First Quarter of the 21st Century Shows Signs of Becoming the Last Century for Earth
Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart
I was alive for one-half of the 20th century.
There were great things happening, and great tragedies. New inventions which
were both beneficial and destructive. All of this placed America in a position
to face the 21st century. Sadly, it began with controversy and
disaster. As we end the first quarter of a new century, what we have
experienced so far is not promising.
The American people voted in November of 2000 with the
intent of choosing a new president to lead us for the next four years. The
choices given to us were the previous vice-president, Al Gore, and the son of
our 41st president, George W. Bush. The result was “too close to
call.” Weeks after the election one of the greatest travesties in history, a
violation of voting rights, happened when a Republican dominated Supreme Court
decided the outcome of the election by halting a recount in Florida. Although
Al Gore won the popular vote, the unconstitutional Electoral College forced us
to accept the illegitimate presidency of George W. Bush.
Our nation’s people were immediately aware that they had
elected a president who hated his job. “Work” was not a word in his vocabulary.
After about six months in office, he and his vice-president, Dick Cheney,
decided they needed a vacation. Before they left Washington, they were warned
that there was an imminent threat to our nation’s security by the heads of our
country’s security agencies. They ignored the information and went on
“holiday.”
While they were away there was an
attack on our nation which will forever be known simply as 9/11. This was the
first sign that our president was unfit for the job given to him by the
Electoral College. Nearly 3,000 innocent lives were lost. Desperate to save his
image, Bush ordered a war on the architect of the attacks, Osama bin Laden, who
was suspected to be hiding out in the hills of Afghanistan. The attempt to
capture or kill the leader of the extremist Islamic group known as Al Qaeda
failed, but our military remained for the next 20 years. His next huge mistake
was invading the sovereign nation of Iraq, falsely claiming that their nation’s
leader, Saddam Hussein, was harboring weapons of mass destruction for Al
Qaeda’s next attack. Our soldiers remained in Iraq for the next eight years.
Bush’s fiscal policy of “trickle down economics” placed our nation in what is known
as the “Great Recession.”
In 2008 Barack Obama became the first Black President of the
United States of America. Hope was the word most frequently used by most
Americans. However, in late January of 2009, Moscow Mitch McConnell created the
“party of no.” Republicans opposed every policy sought by the Obama
Administration. They became obstructionists and were no longer legitimate
legislators. Yes, it was partially based on one party’s support for white
supremacy. Moscow Mitch announced that they would do nothing with the exception
of making “that man” a one-term president.
Somehow Mr. Obama managed to lead us into economic recovery
while restoring America’s reputation within the world of developed nations.
Little did we know that in 2017 our nation would be cursed with the worst
president in history whose entire focus was destroying the accomplishments of
one of the best presidents in the modern world.
Among the darkest days in American history, November 8, 2016
must be listed among the worst of the worst. Donald Trump’s illegitimate
victory in the Electoral College resulted in more harm than Pearl Harbor or
9/11.
Trump had help from Vladimir Putin, everyone is aware of
that fact. However, few know or are aware that he had additional assistance
from James Comey, the mainstream media, and our own government who hid the
truth about a rigged election from the voting public. I won’t even mention
America’s plutocrats who loved the idea of a Trump presidency.
Over a short period of time, just four years, the United
States of America was forever changed, and there is no available cure.
Trump’s failure to lead our nation in the fight against
Covid-19 resulted in the loss of more than one-million American lives. His policy
of “it will just go away” was unsuccessful.
The joint goal of Putin and his puppet, Donald Trump, was to
divide our nation’s people permanently. It succeeded beyond their wildest
dreams. They had help from the media, Fox News, the entire right-side of the
Capitol Building, and Evangelical leaders. His cult remains uninformed, racist,
and just plain ignorant.
The end of the GOP happened on January 20, 2017. Most
Republicans were opposed to a Trump presidency. However, after his illegitimate
election, they surrendered their principles and morals to the leader of the
fascist movement in America. Trump has never been an American.
Beginning with his first year in office, 2017, America has
had more mass shootings than days on the calendar. 2023 is on the way to be the
most dangerous year in our history.
By appointing three biased and unqualified justices, he
guaranteed complete failure by our nation’s judicial system. We became a nation
without laws for the rich and powerful. Corruption in Washington is rampant,
and our government is completely dysfunctional, and irreparable. Worst of all
for our nation’s people is the fact that the Fourth Estate no longer exists.
The Christian Religious Right and its Evangelical leaders
preach loyalty to only one religion in violation of the First Amendment. Their
plans mirror the reason our Founding Fathers left King George III’s England.
With Trump no longer able to continue Putin’s plans for
America’s future, the Russian president decided to invade the sovereign and
democratic nation of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. He is losing his war, and
continues to threaten the use of nuclear weapons. This would be the beginning
of the end of planet Earth as we know it.
All of this and more, none of it good, happened before the
end of the first quarter of the 21st century. I do not foresee the
situation becoming better as long as our present government, the media, and the
super-rich continue to rule over us, shredding the Constitution.
As long as we continue to have the right to vote, there
remains a slim possibility that our nation will survive. It’s all up to us. We
will save America or allow it to become another fascist regime, ruled by a
dictator and his Neo-Nazi army.
Op-ed by James Turnage
My nine novels can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/James-Turnage/author/B00LOCJ2Z2?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment