This 4th of July, I am angry and dismayed. I'm disgusted by our federal government generally and particularly by its absurd approach to commemorating 250 years of American history. I'm horrified by the Republican Fascist control of the federal government and numerous state governments.
But this just means that I am indeed observing the Fourth. It is precisely because I'm keenly aware and appreciative of the Declaration of Independence that I can't help the anger, dismay, disgust, and horror. 1/
Replying to @paul_ipv6@infosec.exchange
george carlin had a routine, all about being on hold. one part of that really stuck with me.
"why don't they let us talk to each other while we're on hold? afraid we're going to learn something?"
Replying to @heidilifeldman@mastodon.social
The mighty, noble aspiration of the Declaration: to bring forth a government that would respect every person's right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and would serve the general welfare. The Declaration contemplates truly momentous project, revolutionary in its day and of paramount ethical value in any time. The signers of the Declaration understood that the state can easily be oppressive and tyrannical. They thought that was a perversion of the justified purpose of government. 2/
Replying to @heidilifeldman@mastodon.social
They believed -- and I fervently agree -- that government was justified and good only when it protected every person's basic liberties, most centrally the right to pursue one's own flourishing in one's own way, and when it fostered the sort of prosperity that enabled everybody's ability to do this. 3/
Replying to @heidilifeldman@mastodon.social
Republican Fascist government is the antithesis of justified, good government. So of course on a day dedicated to celebrating the Declaration of Independence and its continuing importance to the United States, I cannot but help being angry, distressed, and bothered at current conditions here. But that doesn't mean I'm not participating in the Fourth of July: I'm absolutely participating in the only way that makes sense. 4/4
they want us overwhelmed, feeling helpless, feeling like we individually can't do anything.
they are wrong and they are vastly underestimating the human spirit for resisting.
@paul_ipv6 Agreed. And being disgusted and horrified and angry about them is itself resistance.
yup. once they think they have us overwhelmed, they hope we stop paying attention, noticing, sharing. we need to do all that.
@paul_ipv6 I think you will understand why I was so proud in how I was described in a Santa Fe New Mexican article about Flock surveillance cameras in the area. https://enewmexican.pressreader.com/article/6867910421212284
there's a reason they want to gut education, free speech, groups that don't just give in.
@heidilifeldman Fascist government is not even government. It's a bunch of thugs stealing and killing. The "antithesis" of fascism is consensus-based decision making aka anarchy.
Agree. A regime is not the same as a country. They want to take ownership of everything so we have nothing left to rally around. We cannot give them our pride.
@heidilifeldman “We hold these Truths to be self-evident […] to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.”
Just saying.
