Write a commentDo you wake up some mornings saying to yourself, “What the heck is going on around me?” Or maybe it’s, “How did we get here?”
People far smarter than me have all kinds of reasons why we are experiencing the attack on our Democracy. In fact, it seems everybody has an opinion. It gets pretty confusing, doesn’t it?
Myself? Well, two words keep shouting out to me loud and clear: Complacent and Complicit. See if this makes sense to you. Complacent behavior refers to being self-satisfied, often to the point of unawareness of potential dangers. Complicit behavior means being involved in or contributing to a wrongdoing, often in a way that helps someone else commit a crime or unethical act.
Now, I have to admit, the last four years with President Biden sitting in the Oval Office was a time when I became increasingly complacent. It just felt so good not having to wake up every day with a constant barrage of lawsuits, impeachment hearings, and embarrassing behavior on the part of Donald Trump. And the accomplishments during Biden’s term, for me, were positive and focused on fixing things that had long been ignored, and making government more responsive to more people, not just the few.
Now here we are back having to wake up every single day to even worse news. And that certainly smacks of the increased complicity inside the Trump regime and Congress this second time around. The administration is now full of complicit cabinet members who “kiss the ring” in everything they do. And along with that, we have elected government officials in the House and Senate who just go along with anything and everything DJT tells them to do. Take for instance, Congresswoman Tenney. Her voting record is very clear. Check it out! She sponsored bills to defund NPR and PBS and to make DJT’s birthday a national holiday.
So, what do we do to counter the present carnage of this complicit Trump 2nd term? Destroying something is never fixing something. If you have a two-hundred-year-old Maple tree in your back yard that has some needing trimming, some fertilizer, and a little more sun shine, you don’t chop it down thinking that it is going to MTGA (Make Tree Great Again). Destroying something is just that…destroying it!
For the past three months, a grassroots community action group, Indivisible Oswego County (indivisibleOC.com), has been meeting with folks in and around Oswego County, holding rallies and meetings of support. And, not surprisingly, the numbers of folks attending continues to increase. And unlike what some would like you to believe, EVERYONE who attends is a resident of Oswego County with a few friends from Wayne, Onondaga, and Cayuga mixed in. There are no “outside paid far left-wing operatives” being paid to attend. All 380 people who attended the recent Town Hall were legit. Funny thing! Contrary to recent false accusations, those folks at the Bridge Rallies who have been accused of being paid, have yet to see their checks.
So, if you are confused, worried, feeling down, helpless, and most importantly wanting to do something to help yourselves while helping our county, come to an IOC activity. Listen, speak up, and feel better. Our next Community Meeting will be Saturday, May 10th. at Trinity United Methodist, 43 E. Utica St. Oswego, NY from 1pm-3pm. All are welcome. Please, do it for yourself! And bring a friend!
-Paul McKinney
