Where He Wants Us To Live

Agent Orange hovers above us as a cloud of fatal poison. I speak not of the chemical weapon. I speak, instead, of our President. His various atrocities are destroying our country just as surely as that biological system devastated Vietnam.

Any exercise in listing his disgraceful behaviors would be counterproductive. It’s like the way James Madison felt about the Bill of Rights (and, please, let that be the only time that I link Orange Julius “O.J.” to James Madison). Madison was reluctant to add those ten amendments listing the “rights” of the people. He figured that if certain rights were listed, then others would think that those rights were exclusive – that there were no others. That, of course, was not what the Founders intended. When Madison finally agreed to write the Bill of Rights he made sure to avoid what he feared by including the Ninth Amendment. It says, “The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” 

The enumeration of O.J.’s blunders, without a Ninth Amendment, is impractical and deceiving so I will not try.

Once in a while, though, he does something that is dramatically demonstrative of his evil ways. And sadly, stuck in the miasma of muck that he daily produces, here’s one.

A fellow named, “Volker Turk,” (that’s his real name) was recently up for re-election as the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights.  All of the member nations vote on this stuff.  Apparently, he has done a very good job. He has a life-long record of fighting for human rights in places like Myanmar, China, India and Bangladesh. But, in what our President uses as a brain none of that mattered. Mr. Turk had committed the unpardonable sin – he had criticized the human rights record of Israel. 

So, in his recent re-election, The Good Old U.S.A voted against him. What makes this interesting is that out of the 153 nations that voted, only 7 voted with us. Of course, the accused, Israel, voted with us. But wait until you see who the other ones were.

Freedom House, a respected human rights organization, rates countries on a scale of 1 to 100, 1 being the worst, based on how oppressive their governments are. Here are the ratings for others who voted with us: Burkina Faso (20); North Korea (3), Mali (21), Niger (27), and Russia (12). 

Nor is this group of O.J.’s allies unique. The Arab countries which he now extolls fare no better in the eyes of Freedom House. Qatar – the giver of Air Force Ones – scores a 25; and Saudi Arabia – the receiver of nuclear weapons – they warrant a whopping 9.

On the other hand, O.J. is dismissive of the need to get along with the NATO nations. What are their scores? France (89), United Kingdom (92), Austria (94), Belgium (95), Denmark (97), and Finland (100) . . . . I could go on, but you get the point.

So, O.J. has shown us the neighborhood  that he has moved us into, and has also told us which kids on the block he wants us to hang with.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “As we are, so we associate. The good, by affinity, seek the good; the vile, by affinity, the vile.”