I have come to the conclusion that the word "politics" in reference to policies of the left or right has no meaning anymore.

It is a genteel dinosaur of a word. A quaint luxury of a past age that, like a lace doily, that has been shredded by the impulsivity and savagery of modern culture.

The mask has been ripped off the power structure; more people than ever before can see who benefits from this system and who doesn't.

Instead of "politics", there seems to be only human decency and the lack thereof.

In this day and age, when I hear people say, "I disagree with his/her POLITICS," that word reeks of gaslighting.

For example, in reference to the late, great Rob Reiner, I'm hearing some people say, "I disagreed with his politics, but..."

Specifically, what were Rob (and Michele) Reiner's "politics"?

Supporting LGBTQ rights? Defending the rights of American citizens to vote? Keeping fascism at bay and protecting the U.S.'s status as a democracy? Finding ways to keep children from starving in the richest country on earth?

Those things are not POLITICS. They are expressions of human decency.

And what qualifies as "politics" nowadays?

-Supporting Nazistic ICE squads that can kidnap people and violate their civil rights with impunity... or not.

-Supporting Israel's genocide of the Palestinians... or not.

-Supporting the U.S. government's and our tax dollars enabling the abovementioned genocide... or not.

-Supporting Trump's and the Republican party's attack on U.S. democratic institutions and values... or not.

-Supporting the replacement of U.S. democracy with a Christo-fascist state... or not.

-Supporting the mass transfer of wealth from the U.S. citizenry to a handful of billionaires... or not.

-Supporting the abdication of the U.S. as a moral, cultural and economic world leader (however flawed and hypocritical)... or not.

-Supporting the destruction of the U.S. educational, scientific, infrastructure and financial systems... or not.

-Supporting the willful destruction of the earth by refusing to take action to address climate change... or not.

-Supporting the denial of health care for tens of millions of U.S. citizens which will lead to millions of unnecessary deaths, all in the service of transferring more wealth to the super rich... or not.

-Supporting base sadism, cruelty and depravity... or not.

When has this struggle ever been more evident?

The modern-day Republican party is a terroristic organization whose sole aim is to economically pillage and societally destroy the "greatest nation on earth" while making the super-rich even richer... while fetishistically enjoying all the suffering it causes.

The Republican party stands for sadism, superstition, ignorance, violence, criminality, religious fanaticism, racism, and fascism.

And, for the first time in our country's history, it gleefully terrorizes vast swaths of American citizens with the same fervor it used to reserve for people living in other parts of the world.

The Democratic party is largely corrupt, with most Democratic politicians being performative grifters (as are most Republican politicians), and an infuriating, traitorous disappointment to the citizens it pretends to fight for. The difference between the two parties is that Democratic politicians lack the Republicans' abovementioned sadistic, psychopathic qualities.

Of course, there are notable and inspiring exceptions to the Democratic grifter template, like Bernie Sanders, Maxwell Frost, Ilhan Omar or Zohran Mamdani, which give many of us hope.

People who are fighting for human rights for everybody -- Palestinians, Jews, Blacks, immigrants, anyone else who is not white, women, LGBTQ, the poor -- are not engaging in "politics". They are fighting to protect human rights, human dignity, and a basic sense of morality.

They are not fighting in the abstract sense. The fight is direct and tangible to them. They are fighting to protect themselves, their families, their neighbors. Fighting to protect the fundamental basic qualities of being civilized human beings so that we feel a motivation for continuing to live in this world.

So please, enough of this gaslighting word: POLITICS.

"Politics" no longer exists. There is only decency and depravity.