Shock and Awful

My readers may wonder why I write little about the political situation in the US. I admit I feel overwhelmed by the current political situation. New abuses of power occur daily, and I don’t recognize this as my country. There is little I can do, and I hate that.

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The leaders of my state, all Republican, think the coup is a good thing, even as the government cuts off funding for vulnerable citizens and people’s rights are being trampled. Even as our country alienates our former allies. Even as people are attacked for being different.

The coup has a way of making me uneasy about espousing the things I believe in. When I was teaching a class on cultural competency the other day, I wondered if it was a wise thing to do. I taught the lesson, hoping that the powers that eliminated the DEI program at our university wouldn’t come down on me. That’s what the fomenters of an oppressive regime want, the fear.

I will fight the fear as I stand up for what I believe in. I need to find a niche to fight in and fight there. I see so many injustices.

I Do Worry About the Government

Yesterday I wrote that I was not too concerned about life because I’ve survived a lot. That is a lie — I am very concerned with what the US government is currently doing. I don’t care if Elon Musk is trying to save us money — he has no right to have his fingers in the government agencies to begin with. The end does not justify the means. Trump’s executive orders make him an autocrat and the US a dictatorship.

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I don’t know where our government is. I don’t know why Congress hasn’t stepped in and prevented Musk’s plundering of information. If there is no way to prevent this, there are fatal flaws in our government based on trust of a president. What’s stopping a president from ruling by executive order? Nothing, apparently. Trust has eroded, and chaos isn’t far away.

I realize I have to live in-between these moments, within the chaos, and find joy outside the news. I try my best.

Mourning the wreckage of a noble experiment

It’s not over yet for the US.

There are rumors of a big insurrection hitting Washington for the inauguration, with Twitter verifying. I’m hoping that the National Guard and the Capitol Police are enough to stop it if it comes. This is all very scary in a country that thought it was above all this.

That’s one of the definitive factors of the US — our hubris. Our famous last words are “It will never happen here”. It is happening here, and those of us who predicted it would feel vindicated at the same time we wish it wouldn’t have happened.

It’s still a scary time, and I feel very unprepared for the results. I wonder if I’m looking at the wreckage of a noble experiment called democracy in the US. I guess we had our time as a country, with the best days during my early childhood. I can’t help but feel our politicians don’t know how to do the hard work anymore, with most of the political energy expended into power struggles and equivocal statements that, in the end, mean nothing.

I would like to have faith in the US again, a version that doesn’t let white supremacy up to the front door of the Capitol nor let it walk in their halls. One where the White House can truly mobilize the COVID response, and societal ills can be addressed.

But if I had the money (as my job prospects at age 57 are marginal), I would move to Canada.

Thoughts on the election from a disillusioned American.

I haven’t written in a few days. As the world knows at this point, Biden is projected to win the election, which is to say that there are dribbles of votes to be counted which look like they’re going to be predominantly toward Biden. Yet I don’t feel hope.

There is an ugliness in this country. We saw it when Obama won the election, and we see it now that Trump has lost. For that matter, we saw it when Trump won. A leering mass of exhibitionistic radicalism calling itself conservatism.

It doesn’t seem that radical to me to believe that people of color should not have to face institutionalized racism, and that structures built to favor whites should favor no race in particular. It doesn’t seem that radical to me that all people be allowed dignity.

I don’t see European countries as hopeless hotbeds of Marxist-style communism. I consider them, and us, to be the center: noone should starve. The homeless should be homed. Noone should die of an illness that could easily be treated. If the poor had options to gaming the system, they would likely take them.

There’s a 2% or so of people who would game the system, but we see them at the highest echelons of the social class scale as well, and we allow the richest their plunder as if it were admirable.

I don’t know if I believe in the inherent greatness of the US anymore. The spew of obscenities spilling from the mouths of the most virulent MAGAs does not mark a great country.

Praying for a Change in Our Government

Less than a month before the US presidential elections, and I am praying.

I am a pretty sanguine person for the most part. I generally don’t threaten to leave the country if my candidate doesn’t win. I believe that the US cycles between Democrat and Republican naturally and that we slowly make progress.

That was, until this last election. I knew Trump was going to be bad by his campaign, which ridiculed, scapegoated, and threatened anyone he didn’t perceive as his base. His strategy worked — although Hillary won the popular vote, Trump won the electoral vote.*

Trump has been worse for the country than even I imagined. Eroding world regard for the US, making policy decisions out of spite or self-interest, the naked and self-aggrandizing emperor parades across the golf course of his reign. He courts the extreme right while denigrating those who have served in the military, and instead of decorum he rants on social media. The stock market explodes in volatility as he makes erratic decisions. His view of the country veers ever closer to fascism, with him as the ruler for life.

I don’t want him to have four more years. I want to see my country recover and prosper. I want the white supremacy to be driven like cockroaches into dark corners where they’ll starve. I want us to become equals to Europe instead of the laughing stock we’ve become.

And so I pray, and I cry for what this country has become.

*For those of you living in true or representative democracies, the electoral vote is an arcane peculiarity of the US. For those of you in the US, the electoral vote is an arcane peculiarity of the US.