2016 is not a time for politics as usual, especially for a progressive person who is forced to watch the deterioration of his nation and its founders’ dreams of freedom and justice for all. Our government has been virtually high-jacked by corporations, which have always been the bane of the 13- states that ratified the Declaration of Independence and the Constitutions — with its attendant Bill of Rights. Corporations not “We the People” are now in political control with their astronomical wealth. The American middle-class has become mere remnants of the Johnsonian “Great Society” and is now allied with the working poor and destitute as prisoners in a society that gratuitously dehumanizes them. This sad underclass to the rich and famous now serves as grunts in deflated economy and the military, which is the nation’s major industry: Warfare. Children of this underclass are tought to “Look tough! Feel mean! And, kill.” Plus, those veterans who survive, return to their sullen homeland only to be despised, rejected, barely afforded help. As a 78-year old retired Army veteran, teacher and social worker, I can no longer rest as a senior-citizen-shut-in at a tropical assisted living center. While I have serious COPD and annual pneumonia issues, I am not dead. Nor will I surrender to the evils of a conservative, corporate — dare I say fascist — military state. What I read and hear today boggles the mind of any reasonably educated American. I’m now actively organizing my efforts to participate in the only show in town: the candidacy of Senator Bernie Sanders for the Presidency of the USA. Feel the Bern: Organize! Educate! and, Agitate — as we said in the 60’s.

John Gish

Key West