Is That a Ray of Sunshine?

A lot can happen in a year’s time.  One year ago we imagined Hillary Clinton as our first female President.  Not all of us were thrilled with her, but in hindsight, it is hard not to ask the obvious questions about where our democracy would be relative to where it is today.

There are not many, if any, beyond the rabid base that Trump encourages who would say the country is headed in the right direction.  We have seen an increasing threat to our first amendment freedoms, the dismantling of 50 years of careful societal structuring to give our citizens the cleanest air to breathe, the cleanest water to drink, a constant attack on the 4^th Estate, the normalization of chronic lying and falsehood in our politics, and the disregard by the executive branch of our government for the rule of law.  These are not small annoyances, but instead are frightening disruptions to our American ideals and sense of humanity

We have a leader who is combative at every turn, never apologizes, lies constantly and has no grasp at all on the details of policy, the art of political engagement, the concept of compromise, or even the most rudimentary elements of genuine human empathy.

To survey the American landscape today is to see a republic (for the time being) where less than one third of our populace has somehow grasped the reins of power and has no idea how to use them for the benefit of the most citizens.  Digging deeper we are becoming aware of the long existing nefarious reasons for this condition: obstruction of voting rights, gerrymandering, racism, greed among our legislators, divisiveness at all levels of government and the abuse of power by the rich.

Now there seems to be a not so subtle shift at the edges of the Republican Party to call out the administration for all the egregious things it has done in the last year.  Obviously long overdue.  Will it have any effect?  Probably not, since it is clear that the current crop of Republicans have no ethical compass.  They allow Trump to debase the country because on some level they believe condoning his behavior is okay as long as they get what they want policy-wise.  That is a true deal with the devil, because the end result will be the corruption of our 241-year experiment with democracy.  We can only hope there is a 'break in the clouds'.

The 2018 election will be the next fulcrum point that will indicate whether the other 2/3rds of our countrymen have what it takes to save the republic.  The dark cloud on the horizon for that event is the movement being created by Steve Bannon.  Should he succeed in replacing elements of the current  Republican majority with Trump supplicants like “Judge” Roy Moore, the two party system as we know it will cease to exist.

So, the single ray of sunshine I see now is the dawning awareness of our Republican legislators that their bargain with the Satan of Trumpism is much more dangerous than they realized.  Until those Republicans become concerned with us as citizens rather than opportunities for personal aggrandizement, nothing will change enough to make a real difference until new elections.

And Now for Something a Little More Depressing......

Every day is now filled with journalists openly criticizing and bad mouthing President Trump.  No one has any respect for the guy, and of course, all of the scorn is so richly deserved.  There has never been an electoral mistake like this one.  We have finally gotten the President we deserved.  My only hope is that the damage that is well on its way to manifesting terrible consequences for our country can be mitigated by whatever those of us who are rational can do to slow it down.

The net result of all this is disheartening.  Our children growing up during this period will accept as normal the role model presented by the disgusting behavior of a man who is only concerned about himself.  He is the worst kind of role model for impressionable minds.  The long-term result of exposure to that kind of person as a leader is unknown, but can’t be a good thing.

Watching and listening to him deal with the disasters and crises of our time makes me more fearful every day that the chaos described by the retiring Senator Bob Corker is ever closer to being our reality.  To listen to the voices of our ‘leaders’ on the right is to realize that our country is truly an ostrich with its head in the sand—everything from health care to climate change to foreign policy decisions to environmental decisions to abortion to budgeting to defense to white supremacy to gun control—all these things are in the hands of hypocritical morons with no humanity or morals.

Tom Friedman wrote yesterday that the only action left for those of us who feel left behind or shut out is to mobilize at the ballot box: get people who are like minded to run for office at ALL levels.  It is true.  If we are still a democracy, then we can do that. (notwithstanding efforts to gerrymander, deprive voting rights, intimidate minority voters, etc.)  In fact it may be our only hope. 

Even if by some “Act of God” Trump is disposed of, that would leave us with Pence, who is potentially worse than Trump.  Pence, who knows how to operate the Washington levers of power, might take us in a direction that only his warped sense of morality is comfortable with. 

The downside of Mr. Friedman’s path is that it will take time, an entire generation in fact, to turn it around.  Perhaps that is our destiny as Baby Boomers—to have grown up in the 50s, 60s and 70s to taste the excesses of personal freedom, only to have them ripped away by misguided fools who don’t read and have bad dental work.  Hillary was right.  The world is now controlled by the deplorables, and God help those who are not deplorable along with them.

Maybe these are truly the “End Times”.

I see more and more people on Facebook who say they have given up watching TV and listening to the news.  It is just too disturbing.  I can relate to that.  I used to hang on every word that came from the lips of Rachel Madow because I thought to myself, “here is a person who is intelligent and really has a grip on what is going on….and therefore will somehow persuade someone with some power that we have to do something to save ourselves”. 

I was a fool. 

No one can save us, so I have started to contract my universe of awareness to focus on only those who are dear to me, and ways that I can get the most out of my life here on Earth.  Growing globally and expanding my consciousness is less important today than loving my family and helping those less fortunate that I can have an impact on.

I would urge all of you who feel the despair that I am describing to look inward and become aware of your close communities.  Be the best you can be in a smaller universe.

The larger scene will take care of itself…..or it won’t.  It almost doesn’t matter.  If the buffoons and blowhards destroy the planet, it certainly won’t matter. 

All of us long for an America that is synonymous with hope and goodness.  I am afraid that is a myth my friends…and it will remain a myth until the scourge of idiocy that now rules our land finally wears itself out.