Category Archives: 2023 Grand Finale Tour

The Land of the Free because of the brave

2023 Grand Finale Tour, Freedom

Hans wants to be brave

The sign out front of the house we rented in Arizona said: “Land of the Free because of the brave.”  I actually agree with this sentiment, but this is not just because of the military. I admit a brave military is important. We all need a military to defend us in case of attack. This year Russia under Putin proved that there are still predatory countries out there willing to take astonishingly aggressive measures to exploit other countries. It is naive not to have any defence.

However, I believe domestic enemies actually pose a larger threat than foreign enemies to countries such as the USA and Canada. Many of those domestic enemies falsely claim to be inspired by the ideal of freedom, but actually they actively work against freedom. To them freedom means the freedom to do anything they want. That is not freedom; that is anarchy. It takes even more courage to confront domestic enemies. For example, it takes a great deal of courage to speak up against our neighbours when they are speaking nonsense. Our domestic enemies must be resisted. The domestic mob is as dangerous as any foreign enemy  and is often even more difficult to oppose. These domestic mobs typically demand conformity to their tarnished and narrow views. We must dissent from the views of those around us when they are based on fear and ignorance rather than critical thinking. Such oppression is every bit as bad as anything our foreign enemies could impose on us.

As the patriots say, “Freedom isn’t free.”  I agree with that too.

The Brazilian Trump

2023 Grand Finale Tour, Decline of the west, Extremism, Modern History, Populism, Trump, Trumpism

 

 

We were in Arizona on the anniversary of the Trump insurrection on January 6th.  Watching the news of the election in Brazil it really seemed like deja vu all over again.

Rumours were spreading not just faster than the truth but even faster than lies. In Brazil, on January 8, 2023 there were furious, and in some cases, violent protests after Lula defeated Bolsonaro, aptly called “the Brazilian Trump.” Like Donald Trump’s supporters, Bolsonaro’s supporters believed that the election was stolen from their boy and they were “as mad as hell and were not going to take it anymore,” to copy what was said in the movie Network.

As Mac Margolis, Washington Post commentator said, “this was carbon copy and paste Donald Trump.” This is the same thing Anne Applebaum, a columnist for The Atlantic said when she pointed out how populist political leaders around the world were learning a lot from each other. Populist leaders around the world are being encouraged by each other and the rest of us had better taken notice. As Margolis pointed out, in Brazil rumours spread quickly on social media and since they were lies, they spread at the speed of light. Truth is much slower. Margolis called it “anti-incumbent fury.” This is now happening across South America. Actually, it is happening around the world.

 

The MAGA King

2023 Grand Finale Tour, Decline of the west, Democracy, Extremism, Sunsets

 

 

 

While we were in Arizona, we also learned about threats of political violence on the right. Solomon Peña, who lost his 2022 run as a Republican for state House District 14 in New Mexico, was arrested by Albuquerque police and was accused of paying and conspiring with four men to shoot people at the homes of two state legislators and two county commissioners in December and January. Even though he lost the election in a landslide, echoing the words of his spiritual leader, he claimed the race was rigged. He also calls himself the “MAGA King.”  Fortunately, when he attended on site with  his not so trusty AR-15 jammed and he could “only” use a Glock, or more damage might have been done.

 

As CNN reported,

“The stewing of doubt about election veracity, principally among Republicans and usually without proof, has exploded nationwide since then-President Donald Trump lost his reelection bid and began propagating falsehoods that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. The claims have stoked anger – and unapologetic threats of violence – against public officials down to the local level.”

 

Maggie Toulouse Oliver, Secretary of State for New Mexico understood what happened and put it this way: “This is how violent political rhetoric spills over into violent political action.” Peña had posted on social media that Oliver should be “hung in the town square.”

Such rhetoric is deeply troubling but increasingly American Republicans do not see it that way. Increasingly they see acts like this as justified attempts to overturn a Democratic Party coup.

It is clear that right-wing violence is on the rise in this country. It is certainly not dying out.

Resentment Rarely explodes in a rational manner

2023 Grand Finale Tour, Decline of the west, Extremism, guns, Hate, Mass killings, terrorism, violence

 

While we were in Arizona, a man in Utah killed his wife and 5 children because she filed for divorce?  Why?

Just like an economic bubble does not deflate in an orderly fashion., so my theory is that when resentment explodes it does not do so in a rational manner.  This is like the irrational hatred of the Ste. Anne Manitoba dairy farmer who a few years ago burned his farm to the ground including his cattle, after he could not settle his divorce with his wife as he would have liked. If he couldn’t have the farm no one else could either. Isn’t that what the new world disorder is all about?

Like a balloon rarely deflates in an orderly fashion, so resentment rarely explodes in a rational manner. That’s why resentment is so dangerous. This is particularly significant to the most dangerous people on the planet—young men. Jihadis and other extremist groups have learned how important young men are to their cause. That is why they work so hard to radicalize them. Many of the lone wolf killers that are so common are young men filled with resentment. Many of them live in a cauldron of hate.   The jihadis then take advantage of the resentment for their own purposes.

When society is in decline. resentment is amplified.

And they make us pay a hefty price.

 

Where guns are sacred and Kids not so Much

2023 Grand Finale Tour, Decline of the west, guns

 

I love the United States. It is an endlessly fascinating country, but not always in a good way.

In Phoenix this month, a very young child found a loaded gun in his apartment belonging to his parents, played with it, and accidentally shot himself. Fortunately, the child did not die as a result. That child was lucky.

Earlier this month in Newport News, Virginia, a 6-year-old student was able to access a loaded handgun, bring it into school and intentionally shot his first-grade teacher.

On PBS television News which we watched every day here in Arizona,  I heard a woman explain how her 6-year-old daughter who really liked that teacher who advocated for her, was terrified by the incident. It not only the direct victims of gun violence that are affected. The effects radiate through the schools or other places of violence.

In the United State where we now live for 3 months, gunshot wounds are now the leading cause of death for children under the age of 18 years! I find that astounding. It tells me a lot about the society in which we are now living.

According to Josh Sugarmann the Executive Director of the Violence Policy Center at the federal level there are no federal standards about the safe storage of fire arms. Standards in states of course vary widely. A 2018 survey that indicated roughly 4.5 million minors in America live in a household with an unlocked loaded firearm.

This is despite the fact that there has been a tremendous increase in fire power among Americans. Currently, there are 20 million AR-15s in the country belonging to private citizens. Yet around the country children are continuing to die from gunshot wounds.

There are also rising numbers of suicides by guns in America. I know it can happen anywhere. It actually happened in Steinbach. But the numbers in our country are dwarfed by the per capita numbers in this country.  Sugarmann also said, “But, having said that, one of the most important things to note is that, when you talk to the experts regarding child safety, the most important thing you can do if you have a child is not have a gun in the home. All too often, we think that, as parents, as guardians, you can safely secure the gun and the child will never find it. Unfortunately, we know all too often that that is untrue”.

William Brangham, a PBS reporter said this to Sugarmann on a related issue:

“… you have documented quite clearly how the gun industry is targeting children as potential customers. And I saw this flyer that I want to put up. This is a flyer for what’s called the JR-15. It’s a kid-sized gun styled after the AR-15. The original tagline for this gun says: “Looks, feels and operates just like mom and dad’s gun.” And the logo is this skull and crossbones with a baby’s pacifier in its mouth.”

 

 Sugarmann said the firearms industry was actually copying what the tobacco industry did when it started to lose customers. It upped the anti. They started to target women, members of minority groups, and now children. And they do it with what Sugarmann called “grotesque graphics.” When people complained they toned down the ads, but they continued to market guns to children. Is that not grotesque enough? As Sugarmann said, they mad a gentler to their approach to the marketing, but still, “the bottom line, they’re marketing a junior AR-15 to children.”

Some say, that for Americans, guns are more important than children. Guns are sacred; kids not so much.  How do you deny that in the fact of such evidence?

And who can deny that such a wonderful country is in serious decline?

 

Problems must be squarely faced

2023 Grand Finale Tour, Climate change, Woke

 

I  like listening to UN Secretary-General António Guterres who always speaks bluntly. He never holds back on his punches. recently,  he said, “We can’t confront problems unless we look them squarely in the eye. And we are looking into the eye of a Category 5 Hurricane. Our world is plagued by a perfect storm of problems.” He was referring to climate change, coronavirus, the war in Ukraine, and the possible recession that seemed to be advancing.

This is an important lesson. American conservatives have not learned it. They want the facts of racism in their country to be sugar-coated for themselves and for their children. This is an awful mistake.

In fact, in my opinion this is what it means to be woke. Confronting problems rather than evading them. That’s why so many conservatives don’t want to be woke.

 

Persistence in Folly

2023 Grand Finale Tour, True Believer, Trumpism

 

Shortly after we arrived in Arizona, it was the second anniversary of the attempted coup by violent supporters of the former president Donald Trump. It was a day that will live on in infamy.

 

Surprisingly, we learned that day that  Republicans in some states like Arizona and Pennsylvania are still challenging the outcome of the 2020 election as stolen despite a complete absence of credible evidence. More than half of Republicans believe that the election was stolen. That is why they continue to support Trump and even finance his endless litigation despite the fact that he loses every case. Don’t they have anything better to do with their money?

Their folly is nothing if not persistent. One of my favourite quotes from the Bible is this: “As a dog returneth  to his vomit, so a fool  returneth to his folly .’.