Letting Off Steam

By G. E. Shuman

 

          I remember, when I was a child, that my mom had a huge, heavy, thick aluminum pressure cooker that she often used to quickly cook many delicious meals at our home. I also remember watching a surprisingly heavy, disk-shaped little weight on the pressure cooker’s top. When the water inside, which cooked the food, was hot and pressurized enough, that weight would rattle and bounce on the small hole it covered, both releasing steam and stopping all the steam from being released. It was, very literally, letting off steam, which, these days, is a term more used to describe mental release than that of actual steam. I also remember being told that nothing was to get in the way of that weight bouncing around, as it could cause a terrible explosion.

          Letting off steam is something I need to do, right now, so I am coming to you to listen… to let that ‘steam’ fly up into the air and then dissipate. I thought of using this as a column for the paper I write for, but the publisher is a dear friend of mine and we do live in Vermont, one of the most liberal states in our country. This writing would certainly get my friend in trouble and could cost him advertisers. I would never do that to him. I also thought of using it for the next edition of a magazine I write for in Massachusetts, but that is owned by a couple of extremely ‘progressive’ guys. They would never publish it in the first place.

          So, I thought, how about just putting it on my blogsite and on Facebook? Yup, I can do that, even at the risk of being censored. If that were to happen it would simply prove the ‘gist’ of this column. So, here goes, Facebook and vtpenner.blogspot.com fans.

          Truthfully, and in my calmest ‘letting-off-steam’ voice, I do believe that our country is under siege. I am one of those terrible conservatives who truly believes the presidential election was stolen, and that, if so, the ‘stealers’ are simply low-life thieves and far from worthy to inherit leadership positions in our country. What else could they be?

          The evidence is there but seems to matter little. Some states had more votes cast than there were even registered voters. Dead people voted in numbers larger than ever before, hundreds of thousands of pristine, never even folded ‘mail in’ ballets were cast and counted, and voting machines were programmed to point votes decidedly and only to the left.

          The election was stolen. That is something I am convinced of. And, although I am a Trump supporter, the damage is much more far-reaching than his presidency. It is robbery and puts in doubt the idea of our country ever having a fair and just election again. If this turns out to be the case, we will cease to be a democracy, and capitalism is dead. Even if you’re a Biden supporter, please think about this. Is his election to office really important enough to steal from the voters and to sacrifice our country’s constitution and existence as a free republic? My children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren will be forced to live under rulership that they are powerless to change, to agree with or disagree with. Welcome to the United States of Venezuela.

          Please understand this, dear readers. The election, with or without the blessing of Mr. Biden, was stolen. If you did not vote for him, you have been robbed. Even if you did vote for him, your effort was in vain and the gas and the money you spent to buy that gas, to drive to the polls, and the time you spent casting your vote, were wasted. No matter who you voted for, if just one illegal ballot was cast against, or even for your choice, yours just got dismissed, or at the least, watered down. How do you truly feel about that?

          I ask you, all of you, as Americans, to do whatever you can to fight against a stolen election. I have never met Joe Biden; I have no idea what kind of a man he is or what he will do to or for our country. I do know that if someone stole a Christmas present for me, then gave it to me, and I knew about how it was obtained, I would never accept it. Such is how I feel about the upcoming inauguration. Mr. Biden will never be a legitimate president, in my eyes. He should be ashamed of himself for such a terrible theft.

          Thank you for letting me blow off some pressure and let off some steam. In the words of the infamous wicked witch of the west as she melted in my favorite classic, The Wizard of Oz: “What a world… what a world.”