This is my opinion and it won't buy you a $1 mask

I last sat down and offered my opinion on January 1, 2020. Little did I know at the time that three months later the United States of America would be in a state of emergency due to the Coronavirus that has ravished the entire world.

I am not attempting to direct blame on anybody nor am I attempting to offer any solution other than "Listen to the experts." That sounds like a novel thing to do but unfortunately in the age of Trumpism, it's not so simple.

As for listening to the experts, I'm mainly talking about Anthony Fauci who just happens to be the top epidemiologist in the world. The person not to listen to in this pandemic is the President of the United States. Why is that necessary? Here's my opinion.

As a truck driver, I travel to different states throughout the southeast. Most if not all of those states are controlled by Republican governors. Some have accepted the "Shelter In Place: orders while others have flat out rejected any such orders.

The president is openly encouraging insurrection against such orders and has targeted certain states run by Democrats to stage protest against those orders.  You can recognize the adherence to the orders by the number of people you see wearing a mask in public. 

You would think that a $1 mask would be a small investment to prevent the spread of a virus which to date has taken the lives of over 40,000 citizens. Not the case. The majority of these citizens have bought into the idea that the economy is more important than human lives.

In a nation that also thought that owning slaves to do manual labor rather than doing such labor themselves, this idea is not new. Low wage workers are on the front line bagging our groceries, delivering our pizzas, and doing all the jobs that are impossible to do from their homes.

There are people who have bought into the idea that the stock market and their millionaire bosses bank accounts are more important than their own lives.

If you have ever wondered why poor white folk in the South would put their lives on the line so that the white landowners could continue the inhumane practice of slavery, just look around. The next time you are in public and you witness someone openly defying the safety and welfare of the public for economic reasons, this is the "New Confederate." They even have the audacity to bring the Confederate flags out of their closets and attach them to their pickup trucks. What's next, wearing a hood (which now would be a good idea), burning a cross and yelling, "Heil Hitler," Which is interpreted by sane thinking people as being, "Heil Trump."

A new year deserves a new attitude

It's been a while since I sit down and poured my heart out in a blog. But with all the clutter on social media, I've decided to return to my roots and chronicle my thoughts and opinions in a more constructive way.

Looking back on the previous year I noticed that the majority of my posts were in opposition to the current president Donald J, Trump. Even though I feel that my criticisms were justified I noticed a fierce and swift opposition to merely reposting current news articles of the many atrocities this president commit on a daily basis,

The majority of this criticism came from people I considered to be devout Christians. This in itself caused me to do some in-depth investigation to find out why this divide existed among people who would normally be of one accord on any other subject under the sun.

In a nutshell, the problem is the masterful job the Russians did in causing or exploiting divisions in America that already existed but were lurking just beneath the surface. With the help of Trump for President Campaign of 2016, Russia flooded the social media with targeted ads and fake accounts to either discourage people from voting or to vote for Donald Trump. As a result, four battleground states tilted in the direction of Mr. Trump giving him a 77,000 vote advantage in those four states thus giving him the presidency through the Electoral College.

Democrats in the past had relied on just overwhelming the vote totals with so many progressive-leaning votes that the conservative candidate would ultimately be giving a concession speech shortly after the democratic candidate had secured enough votes to put them over the 270 threshold. The surprise to the world and according to those close to the Trump Campaign, Mr. Trump himself, the 270 threshold was reached by Mr. Trump and not Mrs, Clinton. The fact that Mrs. Clinton got three million more popular votes is irrelevant when the design is to win electoral votes. The Electoral College which was the last safeguard in electing a tyrannical president cast their votes in accord with the vote totals of their state thus giving the presidency and the future of our democracy over to a man who admitted himself that he did not expect to win. Once again magnifying the effectiveness of the Russian assistance given to the Trump Campaign.

After the Mueller Investigation and the Congressional Hearings, we enter 2020 with an impeached president and a Republican-led senate who are determined to dumb down the American people to the point that if Trump declared himself king for life with the succession of his throne going to Donald Trump Jr. we would just sit back and accept it as long as the Republican Party remained in power in the House and Senate.

What 2020 will ultimately teach us and the world is that there are more Democrats than there are Republicans. Unfortunately, they live in states like New York, California and the District of Columbia who don't even get to have representatives in the Electoral College thus making them taxed but not represented in this construct we call democracy.

With all that said, (and I could say more) I am relying on the American people to do the right thing and reject foreign interference in our elections. By making this declaration we would be confirming the Mueller Report and support the two Articles of Impeachment voted on by the House and are awaiting arrival in the Senate for a trial. Yes, a trial where the Senate leader (McConnell) and the Chairman of the Judiciary (Graham) have no intention to finding the fact but merely putting on a show to exonerate Trump from any wrongdoings. This is 2020. We have a chance to correct the course of this nation. We have a chance to let our voices be heard. If all that fails we get to do it all over again in November.

Enjoy your day today. It's New Year's Day. We have until November to sort this mess out and make sure the fragile democracy we have is intact when we send the Trump family to Mar-a Logo for good.