Thanksgiving 2017

John Hanno  November 23, 2017  

For last years Thanksgiving Day post, I recounted my pure joy and feelings of hopefulness after Barack Obama was elected in 2008. After 8 years of the Bush administration’s blunders in Iraq, the avoidable financial collapse and a major Republi-cession, most of America was ready for a political reset.

The new president was left with a monumental mess; but with help from Speaker Pelosi, Harry Reid and a Democratic controlled Congress, his administration reluctantly bailed out the banks, saved the auto industry, reversed the monthly loss of 800,000 jobs, cut the unemployment rate by half, tripled the stock market and spent a significant amount of good will and political capital, giving 30 million American healthcare, many for the very first time. And all that in the face of unprecedented opposition from the Republi-cons.

That all changed last November, when America’s rust belt states decided they had nothing to lose by voting for an egotistical flim-flam candidate like Trump.

I wrote then that I was afraid Trump would show us “who he really was”: ‘Like probably 80% of Americans who did not vote for Mr. Trump, I’m worried for America’s children and grandchildren, the poor, our middle class, labor, the environment, our Democracy and half of the rest of the world. And I worry that Trump will try to undo  60 to 75% of what President Obama accomplished. President Obama set the bar high with his performance in repairing the economy after the Republicans drove it into a ditch, by repairing our reputation around the world and by his integrity and concern for all human beings. If the Trump Administration can do half as well, I will be surprised. I sincerely hope I’m proved wrong.’

Unfortunately I was all too right! Trump proves daily why a 3 million majority of voters chose Hillary and not him. Every worry I had about how Trump would govern has come to fruition, including how he would attempt to undo every one of President Obama’s and the Democrat’s accomplishments. He has a sick and maniacal obsession with erasing every speck of President Obama’s legacy. Many of us realized early on, that the cabinet he would assemble, would not drain the swamp but would construct a diabolical cabal of self dealing, self absorbed, self interested billionaires and multi-millionaires, who couldn’t care less about 99% of American’s health care, employment, education, financial protections, environment; and who are so thoroughly incapable and unwilling to “Make America Great Again.” And the cowardly and unpatriotic Republi-cons in congress are willing to go along with any of Trump’s hair brained ideas, as long as they can pay back their rich campaign contributors with lucrative tax breaks favoring the rich and powerful.

But I’m thankful the “Resistance” is as strong today (if not stronger) as it was when Trump was installed by hook or crook or collusion with a foreign evil doer last November.

In spite of the dread and chaos that has enveloped our Republi-con Federal governance, I’m thankful for special prosecutor Robert Mueller and his team of truth finders. Hopefully, they can prove to the world that America’s Democracy is not for sale and can’t be undermined by a ruthless despot like Vladimir Putin and his conspirators in the Ult-Right Grand Old Party.

I’m thankful there are patriotic professional athletes like Colin Kaepernick, who might be willing to forsake a lucrative career in order to stand up for what they believe in. And the NFL should be ashamed for not whole-heartedly  standing by these thoughtful and principled young people.

I’m thankful my fellow Veterans will stand strong against Trump and the Republi-cons in congress attempts to privatize the V.A. health system.

I’m thankful the climate deniers pushing the Keystone XL, including Trump and his fossil fuel pandering EPA chief Scott Pruitt, will be tied up for at least 2 more years, because by then it will be obvious, this toxic tar sand pipeline is already obsolete.

I’m thankful women everywhere are now stepping forward and demanding they are more than just sexual objects to be exploited or abused.

I’m thankful some of the critters now populating the new GOP are finally standing by these women.

One of them is not serial abuser Donald J. Trump, who has enthusiastically endorsed sexual predator Judge Roy Moore. He and ultra-partisan Alabama governor Kay Ivey would rather vote for a man barred from shopping malls and high school sporting events because he prayed on under-aged girls, instead of a decent democrat like Doug Jones for U.S. Senator. They believe a reliable Republican Senate vote is more important than moral integrity; and this from the family values pretenders.

Alabama voters will ultimately prove how far we’ve come in healing America’s political, gender and racial divides, when it decides whether they want to be represented in the U.S. Senate by a pedophile who was booted off the Alabama Supreme Court twice or by a Democrat with a high moral reputation and long and honorable history of advocating for under-represented Americans, like the murdered little girls killed when Ku Klux Klan members planted sticks of dynamite beneath the steps of their church.

Repeated from last years post: I’m thankful for all the organic and sustainable farmers like myself, who feed their neighbors without spoiling the earth. And I’m thankful for the organizations like MOSES who promote and teach the next generation of protectors.

Also repeated from last year: ‘And in spite of how hard Mr. Trump, his exploitive cabinet, the fossil fuel pandering Republican controlled Congress and the evil doers in the fossil fuel industry work, to overturn progress made by the Obama Administration, to reverse climate change and global warming, they can’t stop the march to a cleaner more sustainable world. Alternative energy is cheaper than coal, oil and gas, it’s sustainable and 10’s of millions of people around the world are already enjoying it’s benefits. The world is using less coal, more wind, solar and alt energy, emitting less carbon dioxide and growing and farming more sustainably. More than 100 large corporations have pledged to become 100% renewable. Corporations, utilities, countries, states, cities and communities have promoted and invested in renewable energy. Even oil companies and insurance companies have woken up to the new sustainable world order. We are plodding forward. Trump, his fellow billionaires and the big banks who are heavily invested in fossil fuel assets will attempt to extract every ounce before America says, enough is enough. But they’re on the wrong side of preserving humanity.’

I’m thankful I’m able to post almost daily, stories about the progress entrepreneurs, cities, states, nations and businesses are making battling climate change and global warming.  Countries on every continent, Including ultra-polluters China and India are taking serious the existential climate threats to humankind. In spite of the powerful and entrenched deniers, human progress will not be abated.

And above all, I’m thankful (if we’re to believe the polls) America is waking up to the fact they elected a despot who would do anything, tell any lie, jeopardize any environment and demonize any opposition, in order to elevate himself and his families wealth and power, and his insatiable ego.

The Alabama election in December may portend what we have to look forward to in the 2018 mid-term elections. Most of America is standing firm against the assault on our democracy, by a GOP fully embedded with their incredibly rich and powerful patrons. And our journalists and free press are working overtime, uncovering the diabolical conspiracies that have replaced America’s once proud and principled leadership in the world. If they prevail, next Thanksgiving just might bring much more to be thankful for.