It's raining again this morning in California. I've heard commentary that this is the coldest, wettest California winter in the past half century. I know it's the coldest, wettest winter since I've lived here, which is more than four decades.
I don't want to hear about global warming. Neither am I interested in any remarks about "the drought." Californians are still wearing our fur boots and sweaters, and both are soaked through. To me, "climate change" is weather dressed up in Sunday clothing. Go sell it somewhere else.
Change in the USA goes much farther and deeper than the weather.
I'm tired of hearing about "our democracy" from autocrats. "Our democracy" translates to "my power," which further translates to the crushing of our First Amendment rights. When politicians, left and right, don't want us to see video of January 6--outside of what they have deemed appropriate--then regardless of the video's content, freedom of the press is gone.
When people are afraid of losing their livelihoods because they speak out on their personal convictions, there is no freedom of speech. When a federal agency issues an order for surveillance of a particular religious group, there is no free exercise of religion.
When parents are tagged as "domestic terrorists" for attending their children's school board meetings to voice their concerns about curriculum that they find objectionable, there is no right to peaceably assemble.
When states are denied court hearings on significant grievances, their right to redress has been infringed.
These are all negative changes, symptoms of what I've heard and seen described in various forums as "managed decline," "late-stage republic," and "soft tyranny." It's difficult to argue against any of those descriptions of the current state of our nation. The First Amendment to our US Constitution is in ruins and has been rendered largely meaningless. Will the rest of the Constitution's Amendments follow like the proverbial dominos?
The likelihood of that thought being reality leaves me colder than this California winter.
First Amendment - United States Constitution
