Watching my twin grandsons, aged 3, play and frolic is a delight.
Suffused with so much energy and joy, they remain blissfully sheltered a world
where a nigh-invisible organism is stalking and culling the human race. We work
hard to shelter them as much as we can in Trump’s United States of Fascism. I envision
my grandchildren as fully actualized human beings – not just cogs in some dystopian
corporate machine.
The Black Plague birthed the Renaissance – what will be born
out of our current Plague? In the United States and worldwide, the inflection
point is now and our ultimate disposition depends on whether the oligarchs wield
enough power to keep the rest of us under their yoke, or not.
How do you wake up the
tired/overworked/overmedicated/somnambulating masses in this country? How do
you spur them to collectivize and fight? How to teach them that together they
are strong? I DO NOT blame the people for their situation… the Powers That Be work
tirelessly to undermine collective action, and have since the 1960s by “any
means necessary.” Good old-fashioned fear knits together racism, sexism,
tribalism into a tool that divides us and keeps us punching down, rather than
punching up, and finding out what is really going on. Xenophobia, fear of job
loss, fear that we can’t afford the plastic pretties that measure our worth,
fear of missing out, fear of pain, fear of change, all feed into a desperate
populace, trying to just maintain mental health. Adding in lack of healthcare,
addiction issues (a side effect of living in a toxic stew), drugging the masses
(with actual drugs, with things, with unreasonable expectations, etc.) just
makes this country more toxic.
The Republicans manipulate these fears masterfully, to be
honest. The COVID-19 pandemic naturally ratchets fear up to 11, and the GOP is
grabbing power behind the curtain (ie. Suspending environmental regulations, attempting
to suspend constitutional rights, ad nauseum…). The question remains… how long
can they continue with the body count climbing exponentially every day. When/if
the populace wakes up (ie. when the drugs stop working), will we 1) end up like
Syria… a wartorn wasteland with factions fighting over rubble, 2) end up like The
Handmaid’s Tale, 3) begin to rebuild the United States into a truly more
perfect union, or 4) end up as several smaller countries based on regional
affinities, which may already be underway.
I wish the answers were clearer, but the road ahead is dark.
The 1918 Influenza pandemic guides us
for part of what we are experiencing, but very little precedent exists for the concurrent
constitutional crisis. Never have we seen one political party almost completely
abdicate constitutional duty in pursuit of power.
The Constitution only has as much value as we collectively
give it, through real faith in the tenets of which it is comprised. I am
reminded of the original Star Trek Omega Glory episode in which the constitution
has become “sacred words” but whose real meaning has been lost. When the Constitution
becomes words on paper that nobody understands and to which only lipservice is
paid, the precarious historical precipice on which we stand is clear. When an
amendable, living document of governance is treated as sacred, inviolable, and
unchangeable, the plot is lost.
So, for now, we muddle through as best we can with a vile,
despotic, dementia-riddled madman as the titular figurehead of this country. The
States have effectively become sovereign unto themselves – haggling on the open
market for supplies and equipment to aid our frontline medical personnel in
saving as many lives as they can. Unless the madman decides we are all equal
and deserving, we are headed for battlefield triage conditions without help and
control measures.
And yet a third of the country supports him and the more his
daily lies are televised, more people seem to think he is worthy of praise… but
will his political aspirations for a second term survive the coming body count?
And these came up in my mix in Spotify today, randomly...
https://youtu.be/4mam3iJLvCs
https://youtu.be/YSZf0yIx1ec
