Tuesday, July 1, 2025

TRUMP'S WAR ON AMERICA

The Great Immigration Myth: Trump’s War on Diversity Is a War on America Itself

Donald Trump built his entire political career on a lie, the Great Immigration Myth: that immigrants are criminals, parasites, and threats to the American way of life. From the moment he descended his golden escalator in 2015, he launched a campaign not just against illegal immigration, but against non-white humanity itself. His goal was never to fix a broken system. His goal was always to make America white again.

Let’s be clear: there is no immigration crisis in the sense that Trump and his followers portray. What exists is a policy failure, one that could be remedied through the systems and laws we already have, if only they were supported, funded, and administered with compassion and common sense.

What is needed is:

  • Expanded resources for legal processing and asylum review
  • Safe, humane housing for those waiting for hearings
  • A functional, well-funded pathway to citizenship for long-term residents
  • Sensible vetting and security—not walls and bans
  • And above all, legislation based on law and logic, not fear and hate

But instead of fixing the system, Trump is weaponizing it.
Instead of solving immigration, he is criminalizing it.
Instead of upholding the values of the Constitution, he is resurrecting the language of racial cleansing.

Yes, racial cleansing. Because that’s what happens when you deliberately paint one group of people as inferior, dangerous, and unwelcome, that’s what happens when you call immigrants “animals,” “vermin,” and “invaders.” That’s what happens when you build detention camps, separate families, and deport people who’ve lived here peacefully for decades. And if he has his way, it may not stop at deportation. History shows us where this path leads, chillingly reminiscent of the 1930s.

Make no mistake: immigration is not America’s problem. It is its solution.

We need people to come here to work, study, contribute, and lead. America’s economy depends on it, our universities thrive on it, and our population growth requires it. Without immigration, the American experiment slowly dies.

What Trump is selling is not protection, it’s regression. It is the desperate gasp of a dying ideology: that whiteness equals power, and diversity equals threat. But this ideology is not only immoral, it is dangerous, unsustainable, and economically suicidal.

If America is to survive and thrive in the 21st century, it must do so as a multiracial, multilingual, multicultural democracy. That is our strength, that is our identity, and that is what Trump fears most.

So let’s be honest about what his immigration crusade is:
Not a border policy.
Not a crime strategy.
Not national security.

It is a white nationalist project masquerading as patriotism. It is racial panic dressed in red, white, and blue. It rejects everything America could become, and once aspired to be.

Trump is not solving a crisis.
He is the crisis.

And the only moral, democratic, and patriotic response is to reject this lie completely—and to rebuild a system where immigrants are not feared, but welcomed. Where the Statue of Liberty still means something. Where America is not whitened, but enlightened.

Because in the end, immigration won’t destroy America. It just might save it.

William James Spriggs

THE GREAT LIE IS ABOUT COLOR

The Great Lie Isn’t About Crime, It’s About Color

Donald Trump’s anti-immigration campaign has never been about crime. It has always been about color. The myth that immigrants, mainly migrants from Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East, are criminal threats is a political ruse, a tool of manipulation dressed up as national security. But peel back the curtain, and the truth is clear: this is not about making America great again. It’s about making America white again.

Let’s start with the facts:
Numerous studies, by the Cato Institute, the American Immigration Council, and even government sources, consistently show that immigrants, both legal and undocumented, commit crimes at lower rates than native-born U.S. citizens. There is no statistical justification for singling out immigrants as a criminal class. And yet, Trump’s rhetoric continues to focus obsessively on “bad hombres,” “rapists,” and “animals.” The only purpose of this language is to dehumanize. To vilify. To divide.

And to justify expulsion.

Because what Trump and his followers truly fear is not lawlessness, but demographic change. The shift in America’s racial and cultural makeup threatens their imagined past, a past where whiteness meant power, privilege, and dominance. And so they wage a war against immigration under the pretense of law and order.

But here’s the greatest irony of all:
America needs immigrants more than ever.

The very people Trump demonizes are essential to the country’s economic vitality. Migrant labor drives agriculture, construction, caregiving, hospitality, and countless other industries. These workers aren’t taking jobs, they’re doing the jobs no one else will do. They are not a burden on America’s future; they are its foundation.

They come here not to harm, but to build.
They seek not to exploit, but to escape exploitation.
They flee violence, poverty, and oppression, often in countries destabilized by American policy, and in return, they bring hope, resilience, and an unmatched work ethic.

And yet Trump clings to his escalator lie, the one he told on day one: that he would “rid the country of criminals.” But if he genuinely cared about crime, he would focus on where it statistically exists. If he applied the same standard to white citizens that he applies to migrants, he’d be calling for mass deportations from his rallies.

But of course, he won’t because this was never about crime.
It’s about color.
It’s about control.
It’s about fear.

And it’s a lie that must be called what it is: xenophobic, racist, and un-American.

If we are to reclaim the moral compass of this nation, we must reject the poisonous idea that whiteness defines Americanness. We must elevate truth over myth, statistics over slogans, and shared humanity over shallow hatred.

Immigrants are not our enemies.
They are our neighbors, coworkers, caregivers, and future.

Let’s make America just again.
And leave the bigotry behind. Where it belongs.

William James Spriggs

Sunday, June 29, 2025

TRUMP'S FATAL FLAW

Overreach and Opportunity: Why It’s Time for Democrats to Embrace the Sanders Platform

Donald Trump and his enablers have made a fatal error. In their arrogant rush to seize total control of the U.S. government, they overplayed their hand. Project 2025, crafted by the Heritage Foundation and carried forward by operatives like Stephen Miller, was supposed to be the blueprint for a gradual erosion of democracy. Instead, it reads like a confession of authoritarian ambition.

And that’s the only good thing about it.

Had they been smarter, they would have hidden their plans behind layers of policy-speak and slow procedural change. They would have taken the long road, incrementally replacing civil servants with loyalists, quietly undermining independent agencies, and stealthily fusing church with state. However, subtlety has never been Trump’s strength. In his world, power must be loud, fast, and unrepentant. And so, Project 2025 was published, not leaked, not inferred, but declared.

Now, the American people are staring tyranny in the face. And while many are still rubbing their eyes, unsure of what they’re seeing, a critical mass is beginning to awaken.

This is not a moment for politics as usual.

The Democratic Party cannot continue campaigning on modest reforms, vague slogans, or bipartisan nostalgia. That kind of incrementalism brought us to this cliff. It will not lead us back. Instead, Democrats must seize this moment to redefine themselves, and perhaps even rename themselves around a bold, moral, and transformative agenda.

And that agenda already exists. Bernie Sanders has been articulating it for decades.

This is the time for democratic socialism, not as an abstract ideal, but as a living, breathing political movement. One that prioritizes working people over Wall Street, universal healthcare over corporate profit, climate justice over fossil fuel subsidies, and expanded public ownership over privatization and greed.

Project 2025 is a blueprint for oligarchy.
Project 2029 must be a blueprint for shared power, economic democracy, and moral government.

What Trump and his allies offer is rule by the few, for the few. The correct, and only, response is a government by the many, for the many. A politics rooted not in appeasement, but in principle, not in polling, but in justice.

The opportunity is now. Not in 2028. Not after another round of cautious compromise. Now.

The Democrats must stop playing defense and start leading a movement. They must become the unapologetic voice of working people, the marginalized, and those who believe the American experiment is not dead but in desperate need of rescue.

Trump has made his intentions clear. So should we.

And if the Democratic Party cannot rise to meet this moment, then perhaps it’s time for a new party that can.

William James Spriggs

Friday, June 27, 2025

WE WERE NOT HERE

We Were Not Here

We were not here.
No mark remains, no echo rings.
In the vast halls of the universe.
Our atoms scatter, past or future, 
Never now.

The moment just passed does not exist.
The moment to come is unborn.
And this moment?
Already fading,
Dissolving
As we try to name it.

We live between illusions,
Held in place by breath and memory,
Make-believing that presence is real.
But it is not.
We are not.

Particles playing roles,
Stories in dust,
We vanish even as we speak.

And perhaps,
Just perhaps,
That is enough.

To vanish beautifully.
To exist without permanence.
To love, to ache, to reach,
And leave no need
For how or why.

William James Spriggs

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

HAMBURGER OR STEAK

From Hamburgers to Steak: What It Will Take for Democrats to Win in 2028

Suppose the Democratic Party hopes to regain government control in 2029 and put forth the bold vision of Project 2029, a future grounded in justice, equity, and economic democracy. In that case, it must stop nibbling around the edges of progress and finally serve the main course: a socialist agenda that excites, inspires, and mobilizes.

For decades, Democrats have played a cautious game offering modest proposals, trimmed-down reforms, and half-hearted resistance to Republican extremism. They've promised a slightly better version of the status quo: a more affordable healthcare plan, a tax tweak, a plea for unity everywhere. But in an age of profound inequality, rising authoritarianism, and environmental catastrophe, the status quo is no longer an option. You don’t beat a wildfire with a garden hose.

The lesson was made clear in a recent local race in New York City, where a socialist-backed candidate defeated the mainstream Democratic pick in the primary. The race was small, but the signal was strong: there is a growing hunger on the left for real, structural change, not cosmetic reforms. And when candidates embrace that message unapologetically. They can win.

The Democratic Party must recognize that its most passionate, energetic base is not in the middle of the road. It is in the core socialist contingent, young voters, working people, climate activists, progressives of every stripe, who believe that healthcare is a right, not a privilege; that housing should be for people, not profit; that billionaires should not exist in a nation where children go hungry.

This group may be small now, but it has one thing moderates don’t: a vision. And vision spreads.

Bernie Sanders proved this when he electrified millions, not by moderating his views, but by embracing them fully and fearlessly. Crowds didn’t come because he was safe. They came because he was bold. They came because he offered steak, not a better hamburger.

The Democrats must now decide: Do they continue to triangulate, compromise, and sell incremental change to a nation on fire? Or do they finally embrace the ideals that can rescue democracy and rebuild America from the ground up?

Winning in 2028 will require more than beating the Republicans at their own game. It will require changing the game entirely.

That means:

  • Embracing democratic socialism as a legitimate and necessary force for justice.
  • Promoting candidates who speak, passionately, and radically about what working people deserve.
  • Building coalitions from the ground up, not just with donors and lobbyists, but with teachers, nurses, organizers, and the disillusioned.
  • Rejecting the notion that boldness is political suicide. On the contrary, it may be the only lifeline left.

The American people aren’t hungry for better slogans. They’re hungry for a moral movement. A reason to believe again. A reason to fight.

The Democrats have a choice: serve the steak, or be left behind in the drive-thru line.

WilliamJames Spriggs

Sunday, June 22, 2025

WHERE KINDNESS GROWS

WHERE KINDNESS LIVES

In halls where golden years grow dim,
And time walks slow with aching limb,
There shines a quiet, steadfast light,
A few good souls who make things right.

They do not boast, they wear no crown,
They do not seek the world’s renown.
But when you stumble, lost or low,
They’re there, just gently saying, “Hello.”

Wayne, who smiles with eyes that see,
Maria’s calm serenity,
Reggy's song, and Sharon’s grace,
Tony’s heart and Donna’s pace.

They walk these halls with open hearts,
And play the most essential parts.
They ask not what, but how you are,
They notice silence from afar.

They weather storms we cannot tame,
Still greet each sunrise just the same.
Their empathy, a healing thread,
That stitches hope where it has bled.

No spotlight shines upon their way,
No trophy shelf, no grand display,
But every act, each selfless deed,
Is how they plant a kinder seed.

They share, they lift, they lead without
A single whispered word of doubt.
No medals earned, no thanks required,
Their simple goodness never tired.

If all the world could learn their art,
To ask, to care, to hold a heart,
Then even age would feel less cold,
And life, less heavy to behold.

So here’s to them, the quiet few,
Who carry us when days feel blue.
They light the path, they smooth the climb,
The saints of our ungrateful time.

  

Friday, June 20, 2025

DUST IN THE WIND

 I clI close my eyes

Only for a moment and the moment's goneAll my dreamsPass before my eyes with curiosity
Dust in the windAll they are is dust in the wind
Same old songJust a drop of water in an endless seaAll we doCrumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see
Dust in the windAll we are is dust in the windOh, oh
Now don't hang onNothin' lasts forever but the earth and skyIt slips awayAnd all your money won't another minute buy
Dust in the windAll we are is dust in the wind(All we are is dust in the wind)
Dust in the wind(Everything is dust in the wind)Everything is dust in the wind(In the wind)
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Kerry Livgren
Dust in the Wind lyrics © Emi Blackwood Music Inc., Don Kirshner Music