injustice

January 20, 2025

Last month I canceled my long time Prime account. Not only Prime, but also my Amazon Prime Visa Card, which I’ve had for twenty years. I know its probably small potatoes to you, but over those twenty years I’ve spent thousands of dollars at Amazon and Whole Foods and Kindle…

You see I live in rural America where I can’t just go to the local ethnic shop and buy my red miso or organic whole wheat flour. The nearest Trader Joes is 29 miles away; the nearest Barnes and Noble is 23 miles away in a different direction. And Amazon made it so easy for someone who hates to shop. But I’m done. If I’d had a Washington Post subscription, I would be canceling it too.

This is going to be a sacrifice for me, but I can do this. Because millionaires like you, who bow the knee to old rich white men with power are disgusting. Worse, you’re doing it under the guise of free speech. I remember the exact day when it crossed my mind to cancel Amazon. It was when you used free speech as the reason to not endorse a presidential candidate, and then you wrote an editorial trying to justify Insanity vs. Sanity.

Worse, you’re donating millions of dollars to the inauguration of a madman.

Worse, you have the power of the media at your fingertips and you are controlling what political cartoons you will publish. It’s called Bowing the Knee. Or Obeying in Advance. Or Kissing the Ring (and that’s just a polite way of putting it).

So I’m opting out of Amazon. Almost everything I can buy on Amazon, I can find somewhere else.

My books are now purchased at Bookshop.org which supports independent book stores.

My Castile soap is now purchased directly from Prairie Essentials.

My parchment paper and kitchen supplies now come from IfYouCare.com

Our bamboo toilet paper comes from WhoGivesaCrap.com

My vitamins come from Naturewise.com; our refrigerator filters came from a small family business that enclosed a hand written note thanking me for supporting them; our cat food and supplies come from Chewy.com; and my brand new KitchenAid mixer came directly from Williams-Sonoma.com. (Why didn’t I get this ten years ago?)

It’s a bit of a hassle. But I’m looking at it as a game to see what smaller or better companies I can support.

Yes I miss Prime movies, but I can make do with Netflix. And with the money I’ve saved from axing Prime, I can donate to PBS and get Masterpiece. And have enough to spend on Britbox.com, if I want.

My new credit card is another account that still accumulates points, just not from Amazon. I am Amazon-free. I am X-free. I am Facebook-free. Next I will be trying to figure out an alternative to Home Depot. I’m hoping our local Ace Hardware will do the trick.

And I’m reminded that I also subscribe to the theory that all I need is less.

And now, I am going to go watch the speech of a Real. American. Hero. Whose day of honor has been overtaken, overshadowed, and stolen by a bunch of anti-democratic, anti-American, oligarchic cowardly millionaires. And the poor people that they have fooled.

Martin Luther King Jr’s I Have a Dream Speech can be viewed on You Tube right here.

I suggest you do the same.

“Can a corrupt throne be allied with you–a throne that brings on misery by decrees?”–Psalm 94:20 (NIV)

The New Living Translation puts it this way: “Can unjust leaders claim that God is on their side— leaders whose decrees permit injustice?“

While claiming God is on His side, he has:

Updated the immigration enforcement laws which massively expanded the number of people who were detained or deported
Made friends with autocratic dictators, while alienating our long-standing allies
When it was made public that Putin offered bounties for American soldiers, he DID NOTHING. In fact, he seems to serve Putin’s Russia. Susan Rice, former National Security Advisor, says it is unthinkable that no-one in the president’s close circle informed him of this. You might like to read her op-ed, Why Does Trump Put Russia First?
Passed tax reform act that mostly benefited the wealthy and large corporations
Rescinded the DAPA program that would have offered a pathway to citizenship to parents of children who are American citizens
Continued to profit from his businesses while acting as president, which is in violation of the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution
The Secret Service has spent over half a million dollars on golf carts protecting the president who has spent almost one out of three days playing golf at one of his resorts
Set up ICE detention centers for immigrants where the conditions are appalling and it is estimated that over 1,000 people have been separated from their families
The two private prisons that house more than half the immigrant detainees have doubled in stock value; the prison groups (GEO and CoreCivic) have donated approximately a million dollars to Trump and his campaign
Encouraged his supporters to vote more than once to throw suspicion on our democratic election processes
Lied to the American people about the severity of the Corona Virus, and has never really shown remorse for over 200,000 American deaths. Instead, he has said repeatedly, “It will all just go away…” (He gives himself an A+ for his leadership on the pandemic).
His cabinet is filled with corporate executives and lobbyists who now oversee the companies they worked for: a coal lobbyist heads up the Environmental Protection Agency; a big pharma executive runs the Dept. of Health & Human Services; a shipping heiress drives the Transportation Department; ex-Goldman-Sachs partners run the SEC and the Treasury Department; the owner of a dozen agribusiness companies directs the Agriculture Department… that’s only a few. Look ’em all up. He said he would drain the swamp — instead he’s quadrupled the size of it… (For a jaw-dropping look at the corruption see this article: Mapping Corruption, Donald Trump’s Executive Branch by Jim Lardner.

When a not insignificant number of Americans are willing to bypass the Constitution to keep a demagogue in power, that’s a grave threat to our republic. In 50 days—or sooner, if your state allows—we must vote in overwhelming numbers in defense of our Constitution and encourage others to do the same. —Evan McMullin, The Topline, 9/14/20

Indeed, the corruption and injustice of this administration has brought misery by its decrees; this corruption, deception, incompetence and slothfulness in the office of the highest ruler in our land should frighten us. Just read Proverbs 16:12: “It is an abomination for kings to commit wicked acts, for a throne is established on righteousness.” The fame, fortune, and future of a civil government depend on righteousness. For a longer discussion on this proverb, you can check out this commentary.