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The current administration in power isn’t doing a lot to make friends.
Between the ongoing and barbarous attack against our environment and the ripping apart of families who are just trying to find a safe harbor for their kids, those of us seeking for social justice and compassion are left with our eyes bugging out in shock and our jaws hanging. We helplessly watch, gob-smacked, as our hard-fought freedoms are being dissolved like fast melting ice cubes in the dog days of a climate change summer.
With the advent of a Trumpian Supreme Court, a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her own body may be snatched away with the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade. And there is serious and well-founded concern about the reversing of LGBT (human) rights and taking away access to the legal protections that marriage provides people who have vowed to love each other. Affirmative action will likely be on the chopping block, as well.
Here is one example of the energy that is being empowered in our supposed land of the free today:
“I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good…our goal is a Christian nation. We have a biblical duty, we are called on by God to conquer this country. We don’t want equal time. We don’t want pluralism.” –Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue
Here is another:
“It’s not paranoia to buy a gun. It’s survival. It’s responsible behavior, and it’s time we encourage law-abiding Americans to do just that.” –Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the gun manufacturers lobby, the National Rifle Association.
And, one more:
“Heil Trump!” –bellowed by the director of a white supremacist “think tank”, The National Policy Institute, and white supremacist lobbyist, Richard Spencer, along with his Caucasian friends, shouted while straight-arming a Nazi salute with their hairy palms thrust out for all to see.
This is the most absurd and frightening political landscape that we have ever seen as a nation. The Christian Theocracy Movement, gun cultists, and white supremacists are having a field day as their agendas are made manifest by the most unlikely, xenophobic, misogynistic, self-proclaimed sexual assaulter, bullying, adulterer that has ever sat in the Oval Office. You can’t make this stuff up!
And, at the risk of sounding like a conspiracy nut, there are even darker machinations afoot. These are not normally talked about very much amongst the screaming headlines. Check this out: Half of the world’s wealth is now owned by just one percent of the population. This is a growing trend that could, sooner rather than later, result in like 18 old white guys owning 95% of the world’s resources.
This is what we are being distracted from noticing as the forces of MAGA trounce on our wondrous, colorful, and diverse society in a mindless stampede of monochrome ignorance, arrogant antagonism, and prejudiced and misguided retribution.
Again, risking being compared with the tinfoil hat crowd, this is what I believe is really going on: The Trumpian, heavy-handed universe is working perfectly for the manifestation of ROWGA, or the Rich Old White Guys Agenda. ROWGA is simply the intention of the very few members in the highest top tier of society (those 18 or so white guys) to own everything and everyone else on the planet.
Within this storm of restricted rights and contracting social injustice, there is one area of our freedom that is expanding in the most incredible fashion, the legal right to enjoy marijuana. Even Oklahoma—a deeply red state and the home of the Trumpian, Earth-hating, former director of the EPA, Scott Pruitt—has legalized medical cannabis. Despite Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ obvious dislike for the pagan weed, access to legal marijuana is growing throughout our land of the free.
Here is what I think: If I were one of the morbidly wealthy, looking to create a nation favorable to my interests, I would guide my bought-and-paid-for politicians to create a society asleep at the wheel. I would want a stoned citizenry, staying home after the workday (except going out to shop), watching their 800 channels, playing with their phones, being content to simply catch up with the latest distractions and tweet-plomacy from that perfect front man in the White House. So, yes! “Let them smoke that lucifer’s lettuce!”
But, I believe there was a miscalculation on the part of those working on behalf of ROWGA.
Some fifty years ago, a large part of the citizenry spent much of their time stoned. It was around the same time that a bunch of those very stoned citizens changed the course of our country, moving us towards a greater peace, social justice, and aligning with the civil rights movement, working for those who had been marginalized. And they did it with the artful flair and brilliant style that was inspired by copious amounts of reefer madness.
Check this bit of history out: We were coming into Fall, after the Summer of Love, 1967. The insanity of the Vietnam war had made its way into the living rooms of America through television and the young people—many afraid of being drafted and forced to fight in a horrific conflict that didn’t make sense—were seeking ways for peace and love. Marches, rallies, and protests had been shaking up the foundations of our universities and cities, and our country was as divided as it had been during the Civil War.
Counter Culture icons, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, probably under the influence of that vile temptress, Maryjane, came up with a plan to make headlines for their cause. There was a massive anti-war rally planned for October 21st at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., but rallies had been done before. Abbie and Jerry wanted something different, something that would stir the deepest aspects of the human soul and awaken the country to the insanity that was the governing system of the time—something that oozed style and elegance. Like a match to a bowl, inspiration struck! They decided to form a human ring around the Pentagon, that geometric monument to the military-industrial complex, and levitate it 300 feet in the air. This was to be done as an exorcism, a way to chase away all evil vibrations within the edifice and thereby end the war.
It was an absurd act, and that was the point. It was an artfully human response to the absurd insanity that was epitomized by the decisions being made inside that five-sided celebration of nationalism and death that were destroying countless families both at home and abroad.
“Roll another one, just like the other one.” –Elliot Ingbar and Larry Wagner, recorded by the Fraternity of Man.
Those in charge obviously want us stoned and more and more states are joining in the cannabis gold rush. I actually don’t have a huge problem with that. But I am insulted by the attempt to keep us docile by providing us masses the highest quality bud, even in Oklahoma. So, let’s turn the tables, let’s use the high-end laughing grass to inspire artful acts of protest in elegant displays of the power of the people!
Let’s engage in exceptional demonstrations against ROWGA and their minions—pranks filled with magic, rallies brimming with the transforming power of love. Let’s ratchet up our political activism, and, if you’re into it, fuel it by the deeper wisdom and intelligence of spirit that is made more accessible after filling grandpa’s pipe with a bit of Old Toby. Our inspired activism can become poetry, pointing to a greatness that would be wondrous to achieve!
We are at a crossroads. The actions and choices we make today carry a weightier significance than any other time. And a very serious and yet more light-hearted, creative, and mischievously loving approach is what is called for. So, smoke ‘em if you got ‘em, (or just join in any way) and be sure to vote!
“There is absolutely no greater high than challenging the power structure as a nobody, giving it your all, and winning.” –-Abbie Hoffman, Social Activist, and Change Agent
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Photo credit: YouTube/Putin-Trump Mural titled “Make Everything Great Again” by artist Mindaugas Bonanu in Lithuania