Narrow Way Cafe

Rantish. An unofficial declaration of civil war by proxy. Wake up, my fellow Americans.

As a 60-something Montana native, of cowboy roots … an untalented musician with a soft spot for 1950’s Nashville? Maybe a little prone to being emotional? I’m crushed by the murders of Texas fourth graders. Tears, man. Numbness has been overcome by real pain… felt in the torso, just under the sternum. Ugh!

If Tuesday’s news doesn’t convince you that you’re alone, I don’t know what will. The system is failed. Not “has failed”, – the present tense means now. Today. Everyday until it’s fixed. This morning, I realize that I’m no longer undecided. I don’t know what to do, but I’m even more resolved to facilitate change.

The top is corrupt, we need an infusion of patriotism from the roots.

POTUS is powerless. SCOTUS has been infiltrated. Congress only acts symbolically, and the Senate is paralyzed.

Folks, we are no longer represented by government of the people by the people for the people in our republic. We are serfs under a feudal system of repressive, special interest economics. Corporations call the shots. Super PAC’s govern us.

Abandoning faith in our representation… what’s left? We collectively ‘do something’ to regain control? Until then…

You’re on your own, everyone for themselves.

To be armed or not to be? A question. I’ve written recently about my disillusionment with the NRA.1 These are questions being answered for us in an escalating conflict. Firearms are one thing. But we have to be armed with the truth and take no prisoners where fact is concerned. Prisoners slow us down. Kill the enemy of intellect by cutting them off from interaction. Don’t waste your time in direct argument.

It’s civil war by proxy.

An 18 year old wannabe with assault rifles is a proxy for racist anti-intellectualism. What I mean is hateful subterfuge indoctrinates the community. Of which, the stupidest in a broad chorus of the stupidest echo the toxin, which enables and then empowers evil in the body of a dumb kid. Their entitlement flows from false perceptions of disenfranchisement, which is populism with the goad of power.

We know who’s responsible. It will take something we haven’t exercised before to bring them to justice. Or at least it will take something our generation hasn’t had to endure.

PAC’s and weapon manufacturers are a proxy for ideologues with money who sew insurrection. A steady drip of rebellion. The message of Heston’s “from my cold dead hands” is the equivalent of “f**k you.” Brotherhood as patriots, treating each other with respect evaporated in that moment. This was a naked call to arms, and millions have gathered to that message.

Politicians are a proxy for religion that embraces hate. And intellectualism has become a proxy for empathy. Replacement Theory versus Critical Race Theory.

QAnon is a proxy for news. The cancer of ignorance feeds and thrives on viscous gossip and conspiracy. And we are befuddled: There is no one to hold responsible?!

To defend ourselves we will have to take back our symbols. The flag for instance. It does not belong flying from poles stuck in the bed of a truck with “Trump Won” on the bumpers.

Patriots will not only have to vote, but help get others to vote. We have to ostracize neighbors who act and vote irresponsibly. We are going to have to castigate scapegoaters. The price of gas is not an immigrants fault. Greed and corrupt politics controlled by corporations influencing for their own benefit. Investors first.

The NRA is a proxy for fascist agitators. It’s never going away, it will need to be disassembled. I believe that a great many need to be held liable, and found responsible by juries. The kind of elitist apartheid that permits the killing machine to exist must be ended.

This is the proxy battle for the American dream. Hijacked patriotism cannot stand as a proxy speaking for a constitution that was meant to protect the humblest members of our culture. Our people have fought this, in different costumes at various times. With the forces of oppression permanently aligned in tribal isolationism, we will always be burdened with defending freedom, conveying rights to minorities and protecting truth. This defines us.

Please pardon me for being a tad over-wrought. I hope you are too.

Enjoy the typos … I don’t have the guts to edit right now…