Over the past eight years that I have been back home in Alabama, it has been a real reality check. I lived in the beautiful state of North Carolina for almost twenty-six years and made it my second home. During the time that I lived in North Carolina, I would get so homesick for Alabama. I tried to visit as much as I could when my parents were still here. When I decided to retire and move back home, I knew it was going to be an adjustment moving from a bigger town to my 4 red light hometown in Winfield. I also knew that my political views were not that popular in this conservative area. I was prepared for all of that. What I was not prepared for was the friends with whom I grew up, graduated high school with, went to church with, and lived around for most of my life, taking a mean and cruel turn on me because I stood up for them. When I say that, let me explain just what that means.
This is a rural area where good-paying jobs are hard to find. A lot of my friends grew up in public housing and depended on food stamps and Medicaid. A large population of this area is on Social Security and depends on Medicaid and Medicare for their healthcare.
I am a Democrat, and that is worse than if I had killed your dog. The district where I live was the largest area in the whole nation that voted for Donald Trump. I have been an outspoken advocate against Trump and his policies from day one. I think he is a rude, narcissistic, anti-American nazi. I started investigating Robert Aderholt eight years ago to expose his voting record for supporting laws that hurt this rural area. He voted on bills in the House of Representatives that took over 20 million people off their healthcare. He has never voted on one bill to benefit women. He voted against raising the minimum wage and joined Trump in being one of the biggest anti-union presidents in history. There is nothing in Aderholt’s voting record that will convince me that he represents the majority of the people in District 4.
I worked the polls in Marion County during three elections. I was shocked at the voters who came in there, who I knew were experiencing hard times, and they voted Republican. I was equally surprised at the voters who I know are all about Jesus, and they voted for a man who they had to have heard mock a disabled man, publicly bragged about sexually assaulting women, and had committed adultery on all three of his wives. I watched Veterans vote wearing a MAGA hat after Trump had insulted John McCain as a POW and called our military “suckers and losers.”
We have a lot of Democrats in this area who are afraid to go vote for fear of being “outed” and shunned by their peers. We have merchants who own businesses who hide their political affiliation for fear of losing their business. This is the time we are now living in because Trump has made it okay and normal to treat people this way.
What really was the surprise of all was/is the way people who are/were my longtime friends cut me off like I had a bad disease. They called me a “baby killing, queer loving devil” and accused me of not being a “real Christian” and outright told me that they didn’t believe anything that I said, even though it was coming right out of Trump’s mouth. They stopped speaking to me, unfriended me on Facebook, and acted like I had personally done something to them. This upset me to tears and caused me deep depression.
As time has passed and I have continued to lose friends, and some members of my family have resorted to their smirks and snide comments, I have now come to the conclusion that it should have been ME who walked away from them. Why should I be disrespected for standing up for their right to insult me? Why should I be called names and expose myself to their closed-minded refusal to believe the truth?
The proof is on my side. They watched as our Capital was attacked from the incitement that Trump rallied out to them. They all heard the name-calling, cursing, lies, and insults that Trump has done since day one. What has broken me is this past week when Trump called all of our Generals and Admirals to Quantico to insult them! He threatened them that if one of them walked out, they would lose their rank and retirement! What American Commander-in-Chief would do that? No one. That kind of bullying comes from a dictator wanna be, NOT a United States President.
Now, we have our military going into cities that are strong Democratic cities that didn’t vote for Trump. He and he alone has deemed these cities to be “a bad place” and Democrats are “sleazey and bad people”. He named us Democrats as “targets.” This is the same tactic that he used on January 6th to incite a riot in our Capitol and target our Congress. This is to scare us from standing up for our rights to protect our democracy.
One of the first things that the Nazi regime did was to control the media. Just this past week, I called into a conservative radio station and talked about Tommy Tuberville being unqualified to be on an Alabama ballot. I mentioned the fact that the Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party was a Tennessee resident with another name. I said that if our Attorney General Steve Marshall knew that Wahl voted in two states under two names, why was Wahl not prosecuted? If Chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party, Randy Kelley, had done that, he would be in jail. Lisa Ward called in and added to the conversation, and guess what… the producer of the radio talk show pulled the tape and told the staff, “This will never be played on this station again.” Why? Because we both told the truth, and the truth is something that they do not want the voters to hear. “THEY” control the narrative. “THEY” control the dialog. “THEY” feed the voters the Project 2025 game plan. If a Democrat speaks out, we are demonized. “THEY” use religion as a shield to brainwash the ignorant and uninformed. All you have to do is mention God in a sentence with Trump, and all of a sudden, all of his sins are washed away. The man admitted that he never prays because he “doesn’t have anything to ask forgiveness for.” As we say in the South, “Bless his heart,” and that is not meant as a kindness.
What Bible are these MAGA people reading? Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear witness. Thou shalt not give false testimony. Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not worship false gods. This is an easy test to convince anyone that Trump is a lying, jealous, vindictive, narcissistic sociopath. So, why do the so-called Christians stand behind this man as if he were their Messiah? The Bible also warns us about the “anti-Christ” and says that “he” will come disguised as the Great Humanitarian. “He” will talk peace, prosperity, and plenty not as means to lead us to God, but as ends in themselves.” He” will have one great secret which he will tell to no one. “His” religion will be brotherhood without the fatherhood of God; he will deceive even the elect.
We send our troops all over the world to rescue people from being ruled by a radical religious government. Lately, we have been moving toward that same state of being. Christians are insisting on putting prayer in our public schools without the forethought that we are a melting pot of many religions. They are also not thinking about the fact that satanic churches will have the same Constitutional rights as the First Baptist Church.
Did Jesus not feed the hungry and heal the sick? If Jesus were in our Senate, would he vote to take food stamps and healthcare away from the poor and underprivileged? If Jesus were in the House or Representatives, would he vote against His own people to have the right to choose? Would he vote against domestic violence, or take funding from free school lunches, or deny women the same equal opportunities as men? These are questions that the religious right-wing voters do not ask themselves. Would it not make more sense if they followed the Democratic Party, which fights for their Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, healthcare, retirement, equal rights, and on-the-job protection from bullying, jealousy, and equal pay? Voters are conned and deceived by the radical right into believing that “THEY” are on their side.
The Democratic Party has passed the laws that millions of Americans enjoy in their everyday lives such as paid vacations, paid holidays, 401K, safe working environments, equal pay, the right to organize, Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, Pell Grants, GI Bill, Civil Rights Act, Women’s Right to Vote, Affordable Care Act, Unemployment, and many more. These same privileges are contested by the Republicans. Does it make any sense that these voters will vote against themselves?
We are facing a critical time in this country where we are losing our democracy. We have an administration in Washington that is in bed with communist leaders who have always been out to destroy our country. Who can we trust in our elected government as long as we continue to put people in power who are against us?
We The People. It is up to us. There is nothing wrong with being WOKE! WAKE UP!!!