Victims

Victims

[When] we stop being victims... [we] begin to see how all the circumstances of our lives have contained gifts and critical lessons.

(Perry Tilleraas, The Color of Light, 19 December)

Dick Henthorn

8 July 2020

Extractions from "One Nation After Trump"

One Nation After Trump

A Guide for the Perplexed, the Disillusiioned, the Desperate, and the Not-Yet-Deported.

by

E.J. Dionne, Jr.

Norman J. Ornstein

Thomas E. Mann

I recently finished reading this book that I borrowed from the county library.  I thought the book was Excellent.

This post is includes a few extractions from the book.

Fake News - page 54

The road to "fake news" was paved by the disdain in a large part of the conservative movement for real news. The trail to "alternative facts" was blazed by a mistrust of those whose jobs and professional ethics required them to report and rely on real facts.

Election of Donald Trump - p. 175

... But his [Donald Trump's] election ought to jar those who make up our nations's governing class. They now know that Americans in large numbers were so disaffected that they embraced a candidate whose temperament and behavior were plainly ill suited to the requirements of the nation's highest office.

Lessons - p, 220

Among the many lessons to take away from the Trump campaign is how destructive a candidate who capitalizes on and encourages a lack of empathy can be.

Community p. 223

Writing about the devastation of a seemingly indestructible mountain culture in a West Virginia community struck by flooding in 1972, the sociologist Kai Erikson described the human role of community as clearly as anyone has, "It is the comminity that cushions pain, the community that provides a context for intimacy, the community thar represents morality and serves as the repository for old traditions." His classic Everything in Its Path: Destruction of Community in the Buffalo Creek Flood underscored how fragile community can be.

Citizen Involvement - p. 246

Getting more citizens into the democratic fray is essential to defending and repairing our republic.

But as Ivins would insist, democracy is not for wimps or for those who seek purity in all things.  Ours is a complex, pluralistic, representative democracy, one in which political parties play an essential role in elections and policy making.  People pursue their right "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances" in many ways, some of them boisterous and inconveniet.  Powerful group identities shape the relations between representatives and the represented.  Getting into the fight will mean devoting outselves to the often-hard work of politics, even when it makes us uncomfortable.  It will require recognizing that we will not always be successful but that each experience will sharpen our skills. It will demand creative approaches to effecting change.  It will mean becoming involved with some of the oldest forms of political action, inside parties and at the precinct level, while at the same time being willing to embrace new political alliances.

Electoral College - p. 257

Why should Americans who choose to live in California be punished by having their electoral power reduced? Should it not be more troubling that 4.27 million voters in California mattered far less than 10,704 voters in Michigan, 22,748 voters in Wisconsin, and 44,292 voters in Pennsylvania? Either we are a democratic republic, or we are not.  We either believe in one person, one vote, or we don't. 

Consider Trump - p, 286

Consider the aspects of Trump’s persona and approach that incite such disquiet and rage: the ease with which he demonizes whole groups of Americans; his indifference to fact; his willingness to lie with impunity; his lack of even elementary knowledge or intellectual curiosity about policy; his proclivity toward shifting positions again and again; his quest to tote up “wins” without any concern about the content of the proposals he is pushing; his lack of any historical sense; his belief that everything is about a “deal”; and his refusal to acknowledge any need to separate his personal financial interest from his public duties. 

Dick Henthorn

20 Aug 2019

Lessons

We receive our lessons individually packaged, custom made, slightly different from the next person's. We can't compare how we're doing with another person. Life is not a competition.
(Perry Tilleraas, The Color Of Light, 30 June)
8 February 2015

Detachment

• Let me not take to myself, and suffer over, the actions and reactions of other people.
• Other adult human beings are not my responsibility, no matter how closely their lives may be intertwined with mine.
• I will not allow myself to be troubled by anyone else; my one problem is to improve my own way of living and looking at life.

God teach me to detach my mind from what others say and do, except to draw helpful lessons and guidance from them.

(One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 7 January)
8 January 2014

Lessons Learned

Photo: Mr. Dickie - Blackwater Falls, WV

The Great Depression ... taught the country ... the need for thorough financial regulation to curb fraud and excessive leveraging of risk.  Yet the Reagan administration unleashed a process of dismantling that regulation.  (Jeffrey D. Sachs, The Price of Civilization, p. 61)

******

Ask yourself these questions.  

• Did you see it coming?  
• If not, why not?

Mr. Dickie

18 January 2012

Who Are Those People?

Photo: Mr. Dickie - Strasburg, PA

We should have much peace if we would not busy ourselves with the sayings and doings of others.  (Thomas 'A Kempis, in The Promise Of A New Day, by Casey and Vanceburg, 2 December)

...the world is full of people who would love you to behave in whatever ways are most convenient for them.  (Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Pull Your Own Strings, p. xiv)

"How rarely we weigh our neighbor in the same balance in which we weigh ourselves."  (Thomas 'A Kempis, in Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary by Warren W. Wiersbe, p. 731)

...comparing one person to another negates each person's uniqueness and is often insulting to each person individually, and comparisons will never lead you to self-knowledge.  (Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Wisdom Of The Ages, p. 256)

Speculating on other people's attitudes and motives is a waste of time and effort.  To search out the reasons for my own is a voyage of discovery.  (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 3 December)

Let them talk, whoever "they" may be.   (Eric V. Copage, Black Pearls, 27 December)

You don't get to judge what other people have or how other people live.  (Steve Case, Everything Counts, 29 December)

One of the hardest lessons to learn is that for all our good intentions, we can still royally mess up other people's lives.  (Steve Case, Everything Counts, 15 November)

We tend to emulate the people we admire, so be careful about the heroes you select.  (Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary, p. 804)

It is easy to lose what you have gained by making friends with the wrong people. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary, p. 841)

We need to consider our relationships continually, and make sure we are doing our part to nourish them so they thrive.  (Eric V. Copage, Black Pearls, 16 December)
4 January 2012

Lessons Learned

Today, ask yourself, "What lessons can be learned from the experience of this day?" (Helen Steiner Rice, From The Heart, 15 July)

We can't prepare for what we won't acknowledge. (Larsen and Hegarty, Believing In Myself, 15 July)

To consider persons and events and situations only in light of their effect upon myself is to live on the doorstep of hell. (Thomas Merton in Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary by Warren W. Wiersbe, p. 442)

To expect life to be tailored to our specifications is to invite frustration. (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 9 July)

Self-pity comes from concentrating on the negative aspects of life. (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 9 July) 29 July 2011

Lessons

We are not yet what we should be, what we can be, or what we will be ... (John MacArthur, Truth For Today, 9 May)

We must constantly be on guard because sometimes we do not know what the lesson was until we have failed the test! (Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary, p. 147)
20/May/2010 8:34