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Symbols

I grew up with a lot of symbols around me; most people do. I had a Statue of Liberty pencil sharpener; I had a miniature Liberty Bell.  Most of the symbols weren't physical objects that I owned but were large things that belonged to the nation. The Lincoln Memorial was always my favorite, in contrast to the Washington monument. The Lincoln Memorial gave priority to Lincoln's words about freedom, particularly freedom for all. The Washington monument is a big phallic symbol. Washington deserved better in my opinion but it's hard to be build a memorial to someone who kept despair at bay for many years of fighting losing battles against the British until his war of attrition paid off and they gave up. How do you build a memorial to someone who refused to be crowned king and then walked away from the presidency in order to ensure that liberty would outlast him?

The White House is a symbol; its nickname is the People's House. It is a weird mix of really important offices and living quarters. Being a symbol it has been a target of those who would hurt our country, and so the defenses are strong.

Except for some reason our nation elected Trump to a second term after he attempted a coup in January 2021. And Trump is big into symbols, so he has demolished part of the White House, the East Wing, and used the debris to expand a golf course. His goal is to build a huge ballroom on that space as a monument to himself, one that you and I will never dance in since it will most assuredly not be the People's Ballroom.

It has been a hard week for me aside from politics, strenuous in several ways. I must say the symbol of the Donald J. Trump Ballroom (his proposed name for it) being built on the ruins of part of the White House has hit me hard emotionally. 

I was born free. We can talk about the fact that as a white male who presents as straight I have had more freedom accorded me than many others, and that is the subject of another post. And yet, this phrase has been in my mind a lot in Trump's second term. 

I was born free, not far from Valley Forge, where soldiers endured, endured through winter weather in hopes of being free. It's a lot to live up to, the price that so many have paid to keep me free over the centuries.

I was born free. I have no king. Insofar as Trump pretends to be a king I spit in his direction, for myself and all those that sacrificed for my freedom. 

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