iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Commit to permanently reject any political candidate or party that uses the words of democracy while promising the actions of autocracy. -end-

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Work to restore voting rights for people who are permanently disenfranchised in many states because of past felonies. Critically, wave a flag this weekend, but actually show up and vote in November for people who genuinely support our Constitution. Organize with your neighbors to do the same.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

If you want to truly celebrate the 250th, renew your commitment to protecting citizenship and voting rights for all Americans. Demand the end of gerrymandering. Work to end the Electoral College to finally ensure we elect presidents democratically.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

For many people currently holding elected office, the goal is to replace our representative democracy with something that is much closer to single-party authoritarianism.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Despite 2.5 centuries of a slow, hard-won, bloody march towards true democracy, MAGA Republicans are doing extensive work to claw back those costly victories. They are doing this in an effort to end the type of democracy and equality that we have claimed for 250 years, but genuinely known for 61.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

I contend that America has indeed been an independent nation since 1776, but has only been an actual democracy since 1965. A mere 61 out of 250 years - 24% of our history.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Once again, states of the former Confederacy are actively working to gerrymander those districts into other safer, majority-Republican districts. The Black vote and representation are again being threatened by the very states that have always worked hardest to extend the legacy of white supremacy.]

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

[Interlude: Just a few weeks ago, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act when they declared that Black-majority Congressional districts were neither necessary nor constitutional.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Federal law finally provided a mechanism to genuinely guarantee the vote for all Americans.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

That finally brings us to 1965, the year American democracy became a reality with the passage of the Voting Rights Act. That was the first moment in history when neither gender nor race could be used as deciding factors in citizenship and voting.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Between 1956 and 1965, a movement to secure civil rights fought back against unconstitutionally discriminatory state and federal policies. Violence erupted. Blood was spilled. People were martyred. A nation was forced to act.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

In unlikely places like Boston and San Francisco, Black people were denied good jobs, home loans, enrollment in public and private universities, and access to the GI Bill.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

For about 90 years, that nefarious system was incredibly successful. Segregation was so effective that the ideology spread from coast to coast, infecting the entire nation. Segregation became federal policy in housing, employment, and military service.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

After the collapse of Reconstruction and the shameful success of "Southern Redemption," the states of the former Confederacy used every means they could muster to ensure that no Black person could ever vote,hold office, or move freely through society. This system came to be called Jim Crow.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Despite the protections of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, millions of African American citizens were denied voting rights through state laws and an organized, widespread movement of domestic terrorism.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

1965 - The Black Vote 2.0 By the time women gained the vote in 1920, Black folks in the states of the former Confederacy had been systematically and unconstitutionally disenfranchised again.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

As absurd and unlikely as this sounds, the Overton Window of the acceptable range of political beliefs is rapidly shifting. Do not ignore this group as nothing more than the lunatic fringe.]

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

[Interlude: Today, there is a movement growing on the fringes of the political and religious right, advocating to overturn the 19th Amendment and take voting rights from women.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

With all people, regardless of race or gender, guaranteed voting rights by the Constitution, was America finally a true democracy in 1920?

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Following a fierce 70-year battle, in 1920 women were finally recognized as full citizens with equal voting rights with the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Shockingly, it was only 106 years ago that women won the right to vote, which was 144 years after independence.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

1920 - The Female Vote Despite the massive lurch towards true democracy through the Reconstruction Amendments, roughly half of all Americans were still denied voting rights in 1870. All women, regardless of race, were excluded from the franchise.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

[Interlude: Four members of the current Supreme Court just publicly declared that they do not accept the clear reading of the 14th Amendment regarding who is an American citizen and would overturn birthright citizenship if only a fifth justice would join them.]

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Between 1865 & 1877, for the first time in American history, approx. 2,000 Black men held political office. A total of 16 African American men served in the U.S. Congress during Reconstruction, including two senators. Was 1870 the moment America actually became the nation we claim to be? Perhaps.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

For the first time, formerly enslaved people were guaranteed to be counted as full Americans. However, it was the 15th Amendment in 1870 that guaranteed that race could no longer be used to deny a person voting rights.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

1870 - The Black Vote The three Reconstruction Amendments brought us closer than ever to being a democracy. The 13th Amendment freed enslaved people in 1865. The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, granting citizenship to virtually all people born on American soil.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Nor in 1788 when the Constitution was ratified... Nor in 1791 when the Bill of Rights was ratified... Nor in 1865 with the end of the Civil War. Three dates stand out as the possible moments when America became a true democracy: 1870, 1920, and 1965.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Over the last few years, I have been engaged in a project of actively deconstructing my skewed understanding of American history. Through that process, I have come to believe some hard truths. Here is one: America did not become an actual democracy in 1776 with the Declaration of Independence.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

America is 250. Our Democracy is only 61. Let me explain. This week we mark the 250th anniversary of the issuance of the Declaration of Independence. AS a nation, we will use this Occasion to collectively celebrate our republic's creation myth. #America250 #4thofJuly #democracy #independanceday

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

For our survival, we must elect people dedicated to putting real constraints on this new class of planetary oligarchs. If not, dystopia has truly arrived.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Moving forward, Musk will even more directly use his unprecedented wealth to shift the direction of nations, entire continents, and, if allowed the opportunity, humanity as a whole.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Our systems of government and tax policies should never allow one person to control planet-shifting amounts of personal wealth and resources. This was a choice of extreme capitalism over basic humanity and an indictment of our systems and governments.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

For any individual to become a trillionaire is a catastrophic failure of humanity.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Consider a scenario in which a person is given $1 per second. How long would it take to hit significant wealth milestones? Millionaire = 11.5 days Billionaire = 31.7 years Trillionaire = 31,709 years Musk's wealth = 38,685 years

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Now, he has vastly greater wealth, beyond the ability of most people to conceive. Let's try...

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Musk, already the richest person on earth, has already influenced world affairs. He pours money into elections to get his way. He used his money and influence to temporarily buy his way into the Trump administration and then publicly execute critical government entities that took decades to build.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Musk's current wealth could fund the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which Musk destroyed with Trump's blessing, resulting in untold thousands of deaths, for more than 50 years.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Musk is likely to surpass the combined wealth of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates in a few hours or days. Because of the massive number of SpaceX shares Musk owns, every time the share price increases by $1, Musk makes $5B. Yes, a single dollar increase makes him a billionaire 5 times over.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

To put that wealth into perspective, consider these staggering facts: Elon Musk's $1.22 trillion personal net worth now compares to the total accumulated wealth of all 120 million citizens of Egypt combined, including the value of all their homes, savings, and financial assets, minus their debts.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Elon Musk, the company's founder, owns 4.8 billion shares, plus another 350 million stock options. Because of the fluctuating price of the stock on its first day of trading, Musk's net worth is currently hovering around $1.22 trillion.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Humanity failed in a historic manner yesterday and most of us didn't notice. Elon Musk became history's first trillionaire. How did that happen? SpaceX, the satellite internet and space travel company, became publicly traded.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

I used Bluesky exclusively as an outdoor photography account in the early days. I stopped posting more than a year ago and then came back recently to 37K followers. This place is wild.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Thank you, Carol. I actually posted this on Bluesky earlier tonight. I hope to become more active here again.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

The Lost Cause myth changed the way millions understand the shameful legacy of the Confederacy and the Civil War. We are currently witnessing, in real time, Trump wage a similar war on recent history. I implore all Americans to refuse to be his co-conspirators.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Will you continue to let him dictate a reality you know to be a lie, or finally accept the awful truth that America put an honest-to-goodness traitor back in the White House?

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

For those of you who embrace or accept the Big Lie, it is time to decide how much you actually value truth and reality. You saw the shameful tragedy with your own eyes on January 6, but Trump insists that you did not and he is actively working to erase all of the evidence from our collective memory.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Some of you defiantly refuse to go along with Trump's reality-distortion and myth-making. You are willing to insist the emperor is actually naked. You are the individuals who refuse to accept the Big Lie, regardless of how many people around you repeat it.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

After all, maybe your memories about the January 6 violence are not accurate. Maybe it wasn't really that bad. Maybe Trump was indeed cheated.

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Kevin Maples @bkevinmaples.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Some of you actually know the truth, but have decided that it is just easier to go along with it so that things won't be uncomfortable between you and your family, friends, and fellow parishioners.

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