A Memo from a Coastal Elite:

A Memo from a Coastal Elite:
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To: All Residents the of the USA

Subject: A woman died fighting Nazis—in the United States of America!

We the people of the other America would like to relay a few of our thoughts.

We know that some of you are hurting, that your coal jobs are going the way of the dinosaur; that your opiate addiction is growing daily; that all the extreme weather you have been receiving is taking its toll; that you are economically stressed—aren’t we all; and that the system is rigged against you. As Americans, we feel your pain. You deserve better. But your finger-pointing is wrongly directed.

Frankly, you were played for suckers in the last election by a slick know-nothing unprincipled huckster. Sold down the river by a charlatan that you wanted so desperately to believe would shake things up in ruling Eliteland: Washington DC, Hollywood, Madison Avenue, Silicon Valley, Wall Street, and at mainstream media along at every university across the land. You wanted someone to disrupt the way things were and bring America back to the 1950’s—when 35% of workers were unionized, marginal tax rates exceeded 90%, woman stayed in the kitchen, and minorities knew their place. To replay that bad 80s tune you heard during the Reagan years called Morning in America. And he too made you promises, promises…that he never kept.

We, for a quick moment, want you to celebrate your down-to-earthiness. Your smug belief that you country-folk know better. That only in America does the loser win. In lottery nation, you believe that you can get your coal job back or, get your rusted factory line career back on track. You choose party over country. No, you choose a bankrupt real estate carnival barker over country. You knew what the right thing to do last November was…what basic human decency called on you to do. But no, you knew better. And stop justifying your rabid ignorance and gullibility by saying: Well, everyone has their own opinion.

It has been a long seven-month ride through crazy town. But the events of this past weekend have made us all scream, again, because a woman died fighting Nazis—in the United States of America! In 2017!

My father did not die from wounds fighting Hitler’s Nazi fascists so that I would stand silent on this issue. We did not form a more perfect union in 1776 on the premise that all men (and women) are created equal, nor a fight a civil war four score and seven years later so any of us would sit idly by and watch hatred advance again. We did not lose some of our best and brightest fighting for civil rights in the 60s demanding racial equality. And we are not raising our sons and daughters today so that they can’t fulfill their own dreams, no matter the color of their skin, their beliefs or persuasion without a fight. So, if you want to fight, you came to the right place.

Know that we are against all you hate-filled torch-bearers in Charlottesville—or anywhere hiding in the reeds, churches and “fair and balanced” news shows. In fact, we don’t know what the hell you are thinking or yakking about frankly. Crazy huh, how big the divide between you and us is. It’s a gap that can’t be bridged. Nor for any good reason should it be.

Shame on you: you pathetic Confederate and Nazi flag waving, Sieg Heil screaming, Hitler saluting, white-supremacist scum…you neo-fascists idiots. We don’t give a rat’s behind about all you angry privileged white young male losers shouting, "White Lives Matter" who feel persecuted, because you aren’t. Grow up. We especially don’t give a crap about you unapologetic anti-Semitic and sexist bigots; and alt-right intellectually-impaired Tweeting trolls. Hate spewers all of you. What God do you follow? I’ll wait… What nation do you stand for? I’ll wait… What alternative reality do you reside? Nope, we are not waiting anymore.

We can’t think of any, because no God, no nation and no place worthy living in has ever been based on hatred, bigotry and ignorance. And you espouse that trifecta. You are not of God's people; you are the opposite of godly. You are not patriots; you are traitors. You are not righteous; you are just petty, evil, ignorant damn fools. And we will have none of it anymore.

We believe in progress. We belief in diversity. We believe that all men (and women) are created equal. We believe in each and every one of our unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

And while we’re at it, we also believe in a few other things:

We believe in change: that our Constitution is a living breathing growing document: that blacks aren’t 3/5’s a person like slave owners believed; that dispossessed renters can vote just as well as wealthy property owners; that women can be just as informed voters as men; and that unless you are a member of America’s brave armed forces, that you really don’t need to be carrying a semi-automatic assault weapon to buy a cup of coffee. We believe that our noble Founding Fathers couldn’t have conceived or understood the consequences of living in the 21st Century: in a national security state with nuclear weapons and global terrorism; with privacy compromises in the age of the Internet of Things; or that our nations farmers would become so productive that our cities would swell making the Electoral College superfluous; or that corporate money would corrupt our lawmakers into doing their bidding instead of what was good for we the people.

We believe in science too. And when science tells us that something is wrong with our only home, Mother Earth, and that we ought to do our best to make it a cleaner and safer place for our kids to grow up and live in, that we should listen. Sure, call us elitists. We don’t care, because what we do care about is the value of an education. We care what experts think, because sometimes things aren’t as black and white simple as con men tell you. We value science, experts, and their expertise too. On a side note, Billy Bob and Katie Kay are alive today because some elitist insisted on infringing our rights by making us wear seat belts and have air bags in cars. Most of all, you can call us elitist because we know that none of us can truly be safe and secure if our neighbors aren’t also safe and secure. We are all in this together, sink or swim.

So, wake the hell up folks!

The values of hatred espoused by white nationalists this past weekend in Virginia have already been relegated to the trash heap of history. We live in the future, not the discredited past. Things that don’t grow, rot. And you are rotten, your beliefs not respectable in any way. The arrow of history points up—not down. We will not backtrack. You rightfully lost that battle long ago in the hearts and minds of all respectable, conscientious and decent people. Love conquers all—not hate. But we know that some of you may not go quietly into the night. To actually learn brotherly love and acceptance. We know it might get messy; but to move forward the trash does need to be taken out. We know that some of you will whine and continue to blame others for your plight or waning unjust privileges, and throw a baby tantrum or two for not getting the shiny object of your desire. You might even get a loudmouth buffoon opportunist to support your zombie notions. But you and your nihilist ideas have lost, and have no place in our civilized 21st century American society. Not now, not really ever.

No, we are not going to have this because it is not right. There can be no moral ambiguity here. No false equivalency. It is wrong, and shame on you.

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