• Capitalism,  Economic Equality (A Goal),  Friends,  Human Evolution,  Justice, the Human Construct,  Psychology of Life

    Victims and Victimization: the Difference

    October 26, 2025

    I recently had a spirited discussion with my male friend, who stated that he thought that people are being victims “many people are living from a disposition of being a victim.” “They go to the notion that they are being oppressed somehow, even when they are not.”

    I believe that this is true. It is easy to develop a victim mindset within American Culture. “Martin Seligman’s research “learned helplessness” is strongly related, showing that experiencing a series of uncontrollable negative shocks can lead to a passive, “victim” mindset.” Quoting Google with research attached.

    I thought we were heading towards one of our interesting debates that reflected some of the information included in this research. 

    Photo by Ann on Unsplash “Spirited Discussion”

    We did not have that conversation. What I recognized instead was an idea that those that see themselves as victims should receive legal consequences when their behavior became reckless. I perceived that point of view as an attack. That’s because I feel victimized by my culture. I am a woman who has suffered many consequences put in place because of my gender. I don’t want anyone from outside punishing me for my point of view. I missed his point which is that, when your victim mentality makes you a vandal, you should be prosecuted for your actions. This is a good point. However,

    My thinking is negative in that, I watched the Capitol 1/6/21 insurrection and the consequence to the criminals who perpetrated it, which was very little, because of the commutation of sentences by DJT.

    I am back to zero and instead of seeing a judicial consequence for victims, I see chaos until our world is righted from these wrongs committed by our highest trusted and elected officials.

    Define victim? After the Vietnam war thousands of Officers in the Armed Forces were RIFed (meaning a reduction in force which led to being terminate/fired). To a man, every single one I met, quit filing their income taxes or cheated on their income taxes. Not one of them ever trusted the Federal government again. 

    Photo by Ann on Unsplash “Everything about it was wrong except the Soldiers“

    In retrospect, I am ashamed of what I said to him. “Your birth family was professional at victimization – you recognize it but are blind to other things.” Of course, he was angry with me. That’s one side, and it is a valid one, the other side is that if you want to have a scholarly opinion about something, you better damn well plumb the depths of your soul so that you can speak about the concept fairly. Otherwise, you are just Stephen Miller on steroids, out there amplifying the conversation of “others do not have the privilege and rights that I enjoy and I must destroy anyone who doesn’t agree with my personal opinion.”

    Back to the concepts of victimization and victims. The victim mindset is pervasive in our culture, but that is because our culture is especially mean to those who live below the middle class. We allow them to suffer the most and pay the most for the privilege of America. No one missed the story of Warren Buffet who paid less in taxes than his secretary. No one misses the brutality of ICE in the headlines today. Anyone who believes that the brutality of ICE is a new phenomenon, think again. This brutality is pervasive in the blue culture of policing in America.

    If you have ever worked in an office environment you are acquainted with the egos of any supervisor. People who use their positions to lay blame and shame to subordinates, it’s the American Way. Anyone who says different has never worked more than one job.

    Photo by Jack B on Unsplash “We’re Drowning Here“

    We don’t have family leave, we don’t have vacations, we don’t have housing, we don’t have any number of things that would allow Americans to build a family with happiness.

    But to my friend’s point. You can be victimized, you can even be a victim, but you cannot violently torture others with your own personal torture. To my friend’s point, downtown Portland is effectively closed down because vandals keep causing massive property damage. My friend is angry and wants the vandals prosecuted and sees this issue as a DOJ problem. I do not. Fixing this issue externally with jail time will only increase the vandal’s victim mindset of being persecuted.

    I don’t see an external fix to this internal problem. If you have been victimized, you do not have to have a victim mindset, you can break through to a different and better reality.

    But fixing victimization in our culture is amazingly complex and requires a focus on Americans and away from elected officials, their collective egos, war and personal aggrandizement at the cost of the most vulnerable. In other words our social structure gives all to the winners and nothing to those who serve them.

    Americans are being victimized, and they are the victims – mindset or not.

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  • Decision Making,  Justice, the Human Construct,  Psychology of Life,  Supreme Court,  Womens Issues

    She Unleashed the Wolves and Women Died

    September 8, 2025

    Photo by Waldemar on Unsplash

    I’ve just watched an interview on Sunday Morning with Amy Coney Barrett. I am a trained counselor who has spent thousands of hours listening to patients justify their actions. We justify in order to hang onto our beliefs about ourselves. In other words, if I’m a good daughter, I won’t yell at mama. So, if I do yell at mama, I have to produce a justification. Particularly mean people spend a lot of time justifying themselves. You’ll find it by the boatload with domestic abusers. They must find a way to show the world that they are good people, so they spend most of their time telling the world how it was the victim’s actions that forced them to act cruelly.

    That’s what Amy Coney Barrett is doing. She has seen the results of her vote regarding Dobbs and she needs to tell us why, because she is a good person. Her entire book is dedicated to self justification. The truth is she unleashed the dogs. As a self proclaimed defender of women, she has instead become a part of the legions of humans who harm women.

    Of course, it’s not her fault. She was returning a piece of legislation to the states. So she says. Again, she unleashed the wolves.

    I’m exhausted with human posturing. Amy Coney Barrett you are the same as this:  I’m a good person, I just had to sell drugs to survive.

    She has a lot to justify, she has harmed America’s women more than can be counted.

    Dobbs: “those are issues inherent in medical practice”  The courts say “those calls are left to the democratic process”, again she unleashed the dogs. May the pain and anguish of a million women follow the Supreme Court to their graves.

    The other question she didn’t answer this morning is her thoughts about the judicial branch being a check on the executive branch. She denies this simple fact, stating that it’s not up to her to monitor the presidency.

    Regarding Trump overreaching the office of the president with illegal tariffs: “ it’s not our job to survey and decide whether the current occupant… in this particular moment to form a political view” That’s the job of journalists that’s the job of other politicians and the people.” It sounds like the tagline for this entire Supreme Court.

    Excuse me, if what you say is correct, then the teachings of the entire national American school system, is wrong. The judicial and legislative branch are designed to be a check on the Executive branch and Ms. Barrett, you are not doing your job.

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  • Capitalism,  Congress,  Democrats,  Politics,  World Affairs

    Energy and Power Costs will Triple in the Next 5 Years

    August 21, 2025

    Are you currently paying $150 per month for electricity? Prepare yourself to pay $450 per month. The sad fact about our president is that he is a conman and a grifter, but that’s not unusual in the United States. That truth leaves him ignorant in so many areas. This is the land where senators and congressmen alike have sold out all Americans to capitalism, often ignorant of the consequences of their actions. But I digress…

    There are three factors that are creating a perfect storm in the bid for electricity and energy.

    JB Collection

    1. AI is in a race currently using almost 5% of all U.S. electricity.

    2. Trump has sold our available and unavailable energy, (example liquified natural gas LNG) to the European union.

    3. Trump and his team have shut down alternative sources of energy. Under review is windmill sourced energy.

    Let’s talk about why 2 and 3 are occurring.

    Trump’s rush to win the Tariff war had him signing a deal with Europe. And America can’t fulfil the deal without serious changes to our capacity in the oil and gas industries. This will make Europe a serious competitor of the American people trying to heat or cool their homes.

    Trump (as is the Congress) is invested in all of the old ways to produce energy: oil, gas and coal. While those industries pay off our elected officials, they are now working hard to ensure that they have no competition. Wind and sun energy are huge competitors of the old guard. While the new industries are working hard to get senate and congressional support for their products, it is very difficult if not impossible in Trump’s administration. We don’t know why except to comment that oil has always been a friend of Trump’s. Rex Tillerson, former CEO of ExxonMobil served as Trump’s Secretary of State during his first term. Chris Wright, another CEO in the oil and gas industry is the current Secretary of Energy.

    Ironically, some of the top producers of wind energy are red states that received substantial grants from the Biden administration to scale up their industries. According to Climate News, a new bill passed by our congress, “reduced or eliminated many of the tax incentives offered to renewable energy projects.”

    Now we circle back to item #1 which is AI. If you don’t realize it, let me tell you that AI is out of control. No legislation has been effectively implemented. If the current usage is 5% of energy consumption nationally with an increase to at least 12% by 2030, how will Mr. & Mrs. Smith compete? How will the town of Podunk, USA compete?

    There is no comprehensive Federal law governing AI or data centers in the United States. There are some environmental protections setup regarding data centers that are not often enforced.

    Americans, please consider your plan if your electricity costs double and then triple? Will you address Congress, will you assemble and march on Washington? It’s worth thinking about and it’s worth making a plan, because it’s coming.

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  • Capitalism,  Congress,  Democrats,  Health Care,  Republicans

    An Open Letter to Democratic “Leadership” Please just stop, just stop. Your relentless need for just 3 more dollars is falling on deaf ears.

    August 20, 2025

    You are not – in any way – doing anything for the American people

    First, I did NOT give you permission to bombard my phone. How dare you? I am so sick of your daily pleas for money, it’s become disgusting.

    I don’t respect you, I don’t respect the job you are doing and I won’t be donating any more.

    I send monthly checks to AOC and Bernie Sanders along with EarthJustice, and for each donation I receive twenty texts from you – Democrats – asking for more.

    AOC and Bernie register as Democrats, but they are much greater than Democrats. They are humans fighting for freedom, sacrificing for the common good and making sure that there is a goal. They have goals that I appreciate like Universal Healthcare. You see, because I am sick. So, every time there is a change in healthcare policy at the national legislative level, I immediately know and oftentimes I know because of my checking account. Almost always it costs me more money.

    The Republicans have punished my household nonstop for decades. They are legislating my household into poverty. How you ask? Because I am sick and disabled. I am now retired, but I have been on disability payments since 2018.

    I am keenly aware of what the various legislations are doing to my household. But I digress.

    Stop texting me! Stop pretending like you have a party, you don’t. If all your leadership can produce is a “strongly worded letter”, then you are doomed.

    I won’t follow Democrats, even though I am a registered Democrat. I am in the party of the people – whatever that is.

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  • Baby Boomers,  Capitalism,  Congress,  Medicare,  Politics,  Psychology of Life

    Vaccinations are about to be “Hard to Get”

    July 19, 2025

    Between 2020 and 2023, the COVID-19 pandemic claimed the lives of 941,425 Americans over the age of 65. These deaths were not part of the expected mortality rates — they were above and beyond what we would normally see in this age group.

    Each of these individuals was a parent, a grandparent, a neighbor, a friend. The emotional toll on families and communities is immeasurable. But there’s another side of this tragedy that isn’t often discussed — the financial impact on Social Security.

    The average monthly Social Security benefit for a retiree is approximately $1,999.97. Multiply that by the number of seniors we lost, and you arrive at a shocking figure: $1.89 billion less paid out every month. That’s a total reduction of $22.7 billion per year in Social Security disbursements. These savings are not the result of policy or reform — they’re the result of mass loss of life.

    And yet, even with these reduced outlays, we’re repeatedly told that Social Security is on the brink of collapse. While we must take the long-term health of the program seriously, it’s important to question the narrative that Social Security is irreparably broken. Recent years have brought unexpected relief to the system, albeit at a devastating human cost.

    We can’t exaggerate the importance of the covid vaccine in ending this awful pandemic.

    Concerning is the growing political opposition to vaccines. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the current United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, has repeatedly voiced distrust of vaccines, including those that have saved millions of lives during the pandemic.

    This raises an urgent question: What happens if someone like RFK Jr. who has been given this office enacts policy based on personal vaccine skepticism? Medicare decides which vaccines to pay for primarily based on recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). RFK Jr. has replaced this Advisory Committee with the vaccine skeptical.

    Here’s one possible outcome: Medicare and Medicaid could stop paying for vaccines, making them inaccessible to the very people who need them most. In my own town, a flu shot costs $135 if you purchase out of pocket. Many seniors and low-income families simply cannot afford that. Vaccination has never just been a personal choice — it’s a public health strategy. And policy decisions that undermine access could result in more preventable deaths, more strain on our healthcare system, and more unnecessary grief.

    We must be able to talk about difficult truths. The Social Security system is not untouched by the pandemic — it has benefited financially from the loss of its recipients. And the future health of our elderly population is under threat if vaccine access is politicized or stripped away. But it’s not just the elderly, it’s anyone who benefits from protection from diseases, dangerous diseases that can cost you your life.

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  • Decision Making,  Psychology of Life,  Womens Issues

    My Darling Woman

    July 18, 2025

    Woman is ready for her wedding.
    JB Collection

    You don’t have to ask if it’s okay to protect your wealth against a “philandering or spendthrift husband”.

    You don’t have to ask for advice about “should you” leave an abusive boyfriend.

    You don’t have to pretend that your child doesn’t know that your husband: uses drugs, cheats, beats you or verbally abuses you, or all of the above. Your child knows it all, trust me, your child knows what happens at home.

    My darling woman, you don’t have to hope that life will get better. You can make it better with different decisions.

    Young woman holds a red-headed toddler.
    JB Collection

    You don’t have to think that you could do better unless you really can do better. Only you know that, no one else knows that. You are the one who determines whether you do well or not.

    You do not have to hear another’s judgment and take it as your own. You don’t, judgment is not real, it is just another’s thoughts. Leave it at that. It’s just someone else’s thoughts.

    My darling woman, you are powerful, strong and beautiful. You don’t need manmade accoutrements to prove that, at all. No amount of hair styling, make up and perfect clothing makes you better.

    Who you are is not the subject of another’s thinking, it is the subject of your own thinking.

    My darling woman, do for yourself what no one has done for you in quite some time. Give yourself compassion. That means to reach out and express love and understanding for yourself.

    Young blond woman kisses a tow headed toddler.
    JB Collection

    Act on your compassion: have a cookie and take a nap.

    My darling woman, you are all you need. Don’t be afraid of loneliness, instead be afraid of never making your own decisions to live your own life.

    Women

    Empowerment

    Decision Making

    Life Decisions

    Decisions

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  • Human Evolution,  Justice, the Human Construct,  Philosophy,  Politics,  World Affairs

    How Do I Justify Harming Behavior?

    July 10, 2025

    Part of my job, for at least 25 years, was instruction and training about my profession. As a Certified Addiction Professional (CAP), my work was to educate staff, patients and the public.

    My organization had a contract with the Department of Corrections (DOC). Each Spring our residential program patients spent an entire day with instructors learning about integrity, addictions and living in the world as a sober person.

    For whatever reason, that Spring, my staff (from the outpatient program) and I were dealing with a lot of victims of violence, both domestic and public. Domestic violence was on my mind.

    The DOC in-patient program asked me to come and present to their program. I didn’t realize that this DOC program was 100% male. My presentation was on how to stop violence in your lives, either as a victim or as a perpetrator. As the patients got involved in the discussion, we got into this idea about large people hitting people that are smaller than they are. I expressed an opinion that in general, it is a situation that should be avoided. Large people have no business hitting and pushing smaller people. We then talked about the concept of anger and whether or not anger was a reason and justification to push violence on another person.

    As one, this crowd of approximately 100 men, shut down. They were done with my instruction regardless of whether I was done with my instruction. To this day, I don’t know what the trigger was. I assume it was the concept that our feelings (anger) had to be separated from our actions (violence). I was never invited back to the all day in-service. I must point out that the program managers were also male.

    WOKANDAPIX on Pixabay

    I have been thinking hard about this incident as I watch ICE agents harshly and violently push and hurt people who are much smaller than they are. ICE agents do not appear to have remorse for their own violent behavior.

    ICE agents are having a conversation with themselves that gives them a reason to be hurtful and to inflict pain and anguish on others. Sometimes, I wonder what this conversation is? I am talking to myself and I have to justify my behavior, what do I say to myself? “These brown people are criminals and blood suckers.” “These people steal from the economy and that money comes directly from me, I’m getting rid of them!” Or do they go with the white supremist story: “I’m so much better than a brown person, get rid of these people, they belong on the bottom of the pile anyway.” In the face of your own violence, do you tell yourself that you are still a good person? Do you say “this is a job, I’m not responsible for what happens to the brown people?” Or even worse is the objectification of these humans, perhaps you decide that they aren’t really humans, you call them something else. This is another way to justify hurting humans.

    What do you say to make it okay to hurt, maim or kill another human being? I’m not talking about war here. I’m talking about storming into someone’s home, declaring that person a criminal and then beating back their wife and children. Then comes the transport of the immigrant “criminal” and the housing in horrible conditions. As a human being, how are you okay with putting another person in inhumane conditions without at least allowing that person to speak for themselves in front of a judge?

    Again, the concept that feelings are not justification for actions. Violence and hurting other human beings is never okay. Please don’t tell me that war has always been around and so therefore will always be around. I don’t believe that. For tens of thousands of years humans did not brush their hair or bathe. That changed. Violence can go the way of the filthy human. That means to disappear into the ether.

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  • Human Evolution,  Love and Relationships,  Personal Growth,  Philosophy,  Self Responsibility

    Beliefs, Thoughts, Feelings

    April 16, 2025

    A friend and I were discussing that “thoughts create experiences” statement. My friend loves “The Secret” and works hard on a daily basis to keep his thoughts positive and upbeat. My friend says “feelings always create thoughts” and I keep arguing, no “thoughts create feelings”.

    My belief is that it’s a circle, that is very serious business for how anyone experiences life. Belief is the operative word here. Because before thoughts, you have the beliefs. Research tells us that we will dismiss any thoughts or experiences that don’t align with personal beliefs. That means that no matter what is put before us we stay on one track.

    Note: That is a reason for college and continued education. When in college you can’t help but come into contact with varying belief systems that do not align with your own. At that age, we can be open to those differing beliefs and develop flexibility that can serve us in the future.

    Belief systems are ways that humans create feelings of security. Beliefs are thoughts that can be counted on. If a belief is supported by life then the belief and the structure created by the belief is congruent. If life does not support the belief and the structure then flexibility can allow for productive change and an adjustment to the beliefs. This will allow continued happiness. Inflexibility is a structure that creates frustration and anguish. Just talk with any couple who believes in marriage and yet finds themselves in the unbelievable struggle called divorce.

    The circle is belief, thought, feeling, experience, belief, thought, feeling and experience. Belief creates the thinking and the feeling and the belief will always create thinking and feeling that aligns with itself. Beliefs are like pigs eating at a trough, don’t get in the way and don’t try to make them stop. It is only when disaster strikes that beliefs will open to examination.

    A friend of mine was telling me about her and her daughter’s conversations with an attorney. My friend’s daughter was stuck in another state because she had a child with a man who lived in that state. The laws are quite clear about leaving the state with a child without the parent’s permission.

     On their last phone call with the attorney, my friend heard quite clearly from the attorney “since he is not paying child support, nor seeing the child regularly, we can definitely see a way to argue within the court that the child will be better off if the mother is allowed to move home.” When her and her daughter consulted each other after the phone call, her daughter told her, “I told you mom, there is no way that I can move home, I simply won’t ever be able to leave this state until my son is 18.” My friend was so surprised that she could barely breathe. What she realized was that her daughter did not want to come home, she believed that she was better off where she was. Her daughter’s belief allowed her to hear exactly what she needed to hear to reinforce her belief and that was all. It could have been vice versa and my friend only heard what she wanted to hear, but the point of the story is that the belief creates the thinking and the experience. Both women were hurt and upset by the conversations.

    The most important point of the entire discussion is that we learn how to discern a belief within our thinking. Learning how to tell the difference between thinking the same old things and seeing something new is a critical skill for adulting. We need to know when we are clinging to something that no longer exists (a marriage, or a job). We need to know when we can’t see the truth about a person who is important to us. We need to get out of our own way and recognize the blind spots.

    Perhaps you know someone who lives in denial of a life situation. Is it frustrating for you? Your best friend’s husband is cheating and she won’t see it because he has always been so wonderful. The esteemed doctor is coming to work with alcohol on his breath and is making mistakes in diagnosing and treating. You don’t want to stop believing that the doctor is a good doctor, so you let him go on making awful mistakes, perhaps until it hurts someone.

    We want our belief structures, and that’s okay. We just have to learn to call them what they are: beliefs, not facts.

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  • Baby Boomers,  It is What it is...,  Personal Growth,  Psychology of Life,  Self Responsibility

    How to quit spending money on clothes you don’t need and probably don’t want: Ignore your Aspirational Self

    March 26, 2025

    As a member of some wardrobe and consumerism threads on Reddit, I have begun to see this term often: my aspirational self. It took a long time for the idea to sink into my psyche.

    An aspirational self is someone I’d like to be, I’m not quite there yet. The truth, I may not ever be that self. In some cases, it’s ridiculous to think that I’ll ever be my aspirational self.

    It’s a concept that I have discussed with hubby before. Not realizing what it was. Most of my clothes are from LLBean, which is a clothing store dedicated to the outside. Their tag line is “be an outsider”. They often print “bring the outside in” on their materials. Hubby wants to know why I shop there. I am not able to spend much time outside. I’m in my 60s and I’m disabled. Me spending time outside is aspirational thinking. I am not a rugged individual who will go on a hike.

    Photo by Charlota Blunarova on Unsplash

    This spring I am going through lots of things in my house, it’s a spring cleaning.

    I keep running across my aspirational self. These items have never been worn or never been used (it’s not the LLBean clothes, I do use them).

    When I make the purchase, I really believe in it, I’m thrilled to receive it, but then it doesn’t turn out. Part of the reason is the vast experimentation that online shopping is, but most of the time the reason is that aspirational self who wants to be someone that I am not.

    I’ve left behind many identities in my life and for some reason, I can’t seem to pick up and define a new one. One of the reasons I find it so difficult is what is left for me? I have been a successful manager, I was a therapist for many years, I was a director of finance. As a young woman I was attractive and received a lot of attention because I was beautiful. I dressed up often and turned heads when I did.

    Always I see myself as lithe and put together. I reasoned that because I cared about my appearance that I was managing my identity well. Successful and attractive businesswoman.

    I want to continue receiving the respect and the care that I was given when I was in my business persona. I want to be glamorous and well done.

    But why? That’s all done now and I can’t seem to get over it.

    Who am I now? Crazy old lady? Gramma with an attitude? Fun and casual blog writer? I’m not even lithe anymore and really haven’t been for a long time. I worked hard to get through the disability part. But, here I am not wanting to put away the aspirational me!

    The clothes, the purses, even the jewelry, for what? I’m not going anywhere. I’m not finished with life, but the young, attractive dressed up me is gone. I’ve accomplished much and now it’s time to enjoy. But I still can’t let the beautiful clothes and all of the accoutrements that go along with them, I can’t let them go. I love scarves and dangling earrings and handbags and pretty dresses. Of course I also like t-shirts and shorts, slacks and sweaters. But it’s the pretty stuff that’s fun and gratifying.

    Like learning and accepting my disability, I must learn and accept my current status and life circumstances. I’ve always prided myself on authenticity and here I am trying to be something else, something that I am not.

    Here is the deal, I have to quit buying things that fit into the category of what I wish to be. I’m not professional, I’m not working. I’m not lithe. I can’t go on a hike. I don’t have an occasion for a cocktail party. The cocktail get-togethers that I go to, I wear a t-shirt, shorts and sandals. No one wears cocktail rings at these get-togethers. We all go casual.

    I’ve been spending too much money on some things and someone who doesn’t exist. I’ve got to stop now.

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  • Baby Boomers,  Capitalism,  Congress,  Economic Equality (A Goal),  Psychology of Life,  Speaking as a Parent,  World Affairs

    Young Person, Why do you Dismiss the Old?

    February 12, 2025

    I don’t understand how you think, when you think that I don’t understand the current life of the world?

    You’ve dismissed me based on what?

    I personally saw all of the things that have created the life that we have in America right now.

    I stood completely still (and I was only four) when the announcement came on TV that President Kennedy had been assassinated. Everyone that was alive at that moment in time knew that life in America had changed, and everyone cried about it.

    History in Hand 1142891 Unsplash

    I glared angrily at the tv while Nixon denied his contribution to Watergate. Even though I was still a kid at home, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was lying, and I have no idea how I knew.

    As a teenager, I wandered across the country with my toddler sons. We were able to visit and live in different climates and different thinking styles. I wanted to go to college, I have no idea where that desire came from, but it’s what I wanted. We moved to California in 1977 because junior college was free. I worked two jobs and it still wasn’t enough. I was a teenager and there was no way that I was going to be able to support myself and my sons on my own. Economic reality, that is all. I could give you all the details, like finding care for the boys while working eighty hours a week, but it doesn’t matter. Everyone understands how real this fact is, even today. A teenage mother cannot support herself and children on her own, no matter how hard she tries.

    Marriage and a business was next in my life. The business taught me so much about everything that you can count. I was an accountant back in the days of pencils. I went to a bookkeeping class (back in ’74) which helped me so much during this next life chapter. I had to know how to manage money because that’s not what my husband (and business partner) knew how to do.

    History Lesson Over

    My children, my grandchildren, why aren’t you taking advantage of this wealth of information? I can do taxes, upside down and standing on my head and yet you would never ask me a question about taxes. Why not?

    Unfortunately, the eighties and the nineties were all about being rich and so that is what my children absorbed. They loved all of being rich and never understood the costs of wealth or how it needed to be managed. There is a thinking today that is strictly capitalistic, and it says wealth at any cost.

    Nothing I could do or say could change any of that. My kids want to be rich. There is an attitude of blame leveled at me because I didn’t achieve wealth. How could I be middle class? Middle class was a crime.

    In spite of this, I wonder why my kids would think that I am clueless and that I don’t understand the politics of today. Why is that the thinking of the young? Old people are dumb? How could a smart person come to that conclusion? Because it’s the era, the culture of America today.

    Culture is King

    And that’s my next question, why do people fall for a pretty presentation hook, line and sinker without a thorough investigation? How come young people don’t know the difference between facts and fiction? Why are we looking at pretty pictures and not seeing the truth? And finally, why Trump?

    I can see that from a young person’s viewpoint, disruption is the goal. Who we elected into office have not helped the American people. In fact, it seems the senators and congresspeople have, instead, merely used their congressional seats to enrich themselves.

    They make the laws and based on their own legislation they can take money from a donor and then make a law specifically for that donor. A good example of this practice is pharmaceutical companies. Pharmaceutical companies rape people who need medication, and they allow poor people to die because of poverty. That’s because congress has made laws protecting pharmaceutical companies, protecting their ability to make money.

    From a young person’s perspective, we have failed. As adults we have created a world that is terribly wrong. The problem is that young people do not know what the problem is. They and their mentor Trump, are like bulls in a China shop, disrupting everything that is in front of them. We know what is wrong! But no one is listening.

    We are here trying to talk with young people about what is wrong. But no one is listening.

    We have proof that Trump is only enriching himself and NOT helping Americans. But no one is listening.

    Three Americans own more wealth than the bottom fifty percent of American people. No one is listening.

    I wish we could talk. But no one is listening.

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