President* Trump,

In the opening line of the loving-kindness blessing two days ago I referred to you, your GOP props, and the GOP scarcity mongers as diabolical chicken-shits:

May we all be safe from diabolical chicken-shits.

It’s true that I didn’t think long or hard about it or have to dig deep (obviously) to come up with the idea, but I think the phrase sums you all up rather well. Because it speaks to something I’ve wanted to unpack for a while now, I’m going to tell you about that thing and then will loop back and pull you diabolical chicken-shits in. It’s going to be a little circuitous (look it up), so please hang in (or not – it’s in not your nature, after all).

Sometime back in mid-May, I came up with the idea for another LKM blessing that squarely addresses the idea that constraints and limits can fuel creativity. Here’s the line:

May we see that all of our lives can unfold, open, and intersect both fully and sustainably.

Because this is likely such a foreign concept to you, I’ll plainly say that I think we need to put in place cultural and governmental structures that support each one’s full development in ways that are sustainable with regard to planetary conditions. To get there, we have to have a hard reset and abolish systems of oppression that rely on the belief that one group (in our case, the White male group) is most deserving and other groups are worthy only of their scraps. Such systems are inherently unfair. Moreover, they leave us vulnerable to scarcity thinking and divisive infighting and they waste huge amounts of time and resources that could be better used to serve the greater good, including figuring out our collective shit.

Basically, if we weren’t trapped in these oppressive/regressive systems and there was collective motivation to figure out how to distribute resources and opportunity equitably rather than the lion’s share going to a few while the rest of us fight for scraps, I bet we could come up with creative solutions that would allow for sustainable fulfillment for everyone.

Getting there, though, means sending you diabolical chicken-shits home to roost and locking the coop until you’re ready to be decent chickens who aren’t stealing and hoarding all the corn kernels and aren’t pecking other chickens’ eyes out. You all have to stop fueling scarcity thinking and stop reinforcing systems that are oppressive and regressive. You need to stand up and risk actual competition and cooperation in fair, egalitarian ways. You have to stop engaging in voter suppression, mass incarceration, gerrymandering, tax evasion, dark political money, intimidation, stonewalling, and all of the other dirty tactics you’ve been using to avoid leaving your vulnerable soft underbellies exposed. And yes, some Democrats will need to stop engaging in these unsavory tactics too. Check. Got it.

However, it’s clear that the GOP has the most work to do to stop these nihilistic, diabolical expressions of their chicken-shit-ness and you all truly should not be allowed to range freely until you’ve reformed because the American people and the planet can’t survive much more of you.

May we be safe from diabolical chicken-shits.
May we be willing to stop being manipulated into scarcity thinking.
May we see that we are truly stronger together.
May we see that all of our lives can unfold, open, and intersect both fully and sustainably.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson