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grantcart

(53,061 posts)
Sat Jan 21, 2017, 01:02 AM Jan 2017

I was moved by President Trump's reference to "American Carnage". [View all]

I was moved to take care of the terrible burden I have and was moved to go to the kitchen and clean the dishes in the sink and presto 'Carnage gone'.

While cleaning the dishes I thought of the Carnage I have seen in Vietnam when I entered after the NV Army had liberated the south. Three years later and still seeing elderly Vietnamese picking through the garbage to find a scrap. At night thousands of families appeared at night in the street to vie for space under the building overhang to try and minimize the effects of the monsoon. They were a small part of the tens of thousands that were relocated to 'New Economic Zones'. City dwellers that were sent to rural areas without the equipment or skill to raise crops

How many refugee camps did I see? More than a dozen tent cities with at least 30,000 and dozens of smaller ones. People crawling out of the killing fields of Cambodia. Rural areas that were waiting for electricity. Isolated islands that had tens of thousands of rats. Carnage upon carnage. And how many of those people did I hear complain about being collateral damage? Not one.

I thought of the Carnage I have witnessed not directly related to war. Too much to list. The most shocking was sitting in a traffic jam in Jakarta and looking off the main street to a long street with a canal in the middle and a series of small aluminum sheets above the canal. It took me a while to figure out that it was the sewage system for that part of the city. People walking out to releave themselves with minimal privacy.

I could go on but you know about it, you know about the completely needless Carnage of Iraq.

All that I have witnessed first hand but I have never heard as much sell pity as Trump put into the Inaugural black cloud of Trump. Under President Obama the DJI went from 6700 to 19,900 in the greatest accumulation of capital in the history of Capitalism. In 2013, the first full year of the ACA, the DJI goes up an astounding 4,000 points, and incredible 38%.

Never in history has a group of people accumulated so much wealth. And then they play the victim card, entitled white men have been treated so unfairly.

Paraphrasing JFK

Entitled white Americans don't ask what you can do for the country ask what more the country can do for you.
The torch has been passed to a new group of self congratulatory phony religionists who proudly proclaim that they will not pay any price to advance human rights and commit to bear no burden, avoid all hardship, disappoint all friends, collude with any foe, to undermine liberty and perpetuate their privilege.

Here is JFKs stirring promise to people suffering real carnage:

"To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves . . .because it is right.. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.".

My dishes are clean, the Carnage is gone. My personal circumstances are reduced because of health limitations (not serious but I have to stay in a low gear) but I am grateful for the benefits of living in the richest country in the world and having cheap electricity, clean reasonable housing, great libraries, Internet, safe food supplies at a reasonable cost.

Think of the sacrifice of the men who charged Normandy and compare it to the whiney bleating of the President. The real Carnage that is on display is the Carnage to the dignity of the office he occupies. He is the smallest American.

44 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Fantastic post underpants Jan 2017 #1
Thank you grantcart Jan 2017 #11
Thank you for that. Lochloosa Jan 2017 #2
Thanks grantcart Jan 2017 #18
excellent post!! n/t GP6971 Jan 2017 #3
Thank you grantcart Jan 2017 #20
Excellent post, grantcart. brer cat Jan 2017 #4
Thanks grantcart Jan 2017 #24
Awesome post...you speak for so many of us!! Docreed2003 Jan 2017 #5
Thanks grantcart Jan 2017 #33
Powerful orangecrush Jan 2017 #6
Thanks grantcart Jan 2017 #39
+ eleventy billion Lucinda Jan 2017 #7
you had me at "+" grantcart Jan 2017 #44
How powerfully stated Phoenix61 Jan 2017 #8
grantcart...... democrank Jan 2017 #9
Thank you. liberalmuse Jan 2017 #10
Awesome. Good to hear your voice again, my friend. cliffordu Jan 2017 #12
K&R nt ProudProgressiveNow Jan 2017 #13
Well said ribrepin Jan 2017 #14
Possibly the most powerful statement I've ever seen on DU, or anywhere else. Boomerproud Jan 2017 #15
Carnage: moondust Jan 2017 #16
Fantastic post, and so true. shraby Jan 2017 #17
Thanks for telling it like it is. (eom) oasis Jan 2017 #19
Powerful, touching... Duppers Jan 2017 #21
Your last sentence.... lamp_shade Jan 2017 #22
... phleshdef Jan 2017 #23
Is it possible he doesn't know what "carnage" means? mainer Jan 2017 #25
That has to be it. He has a very limited vocabulary and not a clue what he's talking about. Vinca Jan 2017 #28
He pulled it out of something but I don't think it was a thesaurus justhanginon Jan 2017 #37
K&R gademocrat7 Jan 2017 #26
k&r n/t lordsummerisle Jan 2017 #27
You ought to submit this as an opinion piece to your local newspaper. mnhtnbb Jan 2017 #29
Trump's raging ingratitude is well worth highlighting BeyondGeography Jan 2017 #30
Thanks grantcart Jan 2017 #32
Thank you for an awesome post N_E_1 for Tennis Jan 2017 #31
Well, see, I thought he said "American Carnies," and couldn't MineralMan Jan 2017 #34
Lol grantcart Jan 2017 #35
Good piece, grantcart. Great to see you again. n/t ms liberty Jan 2017 #36
An absolutely super post! justhanginon Jan 2017 #38
"He is the smallest American" Thanks for putting carnage into perspective. FailureToCommunicate Jan 2017 #40
Wonderful post! volstork Jan 2017 #41
Powerful essay, thanks bucolic_frolic Jan 2017 #42
Beautiful... llmart Jan 2017 #43
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