Tag Archives: Democracy

A History of Propaganda, Psychology & Tyranny

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As you read, keep in mind and in the back of your memory who or whom I might be describing today in this post; the similarities or the indistinguishables of someone(s), past and/or present.

∼ ∼ ∼ § ∼ ∼ ∼

What is the definition of megalomania? According to the American Psychological Association the definition of the term is this:

n. a highly inflated conception of one’s importance, power, or capabilities, as can be observed in many individuals with mania and paranoid schizophrenia. In the latter, megalomania is often accompanied or preceded by delusions of persecution. See delusion of grandeur.

What is the definition of narcissism? The American Psychological Association (APA), the clinical definition of the term is this:

n.

  1. excessive self-love or egocentrism.
  2. in psychoanalytic theory, the taking of one’s own ego or body as a sexual object or focus of the libido or the seeking or choice of another for relational purposes on the basis of their similarity to the self. See body narcissism; primary narcissism; secondary narcissism. —narcissist n. —narcissistic adj.

What is the definition of paranoia? The APA states the clinical term means:

n.

  1. a paranoid state.
  2. a former diagnosis for a relatively rare disorder, distinct from paranoid schizophrenia, in which the person reasons rightly from a wrong premise and develops a persistent, well-systematized, and logically constructed set of persecutory delusions, such as being conspired against, poisoned, or maligned. It is equivalent to persecutory-type delusional disorder.
  3. historically, any psychiatric disorder characterized by persistent delusions. See also classical paranoia.
  4. in ancient times, any mental disorder or delirium. —paranoiac n., adj.

One could also elaborate further with a #5 under paranoia the regular, unfounded perception of oneself always being the victim of say, witch hunts, or sociopolitical attacks.

What is the historical definition of tyranny? According to the Cambridge.org dictionary the term means:

tyranny

noun.

  1. government by a ruler or small group of people who have unlimited power over the people in their country or state [or police state] and use it unfairly and cruelly.
  2. a situation in which someone or something controls how you are able to live, in an unfair way.

There are many other manifested, associated behaviors which are typically present in a person who suffers from these four mental-illnesses, whether the person is aware of them or not in their behavior and thinking or admits them to others.

Of the most notorious eight tyrants of modern history in the header at top and then labelled here, I want to focus on Adolf Hitler, third from the left. Between January of 1919 and April 1945, Adolf Hitler and his inner-circle of Heinrich Himmler, Hermann Goering, Joseph Goebbels (Propaganda Minister), Martin Bormann, Albert Speer, and Joachim von Ribbentrop, then all of their subordinates, were all responsible for the murders, killings, genocide and/or imprisonments leading to death of over 12,243,500 men, women, and children in a span of just 12-years.[1] In other words, 1,020,292 people per year, or approximately 85,025 men, women, and children per month. The scale of this industrialized killing and combat fatalities by the Nazis may never again be topped unless it is a nuclear war of three to four enemy nations.

What was the hypnotical draw of Hitler to the German-Austrian masses in July 1919 through October 1929? What was his personality at the time? Who was around him? What were the living conditions in Germany after World War I? Let’s take a closer look.

Adolf Hitler’s Personality 1919–1929

Throughout all of recorded human history even into the 21st-century, most people want to be ruled, told what to do, what to think. They do not want total freedom. Total freedom often scares the shit out of ordinary people. They would feel even less control of their life and would rather not be held accountable for their mistakes or bad decisions. Psychologically, even that fear mentality of horribly screwing up enslaves them to live a self-perceived yet false reality of not having enormous responsibilities and suffering the consequences if they stay in the shadows; otherwise being disliked or hated by hundreds or thousands of people. Therefore, the majority of ordinary people with fragile self-confidence seek out ways, or to be on the lookout for a leader, an extraordinary spokesperson and doer they can follow and they do the hard work for them, a fall-person, e.g. Cult Leader, supreme King, or Messiah to name just three.

Adolf Hitler quickly gained immense popularity among the German National Socialistic Workers’ Party members and the general populous by February 1921 because of his gifted talent for crowd manipulation and fervor. How did he do it?

Animated and anger-ridden speech posed by the leader of the National Socialist Workers’ Party, Adolf Hitler. Hitler made an everlasting name for himself with this speech before the Reich Court in Leipzig.

He enthralled his audiences because his speeches, whether to a small audience or a very large audience was full of hate, of blaming others for the misery and hardships of the German workers in which he overly pandered to, to the poor and struggling German’s internally angry for their horrible living conditions. Hitler gave them permission to be angry, outspoken, and violent, if they chose to be, toward perceived threats, but not actual proven threats. But no matter, outrage sells. Period. Sadly, it is one of the easiest human traits to whip up and unleash.

Hitler understood the nature and underlying fury the German people were experiencing. He understood at least two causes of this anger: 1) the Treaty of Versailles, 1919, and 2) the Stock Market Crash and Great Depression of 1929 and hinted about in 1919. Hitler truly believed that he alone was Austro-Germany’s liberator, savior, and only solution. This was his ‘divine calling/mission.’ Thus, what does a Cult Leader do for his lost people?

One quick method to fan the resentment and fury of ordinary, struggling, unemployed workers and to gather them together, rally “followers” for the cause was to go on the attack. Hitler targeted intellectuals of the universities. He targeted deplorables, e.g. gays, lesbians, and ‘loose women.’ He specifically attacked philosophical progressives (that often stabilize a country and their citizens) and he especially targeted immigrants. Years and years as a underachieving student in school, a floundering mediocre artist, unemployed man with little to no money, unrecognized and overlooked by any World War I distinctions other than the Iron Cross, First Class for his combat service—but never ranked higher than a private which in military strategy would one day come back to bite and haunt him—had all built up in immense frustration. It would soon inflame the selling of public outrage and hyper-animated speeches. His fury hypnotized the Nazi party and German people.

Who Surrounded Hitler in 1919–1929

Let’s examine the most important political colleagues Hitler assembled around him.

Franz Xaver Schwarz — when the Nazi Party was banned from existence by the German government in 1923, Schwarz became a member of the Greater German People’s Community as their treasurer. This “community” was merely a fake front for the Nazi Party based in Munich. By February 1925 Schwartz completely restructured and reformed the Nazi Party’s finances and administration. In March 1925 he was also the significant (or only?) money-bags for Hitler’s new book, Mein Kampf, which laid out Hitler’s ideology for territorial expansion as well as transforming German society into a dictatorship based on the Aryan race.

For Hitler the only solutions for reforming and transforming Germany back to a world power (MAGA = Make All Germany Awesome) was 1) exterminate Jews and undesirables, and 2) imprison his dissidents, or those who don’t agree with him and speak out against him. Sound familiar today?

When Hitler was released from prison in December 1924, he immediately went to work on his “divine mission/calling.” Ever since his narrow escape from a French or British artillery shell that killed all of his regiment in the trenches of the Battle of the Somme, 1916, and wounded by shrapnel, then later the British mustard gas attack at Ypres, Belgium, 1918, where he was severely blinded and barely escaping death, Hitler fully believed he was divinely picked to lead Germany and conquer the world. Does escaping death or assassins sound familiar today? 🤔 During this 1925–1929 period of political rise to power Adolf Hitler endeared several key, future Nazi Party leaders. Below are some of them.

Rudolf Hess — when Hess witnessed Hitler speak in 1920 at a Munich Nazi rally, Hess became deeply zealous on every word Hitler spoke to him. In fact, Hess and Hitler saw eye-to-eye on the belief that Germany lost WW1 because of Jewish conspirators and Bolsheviks in eastern Europe, not total military defeat as was the fact.

Dietrich Eckart — was a staunch Völkisch poet, journalist, and political activist for the German’s Worker Party, the predecessor of the Nazi Party. Eckart was a major influence on Hitler’s rise to power. He died after being released from prison in Lansberg where Hitler and other Nazis were jailed after the failed Beer Hall Putsch, 1923, the failed coup d’état by Hitler’s Browns. It’s worthy to note too that Hermann Goering was also part of that insurrection.

Otto Strasser — as an early member of the Nazi Party he and his brother were part of the party’s more extremist wing of the Nazis. Focusing primarily on the party’s socialist elements, Strasser and his brother joined forces with Joseph Goebbels to govern the northern sector of Nazi Germany. Until 1930 Otto Strasser was a key component of Hitler’s early rise to power in Germany.

Adolf Hitler, Supreme Dictator and Joseph Goebbels, Propaganda Minister

Joseph Goebbels — is arguably one of Hitler’s closest political colleagues very gifted in oppressive, deceiving propaganda and completely controlling Germany’s narrative of world domination then World War II through all 20th-century communication methods. Essentially Goebbels completely outlawed any communication entities in 1930’s Germany other than the Nazi State’s propaganda ministry. Sound familiar today with attacks and defunding of National Public Radio, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), and many other media companies critical of the current administration in Washington D.C.?

Who today can you think of and remember that surrounded our 45th and now 47th U.S. President that is in prison, or convicted in court (less than 34-times 🙄), or continues to avoid arrest for illicit, explicit, or criminal behavior? I can think of at least ten men.

  • Michael Flynn
  • Peter Navarro
  • Rick Gates
  • Roger Stone
  • Michael Cohen
  • Steve Bannon
  • Charles Kushner
  • Allen Weisselberg and…
  • Jeffrey Epstein

Germany in 1919–1929 the Post-War Years

These ten years in Germany were not just horrendous times for ordinary Austro-German people, but the perfect crisis/storm for a liberator, a quick-fix Snake Oil salesman and a Savior/Messiah of Germany to make the nation great again, i.e. Make Austro-Germany Astounding… again (a 1930’s–1940’s MAGA party).

What were the key factors in Hitler’s divine arrogance, unmatched political drive, extreme self-belief, and rise to ultimate power?

  1. Escaping Death — not just once, but multiple times. Hitler narrowly escaped death in World War I at the Battle of the Somme. He survived, barely, a mustard gas attack near Ypres, Belgium in October 1918. And later during World War II he survived multiple assassination attempts, the most notable was Claus von Stauffenberg bomb attack at the Wolf’s Lair at Rastenburg, Poland, in 1944, otherwise known as Operation Valkyrie. Sound very similar to a present-day leader who survived Butler, PA, at a rally, and again on a golf course in West Palm Beach, FL? Hmmm. Some egomaniacs often believe that if they “miraculously” escape death multiple times they are destined for historical, epic stories lasting the test of time like a Savior/Messiah bloodied-up raising their fist in defiance. It makes a huge TV spotlight series, doesn’t it? Even better than the fame of The Apprentice. 🙄🤦
  2. Enlisting Radical Loyal Followers — Hitler and his Nazis campaigned enormously for years on empty promises and false hopes in order to fill/pad their ranks. If the followers are gullible and want quick, fast results from their leader/savior, they will swallow their “membership” hook-line-and-sinker asking no questions, but total devotion to the cult and cause. Again, sound familiar today?
  3. Ceasing Total Control of the Press and Speech — with the enlisted help of Joseph Goebbels’ propaganda mechanisms in place, he and Hitler had complete control of exactly what the German people would learn, watch, and hear, i.e. tricked and brainwashed. Even when Nazi Germany was losing battles and the war, Goebbels was still deceiving the people with false victories and promising Nazi Wonder Weapons and technology that was about to win the war for the Third Reich. Of course, these were all bold face lies and were never delivered as promised.
  4. Creating a National Police State — once Hitler was unequivocally made the sole supreme leader and dictator of Germany, he and Heinrich Himmler immediately created the two forces of the Schutzstaffel (or SS) and the Geheime Staatspolizei or Gestapo with Hermann Goering, Rudolf Diels, Heinrich Himmler, and Heinrich Müller. These two police forces were charged with accusing, arresting, removing dissidents or opponents of the Third Reich and Hitler, then imprisoning them without trial. They did it with haste and brutality particularly against unwanted immigrants and Jews. Sound familiar today? If not, then simply research the current track-record of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or I.C.E.
  5. National Expansion via Annexing or Force — Hitler and his inner-circle began planning for the expansion of the Third Reich throughout all of Europe then the world. With the exception of Great Britain and the Soviet Union, Hitler accomplished this goal of European domination and expansion. Sound familiar today? Question. Who today has publicly stated the U.S. will reclaim the Panama Canal, seize control of Greenland and the Gaza Strip. Also Canada, Mexico even renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and seize Venezuela. Sound familiar today? It should.
  6. Targeting Perceived Deplorables — Hitler and his Third Reich police state specifically targeted lesbians, bisexuals, gays, trans-different, and queers (LGBTQ+) throughout Germany and Europe, imprisoning and/or killing them as contaminating the Aryan race. Sound familiar today? It should because in two terms as President this was not only what was campaigned, but is now happening… again in the U.S.A.

These six “mandates” above—that MAGA Republicans keep falling back on from their supreme cult leader—are just a few of his power-seizing acts that catapulted a liberating savior king to ultimate power, especially when his base/party and radical followers control every aspect of federal governing right now. Coincidence? Or is it intentional totalitarian authority exactly in the footsteps of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich? Think about it. Try to deny it. You can’t. History can never be rewritten, only ignored, hidden, or white-washed. But the facts never change.

Trump narrowly escapes death and assassination attempt in Butler, PA, just like Adolf Hitler did multiple times.

A Conclusion About Past-Present Tyrants

In the recent past and today, who utilizes the exact same Hitler-tactics here in the U.S.? Who used it earlier in 2015-2016 then to a fever pitch on January 6th, 2021 at the Capitol Building? Like the Supreme Reich’s Chancellor, Hitler, could have halted everything, but did not stop the violence in 1930’s Germany. Hitler also sat idlily by watching the reports from his staff in the 1930’s. On January 6th, 2021, so did the U.S. President sit idlily by not doing a damn thing about the violence, destruction of the U.S. Capitol and the killing of Capitol Police Officers. Then several hours later the President wanted to JOIN the violent insurrectionists mob at the Capitol, but the Secret Service refused to take him there!

Any of this sound familiar? It should. If you know your history—not just modern history of WW2, but also Classical history and Ancient history—then you know full well this is us Americans, and our current President, repeating history practically to the tee. And one of Hitler’s greatest talents was deflecting and distracting his base supporters to real events of his regime. Hitler’s followers had (apparently) no clue about the many concentration camps just outside of their town/village. Today who does the exact same thing in the U.S. and Washington D.C.? You know who it is, there is no denying it.

Did you put him back into the White House in November 2024? If so, shame shame SHAME on you! 🤦‍♂️😠 You’ve killed democracy and the spirit of liberties and the rule of law! The American voters are in need of a SERIOUS education in critical-thinking skills and verifiable history that is currently being mimicked here in the United States by our present administration. Wake up people!

Learn from History – Do Not Repeat It – Otherwise Wallow in Misery – Wallow in Death

The Professor’s Convatorium © 2023 by Professor Taboo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Conclusion: A New U.S. Constitution

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It is finally here, finally published, the final part of my 7-part series A New U.S. Constitution. It has been a long time coming hasn’t it? My apologies for its delay. When I began this series in September and October 2022 I had no idea it would be delayed repeatedly due to my living situation these last four years. I had little idea just how busy I was to become.

But that is life, is it not? Frequently we have unexpected, unforeseen events and circumstances throughout our journey that can redirect one’s daily life or turn it upside down completely. That is precisely what happened to me: my Mom’s severe dementia became Early Alzheimer’s Disease. And my daily/nightly schedule is dominated by her needs and care between 10-14 hours per day and night, 365, no breaks except when she’s away on an infrequent 5-night respite for my sanity. As many of you know, the disease only gets worse. It is this prognosis and reality that has derailed my previous free-time and efforts to completing this series in a timely manner.

Even so, enough about lost time and her disease and on to the conclusion of A New U.S. Constitution.

When we left off with Part 6, I stated that in this part I would delve into the detailed problems of Gerrymandering, the conclusion, and consequently gerrymandering was further exacerbated by the 2019 Supreme Court ruling of Rucho v. Common Cause. That SCOTUS decision had tremendous detrimental affects on this republic democracy causing distortions upon election outcomes today. I also stated in Part 6 that this nation’s citizens, along with our public officials at state and federal levels, must construct a 21st-century electing system that allows proportional representation. Proportional representation reflects the correct definition of a republic democracy, the one that most all of our Founding Fathers intended within the Charters of Freedom.

Gerrymandering Under the Microscope

Generally speaking, gerrymandering in the United States is the long standing practice of drawing, or redrawing, geographical boundaries of electoral districts in an intended manner that gives your political party a clear advantage over your (hated?) political rivals, i.e. partisan gerrymandering. In this way it can also (greatly?) dilute the voting power of undesirable ethnic and/or linguistic minority groups opposing your political party, i.e. racial gerrymandering. This legalized political and racial discrimination during elections was begun in 1812 with a law enacted by Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry. So… what is gerrymandering in a more specific, explicit form?

Today, this legalized discrimination and partitioning of registered U.S. voters, or to-be registered voters, looks like this in 2011 to the present day:

…in states where Republicans drew the [geographical] lines, they won 72% of the [legislative] seats with just 53% of the [total] votes [cast]; in states where Democrats drew the lines, they won 71% of the seats with just 56% of [total] votes [cast].

— Lawrence Lessig, “Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress“, p. 27.

State government trifectas is a popular term that describes one political party’s control and domination over 1) a state’s governorship and both chambers of the state’s legislature, i.e. 2) the senate chamber and 3) the house chamber, thus making the trifecta. “As of September 18, 2024, there are 23 Republican trifectas, 17 Democratic trifectas, and 10 divided governments where neither party holds trifecta control” according to BallotPedia.org. For at least six years from 2015 until 2021, then later fortified over the Trump years (2017–2021), the Mitch McConnell years (1985–2024)—now Senate Minority Leader—the Republican domination through gerrymandering, and today through Senator McConnell, has greatly strengthened partisan and racial gerrymandering in many states, 28-states out of 50 to be precise. And it is well-known what political-racial minority group in America has been losing ground the last 40-years: white voters. Yet, remarkably white American voters maintain disproportionate control and power in most state legislatures, particularly in states with sparse population densities, or a few people living on large swathes of land.

This glaring imbalance begs the question, at least for me… Today, do our state and federal governments represent actual American citizens/voters, the people, or do they represent land-sizes, great non-human areas, non-voters and wealthy business-corporations? The latter, which is to say 18th-century early 19th-century farmers, large plantation owners, etc., represented what the United States was in the distant past, barring of course mega-wealthy corporations. However, in 21st-century America, democracy should represent the former, that is to say the live and breathing individual American humans, voters, citizens, and their economic GDP contributions just as equally, if not more, but not a business entity such as corporate America. But to the demise of our democracy today Americans are being less and less represented by their governments and politicians. Today, it is not an actual representation of the American populous, individual citizens. And that folks, is NOT a republic democracy in its purest raw form.

A study in 2019 revealed that over the past few election decades, gerrymandering had shifted election outcomes for as many as 59-60 of 435 legislative seats in the House of Representatives. That is a significant shift given the wide ethnic cultural diversity of the American population, i.e. nonwhites. Gerrymandering causes several major controversies about whether or not we truly are a republic democracy, as we publicly proclaim to the world, and perhaps the biggest controversy is whether our Founding Fathers intended us to be back in 1781–1800 (i.e. bound to and living in the 18th-century accordingly) or rather progressing along with the times, with the living, not the dead.

The Rucho v Common Cause SCOTUS Decision

You can easily Google or search on your own what the Rucho v Common Cause Landmark Supreme Court decision was all about. However, in my own opinion and background in American history, Social Studies, and U.S. federal and state government as a former certified/licensed educator/teacher, I would personally declare that the Supreme Court’s decision was a disgraceful cop-out. As Wikipedia (and others) define the landmark decision, it was:

[As the Court determined] partisan gerrymandering may be “incompatible with democratic principles”, the federal courts cannot review such allegations, as they present nonjusticiable political questions outside the jurisdiction of these courts.

And yet, one of the U.S. Supreme Court’s basic duties is to do exactly what they claimed they couldn’t do, “review allegations” dealing with our Constitution’s “democratic principles.” And over the last 245-years of this country’s existence, that is precisely what the Supreme Court was created to do and to have legal oversight over the legislative and executive branches, i.e. Checks and Balances! They cowardly copped-out on their sworn responsibility to properly interpret the spirit of our Charters of Freedom and how they apply, and specifically our federal Constitution’s interpretation and application. Here is what happened in 2016 in the words of George W. Van Cleve:

In Rucho, plaintiffs in two companion cases—one from North Carolina and one from Maryland—challenged those states’ congressional district maps as unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering. The facts of Rucho provide good examples of gerrymandering.  In North Carolina, Republicans who controlled its state legislature had redrawn its congressional district boundaries to maintain a 10-3 Republican congressional seat advantage, despite the fact that just a few years previously Democratic candidates had received a majority of the statewide congressional vote.  In 2016, North Carolina Republicans won 10 out of 13 seats despite receiving only 53 percent of the statewide vote; in 2018, they won 9 out of 12 districts with 50 percent of the vote.

— Rucho, Kagan, Justice, dissent (joined by all minority Justices), 139 S. Ct. 2484, 2509-11.

Essentially, today’s gerrymandering is no different than adjusting the rules, or rigging the game to your favor in order to win as many times as possible. I ask you, is that a pure fair market, an equal playing field for everyone in a supposedly free-enterprise capitalistic model that so many radical patriots here today rave about and proclaim as their “democracy, freedom, and liberty?” No, it is not. It is nothing but cheating in order to gain an upper-hand over your opponents. That is not a republic democracy.

And yet, the Supreme Court cowardly washed their hands of responsibility toward Constitutional limits to get in bed with partisan and racial gerrymandering, no matter how enormously it distorts, maligns fair election outcomes. In 2019 the Supreme Court succumbed to ideological lines of pressure instead of to the U.S. Constitution, the rule of objective law, and they handed power over to partisan, discriminatory prejudices of geographic gerrymandering. And yet still, our Constitution does indeed contain very specific provisions that allow the court oversight, supervisory authority over fair or unfair elections. The SCOTUS blatantly ignored it.

Justice Kagan’s vigorous—indeed scathing—dissent in Rucho, written on behalf of four justices, insisted that the Constitution required an end to partisan gerrymandering because it violated several provisions of the Constitution and directly undermined democracy.

— George W. Van Cleve, “Making a New American Constitution.” Maroon Bells Press. Kindle Edition, 2020

Furthermore, Kagan’s dissent argues that our long history of partisan racial gerrymandering has always been based upon the majority, and that is completely irrelevant. Why? Because the practice of gerrymandering completely FAILS to meet the modern, proper democratic standards of what it means to be truly a republic democracy. One must remember that we are no longer living in the late 18th-century!

However, the Rucho v Common Cause Supreme Court decision has even further ramifications for our future elections and the views, the positions and roles of the Supreme Court in our correct interpretations of our Constitutional system, not just in the 18th-century, but more importantly the 21st-century! Remember, Thomas Jefferson and the other five core Founding Fathers all agreed that:

The question Whether one generation of men has a right to bind another, seems never to have been started either on this or our side of the water. Yet, it is a question of such consequences as not only to merit decision, but place also, among the fundamental principles of every government. The course of reflection in which we are immersed here on the elementary principles of society has presented this question to my mind; & that no such obligation can be so transmitted I think very capable of proof. I set out on this ground, which I suppose to be self-evident, ‘that the earth belongs in usufruct to the living’: that the dead have neither powers nor rights over it.

— Thomas Jefferson, in a personal letter to James Madison, Sept. 6, 1789.

The very basic legislative essentials of our Constitution and other sacred democratic documents were all designed to be adjusted, to be tweaked, to be updated as necessary, to present times and conditions—not bound by or to the dead. Therefore, let us fully understand the many curses of political and racial gerrymandering discrimination we have presently:

Gerrymandering is an important factor in preventing the emergence of such national proportional representation.  It helps block changes in the partisan balance in government office holding even if developing a better balance between the major parties is what many, or perhaps even most, voters in our divided country would prefer.  By preventing a partisan balance that reflects voters’ choices, it also hinders the development of more bipartisan, consensus policies by the national government, something many voters would quite likely also prefer.  Notably, however, the Court’s [2019] decision—and even the minority’s sharp challenge to it—both also effectively sanction our existing majoritarian electoral system, i.e., a two-party system that political scientists agree effectively discourages require proportional representation of minority parties.

— George W. Van Cleve, “Making A New American Constitution,” Maroon Bells Press. Kindle Edition, 2020

Proportional Representation – What Is It?

Throughout human history—going back many 100,000 years—humans have always had self-imposed biases and prejudices. Hence, it is no surprise that the concept of proportional representation in one’s ruling government has vehement proponents and vehement detractors based upon their own (unfounded?) biases and lifetime experiences. Or the same could be said based upon legitimate data and objective human experiences too. What is well-known and proven is that proportional representation may or may not always represent the majority opinion. That is not a bad thing.

Whether the diverse political-social landscape is or is not representing many viewpoints, the fact that its condition offers choices, choices other than one single dominant ideology (that could very well be evil and horrendous for the common good), a wider range of concepts will more often than not give civilizations more choices for a greater good. What MUST be present in a pure election system and governing is free civil discourse. Without free civil discourse, civilizations are destined for total collapse. Ideologies only represent a theory, something that is not tested or reflective of actual human experience. In other words, a concept-theory or ideology may not represent actual data, evidence, or real-life experiences of very actual living. That life-void is possibly a delusion, a life experience that only exists in one person’s own head. It simply does not represent the majority of experiences by humans.

So to be clear, our need, NO… our perceived requirement to think outside of our own selfish needs for a greater good, a greater nation, a noble concept that our own individual biases, our own individually centered ideals have to exist with multiple choices, with answers and consequences that sometimes make us uncomfortable, make us feel awkward, but done so in order to benefit those outside of ourselves. Our electoral system should be no different; we MUST allow it to function outside of individual biases, ideologies, and our own tiny miniscule perceptions.

Inside that framework, the entire election system can be freely examined outside of the political influences and enormous vested interests of our existing major political parties and their millions-billions of dollars that influence minds like a cancer. And even more significant, we should objectively examine our unelected Supreme Court Justices, whose SCOTUS members are political biased theoreticians and who have never had to face an election, much less run a federal government.

In the end, our Constitution’s major political institutions are irreparably flawed as is the basis for a modern representative government.  Our current institutions do not provide for adequate representation of the national popular will, for two reasons. 

  1. First, they do not meet modern standards for democratic representation.  Our constitution now provides increased “generation-spanning” political power to Presidents and the Supreme Court.  More significantly it also allows both the presidency and the Senate to be controlled by minority parties.  Further, the Constitution, as now interpreted, allows unfettered gerrymandering to continue and permit the two major parties to exclude minority voices entirely from representation in Congress. That is the antithetical definition of democracy.
  2. Second, under our current Constitution’s rules, presidential elections and the operations of Congress increasingly distort the popular will in ways that the Founding Fathers did not foresee, and could not have possibly foreseen the very probable consequences. They would not have approved this by any means.  The Constitution’s major institutions have failed, as a basis for representative government, and non-participatory Americans have willing allowed this. So apparently, it would seem, nothing can be done to remedy any of these growing shortcomings by means of free-standing constitutional amendments, by which a pure republic democracy could in fact change. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. A new Constitutional Convention could and will instead be necessary to cure us of these dysfunctional conditions.

Why do so many average Americans not know this? I have that answer.

One, for the last 3-4 decades Americans and one specific American political party has relentlessly attacked our public school systems in history, social studies, and state-federal government. These four areas of general middle-school and high school curriculums have been so reduced that American teenagers, now adults, have little clue as to what the core Founding Fathers intended for their nation. Most American 1st thru 12th grade public educational institutions exclude these four VITAL areas of American history/government. In private, religiously associated school curriculums these subject areas are non-existent. The Judeo-Christian (Greek, not Mishnaic Hebrew that was Jesus/Yeshua) Bible and its theological doctrines, are forced-taught… oppressively and relentlessly to indoctrinate. The GOP dresses up their prejudicial attacks via “school vouchers” for families of religious extremists.

Secondly, far too many American voters do not participate in their own governing, the very basic national privilege and virtue (or gift?) that our democracy still (barely) provides to them. Sad, very sad.

Nevertheless, there is still a chance for us to save this sinking ship that is American democracy. But the only way this can happen is for average Americans to seize their given rights as citizens to self-determine how they will be governed by participating in elections AND just as important, engage with their state and federal officials regularly. And vote, of course. If this is not done by at least 70% of our population, then this country is doomed, guaranteed. Unfortunately, for several decades, voter turnout rates have been around 32%–46% give or takes 0.5-1.5 percent points. Yes, that figure is well beyond appallingly dismal. No wonder this country is in the state that it is.

Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always

The Professor’s Convatorium © 2023 by Professor Taboo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Texas’ Housing Problems Worsen

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This is a continuation of the previous two blog-posts about Texas and white Texan’s extreme, delusional arrogance about how great it is to live in this hardcore Red state, particularly in the far suburban and rural areas and counties. By the way, just in the last two years or so Texas has surpassed Florida, Washington, Colorado, Nevada, and North Dakota as the third fastest growing population by state in the nation. Only Utah and Idaho are growing faster. As a result, Texas has for years now had very serious growing problems and they have not been improving.

As I alluded to in my previous post Best U.S. States to Reside, the Individual Median Income for Texans is $38,059 for a 2023 single-earner Texan. However, the sad disturbing statistical fact for Texans is that in 2021 the Average Cost of Living in Texas is $45,114 per year. I guarantee that cost has gone up noticeably. The largest cost for any Texan, by far and away, will be housing. A further breakdown of the average cost of living in various Texas cities compared to the national average can be found here.

Living conditions here are not improving, but instead will decline further over the next 5–10 years.

Dallas, Texas homeless encampment underneath an underpass of Hwy 75/Central Expressway

The other day I was waiting in line at my grocer’s pharmacy. I had to wait about 5-7 minutes because there was only one lady behind the counter/register for customers picking up their prescriptions. The gentleman she was helping was having issues with the man’s other missing prescription. This man causing the backup behind me was a white man, approximately 5’8″–5’9″ weighing maybe 220–230 lbs. with a large beer-gut, in kaki shorts, Walmart-brand sneakers, and wearing a black t-shirt. This is what the back of his t-shirt with a camouflaged square proudly advertised:

In my mind I was chuckling a lot, given my previous two blog-posts I just published at the end of last month full of actual facts and statistics about Texas and living here, not silly unfounded propaganda on t-shirts.

I thought, “Texas is only ‘great’ if…” you are of a very specific ethnicity and demographic, within a specific socioeconomic class like a business owner. Moreover, you have belonged to a specific political party your entire adult life in Texas or some likeminded state previously before moving here. Aside from this white man’s ridiculous t-shirt of arrogance, living here with the rocketing housing costs in Texas, it is about to get worse.

Today, Friday, September 1st, 2023, more than 770 new laws passed by the Texas Legislature, go into effect. The immediate effects and later ripple-effects of the new laws will impact untold millions of middle-class Texans in major urban and rural counties struggling financially during two straight years of hyper-inflation, let alone the lower-classes and disadvantaged Texans suffering the most. PBS station KERA of North Texas says more confusion and litigation is on the horizon:

“One example of this swirling confusion are rules in Dallas and Austin that that gives renters extra time to pay rent before a landlord can evict them. The ordinances ensure what some call a right for renters to “cure” the late rent before losing their home.

House Bill 2127, when it becomes law, blocks local governments from adopting, enforcing or maintaining any “ordinance, order, or rule regulating conduct….regulating evictions or otherwise prohibiting, restricting, or delaying” the eviction process. […]

At stake are countless city and county rules, ordinances, policies and practices, potentially including some humdrum policies that have been on the books for ages. That could include rules limiting fireworks, governing city and county contracts, water conservation and air quality efforts, payday lending limits, and more.”

— christopher connelly, kera (pbs) reporter for north Texas, august 29, 2023 for kera news

There are only two cities in Texas that offer the past COVID-19 counter measure called Right To Cure: Dallas and Austin. These have been city eviction regulations giving low-income or struggling renters a grace period to pay their rent and late fees before their landlord can start the eviction process. Ben Martin from Texas Housers, a low-income housing information service, says “These “right-to-cure” provisions are the norm in a majority of U.S. states.” Not so in Texas. House Bill 2127 went into effect today. To read more of Connelly’s reporting click here. What is essentially assured for struggling Texans is their protections for fair housing and a noticeably higher risk of becoming homeless after costly unforeseen events, disasters, or joblessness occur.

In other Texas and national political news, Texas is one of six (6) states at highest risk of Breakout of National Election Denialism in 2024’s Presidential election according to MAP. What are the two primary causes for this in Texas?

  1. Texas has no risk limiting audits after elections
  2. Majority of Texas voters cannot use secure voting machines

Given all the facts and stats about living in Texas over the last several decades and most of the 774 new legislative laws going into effect today, that man at the H-E-B pharmacy should’ve worn a t-shirt that said this:

Try to Live Safe – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Alot More

The Professor’s Convatorium © 2023 by Professor Taboo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Rating Democracy in All 50 U.S. States

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“My definition of a free society is
a society where it is safe to be unpopular.”
— Adlai Stevenson

As of August 7, 2023, the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) released its annual scorecard for each of the U.S. state’s democracy rating. As I alluded to in my previous blog-post and its comments, my home state of Texas has been passing legislation over the last two–three years which suppress the votes of non-white, anti-conservative, less-advantaged Texans or making easy convenient access to voting stations, and actual voting, increasingly difficult. Over the last 5-7 years it has been ever harder for myself to vote and/or register to vote, and I am a well-educated white man! Now riddle me that one please!

Nevertheless, I was quite interested in knowing what Texas’ scorecard reveals. Not much of a surprise to me our democracy tally has been rated “Low” (in the orange) scoring 6.5 out of 33.5 points. Personally, that’s a fair score given how noticeably more difficult it has become for me—a college educated white man—to vote or re-register to vote after my frequent moves between Dallas and Kerrville, TX for Mom’s declining dementia, and to get this year (as well as 4-yrs ago) a new renewed driver’s license. By the way, have I told you that I am an 8th-generation white Texan with no criminal record or outstanding warrants, fines, over 42-years of employment and paying my share of taxes over those 42-years? Eighth-generation means my family was here in Texas BEFORE it was annexed by the United States in 1845!

Click here to go to MAP’s 2023 Texas scorecard and other 49 states

As far as MAP’s “Who Votes” and “How to Vote,” two of the three main metrics for scoring, yet again, no surprise whatsoever for Texas’ abysmal ratings: Who Votes — a -0.5/5 and How to Vote — a -0.75/5. Our highest ratings? “Election Security” 4 out of 6, and “Voting in Person” 2.5 out of 5.5. Both of those better scores, yet still weak, I have explained their difficulty mediocrity in detail over the last decade. “Election Security” is cryptic Conservative code for Much Harder to Vote and “Voting in Person” means Hard Registering to Vote, respectively.

Curious to know what four states rate the highest in democracy’s election laws and policies according to MAP? Yes, you read that correctly, only 4 states out of 50, or just 17% of our population of 332-million Americans reside in a state with high-levels of democracy. Let me repeat, just seventeen percent of Americans! Here are those highly democratic republic states:

  1. Washington with 31 out of 33.5
  2. Colorado with 30 out of 33.5
  3. California with 29.5 out of 33.5
  4. Oregon with 26 out of 33.5

Let’s see who the last four states of the Union are with the most undemocratic elections and policies:

47. Tennessee with 5.5 out of 33.5
48. Arkansas with 5.5 out of 33.5
49. Mississippi with 4.0 out of 33.5
50. Alabama with 3.25 out of 33.5

What percentage of the American population do these four states make up? The answer: almost 6% of the American population.

The bottom-line is and what these numbers show when one reviews the entire fifty states on the MAP’s website is that a large portion of the American 50-states and their populations are NOT truly, purely democratic in their elections and policies. I don’t know about you, but I find these facts disturbing, alarming, and they need to be confronted and addressed not just by each individual (legal) American citizen, but also by your district’s House of Representatives and your district’s Senators! Are we not a Constitutional Republic democracy as written in our Charters of Freedom by all six (6) of the Core Founding Fathers? Yes, of course. Then WHY do twenty-nine (29) of our fifty states score a measly grand tally of just 16.75 (or lower) out of 33.5 democracy data-points? Those scores are abysmal!

What has happened to democracy in the United States to rate that horribly on the major points of what defines a TRUE democracy?

Try to Live Free – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Alot More

The Professor’s Convatorium © 2023 by Professor Taboo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Part 6: A New U.S. Constitution

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The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

— 17th amendment to u.s. Constitution, ratified april 8, 1913

The main issue and problem for what the 17th Amendment attempted to correct for Congress, specifically for the Senate, was that Article 1, Section 3, Clauses 1 and 2 of the 1787 Constitution dictated that each state legislature appointed its own two state Senators for an initial six-year term. Regardless of the state’s population size, each state was entitled to two senators with two “equal” votes in the federal Congress. This helped reassure anti-federalists of the time, and previously covered in Part 5 of this series, that an overly centralized power-base like the federal government would not devour state’s powers but instead provide an oversight to the House of Representatives whose members were elected by popular vote by their state’s citizens.

Across the aisle, opponents countered the anti-federalist argument that within such a circle of powerful state legislatures, there existed two primary problems: 1) legislative corruption influenced by monetary gains and interests, and 2) electoral deadlocks paralyzing necessary legislations for all the people’s interests. And since the Amendments’ 1913 ratification another major problem now persists: no reelection term-limits for Senators (see Table below)—essentially an identical chronic problem today with Supreme Court Justices’ lifetime terms. Notice the lengths of service for these 25 Senators:

25 Longest Serving U.S. Senators To-Date*

senatorsdates of servicelength of service
Robert C. Byrd (D-WV)Jan 3, 1959–Jun 28, 201051 years, 5 months, 26 days
Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI)Jan 3, 1963–Dec 17, 201249 years, 11 months, 15 days
Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT)Jan 3, 1975–Jan 3, 202348 years
Strom Thurmond (D, R-SC)Dec 14, 1954–Apr 4, 1956
and Nov 7, 1956–Jan 3, 2003		47 years, 5 months, 8 days
Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA)Nov 7, 1962–Aug 25, 200946 years, 9 months, 19 days
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)Jan 3, 1981-present42 years, 1 month, 7 days
Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT)Jan 3, 1977–Jan 3, 201942 years
Carl T. Hayden (D-AZ)Mar 4, 1927–Jan 3, 196941 years, 10 months
John C. Stennis (D-MS)Nov 5, 1947–Jan 3, 198941 years, 1 month, 29 days
Ted Stevens (R-AK)Dec 24, 1968–Jan 3, 200940 years, 10 days
Thad Cochran (R-MS)Dec 27, 1978–Apr 1, 201839 years, 3 months, 6 days
Fritz Hollings (D-SC)Nov 9, 1966–Jan 3, 200538 years, 1 month, 25 days
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)Jan 3, 1985–present38 years, 1 month, 7 days
Richard B. Russell, Jr. (D-GA)Jan 12, 1933–Jan 21, 197138 years, 10 days
Russell B. Long (D-LA)Dec 31, 1948–Jan 3, 198738 years, 3 days
Francis E. Warren (R-WY)Nov 18, 1890–Mar 3, 1893
and Mar 4, 1895-Nov 24, 1929		37 years, 4 days
James O. Eastland (D-MS)Jun 30, 1941–Sep 28, 1941
and Jan 3, 1943–Dec 27, 1978		36 years, 2 months, 24 days
Warren G. Magnuson (D-WA)Dec 14, 1944–Jan 3,198136 years, 20 days
Joe Biden (D-DE)Jan 3, 1973–Jan 15, 200936 years, 13 days
Pete V. Domenici (R-NM)Jan 3, 1973–Jan 3, 200936 years
Carl Levin (D-MI)Jan 3, 1979–Jan 3, 201536 years
Richard G. Lugar (R-IN)Jan 3, 1977–Jan 3, 201336 years
Claiborne Pell (D-RI)Jan 3, 1961–Jan 3, 199736 years
Richard C. Shelby (R-AL)Jan 3, 1987–Jan 3, 202336 years
Kenneth D. McKellar (D-TN)Mar 4, 1917–Jan 3, 195335 years, 10 months
* As of 6/17/2023 — from: https://www.senate.gov/senators/longest_serving_senators.htm

As with the transgenerational power-hold Supreme Court Justices currently possess over the American people, the Senate and Senator votes today have an even more detrimental, anti-democratic effect than they did in 1788 to 1913. With modern and recent service-lengths averaging between 35–47 total years; about 45-years of one political (partisan?) ideology or covering about two generations of Americans. Consequentially, the U.S. Senate has become a major roadblock to effective, efficient, critical governing to protect the American people during times of economic and/or public safety and general health, even sometimes life or death, e.g. COVID-19. The Senate simply does not move fast enough for modern forms of crises management. Furthermore, the lethargic 21st-century Senatorial condition confers spurious political advantages to small tiny states, their senators, and their 18th-century Constitutional, economic-corporate and political dominance which is gifted in gratis by two equal votes regardless of state size.

During the 1787 Philadelphia Convention and the drafting of our Constitution, many of the Founders recognized what the Connecticut Compromise would do, at least over a period of time. They could not have been more correct. As the overall population of the U.S. has reached nearly 337-million today, it means the smaller, tinier states have gained more federal money and more authority in the Senate as well as more weight in the Electoral College over the last 235-years. Both James Madison and James Wilson ardently opposed the Connecticut Compromise, and Wilson specifically spelled out that ‘equal state Senate votes would mean that a minority of voters could block the will of the majority,’ or of the American people. And this is exactly what has happened in today’s Congress.

The twenty-eight smallest states of the Union today, representing 20% of the American population, have 56% of the votes in the Senate. This disparity and distortion over two centuries now is precisely why the increased voting strength between states with wealth and population versus those without and much smaller populations has occurred, and as a result, the majority receives less and less federal representation. This is also reflected in many state governments as well. With each passing decade the Constitution’s 18th-century “minoritarian” equal state-voting principle impacts national policies and allocation of funds more and more, too often at the expense of the greater American good.

A “New” Senate: Reflecting the Popular Will

The better welfare of the greater national good and a more truer Republic democracy by a new Senate-voting system significantly outweighs the aforementioned flaws, disparity, and distortions of keeping the 18th-century system. If this New Senate were structured primarily on the state’s population, and to a lesser extent say the smaller-sized states’ X-quotient of wealth and resources toward the national well-being, surely this would offer a more equitable system assuring the overall national popular will was more realized. To demonstrate this reform, the following two slideshows illustrate just how a reimagined, past Senate voting would’ve substantially changed our last twenty-plus years of national policies, some of which our “Old Senate” system has had (very?) harmful consequences.

  • No Senate filibustering after John Calhoun (1840’s) or Ted Cruz (2013) stopping the Senate vote!

Moreover, several different variances in domestic and foreign policies (see following slides) would have certainly been enacted or rejected had a “New” 20th– or 21st-century Senate voting system been put in place in 1970:

Under the “New” Senate voting system, recently appointed and confirmed 53-year old Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh would have never been voted in. He would have lost by a sizable margin—approximately by 20% or more—by the twenty-two larger states (and Senators) that makeup about 80% of the American population. Justice Kavanaugh only received his confirmation because of the 28 smallest states and their (ultra) Conservative Senators’ votes. In a new Senate voting system reflective of Americans and their interests, Kavanaugh would’ve been easily rejected. To put it a different way, Judge Kavanaugh’s lifetime appointment to our highest court in the land—that will affect 2-4 generations of Americans—was accomplished purely by a fossilized relic of our 18th-century Constitution’s “equal state Senate voting rule.” No debate.

Proof the Electoral College is Undemocratic

In 2024 Americans will elect the next President and Vice-President using the antiquated Electoral College system created by the 18th-century mindsets held in the Constitution. By that system, all actual votes will be cast by “electors,” not the American people. This may come as a shock to some American voters. Despite their dismay, it is completely true; the U.S. is not a comprehensive democratic Republic.

The key justifications for the invention of our Electoral College imparted by Convention delegates in 1787 no longer exist today. One must remember the historical context of what the Philadelphia delegates were negotiating and fiercely debating at the time. Many of those delegates felt average American voters would not sufficiently know the candidates governing experience, educational level obtained, and much less their personal backgrounds. These conditions were further exacerbated by transportation and communication limitations for most all American voters, thus making well-informed decisions difficult at best. That scared the Ba-jebus out of nearly everyone of them—they could not risk a narcissistic demagogue President or administration getting naïvely elected, then worse become a tyrannical king or American Caligula/Caesar. Thus, the Electoral College was created for an 18th-century nationwide citizen-conundrum.

None of these problems exist today, nor is the modern Originalist argument for the Constitution’s (divine?) integrity a persuasive argument against a purely popular vote by the people. And here is the most damaging function of today’s Electoral College: the Underrepresentation of States and their Electors. (see following Table)

statepopulation
2023		% of total
population		electoral
now		proportionate
electoral		disc
1. California40,223,50411.92%5464-10
2. Texas30,345,4808.99%4048-8
3. Florida22,359,2506.62%3036-6
4. New York20,448,1946.06%2833-5
5. Pennsylvania13,092,7963.88%1921-2
6. Illinois12,807,0723.79%1920-1
7. Ohio11,878,3303.52%1719+2
8. Georgia11,019,1863.26%1617+1
9. N. Carolina10,710,5583.17%1617+1
10. Michigan10,135,4383.00%1516+1
11. New Jersey9,438,1242.80%1415+1
12. Virginia8,820,5042.61%1314-1
13. Washington7,999,5032.37%1213-1
14. Arizona7,379,3462.19%1112-1
15. Massachusetts7,174,6042.13%11110
16. Tennessee7,080,2622.10%11110
17. Indiana6,876,0472.04%11110
18. Maryland6,298,3251.87%1110+1
19. Missouri6,204,7101.84%10100
20. Colorado5,997,0701.78%10100
21. Wisconsin5,955,7371.76%109+1
22. Minnesota5,827,2651.73%109+1
23. S. Carolina5,266,3431.56%98+1
24. Alabama5,097,6411.51%98+1
25. Louisiana4,695,0711.39%87+1
26. Kentucky4,555,7771.35%87+1
27. Oregon4,359,1101.29%87+1
28. Oklahoma4,021,7531.19%76+1
29. Connecticut3,615,4991.07%76+1
30. Utah3,423,9351.01%65+1
31. Iowa3,233,5720.96%65+1
32. Nevada3,225,8320.96%65+1
33. Arkansas3,040,2070.90%65+1
34. Kansas2,963,3080.88%65+1
35. Mississippi2,959,4730.88%65+1
36. New Mexico2,135,0240.63%53+2
37. Nebraska2,002,0520.59%330
38. Idaho1,920,5620.57%43+1
39. W. Virginia1,775,9320.53%43+1
40. Hawaii1,483,7620.44%42+2
41. New Hampshire1,395,8470.41%42+2
42. Maine1,372,5590.41%220
43. Montana1,112,6680.33%42+2
44. Rhode Island1,110,8220.33%42+2
45. Delaware1,017,5510.30%31+2
46. S. Dakota908,4140.27%31+2
47. N. Dakota811,0440.24%31+2
48. Alaska740,3390.22%31+2
50. D.C.715,8910.21%31+2
51. Vermont647,1560.19%31+2
52. Wyoming583,2790.17%31+2

Reviewing the Table above, did you note how many states are under-represented and how many are (grossly) over-represented? Nine (9) states are (very?) under-representative of their people’s votes, and thirty-five (35) states are (very?) over-representative of fewer people’s votes! Even worse, those nine under-represented states are this nation’s most populous states, with real people, yet unreal Electoral votes! In a sense, the twelve (12) overly-represented states are/have been ghosting, or inventing unreal Electoral votes since at least 1960 and the Twenty-third Amendment.

Finally, the Electoral College promotes harmful, sometimes disastrously dueling, hyper-divisive politics or duopoly partisanship between the two major parties. This deadens civic-political discourse and impedes policy reforms and/or creation as we’ve seen over the last 2-3 decades with the chasm widening more and more every four-to-eight years. If that persists, it will be catastrophic for this country as well as democracy as a whole around the world.

∼ ∼ ∼ § ∼ ∼ ∼

In the Conclusion of this 7-part series, I want to cover more extensively Gerrymandering and the 2019 Supreme Court decision Rucho v. Common Cause and how that ruling has had very adverse affects on our Republic democracy and today badly distorts election outcomes. I will also get into HOW we must approach and construct a proportional representation system that actually DOES reflect a true democracy.

I hope those who are still following this series will find it helpful for your own civic benefits for yourself, your state, and our country. Thank you again everyone for your patience with me and my often slow writing and posting. Please feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below.

Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always

The Professor’s Convatorium © 2023 by Professor Taboo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0