America, Where are You Now?

 America, where are you now?

Don't you care about your sons and daughters?

America, we need you now,

We can't fight alone against the monster.

                                        Steppenwolf, Monster,  1969

Ironic, isn't it that a protest song from the 60's has so much resonance in 2025? Don't you think it is pathetic that we are mimicking Germany in the 1930s? We have armed and masked quasi-militias with unidentified members roaming the streets of our large cities, suburbs,  and small towns, arresting without warrants whomever they please, taking them off the streets in unmarked vehicles with no known destination. No court dates are set, no hearings are scheduled. Deportations are conducted without any legal process being adhered to.

 Children are being detained, taken away in the middle of the night, hands zip-tied, separated from their parents. The "worst of the worst" criminals? What do these actions say about us as a society? Are we now afraid of children? They watch in horror as their parents are arrested and taken away from them in front of, and in, the schools.  

Yes, some of our cities have become battlegrounds, but the battle is not "Antifa" (there is a subject for long conversation) taking over the cities, it is the battle for the right to exist, the right to live freely, the right of peaceful protest without fear of imminent, unwarranted arrest, as spoken of in The Constitution of the United States of America and the Bills of Rights. You remember, those "Founding Documents" we supposedly learned about in schools. Is this the America you grew up in? Is this what you want for America? 

No amount of flag-waving, no military parade, no ballroom, no "imminent danger" can excuse this childish behavior.  Were this behavior not so tragic, so serious in its consequences, I would call it out as bullies in a playground. It has now gone far beyond that. Where are the adults in the room? Where are our finest legal minds?

Generations of political leaders in our country have worked, with some success, to feed and house the poor and working class families when  incomes did not meet expenses. Now, affordable housing, even affordable rent, is beyond the reach of many Americans. Grocery prices continue to climb but wages are not keeping up, regardless of the rhetoric from Washington. Older Americans struggle to afford the basics-food, housing, insurance. Young families are desperate to find safe communities in which to raise their families, to have the great American Dream. Jobs are vanishing, unemployed/underemployed Americans are finding it harder and harder to afford housing, day care and medical care. Is this your version of the Great American Dream? 

Health care is under attack, not from immigrants unfairly using it, but from our government. You know, the government of the people, for the people, and by the people. The Republicans in our Congress have stripped away subsidies that allow Americans to afford health care, and have caused a shutdown of the Government by refusing to even have honest discussions about this critical issue. Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the office of the President, yet they fault the democrats for the shutdown. Is this how Republicans govern? 

What can we do? What can you do? Write/email/call your Representatives and Senators, tell them you are not happy with them, not happy about the healthcare issues, not happy about SNAP going away, not happy with illegal detention and deportation,  not happy with the shutdown. 

Then, most importantly, VOTE whenever you have the opportunity. Votes do matter in elections! And yes, your vote does count, particularly in the elections for Representatives and Senators. (For the record: undocumented individuals do not vote.) 

Make voting a civic duty.  I was speaking Monday night with a Ukrainian (now a United States Citizen) who moved his family here just before the outbreak of the war. He was totally bewildered that a third of the American citizens failed to vote in the last election. In Ukraine, it is considered a citizen's responsibility and an honor to vote.

It is OUR country, America! Stand up for the America you believe in, the America that takes care of it's citizens, the America that was, and hopefully will become again, the beacon on the hill, the great light of Democracy!

As always, your comments are most welcome. 

Thanks for reading!

R.M. "Bob" Hartman

Four Cretins from Utah

Four bigoted, small-minded, self-righteous, fearful, hate-filled so-called people who sadly have been elected to "legislate" in the State of Utah have used power they think they have to violate the 1st amendment to the U.S. Constitution while demonstrating their adherence to a supposed religious doctrine that is antithetical to the teachings of Jesus Christ, that we "love one another."

Here's the background on this shameful behavior. Utah Transit Authority-UTA to those of us who know and love it-sells advertising on the buses and on TRAX. This being 2023 and all, the ads generally consist of vehicle "wraps" that decorate the entire vehicle, front, both sides, and rear. I'm sure you have seen them if you notice the transit vehicles at all. R & R Advertising and Lamar Advertising donated space on one vehicle, a bus, to display PRIDE advertising, consisting of PRIDE colors and three picture/word sections: Work with PRIDE, Ride with PRIDE, and Move with PRIDE. The bus so wrapped has been in service for over a year in the Salt Lake Valley; UTA tweeted that it would be showcased in the Utah PRIDE Parade on Sunday, June 4th.

The four Utah cretins: Utah House Majority Leader Mike Schultz (R-Hooper), Utah House Representatives Candice Pierucci (R-Herriman), Rep. Kay J. Christofferson (R-Lehi), and Rep.Colin Jack (R-St. George) sent emails, using their Utah State emails, to UTA politely demanding the bus be pulled from service and more importantly, pulled from the PRIDE parade.

"Honestly, this is the last thing I want to deal with right now" Schultz said in the text. "IT seriously would be better if you made the change on your own. Let me know what you guys come up with."

It seriously would be better if the House Majority Speaker reviewed the 1st amendment to the U.S. Constitution before he made such a fool of himself. That amendment says, and I seriously quote here, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

So, using their governmental office title and email address while demanding a bus be pulled because they didn't like the advertising to me sounds like a violation of the 1st amendment to the U.S. Constitution. (For anyone who doesn't know where to find the 1st amendment, it is the one that precedes the 2nd amendment, you know, the gun rights etc.)

I am sure these 4 mouth-breathing lowlife bottom feeders are more than happy they interfered with the PRIDE parade and showed the Utah LGBTQ+ community who is really in charge in Utah. 

One can only hope the citizens of Hooper, Herriman, Lehi, and St. George will replace these 4 in the next election cycle.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you will grace this page with your comments and opinions. 

R.M. "Bob" Hartman

A Very Strange New Year

The events of the first 13 days of 2021 have been, to say the least, difficult. It is incredible to me that one man, however talented, could rile so many people to a state of open rebellion against the United States of America, and then deny he was responsible for the outrageous attacks on the very bastion of our democratic republic. Where was Donald Trump when his various schools taught civics, the rule of law, and personal responsibility? 

I believe this quote is credited to Tip O’Neill, Speaker of the House from 1977 to 1987. “Everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but not to his own facts.” Even if I am incorrect, and it was not Speaker O’Neill, it is a quote well suited to this time in history. President Trump lost his bid for re-election. A more elegant and graceful gentleman, and there have been many presidents who were, would have simply and graciously accepted the vote of the American People, and prepared for his successor to take on the mantle of President of The United States of America.

 President Trump, however, has taken on the role of a spoiled, querulous child and maintained that he won the election, going to far as to file sixty-odd lawsuits challenging the validity of the election. None of those suits stood the test of court scrutiny. He has stirred rumors, cast dispersions on the character of other elected officials, and called upon his supporters to attempt an overthrow of our legal election of a new president. In doing so, he was aided and abetted by members of both the House and Senate, who insisted on challenging the results in states other than their own, even after they had been forced to shelter during an attack upon, incursion into, and riot in our nation’s Capital building.

It is troublesome to see and hear so many people fall under the spell of a megalomaniac; who take as gospel his words, even when the words are devoid of facts; to see our country reach such depths of distrust and division that it will take years to recover our sense of balance and our position in the world.    

As I watched the events unfold on January 6^th, I remarked to my wife, “My God, we have become a banana republic.”  The irony of American politicians, who in the past have called out elections and transfers of power in other countries was not lost on me.

Democracy is not self-sustaining; it requires hard work and constant attention. Our founding fathers recognized this fact; it is the preamble to the Constitution of the United States. I leave you with this quote:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty, to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

 

Thanks for reading; your comments, as always, are welcome.

R. M. “Bob” Hartman

The President of the Untied States of America

Has many solemn duties to perform, among them is to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

The Constitution of the United States was born by a people who   

had seen, firsthand, what a monarchy can do to it’s citizens; they 

were determined to create a system of government that was of the people, by the people, and for the people. Keeping this end in sight, they established three equal but separate divisions of government: the Judicial, Legislative, and Executive branches. The goal was to establish a system of checks and balances that would keep the government on an equal basis, avoiding excesses and malfeasance by the equal branches of government. (Most of us know this from our civics and history classes in public schools.)

The Founding Fathers did not expect this triangular based

government to always, or even regularly, go smoothly, they envisioned there would be disagreements between the branches, and within the branches; they had faith, however, that even these disagreements would be settled out in a manner that respected the views of all parties, even those in disagreement with the final outcome. Over time, this excellent system has been improved, codified, and strengthened, to the betterment of all Americans. The Founding Fathers showed a group wisdom and intelligence far beyond what could have reasonably been expected of them as individuals.

Our Founding Fathers were well aware of the results of a monarchy

or dictatorship; that is, everyone who served in a government could be removed from his or her position simply for disagreeing with the head of government, regardless of the validity of the disagreement.

That same Constitution therefore provides that the President shall

nominate, and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint Officers of the United States, such as the Director of National Intelligence.

As of today, no less than 13 government departments are headed by

“acting” leaders, as opposed to those who have been approved by the Senate, as provided for in our constitution. These include: The Departments of Labor and Homeland Security; The White House Chief of Staff, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Director of the Small Business Administration.

Still reading? Good. Other offices under “acting” leadership

include OSHA, FDA, USCIS, CBP, FEMA, and ICE.

That’s right, my fellow citizens. Your on-the-job-safety, drug safety and pureness, and the federal government’s emergency management agency, are run by acting directors. Feeling a little worried? Don’t let me stop you; the Directors of National Intelligence, Homeland Security, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement are also “acting.” That’s right-our homeland security, immigration, and national intelligence departments are run by acting directors, who owe their office solely to President Trump, and have not been vetted by the Senate.

And what qualifies the acting directors for their particular

positions? To a person, they have demonstrated undying loyalty to President Trump. Many had made financial contributions to the President’s initial election campaign. They have, in the main, no knowledge of the departments they head, nor do they share a past experience of managing large groups of employees.

Why have these positions been filled by acting directors? The

President said, in an interview with the press, that he liked acting directors. It allows him to move quickly.

I guess we found out yesterday what he meant by move quickly.

When a DNI briefing to the House intelligence Committee reported that Russia was again interfering in our electoral process, and that Russia preferred Trump as the next President, the President angrily discarded his acting DNI,( Joseph Maguire) and replaced him with another acting director, Richard Grenell, who is currently the U.S. Ambassador to Germany. Mr. Grenell has no intelligence background, nor any experience leading a large government agency. His sole attribute, if you will, is his unquestioning loyalty to President Trump.

This behavior-using unqualified acting heads of government

bodies- must come to a stop. It is up to the Senate, our elected officials, to call a halt to the President’s flagrant disregard of Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution, and demand the President submit qualified individuals for “the advice and consent” of the Senate.   

Thank you for reading; as always, your thoughts and comments are 

appreciated. Just click on the pencil in the white box below.

R.M. “Bob” Hartman