It is a bit funny, because if you ask Americans on either side of the political side spectrum, and they feel that a crisis is at hand, and that powers that be are threatening their liberties, particularly those supposedly guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. Most people on the right are scared that their second amendment right to bear arms will be taken away, often fixating on this to a point that is bordering, if not outright already at, a level of paranoia.
However, many of them conveniently ignore some of the rights that others are concerned about, such as the right to vote, which seems to constantly be challenged in some states. Right now, there are major concerns with citizens being purged from the list of eligible voters in states like North Dakota and Georgia. And of course, President Trump has outright expressed ideas that seem to betray a desire to make the United States much less free. He has toyed with certain ideas that violate the Constitution, and particularly the spirit of the Bill of Rights. Some of the most famous ones include, but are not necessarily limited to his championing the idea of setting up a registry for all people belonging to a certain faith, his toying with the idea of being "president for life," his stated belief that people should perhaps not have the right to protest, and of course, his constant attacks on the press. Here, in news story that is not new, but is incredibly alarming, is an article revealing the alarming results of a poll showing that almost half of Republicans believe that Trump should be able to close news outlets. Clearly, he would not target the ones who praise him, but would close those who are critical of him and his administration. This, to me, is far more blatant than the irrational notion that so many people have that Washington is coming to take away people's guns (many of these fears are stoked by what I would definitely call "fake news" stories), and we would do well to stand up and take notice of a news story like this:
Nearly half of Republicans think Trump should be able to close news outlets: poll by Christal Hayes, USA TODAY, Aug. 7, 2018:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/08/07/trump-should-able-close-news-outlets-republicans-say-poll/925536002/?fbclid=IwAR298MpiuMZjahospeRW1gRBND07f3Lox2XADKLtBDBa9xjhbFITSwYpQqE
As mentioned earlier, while some people try and do everything possible to get people to go out and vote in the upcoming elections, there are elected officials in some states are busy working on exactly the opposite. These elected officials are trying to purge people from the lists of eligible voters and/or trying to do other things to prevent people from exercising their right to vote.
We as a country have never been forced to confront the demons from past official racism. Is it really any surprise, then, that these issues have never really gone away, and we as a nation definitely appear to be revisiting a racist past.
In North Dakota, lawmakers there have made it mandatory for people to have a street address, and not a P.O. Box, in order to vote. The only problem? Well, the government also only allows Native Americans to have P.O. Boxes, and not street addresses. Think about that: Native Americans are not illegal immigrants and, in fact, were here well before any of the rest of us were. Yet, they are seeing their right to vote taken away because, in the eyes of surely almost exclusively white lawmakers in the state of North Dakota, they cannot have a legitimate home address, by law!
Absolutely absurd and, frankly, criminal behavior by people who want to pass themselves off as legitimate lawmakers.
There are, of course, other, more subtle methods of voter suppression. Remember in 2000, how there was unexpected, and never explained, work on some roads that forced people in Florida to not be able to get access to the places where they needed to go to vote? These blockades just went up for that one day, and then went back down, and no stated reason was given.
Well, here is another similar story:
BLACK SENIOR CITIZENS TOLD TO GET OFF BUS TAKING THEM TO VOTE: 'IT WAS AN INTIMIDATION TACTIC' BY CHANTAL DA SILVA ON 10/17/18:
https://www.newsweek.com/40-black-senior-citizens-told-get-bus-taking-them-vote-it-was-intimidation-1173940?utm_campaign=NewsweekFacebookSF&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&fbclid=IwAR3NBYgNQiDOhZ3F5QPHElmAChKEt_Vko0NRA01ygRpOAgBgBT_U_c6vgWE
Here is a New York Times piece about how Evangelical Christians feel that they can identify with Donald Trump, that he is one of them.
Honestly, it still is a mystery to me how the supposedly devout, Evangelical Christians of this country feel that Donald Trump is one of them. I literally cannot think of anyone as far from the message of what Jesus actually said, and what the Bible actually is teaching, then Donald Trump. Unchecked love of money, excessive pride, staggering levels of greed and perhaps worse, being proud of that greed, always assuming that he's right and that he knows far more than anyone else on any and every topic, to the point that he claims to know more about military matters than his own generals, and he knows more about science than scientists. On down the list, he literally stands as the exact opposite of what Christianity, or pretty much every religion that I know of, is supposed to teach.
He’s ‘One of Us’: The Undying Bond Between the Bible Belt and Trump by Maggie Haberman, Oct. 14, 2018:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/14/us/politics/trump-southern-voters-campaign-rallies.html?fbclid=IwAR2JYFKyoXwsGyl_VGNqBtVWRB7eTaVqG6P2lFlWOj-J53F0LTDr9AlqnmM
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/14/us/politics/trump-southern-voters-campaign-rallies.html?fbclid=IwAR2JYFKyoXwsGyl_VGNqBtVWRB7eTaVqG6P2lFlWOj-J53F0LTDr9AlqnmM
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