Most of you that know me know I really am not thrilled with living in California.  As a matter of fact, my friends, family, cadets, and people who have run into me on the street have all heard me say that I hate it.  I will probably continue to hate it for the rest of my life, even though I will probably die here at the rate things are going. 

(If I do die here, California will find a way to screw me over with some sort of death tax, which is one more reason why I hate it.)

I was also grew up a conservative Republican, and am a big fan of law and order (the concept, not the show; I was more of an NCIS and Blue Bloods fan).

So this is going to sound weird coming from me.

Dear Federal Government and President Trump,  LEAVE CALIFORNIA ALONE.

I wrote a story way back when, when there were comedies to write besides just “what Donald did today,” about how when my three year old daughter “helped” with anything, it took longer and usually just got worse.  She “helped” me with my knee pain by trying to fix it with a hammer.  She “helped” me work on the car by hiding my tools, that sort of thing.

King Donald is infinitely worse.  Yes, our immigration protests in LA were somewhat chaotic, but they were mostly peaceful, as described by virtually any law enforcement agency that actually had any of the facts.  King Donald stepped in, deployed Marines and National Guard troops, and things got significantly worse. 

Not only did he deploy them, he did so over the objections of the governor of California and the Mayor of Los Angeles. 

I am not a fan of the governor or the mayor, but I do respect the chain of command and the rule of law; the president’s actions show neither respect nor understanding of either one. 

Always a fan of the spin game, Donald Cluck sent in the Secretary of Homeland Security to hold a press conference, where she began to discuss Governor Newsom’s leadership in light of the protests, and claimed that Homeland Security agents were staying to “liberate the city socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country.”  Immediately after those remarks,  a California Senator, Alex Padilla, was forcibly removed and handcuffed by the FBI for trying to ask questions.

We will come back to that.

The secretary continued to say that anyone involved in harming law enforcement officers will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. 

Let’s look at that one for a moment.

The Secretary of Homeland Security, while defending the policies of her boss, said that anyone involved in harming law enforcement officers will be prosecuted.  And yet her boss is the guy that pardoned scores of people convicted of  HARMING LAW ENFORCMENT OFFICERS.

Here’s an article on the incident at the press conference above, for those looking to fact check (and you really should).

Sen. Alex Padilla forcibly removed from news conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles

Back to our CA leadership, and state leadership in general.  The federal government has no business commenting on the leadership of a state governor.  That choice is left to the people of that particular state; Newsom has been put up for recall several times, and several times he has survived.  I don’t like him, but more Californians want him in office than don’t, and it’s our decision.  If we elect a dead cat to be our next governor, the federal government needs to find a way to work with that cat’s administration and move on.  Instead, once again, Donald McDonald just wants to sow seeds of chaos and distract us from the fact that he probably isn’t really qualified to run a convenience store, never mind the country.

Here’s another little contradiction that makes me scratch my head.

The president today said he wants states to be able to survive national disasters without FEMA; in other words, the Federal Government should let the states handle their business without federal help.  Here’s an article on that:

President Trump to close FEMA at end of hurricane season | State Politics | theadvocate.com

So, the president wants states to handle national disasters, which impact hundreds of thousands of people, pretty much on their own, but insists upon “helping” the CA governor with a much lower impact issue (immigration protests that were fairly contained, until the president got involved).  Why?

(easy question; the immigration protests were aimed at him, and he took it personally).

I’ve got one more contradiction, just to round things out.   The deficit is skyrocketing, and we are throwing a military parade on the president’s birthday.

As a quick recap of this essay (or rant, if you want):

1. Our federal government interfered in a state issue without being invited, and made it worse.
2. A US senator was put in handcuffs for trying to ask questions to a cabinet member.
3. We are throwing a very expensive military parade for no reason.

Please understand that I am not advocating for the Democrats; they are just as bad as the Republicans, and really, right now, the whole system stinks.  What I’m saying is that these inconsistencies, these petty retributions, these unethical and at times illegal abuses of power, are going to hurt all of us, no matter how we voted last election.

Ask yourself the following questions:

When was the last time a president “overruled” a governor on an issue within that governor’s state border?

When was the list time a US Senator was put in handcuffs by a federal agency without a warrant for criminal misconduct?

When was the last time we had a military parade that didn’t involve us winning or at least significantly influencing a military conflict?

BONUS QUESTIONS: 

Why are literally HUNDREDS of “no kings” protests being held across the country on the same day as that parade?

When was the last time a president “joked” about a third term consistently?

As I have said in an earlier piece; this isn’t the end of democracy, but we can sort of see it from here…

These are the early chapters of “How to Become a Dictator,” folks.

History has shown us some very evil dictators; people that eventually harmed their countries at the cost of thousands or in some cases millions of lives.  Look at their actions as they rose to power.  If you will notice, the national pride of the average citizen usually skyrocketed during that time.  But you need to keep reading that story, because when the bubble popped, the sticky mess pretty much landed on everyone. 

We are the everyone.

Personally, I don’t believe that the president or his allies give a damn about “making America great again.”  They care about power, and staying in power at all costs, and making as much money for themselves and each other as possible.  And as long as we sit by and only worry about it when it directly impacts our own little world, we are going to lose our country.

Please, I beg you.  Write your Senators.  Write your Congressmen.  Do your homework.  Research and read what is going on in your country, with your government, with your elected representatives.  Believe what you want, but put in the work to get there on your own.  Understand that a lot of people in our government may not have the country’s best interest at heart, and hold them accountable or vote them out (if we are even given the chance).  Be heard.

Because here’s what happens if we don’t oppose what is going on.  The next steps will be increased use of the military on our own soil, martial law, and “suspended” elections.  Or worse, sham elections where 90+% of the reported vote is for someone with his knife to the voting body’s proverbial neck.

As Americans, it is our God given right to disagree.  If we don’t wake up, we are going to lose that right, and a whole lot more.