Trump is the legitimate president and that the election was stolen.  The former president continues to blow upon the embers of this fantasy, firing up lunatics like the one in the bowling alley;  people who seemingly neither understand nor care that they are cracking the foundations of our democracy.

I don’t know how this tale is going to end, but here at the mid-plot?  Things are not looking good for the ole U S of A. Yes, it’s partly because of the raging insanity at the fringes, but it’s also due to the lack of leadership — at any level. Republican leaders are reportedly afraid of “the base”, and so won’t speak out. Is that what’s happening at local levels as well? Or to people like my friends who sat there, uncomfortable, while someone they know made threats against others?

After all these years, is this country going down without a whimper? Will nobody stand against the tide of insanity? It sure does look like it.

The post The Spineless Death of a Nation appeared first on Polimom Says.

There was also violence, looting, rioting, and death. People’s livelihoods were destroyed, lives were lost, and chaos reigned in several major American cities. Anarchists took over a small area of a major metro, and “anti-fascists” besieged various other cities (notably Portland) nightly. For weeks on end. It was horrific.

The former? Protests / marches / etc? Those were manifestations of the very best of the American Way. The latter? Those were vicious, chaotic, and destructive in ways far beyond the obvious physical ruins left behind. Because today, as extremists and duped Trumpists besiege the foundations of our democracy, last summer is being used as a shield. People who realize that the election was not fraudulent are nonetheless saying “yeah, but whatabout…”. They’re dodging. They’re avoiding. Ben Shapiro, writing at Townhall, is a great example. He starts off beautifully:

Last week, the Capitol was breached by a group of fringe Trump supporters who had bought into a series of lies: the lie that President Donald Trump lost the election due to proven voter fraud and irregularity; the lie that the Electoral College results, legally certified state by state, could be overturned by Congress or the vice president; the lie that Trump would remain in office if only some sort of armed rebellion were to prevent the election certification by Congress. Those were lies. And those lies had deadly consequences.

And then he immediately loses the thread. He’s off and running with last summer, as if this is some kind of scale and we’re plunking weights on each side. That is not helpful in this moment of crisis.

The people who believe the election was stolen have been lied to. Full stop. And contrary to the wishful thinking of some folks, it isn’t a fringe few. Something like 40% of Americans believe this destructive lie. A major percentage of one of our only two major political parties believe this lie. Yes, the majority of Americans (71%) think violently attacking the Capitol to affect the election results is wrong… but that still leaves 29% — tens of millions — who think it was right. When we are a country as large as the United States, this “minority” of people is not a fringe few.

This is an immediate and urgent problem that requires a focused response. And we’re not getting it.

The United States is on the brink of utter disaster. The country’s leadership knows it. (Most of) The political punditry knows it. Many of the citizens even know it. But while the most successful democratic republic in the history of the planet is being torn apart from within, everybody’s busily pointing fingers at “the other side” and trying to avoid facing their own parts in our unmaking. From congressional leaders to pundits, the political class is muddying the waters and making this worse.

It’s just as ludicrous to talk about the summer’s riots at this moment as it would be to talk about one’s broken arm as a child when we’re pulling you broken and bleeding out of a car accident. Right now, I don’t care about last summer. Today, I care that the President of the United States has fed lies to his party faithful for so long, they can no longer distinguish fact from fiction.

Yes, the Dems should have more forcefully (and immediately) condemned the violence last summer. How is worrying about that going to save the Republic today?

Stop pointing at the past. Focus on right now. Please.

The post Whataboutism is a Dodge. Stop It. appeared first on Polimom Says.

Is it working? Is the curve flattening? We won’t know for awhile. But the economic damage is already profound.

The new coronavirus pandemic has triggered a wave of U.S. workers filing for state jobless benefits, with states across the nation receiving a sharp rise in applications as businesses shut down and out-of-work Americans hunt for a payment lifeline.

We can’t sustain this. Likewise we cannot simply start letting people die. But what are the alternatives? How long can our town / state / country / world keep the economic engines shut down? From the WSJ:

By the time Treasury’s small-business lending program runs through the bureaucratic hoops—complete with ordering owners that they can’t lay off anyone as a price for getting the loan—millions of businesses will be bankrupt and tens of millions will be jobless.

The answer is not long. Not long at all.

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