What Do We Know and What Have We Learned Over this Strange Year?

It was just about a year ago that the worst of America took hold and rose to power. Every day the level of outrageous behavior rises.  It is almost as though the President is daring the do-nothing Congress to impeach him.  We have learned a ton over the last year about America.  I tried to put together a list of all that I learned.

• For all these years and all these elections, it was all just a game to maintain power.  They kept saying what about the debt?  We have to do something about the debt, but today we learned that it was just words.  We can't support the Obama infrastructure bill because it will add to the debt.  We know that this was just bunk because infrastructure did not enrich the right donors.  
• We know that the Trump campaign had some amazingly talented coffee people who were well connected and traveled extensively. 
• We know that some former Generals regret saying "Lock her Up" regularly on the campaign trail.  
• It seems that a President has more power than we originally thought.  They can use their office to enrich themselves and send foreign powers attempting to curry favor to stay at businesses owned by the President.  He can obstruct justice by firing people and attempting to cover up crimes.  He can slander and defame his opponent and his predecessors in office without consequences.  We now understand there is a qualifier on the freedom of press that says Congress can make a law restricting the freedom of press if that press is attacking the dear leader of our country. 
• We now know that no matter how many times you practice repealing something (like 50 times), it is hard to do when it means something in Congress. 
• We learned in January that American was a hellscape that only one man could possibly change (not Superman).
• In a shocking revelation, we know that people are more likely to accept being led by the decedents of a slave over being bossed around by a woman. 
• But along the same lines, we learned the backlash after being led by an African American was breathtaking with blood in church pews (Emanuel African Methodist Church of Charleston) and daytime protests in Charlottsville without the white hoods.
• We know that things are going well today with the stocks flying high and unemployment at an all time low, but we still need to cut taxes in order to....?  I have no idea.
• People are far angrier with smart people.  Professors, brainiacs, college presidents, and scientists don't carry the same weight in our society that they had previously. 
• We don't trust the media and most likely would not take arms to protect the First Amendment. 
• We do trust the second amendment and no matter how much it is abused and how many people die because of lax gun laws it is untouchable. 
• Congress is probably the least respected institution in our society.  They are no longer the people's house, but are a group of prostitutes owned by pimps on K Street.  
• There was always a small number of people who could be loyal to El Trumpe and that small number is getting smaller by the day with few people interested in joining his cabinet or the Executive Branch. 
• We now have a President who only governs one party and the other party is the enemy.  He will not talk or consult with the enemy party that only represent 53% of the population so who cares. Democrats as the enemy is something new that we will have to get used to. 
• We found out over the last year that Puerto Ricans are American citizens, but that does not mean that we treat them any better than second class citizens. 
  
• We found that Native Americans are citizens of the United States, but that does not mean we cannot mock them to their face and take back their land preserved in a national monument. 
• We all now understand that immigrants are the source of most of our problems especially the crime, opioids, and terrorism that are keeping our country down.  It is not a big step to placing yellow stars on all their clothing and closing down immigrant owned businesses. 
• Evangelical religious leaders were also yanking our chains when they said character matters, and those who do not practice what they preach should not be in positions of power.  It turns out that it really does not matter if you follow the ten commandments as long as you appoint conservative judges.  
• Anti-abortion policies are the single most important issue above every other issue facing the United States. 
• It does not really matter if the United States leads the rest of the world on human rights or humanitarian aid, or nuclear disarmament or free trade or anything.  We are all fine with taking a back seat to Europe, China, India and even Russia in helping refugees, developing Africa, or  working toward peace in the Middle East.  

I am sure that there are plenty more that we have learned, and I will post those.

Brian Davis