It’s no surprise when the idea for a commentary arrives; I call it serendipity.

The idea for this one comes from a dear friend, Jeff Bennett. He and I greatly appreciate literature and one writer in particular, Charles Dickens.

Jeff called me this afternoon about another commentary I wrote recently. He inserted a graphic toward the end of the piece that says…

We chuckled; Jeff did something he’s done only once before. He recommended a title for this commentary based on a novel with a similar-sounding name. So I exercised my literary license and came up with what you are about to read.

The original is from an 1859 novel about London and Paris between 1775 and 1793, The French Revolution. If you haven’t read it, more’s the pity.

Mr. Dickens was anything but succinct because this particular book, A Tale of Two Cities, is three volumes, but boy, what a story…

A Tale of Two Cities is classic Dickens. It’s been adapted for film in 1911, 1917, 1922, 1935, 1958, and finally, 1980.

The book sold over 200 Million copies in every language except Ent and Ancient Elvish. I understand that the folks of Middle Earth are working diligently to correct this oversight. (Tolkien fans will appreciate that reference.)

I won’t recount “A Tale of Two Cities;” I couldn’t do it justice. I did, however, find the play-on-words for my title irresistible.

My last essay deals with the end of our republic. Yes, I think it’s too late, and that’s contemptible. The thesaurus says that contemptible’s synonym is SHITTY which led to this title.

This essay is about the general fecal timbre of our republic.

Disturbingly graphic dreams punctuated last night’s sleep. I imagined America’s golden streets covered in excrement. Drug addicts and homeless people camped on the sidewalks packed so tightly there was scarcely room to navigate. Every step was met with pandering and beggars looking for their next fix and requiring expertly planned measures to avoid the detritus.

So lost in their drug-induced stupor, they’re oblivious to the world around them. They relieved themselves anywhere and everywhere. This heap of refuse is their mark and editorial about the society in which they exist.

America’s streets are now paved in shite. Our beautiful cities are reduced to indigen encampments and wards for deranged rejects – the disenfranchised. Our government abdicated the responsibility to care for these lost souls and dumped them on the street with the rest of the garbage. Thank you, president RayGun…

THIS is OUR America…

We arrived at the crossroads of sublime and ludicrous. Numbers are irrelevant. We have no frame of reference for the magnitude nor multitude of invaders, homeless, mentally disturbed, and addicted. Their numbers are in the millions, more significant than the populations of many states. And this multitude is right where our misleaders put them, on the street.

We have no frame of reference for any of the enormous sums we encounter. How much is a billion, one hundred billion, a trillion? Do you have any idea? I seriously doubt it, yet the figures permeate our conversation and every media outlet imaginable. We’re comfortably numb.

Look around you because this is our America, our glorious republic – may her flag proudly wave. But, sadly, so many have wiped their asses with it, including our august misleaders, enraptured and arrogant about their work to destroy America, the beautiful home of the brave.

I want to juxtapose this anthem with images of our present republic.

America the Beautiful

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress,
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country love
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

Oh beautiful for halcyon skies
For amber waves of grain
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!

Oh beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress,
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
Till paths be wrought through wilds of thought
By pilgrims foot and knee!

Oh beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife,
When once and twice for man’s avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
Till selfish gain no longer strain
The banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot’s dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee! ~ 1859, Katherine Lee Bates

I will tell you that this is one of a hundred songs glorifying the ideals of America, written when people were proud of who we are and where we’re blessed to live.

Now we’re subjected to obscene, vile pounding, throbbing noise from the disenfranchised masses who are encouraged to hate America and celebrate that rancor.

This so-called music is what meadow muffins are to art.

I heard recently that rap and hip-hop give a voice to the enslaved and persecuted segment of society most affected by endemic and systemic white supremacy. It’s the voice of the oppressed former slaves forced into bondage by Whites. But like all calls to arms and incitements, this is a lie that plays on passion created by a few who would twist America into the fascist hell of their dystopian nightmares for authoritarian purposes.

Everything we were (note the past tense) is now subject to ridicule and desecrated to promote the new anti-American ideology of equity and inclusion necessary to impregnate America with Socialist smut in the name of homogeneity.

The $181 Trillion question is why?

BTW, that number is the amount of unfunded liabilities facing our republic.

There is a hypothesis, actually, more of an allegation, that Whites have cornered the market on racism and oppression. The image conjures an old white overseer astride a horse with a whip ensuring their laborers are productive and compliant. It’s far from reality. Facts refute the mendacious claims proffered by the 1619 project, but that’s another commentary.

Folks, look around you! The horse is now a HumVee, and the whip is an assault rifle. These new overseers wear Kevlar vests and helmets to protect them from the slaves they manage and control, you and me. It’s no longer the proud police in smart blue or tan uniforms; they wear menacing black! We’ve transformed these public servants into the Stasi and Gestapo.

When I was significantly younger, I believed that the police were trusted members of society whose job was to serve the public – no, not like Jeeves, the butler, but as someone who would render aid. Approach a law officer now and read the suspicion, wariness, and anxiety on their faces. Today, the police are a pariah! Persona non grata – a person who is not welcome.

Lies have made them the enemy!

In answer to the question I posed above, it’s power.

Two basic ways to lead are Unite or Divide & Conquer. Uniting takes significant effort and skill; the other requires skillful and persistent dishonesty.

QED, American Politics.
Adolph Hitler and his followers used this age-old tactic first employed successfully by the Romans, Julius Cesar, and refined throughout history; Divide and Conquer.

Here’s an abbreviate set of steps.

1. Identify a weakness.

2. Make people afraid of that weakness

3. Find someone to blame for that frailty.

4 Convince them that you have the solution:

a. Reinforce the failing and your solution ad nauseam – It helps to control the national media and weaponize governmental departments.

5. Use this new consensus to organize a government conducive to your purposes.

6. You Are Now In Power!

Of course, it is more complex, but as I said, my summation abbreviates the process, but if you open your eyes to the facts of the past seventy-some years, you can see the parallels and name the actors in this tragic farce.

IT’S NOT NEW!
Since the dawn of the written word, chronicles of wars and Empires are the fodder for historians and provide instruction for aspiring despots. Each professor has a unique interpretation of the events, but the quests all have the same goal: POWER!

There is a common thread in the warp and weft of this authoritarian tapestry. These coups are based on lies that persist despite attempts to soften the language or redefine the terms.

My favorite recent metonym is gaslighting.

* A form of psychological manipulation in which the abuser attempts to sow self-doubt and confusion in their victim’s mind. Typically, gaslighters seek power and control over the other person by distorting reality and forcing them to question their judgment and intuition.

I submit – if we collected the bovine excrement cascading from the DC Swamp, we would never need chemical fertilizers; we could probably cover the entire planet in yards of manure.

Their every word and image is intended to deceive the public, reinforcing the ultimate goal of total power for an elite few. So, naturally, gaslighting supports the emphasis on animosity in this republic by distracting us from the truth. We know what the government wants us to know. There is no source of truth. It is undoubtedly not the government’s mainstream media colleagues or the government itself.

No one is equal until everyone is the same.

Can anyone see the inherent problems and abject deceit in this idea? Will you or I be at the same elite level as our leadership? No… Then how can we be equal?

Countless novels and stories are written dealing with this unattainable concept. My favorite is “The Perfect Day” by Ira Levin – read the summation above.

The subsequent statement is not only how I feel but reflects the sentiments of numerous honorable leaders and the founders of this country.

We are already equal!!!
So it says in The Declaration of Independence – “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…“

I know; they don’t teach this anymore. Did you ever wonder why? Consider that knowing this defuses and negates the lies we’re told about the inequality in our republic. Our knowledge of this challenges their assertions and obviates the ploy to ensnare everyone in the welfare state.

The only reason this country is divided is to wrest power from the people and give it to the Fascists – a person who is dictatorial or has extreme right-wing views.

The word fascist, like many others, is frequently misused, diminishing the connotation’s impact.

Hitler, Mussolini, Mao, Chiang Kai-shek, and many others are classic Fascists. Should we add several of the last seventy years’ US Presidents to this list? Consider the definition of Fascist, and tell me that many of our recent leaders don’t honestly fit this denotation.

I know several that come to mind immediately.

I pose that question as an exercise to make you think critically about our republic but also as cautionary. Choose your words carefully. Understand their meanings…

Do you know the difference between equality and equity? They are similar but have some intricate differences.

It would be best to understand these nuances before throwing this word around, especially as our government misuses it.

Equity and equality are NOT equal.

Be aware of the crap you encounter from the media and realize that it is designed to sway your thinking and reinforce the conspiracy to seize power.

Our government already ignores our constitution. We are no longer a nation of laws but of men, men who covet our most precious God-given right.

If there are rights, no one can take them away.

If they can take them away, they are not rights but privileges.

Knowing this, do we have rights or privileges?

So the idea of God-Given rights is altered to governmental privileges granted to selected individuals or groups administered by an aristocracy with all the power and no responsibility.

This is the story of America… A Tale Too Shitty – Bang! Bang!

February 16, 2023

~ The Author ~
Charles R. Dickens was born in 1951, is a veteran of the Vietnam war, for which he volunteered, and the great-great grandson of the noted author, whose name he shares.

He is a fiercely proud American, who still believes this is the greatest country on the planet, with which we’ve lost control and certainly our direction. He grew up in moderate financial surrounding; we’re not rich by any stretch, but didn’t go hungry – his incredibly hard working father saw to that. As most from that era, he learned about life from his father, whose story would take too long to tell, other than to say that, he is also a fiercely proud American; a WWII and Korean war, veteran Marine.

Charlie was educated in the parochial system which, demanded that you actually learn something, and have capability to retain it before you advance. He attended several universities in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree, and chased the goose further to a master’s, and has retained some very definite ideas about education in this country.

In addition, Charlie is a retired blues guitar and vocalist – a musician. This was his therapy career. Nothing brings him as much joy as playing music, and he wishes that he could make a living at it… but alas… life goes on!

That’s Charlie… a proud, opinionated, and passionate American.