Life

WDP — Freedom

Fandango5 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What does freedom mean to you?
View all responses

Earlier this week, Suze at Obsolete Childhood, posed this question in her “Answer Me This” prompt.

What values are fundamental to you and why?

When I responded to Suze’s prompt, I did so from the perspective of my rights and freedoms as an American — rights and freedoms that I have always taken for granted — that enable me to be me, to be who I am.

And that is the problem. Over the past two decades, and especially since 2016 when Trump won the presidency, these rights and freedoms that I have taken for granted have eroded significantly.

Over the past decade and a half, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in the Citizens United decision, that corporations and other outside groups have a First Amendment right to free speech, which includes independent political spending. The court naively assumed that independent spending would not be corrupt and that it would be transparent. But the decision’s impact was to dramatically expand the already significant political influence of wealthy donors, corporations, and special interest groups. It also facilitated the use of “dark money” to finance political campaigns where groups can spend unlimited funds on elections without revealing the source of the funding.

The high court also eviscerated the Voting Rights Act because Chief Justice John Roberts wrote an opinion that effectively declared the end of racism in the United States. He argued that the “extraordinary measures” employed by a key provision of the Voting Rights Act could no longer be justified because our country had changed significantly since the Act became law in 1965. Seriously?

More recently, in 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, thus paving the way for states to essentially ban women who live in those states from having abortions and making it a criminal offense. Since then, fully half of the states in this country have banned abortions or tightened restrictions. Some of these states are passing laws that require women who are pregnant to register with the state! Overturning Roe v. Wade essentially took away women’s rights to choose to have abortions and their freedom to manage their own reproductive healthcare.

And in certain states, teachers are being forbidden to teach topics that the ”states” have deemed offensive, like critical race theory, tying slavery as a factor leading to the Civil War, banning books that discuss LGBTQ matters, and other “woke” (i.e., liberal) topics. Trump has promised that if he is reelected, he intends to imprison his political enemies.

I am a liberal atheist who is free to express his views on sex, religion, and politics without fear of reprisals or arrest and imprisonment. But in what may become the “new Trumpian America,” I fear that the rights and freedoms of many more Americans may be at risk.

With the way things are going in this country, how certain are you, when it comes to your freedom of expression as a blogger, it won’t look something like this?

Weekend Writing Prompt — Medicine Cabinet

Fandango6 Comments

We have a cabinet in our kitchen
In which we keep our “every day” medicines
Like Advil, vitamins, Omeprazole, etc.
We have two drawers in our bathroom
In which we keep our “as needed” first aid stuff
Like Band-Aids, lozenges, thermometer, etc.

(Exactly 42 words)

Written for Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt, where the challenge is “cabinet” in exactly 42 words. Photo credit: Fandango.

SoCS — A Loner Living Alone

Fandango8 Comments

For this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, Linda G. Hill has asked us to use the words “loan” and “lone.”

My parents and a lot of my friends call me a “lone wolf.” And I suppose some could argue that’s an apt description of me. I live alone in a four-story apartment building in my town’s central business district. I live on the fourth floor and there are only two units on that floor. Mine and the unoccupied unit across the hall from mine.

I like living alone. I work from home and I rarely leave the confines of my comfortable apartment. I admit that I’m a bit of an introvert so I don’t enjoy being out and about surrounded by loud, boistrous crowds. And between DoorDash for meals and Amazon for just about everything else, I am all set.

One morning there was a knock at my door. That was strange because the building has a security system where guests gave to be buzzed in, and I didn’t get buzzed. I looked through the peephole in my door and saw a young woman, hands on her hips, standing there. She knocked again, waited a minute, and then I heard her say, “I know you’re in there. I can see your eyeball peeking out at me. Will you open the door, please?”

I opened the door and saw this woman, probably in her mid-to-late twenties. Auburn hair. Attractive. “I am in the process of starting to move into the apartment across the hall from you and I wanted to let you know that the movers will be here in about 30 minutes with my stuff and it may be a bit noisy.”

“Okay,” I said. “Thanks for the heads-up.” Then I started to close the door but she put her hand up to block it from closing.

“I’m sorry, this may sound trite, but could I borrow a cup of sugar from you? I started to brew some fresh coffee in my coffee maker, but I realized that I didn’t have any sugar.”

“You want me to loan you a cup of sugar?” I asked.

“Well, yes, I suppose you can call it a loan,” she said. Once I get moved in and can get to the grocery store, I’ll replace your sugar.” Then she looked at me, smiled, and said, “Or you could simply invite me in and we can have some coffee together, which is much better than having coffee alone, isn’t it?”

I smiled back at her, gestured for her to come in, and thought, My days of living as a lone wolf might be coming to an end.

Answer Me This — Fundamentally Speaking

Fandango3 Comments

Suze, over at Obsolete Childhood has introduced a new prompt called “Answer Me This.” Suze says it’s weekly alternative to the WordPress Daily Prompt, which she characterized as “ones that totally suck and are focused upon the young people here.

Her prompt question today is this:

What values are fundamental to you and why?

I suppose that, within the framework of what is legal, what is ethical, and what most people would say is moral, my fundamental values are the rights and freedoms that enable me to be me, to be who I am.

I realize that some of the definitions of what is legal, what is ethical, and what is moral are subject to change over time. For example, I used to smoke pot when it was very illegal to do so. And even today, the purchase and use of cannabis for recreational purposes, which is perfectly legal in my state, is still illegal at the federal level and remains illegal in half of America’s 50 states.

And up until the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, abortions were legal in all 50 states. But since then, 25 states have banned abortion or tightened restrictions. But 25 states and Washington, DC have maintained or strengthened abortion rights. I live in a state that supports a woman’s right to manage her own healthcare.

As to what is ethical and moral, Donald Trump is the most unethical and immoral (and amoral) person who has ever been POTUS. Now, with half of the population ready to vote him back in the White House, it seems that we are now free to each come up with our own definitions of what is ethical and what is moral.

So, as a liberal atheist who is free to express his views on sex, religion, and politics without fear of reprisals or arrest and imprisonment, I’m a happy camper. As an American, I have been taking these rights and freedoms for granted my entire life. But in what may become the “new Trumpian America,” I fear that these rights and freedoms are at risk.

And that is something every Americans should be seriously concerned about. In my liberal atheist opinion, anyway.

WDP — Same Old, Same Old

Fandango8 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What was the last live performance you saw?
View all responses

Nothing has changed since I answered this question here almost a year ago.

I know that the pandemic is allegedly “over,” but we haven’t been to any live performances since September 2019. That’s not to say that if a “can’t miss” live performance of one of our favorite classic rock bands were scheduled to perform at a venue near us, we wouldn’t consider going, but most of our favorite bands are either no longer touring or at least one key member of the group is no longer with the group, in most cases, due to having died.

A few weeks ago we watched (and recorded) a two hour Billy Joel concert from Madison Square Garden. And if the Kennedy Center is honoring one of our favorite performers, we’ll watch that on TV. We also like to watch the telecast of the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame induction performances.

But buying very expensive tickets to see a rock star perform at a stadium with 50,000 of our closest friends, fuhgeddaboudit. It’s just not worth it anymore.