Relieving our uncaring common affliction: daily mass murders.

Welcome back to my fifth Freedom for People First post at cwatts.us. I appreciate you. Empathy is the soul of democracy and crucial for expanding freedoms for all. I encourage you to make empathy (care) central to constant public discourse. All Aboard the 3:12 Empathy to Freedom Train is on page 8. Listen to Hidden Brain Innovation 2.0: The Influence You Have to learn how effectively you could expand our freedoms. Consider joining the PROJECT CARE TEAM to help me find legislative sponsors for CARE Education in your state.

Annual paid subscribers are able to comment and receive a complimentary copy of George Lakoff's The Political Mind. I appreciate the paid subscribers in Bolton Valley, VT, and Kettering, OH. I need four more paid subscribers to break even.

Our Common Affliction, Villains, and Villainous Acts: Daily mass murder

We all have a duty to care for each other just because we are human beings. When our care is effective, our freedom from fear of mass murder expands. When you care about your neighbors, you want them to help protect them from harm. Our heart goes out to Greg Smith in Butler County, Pennsylvania, interviewed by the BBC, who saw the shooter at the convicted felon Trump rally preparing himself on the rooftop. Smith tried to warn the police to no avail. 

Interviewed by the BBC, an exasperated Smith said, "We noticed the guy bear-crawling up the roof of the building beside us, 50ft away," he said. "He had a rifle, we could clearly see a rifle. We're pointing at him, the police are down there running around on the ground, we're like 'Hey man, there's a guy on the roof with a rifle'... and the police did not know what was going on." 

According to the BBC, Smith exercised his duty to care. He tried three or four minutes to alert the authorities. "Why is there not Secret Service on all of these roofs here?" he asked. "This is not a big place. "[It's a] security failure, 100% security failure."

Everyone deserves security, especially innocent bystanders attending a political rally. One bystander during the assassination attempt lost his life, and two innocent bystanders are in critical condition, while the convicted felon and rapist running for president suffered a flesh wound. The care wing of America condemns mass murder and attempted mass murder in all its forms, no matter who the victims are. 

We agree with President Biden, who said, “There’s no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick. Sick. It’s one of the reasons we have to unite this country. We cannot allow this to be happening. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this. The bottom line is the Trump rally should have been able to be conducted without any problem. But the idea, the idea that there is political violence in America, is not appropriate. Everybody must condemn it.” 

We agree with Senator Sherrod Brown, who wrote on his website, “Connie and I are relieved that former President Trump is safe, and are praying for the health and safety of those attending the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania tonight, and for our country. We’re grateful to the law enforcement who responded immediately. Political violence is completely unacceptable and has no place in our democracy.” 

We agree with what Senator Bernie Sanders said on Meet the Press, “I think everyone in this country, no matter their political views wishes Trump a rapid and speedy recovery, mourns the life of innocent lives, and those who are wounded, and understands that political violence of any kind, shape, or form is unacceptable. It’s unAmerican. And we have to put an end to it. If there’s any silver lining to this tragedy, it’s how to go forward peacefully, constructively, and intelligently.”

We agree with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in a post on X."There is no place for political violence, including the horrific incident we just witnessed in Pennsylvania. It is absolutely unacceptable and must be denounced in the strongest terms. My heart goes out to all the victims, deserves and I wish the former President a speedy recovery."

I am totally committed to the duty to care. I totally condemn mass murder in all its forms. Everyone, even convicted felons and rapists, deserves security from AR-15 weapons of war that the murderer had. Nevertheless, the reality is we do have a cruel wing(1) of America. The Heritage Foundation is just one well-funded think tank openly calling for the dismantling of our Constitutional republic. 

Because of such ongoing cruel-wing rhetoric, Senator Sanders’ home office was attacked. He told Meet the Press today, “A couple of months ago,. my office right here in Burlington, Vermont - there were seven staff members there - it was almost burned down by somebody who’s in jail right now. Seven people could have been burned alive”

The truth is that America currently suffers from billionaire-funded, conservatism-infected mass murder loopholes, whether by guns, banning abortion healthcare, ignoring the science behind mask and vaccination mandates, or the climate crisis. This cruel wing of the populous and their political representatives routinely and intentionally limit their duty to care for the families of white, straight, self-righteous males. 

The conservative mantra of “limited government” literally means limiting their duty to care to families of white, straight, self-righteous males. Their limited care government over the last five decades since Louis Powell wrote his memo to America’s CEOs has created these mass murder loopholes that provide 20-year-olds who have a history of being bullied AR 15s. 

Those cruel-wing mass murder loopholes permeate our public protections(2) in seven institutions of society(3): family, religion, education, media, entertainment, business, and government. America’s care wing and our representatives have called for their protection for decades. Nevertheless, these fascist mass murder loopholes result in the unnecessary deaths of thousands of Americans each year. The Heritage Foundation’s cruel Project 2025, which the wounded convicted felon and rapist praised, is their most recent example at the federal level. No one is surprised.

Senator Sanders this morning on Meet the Press reminded America that in a caring society, our democratic process and politics ought to be boring. Senator Sanders said, and I agree, “What we need as a nation, what a democracy is about, is not radical rhetoric. What it is about is a serious discussion about where we are as a nation and how we go forward. In a certain way, politics should be kind of boring.”

Senator Sanders went on to say as an example of a boring, political conversation, “Our healthcare system is dysfunctional. How do we fix it? It’s a boring discussion, but we need a healthcare system that guarantees healthcare for all people. We have massive income and wealth inequality. Well, maybe a boring discussion (is in order). Should three people own more wealth than the bottom half of American society?"

We all know that the cruel wing of the populace is fine with healthcare as a product versus a human right. We all know that the cruel wing of the populace is fine with healthcare as product versus a human right..

Empathy, the duty to care, is the soul of democracy. Our republic can’t work unless we have Bernie’s boring, caring society. How do we dial down the cruel rhetoric and expand our freedom from intimidation? It’s a problem when you’re dealing with a worldview where only one person matters versus everyone. Senator Lindsey Graham was teary-eyed this morning on Meet the Press. He was genuinely distraught about his friend, the convicted felon and rapist, running for president. But he’s not distraught enough to ban civilian-owned weapons of war. 

So, what do we do going forward? We must continue to demand a recommitment to the duty to care about everyone, a worldview abhorrent to conservatism. Progressive leadership calls for the nation to unite around care and democracy and resist fascism and autocrats. However, conservative leadership is already blaming progressives for repeating what their wounded convicted felon candidate repeatedly tells us. 

For example, Senator JD Vance, who consistently uses Putin talking points, didn’t condemn political violence but blamed the attack on President Biden, saying, “The central premise of the Biden campaign is that (the convicted felon and rapist running for president) is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped.”,

Going forward, what do we do? Continue calling for the duty to care for our democracy for the sake of freedom.

All one has to do is read the convicted felon and rapist’s Project 2025 Mandate for Leadership, which calls for the end of democracy and replacing it with authoritarian fascism. He has said he wants to be a dictator. Experts on fascism tell us to believe them.

When authoritarian fascists are complaining that we are calling them authoritarian fascists, progressives must be doing something right. He has said he wants to be a dictator from Day One. Extreme conservatives like Steve Bannon, now serving time for contempt of Congress, say, “Donald Trump is a moderate.” 

We all have a duty to care for each other, just because we are human beings. When our care is effective our freedom from fear of mass murder expands. When you care about your neighbor, you want them to help protect them from harm. I am going to continue to call for an increased commitment to the duty to care. I hope the President continues his framing of what’s at stake in our current presidential debate.

Consider joining the Project CARE Education Team.

I am happy to report that one member of the Ohio State House has indicated an interest in discussing sponsoring CARE Education model legislation after the November election. I am very excited. CARE stands for Cultivate All Rights Empathy and calls for all state legislatures to amend their academic standards and require all students in grades K-12 to [a] learn to cultivate empathy and [b] learn about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Reframing IS social change. No matter what human rights silo you are working on, calling on the passage of CARE Education model legislation in your state can unite all the siloed advocates in your state around your common vision of a caring society focused on making empathy, the duty to care, central to constant public discourse. 

Thanks for reading. I appreciate you.

#GoEmpathySurplus

Chuck

(1) Reframe right wing to cruel wing.

(2) Reframe regulations to public protections

(3)  The seven human institutions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are framed by Preamble and Articles 1, 2. 29, and 30: family (all articles, especially #16), religion (Article 18), education (Articles 26-28), media and entertainment (Articles 18, 19, 27), business and government (All Articles).