Americans Should Be Proud to Be ‘Woke’ and Very Proud to Be Liberal

On Jan. 6, 2021, Mo Brooks, a Republican representing Alabama’s fifth district, took the podium after Donald Trump stepped down and lumbered back into the safety of the White House. He added his remarks to Trump demanding that his Neo-Nazi supporters march to the Capitol Building and stop the certification of the Electoral College vote.

Trump demands that everyone support his lies exactly, without wavering from a single baseless allegation. Brooks made a fatal mistake telling the people of Alabama that they must “get over the 2020 election.” According to Trump, he should have vehemently stated that “the 2020 election was stolen from him.” Because he failed to follow a direct order from the orange bully, Trump had this to say from his millionaires and billionaires’ only playpen called Mar-a-Lago.

At Mar-a-Lago, Trump declared Republican candidates like Brooks who do not go “all in” like Mike Lindell to continually push his election fraud claims have “decided to go woke.”

If the following is a definition of “woke,” should every American embrace its meaning?

Woke (/ˈwoʊk/ WOHK) is an English adjective meaning ‘alert to racial prejudice and discrimination’ that originated in African-American Vernacular English (AAVE).

Trump’s party attacks Americans with labels including “woke,” “liberal,” and “socialist,” among others. Each of these is an honor. Americans are the exact opposite of today’s Republicans in name only who continue to fail the majority.

This must begin with the promise that “the truth lives here.” Since 1619, the “new nation” has been and remains a racist nation. Far too many men and women who call themselves “Americans” do not believe in the Constitution. They choose to support parts of it, but only the parts that protect their own prejudiced beliefs. They oppose the First, Fourth, and 14th Amendments while literally screaming about their Second Amendment rights incessantly.

On the same day that the annual white man’s complaint fest, they call CPAC, was being held in Orlando, Florida, across town the most extremist white supremacist/Neo-Nazi groups were holding their own event honoring Adolf Hitler, and Vladimir Putin. Invited to attend were Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, and from Arizona, Paul Gosar. Both spoke to their like-minded supporters. Both were heavily criticized by all real Americans.

There are proud liberals and Independents for life. Read the definition, and offer me a valid reason why every American should not be a liberal.

Willing to respect or accept behavior or opinions different from one’s own; open to new ideas.

If that is not the very premise of what it means to be an American, I do not know what it might be. Liberals are proud that the United States is a diverse nation of people who share ideas, personal beliefs, and even complaints in an atmosphere of understanding and compassion.

Attending family gatherings in the 1950s, I listened to the male members as they expressed their belief that Democrats and Republicans were virtually the same. That is far from the truth in 2022. The two parties are diametrically opposed on every important issue, and serve entirely different groups. Republicans are the party of special interests, while Democrats work for the majority.

All nations considered a part of the “free world” is to some degree socialist. Republicans love to attack that word, falsely claiming it is comparable to communism. Not close to the truth.

Socialism: “A political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.”

Designed to be a “democratic republic,” the United States is much closer to fascism than any form of democracy. The best example of this analysis is demonstrated by current economic problems.

The government, and the mainstream media, are calling the unnecessary increase in prices across the board “inflation.” This is a misnomer.

Coming out of an extreme economic downturn, where the nation’s larger corporations actually experienced increased profits unaffected by the pandemic, greed has become a motivation to push the nation’s people into an even greater level of subservience. There is not a single industry that needs to raise prices. This is nothing less than price gouging, the same techniques big businesses used in the 1970s to raise prices on gasoline, sugar, and coffee.

A form of democratic socialism has become a necessity. The gap in income inequality continues to grow, and by the way our economy is constructed, it will crash without change. Capitalism relies on consumerism. My wife and I can only afford the bare necessities of life, nothing more. We cook all our meals at home, no longer going to an occasional restaurant. We cannot afford a “night at the movies.” We fear the thought of a broken appliance or an expensive household repair. Where would we get the money?

We are not alone. We are two of approximately 165 million Americans who survive month to month, and some week to week. Unbridled capitalism has failed us.

Op-ed by James Turnage

Sources:

Daily Kos: Paul Gosar explains yet another appearance at a white nationalist conference by blaming his staff; by Aldous J Pennyfarthing

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