Happy Birthday George
The February 22, 2023 edition of The Status Quo: An Electronic Newsletter is dedicated to the memory of President George Washington. A slave owner, an officer (Colonel) of a foreign power, an opportunist and a man among boys, General Washington created an army that not only defeated the world’s preeminent superpower, but would some sixty-five years after his death free a people from bondage in the republic he created.
President Washishington also gave birth to the idea that in a republic the peaceful transfer of power from a sitting president to the president-elect must occur as required by the law. And if he were alive today, this Veteran believes his first two actions would be 1) to begin organizing the Second Continental Army and 2) to place a cell phone call to his old friend Anthony Wayne and order him to find the former fake President of the United States and arrest him.
A Dying Nation
Why Are So Many Americans Dying by David Wallace-Wells appeared in the 2 February 2023 digital edition of The New York Times (NYTimes). Mr. Wallace-Wells is an Opinion writer for NYTimes as well as a best-selling author who writes about three of the major issues facing humanity: climate change, technology and how a changing world is changing us. His latest effort to educate us on what is happening in America addresses an issue that is having a profound effect on our nation. The issue can be summed up in a single term: excess mortality. Simply put, excess mortality means the difference between the observed number of deaths during any specific time period and the expected number of deaths during the same period.
According to Mr. Wallace-Wells, the method used to compute excess mortality is to first combine historical and demographic trends to estimate “expected” deaths in a population and then use this figure as a baseline to measure what he refers to as “surprises” such as an unusually deadly flu season or a novel coronavirus that kills millions. The result of this computation is the number of excess deaths.
Mr. Wallace-Wells writes despite the fact that Covid-19 has been responsible for a large percentage of the “excess mortality” since 2020, there are other causes that have contributed to this excess mortality. Mr. Wallace-Wells has coined a term to describe this gap as our “excess, excess” mortality. He argues that although this excess, excess mortality can be attributed in large part to Covid-19, a large percentage of the total can be “chalked up” to other causes. This article is about one of those causes and how it cannot be measured by any scientific analysis.
Mr. Wallace-Wells offers three very cogent arguments for what is driving this “excess, excess” mortality. First, he argues that delayed care due to the pandemic may be the reason for this excess, excess mortality. Second, he argues that the secondary effects of the pandemic such as isolation, depression, alcohol/drug abuse, homicide and suicide might attribute to this excess, excess mortality. Third, he argues that the long term effect of the disease can take its toll on major organs thus leading to an increase in heart attacks, respiratory failure, etc., etc. Yet despite these logical conclusions, Mr. Wallace-Wells concedes that there isn’t medical or scientific consensus about what is driving these surprise “excess, excess” deaths. That is because the explanation does not lie in the scientific method. It lies elsewhere.
One major cause of these excess, excess deaths is the abandonment of hope. The effect on the mind and body when one abandons hope is incalculable and cannot be measured by any medical exam or test. It exacerbates every illness and ailment while magnifying even the mildest forms of depression. It reinforces doubt about oneself while adding to the feeling that we can no longer change our lives and the world for the better. The abandonment of hope is like a malignant tumor; it spreads to every aspect of our being until the desire to live is gone. The great American and soldier of Christ Billy Graham once said “Perhaps the greatest psychological, medical and spiritual need that all people have is hope.” Truer words have never been spoken.
It is only logical that the reader ask how it is that this Veteran knows so much about the abandonment of hope. The answer is simple. This Veteran has suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of childhood trauma and did in fact abandon hope before he could vote. As an officer in the United States Army, he was ordered to do things he would never have done but for service to his country causing him to again relive the trauma of his youth. At the age of 38, he became a self-appointed Soldier of Christ and struck down the enemies of Christ believing this would excise the demons that haunted him since childhood. What he learned was those battles only quenched his thirst for revenge. At 52, he was stabbed in the back by someone he loved, causing wounds from decades past to reopen. However, by the grace of God, he was able to find peace with the help of a good Doctor and a good friend. So these words might only be the observations of one man, but they are words written by someone who knows both what it means to abandon hope and the devastating effect it has on us.
When one looks across this ailing country, it is clear that tens of millions of Americans have abandoned hope. Many have discarded their dreams for the future for the pleasures of the moment. While others seek a way out of the never-ending sadness that comes when hope is lost. Hope has vanished for so many Americans and the despair that follows is killing us just as surely as Covid-19, heart disease, cancer, Fentanyl, homicide, suicide or the bullet fired from the legally purchased firearm of the next psychotic male.
A Little Less Conversation
Euclid’s Axiom 5 states the whole is greater than the part. We know this universal truth to be true because it makes sense. We can understand that the entirety of something is greater than a part of that same thing. We do not need to know who Eueklides was or what the Axioms of Euclidean Plane Geometry are to appreciate this fact of life. There is another axiom of life that needs no further explanation. This universal truth is that talk is cheap and action priceless.
Talk is cheap because talk alone never accomplished anything. Talk may inspire action or change but alone talk does not change the status quo. This was a universal truth that Americans understood for over two centuries. Yet in America 2023, talk is no longer cheap. Talk finds those who profit from dividing us paid millions to deliver hate and lies in the form of disinformation. A weasel from FOX News is perhaps the poster child for this betrayal of those journalists who sacrificed their lives to bring us the truth. MSNBC has one as well.
In America, talk has not only become very profitable but it has become synonymous with action. The career politicians have convinced Americans that words equate to action and as such there is no need to change the channel on your television, log off your computer or silence your cell phone in order to make a difference in the world. Take for example the woke warriors of the sanctimonious left who spew forth ignorance believing that their enlightened tweets equate to marching in the streets of Birmingham, AL in 1965. Even more disgusting is the cowardice of the reprehensible right’s trolls who believe sending hateful and terrifying messages to innocent people is the same as serving in uniform. Cowards one and all.
What makes these lemmings so dangerous is that they and so many others in America believe change can come about with words; words filled with hate, lies and ignorance. They believe that slogans like Make America Great Again and Betting on America are enough to bring about change. Just the other day, the latest career politician to declare a bid to be president could not stop spouting off sheer nonsense in her speech. It was nonsense because no intelligent person believes she can turn those campaign promises into reality. What this Veteran wants to know is if what she was promising was misinformation or disinformation. Does she really believe she can keep those promises or does she know she cannot but wants the American people to think she can.
What is disconcerting if not unexpected is the recent revelation that Fox News executives knew the “Stop the Steal” movement was based upon a lie but continued to assure so many conservatives that the election was in fact stolen. In a real republic, where the rule of law means something, these men and women would stand trial for conspiracy to incite insurrection, not that they had the courage to actually wage one.
The American Revolution was made possible by men and women who knew the time for talking about independence had come to an end. Thomas Paine was one of them. The American Civil War came about because men and women of conscience knew that talking about the end of slavery had come to an end. Harriet Tubman was one of them. The Third American Revolution, where the career politician is expunged from political life and a Second Constitutional Convention convened in order to return the federal government to the people it was created to serve, will not come about through malicious tweets or well-intentioned texts. Words are what keep the status quo alive. Action is what will change it.
With that in mind, it is with the utmost urgency that the message of this article reaches every Veteran and each servicemember. America is a dying nation and the proof is all around us. Therefore, we must unite as a single political force. It will be our mission to recruit others to our cause while never forgetting that General Washington had only about 25% of the population behind him. We shall garner more support than that and with the help of God we shall win the day.