Thanksgiving 2020 Part 3

  

  

 

The Cold War After 30 Years Part 4: (1975-1985) 

After the Vietnam War within 10 years afterwards, the world would never be the same again. The American nation went from the era of Nixon to Reagan. America saw the center right President Gerald Ford and the centrist president Jimmy Carter (Carter would be a lot more progressive after his Presidency). The Soviet Union evolved from a superpower in 1975 to a near exhausted, defeated nation. The Soviets had inflation, a weakened economy, rebellious satellite states, and military involvement in Afghanistan that caused its defeat in Afghanistan. America had many changes from the conservative policies of Ford, the moderate policies of Jimmy Carter (who promoted deregulation), and the conservative revolution of Reagan. Ronald Reagan was anti-Communist for decades. He used militaristic rhetoric against the Soviets on many occasions. The biggest irony of him is that he worked with a moderate leader of Gorbachev that caused Reagan to calm down that war mongering rhetoric and focused on ending the Cold War in more peaceful actions. Ford and Carter saw the existence of SALT I and SALT II. They wanted detente to be widespread. The problem was that events existed outside of both Presidents' control that contributed to a massive change in Cold War history. By the late 1970's, the political crises in the Third World, the political persecution of Soviet dissidents like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Andrei Sakharov, plus the Iranian Revolution (and the Nicaraguan Revolution) deteriorated relations among America and the Soviet Union.  

By December of 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, and Carter banned America from being in the Olympics in 1980 at Moscow. The new era of the Cold War started. Reagan at first expanded the military budget, threatened the Soviet Union, and promoted Star Wars in space. Many people were afraid that World War III was coming, but the Soviet Union was dying literally. Reagan worked with the CIA and the Vatican to fund anti-Communist efforts in Eastern Europe. By 1985, the young Mikhail Gorbachev was General Secretary of the Soviet Union in 1985. With him, the Cold War would end in massive developments. By 1985, no one would foreseen that the start of the end of the Cold War would commence. 

 

 

President Gerald Ford

 

Gerald Ford's Presidency during the Cold War was very short. It only lasted from August 1974 to January 1977. Yet, his influence in history was massive. Gerald Ford was one of the many center-right Republican Republicans in the mold of a Dwight D. Eisenhower. He faced many economic and foreign policy challenges from inflation to regulation of the CIA including the FBI. His overall life lasted from July 14, 1913 to December 26, 2006. Ford was the only person to have served as both vice President and President without being elected to office either by the Electoral College. His vice President was Nelson Rockefeller. Rockefeller wanted the Presidency for years, but the closest that he ever saw was Vice President. Ford was born in the Midwest at Omaha Nebraska. He played football, graduated from the University of Michigan and has a JD from Yale University. He served in the Navy during World War II. Later, he was in the House of Representatives from 1949 to 1973. At the beginning of his Presidency, Gerald Ford said that the nightmare (or Watergate) in America was over. One of the most controversial parts of Ford's Presidency was the pardon of Richard Nixon. Ford argued that without the pardon, Nixon would be on trial for years to come, and that would distract from moving the country forward. Still, many people opposed the pardon. The pardon took place on September 8, 1974 via Proclamation 4311. Jerald terHorst resigned his post in protest of the pardon. 

Many historians believe that Gerald Ford lost the 1976 election in part because of the Nixon pardon. The irony is that Nixon disrespected Ford' intellect (as found in secret tapes of Nixon). Gerald Ford testified on October 17, 1974 to justify the pardon to Congress. He was the first sitting President since Abraham Lincoln to testify before the House of Representatives. Ford said that the Supreme Court decision from 1915 called Burdick v. United States said that a pardon indicated a presumption of guilt and an acceptance of a pardon was an admission of guilt (i.e. Nixon admitting guilt). Edward Kennedy once opposed the pardon, but said that history made the pardon necessary. Gerald Ford also pardoned draft dodgers and deserters by September 16, 1974 as along as they serve 2 years working in a public service job or did other actions. He had a new cabinet except Secretary of State Kissinger and Secretary of Treasury William E. Simon. William Coleman was the Secretary of Transportation or the 2nd black man to serve in a presidential cabinet after Robert C. Weaver. During this time, Bush Sr. was the Director of the CIA. We saw Donald Rumsfeld being the youngest Secretary of Defense. A young Richard Cheney would be the Chief of Staff. Cheney was a young Wyoming politician back then. By 1974, the Democrats controlled the House. Ford wanted to use the WIN program to end inflation. He believed that controlling inflation would help reduce unemployment. Ford signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 that helped form special education in America. This was a righteous act of him. Ford dealt with unemployment issues. He wanted a 1 year tax reduction to form economic growth and spending cuts to handle inflation. Income tax rebates happened in the Tax Reduction Act of 1975. The deficit federally increased from 1975 to 1976. 

When NYC faced bankruptcy, Ford refused to give NYC's Mayor Abraham Beame a federal bailout. The 1976 swine flue outbreak happened, and many people were vaccinated. Ford supported the Equal Rights Amendment or the EPA. Gerald Ford continued detente in the Cold War. He promoted SALT and the Helsinki Accords with the Soviet Union in 1975. America and Israel had disagreements on foreign policy. Ford refused to send billions of dollars of military and economic aid to Israel over Mideast peace negotiations. Gerald Ford saw the end of the Vietnam War. Ford was wrong to support Surbaro's invasion of East Timor that caused almost 250,000 deaths in the Timorese population from 1975 to 1981. Ford saw American people from the Mayaquez to be released from the Cambodians. They were released, but Marines were killed in coming into another island. Ford had a large boost in the polls. Later in 1976, North Korea apologized for harassing U.S. officers and South Korean guards. Gerald Ford survived 2 assassination attempts during his Presidency. Gerald Ford appointed the center left justice John Paul Stevens to the Supreme Court in 1975. In 1976, the unexpected Jimmy Carter won the election. Gerald Ford ran for office, and he was challenged by former California Governor Ronald Reagan (as a conservative. Reagan criticized Ford for his actions in South Vietnam, the Helsinki Accords, and for ceding the Panama Canal). Reagan won primaries in North Carolina, Texas, Indiana, and California. He didn't get the majority of delegates, so Ford won at the Republican Convention at Kansas City, Missouri. July 4, 1976 was America's bicentennial. Jimmy Carter won in part because of the debates with Gerald Ford. Ford made a mistake by saying that there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never be under a Ford administration. Jimmy Carter won the popular vote and electoral votes. Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter became friends after Ford's Presidency. Gerald Ford would go on to promote center-right causes, even opposing the Iraq War. He passed away on December 26, 2006. 

  

 

President Jimmy Carter

 

Jimmy Carter was the perfect example of a moderate (center-left) President who became massively more progressive after his Presidency. He saw massive changes of the Cold War. He was born in Plains, Georgia. He served in the United States Navy during World War II. Carter was a peanut farmer. He worked in the Democratic Party for his whole life. He was once Governor of Georgia on an anti-segregationist and pro-affirmative action platform. He won the 1976 Democratic nomination. Carter pardoned all of the Vietnam War draft evaders by issuing Proclamation 4483. He helped to form the Department of Energy and the Department of Education. Carter believed in conservation, price controls, and new technology. Like a moderate, he followed deregulation too. Carter helped to form the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaties, and the second round of SALT II (or the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Treaty II). He returned the Panama Canal Zone to Panama. He confronted stagflation (or high inflation, high unemployment, and slow growth). Yet, he had to deal with the 1979-1981 Iran hostage crisis, the 1979 energy crisis, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Carter faced many problems. Jimmy Carter ended detente, used a grain embargo against the Soviets. 

Jimmy Carter's foreign policy thinking was heavily influenced by his national security adviser, the late Zbigniew Brzezinski. Brzezinski helped to form the Trilateral Commission with David Rockefeller plus other people. The Trilateral Commission deals with the economic integration of Japan, Western Europe, and America. Brzezinski was the director of the group from 1973-1976. He invited Carter to join. Brzezinski had a hardline stand against the Soviet Union, he supported the mujaheddin fighting the Soviets, and he was part of the establishment. It is no secret that Brzezinski had an intense hatred of the Soviet system. He said it in public, and he wrote about his disdain in books for decades. Brzezinski wanted President Carter to use the human rights issue as a way to put pressure on the Soviet Union on dealing with Eastern Europe. Carter's foreign policy dealt with human rights issues heavily. David Rockefeller's Chase Manhattan Bank funded the Shah of Iran. The Shah was a dictator who suppressed the human rights of the Iranian people for decades. Carter once praised the Shah when he visited D.C. at 1976. Carter visited Tehran to praise the Shah. At first, President Carter said this about the Shah of Iran, “There is no leader with whom I have a deeper sense of personal gratitude and personal friendship.” January 16, 1979 was when the Shah left Iran. This came after strikes and demonstrations happened in 1978. The Iranian Revolution caused Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to rule Shia dominated Iran via referendum on April 1, 1979. Many Americans back then didn't know why many Iranians hated Americans, but it is clear that Western imperialism ruined the lives of many in the Middle East. Rockefeller interests wanted the Shah to live in America, but Carter refused. Later, Carter did so, but Carter knew that the U.S. embassy in Iran would soon be overrun. After October 22, 1979 when the Shah was in a hospital at NYC, Iranians stormed the American embassy. They took 70 employees hostages. They were never released until 1981. Before that time, Carter used a failed rescue attempt on April 1980. Cyrus Vance opposed the scheme, and he resigned after 8 Americans being dead. Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in April 1980. According to the late journalist Robert Parry and NSC official Gary Sick, Reagan campaign officials met with Iranian leaders. They promised to allow Israel to ship arms to Iran if Iran would hold the hostages until Reagan won the election (or the October Surprise). Reagan won the 1980 election, and on January 20, 1981, Iran released the U.S. embassy personnel. This was after Reagan was sworn in as President. The 1968 and 1980 elections caused the United States to be further politically dominated by right wing extremism that continues even in 2020. In late 2020, an Iranian leader was assassinated. Israel and Saudi Arabia are in alliance, because they view Iran as an adversary. 

He formed the Carter Doctrine, and Carter led a 1980 Summer Olympics boycott in Moscow. Carter wanted human rights in the world, but his foreign policy was increasingly reactionary. He was challenged in the 1980 Democratic nomination by the progressive Senator Ted Kennedy. Ted Kennedy and Carter disagreed on a national health care plan. To this day, Carter blames Kennedy for not making a national health care a reality. Back then, Ted Kennedy didn't view Carter's plan as going far enough. Carter won the Democratic primary. Later, Carter was defeated by the Republican Ronald Reagan. After his Presidency, Jimmy Carter became massively progressive by increasing his support of human rights with the Carter Center. He monitored elections, promoted peace, and used his Habitat for Humanity to build homes to tons of people. Jimmy Carter has been active to promote education and fight diseases in developing nations. He has worked to try to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Carter has also taught Sunday school well into his 90s at church. Jimmy Carter is the longest lived President, the longest retired President, and the first President to live 40 years after his inauguration. Jimmy Carter loves his wife and children, and he is the first President to reach the age of 95 years old. 

 

 

Reagan's Conservative Revolution

One of the most wickedest, racist, and hypocritical movements in American history was the Reagan Conservative Revolution. The problem with that movement is that it believes in the lie that someone's background determines inferiority or superiority. Even before the tapes have shown Reagan making a racist remark about black Africans to Nixon, we, as black people, already knew that Ronald Reagan was a racist, an extremist, and a person who was wrong ideologically. To understand the Reagan Revolution, we have to go back. A very long time ago, Americans debated on the role of government. Some Americans wanted a strong central government to protect human rights, and others wanted a weak central government to protect the interests of farmers, slaveowners, and others. Some wanted a fair distribution of wealth among all people, and others wanted to centralize wealth mostly to the richest few. The Constitution is explicit that the government has every right to promote the Post Office and other infrastructure federally. Thomas Jefferson was clear that he wanted states' rights and a weakened central federal government. Jefferson owned slaves and believed in the myth of black intellectual inferiority that Benjamin Banneker rightfully refuted him on. Jefferson even wanted France to dominate Haiti, and he never recognized Haiti's independence in 1804. 

Later, the U.S. Civil War happened. The Confederacy wanted to not have a strong federal government, but they desired slavery to exist under the guise of "state's rights." State Confederate constitutions and speeches from Confederate leaders overtly mentioned that the Confederacy was born to maintain slavery and racism. For example, Alexander H. Stephens was the V.P. of the Confederacy (on March 21, 1861). He gave a Cornerstone Speech where he admitted that he wanted the Confederacy to maintain white supremacy. Stephens said the following words: "[I]ts foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery—subordination to the superior race—is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth." Obviously, Alexander H. Stephens is a racist liar. Real heroes from Frederick Douglass to Radical Republicans inspired Lincoln to promote the Union and defeat the Confederate enemy. After the U.S. Civil War, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution expanded the role of the federal government to protect the human rights of black Americans and all Americans in general.

Then, racists used the guise of "state's rights" in depraving black Americans voting rights and other fundamental human rights during Reconstruction, Jim Crow apartheid, etc. Today, we have the same far right states' rights advocating folks who want to deprive human beings of federal protections dealing with health care, immigration rights, gun regulations, voting rights, and other matters (via the Tea Party movement, Trump supporters, etc.). Many of the same ones who supported Jim Crow and no civil rights are many of the same ones who ally with Trump today in our time. We know about how a tree is know by its fruits. A rotten tree of reactionary extremism came from a rotten ideological root of racism, bigotry, and xenophobia. This is the bigoted foundation of the Reagan Revolution. Ronald Reagan ironically was once liberal being for FDR until the 1950's. Reagan became an anti-Communist zealot, he was governor of California by 1966, and he ran for President in 1968 and 1976. He lost in both years. He won in 1980. First, he used the Southern Strategy and galvanized support among anti-communists, Evangelical conservatives, neo-cons, and other people on the right. The Southern Strategy was a coded strategy where GOP members exploited the divisions in America (including scapegoating black people and other minorities) as a way for them to gain the support of southern whites to vote for Republicans. 

 

 

Reagan used the welfare queen stereotype in trying to get votes in 1980. Reagan said that the federal government was overspent, overstimulated, and overegulated. Reagan defeated George H. W. Bush in the Republican primaries, and later Bush Sr. was his Vice President. After his October 28, 1980 debate with Jimmy Carter, Reagan 's popularity soared. He widen his lead to win the election. He had 44 states. The GOP had the Senate and the Democrats had the House. Reagan kept a diary. He believed in individual freedom, expanding the military, and an end to the Cold War. Reagan wanted school prayer to exist in public schools. He was nearly killed by John Hinckley Jr. James Brady was paralyzed. This contributed to the Brady bill that related to gun control legislation. Reagan fired striking air traffic controllers. Reagan used Reaganomics and neoliberal policies. Reagan was in support of tax cuts, but he raised taxes in certain instances. He was filled with austerity promoted by cutting federal assistance to local governments, cutting housing budgeting, and eliminating the Community Development Block program. This increased economic inequality among the rich and poor. Reagan tired to purge many people with disabilities from the Social Security disability rolls which was cruel. Reagan expanded the U.S. military and was aggressive in order to end the Soviet Union. To him, communism was an enemy that must be defeated as agreed to by Margaret Thatcher of the UK. 

Reagan used the CIA to fund anti-Communist movements. He helped to fund the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan to defeat the Soviets. He promoted the SDI in space. After he defeated Walter Mondale in 1984, he saw a new era. Reagan opposed divestment from South Africa, because he believed in the myth that gradually talking with the oppressive regime would make apartheid end gradually. Freedom is not up to a clock. Freedom is meant for all ASAP. Reagan vetoed an Anti-Apartheid Act with sanctions. Congress rightfully overwritten that veto. The Golden Rule or loving your neighbor as yourself is righteous, but the Reagan Revolution harmed the lives of the poor and the oppressed. Being a peacemaker is important, but the Reagan Revolution would risk war against the Soviet Union as a means for them to promote political agendas. The Reagan Revolution was not just about politics. It was about inspiring the growth of a right wing movement that promoted propaganda in the media, in some religious circles, and in international circles. The mainly conservative FOX News network, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham are the fruits of the Reagan Revolution. Many conservative foundations tried to use billions of dollars to make their views more acceptable to the public. Then, the political establishments of Republicans and Democrats shifted to the Right. That is why even common sense policies like increasing the national minimum wage is seen as embracing Lenin by some conservative extremists. Even the reasonable reforms that Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama tried to promote have been portrayed as "communist" by many conservatives. 

The Right's' resurgence was a product of the divisions found in the Left. Reagan allowed CIA leader William Casey to promote a hardliner position against the Soviets. The Reagan administration lowered the top income tax rate from 70 percent to 28 percent. This increase of military spending and large tax cuts caused annual national deficits that were unprecedented at the time. Reagan was known for cutting programs that helped the poor and the oppressed.  Ronald Reagan even funded Latin American death squads during the Cold War. For example, Reagan sent $5 billion in aid to El Salvador, where right-wing leader Roberto D’Aubuisson was running death squads in the employ of wealthy landowners and the U.S.-trained military was conducting its own massacres of peasants. Reagan funded the Contras. He even went around the Boland Amendment (that banned American funding of military aid to the Contras) in order to aid far right, anti-Communist movements in Latin America. As Stone and Kuznick describe the resulting scandal, CIA Director Casey and NSC official Oliver North sold the missiles to Iran at exorbitant prices and used some of the profits to fund the Contras. Many Contras worked with Latin American drug dealers. These dealers would work in America and contributed to the rise of the crack epidemic of the 1980's. The Contra scandal placed blame on North and Casey, but Reagan and Bush Sr. escaped massive scrutiny. Robert Parry wrote the following words about the Reagan regime in his article entitled, "With the US Meddling Again in Latin America, a Look Back at How Washington Promoted Genocide in Guatemala": 

"...Soon after taking office in 1981, President Ronald Reagan’s national security team agreed to supply military aid to the brutal right-wing regime in Guatemala to pursue the goal of exterminating not only “Marxist guerrillas” but their “civilian support mechanisms,” according to a newly disclosed document from the National Archives. Over the next several years, the military assistance from the Reagan administration helped the Guatemalan army do just that, engaging in the slaughter of some 100,000 people, including what a truth commission deemed genocide against the Mayan Indians in the northern highlands. Recently discovered documents at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, also reveal that Reagan’s White House was reaching out to Israel in a scheme to circumvent congressional restrictions on military equipment for the Guatemalan military. 

In 1983, national security aide Oliver North (who later became a central figure in the Iran-Contra scandal) reported in a memo that Reagan’s Deputy National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane (another key Iran-Contra figure) was approaching Israel over how to deliver 10 UH-1H helicopters to Guatemala to give the army greater mobility in its counterinsurgency war..."

 

 

Gorbachev and Reagan 

 

By 1985, the Soviet Union was rapidly declining in power politically, socially, and economically. America has grown its military exponentially. The Soviet Union's problem was that they focused too much on military expenditures without developing their domestic economies greatly. There was inefficient planned manufacturing, collectivized agriculture, and oil prices fell in 1985. Oil was the main source of Soviet export revenues. This caused a stagnant Soviet economy. Reagan made a speech in 1983 to religious fundamentalists on the means to defeat the Soviets. He called the Soviet Union the evil Empire. He wanted an arms buildup in order for the Soviets to renegotiate a deal. He praised liberal democracy as a way to end Soviet Communism. Gorbachev rose up in the Soviet Union, because the Soviets were in a desperate situation. Mikhail Gorbachev wanted more compromise, and Reagan soon appreciated this policy shift. Reagan and Gorbachev worked on their relationship to make four summit conferences between 1985 and 1988. The first was in Geneva, Switzerland, the second was in Reykjavik, Iceland, the third was in Washington, D.C., and the fourth one was in Moscow. Reagan wanted the Soviets to allow more democracy and free speech in order to end Communism. No deal was reach at Reykjavik in October of 1986. Yet, Reagan and Gorbachev agreed to abolish all nuclear weapons which shocked conservatives. Reagan didn't want to end SDI claiming that it was defensive only. Gorchaev was the Communist Party General Secretary in March of 1985. Gorbachev was a person of the new generation who wanted political and economic liberalization along with better relations with the West.  

 

 

The end is coming

 

By 1985, the end was coming. The question was that whether the end would be peaceful or violent. By 1985 to 1991, surprising events happened. The end of the Cold War was not peaceful. It ended with much violence.Yet, millions of people would be free from the bondage of Soviet styled Communism. After the tyrant of Stalin died, tons of people have the misconception that all forms of socialism is equivalent to the views of Stalin. That is a lie, because dedicated socialists believe in democratic rights, but Stalin and Soviet Union readily used policies that violated the democratic rights of human beings. Trotsky warned that Stalinism would cause the Soviet workers to end in a catastrophe. He was proven right. The USSR after the rise of Joseph Stalin, on which the Eastern bloc satellite regimes were modeled--were ruled by a small minority, while the experience of the working majority wasn't of freedom and democracy, but of exploitation, oppression and alienation from any kind of social and political control. When you strip away the rhetoric of how the rulers of the East described themselves, what you see are systems that reflected the basic features of capitalism as we know it in the U.S.--with a small minority having preemptive control over what happened in society, what resources were used, and who enjoyed greater privileges and power. Gorbachev would use policies of perestroika which was bourgeois changes to advance compromise. The bureaucracy of the Soviets ultimately caused Eastern European nations to be integrated into the world capitalist economy with the restoration of capitalism. Perestroika and glasnost, which were promoted by the Stalinist bureaucracy, signaled the beginning of the end of the Cold War plus of the Soviet Union as we know it. As early as 1987, many propped up Yeltsin. So, from 1985 to 1991, a new era existed. 

 

Conclusion (Thanksgiving) 

 

Now, we have the neoliberal, centrist crowd make the lie that progressives should be blamed for any election defeat involving Democrats. It is easy to refute that lie. That lie deals with the old bigotry of red baiting like usual. They use the falsehood that socialism is like the most obscene curse word, when if they were really opposed to socialism, they should give up the Post Office, give up Social Security, give up Medicare, and give up any government run program (because those government run institutions are related to many socialist ideals. Even the Post Office is cited in the Constitution being legal). These hypocrites won't do that, because of the obvious reason. Even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a democratic socialist, and Norman Thomas was a socialist. We know that Fannie Lou Hamer, Dr. King, Malcolm X, Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Ruby Dee, etc. were not moderates or centrists. These were revolutionary activists who loved justice and human liberation. Now, progressive black people in places nationwide contributed heavily to defeating Trump. More than 80% of black people voted against Trump, more than any other racial or ethnic demographic in America. Also, progressives were the leaders of the grassroots organizers who worked day and night to register voters, to be in the lines to defend voting rights, and to bring out the votes in Philadelphia, in Atlanta, in D.C., and in other cities of this country. 

There should be unity in America. Yet, we should never embrace a false unity that harms people's wages, ruins their health care, harms their education, disrupts their rights, and harm their liberties under the guise of "unity" as eloquently stated by Yvette Simpson. She is right to say that unity is great, but freedom is better. For the record, most Americans support higher taxes on the super wealthy, universal health care, amnesty for DACA human beings, an end to police brutality, and other plans regardless of what John Kasich (who is a Republican who cut programs like WIC and Medicaid) says.  Many Democrats lost, because some candidates didn't have a bold, strong progressive economic agenda. Many Democrats who advocated for a Medicare for all health care plan won their elections. Also, when people lecture others on how defunding the police is bad, then tell them that defunding the police is different than abolishing the police. There is nothing wrong with defunding the police. It is not wrong to utilize more funding for mental health services or community development programs. Some folks are more angry at progressives than Trump finalizing a rule to freeze immigrant farm workers' wages until 2023 as agribusiness profits boom. If the corporate moderates are attacking AOC, they are attacking members of the left by default. Then, you have these same moderates glamorizing Rahm Emanuel who covered up the police murder of Laquan McDonald in Chicago. Rahm was one of the worst mayors of Chicago. He is a moderate. We don't need to express Republican like talking points to convince people of our views. We can be clear and honest that government works best when it works for the people, defends the people, and enriches the general welfare of all of the people. The moderate Donna Shalala berates progressives, but she blocked Americans from purchasing lower priced medicine from Canada. 

The progressive black people in America (along with people of color and other activists) made Trump's defeat possible. John Kasich didn't win this election for us. The people who won this election include the 94 percent of black Detroit residents who voted for Biden, the other black organizers who fought hard for freedom, and other groups of people (like the Latino people, the youth, AAPI, Native Americans, etc.) who didn't back down. For those who don't know, AAPI stand for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. If you want freedom, you have to end economic injustice and end structural racism too. Folks should realize this fact.

 

Ice Cube has been on FOX Soul with women and on Roland Martin's show. Many people are shocked at Cube's views. Yet, I'm not. No one should be shocked at many celebrities and musicians either supporting Trump or wanting to have dialogue with Trump. Cube (who is a capitalist who loves his enterprises) said that he doesn't support Trump, but he wants a dialogue with him. Ice Cube had to retract the false claim that he got Trump to give black people $500 billion in capital, he admitted that he declined a meeting to Kamala Harris, and he didn't research Biden's black agenda plan originally.  The Opportunity zones of Trump's platinum plan will primarily benefit equity funders, big business leaders, and the wealthy. Everybody knows that opportunity zones increase gentrification not develop poor communities in a radical fashion. That is why Jared Kushner (who made 160 million dollars last year) is evicting tenants, who have to pay over $800 a month in rent, during a pandemic. Kushner said a racist remark about black Americans' work ethic recently too. Many (not all) of these musicians put up a fake image of being down for the people and for the cause. Yet, some of them become rich, move out of mostly black communities, rap stereotypical, plus colorist nonsense that degrades black people (like Lil Wayne mocking Emmitt Till or fetishizing light skinned women), and mock the poor. Some (not all) of these artists glorify violence against their own Brothers and Sisters, and side with reactionary people like Trump. These people are only promoting their class interests which is the super wealthy and reactionary people like Trump. Also, they just don't care about the collective advancement of all black people. Many of them could care less about black people collectively which is why some of them have self hatred and worship whiteness disgracefully. 

That is why some of these artists say overtly that they only worship or lust after the bag (or money), they could care less about anyone but themselves, and they don't trust anyone for the most part. That is their mindset of selfish individualism. So, we shouldn't be shocked at many of them coddling a racist like Trump (who was funded by Wall Street interests for decades, and Trump wants to eliminate many legitimate environmental regulations, even desiring to have radioactive waste on our roads which is highly dangerous). You can't expect some of these musicians (not all) to glamorize violence, misogyny, drug abuse, and anti-black language, then claim to be some revolutionaries. Capital for rich can never save us. Only a radical redistribution of economic and political power will cause liberation truly for humanity. To keep it 100, much of the modern wealth that America has now was acquired by the exploitation and harm down to our black ancestors and the genocide of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. That wealth was acquired originally by greed and destruction starting centuries ago. 

Ice Cube is in error to assume that having a dialogue with Trump will somehow make us gain concessions. For almost 4 years, Trump had a long opportunity to do something revolutionary for the black community. Yet, Trump has failed us black human beings just like he failed other communities with his reactionary policies (from him trying to suppress the freedom of the press to his splitting up babies from the arms of migrant mothers). Trump is a person who thinks that black people are irrational and easily manipulative as proven by his words and his deeds. Here are some examples. Trump's Platinum Plan is heavily vague and doesn't address income inequality, police terrorism, climate change, racial health disparities, or issues of importance to black men or black women in a comprehensive way. Ice Cube said that he gave his proposal to the Republicans and Democrats. He said that the Democrats said wait until after the election is over, while the Trump team only revised certain sections of the Platinum Plan. Cube promotes his Contract with Black America program that has some good parts in it, but it doesn't address the needs of black women or other issues from imperialism to health care. Ice Cube is wrong to assume that, especially late in the election, that we should withdrawal our vote in the Presidential election until his goals are met. Right now, millions of Americans are homeless, struggle to find work, have health care issues, and are victims of discrimination. 

 

Our voting rights, our social safety net, our liberties, and our lives matter. The incompetence of Trump should make us aware that Trump being voted out of office is a good thing  I knew that the misogynist Tariq Nasheed would come and support taking interest in Trump's policy that mentions black people, because he is the same person who lied and said that voting is useless (with his Hotep Hidden Colors half-truth documentaries). Tariq speculated that massive voting fraud caused Georgia and other states to go blue (which is a lie) which disrespects the hard work of black activists. That alone makes Tariq Nasheed a traitor to black people. That is why white reactionaries agree with Tariq on that issue. Tariq Nasheed disrespected Kirsten West Savali (who is a heroic progressive black woman), even falsely called her late husband white when her husband wasn't white, uses slurs against black people, and is notorious for his deception. The cover of Hidden Colors 4 has the U.S. flag burning up, but now Tariq Nasheed is glamorizing waving of the U.S. flag in his FBA xenophobic movement. 

  

 

It is obvious that Trump doesn't care about Black Americans. Trump's tax laws benefit large multinational corporations not African Americans collectively. African American households only get 5% of the benefits form Trump's tax law despite making up about 13% of U.S. households. Trump rolled back Obama-era policies to protect black students from discrimination in school punishments. DeVos delayed regulations that helped identify racial disparities in special needs programs in public schools. Trump ended guidelines for public schools to consider race in diversifying schools. Trump has said that he doesn't agree with BLM or even the concept of Black Lives Matter. Trump wants the death penalty of the Central Park Five to this day, even after they are proven to be innocent. Trump cursed out peaceful NFL protesters and continues to disrespect black people in vulgar, racist terms. Trump rolled back and weakened policies on policing. Trump has encouraged police brutality and endorsed the War on Drugs. Trump has praised violent, far right militia groups in Michigan and Wisconsin who have stormed capitol legislative buildings in 2020 alone. Trump cut support for prisoner halfway houses for those transitioning back into society. Trump advocates herd immunity instead of true universal health care. The Biden/Harris Lift Every Voice plan has 112 mentions of Black Americans, while the Platinum Plan has only 28 mentions. The Lift Every Voice Plan has 22 pages of information, while the Platinum Plus plan has only 2 pages. Ice Cube's Contract with Black America omits issues like women's health and education. 

You can't have a Contract with Black America without addressing the issues of black women (like maternity leave, discrimination, economic issues, etc.), who are the backbones of the black community literally. The deaths of Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor should make us aware of the importance to protect black women. Kamala Harris fought for more investments in HBCUs.  Trump talks about the First Step Act, but he agrees with harsher sentences for drug offenses, including non-violent ones. Trump wants the death penalty for people who had large quantities of drugs. Trump has defended Confederates, the names of military bases having Confederate names, and Confederate statues. Donald Trump said there are good people on both sides in the Charlottesville disaster. Trump said that low income people want to invade the suburbs. Trump doesn't want the ACA or even an expansion of a public option in health care. So, after reading this information, you know that Trump could care less about black people. Trump is a racist. The Biden/Harris website have complex, explicit plans on helping African Americans. Trump's Platinum Plan is a reactionary attempt to promote the status quo. 

   

There is another issue too. Ice Cube attempting to dialogue with a bigot like Trump represents how a small percentage of black men and black people in general support Trump. Even though Ice Cube doesn't ally with Trump explicitly, he gives aid and comfort to Hoteps and those who agree with Trump. People ask why do many (not all) black people support Donald Trump? The answer is obvious. More black men support Trump than black women. Black men also are the least among of men of any race that support Trump. Many black people support Trump for many reasons. Some black people agree with him because: some black people wants a strict patriarchal society that Trump has endorsed, and some are religious and feel that their conservative religious views are compatible to Trump (even though Trump mocks Evangelicals behind their backs, doesn't ask God for forgiveness, uses the Bible as a prop at a church after he sent police to harm innocent, peaceful protesters, and is an immoral person). Some black Trump supporters are bigots (who hate women, immigrants, or other minorities), and some believe in black capitalism. Black capitalism is the view that forming black businesses primarily in a capitalistic fashion will cause black liberation. This was promoted by Nixon and other Republicans for decades. Obviously, black capitalism alone doesn't work because of many reasons. Black capitalism ignores that poverty, homelessness, health care disparities, police brutality, sexism, and other oppression won't be solved by business growth alone. You have to have a radical redistribution of political and economic power in order to fight back against those evils. Living wages, universal health care, anti-discrimination policies, an end to imperialism, and strict policies to end police brutality are beyond black capitalism's confines.  No where in the Bible or in common morality dictates to corporations to pollute lands, for the states to do what they want despite federal government protections, or to advance racism. 

  

 

Black Power being progressively utilized instead of Black Capitalism is what our legacy relates too. Ice Cube, Kanye West, and Jim Brown (who either support Trump or want to have a dialogue with him) embrace various forms of black capitalism. They are very wealthy people (who will benefit from Trump's obscene tax cuts mostly for the super wealthy). Grassroots poor and working class black people need something more thorough. That is why when Ice Cube was interviewed by Roland Martin, Ice Cube struggled to find answers, because Cube knows that Trump is full of it. You can't work with a racist Trump campaign and expect some resolution. This doesn't mean that Democrats are immune from critique. Far too often, the leaderships of the Democrats have been controlled by a neo-liberal, moderate faction that wants the status quo instead of progressive change. Since the days of Carter, many Democratic leaders from the DLC to others have moved Democrats to the right on many issues from welfare reform to supporting the unjust Iraq War. That was wrong. That is why people falsely blame progressives collectively for Democratic errors, but in reality, conservative/moderate Democrats (not true progressives) are responsible for welfare reform, the rise of the prison industrial complex, lax responses to police terrorism, economic inequality, gentrification, and other evils. 

These policies are conservative policies not progressive policies. Many people are complaining about Ice Cube, but Cube has always been Cube. For years, I criticized Ice Cube for his glamorization of the n word, his disrespect of women in his music, and his other wicked lyrics on songs done by NWA. People should not be surprised at Ice Cube, who embraces a form of conservative black capitalism. Cube has been Cube for decades. Trump doesn't even want diversity training in the workplace. Some black males want to promote the same views as white far right people in a black veneer. These are the Hoteps. Stories are coming about Ice Cube advisor's Qatar and Steve Bannon connections too. Ice Cube will soon speak at the Zionist Organization of America. Dan Pollak is the Director of the ZOA since 2019, and he opposes reparations for black Americans. Of course, I believe in reparations for black Americans. How can Ice Cube be part of a meeting whose head don't want black people to have reparations? Even BET Founder Robert Johnson (who has praised Trump) believes in reparations. Trump supporter Jon Voight will be at the ZOA meeting too. 

There are those who exploit this issue to bash black women or bash black men. That is wrong. We should bash and expose oppression not BM or BW. You can't fight for black liberation without addressing poverty, economic oppression, and racial injustice directly. You have to confront corporate power not coddle it. How can a person have a dialogue with a President that promotes policies of overt voter suppression. From Ice Cube's lyrics saying I never had dinner with the President to trying to talk to the most racist President in a long time (while almost half of all black small businesses are closed due to the virus crisis and the recession) shows how wrong Ice Cube is. Not to mention that doctors, lawyers, activists, and educators including other people have been working on plans and goals for black liberation for decades. At the end of the day, over 80 million people have voted already to end the Trump regime. 

Therefore, we are entitled to have compensation via reparations and other actions. Additionally, there should be a plan to address housing, poverty, education, the environment (which refutes their nonsense that only capitalism alone can save us), and other important issues. Consumerism is not going to end racial and economic inequality. Only a comprehensive plan that deals with massive government intervention, power given to the people, and other policies will do. Working class people, poor people, and freedom loving people of any class have voted against Trump. Therefore, we always have a minority of traitors in our community who want to minimize the destruction that the Trump administration has done to the world. I already voted. I voted for democracy, justice, and a change from Trump. I voted to witness the first black woman being Vice President. I voted to end the Presidency of a racist. Also, we salute the black men and  the black women fighting the Nigerian police brutality events. When these Hotep liars and far right people (like the Hodge Twins, Tariq Nasheed, Kanye West, and others) saying that no black politician now is trying to fight for us, remind them that Congresswoman Lauren Underwood is fighting for veterans with her Veterans' Care Quality Transparency Act.  The hip hop artist Waka Flocka said that Trump did more for black Americans than Obama. That is a lie. 

Unemployment, job rates, health rates are worse now than at the end of the 2nd term of Obama. Obama is a million times better than Trump. The big lie is that these Hoteps said that Obama did nothing for black people. I have my disagreements with Obama on many issues from his foreign policy actions to his moderate views on others issues (like his embrace of respectability politics which I don't agree with), but Barack Obama did many things for black Americans like: investing in HBCUs, passing the Fair Sentencing Act, and giving some compensation to black farmers (who were victims of racial discrimination and oppression in general). It is true that Obama could have done more for black people, but he did  some things for black people. Styles P talk about being cozy with Trump when he or Styles P said that his white friends can call him the n word, and he does nothing about it. DJ Envy doesn't like Biden's tax policies, but the super rich never paid their fair share of taxation for years now. According to Politico, the Trump White House is considering slashing millions of dollars of virus relief, HIV treatment, screenings for newborn and other programs in Democratic led cities (made by of heavily black populations). We desire solutions not pro-Trump nonsense. Now, it is time to build, to fight for change, and to use our self-determination to advance the general welfare of our society.

 

 

We should not fear these false religious leaders. We should live our lives, fight for justice, and follow righteousness.

 

One of the biggest religious deceptions is how most Evangelical Christians have supported Trump and his agenda. This is truly ironic as they lecture people on adultery and morality. Yet, they excuse Trump who said that he doesn't ask God for forgiveness, who says racist comments, who made sexist remarks about women, who probably committed adultery, he made sick comments about his own daughter, and who has allowed authorities to break up children from the arms of their parents (near the border) involving immigration.  

It is the height of hypocrisy for deceivers like Paula White and Pat Robertson to praise Trump when he does things in the opposite of what a real Christian should act like. They talk about the imperfections of the Democratic establishment (which is well known from their compromising, their advocacy of neoliberalism, and complicity in imperialism), but they are silent on the pro-Trump Republicans who have opposed Medicaid expansion, promoted voter suppression efforts, and refuse to fight back against police terrorism against black communities nationwide. Many Evangelicals are silent on the suffering of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. They are certainly the reason why many people have an mistrust of Christians in general when tons of Christians are doing the right thing and are contributing heavily in establishing positive endeavors (in their lives). Paula White said the racist words of praying for the angels from Africa to stop Trump's election defeat, but why did she specify Africa? We know the reason. Also, Paula White said that people, who have criticized her, can call her, but she refused to respond to Roland Martin's emails when Roland told her "Let's talk." Extremists like Paula White, Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell Jr. and Pat Robertson are afraid of debate, because they have no legitimate arguments to support Trump's wicked agenda. Many of them refuse to debate Rev. William Barber, because Barber talks about poverty, gun control, economic inequality, the environment, and other social justice issues in eloquent terms. The far right's old lie and canard is that if you believe that all people deserve health care as a human right, if you believe that human beings are created equal and are deserving of equal rights, if you believe in civil rights, if you believe in the separation of church and state, and if you disagree with Donald Trump, then you're a Marxist (or a puppet of the Frankfurt School in being anti-God). 

The truth is that people have every right to disagree with Trump on numerous issues period. Trump is not perfect. That is not being anti-God, but it's being pro-truth. Trump is known for wanting the death penalty of the innocent Central Park Five. Trump has raised the Bible up as a prop at St. John's Church after he allowed police authorities to violently remove peaceful protesters at Washington, D.C. Trump said that the communion was a little "cracker" and a little wine. Those words make a mockery of communion, which is offensive. The communion is a holy, symbolic remembrance of what Jesus Christ did on the cross and beyond.  Many deceived religious people brag about voting for Trump, when Trump brags of grabbing women in their privates, passed a tax law for the super wealthy primarily, and praised dictators like the President of the Philippines. Trump has endorsed racial profiler Joe Arpaio and other people. There are many racists, false teachers, or deceivers who endorse Trump like John Hagee, Tila Tequila, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Jerry Falwell Jr., and other folks. Donald Trump has expressed sympathy to males who have been accused of abusing women or making racist remarks like Roy Moore, Steve Bannon, Corey Lewandowski, Roger Ailes, Bill O'Reilly, etc. This situation didn't start with Trump. For centuries, slave owners, Confederates, Jim Crow advocates, Southern Strategy lovers, and now Trumpists have existed in favor of oppressive privilege instead of justice for all. 

 

Many Evangelical extremists worship Capitalism more than they worship God. That is why the Prosperity gospel is so common. They (or far right people) legitimately criticize the evils done by Stalin and by other Communist extremists (like Pol Pot, Mao Tse Tung, and others who killed millions of human beings in the 20th century alone. Karl Marx not only called religion the opiate of the masses, but he wanted no religion to exist in the future. Marx was right to expose the imperfections of capitalism, but he was wrong to be a total anti-spiritual extremist. Karl Marx is notorious to have made racist and anti-Semitic comments despite being a Jewish person. So, I don't idolize Karl Marx as a perfect superhero), but they omit the war crimes done by capitalist extremists complicit in the Maafa, the Shoah, the Great Depression, the Great Recession, and other evils spanning centuries. Communism and socialism weren't responsible for the black African slave trade. Exploitative capitalism is the economic system complicit in the black African slave trade spanning long centuries. They say that free market capitalism is ordained by God, but they omit that the time of Jubilee is about all debt being cancelled (which is antithetical to capitalism. Capitalism is amoral being concerned with individual profit beyond moral considerations). The NT is rather clear on condemning the love of money, pride (1 John 2:16), covetousness (Luke 12:15), competition for the sake of economic exploitation (James 4:1-14), and other evils. The Golden Rule is about treating your neighbor as yourself. The lust for profit drives modern day capitalism which is no different than Stalinist communism. That is why there is a link between laissez faire capitalism and social Darwinism. Capitalism is not God, and it's not infallible. Communism is not God, and it's not infallible either.  God is God.  It is not a sin for the government to provide the general welfare to the people, as true government is made up by the people for the people. Even the Constitution in Article I, Section 8 cite the right of Congress to invest in our infrastructure federally via money. 

 

 

When profit above people becomes the primarily goal of deceived spiritual people, than those people are blinded by greed. Many Evangelicals omitting GOP voter suppression efforts, the military industrial complex, massive environmental problems, and other issues is a shame. Trump is the symptom of the long disease of far right extremism in our world. The words of the Declaration of Independence (regardless of the contradictions of the author of those words) show the truth that human beings are created equal, created in the image of God, and have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Human individual ingenuity should be respected along with collective power to make change too. Caring for the needs of the people is the prerequisite in growing a just society. A regulated economy makes a big difference in stabilizing markets and insuring true freedom for humanity.  

Freedom is about the freedom of speech, the freedom of religious liberty, the freedom from want, and the freedom to have real justice in our world. Also, freedom is about eliminating evil by promoting justice and insuring tranquility. Now, imperialism is wrong, because it is a wicked system of plunder and abuse of humanity including resources. It rejects the truth that every person is born equal and with God-given rights. It promotes racism and exploitation economically (that benefits the few over the many). Communism in its modern sense existed as an reaction to Imperialism. I don't agree with Communism, because many Communist states restrict religious freedoms and other basic democratic freedoms that are unjust acts to take. Karl Marx explicitly hated religious expression. Marx said: “The social principles of Christianity preach cowardice, self-contempt, abasement, submission, humility. The social principles of Christianity are hypocritical…. So much for the social principles of Christianity.” Marx is a liar as Christianity bought social movements, courage, civil rights activism, and other benefits to the world.  Marx spoke of his own son-in-law, Paul Lafargue, husband of his daughter Laura. Paul came from Cuba, born in Santiago, and Marx thus viewed him as marred by “Negro” blood and denigrated him as “Negrillo” or “the Gorilla.” Karl never let up his ridicule of poor Paul. In November 1882, still 14 years after Lafargue and Laura married, Marx complained to Engels that “Lafargue has the blemish customarily found in the negro tribe — no sense of shame, by which I mean shame about making a fool of oneself.” So, Karl Marx was a racist. Communism in the Stalinist formation (which doesn't represent true democratic socialism) restricts Political and Spiritual freedoms, while Imperialism (as perfectly shown by the wicked British Empire) restricts Political and Material freedoms.  

For us, we believe in spiritual freedom, political freedom, and material freedom (where we, the people, allow elected representatives to allow the government to promote the General Welfare of the people. I believe in a social safety net too). If these religious far right hypocrites hate the government so much, then they ought to give up their Social Security, Medicare, and other public benefits. They won't, because they realize that the federal government enriching the lives of the people is righteousness. Rising the national minimum wage to $15 an hour, handling the problem of criminal justice issues, and investments in oppressed communities will go a long way in forming a better world indeed. The 80% of Evangelicals who voted for Donald Trump are part of the deceived who have chosen a racist extremist instead of true principles of equality and justice. That is the truth. Now, the journey of life continues well into 2021. 

By Timothy