Bluebell
I am sorry for your loss and hope this helps.
Obama's grandmother died the day before he was elected. I knew she died then to help him win.
Your mother died during that week to let you know she went to the other side to help all of us and especially the children. There is so much power coming from the other side and she joined it. The stronger they are over there, the stronger it makes us over here. Even death is not in vain.
Natalie -
Here are my thoughts. I believe that the US is cursed. I believe that it was built upon a foundation of evil beginning with the genocides of the people indigenous to this continent in the 1400s and continuing right through our [First?] Civil War. Yes the Founders were men of the Enlightenment, they were intelligent and I do think that they were as well intentioned as it was possible for them to be given the world they were living in. They were more evolved, yes, but apparently not enough. I really believe that the actual land itself can be cursed and I think that some of the Native Americans may have cursed the lands they were driven off of (and I also think some of that boomeranged back on them, and that is why they never succeeded in taking anything back). I think slaves cursed the lands they had to work, and the slave owner, traders, trackers, etc., and all their descendants. If you want another example of a country that I think is similarly cursed, look at Haiti.
The Founding generations could have done things differently, but they clung to old Christian beliefs that are rooted in other evils like the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition. The Puritans who came here viewed the natives as animals, incapable of "receiving the salvation of Christ". So while we in the US are taught in grade school that the Puritans came here seeking "religious freedom", that's not the entire truth. They felt compelled not only to escape their own persecution, but to "bring the Kingdom of God throughout the Earth", by any means necessary. This twisted form of Christianity is what is prevailing today. The Evangelical Right is truly evil, but to their minds they are doing God's work. A lot of what they are reacting to are the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act of the 1960s. They crave revenge. They are also a cult of death, much like ISIS. They WANT to bring the apocalypse because they think that God will come down and rapture them up to a "better place". They think more of their afterlife than their current life. This is why they are so callous and bigoted. While I can say that yes, we should all send them light, I doubt it will matter. This kind of evil is like a cancer - left untreated it kills the host.
A book I recommend reading is "The Wordy Shipmates" by Sarah Vowell. It really is thought provoking and informative and gives good context to what was going on back around the time of the founding of the colonies while dispelling common myths. To modern evangelicals, they want "the shining city on the hill", which is an oft-used quote that dates back to the colonial period but originated in the Bible.
Today I am at my wit's end with all this. I am arguing with my husband (whose ancestors escaped both Cossacks and Nazis). He says he will know when to run, and I want that to be sooner rather than later. After today's SCOTUS decisions I am thinking that the Trump lawsuit against California is going to end up decided for Trump. I don't want to live in a country like that. We're middle aged, so it will be tough, but I'm trying to convince my husband to look at the entrepreneur/investor route for Canadian residency (maybe you have a sofabed, Natalie? lol). I also keep feeling I will need to defend myself in a big way in the next couple of years, so I'm looking for a gun shop/range to learn how to shoot properly and get a large gun that I can handle safely, in case. And to those who advised me previously - I have re-stocked and repacked emergency items, and the majority are in a large "go box" tub right in my dining room (no space by the front door).
It's only 11am here... and I need a cocktail already...
Wow..... thank you Laura. You've said in so many words what I have believed for a long time. There are places I've been to that I would describe as being either cursed or having a very negative vibe. There are people like that too. You are right about America, but it is not only America. Every colonial country from Canada to Australia has to varying degrees of brutality done similar things. It may be true that America has done the most harm, but are all the other colonial countries off the hook or are they cursed too? I don't see Canada devolving into tyranny, but I can easily see a peaceful de federalization happening. Whatever happens I think up there life is safe and I would like to return very very much.
I am not middle aged but I married an American man two years ago and I feel that he is in deep denial about what's going on. Inside I'm screaming at the situation and he's still convinced things will work out, the institutions will save us. It's a character weakness I have a hard time dealing with. He won't leave and it's tearing me apart inside. As a Canadian citizen I can leave whenever I want, so can all my blood relatives in this country for the same reason. But my husband won't leave and I won't leave him so I'm stuck. At least we live in liberal Cambridge Massachusetts where most people think like us, but I just really wonder about the long term.
If I had a foreign couch I'd give it to you, unfortunately I only have an American couch at the moment.
Thanks, Natalie, I accept your imaginary Canadian couch with gratitude. ?
Yes, many Americans are in denial, my husband included (although he admits to feeling ashamed when he travels abroad on business). People are counting on "institutions" to save the system, they refuse to see that those institutions are being destroyed one by one.
I agree that other countries are cursed as well, but I think that sometimes amends can be made and wrongs undone and perhaps ameliorate the bad historical karma, if that makes sense. I don't see that ever happening here. We're only 5 generations past slavery, and there is still oppression and no reparations.
❤️ ? ❤️ ? ❤️
Canada has committed many crimes against the indigenous peoples, and reparations are beginning to be made. Official apologies have been made by the federal government and an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women has been started. All this is good, but nowhere near enough to what needs to be done for true healing. Hopefully one day the effort will be made to really heal, at the moment I can only pray.
America however is in deep denial, I think that may end up being it's undoing - the curse of denial.
The current state of the educational system in the US is the result of a half century plus of whittling away at it from the far right. It started with desegregation. This is all for spite.
I tried to read the Midterms today using the Tarot. There are 19 weeks to go. I closed my eyes and counted 19 weeks ahead to the Wednesday after the Midterms, to see what card would appear. I did it twice, randomly pulling cards from the Thoth deck. Both times I got the same card for Nov 7 -- the Devil card (15th Trump). In the Thoth deck the devil is Pan the goat god staring hard at you deadpan, with a wry half smile. He seems to be saying to all soft hearted progressives, "You think you are going to win? Think again. You have no idea what you are dealing with." The card also shows an erect phallus in the background, as if to say this is patriarchal male power at its toughest.
Also Putin is involved. I feel he has the means to hack key races. The races will be fierce. Without interference, there would be a blue wave in both house. But with all the voter suppression and election hacking, I continue to sense a Red majority in the Senate and a close outcome in the House.
As for the coming fascist wave that Zoron describes, I do not yet feel threatened in New England, nor would I feel worried in New York, California or any of the blue or purple states.
As for the cruelty towards immigrants. Scanning Trump and Homeland Security, I see he is now demanding absolute secrecy above all else. They won't let people see what is going on. He was furious that a tape was smuggled out. I fear for the children because Trump wants them to disappear. He doesn't want the children to tell their stories. That's why he doesn't want to release the children. The atrocity keeps getting worse because Trump wants no witnesses. These detention centers are also lucrative military contracts. So there will be pressure to keep them going.
I feel that the money people are donating to help defend parents and reunite them with their children is a big help. The funds will put pressure on the authorities to get these children back to their parents. I don't think that donating clothes will help them, but legal defense funds are a huge help.
If the GOP wins the House at midterms, I can’t imagine my being able to deal with that. Trump already said how the Dems
think they are going to win but will get a surprise. Obviously Putin is involved and we are screwed.
Anita
There will be tremendous feelings of hopelessness but also anger and fortitude if this election result comes to pass. The timeline is still gelling. But remember what jeanne and zoron and others are saying: there is a purpose to all this and light at the end.
Think of what we are going through as childbirth: painful and agonizing but something beautiful awaits us all.