First of all let me get this out of the way…I am a Democrat but MORE IMPORTANTLY, I am a firm believer in democracy and the rule of law. If there was a Republican who was doing something good for our country, stood for something closer to my beliefs than a Democrat running for the same office, I might vote for the Republican. So far I am not seeing any of that. With the exception of Liz Chaney and Adam Kinzinger who both chose country over party, I can’t think of another Republican who was willing to turn his back on the dysfunctional group we have in control right now.
That being said, this is your trigger warning. If you are going to be bothered by my descriptions of what I believe America should look and feel like, please stop reading and come back next year when my topic may go back to music or scrapbooking or interesting tidbits. Please respect my space and DO NOT leave disinformation or inflammatory statements in the comments. It’s my blog and I will delete them. Thanks for your cooperation.
Here we go then.
|
American Values |
Autocracy |
|
Community Independence Right to make our own choices Equality Rule of Law |
Centralized power Strict control Unquestioning obedience Limited participation One person rule |
It seems like common sense to me that a person would want to be able to make their own choices and live their life without having someone tell them what to do every step of the way or restricting access to things. Other than when raising a child, and even then most of the time it is a shared experience, I can’t think of any reason for one person to have total control over someone else. Even with parenting there comes a point where the child should be able to make some of their own choices, as long as it will not hurt them or others. I can remember letting my daughter choose her own outfits for school even though a) they were not things that I felt would go together or b) she was without a jacket when I thought it was a little chilly. If it made her feel good to dress this way then she would be more apt to able to focus on learning.
We should be able to question the people governing us and to express our opinions without fear of being retaliated against. We should have the ability to choose our leaders and hold them accountable when their decisions are detrimental to our country and safety. We should be able to read whatever books we want, practice religion or not and love who we want.
Live and let live is my core value. It is not my business to tell you how to live your life and no one’s business to tell me how to live mine. I believe we can be stronger as a community if we share our ideas and cooperate together. We may have different beliefs or ideas but mine are not necessarily better than yours and vice versa. Our uniqueness is what gives us strength when we work together.
As I said in my theme reveal, these contrasts have been taken from the speech given by House Representative Hakeem Jeffries when opening the 218th congress in 2023.
One down, 25 to go. Happy April Fool’s Day!
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A big “Amen” to all the above! I’m following the developments from Europe, and of course we don’t have the full picture from here. But it is worrying to see how fast things can change, and how difficult it is to know “what to do”. I think we’re in for a tough ride also on this side of the Atlantic. We can learn from each other.
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The speed with which it is all happening here is very disconcerting, which is their goal. It only took Hitler something like 37 days. We are on a pace to beat that but fortunately some folks are starting to put on the brakes. – Cory Booker is a good example. By talking for 25 hours straight he held up some of the process.
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Excellent beginning!💯💯💯
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Thanks Felicia.
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Great start to the challenge, Janet. I look forward to the rest of the posts in your series, but I suspect in the end your ultimate message is let’s just act like decent human beings, showing up with kindness and compassion, and foregoing the boundless service-to-self pathology that is so prevalent. And I’m totally behind that.
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Exactly, Deborah. Does that mean I don’t have to finish the challenge? LOL
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Well said. I am doing the A to Z’s of me. When we get to R, Ill be talking about how as opposed to being a RINO (Republican in Name Only) I am a RITA (Republican in Theory Anyway). I will probably borrow liberally form some of your material because the current state of the Trumpublican party is a far cry from who I am or what I want to be. In fact my post today about being an Amateur Parodist has a song I wrote about a guy singing about how Trump is raising his blood pressure.
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As Kamala said on her campaign trail, we have so much more in common than we do that divides us. I like your RITA. I think it is the absolute cruelty and utter disregard for the feelings of others that gets me the most with these MAGA people. Thanks for the link to your post!
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I like how you’ve started off with this topic. The little contrast chart was very good addition. 🙂
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Thanks Barbara!
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Excellent start, Janet.
I’m with you for the ride!
My A post (shoes again) https://repeatsamb.blogspot.com/2025/04/a-to-z-blogging-challenge-2025-is-for.html
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Thanks for the link, Anne!
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