I do not want to write about politics anymore. I want to forget the vileness of the past four years and general meanness of the Republicans for the past decade or so. I want to go back to a time when talk of politics was the domain of old people talking about things I really didn’t understand. It is unfortunate that at 43, and having lived and learned around the world, I slowly realized they didn’t have much of an understanding either! The capacity to reason is limited by the limits of our experiences and what we’ve been taught. The child raised in evangelical America will remain an evangelical American just as the Islamic Saudi Arabian will remain an Islamic Saudi Arabian. They will listen to their own news sources which will form their world outlook. It is only in traveling, learning other languages and having new experiences can we break the mold.
Unfortunately international travel and experiencing different ways of thinking are still rare. Instead of travel it is the change in news which has become entertainment and propaganda that is shaping the political and world viewpoints of the masses. It has become so poisonous that I just want to avoid it and to forget, especially about politics.
But I cannot forget about politics. Everyday the Republicans commit another outrage. They do their best to trample democracy, to smash any type of social safety net, to pollute the environment, to start wars and so on. As far as I can tell this madness started with Rush Limbaugh (may be be in hell) and has slowly poisoned the minds of half of America. This madness has culminated into the election of a well-known con-man and liar for Presidency and then the overrunning of the capital building by idiots who were encouraged and motivated directly by the President!
Limbaugh was easily ignored as I could just not listen to his show. Easily done. Should an old acquaintance fall into his evil spell I could simply not contact them anymore. But Trump being President it was impossible to ignore. Now it was not only one or two acquaintances but many. These relationships have now been irrevocably damaged and not something a new election will ever fix. Trumps words, actions and support of him from people I know are like a poison that remain in my body. I try to find the antidote by believing if I could just come up with a good reason why people I know would maintain support of him then perhaps there would be healing. That effort is in vain. My mind searches and searches for an answer but there is no path, no path at all that would justify continued support of Trump after all the insanity he has put on display.
The poison of the last four years will remain for a long time. But what is worse is by reading the news I continually get fresh doses of it! Let’s list a few of these.
Limiting voting
The heart and soul of America is democracy and the ability of all Americans to cast a vote. Well, it is exactly this heart and soul the Republicans are trying to actively damage. They know full well that an honest vote count is not on their side and they will lose. So they rig the system, or in other words, they cheat. The most blatant example has been in gerrymandering in which they divide up territory in order to maximize beneficial votes. Well, now not even that is enough. Now they want to limit voting hours, limit voting locations, limit voting methods, increase requirements, basically anything that will help limit the vote. They know that the poor and minorities are less likely to vote, so they do their best to hinder them. Their actions are Jim Crow (poll taxes, literacy tests etc) in a new guise. The new Republicans are just as bad as the old Republicans.
But, but, the South were Democracts!! I’ve heard this said by the stupid many times. Yes, they were Democrats but then the Republicans realized they could use racism (Southern Strategy) to gain the support of pretty much the entire South and it worked. An entire section of the country changed political allegiance based on racism. It is the same group of people, with the same beliefs but over time party ideals and identities have changed. All of these facts are lost on anyone who uses “the South were Democrats” statement.
COVID – Failure to protect other Americans
For all their bluster of “making America great” one would think they would wear masks to help protect other Americans against a virus that has killed 500,000 of their own countrymen. When speaking of Trump supporters all logic goes completely out the window. All they have to do is wear a mask and that is too much for them. They say it infringes on their freedom? OK, so if we cannot protect America from a virus then what exactly to they mean when they say “make America great?” To them, “Making America Great” is waving a bunch of American flags while infecting their countrymen with a potentially lethal disease. I cannot think of anything more stupid at the moment.
If you’re reading this in the future it is best to try to stop looking for logic when it comes to Trump and his supporters, you will find none. It is mass delusion created by a talented demagogue. America hasn’t had one yet so I guess it was time.
War
Have the weapons of mass destruction been found yet? Fox News reported they had hundreds of times but you know what is strange? None were ever found. Any by the way, Iraq is a sovereign country so what business is it of America’s if they had WMD or not?
Would you like the answer?
The only thing that matters is if the country in question is an American ally or not. Dictators can have WMD, they can treat their people terribly and that is OK, so long as they are allied with America. It is only when the country is a threat that this becomes a problem and for the past century America has overthrown governments around the globe that did not do what they were told. The only time America wouldn’t do this is when the country in question could punch back hard. America didn’t realize how hard Vietnam could punch and the one thing that saves North Korea is their nukes.
But this is geopolitics, nothing is ever clean, nor fair. America ‘meddles’ Russia ‘meddles’ everyone ‘meddles.’ It is therefore hilarious when America tells Russia to quit ‘meddling in our elections.’ It is even more-so when the Republican party may actively encourage this very meddling!!
But getting back to war, and sticking with recent times it was a good idea to get out of the Middle East. But let us remember who got us there in the first place? It was the Republicans on their WMD (*see secure oil supplies) hunt.
It is those three reasons why I particularly dislike Republicans. But let us not forget for all of America’s faults it was still an absolute star on the world stage and a country to be admired.
Trump and his followers have dragged that star through the most vile mud and filth. He ruined relationships with allies that now know they better look to themselves for safety and security because America has become bi-polar. This “shining city on the hill” was just overrun by the very “basket of deplorables” Hillary had warned against. The worst elements of America were put on a pedestal and actively encouraged by Trump. Let me be clear: Trump and the Republican party were directly responsible for an insurrection which tried to destroy democracy. The President of the USA is guilty of sedition and those that destroyed the capital guilty of insurrection. The mob that destroyed the capital are being arrested by the FBI but is the USA capable of bringing a former President to justice? I think it is unlikely and it is unlikely because Republicans do not want to obey the law. That even was so outrageous that it seems incomprehensible with the only defense of Republicans is to tell blatant lies.
The “Trump Republicans” are only interested in maintaining power even if that means trashing democracy and installing dictatorship. And the source of their power, about half of the US citizenry, are either too stupid to understand this, don’t care or both.
Not only is our political system broken and disintegrating further but without clear direction from political leaders the citizens of the USA will become even more divided with talk of civil war on the fringes. If things continue the way they are this is not outside the realm of possibility. On the surface of society it appears things have settled down. The old quote of religion being the opiate of the masses is outdated. Now it is the new Netflix show, sports, and the soothing balm of yet another purchase of various trinkets which keep the population at bay. The daily outrage machine which is Fox news is also dimming a little as even worse media outlets which spew even greater hate emerge.
And so, I think the election of Biden is simply tapping the breaks of a severe downward slide of the USA. It is hard to come up with a beginning but if we are to stay within the decade I would say it began with Rush Limbaugh and social media. A poison was injected that was left unchecked for too long. It would be great if some fantastic leader could emerge who had the ability to unite the country. Unfortunately political leaders are chosen by the people and half of ‘the people’ have demonstrated they are quite open to completely destroying America’s political institutions and laws so long as they ‘win.’
I no longer want to write or think about politics. But like a poison it is hard to get rid of without an antidote and there is no current antidote, only more poison. It is morbidly funny to think this is not only a metaphor as one simply need to go visit any Trumper who will not wear a mask and you could then be physically sick as well!
