Tags: #politics #essay

As a writer, I have written a lot of things in my life and honestly, the thing I hate to write about the most is #politics. I mean, I have always enjoyed the concept of how government works and the application of good faith discussions on what is best for the American people among their elected officials.

I hate to say it but that time is gone. It died in 2016 when The #republican party decided to sell what was left of its soul to the proverbial devil to maintain what little power they had left over the American psyche.

In this article, I'm going to explain why that is and how we are aiming to become a country where we are a #republic in name.

Cultural shift & Falling Behind

It started in the 1960s and has been going steadily since then. The American public has been shifting away from the old style conservatism that is white people being in charter of things. Anyone who takes a honest look at history, the Untied States has always tried to oppress the minority even with high sounding morals.

Since then the citizens of the United States have become more inclusive, respectful, and open to new ideas and thoughts that were once considered taboo and evil.

LGBTQIA+ recognition, the inclusion of black and people of color in voting, the idea that maybe we should help each other than being selfish.

This all came to a head with the election of President Obama and the passage of the Affordable Care Act. We were on our way to become a country where people of all race, creeds, and color were able to have a chance at pursuing their happiness.

That came to an end with the election of Donald Trump and the desperate screams of the theocrats whose power that almost dwindled to nothing.

Conservatism in the USA is dying.

This is a bold statement to make but there is evidence to prove it. Every election cycle voters are choosing more progressive candidates to represent them in government, the old white conservative platforms are losing their voters through death or attrition and the GOP cannot find good arguments to convince the next generation to join them.

There are now more independents in the United States in a long time. More people are choosing not to be aligned with a specific denomination or religion and are expecting more from their candidates.

These are things that the GOP cannot comprehend or combat against. The basic conservative ideals of male and white superiority no longer hold purchase with the majority of the next generations.

Instead of trying to change their ideals and to try to win voters back to their side, the republicans and their theocratic leaders have decided it is better to start cheating, and stacking things in their favor. They believe that it is now time to do everything in their power to remain in positions of authority and force their minority supported beliefs on the rest of the country.

Do not be fooled, the majority of conservatives believes is not supported by the general public in the United States.

Why do they do this? Why do they think that taking away the people's power and calling for the end of democracy is the correct choice? it's simple in their mind. Moral superiority.

The Insidious Disease of Moral Superiority

The Republican leaders and those who support them have come to the conclusion that their beliefs on the bible and their take of Christianity is the correct choice and that it is their job to spread that belief to the country., even if their actions are morally questionable or downright illegal. Because they believe that their belief is right and that because they are right, it excuses any and all actions that they take.

It was summed up perfectly by Jack Posobiec at #CPAC in his opening speech. “Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t get all the way there on Jan. 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this right here (Makes fist like a half hearted Nazi salute)“

They have lost the public vote, confidence, and support so they have decided that because they are right and the rest of the country is wrong, that the only way to make sure that we behave the way we should, democracy must come to an end and autocratic rule to take over.

They are simply saying: “You all are wrong so you shouldn't have a say. Just do what we tell you to do.”

There is no way to fight against an insidious belief like this as logic and reason do not work. They are in a cult and they're fanatics that believe they are right and their will must be established in this country at all cost.

Is it over for the USA?

Not yet but we are getting close. The blame cannot be laid just at the feet of the religious fanatics like Jack Posobiec, Mike Johnson, and others.

Their actions are supported by politicians who will do and say whatever it is just to stay in power. No, they don't believe what the #MAGA right is saying but it's what they feel they need to do to stay in power or to stay relevant.

All the actions of these people are funded by millionaires and billionaires for one simple reason. Greed. If the inclusive continues the way it was going, the writing was on the wall that they would be, at minimum, made to pay a fair tax, or at maximum, find their ill gotten gains taken from them and used to help the people of this country improve.

To invoke godwin's law, look at Hitler's rise to power, he was fully backed by the religious and the industrialists. They only turned on him when the war was lost but by then, it was too late.

We are in a Precarious time

We are now at a time where people who are open Nazis are mingling with members of the GOP, where foreign intelligence agents are helping members of the US government to subvert the upcoming election and to sew enough discord and mistrust that they can declare the election rigged.

January 6th failed because they didn't have popular support. They're not going to make that mistake a second time.

So, I call upon any #republican, #democrat, and #independent to look at the state of things and vote to stop it. I'm not asking to give up on any specific belief but to united and understand that we're facing a time where people who are supposed to be our elected leaders are trying their best to stay in power and make us do what they want us to do.

Let's vote together to get every single Nazi and sympathizer, every religious zealot who thinks what they think God told them is more important than their follow man.

Let's get rid of them and return to the time where we worked together in good faith and helped our country grow strong.

The only other option is the loss of our fundamental freedoms and the rollback of our rights just as we saw happen in Russia, Hungary, and Poland.

We are the only ones who can stop it. If we don't, then when everyone inevitably wakes up, it'll be too late.

The dictators are here and we're holding the door wide open for them.

— © Jonathan J. Snyder, All rights Reserved Like what you read and want to buy me a cup of coffee?

Tags: #essay #nonfiction

It has been awhile since I have written a blog but today, I got pretty pissed (if the title didn't give that away) and I wanted to write it out instead of just fuming throughout the house.

As some readers my recognize, my title may allude to something familiar, something you might have experienced yourself. The vermin and filth of the Collectible Card Game world.

What Happened

It was shopping day and as much as I did not want to leave the house (I'm American and still recovering from Thanksgiving), I had to go get groceries or my children would start screeching again for their granola bars and oatmeal.

While meandering about like a lost puppy due to ADHD, I stumbled across stocked Pokemon Cards at Walmart which was not common due to players and the aforementioned scalpers hitting the racks within hours of delivery.

It had been about three months since I had bought any cards as I love the game but don't really get much time to play it. I like to keep a low-tier competitive deck ready to go for that one day I might be able to go to a local tournament or something.

I grabbed six sets since they were only $3.78 (normally at this Walmart they price them $4.99 like Magic Cards) and happily headed home. Once I got the groceries put away, the monsters fed their granola bars, I curled up in my office to take 30-ish minutes to open each one and savor the fun of seeing what's in there and maybe, just maybe find a V, VSTAR, Rainbow Secret or even a Gold Rare. I never hold out hope because I know the odds on it.

At the moment, the pull rate for a Gold Rare is 1 in every 82 booster packs of Paradox Rift

When I opened the first container to pull the booster pack out, I noticed that the top had already been ripped. My first thought was: “Dammit, I wasn't careful tearing the card board” but then I opened the second and found the same thing.

That sinking feeling hit as I took the last four, flipped them over and found that someone had popped the back to pull the booster pack out without damaging the cardboard, sliced open the top, slid the cards out and checked them. The realization hit me like a ton of breaks and made me quite upset.

Someone had gone through the six packs I had already! That meant 1) if they found any of those good cards, there would only be 8 or 9 cards in the back and if all 10 were there, they were never any to begin with. That meant that at that very moment, I knew that there was going to be nothing in my packs either way.

I still went through and opened each one of them and counted the cards to see and in this case, each one had their 10 cards plus their basic energy and QR code (I haven't even checked to see if those are working yet).

I got cards but it wasn't enjoyable to open. The feeling of excitement and mystery that I was hoping for with this rare purchase was gone because someone decided to try and steal the good cards without paying.

They choice profit over the excitement of discovering a wonderful, beautiful card you didn't truly expect.

Whoever it was, that damn scalper stole that feeling from me.

Profit And the Collectible Card Community

If I was a child, I would have cried. The sheer disappointment in my soul had made the inner child weep. I'm not ashamed to admit it. In this life there are many joys one can have and cards are one of the few that I have.

Since the Great Plague of 2020 and the mad rush off venture capitalists and those who wanted to make a quick buck started buying up every booster in existence, the true wonder and value of a card has been lost.

People just open packs to see if one of the special cards were in there and when they weren't, discarded it. They don't take the time to admire each one including the common cards that get overlooked.

It is so much worse to me to take this to another level and secretly try and steal the cards, find nothing, and leave them on the shelf so that a true lover of cards goes through what I did.

I'm tired of people joining a hobby or participating in a cultural phenomenon just to make money.

Don't get me wrong! I have no problem with true collectors who buy cards and sell them online because the difference is that they're not in this just for the money. They aren't looking for a Hyper Rare to make a hundred dollars but are looking to share that card with others, to find that card a good home.

I do it. I've sold a few of my high priced cards at a lower price because I knew the purchaser was going to give that card a good place like their own collection or in a deck where they truly belong.

This might come off as childish and may be it. It is beside the point. It just made me realize that late stage capitalism has infected so many things that you can't escape it anymore. Even a hobby that I love has been poisoned and I don't see any way to stop it. I don't want to have to now examine every single booster I buy for tampering or to see if someone has tried to steal from it. There's signs that it's finally coming to an end but we'll see.

I just want my hobby back.

— © Jonathan J. Snyder, All rights Reserved Like what you read and want to buy me a cup of coffee?