Rita's Spur to Action

The computer and the telephone have alienated an entire generation. It is impossible to look at America today without wondering what has caused this tremendous division in the country. And what is the division? 

It seems as though a generation of people have grown up without having any real connection to the society in which they live. Their attachment is to their computers, their telephones, and to an ever-narrowing landscape world. They observe but they don’t participate. That seems to be a large part of the younger generation. Another part of the population are the people who are hostile, angry, and don’t seem to really understand what is happening in the world. They don’t seem to understand the relationship between aiding the Ukraine to continue the war against Putin – war that has kept Putin from invading NATO countries, and which so far has kept America out of World War III. 

Ever since the end of the Vietnam War, Americans have not been involved in any public service. There has been no draft. It may be that the only thing that can save this country is to reinstitute the draft. People can choose to serve in the military – the Army, Navy, or Air Force – or they can choose to serve in some form of Peace Corps abroad. 

Years ago, Helen Parkhurst, who is the founder of the Dalton School, one of the most advanced, progressive schools in the Nation, was totally committed to the idea that everyone as they graduate high school should serve for 2 years in some form of public service before going to college. Today, this idea seems more necessary than ever. 

Public service gives people a sense of commitment and exposure to the needs of other people and other societies, a camaraderie, and ultimately helps solve the problem of racial inequality and the commitment to racial integration. When people all work for a common cause, they recognize the commonality of their interests and their humanity, and they recognize the common needs. It also helps them to find a way to do something constructive towards solving social problems. 

In other countries in the world today, everybody serves. America is one of the very few countries that does not have a commitment to public service. It seems as though this may be a partial cause of some of the divisions in the country.

A draft gives a person many different possibilities to serve in whatever way they choose. The important thing is to be involved, and to be part of the social action that shapes and defines the direction of a country. It makes you a participant. The point is that this is a generation that sits by and watches the world go by.

Perhaps the social problem today and the division in this society is related to the lack of connection that public service provides. Everyone is living in their own little shell.

Here we are, in exactly the same situation that the United States was in just before World War II. Roosevelt was trying to keep the war “over there” by trying to support Britain and France in the fight against Hitler. Today it is even worse. As dangerous as that was, we were faced with an external enemy. Today we are fighting another war. Today we are a nation divided against ourselves, trying to fight an enemy from within. It is inconceivable to believe that that enemy is the former President of the United States.

It is inconceivable that the United States today is on the brink of losing the democracy to a former President, running again, whose single, solitary aim is the destruction of that very democracy. In World War II, Hitler was about to attack England and the United States, having already taken over France, and Roosevelt persisted in trying to keep the war over there. It wasn’t until Hitler took over Europe, and the simultaneous attack by Japan at Pearl Harbor, that finally forced America to go to war. The circumstances today seem very similar with Putin hoping that by destroying Ukraine, and if we do nothing immediately to support Ukraine, that it will give him the freedom to move into the NATO countries, which would immediately involve the United States. 

The Congress of the United States must immediately make the commitment to support Ukraine. A peaceful future for the United States is dependent on weakening Putin by supporting the Ukrainians and their efforts to destroy him. What is wrong with America? That it can allow politics to divide the nation in such a way as to lead to it’s own destruction. What is wrong with America? Are we allowing political differences to destroy our democracy?

Today we are facing a double-threat – from the destruction within our country from Trump, and the destruction from Putin emanating from the outside of the country. Beware! The tigers are at the gate. 

Speaking of speech-impediments:

It’s impossible to find anything Biden has done that has been destructive for this country, and it is especially important to look at what positive things Biden has done and what he will do if he is supported. The stock market is up, the job market is up, and he delivered the Coronavirus Relief Fund to help people through a period of unemployment during the pandemic. He has again raised the level of respect for the people in our communities who serve in the armed forces and in the police forces around the country: those people who keep our country safe in the world and safe at home. Most of you are probably not aware of the fact that he has also delivered the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that forgives the financial burden of loan repayment after a period of time for public service workers in our nation, including doctors, nurses, teachers, law enforcement professionals, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and military personnel. Unlike Trump, Biden is actually championing and supporting the people of our nation who hold this country together, who treat those who are sick, and who educate our children. 

Biden is the only man at this moment who can save the democracy of the United States of America. The fact that he is eighty two years old and has a speech-impediment is not an indication of his mental acuity. The fact that he is not a circus barker and doesn’t know how to yell and scream to get people into the circus – that is not a reason not to support Biden. Anyone who is as busy as he is, with as much on their plate as he has, is bound, every so often, to sound forgetful. How many of you set out to walk from one room to another and when you get there you can’t remember why you went to that room? And none of you have as much on your plate as does Biden.

Nobody knows more about governing America than Biden. He has spent his entire life working for the people of the United States. He has served for the United States Government for fifty four years, and before his Presidency he was a member of the Senate, he ran for President, and he served as Vice President. This is in comparison to Trump, who has never in his life served anyone anywhere for anything – only himself. And the only thing Trump knows about the Government of the United States is how to best serve himself and how to fill his own pocket. Biden has always been known for his integrity and decency, while Trump has been renowned for his lies and deception, abuse of women, and narcissism. Even if you don’t agree with all of Biden’s policies, you at least have to agree that it is better for the United States to be represented by a decent, honest man who has only the best interest of the country at heart, as compared to a crooked, dishonest man whose only desire is to destroy the democracy and to serve his own personal interests. You can disagree with Biden once he’s elected, but you won’t be able to disagree with or change Trump. With Biden, there is hope for the democracy of this country, but with Trump, there is only disillusion and despair. 

Why in the world is America wasting so much time and money on Donald Trump? The man who raised the national debt of the United States by $7.8 trillion while in office? God alone only knows what he paid himself and his family out of that debt. When he lived in New York, everybody knew that he was a liar, a cheat, a misogynist, and a despicable human being. Everybody who ever worked for him was robbed by him. A girl who was raped by him was told if she got pregnant she should get an abortion. This is a man whom everybody knew and has known forever, who has absolutely no redeeming feature as a human being. What is the matter with the people of this country? Who wants to be represented by such a reprehensible person? Is this the way Americans want the world to see us?

This has nothing to do with Republican or Democrat – right or left – this has to do with a dictator who wants to take over the country, reduce the taxes on the rich, and take away from the middle-class and the lower-class every benefit: health, education, reconstruction, and international alliances that help keep the country safe and secure. He will increase taxes on the middle and lower classes. He will deprive women of their right. He will deprive people of their vote. He would open the doorway for Putin to take over the United States. He would give up our alliances with the other nations of the world that keep us safe, and instead would enable Putin to accomplish his goal of destroying the United States. 

Do not forget: America went to war to fight World War II against Hitler. Hitler had been elected to office by the German people. Does America want to repeat history? To give up our democracy to a vile, despicable, self-avowed dictator? Is that what you, the people of America, want for your future?

New York City, Manhattan, is being totally destroyed as a livable city.

The building contractors are busy tearing down old and beautiful buildings in order to build more and more towers filled with empty spaces.

These oversized, tall buildings are basically architecturally faulted. The first one was built by Viñoly on Park Ave, 432 Park Avenue. He himself claimed that it was a failed building, and all the other tall buildings have followed suit. They sway in the wind, they creak, the pipes break, and the elevators don’t work in a timely fashion.

Unreasonable and unlikely to happen, the best thing that can be done to reclaim these buildings is to lop off the top 20-40 floors. The only people benefiting from these tall buildings are the contractors who make money off of more rentable/sellable property on smaller bases. Perhaps there should be an air tax, but it would be even better to totally ban buildings over a certain height altogether.

The streets are being darkened. The sky is being obliterated. The sun can barely penetrate the shaded corridors.

The stores are empty, restaurants are surviving, and yet, the rents continue to rise.

It’s hard to know where this massive destruction ends.

It is beyond comprehension that so many spaces are, at present, left vacant one building after another. And yet, the builders go on tearing down old buildings and replacing them with bland, unoccupied new ones. Somebody is making money off taxpayers!

During the Covid pandemic, many corporations and staffs moved to cheaper areas of the country as they realized they could work productively on Zoom. Offices seem to have become largely obsolete in the city. There seems to be no recognition of the fact that Manhattan does not need more office spaces, and yet there seems to be more and more of those as well. What Manhattan needs are more affordable living spaces so that the people who work in Manhattan can afford to live in Manhattan.

The rents must be forced down for commercial space for businesses like shops, restaurants and boutiques to bring the city back to life.

This has to happen immediately. Today. Not tomorrow, not the next day, not next year. Today. Otherwise New York City will die.

Rents are too high and should be forced down. Neither the city nor the federal government should afford tax rebates for retail owners who leave their spaces empty or unoccupied. If the rents came down, it might be possible for small businesses still to function as destinations and specialty stores. Another possibility is to take the spaces of the empty stores and turn them into some kind of sleeping facilities for the enormous number of migrants flooding the cities. The empty spaces in New York City, that probably will never again be occupied by office spaces, could be turned into midtown lofts – younger generations today prefer loft space to apartment space.

The other thing that the city has to do is to force every contractor who builds a new building to build parking spaces into their structures – several floors of parking space. The charge for these spaces should be the same for parking on the street, and the money should be collected by the city as it is for street parking. This is what is happening in cities like Paris.

It’s time that the real estate business in New York shares some responsibility for the problems that they’ve created in the city. Young people, artists, artisans, teachers, police officers, almost anybody who works in the city cannot afford to live here. This alone would be the sign of a dying city. Your workers, your young people, your talented people, your artists, can no longer afford to live in the city in which they work, nor can members of the police force who are supposed to protect the city – they too cannot live in the city, nor can they send their children to school in the city. The city has created an entire workforce with no skin in the game; no relationship to the city except to come in, spend their hours, and go home.

With the largest police force in the nation, it is impossible to find a police officer on any street in New York except those who direct traffic. No wonder Donald Trump could go out onto Fifth Avenue, shoot somebody, and not be apprehended – there’s nobody to arrest him.

What is the matter with this country?

Do you people not understand the difference between right and wrong? When Jamie Dimon CEO of Chase Bank comes out and says “don’t write off Trump, he’s right about something”. That is NOT the issue. Hitler built roads and bridges and sent 6 million people to their death because he hated Jews, Chinese, Blacks… and anyone who is not white skinned, blue eyed, or aryan. Trump is the same as Hitler. He is a dictator. Yes, he may lower taxes for the rich. But as president he also increased the debt by $27 Trillion of dollars by the end of his term. “The national debt rose by almost $7.8 trillion during Trump’s time in office. That’s nearly twice as much as what Americans owe on student loans, car loans, credit cards and every other type of debt other than mortgages, combined, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York”. During all of this his family put millions of dollars in their own pockets. These are facts not fiction. Maybe he has a couple of good ideas but that isn’t the issue. The man is a corrupt liar, a misogynist, a despicable and vial creature. Is that what America wants to have? A despicable Dictator? Is that what America has become, just an order to lower taxes, to deprive people of health care, education, welfare, of equal rights under the law. Does America want to have a Putin, a Hitler, a Mussolini, a Stalin. Any of who by the way may or may not be as bad as Trump. 

This has nothing to do with the differences of Republicans, Democrats, right or left, Conservative or Liberal. Those are all valid opinions that can be discussed, argued and fought over by Republicans and Democrats. The Republican party has become a cult, the party of Trump, it is no longer an independent party. He has bought, bribed and terrified the individual members of this Republican party. Kiss the ring or you may be assassinated, threatened or defamed. He stands against immigration. However, his grandfather was a whore master in Germany and came to this country as an immigrant investing his ill gotten gains into real estate. Trump himself was financed and refinanced by his corrupt father. Aside from anything else he is far from a self made man. Trump is a vial despicable disgusting subhuman being. Is this who America wants as their president? Presented to the world, so that America can be isolated, insulated and rotten to the core. Represented by a reprehensible person. If America has any values left, this man should not, must not and cannot be a nominated for the presidency to represent The United States to the world. Americans stand up and fight to preserve your failing democracy before you sleep walk into a corrupt dictatorship. 

It’s easy to focus on Trump because he’s a circus barker and he knows how to get the troops into his tent.

He’s managed to divide the country between Republicans and Democrats, between religious fanatics and people of normal belief.

A man of no moral compass has managed to create a world around him of no moral compass, and he has encouraged violence across the United State.

He has also managed to create a Republican party of Senators and others running for the Presidency who are equally as despicable as he is.


Somehow this country has managed to invent a new Republican party made up of Senators whose sole aim is the destruction of the democracy .

These Senators are being elected , with no term limits.

They can sit there for their entire lives and get paid for their entire lives.

There are several very important constitutional changes that should be attended to.

Term limits for all elected officials. An independent, non-political, character assessment must be required before someone can be allowed to run for office.

Currently there is no provision in the Constitution requiring a character and background check for anyone running for office.

Because any change in election policy must come on a legislative level, this blind spot in the qualification procedure may likely remain for some time.

The Founding Fathers never dreamt that crooks and criminals would be elected to the highest office in the United States.

It is perfectly disgusting that New York City continues to act as a garbage can. There should be no live garbage anywhere, and certainly not on the streets. A photograph was taken the other day of fifteen rats on a disgusting pile of garbage emanating from Palace Restaurant on East 57th Street, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Blank Street Coffee. The other day, a photograph of the rats outside of Dunkin’ Donuts was taken into the manager of Dunkin’ Donuts. The manager thanked the guy and gave him a box of donuts. The rats are still there, the garbage is still there. Why does not the Mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, run a real campaign to eliminate all organic food matter from the garbage? There is no reason in the world that every enterprise, and certainly food centers, should not be composted. There are garbage bags today which can be filled with live garbage, placed in a bin, and they will decompose and turn into compost. If an individual enterprise has more to compost than it can handle, why should there not be bins on the street from which the city can pick up the compost and use it to feed the trees, the grass, the parks… This is not the most complicated process to organize. It would turn New York City from being a garbage can, a disgusting city to walk through day or night into a pleasant and updated city. Come on, Mayor Adams, get with the program.

The American democracy under which we have lived and prospered for the last 245 years is on the brink of destruction.

Anyone who lived through World War II must recognize the similarity of those forces, of those individuals, who like Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin, were dedicated to creating their own autocracies and to the destruction of their own democracy and the world as we knew it.

Their followers, too, were Aryans and Antisemites who were totally responsible for the murder of 6 million Jews and many others besides. Along with the Japanese on the other side of the world, seeking their own world domination, were totally responsible for World War II. Those forces have grown, misinformation has spread, and war criminals, such as Putin, have been aided and abetted in their dedication to the destruction of our nation.

Perhaps the most essential feature of their destructiveness and perhaps the most long lasting effect of Trump’s desire to destroy this country, will be the denigration of education, the introduction of religion into the educational system of the schools, the judicial system throughout the country, and finally the destruction of the Supreme Court.

He and some of his predecessors cynically stacked the Supreme Court for their perceived possible benefit.

Trump is not the only responsible party for the destruction of the Supreme Court. In recent times, President George HW Bush made the cynical appointment of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. The Republican party refused to allow Obama to make an appointment. However, they did support Trump’s three self-serving appointments. His soul intention was to stack the Supreme Court in his favor should his case ever be presented, as it probably will.

The confidence of Americans in the integrity of the judicial system has been totally undermined.

The destruction of the Supreme Court is probably the last and final act leading to the demise of our democracy. Historically, they have been the iconic final word on any judicial issue. They had the nation’s trust that their decisions would be just. One used to consider that the Supreme Court’s decisions were not bound by self interest or politics, but purely by deliberation and what was the best and correct decision for the nation.

This is all reminiscent of Hitler’s Germany all over again.

Ultimately, it seems as though the members of the Supreme Court are one way or another corrupt, can be bought by wealthy individuals and this is at the very heart of the destruction of this country. Money has taken over the entire governing system, from state elections to national elections, to the Supreme Court. A democracy really depends on the integrity of the electoral system in every state in the country, and the dedication of the individuals who run for office and who are elected.

It seems that character and integrity are not required for a perspective Supreme Court Justice. It’s easier to run for election for any position in the United States government than it is to get into a New York City Co-Op.