Aspirational?

Amidst the Violence and Chaos engulfing the Middle East, as well as in many other locations of our World, it becomes very hard for me to think Positively of these United States that manage to Stress, Infuriate and Sadden me every single day. Nevertheless, I Escape from this state of affairs by delightfully holding a book, climbing into its pages and allowing them to swallow me into the story that they are unfolding for me. Thus, I just finished reading: The First Ladies, a historical fiction, by Marie Benedict (a White Woman) and Victoria Christopher Murray (a Black Woman). The beautiful relationship between these two talented women is a reflection of the real-life relationship between Mary McLeod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt. I hope you can read this novel and derive the same pleasure I did regarding the historical events that brought these two extraordinary women together, and their hopes and achievements towards the Aspirational Ideals for this country – to which they contributed a lot – culminating in the founding of the United Nations in October of 1945, a goal which they were convinced fulfilled part of their Aspirational Ideals for their Country and for the World. These Ideals, in my opinion, are the uniquely charming Aspirations of these United States towards its stated goals for achieving: Democracy, Freedom, Equality, Human Rights, Justice and Legality For All. Amongst all our Dysfunctional Family of Nations on this Planet these Aspirations single it out and, in that sense, the US was merely fulfilling its Aspirational Ideals when it embarked on going to war against Hitler and Nazism thus saving the world from Authoritarianism, Extremism, Fanaticism and Racism. It was a Presidential Decision at the time, although there is no doubt in my mind that Every President of this Nation has achieved some version or the other of America’s Aspirational Ideals with some of them taking small steps, others big ones; some making good decisions, others inane ones. For me, Jimmy Carter and Franklin Delano Roosevelt stand out as the two Presidents who made huge strides in this direction, and Eleanor Roosevelt was our most remarkable First Lady for her huge efforts towards realizing America’s Aspirational Ideals. 

In that context, it is important to note that while Hitler and his gang of criminals were hunting down Jewish Humans in order to annihilate them, Most of the people of our world were unaware of the vile atrocities that were going on. It is a world of difference today when Most people are aware of all things that are occurring anywhere, and that they are very well aware of the raging wars in the Middle East that continue unabated and unfettered. Moreover,  there is no doubt that Netanyahu is only applying the same wicked playbook that the United States set the stage for especially in Vietnam, in Iraq, and in Afghanistan. Perhaps that’s why, amongst other considerations, Genocide Joe continues to make excuses and justify the atrocities that we are seeing with our own eyes as Netanyahu keeps on moving the goal posts further and further away from a Peacefully Negotiated Outcome. Biden’s latest excuse is that Netanyahu is not Coordinating with the White House, nor Sharing his plans. If that is not “Plausible Deniability” then I really don’t know what is! No, some say, it is not only that. This has been the Plot since 1948 and even before that; a Plot in which the Colonist Enterprise was Complicit from day one, and, it is not over yet as we all don’t actually know exactly what is the malevolent design, conversations and planning that are taking place right now behind closed doors, which they definitely are. We simply wake up every morning to more killing, maiming, heartache and sorrow and have no idea what the endgame for this nightmare is going to be.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump is campaigning and behaving as if he has already won this upcoming election! And he just might! He might get his chance to: Blow It All Up as he aspires to do, sometimes saying things that I totally agree with (one example being that there was an orchestrated “coup” to remove Biden from running for President), others that I believe are inflammatory nonsense (such as Haitians are eating your pets!). On the other side, Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party are convinced that the general population of the US is too far entrenched in its Freedoms as to accept “Going Back.” It is only a few more weeks and we will all find out, and these might be the most dangerous weeks for this country yet! Hurricanes Helena and Milton, hugely sad and devastating as they were, could end up being the least of our problems! 

While Jimmy Carter and Franklin Delano Roosevelt remain my Top Presidential Choices, the Worst are Woodrow Wilson, Dubya Bush and his Nefarious Gang and . . . yes, indeed, Genocide Joe! Once in the not so long ago he was “Decent Biden” and “Amtrak Joe” with an impressive legacy, however, his behavior since October 7 of last year has Tainted this legacy, and sunk the US to its lowest possible ranking yet! This has also tainted the Democratic Party and its Blatant Hypocrisy.

Where in all this do our Aspirational Ideals, Carter and the Roosevelts fit in? Where in this equation do Eleanor’s activism towards a nation that professes Democracy, Freedom, Equality, Human Rights, Justice and Legality rest? I believe that she, as most Americans are, would be aghast, because, and as it seems, these are merely empty slogans that we brandish about while destroying any semblance of them. Sadly, we have also trashed the very Institution that Eleanor took great pride in establishing, because the United Nations, as most International Organizations, has been rendered lame, incapable and ineffective in this way shredding any guardrails that protected us all! The outcome for all this cannot but be dangerous! Where do we go from here on? How are we going to manage the humongous issues that we are living and those that are on our horizon? Who amongst our Dysfunctional Family of Nations has the Moral Authority to do so? Questions for which I have not any answer as I walk around in a dazed state of mind that is only mitigated by reading a good book and then slipping into the Nothingness of Sleep hopefully without any Nightmares, and, possibly thinking of what’s going to happen to this Aspirational Democracy and the Ideals that most of us cherish? I wish I knew!