Donny … ya’ gotta stop poking the bear
… ’cause if she rises up, you’re lunch!
(3 min)
“Bad officials are elected by good citizens who don’t vote.” – George Jean Nathan
In this winter of discontent American citizens might want to turn their attention to America’s great sleeping bear, hibernating in plain sight, ignored by all.
Not only should little Donny Trump beware the bear, the rest of America, especially the Democrats, need to turn their attention to the biggest, angriest, strongest, most powerful force in the country – the hibernating bear.
Ignored, forgotten, dismissed, disappointed, disillusioned, disgusted, desperate (called “deplorables”), and pissed off, America’s sleeping bear could be the nation’s rescue bear and pull it back from its free-fall into the fascist abyss.
The American bear is 88 million grizzlies strong. And if poked, prodded – or simply cared for – she will rise up and eat Donald Trump and his bevvy of weasels for lunch. There is strength in numbers and the numbers are there if – it’s a big if – good leadership learns how to be good bear whispers. So far they’ve failed, miserably.
For a long time America’s problem has been the inability to convince voters to vote – for anybody. It’s abysmal and inexcusable. And it sure as hell isn’t a democracy when tens-of-millions of citizens don’t show up to vote. These are good people who don’t have much hope. Don’t care. Don’t act.
Presidential election, 2024
A few quick numbers make the point:
- 244.6 million eligible voters
- 156.3 million turnout (63.9%)
- 77.3 million voted for Trump (31.5% of eligible voters)
- 75.0 million voted for Harris (30.6% of eligible voters)
- 88 million Americans did NOT vote (36%) Read that again
First, Trump’s declaration of some sort of “mandate” is bullshit. If you add the non-voters to those who voted for Harris (88M+75M), 163 million Americans did not vote for him. That’s 2/3 (66%) of America. His claim that his share (49% of those who did vote) is a “mandate” is a lie within a sham within the democratic con that Americans have lethargically submitted to for decades.
To call this a democracy is a fairy tale and the clarions to “restore democracy” and “make America great again” are fables from the rabbit hole in which Alice in Wonderland resides – unfortunately, it’s a real-life rabbit hole. The political spin implies majority rule but it’s a lie going back a hundred years and yet is as accepted as apple pie, Mother Goose and “originalism.” The politicians keep singing the same nursery rhyme to their subjects because the lower the voter turnout the fewer votes they need to win (GOP are continually suppressing turnout). As long as the bear sleeps the con-game run by wolves in sheep’s clothing will flourish.
Notice how few in the media or election analysis business ever mention the 88 million. It’s as if they don’t matter in the determination of winners and losers, when in fact, they matter the most (by the way, countries with mandatory elections register turnouts in the 90%+ range). Think how different America would be if turnout increased just 10% (9 million), let alone 30% (26 million). These forgotten citizens can change the country, permanently – ironically, that is why they’re forgotten, ignored and deplored! (for more enlightening details see two excellent books: Strangers In Their Own Land by Ariel Russell Hochschild and White Poverty by Reverend Dr. William Barber III and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove).
Poke the bear
Poke the bear and what do you get? Democracy.
And the bear will have a Trumpian delight, a bountiful feast of the sustenance, services and protections it needs and deserves, from better healthcare and healthier economies to less division and safer communities. Reaching out to the bear and regaining trust will not be easy but it sure as hell is the obvious thing to do. If only we’d admit the problem – 88 million fellow citizens MIA – and get the media to talk about it, and start working on it.
Fixing it is straightforward. If – another big if – we can find a handful of leaders who are true bear whisperers, people who care more about others than themselves and can override their Darwinian “stamp of lowly origin” and do what is right, and best, for others. Darwin would say, “They’re a rare breed in the Homo sapiens species.” He might add, “It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. And if the past is prologue, y’all are more intent on burning down the haystack than finding competent “philosopher-kings” who could increase your chances of survival. Good luck with that.”
“Life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutal, and short.” – Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
In the 17 century Thomas Hobbes wrote this pithy observation about life and despite four hundred years of so-called advancement, 1/3 of American adults (88 million) living in the most economically prosperous nation in the world would read his declaration of reality and say … “Amen to that.”
Rise up America …
Three of the most dangerous words in history …
“Going along with”
(4 min read)
“We were just going along with …” has been the shameful, crying confession of millions of good people across a history of war, carnage and tyrannical leaders. Read more…
When communities and the “Reporters’ Gallery Yonder” wither, the roots of democracy die.
Canadian democracy in decline: An essay
(7 min read)
“All politics is local.” – Tip O’Neill
I remember the day, November 27, 2017. A Monday morning. The sky was blue, the coffee fresh, my adrenalin Read more…
“People are the worst”
Coming 2026
My personal history is the stuff they write books about. And that's what I am doing. The working title, "Chains of My Father: Marry White."
"The ghostly image of the tragic mulatto trapped between two worlds." - Barack Obama
This perspicacious line from the Prologue of Barack Obama's "Dream from My Father" wrenched my aspiration into action. I started writing, furiously. Unlike Obama's perspective, my pain had been for the opposite reason: I was not seen by whites as a "tragic mulatto," rather I lived every day of my childhood hoping whites were not "searching my eyes for some telltale sign" that I WAS mulatto. This is my story.
It's historical fiction because I cannot find enough records to substantiate all facets of the story. I've combed the genealogy, traveled to my father and grandmothers' birthplace, walked the graveyards, searched the churches and ... well, all the facts aren't there. I have written three books based on the genealogy of other families but my ancestors emerged from a journey that left too few records – slavery.
My paternal, great grandmother was a "freed slave." My grandmother, Amelia, was born to a mixed race slave named Mary (we do not know her last name) and a white, French plantation owner, the Count de Poullain, in Grenada, West Indies. Amelia was raised in the "Big House" and in adulthood, in an attempt to escape her black heritage disowned her mother, telling her, "Get out and never come back." Amelia, as a mother of twelve children, enshrined into the family commandments, "Marry white." Many did, including my father. My mother was a lovely, white, Anglo-Saxon protestant born in England. They met in Canada where my dad studied and became a doctor.
It has taken five generations for the descendants of Mary to free themselves from the stigma of their black heritage but today my children embrace it. Unfortunately, the past 250 years have been a wasteland of bigotry, racism and bullying. But, on closer look, we see not only the brutality, fear, violence, and murder but also the self-respect, dignity, love, kindness, perseverance and indomitable spirit.
As of the spring of 2025, the depth of historic perspective and the sweeping inspiration of oppressed people has created a two-volume duology of which I have only arrived at the middle of the 19th century. 1840 is the year my great grandfather was born, the beginning of Volume II, and he's pushing me to make sure our story is published by the summer of 2026.
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