Today, more than ever, we all need a dose of "courage" to overcome the challenges that confront us. But where do we find it?
We need to understand that in the past everyday people, like us, have somehow manifested and embodied that essential courage.
People have gathered unbelievable strength and courage to confront the challenges that confronted them. They transformed into heroes and performed unbelievable acts of courage without which all would have been lost.
That terrible, fateful day, Vice President Mike Pence became a hero. That day, he transformed into an essential, courageous defender. He put aside loyalty to an out-of-control psychopath and stood solidly, fulfilling his oath to the Constitution of the United States.
Caroline Kennedy: We can no longer take our democracy for granted #profileincourage
“We can no longer take our democracy for granted.”
Ambassador Caroline Kennedy says today’s moment in America requires more public officials and other institutions to have the same kind of courage Vice President Mike Pence had when he put his life and career on the line to ensure the constitutional transfer of presidential power on January 6, 2021.
Some things I thoroughly despise because I know the statements are said to be manipulative. They are “crafted” evil, poisonous concoctions thrown about to ignite biases, prejudices, racial hatreds, nationalism and outright violence.
Nothing is new about this. It has gone on since forever… man’s inhumanity to man.
Today’s version is the same-old-same-old story but includes a simple change of names for the perpetrator and the victims.
Perhaps you have noticed, as I have, those in power will say and do anything to remain in power at the expense of the powerless.
Here’s a for instance. Recently an Emergency Room doctor asked the Vice President of the United States why his administration is, “…taking healthcare away from millions of Americans.”
The doc lives where “the rubber meets the road”. Day-in-day-out this man witnesses desperate people in need of healthcare but can’t afford it.
So, when Vice President Pence stopped by his table in that Iowa diner, Dr. Rob Davidson demanded an answer to our government’s inhumanity to its own people. Of course he got B.S. in reply and Pence simply walked away. After all, as vice president, he has full coverage, doesn't he? Why should pain and suffering of everyday Joes and Janes be his concern?
Still, Dr. Rob Davidson stood up against our inhumane system and demanded better. He confronted the evil side of our government and said we have had enough callous disdain. It is well past time for kindness and concern for the people of the United States – even the poor, unemployed, elderly – and yes, even those people with different skin colors.
Yes, even if it doesn't feed Mr. Trump's zealot supporters' voracious appetite for cruelty toward "the others".
"Because of an unscripted, candid interaction I had a few weeks back with Vice President Mike Pence drew more than 4 million views online, I have the dubious distinction of being another target of the Trump Administration."
"This time, President Trump’s Medicare and Medicaid czar, Seema Verma – who also happened to be Pence’s Medicaid chief when he was Indiana’s governor – dismissed me as an “activist doctor.”
"Though Verma probably didn’t mean that as a compliment, I’ll happily wear the “activist doctor” label if it means standing up for my patients when policymakers threaten their healthcare."
"And when one of those senior policymakers — especially one who has the ear of the president and the loyalty of Trump’s evangelical base, as Pence does — happens to walk into a diner where I’m finishing dinner, I will put my fork down and ask him why the administration he represents is taking healthcare away from millions of Americans."
Physicians fighting back
"On the day I ran into Pence, I’d already said plenty."
"As the executive director of the Committee to Protect Medicare, I’d been traveling to many states, standing with doctors, healthcare professionals and patient advocates. At each of these stops, from Detroit to Columbus to Houston to Des Moines, we raised awareness about the many ways the Trump Administration has been cutting Americans’ healthcare."
Hypocrisy, especially the brand practiced by the Republican political people, has long been a particularly irritating fact of life. When combined with the self-righteousness certitude and arrogance practiced by the Trump administration, it manifests itself in a clear disdain for all other forms of humans than themselves and the .001%.
This vicious disdain for the infirmed, sick, aged, poor and vulnerable, as well as the rest of 99.9% of Americans, recently came flowing out when Mr. Pence encountered a knowledgeable, human-with-a-soul, Dr. Rob Davidson, a Michigan ER Doc. Take a look at the video clip below.
Of course, Medicaid cuts are but one of a multitude of sociopathic evils the Trump administration has inflected upon average Americans. Here are a few others:
Using the presidency for personal economic gain;
Committing campaign finance violations by paying hush money to Karen McDougal and adult film star Stormy Daniels;
Obstructing justice in connection with the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller;
Abusing the pardon power to reward political allies;
Abusing emergency powers to build his border wall;
Incarcerating undocumented immigrant children in prison settings;
Attempting to strip millions of Americans of health insurance;
Promoting tax reform to benefit the super rich;
Gutting environmental regulations and pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord;
Refusing to enforce the Voting Rights Act and promoting an ideology of white supremacy.
With this everyday, in-our-face display of contempt for others, one can only conclude that Trump Republicans are really not humans. They must be another life form.
