Here are today’s frightening US statistics: 81,000+ Americans dead from the virus. confirmed cases 1,392,000+, new cases reported yesterday 6,533. another way to think about this is our place in the world. We have 4% of the world population, 33% of confirmed cases, 25% of new cases, 28% of total deaths, and 19% of daily new deaths. We’re Number 1!
These figures are why I call the President of the United States a cold blooded killer. So too are those who support and enable him; his administration and elected officials at all governmental levels. Also guilty are the families that provide the lies and misinformation distributed by Fox News and the right-wing media and blogosphere. The evidence is clear. What convinces me this is true is his secrecy. People keep secrets because they’ve done something that they’re ashamed of, illegal, immoral or unethical. The President feels no shame. His secrets are used to shield him from being accountable for the terrible things that he has done.
Secrecy
This morning the Supreme Court heard arguments whether Trump’s personal financial records could be subpoenaed. In an historic action, the audio of the proceedings was carried live on numerous news feeds. From the legal debate it was clear that some issues of secrecy are complex and require thought about the Court’s decisions and how they may be used by a future President or Legislature.
However, that’s not the type of secrecy I’m thinking about. This secrecy is straight forward, a matter of right and wrong, although it sets an ugly precedent. I am concerned about the loss of our transparent government. Our government where its decisions and actions are visible to the all of us and where we have the ability to comment and debate openly: a government By the People and For the People. This is the path our nation has been has been forging for over 200 years.
Since the founding of the US, there has been a tug or war between openness and secrecy. But secrecy had lost out until the Cold War and then 9/11. Fear of being attacked was used to enlarge surveillance of all Americans. At the same time, a curtain of secrecy was lowered, hiding decisions and actions that, traditionally, had been public’s right to observe and debate. Today, Trump has taken secrecy to the extreme. He is killing Americans and trying to hide the truth.
The Weapon
COVID-19 is the weapon. Trump’s silencing of our government denies us the facts and information we can need to be safer. Facts that we paid for and deserve. He has refused to implement COVID-19 testing, lying that anyone can get a test if they want, when there is a massive national shortage of test kits. This is intentional lying as he blocks the collection critical data that we need.
Testing provides accurate data on the spread and severity of the virus. Without this data it is impossible to effectively slow its spread, determine and buy sufficient supplies and distribute them to where they are most needed. Trump has ignored and hidden valuable medical analysis and advice of our government’s experts. Instead, he misleads us. He refuses to provide the information that can use to become more knowledgeable, allowing us make informed decisions for ourselves. Making things worse, Trump offers extremely dangerous advice that increases the risk of illness and death for all Americans.
Trump has used FEMA to interfere with the ability of hospital’ and state health departments to purchase tests and medical supplies. He refuses to allow our government to do its job and then hides or lies about his actions. Using secrecy and withholding information, Trump has emasculated our government’s medical and scientific organizations, whose expertise would be valuable tools for protecting our health and environment.
Knowledge is power
Knowledge gets thing done. Secrecy favors those in power. Hiding actions by the government and critical scientific facts are the trademark of the Trump government. Deny us the facts and we can’t effectively protect ourselves from either the virus or Trump’s government. Denying access to vital information is both the crime and the admission of guilt.
Trump’s blocking our government’s ability to do its job is resulting in a knowledge desert, where he pretends to know it all, while undermining efforts to provide facts and a reality check. About 30% of Americans are willing to accept this deception, even though it threatens the well-being of all Americans.
Trump and his political machine are like the lifeguard at the beach who sees a man struggling in the waves. His job is to go in after the desperate man or, at the very least, throw him a life preserver. Trump refuses to go in the water and hides the life preserver. All he does is yell at the drowning man, telling him he’s not drowning and that he needs to swim into deeper water.
Knowledge Destroys Lies
The only way to fight this fatal delusion is by collecting evidenced-based facts that we then use to become knowledgeable.
Science is data that leads to knowledge and results in action. Or, If it gets measured. It gets done.
Science accurately measures the situation and provides evidence-based data. Scientific analysis uses reason and procedure to create knowledge. This leads to actions that save lives through the development of effective practices, materials and vaccines. If we can measure the pandemic, we can beat it.
The Elite and The Inferior
What motive could justify allowing the virus to spread and get worse? Power, wealth, and vengeance come to mind.
Trump uses secrecy, distraction, confusion and division to remain in power. The more opposition to Trump, the greater the secrecy. The object is to maintain power at all costs. At all costs.
The people most at risk and most often hospitalized and dying are the poor, people of color, elderly, infirm and incarcerated. The vulnerable are the people deemed a drag on society, and less important. These unimportant human beings rely on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP. They are the prisoners locked away in jails and prisons. They rely on our taxes to live.
These inferior people also pose a political threat. Many of these dispossessed are likely to vote against the Trump and the Republicans. As our situations worsen the more likely we will vote against the people with the secrets.
These are the people considered inferior and expendable by the powerful, who prefer secrecy over openness.
The powerful elite can’t let that happen. Voter suppression, already rampant in some states, is conducted with secrecy and lies. By circumstance, the virus now offers more opportunities to suppress voting.
America Back To Work, Regardless The Cost
The Reopen America movement, another lie with grave consequences, is quietly supported by big businesses and wealthy individuals who share an ancient illness; they believe that they are the Elite and intended to rule, while we are the Serfs, disposable worker bees They are entitled to lead the rest of us because we are unable to understand the complexities of their corrupt world.
We are used to keep the gears of the economy turning. We make and buy stuff that generate profits and its attendant power. Created by our efforts, our futures flow up to enrich Our Betters. Sometimes, like now, the economic machine slows. Then our deaths, in the tens of thousands is required to grease its gears, bringing the machine up to speed and resuming feeding the Elite.
The US was founded to end the oppression of a similar ruling elite in Britain. Immigrants from across the world came here to escape the injustices and inequality imposed by their elites. One of the greatest prizes of our Revolution was the idea of an open government that allows the governed access to the workings of government and the ability to participate in its governing.
Today, the Elite, of which Trump is one, and their Republicans are pushing hard to take us back to a time they were entitled and able to do as they wished They want us to be their Serfs once again. \
What is happening today is cold blooded murder. We are the victims.
