KNOWLEDGE is POWER, FREEDOM

On New Year's Day, I take a Winter Walk with five others through the trees in Riverfront Park along the Yellowstone.  Intermittent flakes, wind, and fierce temperatures into the teens accompany us as we trample on a path through three feet of unshoveled snow.  Moving ever so slowly, we learn about trees:  cottonwoods, green ash, red-osier dogwood.  Several hous later, split pea soup, rolls and hot mulled cider warm us quickly in the home of our expert-in-the-field.  

It's getting dark; time to leave.  A problem arises:  in the cold and wind, my driver's-side door won't latch when closed.  Luckily, David and his significant-other fix the latch with a screwdriver and, very carefully on the iced roads, I make it home.  Just short of that, however, my door unlatches.  It must be held closed until, outside my garage, it latches again.

If my door is going to be this unpredictable, sometimes latching and sometimes not, how difficult will it be getting around town the next day?  Yes, my door latches when I check in the morning but will it come loose again mid-trip?  Arriving at the YMCA to work out gives the answer:  the door won't latch when I try to close it.  I climb back inside, door latches, and head back home.  What am I to do?  The next morning is a cardio class.  Can I make it?  Would I just have to stay home because I couldn't depend on my door latch to work?  All this uncertainty;  I don't understand how to solve the problem of this unpredictability.

I google it.  To my immense relief, YouTube shows in several different videos how simple it is to correct a door latch problem.  My self-confidence returns in a rush.  I'm free.  I'm powerful.  I know what to do, I think.

With knowledge comes power, freedom.  Without it, there is none.  Feeling off-balance and powerless can be the result.  Consider Donald Trump.  He's not even our President yet and he's already practicing methods that keep us in the dark, keep us in a state of not knowing, not having a clue about what's happening.

One example is a lack of news conferences where Donald can answer questions about his upcoming administration and its policies.  There has been no such news conference since last July.  Besides us, news pundits, legislators, even some of his staff, we are told, know very little.  His communication with the outside world has been through tweets -- and they may change on a whim, without notice.  As one interviewee suggested, Donald's tweets have now become the policies of our country:  government by tweet.

Another example of keeping us in the dark is Donald's manipulation of the media, and thus us.  On January 11, next Wednesday, Donald and others have created a schedule of important meetings to be conducted -- all at the same time.  The highest six positions in his Cabinet will have their confirmation hearings conducted the same day at the same time.  Most, if not all, are controversial and require our attention.  Will this be possible when focus is changed to many hearings rather than one at a time?  In addition, Donald will be addressing his first news conference and that, too, will happen at the same time on the same day as the confirmation hearings.  Why would Donald do this if it weren't for sowing confusion, weakening any possibility of giving due consideration to each proposed Cabinet appointee, to even Donald himself at a news conference?

Most despicable is the fear and confusion that comes from asking for names of government employees who are currently working in policy areas with which Donald and his administration may disagree (climate change, gender studies).  Why do this?  If he and his ilk can't outright fire them, can they reduce their salaries to $1 to force them out of their jobs?  My understanding is that this has been tried in the past but failed because it was deemed unconstitutional.  That may not stop Donald from indulging, however.

Continuing to go against all evidence of Russian intervention in our elections, Donald keeps us questioning his motives for supporting Vladamir Putin.  Why?  What might be the reasons for this?  We don't know -- we're in the dark.  Donald does not show us his tax returns.  We don't know if he is in some way beholden to Russia (individuals, banks).  Do they have something on him that we know nothing about?  We just don't know.

Last, but not least, Donald continues to draw attention away from his conflicts of interest.  Will the January 11 news conference clarify this?  Will he indeed divest?  Or, by scheduling his news conference during confirmation hearings, he guarantees that attention to him will be diluted and therefore contain nothing but pablum to pacify.

We have little knowledge of what to expect from Donald except more of the same.  In order for us to return power to the people, to maintain our freedom in this country, to create balance where there is none between Donald's administration and us, we must know what's happening.  We must, as Michael Moore suggests, keep track of what's happening.

We don't gain knowledge through putting our heads into the sand.  Knowledge comes from reading reputable newspapers, magazines.  It comes from trustworthy experts who relate information they have gathered from various sources.  It comes from being curious, asking questions, speaking out with your own observations.  These are just a few ways to keep track of what's happening.  Observe. Question.  Discuss.  Respond.

It is only through knowledge that we have power and freedom.  Donald and his ilk only have power over us when we choose not to participate; not notice when he is manipulating us; not pay attention to what he is doing.  Groups all over the country are reading "Indivisible:  A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda".  It shows the way to work at a grass-roots level.  Google it -- it's a way to begin.  (Now, back to my door latch.)