These Are the Times That Try Our Integrity and Put Our Essential Spirit to the Test

Democrats Have to Stop Mansplaining Why Their Losing Strategies Are the Only Thing That Can Work

Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

How Conservatives Are Acting to Obliterate Healthcare Outcomes for Women and Children

Anything helps Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] Hello everyone! It was my great privilege to have this very important conversation with Dr. Yamicia Connor [https://substack.com/profile/108731402-dr-yamicia-connor] and A. Eevie Bateman [https://substack.com/profile/443649430-a-eevie-bateman]. The simple fact is that our media and our government is absolutely failing us. Women and children are being forced to die in agony in the United States, even though we have the knowledge to prevent their suffering. It’s a crime against humanity. It’s a crime against our families. It’s a crime against every one of us. Abortion bans lead to a direct increase in loss of life, yet malicious forces bury the data for the sake of preserving the ideology of cruelty. This has to change. We’ve all been indoctrinated to allow people to have their “deeply held beliefs” but at some point we have to start shouting about the fact that tolerating those beliefs causes human beings to die in agony. Dr. Connor is a tremendous resource and it’s in times like these that I wish I had a bigger platform. She has all the information we need, and she has the receipts to back it all up. However, we are in an era of data suppression. There are forces at work deliberately impeding our data collection. The government doesn’t want us to know how much damage it’s inflicting upon us. So, it’s up to us to spread the word. For those of you who are creators, please consider talking with Dr. Connor. Check out her web page and write articles to help share the truth of what’s happening. The simple fact is that the American people are being decimated. This is as big a story as anything else (and there are plenty of terrible scandals going around). We won’t solve this through silence. Please restack this. Please tell people about it. Please speak out. You’ll save the life of somebody you know. It’s only a matter of time that our corrupt system will consume everyone. Check out Dr. Connor’s web page here: LaboraCollective.com [https://laboracollective.com/] Also, follow these two brilliant women here: Thank you Margaret Williams, MS, ACC [https://substack.com/profile/12044824-margaret-williams-ms-acc], Ms.Yuse [https://substack.com/profile/322112054-msyuse], Joanna [https://substack.com/profile/326427240-joanna], Kim Meldahl [https://substack.com/profile/112040339-kim-meldahl], MLR [https://substack.com/profile/18114417-mlr], and many others for tuning into my live video with Dr. Yamicia Connor [https://substack.com/profile/108731402-dr-yamicia-connor] and A. Eevie Bateman [https://substack.com/profile/443649430-a-eevie-bateman]! Join me for my next live video in the app. Please support me if you can. I certainly need it because I’m not some millionaire, dark money sponsored phony who works for corrupt oligarchs. 100% human writing. Zero AI. Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

These Are the Times That Try Our Integrity and Put Our Essential Spirit to the Test

100% human writing. Zero AI. Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] Will we rise to the occasion or succumb to the pressure of corruption? That is the essential question of this moment. Throughout much of our lives, we’re forced to navigate a formless void. We’re born without awareness into a world we must accept on its own terms. Our first challenge is merely to survive. Along the way, we’re all tempted to betray the people around us for the sake of our own benefit. Some embrace that choice easily. Others resist. Often, it feels as if the path of resistance is the one that never offers any reward. Yet many of us take it anyway. The people I respect are the ones that chose to live simple lives. My wife is an ELL teacher in a city that accommodates refugees. She helps children who have been removed from their culture, their continent, and their families. The rooms they grew up in are gone. The stuffed animals they used to hold to provide comfort have been burned. The embrace of their mother is a fading memory. The United States of America can be divided into two opposing ideologies. There are those who look at the meek and vulnerable and see them as an exploitable opportunity for personal enrichment. Then there are those like my wife who allows herself to be guided by compassion. Her instinct is to help. She doesn’t even consider any other option. The issue humanity faces is that the corrupt always end up inheriting all the power. They lie, they steal, they cheat. They amass great fortunes and weaponize that wealth to engage in further destruction. This is the world we’re born into as vulnerable children. We all know what it means to be the target of malicious men with insatiable appetites for cruelty. We’re surrounded by people who are so offended by the sight of happiness that they’ll launch an unprovoked attack on an innocent child who is only minding his business. As a consequence, we learn to suppress our joy so that bad people cannot see. In some ways that’s a victory. In others it is a defeat. Survival is our first challenge. As we meet that challenge, we navigate our world. The less inclined we are to exploit others, the more our power grows, but we cannot see it. Our strength is not to be found in external extravagance. Instead, it’s a fortification of the spirit. A hardening of the will that makes us deliberately choose decency even though we’re externally compelled again and again to make accommodations for evil. We would avoid the battle if it were up to us, but evil forces are industrious. They overextend themselves, and they seek us out. Eventually, we reach a point where conflict can no longer be avoided. They come together in a clash where the future of humanity will be decided. It is a manifestation of the eternal struggle between corrupt forces who are nothing without their frivolous, external, and anointed power, and the decent people who put the needs of others above their own. In these moments we discover where true power exists. It doesn’t come through flash and inheritance. It doesn’t come from artificial constructions and inventions. The foundation that endures is one that’s built on kindness. That’s the enduring truth even though it’s obfuscated through the illusion of our shared experience. We all watch the bully abuse a child and escape unscathed. We see awful men make cruel jokes to the delight of an uncouth mob. We see men without merit appointed to positions of reverence even though they’ve done nothing to earn the ascension. It’s enough to make even the most compassionate among us grow cynical. Cynicism is a survival response. Oftentimes, the most gruff and frustrated among us are the most committed in their persistence to the righteous cause. A poor person sleeps better on a slab of stone than a rich man sleeps on a featherbed. The poor person does not have the torment of his conscience to disturb his dreams. Those of us who are part of the resistance have been surprised to discover how prepared we are for this moment. The universe does not take chances. Today, it feels as if we were placed into situations of struggle to prepare us for this. Our whole lives have been a crucible. We’ve become fortified. If we didn’t break before, it’s not going to happen now in this time of greatest consequence. Above all else, that’s the lesson that has become clear to me. In a way, the internal conflict is easier now. I have spent decades determining which side I’m on. Long ago I determined I’d rather make a bad choice of my own than be forced to bear the burden of somebody else’s selfishness. We have guidance. We only have to listen. Anyone who insists on controlling your decisions does so because they’re too cowardly to endure the consequences of their compulsions. These are the times that put our essential spirit to the test. I didn’t sell out my classmates to satiate the cruelty of a bully. I didn’t betray my children. Above all us, I refuse to betray myself. Little by little we’re all beginning to perceive the essential weakness of authority. They have tasks for us not because they’re so powerful, but because they’re so weak. It’s up to we the laborers to assemble and operate the world. Soon it will be revealed that the cruel men who stand behind the levers of control got there because they have no skill to offer. Their threats are empty. Without us they crumble. Their wanton indulgence of luxury only represents a deferral of their condemnation. The rest of us have begun to pierce the illusion. All the noise and the flashing lights are but distractions. The truth is like a stone at the center of your eternal self. We must never exchange anything essential for a promise that will never be fulfilled. Another era of the charlatans and the liars is coming to an end. The people who made the wrong choice long ago, are crying out in desperation. But we need to be mindful that it wasn’t a single mistake. They made that choice again and again. They committed betrayal after betrayal, laughing all the while, hundreds of them, seemingly infinite... They plead for a chance at redemption, but they’re really only looking for another opportunity to dig their claws in. They ask for money and power based on the promise that a reward will be given. No reward is forthcoming. If these corrupt souls truly sought redemption, they would live as we do. They’d retreat from the spotlight. They’d eschew the artificial trappings of control. Instead, they’d work humbly to help the innocent who have been deprived of their footing and their families and their power. Our first challenge is survival, but you do not meet that challenge by insisting every companion is a rival. The time has come for the universe to determine if we have made good choices or not. It is beyond the scope of humanity to make the final judgement. You’ve put in the years. You’ve made your decisions. The only thing left is for the program to run out. I’m not afraid. The same can’t be said for those who currently claim all the accolades. Observe their fate and remember. Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

The Fastest Way to Restore Our Country Is To Acknowledge Kamala Was Cheated

Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Why You Just Have to Accept That Your Narcissistic Parent Is Never Going to Love You Back

If these options are too much, please DM me. I’d love to have you as a supporter! Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] My father was the first to invoke the word “hate” when it came to describing our relationship. My girlfriend and I were in the car with him. He said something awful. I responded. He went into a typical, petulant, narcissistic huff and grumbled, “Great, now you hate me too.” Even in the heat of the moment, I thought it odd that he’d pick that word. It has taken me thirty years to recognize his choice was a consequence of the feelings he harbored for me. With narcissists, every accusation is a confession. We know that already, but that phrase has relevance on levels we haven’t yet given ourselves permission to explore. Looking back, I recognize that his hate began about the time I turned thirteen. As I grew into my power, he grew into his hate. Perhaps if I’d stayed a soft little boy all my life, we could have maintained a state of perpetual indifference. He could have gone on with his forgetting of my birthdays, and even my name. I could have gone on pretending I didn’t need recognition or affection from anybody. It was a dynamic of survival and I just barely survived. One of the main skills you learn from growing up with a narcissist is self-actualization. It’s not taught to you. You figure it out as you thrash around in the storm looking for a lifeline. But the self-actualization you learn under those circumstances is tainted. It consists of an understanding that expectations lead to disappointment. If you stop yourself from hoping, you can never be disappointed. If you stop yourself from feeling, you can never be hurt. You survive, but you die anyway. Really all you teach yourself is to not trust anyone. I know my dad was bullied terribly as a child. I pity him as a child. As an adult, he has a responsibility to process and overcome his pain. The trauma of the parent should never be seen as the child’s responsibility to fix. His job was to love me. He abdicated that duty. It took me a long time to overcome the liabilities of my indoctrinated worldview. I carried traces of that stunted emotional development into my marriage. My wife taught me that I could trust her. We learned to celebrate each other. When you teach yourself not to have expectations, you are cut off from recognizing the expectations of others. It’s a self-imposed blind spot that becomes a self-inflicted wound. That attitude sabotages any chance of ever cultivating any sincere and enduring affection. Today, I pay attention to my wife’s expectations and I aspire to meet them. Sometimes I fail, but I try. We forgive each other. We do better. We don’t fester in eternal frustration. No expectations, no disappointment, is no way to live. My dad could tolerate me when I was small and weak, but he started to get nervous as I grew. He was careful to keep me broken down. He emphasized my weaknesses and never celebrated my achievements. He humiliated me in public every time it seemed I might be feeling good about myself. I accepted his behavior as that of a normal, loving parent. I didn’t realize until much later that his behavior was an example of hate. Even now, he wouldn’t admit that’s what he felt. If i confronted him he’d likely go into a rage. Either that, or he’d go into his typical, petulant, narcissistic huff. “You’re so ungrateful,” he’d say. “Everything was fine until you went insane.” The tragedy of my father’s life is that it’s unexamined. At no point did he ever reflect on his behaviors and recognize how he pushed away anyone who truly cared. Their affection made him uncomfortable because he’d trained himself to think it impossible. He taught himself to hate anyone who loved him, and he made us suffer for it. “It’s not me that’s cruel, it’s the world,” he’d claim. “Why am I to blame? Why do you hate me? I’m just beating you to make you tougher so you can survive? Don’t you see? Everything good in your life is because of me!” He drove friends and loved ones away and had the nerve to feel grievance rather than remorse. The question he should have asked is whether or not his cruelty was truly necessary? Could he not have fortified those around him by another means? Perhaps a means that offered less brutality? “We’ve always done it this way? Look at me! That’s the way my parents raised me and I turned out okay!” Alone and angry and aggrieved is not okay. I think in my case I broke the cycle through a combination of fear and resentment. I grew stronger than he is. I earned better grades. I had beautiful girlfriends. I was better looking, funnier, more popular. I exceeded him in every way and he hated me for it. I now have children of my own. They, too, are better than me in every way possible. Their mother is from Peru and we live in Northern Wisconsin. They possess a beauty that renders people awkward and stunned. My children are better athletes than me. They’re smarter. They engage in astonishing flights of creativity. In every way possible they’ve exceeded me. I do not resent them for it. In fact, nothing could bring me more joy. I celebrate their power every day. I do my best to cultivate it. I see them on a trajectory that will lead to heights I could have never imagined. I’ve never once felt any resentment for them over their good fortune. I’m only relieved that they didn’t have to endure the same torments the universe had in store for me. The difference between me and my father is that I don’t hate my children. I don’t even hate my father. But he hates me. He’s always hated me, even if he’s never been able to admit it to himself. As I became stronger, he did his best to break me down. Again, I didn’t realize I was in a life or death struggle with an enemy. I thought this was simply the way growing up had to be. I tried to abide by the unspoken rules of our relationship, even though they didn’t make sense to me. My father’s rules were contradictory. He became mad if I got good grades and mad if I didn’t. I tried and tried but he couldn’t be pleased. I see now that confusion was his strategy. He wanted to overwhelm me into complacency. Cultivating impostor syndrome, accusations of moral depravity, calling me a deadbeat, all of this was leveraged to make me voluntarily abdicate my autonomy. “Why even try when you’ll never be as good as me?” Self-doubt and self-destruction are the two primary weapons of an authoritarian. They know they lose their power when challenged. When they recognize a potential enemy is growing in strength, they commit to a strategy of sabotage. In my early twenties, I was a broken person. I dropped out of college because of crippling anxiety. I couldn’t speak to my fellow classmates. Whenever I opened my mouth, I had to prepare for humiliation. I’d learned that humiliation was how people communicated with each other. My conscious mind had convinced itself that’s how they shared affection. But my second mind, my intuitive mind, knew better. It took me thirty years to consciously recognize that my father hated me, but some part knew right away. I began to distance myself from him. The longer the absences went, the more I was able to heal. I started running marathons and doing cross-country ski races. I stacked successes. I became more powerful. I achieved things impervious to the malicious robbery of his spiteful comments. Crossing the finish line of a thirty mile ski race in subfreezing conditions, I felt at peace. The volume was turned down. His influence was on the wane. I began to recognize I didn’t need him. Abusive people try to make you dependent. They ruin your self-esteem by claiming you’re worthless. Then they try to present themselves as the only relationship that you will ever need. “You aren’t smart enough to support yourself. You need me. Get over it. You should be more grateful.” How many times have I heard him say, “You should be more grateful?” Grateful for what? Your hate? The hardest part of getting away is coming upon a new challenge. Life is hard under the best of circumstances. You face obstacle after obstacle. You can get away from an abuser, things can be going fine, and then something hits that will drive you back to them. Because they hate you, they’ll leverage the moment for all its worth. “Only I can fix this problem. You see? You see? You need me. You can never escape me. Stop pretending that you’re something you’re not.” They are out there counting on the trauma bond to bring you back. To sever that, you must find a new support community. You must ask for help from the people he’s made you think will never offer any. That’s the last challenge you have to overcome before you’re finally free. That’s the last bit of grooming you have to expel. Understand your narcissistic abuser hates you. Never give them the benefit of the doubt. Any time they appear to be doing something kind, it’s only so that they can abuse you further. My father was the first person to invoke the word “hate” to describe our relationship. He accused me of having the feelings he harbored. It confused me when he used that word. I hadn’t realized then that he’d accidentally told the truth about himself. I had a long way to go to free myself of his influence. The tragedy in all this is that, at any point, he could have simply put his hate away. He could have made the choice to celebrate my victories rather than view them as a mirror for his shame. He could have resolved to become an ally rather than an adversary. He pressured me to choose between loving myself and loving him. He framed self-love as selfish. My wife taught me different. For decades, I tried to make myself see the world from his perspective, but in the end I chose myself, I chose my wife, I chose my kids. My narcissistic father hates me, but I still love him. It’s such a shame to consider all he was given that went to waste. Even now he refuses to recognize the truth, but his, not mine, was the life that became a sacrifice to hate. Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]