The Constitution "I Know This Much is True"

 

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States blah blah blah. The words seem now defiled, hallow, and disallowed amongst the strangle hold of a corruption paired with a disregard for truth and political norms. Without a comprehensive all-encompassing focus on corruption as the root of all this nation’s ills we can never be whole enough to continue the path set forth by our preamble; carved in stone like a beacon for the world.

Pundits, who we are altogether hearing too much of in the face of such daunting travesties and abnormalities as opposed to investigative reports and details, suggested the republican party insanity began with Newt Gingrich’s contract on America instead of the proverbial “Game Change”-r Sarah Palin. This turn toward a new era of American propaganda is ultimately an intentional distraction from corruption. It has now spawned into a conspiratorial cult, deaf to nuance and blind to responsible journalism mired in complexity without perspective focus. The cult has some in my own family and some of my old friends deep in its vice. Convinced news and facts are conspiratorial lies compared to the parade of vile propaganda trafficking in mendacity the level of which warrants a constant rebuke, censure and correction both legislative and judicial. Horrid remarks and declarations bordering sociopathic sycophantic maladies go unreported, unpunished and unaccountable! There should be more podcasts, news shows and, outlets like “bellingcat” dedicated to calling out how some of these right-wing outlets spill ignorant baseless deceptions that corrode the sensibilities at the core of the beauty of America. The American dream has been distorted and raped of its goal-oriented decency by a disgusting torrent of lies and malfeasances propping up a global network of corruption even the surface of which is barely understood. The hopes of the handful of fore fathers who understood the true mission of our democratic experiment have been abandoned.

The so-called right-wing distortion machine must be stopped at all costs nonviolently and it can only be halted with a focus on corruption. Protests boycotts and attention must be the focus of every media and political producer to right that which is wrong and to iron out justice finding true liberty with actionable measures. Rooting out both legal and more so illegal corruption must be a new area of study and intent. New Rico statues applying to politicians and lobbyists should be enacted and all money must be removed from politics; an idea that can be surprisingly simple to implement given modern technology. There is no reason our government does not supply free digital and TV access to petitioned candidates. Town halls and ads should be facilitated by the government much like important news conferences are. Political money should also be banned from all social media outlets unless they are state sponsored. While this may sound Orwellian, in a true democracy all candidates and voices within a reasonable criteria and reasonable framework should have free access. The guidelines of which can and should always be ironed out legislatively much like Thomas Paine’s vision of how congress should have worked. Just like a courtroom throws out frivolous cases without merit or evidence; so too should social media outlets ban or at least label fact less rhetoric. Congress must also ban all political content from algorithms in Social media. In other words, political content of any sort should not pop up on feeds to enhance viewership. Unless the topic is searched it should not be offered in order to corral clicks! It is obscene that this is currently allowed. Politics in short must be divorced from all commerce or commercial activity. Free enterprise should not be an excuse for democratic distortion. We cannot allow our fellow citizens to be influenced by entertainment based corrosive political thought; in fact, how can political anchors who defended themselves in civil cases by admitting their shows were “entertainment” not be charged criminally? They should at the very least face new Rico fines if they continuously spread false information that is harmful.

Progressives, neo liberals and conservatives must come together to form not just an antifascist coalition as the great Cornel West loves to say, but an anticorruption manifesto that should be written up and followed to the letter. To any reading this finding distain in the term conservative; grow up! They are here to stay forever and most of the members of the cult that I know are smart kind people who have just had the wool pulled over their eyes and dug into their ears like electric magnets. As much as I disagree with conservatives; their Edmund Burke John Adams asses are always going to push the Calvinist tough love of hard work, aristocracy and, traditional values over reasoned pragmatism. Let them have their city on a hill of glimmering opulence and extravagance. We can take the fight to them after the fire is out. What’s more it should be made clear how “Trumpism” is in fact not even a political movement but just purely fanciful fact less based corruption; an understand very eloquently made clear by many republican conservative pundits like those at “the Lincoln Project”. Today tomorrow and for many more years to come we must all dedicate ourselves to wiping clean this era of illusion. This accommodating of alternate realities and fallacies that mine the ignorant and dare I say uneducated who lack the perspectivity to even discern what reputable sources and methods are must be purged at the root that feeds it; greed. It is not completely necessary to convince the people susceptible to the right-wing cult directly if and when our congress and media stomp out the nonsense; not once and for all but every time a sentence or action distorts historical norms. Even if corrupt motives cannot be established with direct evidence it should be the prerogative of the accuser to make the said culprit defend against any such indications. In other words when it comes to corruption, abusers should prove their means and motives are pure just like in certain European court rooms. Not like in American courts where you are innocent until proven guilty. A politician or government worker who is elected or hired to serve the people should be found guilty until proven innocent if and when substantial claims are evident against their motives! We simply cannot continue to have a nation of corporately sponsored laws! Why on earth are such motives legal?

Perhaps one of the greatest obstacles in the fight against corruption aside from laziness of course is the fear media outlets have in confronting them as even so-called left wingers complain about giving the culprits speaking time. A good example is The Beat with Ari Melber. Ari got so much flack for having Trumpers on his show that the approach felt limited at best, just teeing off talking points while dredging for sound bites when the origin and backdrops of what and why they defend corruption at all costs, methods and madness go unexamined. These schemes must be exposed completely and our laws must change to prevent all types of corruption like the plague worse than COVID-19 that it is. We can not white wash constitutional order and growth with walls and chains. 

There are many layers to the methods that should be implemented to defend democracy from this new tool of corruption and much like Mark Ruffalo’s Emmy winning performance in the recent HBO mini-series, “I Know This Much is True” it goes beyond our current means or reality. Ruffalo played a schizophrenic and his tormented twin brother in perhaps the year’s best performance finding meaning and purpose to every reaction, establishing substantive context way beyond the script. Even as the sane brother revealed how conflicted and confused he was, we knew at all times what he thought and felt; and of his brother Thomas we hold out hope even in the height of despair for what is divinely pure yet not of this world. We need leaders and producers with similar depth in their motives to help us get to where we need to be at every stage. God’s love springs eternal but don’t let the dream wander out in the cold to die. 

November Third and the Queen's Gambit

 

Just finished watching the Netflix mini series The Queen's Gambit and the lump in my throat is still tugging for tears, anchored forever in my heart as a special piece of art for the soul with a timeless inspiration; perhaps one that can carry us forth into a brave new world. The fictional story of a chess champion in the 1960’s is a writing and directorial masterpiece quelling together the subtleties of distraction to yield a powerful purposeful focus based on a novel of the same name by the late Walter Tevis.  

Magical glamorous Zen, such a shield for distorting enveloped emotions; and all we have to do is guard against bottling up outbursts, a lesson we see her learning in the end with such slow passionate grace. Desires on display with each pensive moment, like the main character Beth inhabiting a constant liminal or transitional space.

In a young girl’s face, we see such relatable meaning; vulnerable in isolation yet strong through a subtle intensity. While the main character as an adult, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, held strong and pierced well with eyes like a mirror, no one conveyed more with less than the extraordinary child Isla Johnston who played the young Beth Harmon. She has a natural gift that’s extremely rare. Something that can’t be taught, like the endless expressions of Meryl Streep or those of Mark Ruffalo who recently marveled in an HBO miniseries “I know this Much is True”. Ruffalo playing two tarnished souls brandishing conviction with cringes and stares. Their faces tell the story and define moments without words. In the Queen’s Gambit Isla was the lead runner who despite having only a supporting role handed the baton to Joy’s giant eyes with an enormous lead. For acting this is the space between good and genius; how they impart meaning naturally and organically without words yet in The Queen’s Gambit so too does the dialogue punctuate where we are; holding true to our values of justice and humanity. Like the great actor Matthew McConaughey’s words to graduates used in a current car commercial for Lincoln, “Eliminate who you are NOT first, and you'll find yourself where you need to be”. We know who Beth and her world is and we could hear our hearts there if we listen to the signs, so masterfully and painstakingly laid out by the writers and director Scott Frank, always finding some sound in the background or substantive dialogue to help us define the story not just of the genius player but of our connection to divinity. Even more extraordinary; it was a connection we could see but she could not until the end when her own vices were finally revealed from within. Not aided through religious guilt or hypocritic posturing but with tempered kindness and caring. She thought she needed tranquilizing pills to use God’s power to see beyond but it was only through her own clarity that she was able win; realizing what to do among all the possibilities naturally inherit. Chess is a true parity for life.

The series’ timing excels not just with symbolic gestures, but with bold statements, like a classic film about Jesus or another highlighting excess all while thrilling vulnerabilities wrecked with suspense, patterned over each shot with care, like a chess board imagined in shadows dancing on a ceiling. Fame and fortune were not important to her. What was important to her, and what she found she truly needed was to find how the task correlated to her identity; a truth she savored unknowingly, much like God. And as we wait for November third, America likewise holds its breath. Will the disillusioned lose their soul succumbing to the beasts of the southern wind and will the reluctant like Beth’s adopted mom pocketing 15 percent with an enabling smile similar to the neoliberals of today ignore the purist hopes or will we push forward and truly change; ridding ourselves of all the false dichotomies for a new age of reasoned progress and structural reforms that herald our real worth as a just free nation no longer subjugated by greed or vanity?  In the end Beth becomes a true champion because she walked without fear, embracing the common people who loved her for who she was, true to herself, unspoiled and untainted like the American Dream.