SO, WHAT NOW?

By Silvia Uribe

I must confess that I feel kind of lost, kind of empty, kind of afraid and kind of mad. Driving home earlier, and on the wake of the insurrection of January 6^th, which has taken days to sink-in. Having not been in this space before, I needed to understand it.

I feel lost because although all the writing was on the wall, I never expected to see what I saw that day. Not in the U.S. Not living in Santa Barbara, our share of paradise. I felt the same feeling I felt on 9/11 watching the violent images at the Capitol: incredulity, and yet, it was all real. I felt, like many others did, that this country was far from becoming one of those countries in which a nut-head gets to power and never wants to leave it, placing his country and its people in the verge or extreme hunger, and constant social unrest. Well, there you have it. We have our own version of it right here; a “leader” who only takes care of himself and those around him, IF they do as he says, whether legal, good, decent, or not. This is our reality now, unfortunately.  Was he a good “leader”? Some might say yes, “he did good for the economy.” But is that all that we must judge a president by? Is the economy the only standard? Up for debate.

Emptiness: Yes, because the question is, what now? Do we have any options other than accepting the fact that our country, as we know it, does not exist anymore? We do not have what most of us value so much: peace. I have lived enough years to foresee what is there and what is not, and to maybe make a prediction or two. This is not the country that I always admired and loved. A beast, with a familiar name, was unleashed: Hate. When this happens, we must always watch over our shoulders. We would never know whether it may charge us, bite us, or try to kill us. When we hate and distrust each other, as human beings, what do we have? How can we work together? How can we go back to what we thought we knew about each other? I do not have answers, and sadly, I do not feel much hope.  

Fear: Of course, if there is no trust among us; if our views are so different, what can we expect? Peace means nothing to those who believe they can take a country with violence, based on nothing but on the lies they were told, which perfectly plays with their leaders’ insatiable hunger for power. If you try to tell them otherwise, with reason and evidence, they will still disregard you. My father used to say, “People will believe what they want to believe.” Americans are well-intended people, with values, and integrity. We are also prudent and quiet, for the most part. We do not like to create controversy, and much less verbal confrontation, so most of us keep our values and opinions quiet, and let the noisy ones raise their voices without challenging them. That is a problem.

I am a Latina, and although I might look as white as the next person, and I have enjoyed the same kind of privilege, many in my family have not, and I fear the racist and discriminatory environment in which my children and grandchildren will be living in the future. I am not a person who brings up discrimination frequently in conversations.  However, the hate that Trump unleashed toward blacks, Latinos, Jews, and women, has no limits, as we all realize now. Hate is, precisely, the fuel that ignites this violence. It is the undercurrent. The noisy, violent individuals come from all walks of life, but their common thread is discrimination, and the preservation of their privilege. They do not believe in Democracy, they like leeches, just benefit from it. They want to keep in check those who they perceive as a threat. It is a very scary notion for some to accept, but if we observe the images of the mob at the Capitol, we will see the Confederate flags, and the discriminatory messages written on their clothes. Is there any doubt?

This re-ignited hate, obviously, started with the election of Obama. Many felt that their country was overtaken and wanted revenge. The election of Trump was their retribution. With him as president, and his servants in Congress, those who felt threatened and disfranchised before, felt that they belonged, and felt safe to express their hate.

So yes, this new reality makes me mad. For me, my family, our community, and for our Country. This is not what most Americans want or look for. This social unrest is imposed upon us, and unfortunately, we will have to deal with it. We might see more acts of violence in the future perpetrated by radicals. These radicals may expand their reach, and recruit, and radicalize more people: maybe some of those we think we know and trust. Trump’s legacy, as I see it, is the beginning of a slow dismantling of our society, if we allow it.

So, this is a call to action for those of us with real American democratic values: speak up and push back on every discriminatory comment, joke, and aggression, against you or those around you, no matter how big or small it may seem. Let the radicals know that they have a steep hill in front of them, and that getting to the top will not be as easy as they’d like it to be.

The Fears of an Optimist

 

There are only a couple of weeks from now to election day. WHAT? have you noticed that we have been in election mode for a good 2 years? I am exhausted! A couple of days ago I heard, really heard for the first time. that this is going to end in 2 weeks. I have tuned all things political out that much. I was surprised that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, to tell you the truth. 

By now, I can’t stand to watch the news, or to hear Trump's lies, and some of the repetitive comebacks from Democrats. I'm tired of the Republican party having no backbone. no decency, no values. I'm talking about the Republican party as a whole. There are some exceptional Republicans, some of which I'm proud to call friends, who see the present reality of their party with pain and with shame. I'm tired of the pundits, and of people who keep repeating what they are fed by Trump and his entourage. People can support whoever they want, but then the question is, can they not analyze and observe for themselves, instead of just repeat what Trump says in his rallies?

Covid made things worse. Not just because all the people who have died, but also because it has killed me and many others with boredom, inactivity or lack of social diversion. We had to sit in front of a screen and become victims of all that they wanted us to hear, throughout the best part of 2020. I just want this to end. But, being an optimist, I want this to end like in a storybook. ...And they live happily ever after. However, I well know that this is not going to be possible. I hope for the best but fear the worse.

I fear that if Trump wins, things are going to get really bad, really quickly. He will be more embolden than ever, and since there's no one branch of government that would call him on his BS, he will really become something no one wants to see. I also fear that if he losses, those who support him, and who believe everything he says, will be brain-washed to do who knows what, in their own detriment, and everyone else's.

I wonder how the US is going to look like after this election. In the past, I never had those fears, and I never, ever, wondered about what would happen to us, the citizens, those of us who do not know who's allowing all of this to happen, or maybe even promoting it. Who are those really in charge behind the scenes? Who is dictating the marching orders? And, what's the purpose? Why those in power want to desensitize us?  Where do they want to take us? Experts are talking about a huge recession coming soon. Well, we don't have to be an expert to see it coming, right?  I'm afraid of it too. How will we look as a country after such immense recession? America is not used to the notion of extreme poverty.

Just look around. Talk to people on the street. If you have not heard how much people are suffering already, try and get out of your comfort zone and talk to those who perform the service jobs around us. They are behind in their rent and a blink away from homelessness, they are indebting themselves into a dark hole, and they don't know when or if they'll be able to overcome their situation. My heart brakes every time I hear one of those stories.

I hope, that for the sake of Americans of all colors, religions, sexual orientations, ages, origins, races and what not, and of those who are not Americans yet, who live here, and love our country, things won't get as bad as I fear they can become. I hope that at some point, we will again be the country that I got to love so deeply, for everything it has given me, but mainly for its people, who I know to be different enough to have their own opinions, but united enough to pull together for the cause of the strong, reliable country that we feel proud of. 

Yes, I am an incorrigible optimist. That's why I voted already. That's why I have been working to encourage people to vote. And, that's why I invite you to vote. Exert your voting power, so our country can see a less dark and a more hopeful time. This is not the time to be complacent and watch from the bleachers. It is not, either, a time to take is as a joke and write-in any name. Take it seriously! Do whatever is in your power, your country is at stake.

Please... VOTE!

VISION AND INTEGRITY ARE POLITICS MAIN INGREDIENTS… OR ARE THEY?

By Silvia Uribe

Maybe I should start with a full disclosure. I am an independent thinking Democrat, which, to me, only means that I don’t follow, or agree, on everything with the Democratic Party. By default, this also means that I have the ability to see, and agree on certain points coming from the opposite side. What? I know, I know. This not only raises a few brows here and there. It also puts me in the “endangered species” category of the, so called, political pragmatics. Precisely because I am an independent thinker, I would like for everyone to be one. However, this seems a lost battle these days when we, as a country, are so polarized, so intolerant of others’ opinions, and so close minded, with the cliche attitude of “it is my way, or the highway.”

The result of that extreme polarization? Donald Trump and his boisterous campaign. In my humble opinion, he is also the result of the lack of imagination and vision on the Republican Party side (sorry Republican friends). If we look back on how things developed, we can vividly remember that the Republican Party never liked Trump as a candidate; they thought he was a “joke”, at the very least. Joke or not, however, Republicans were afraid of him and his threats of creating a third party “if not treated well.” They thought that if he did, it would weaken their party, so, they let him be. By lacking action, they also allowed him prey on people’s primary instincts: fear, anxiety, anger, desire for power, hatred. He used then and now, the "psychology of the masses", as they call it. By the time Republicans were willing to do something about it, it was too late. They most likely will have an unscrupulous presidential candidate, who in his own words, is “greedy for power” and doesn’t care that his inflammatory words can cause riots, or even the possibility of people physically and verbally attacking members of “undesirable” groups, i.e. women, Latinos, Muslims, and counting.

The only good thing that I see about Donald Trump is that, now, many Republicans and most Democrats despise him, and are able to see him for what he is: a fraud and a danger to this country. Hey, we have not agreed on anything else for years now!

The reason that I write this column at this point, is because it is sickening to me to think that the Republican Party could give its endorsement to this “trumper” (urban dictionary: A brash, pretentious, narcissistic man who makes outrageous, controversial statements and engages in attention-seeking behavior for money or fame.) who's willing to trump up ( Dictionary.com: to devise deceitfully or dishonestly. Fabricate.) everything and everyone. His opponents, and other party members, from Chris Christie,  Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, and Carly Fiorina to the Bush family and even Paul Ryan have declared their distaste for Mr. Trump, but some of them have, and others might gather around him, and give him  their endorsement after having a few meetings with him at the White House next Wednesday. Seriously?

Do Republican Party members really think that they can trust this guy? He is going to say anything in order to get his hunger for power satisfied. These are a few examples to prove it:

-         -  Trump  has criticized candidates who raise money for their presidential campaigns – He is, as we speak,  getting ready to raise serious money and has a Super PAC already in formation

        

           - He has said that he doesn’t want illegal immigration (I would rather have those who work on the fields to have the opportunity to live here legally too) and wants to deport people left and right, but he yesterday said he loves Hispanics, and celebrated 5 de Mayo with a “huge” American style tostada bowl.

-         -  He said at a debate that he would order the military to use torture with terrorists, waterboarding or worse, and then when confronted in an interview he said “I would not ask the military to do anything illegal”

-          - He, from the get go of his campaign, has attacked  women. He now wants to gain their vote by being quasi-charming (not really), and so on.

Paul Ryan said that he is not ready yet to support him, unless he thinks that Trump will run a campaign of which Republicans could be proud. Is this a possibility in Ryan’s mind at this point? Is he, and others, ready to go ahead and endorse him just to have a vocally (not politically) strong contestant against Hillary Clinton? I believe it is morally wrong that they are willing to put our country at stake that way.

Sad. Very sad.