Welcome. This is the inaugural edition of Nashville Blues. As the clever name suggests (chosen because no one else seemed to have it) I intend that this diary should focus, but not be limited to, Democrats, Progressives, Populists, Leftists, Left-curious, or generally disgruntled curmudgeons unsatisfied or outraged at the current state of affairs in the United States and the World, especially Tennessee.
I began this today because constant revelations and rants on Face Book may pass along information not available in the corporate news, but the postings in and of themselves accomplish exactly nothing. In fact they may serve to divert and diffuse righteous indignation by offering an impotent forum to those who might actually be a threat to the status quo, the power brokers that manipulate our nation and the world.
In addition, I set the focus on Nashville, TN in hopes that this might attract some Nashville and Middle Tennessee responses, allowing people with commonalities of interest to identify themselves to each other. Possibly gatherings might result, even plans for activism, which ultimately is the seed of movements for positive change. But such movements take people....lots of people....enough people who speak with one voice to be louder than the "free speech" exercised by the $Billionaires unleased by our esteemed Supreme Court to reduce our democracy to a pathetic shell of de facto Oligarchy or eventual Fascism.
Aside from being a platform for occasional rants and opinions, I welcome intelligent, thoughtful comment that may agree or disagree, or seek to expand on something I said or something I missed.
Be aware that I have a Zero Tolerance policy for intolerance, abuse and idiot trolls that have nothing to add but seek to disrupt and abuse the site. They will immediately go to Troll Hell never to return. More below the squiggle.
An introduction: I am a software developer living in Nashville, TN, the heart of the so-called Bible Belt and a decidedly Red state. I never intended to be a Democrat, but the evolution of politics in the United States has driven me to be what passes for a Liberal Democrat. I belong to the sub-species known as Populist or Elizabeth Warren/Bernie Sanders Democrat that are currently out of power in Congress and out of power in their own Party. I also consider this group to be possibly the only hope for any real sort of revival of democracy in America, barring the magical creation of a Populist American third party that captures the imaginations of Americans for a hopeful future and swings the mass of votes needed to be a force in American politics.
My parents were Eisenhower folks, mostly I suppose because he was a war hero. He actually was quite a thoughtful, good man. The first to warn us about the potential evil of the Military Industrial Complex. The last good Republican I can remember. But politics was never an issue in our home. My awareness of a life outside of the North West United States came with the assassination of President Kennedy, which I think tore away the innocence of a nation flush with victory in WW II. This was followed by the cancer of Vietnam. And no, I did not serve because I had an extremely high draft lottery number and didn't have to. I was no activist, I would have served if called. But I was never called. Vietnam, the Hippie Movement, Civil Rights for African Americans, the assassination of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, a man on the moon, the whole shameful Nixon debacle, skyrocketing gas prices, right up to Ronald Reagan and the beginning of the decline of democracy in America.
I really never came into awareness of politics in this country until Reagan, and then only because I was quite an environmentalist and the shocking evil of James Watt drew me into the whole Reagan agenda. With the advent of the 104th Congress and Newt riding into Washington on their magic carpet of lies, I was infected with politics. The rest is, sadly, history.
I see the many activist groups in America: African American rights, women's rights, LGBTQ rights, immigrant rights, rights of the elderly, college students, unemployed, under employed, living wage rights....every movement has a commonality that should be bringing us all together with one voice. And that is Human Rights. Poverty is not accidental in the country. The diversion of all of the new wealth generated in the United States to the top .1% is not random. The sad reality of our political and economic landscape is not some inevitable result of evolution. These are due to the intentional acts of people. People with wealth and power that use their wealth and power and influence to buy lawmakers and legislate more wealth and power, the objective being a powerful Oligarchy and a subservient class of adequately educated workers too fearful of losing their job to create a fuss. But what has been done by people can be undone by people and that is our commission. Find and restore what America was supposed to be by sheer weight of numbers and persistence.
Injustice is an abomination to me and we should all recognize it when we see it, shine a bright light on it, and use what tools we have to destroy it. Evil will always exist. Weeds will always look for opportunity to infest a garden. It is the ongoing job of the People to remain aware and use the power of community, of education, of tolerance, of courtesy, and yes, of love to maintain a dynamic balance that maintains our freedom and our democracy. We have come to a point in history where this will not be easy, it will demand persistence and radical commitment, and it will be dangerous. The enemy knows we are coming and is entrenching deeply even now. But we have no choice. [Spoiler Alert: Love wins!]
So I hope a small group of friends might find tuning in here once in a while entertaining or thought provoking. I don't plan any regular schedule of posting, just when the spirit moves me.
Namaste.
Fri Oct 30, 2015 at 1:28 PM PT: Well, I must say that I'm pleased that there are comments here from a whole lot of really nice sounding people. My apologies. I opened this account and let off some steam and then I'm afraid I abandoned it. So I haven't been back to see about comments and I wasn't set up for notifications, so I didn't know. I think I fixed that now. Most of my ranting is on Face Book. I really should make use of this outlet though. Kos is such a great resource!