ClydeStyle

Category: Greed

  • Save your panic for later; You may not even need it

    Two major things are happening today: Donald J. Trump is going to be sworn in as the 47th President of these United States of America, and there is also a national observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., birthday.

    Some are devastated because they were looking forward to celebrating the King holiday with the inauguration of the first female president in Kamala Harris. Social media was in such a buzz before the November election that these events may collide. Well, that didn’t happen.

    And no matter how much of the MAGA Trump world was exposed, Democrats thought that Americans would move away from Trump. They, the Dems, used their usual scare tactics to get us to vote for them. If Democrats had a better plan for America, then why did they spend so much time telling us how bad Trump was.

    This may be a shock to you, but a vote for Trump was America’s way of lashing out at the status quo. The same way that minorities loot when an unarmed Black man is gunned down or shot by police. Both actions serve as the voice of the unheard.

    Most Americans have real problems, and I’m not talking about the homeless and jobless. I’m talking about folks who did not advance their education or just went the blue-collar way. They didn’t get any of those good union jobs, and most of the time, they have to work two and three jobs to make ends meet.

    They can’t afford to get sick, can’t afford not to go to work, and if they have a mental health breakdown, they better get over it because they can’t afford that either.

    This is why so many celebrated the killing of the insurance CEO in NY. For the poor in America, there is always a battle. A battle with health challenges, taxes, even utility bills, and groceries. Gasoline, kid expenses, and rent. There is never a break from this. Our politicians, on both sides of aisle, are too rich to know these problems, and to be honest, they don’t care. Dems were supposed to be the party of the people, but why were the people looking elsewhere?

    Let’s get some facts straight about Trump. He didn’t destroy America nor cause a war or break anything in the White House like folks said he would the first time. He is nowhere near as good as he thinks he is, but he is definitely not the worst president America has had — he’s not even in the top 10!

    The majority of our president’s have been self-serving at some point in their administration. Some just hide it better than others. The American dream has never existed for all Americans, so with every president, some Americans are going to be marginalized.

    I would imagine Trump will do what he did the last time. He will give a great tax cut for all his billionaire friends, and he’ll try to shake up things a bit in Washington, but that’s it. America will go into great debt like they did after the terms of the last four Republican presidents. Bottomline is you will survive this, especially if you are poor — Trump promises to leave you poor when he’s done. Just like Biden did.

  • Our political parties have failed us completely

    Next month, our Supreme Court will hear arguments as to whether former president Donald Trump is eligible to run for president given the 91 charges he is facing. The people are confused as to what is really happening because Trump is claiming he is immune from wrongdoing and that the charges are not valid.

    There would have been a time in our recent history that the Republican party would select a more presidential candidate. George Santos was booted out of Congress for all the lying and cheating he has done. How is Trump different?

    Would Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush or George W. Bush approve of such a candidate like Trump? Further, with the danger of election interference by Russia and Trump facing a ton of debt, are we not taking a chance with him being vulnerable to more corruption because of his debt?

    Then there is current president Joe Biden. He might as well be 300 years old because, for some reason, despite the level of stress that comes with the job, would any former president agree with Biden continuing in this role? It is hard to believe that Bill Clinton and Barak Obama would agree that Joe is ready for another term. We know that both parties could support better candidates. But at this point, they can not be trusted.

    The two-party system does not work for this reason. They have lost the trust of the people, and that is probably the only thing that can be agreed on.

    So what is the country to do? This clear, good Ole Boy network in politics has betrayed us. The parties have lost sight of what the people really want. The majority of the people are tired of seeing money by the billions sent overseas, and we have millions of struggling people here.

    We are tired of wars and being involved in wars. We are tired of our government taking care of everyone else by us.

    Solution: All three branches of government need to be replaced. One huge election and nobody over 70 should be allowed to take any position. Our smartest and brightest people are between 40 and 60 years old, and we need to tap into that market. We need to have a greater balance of medical professionals, former teachers, business executives, and blue-collar workers in Congress. We should maintain a third of each. We need to pledge to take care of home first and settle our own issues so that we can reach out together as a country to help others, but not until we are good at home. Finally, we need to be as diverse as the U.N. white people should not dominate the branches. We need to embrace diversity and build a country that works for everyone and not just some.

  • Beware of Christian nationalist: They are working for the wrong God!

    The New Year is upon us, and this is an election year. There are so many scenarios that must play out for the New Year.

    Will Donald Trump go to prison? Will President Biden win the election? Will Congress change power? Will we be at war? Will Covid die out? So many unanswered questions.

    But this group called Christian Nationalist threw me for a curve because I wasn’t sure what the group stood for. This is basically a political, not religious group, that wants to change laws based on their own personal interpretation of scripture.

    Their version of Christianity involves hate. They believe they are superior and, therefore, should benefit from the pleasures of America where other races should not. Imagine if the people creating laws hate Jews or Mexicans or Black people. Imagine laws made to oppress or deport.

    The saddest thing is that these folks actually attempt to know scripture. They think that they can bring their own context to scripture outside of the cultural, historical, and context it’s already written in.

    It’s bad enough that these people claim Christianity, but oppression the kinsmen of the one who is responsible for Christianity. Out of all the things to watch in 2024, you know to be aware of this group trying to represent you in Congress.

    We can not afford to allow feelings to Trump truth. There is an absolute truth, and it is worth pursuing. Politicians have always relied on the stupidity of America to pull off these foreign agendas and harm those not in power.

    The most important thing for us to embrace in 2024 is the election and the defeat of those who have lost sight of what a true democracy is.

  • Good intentions are all about helping others

    So I’m relaxing at home in the Midwest and it’s cold, but like normal the anticipation of the holiday sets our mood. I was just thinking about all the wonderful food traditions that my family has. We eat the typical food shared in Western civilization.

    We had a very traditional Thanksgiving, and Christmas dinner will shape up the same way. I enjoy these times, but I can’t help but think what things would be like if the food manufacturers weren’t trying to make a profit, but we’re trying to make us healthy and live longer, how much better off we’d be?

    I grew up believing that I knew what a healthy breakfast was. In the 70s, we were told that it was your favorite cereal with toast juice and milk. In the Midwest, Coney Island restaurants introduced us to a good, hearty breakfast and I. The same decade that breakfast consisted of two scrambled eggs, hashbrowns or grits, choice of bacon, sausage, or ham and toast, all for $1.99. And don’t forget the cup of coffee!

    The intentions of breakfast during that time got its origin during the industrial age. You see, back then, people would eat leftovers from the previous nights dinner. This was fine for farmers, but not for factory workers who had to stand for long periods of time in the same place with all that heavy food in their stomachs – it gave them indigestion.

    So, the solution from the “powers that be” was to create a breakfast that was more dense and lighter than our leftover dinners. So they filled us with sugary cereals, gave us the incredible, edible egg, and gave us swine.

    Then, that breakfast gave us diabetes, hypertension, gout, heart diseases, and some cancers. Did they know? Did they care?

    We didn’t need high fructose corn syrup, and it has turned out to be worse than swine. It was part of the great food engineering age where manufacturers created food that would trick our bodies into eating more. Intentions?

    All I’m saying is if good intentions led our decisions, then as a country, we wouldn’t be so sick. We are sick because companies found a way to make money off of it.

  • It’s all about trust — we don’t have anymore

    America lacks trust.

    We don’t trust our government, strangers, our neighbors, some of our friends, and definitely a few family members that don’t make the trust cut! We are skeptical of everything. We have been betrayed by the media, our jobs, our healthcare system, and some of our loved ones.

    As a result, we question everything. True and false ride together now, and we can’t tell them apart. There used to be a thing called “benefit of doubt,” which has become obsolete.

    Politicians, preachers, police officers, and partners can not be trusted. So where do we go from here? The enemy of my enemy is not even my friend anymore.

    When a system gets violated, like in this case where we have been bombarded with constant lying, we can’t act like it didn’t happen. We can’t just get over it. Someone or something has to be held accountable.

    If we started to hold each other accountable then we would have to overhaul the government, the Healthcare system, the FDA, the military, criminal justice system, food manufacturers, automakers, churches, all charities, big pharma, all chain restaurants, the stock market, universities and schools (public and private), Entertainment and sports, and the media to start.

    Imagine living in a place that was set up for you to succeed. The baseline lifestyle for everyone was attainable with a little hard work. We eliminated the need for prisons, crime, and killing with education, support, and advancement. Could there really be a place where everyone wins? Is it only in my dreams?

  • Politics as usual: They don’t really care about us

    Things are ramping up for the 2024 elections, and in every election year, politicians attempt to tell us what really is important. Their talking points start off with, “The American people want this…” Make no mistake, the elections are never for the American people. In a democracy, elections are used to make the people believe they have a say or control of what is happening in their country.

    Talking points work like worms against a fish. Politicians debate and talk about topics that interest the general population, but never are these things changeable. For example, President Joe Biden, who is the architect of the 94′ crimes bill responsible for putting millions of minorities in prison, went on the radio show The Breakfast Club and said if Black people did not vote for him, they weren’t Black. He talked about police shooting unarmed Black people was a problem; he talked about voting rights being a priority; he talked about the criminal justice system being a problem, but they didn’t make his radar once he was elected.

    What Biden did is what every Democrat does: Their interest is not in helping minorities but in helping the base. Republicans are the same with favoring their base. The problem is the majority of the people in both bases are white!

    So then brown people continue to struggle with immigration and black people struggle with everything else. Doing things for the masses or serving you base doesn’t scratch the surface of the people for minorities.

    When I say minorities, I am talking about people in America who make under 80k per year. The best part of America is the ability to earn money. A sample of all races is earning money in America, but the overwhelming majority of Americans are struggling. I am specifically saying that there is not much being done to help their situations. Some temporary Covid protocols made a difference for a short while, but these benefits don’t compare to the benefits given to citizens in other countries.

    So after each election, politicians prove to the masses that they don’t care about us. We should begin hearing about the “big scare” that the democrats do every election year to cause fear among the people of the dangers of not voting democrat. The Republicans do they same thing on their side, and while the fear is increased, the benefits for the poor decrease. Don’t think this is a racial divide because it isn’t. This divides us by class.

    The greatest vote you can make to a politician is to contribute money to their campaign because that’s who will be satisfied with the win. Imagine if you are a politician and one constituent gives you $50, and another gives you $1000 per month. Who would you listen to?

    Until this system changes, the common man will always get the shaft during the elections.

  • A thing that can’t happen

    I’m not sure if this will be a new series or not, but there are certain things that just can’t happen. It needs to happen, but by the way we are as a country, it would cause an even greater divide if it did.

    I’m specifically talking about a scientific discovery of longevity. Imagine the level of greed and covetousness that would ensue if we discovered a way to extend life by hundreds of years. I’m talking about a new life expectancy of 250 years.

    I would imagine that our biased country would want to decide who is worthy of this. It would not be something that everyone could experience. I’m not even sure what the price tag would be, but definitely, anyone lower than wealthy would not have access.

    There would be billionaires trying to corner the market on this gift. As the African proverb states: “When the elephants rumble, the grass suffers.” We are the grass.

    Imagine some of the world’s dictators living longer: Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump,Joe Biden, and Xi Jinping all live another 160 plus years. Would the world be a bitter place if that happened?

    Longevity would give us more time to be greedy and selfish. If it were available to everyone, then it would give the poor and downtrodden another 200-plus years of poverty, stress, sickness, and depression. Giving the world more time would not at all help the poor — it would extend their already horrible sentence.

    It would do us no good to imagine the world as a better place because more time would increase the intensity of who we are today — and it’s not a pretty sight!

  • El Paso shooter gets 90 consecutive life sentences. For what?

    One of the many mass shooters in America recently went through sentencing for shooting up a Walmart, killing 20 plus people and wounding many others. We were outraged when we heard about it, and the usual things were said, like, is the shooter dead? Did they identify the dead? What type of weapon was used? Was he a formal employee of Walmart?

    Prayers and thoughts were sent out by millions who heard about the deaths and conversations began around the country regarding whether the death penalty should be brought back and when we would get stiffer gun laws.

    Chatter, then begins to die down until the next shooting kindles it back up. Finally, the El Paso shooter gets sentenced, and it took multiple days to do it. Our country is so juvenile when it comes to things like this. Although his court days are far from over, he was sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences. Why? It’s almost like each sentence was a shot to his head, and the person with the trigger just kept pulling it to the tune of 90 consecutive life sentences.

    What is the purpose of this? It won’t bring anyone back to life. It is not even equal punishment. And rehabilitation is definitely not an agenda item here. We’ll just toss out life sentences like coupons and hope that they satisfy the families of the deceased.

    This is madness. Of course, we need tougher gun laws. In fact, we need to eliminate guns from our society, but that won’t happen because there is money to be made selling guns.

    Until we begin to look at our crimes as a mirror and see who we truly are instead of acting as if those criminals are just “bad apples,” we will continue to lack the compassion it takes to heal and rehabilitate the under belly of our society. These shooters did not plan to be mass shooters in kindergarten. It’s not an excuse, but circumstances happened, and we could trace back through the lives of the shooters and find the points of trouble.

    Stricter penalties like death have proven to be abusive, and many die who are innocent, especially those of color. We need to change the narrative in America by acknowledging our sins and fighting injustice where it occurs. If not, eventually, we will all be killed in a mass shooter attack or be in jail for 90 consecutive life sentences as the shooter.

  • Holmes in prison is poetic justice

    Elizabeth Holmes, the perfect unicorn

    Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was either brilliant or crazy when she quickly built her start-up company on a lie, raised billions, and now owes more than 450 million in damages and is serving 11 years.

    Her vivid imagination fooled thousands, and she went further than she should have. Why? Because of two things: White Privilege and greed.

    Nothing about her story was impressive. In fact, her claims were so outrageous that if you could imagine any other race saying the same thing to the same investors, you would quickly see how unextraordinary they were.

    College dropout. Discovered what? What about this quitter would have made wealthy investors not vet her and trust that she must be on the cutting edge of something that would revolutionize an industry? She had absolutely zero knowledge of this field and no skill. What an insult to the egg heads currently spending years trying to do the same thing.

    She was the unicorn every greedy, wealthy person dreams about. Ground-floor level of new technology. And her whiteness made her believable!

    The bottom line is that on paper, she was a complete fraud who had done absolutely nothing to get the trust given to her, except she was the right color. Greed was also a contributing factor and works as a blinder – the men she hustled were fools, and the old saying is true: A fool and his money are soon parted.

  • History and truth need validation

    We live in a time that has the phrase “fake news” circulating through our language. Most of our country looks back at history and tries to cover up the wrong doing because of guilt. In fact, the further back we go the worst it gets. Our country is very divided which was the intent of some. We actually have people who are hoping for another civil war. Because of all these things and more, our history needs to be fact checked and validated.

    The greatest reason for this is so that we don’t repeat the mistakes. It’s always difficult to hold someone accountable in their ignorance. And it’s even more tedious to suffer someone through their wrongdoing. It really becomes taxing on everybody because our ignorance and forgetfulness tends to effect us in great numbers.

    Recently, the Queen of England died. She was on the throne for 70 years and whether she was a figure head or not, that monarch has a ton of innocent blood on it’s hands. Colonization of countries was their specialty and to reign over a place that terrorized countries for a living is not fashionable at all. Their entanglement in South Africa, Jamaica, Barbados and other places was absolutely horrible. But I guess if you live long enough people forget. She lost family members recently because they could no longer endure the racism. But I digress.

    America has a reputation for building weapons on mass destruction, incarcerating it’s citizens and racism. The Bill of Rights and freedoms we have on paper are great until they aren’t. Sure there are worse places you could live but measuring and comparing us based on our resources and what’s actually possible for us to do, we are definitely found lacking.

    This is a perfect place to live if you are wealthy — but that’s only one percent. For the rest of the 99 percent we have varying degrees of contentment and down right bankrupt individuals who are barely keeping their head above water. We have been repeating our past and finding better ways to be convert in our repeats. Our problems are systemic and design to maintain the status quo.

    As a country, we need to figure out exactly what we are trying to do and be honest about it. If we really have a plan to continue to disenfranchise citizens then say that. But based on resources, our country could be a place where everyone thrives.

    We need the correct history so that we can be more tolerant of each other. There are way too many injustices to name here but if we really wanted to correct the problems we have to start with admitting the wrong.

    We need a history check and an honest conversation about what type of country we really want to be.