Ever since I tuned into the reality that mainstream media is working overtime to smooth the ruffled feathers of the left by telling us all the various and sundry ways the Dems lost, it’s harder to watch than normal. Nobody seems to know, for sure, what Trump will do once he’s back in office but there IS a general consensus that it will try to benefit the wealthy and harm everybody else.

And, who owns that very mainstream media that wants everyone to just simmer down and “understand” how the election went against America? Why, the very wealthy people who own and operate all of that beautiful, misleading media. Wow, what a coincidence.

No matter where you look, the talking heads on the television are trying to convince us that, no, really, Hispanics came out in droves for the guy who insists they’re all criminals and garbage and promised to deport their loved ones and co-workers. Who wouldn’t?

But if I’m being fair, I can see an angle where that makes sense. Incoming immigrants from south of our border really ARE taking jobs from Hispanics, right? Brown people taking brown jobs. Maybe the brown people already here are just trying to protect their own livelihoods. Yeah, maybe.

Now try that with black people who supposedly trust the man in the white pointy hat MORE than the black woman to understand the black community. No, explain the women first. You know, the people in this country whose lives and livelihoods are on the line every day, now, because of Donald Trump. Of COURSE they supported him more than they supported the woman who has the lived experience.

All right, sarcasm aside, there really IS a single thread that might run through most of these people: they don’t believe him. I know, it’s kind of amazing, but they really don’t. Now, from that, I could make the case that they have no idea what Trump will do or what he stands for because they don’t believe the words coming out of his mouth. They voted for him anyway – all while bitching that Kamala didn’t detail her positions enough for them. I guess she should have stuck with mere “concepts of a plan.” THAT, they understand in detail. (Likely because they fill in the details.)

I continue to interact with MAGA in various ways. I hear it a LOT. “Oh, that’s just Trump.” I watched the most recent episode of Real Time with Bill Maher and someone suggested he was just spitballing and the conservative person on the panel eagerly agreed – yes, that IS what he does. I see him tossing out every idea and then letting his listeners pick and choose those they like best. But once he’s in, he’ll only DO those things HE wants to do.

It’s a tough call as to how he’ll deal with the small folk who supported him. On the one hand, he doesn’t need them anymore. He has the power he sought, thanks to them, and now can toss them aside. BUT…he loves the adulation. He might keep pandering to them because they’ll come to his rallies and scream their love for him. More likely, he might keep pandering to them because they keep sending him their money – and the only thing he loves more than money is his own visage in the mirror.

I really wish I had the code. I wish I could tell when Trump was seriously threatening America and the American way of life and when it’s all just a gag to be laughed at and dismissed. Because I lack the key, I believe the words he says. And he scares me. I guess I’ll have to listen to the mainstream media and just…get over it…

Or will I?

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“If you’re in trouble or hurt or need–go to poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help–the only ones.” – John Steinbeck, ‘The Grapes of Wrath’

See? I’m not alone in my belief that the higher one looks on the economic scale, the LOWER the moral standards of the people one finds there. Over time, I noticed a pattern and then developed a rule-of-thumb I call the ‘Third Generation Rule.’ (Yes, there ARE exceptions. That’s why it’s a rule-of-thumb and not an axiom.) It goes like this:

The first generation of the process is the person who amasses the wealth in the first place. This is often accomplished before the person has kids of their own and that’s the cleanest model for measuring but, occasionally, there are people who get rich later in life. The reason it’s important is this: THAT person usually has worked in their lifetime. They know the value of a dollar and they understand hard work. (Often, it’s someone else’s hard work they’ve exploited but still, they had to get their own hands a bit dirty.)

The first generation tries to instill that appreciation for hard work in their own offspring, the second generation. They try. But because the first generation struggled so mightily, they tend to make life easier for the second generation – while STILL trying to instill the qualities and attributes that came from the struggle. At some point, the second generation realizes they’re being asked to work as little more than a test of some kind. Generally, they vow they won’t do that to THEIR kids. And, usually, they don’t.

The third generation comes up pampered and sheltered and showered with their every desire. NOTHING in life is difficult for them because they have the money to buy themselves out of most situations and they’re surrounded by people who watch out for them. It looks like a pretty sweet life, doing only what you want, when you want. The thing is, it lacks challenge and without challenge there is no character. No, that’s not just MY opinion. Here:

“Not only so, but we^[b] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Romans 5:3)

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened…” Helen Keller

“Nothing is harder to direct than a man in prosperity; nothing more easily managed than one in adversity” Plutarch

“Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant.” Horace

Many years ago, we started hearing Republicans in Congress suggesting that if we want the best people in Congress, we have to pay competitive wages with the private sector – and Congress started raising their own pay. A LOT. Since that started, the quality of the people in Washington has gone down. A LOT! It’s the Willie Sutton thing.

Yeah, you know the story. A bank robber named Willie Sutton was asked by reporter Mitch Ohnstad why he (Sutton) robbed banks. Sutton replied, “Because that’s where the money is.” He didn’t HAVE to add, “Duh!” It was implied. As salaries went up in Congress, it became a choice opportunity for poorly developed people to get in there and get their beaks wet, as the saying goes. Criminals go to where the money is.

After a time one begins to realize that the people we glorify for their wealth are not the best among us. In fact, generally speaking, they’re usually the worst. Only a person of limited character could do the kinds of things necessary to gain that kind of wealth. At it’s worst, people used to BUY human beings, work them – literally – to death, then just…buy more and put THEM to work. Those are NOT moral people and we would be fools to pretend it wouldn’t still happen if it was possible. Outside of entertainment, one very rarely hears of someone becoming wealthy through completely honest and honorable means.

The Kennedy’s, for example, supposedly got their wealth running moonshine during prohibition – a criminal enterprise. Granddaddy Drumpf got rich through human trafficking. He ran prostitutes – often women who didn’t want to be prostitutes. Granddaddy Bush got rich selling Zyklon B gas to the Nazis during WWII. (His company was convicted and fined.) One sees it over and over and over again. It’s almost stunning in it’s predictability.

But the movement to get as many wealthy people into government as possible has been going on for some time now. Our Congress has gone from solidly middle class to all rich, all the time and the quality of that government has been in steady decline ever since. Consider, our first Congress got paid only eight dollars a day and set up the entire nation. Today, Congress critters start at $174,000 a year and can barely keep the government open. By and large, they’re a sad and useless lot.

This most recent “election” has put the dot at the end of the sentence. We’re about to be ruled by some of the worst, least developed human beings in history. Hey, did you know? That has a name: Kakistocracy – and we’re about to live in one! Kakistocracy is “Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens” or “Government by the worst men.”

I’ll tell you this: It’s going to be a very rough ride for those of us who still believe in ethics and decency…