With a Clear Eye

I know I have become a disgruntled and very opinionated old guy (or old guy in process, if you will allow me a large amount of slack).  I can no longer abide the unbridled hatred and unmitigated stupidity now constantly on display on TV radio, newspapers, and social media.  Oh, I understand quite well.  It is politics, it is securing the base, it is regression to “protecting the tribe,” it is (as Isabel Wilkerson so aptly identified) about caste and ensuring one does not lose their place at the top of the societal pyramid.  And of course, it is fear of change and a deep seated but totally fallacious belief that things were better off in the past — maybe for some of the nostalgic White, Anglo-Saxon Protestants out there that miss the post-Reconstruction days, but certainly not for the rest of us, now being the majority.

I know social media is the megaphone for those people who never had an outlet for their whack-a-doodle conspiracy theories, idiotic beliefs, poor education, inherent racism, hatred of “the other,” and total lack of critical thinking.  But we have well-educated and supposedly intelligent people saying the most hateful, dumb things.  Not only on social media, but in front of the TV cameras, to reporters, and on the opinion pages.

I started to provide some examples, but the number of recent candidates was overwhelming.  Between J.D. Vance (R-OH), Rashid Tlaib (D-MI), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Eric Adams (D-NY), Majorie Taylor Green (R-GA), Lauren Bobert (R-CO), and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and many others, there was just too much to choose from. From the absolute jerks at the United Nations (“Hamas is not a terrorist organization, it’s a political movement”), to the Alabama Supreme Court (“embryos are people”) it is apparent to me that the world has lost its collective mind.

The bigoted haters in the United States have been fulminating against the jihadists of Muslim extraction since 9/11, calling for active violence against Islam, bans on visas and immigration, increasing deportations, and other nasty stuff.  Why, because “those people” are religious fanatics who hate America and mean us harm.

At the same time, Trump has already made it clear that he is going to support Christian Nationalism in this country, purge the civil service of those “disloyal” to his regime, support dismantling reproductive and women’s rights in addition to LGBTQ+ rights, criminally prosecute doctors who perform (or have performed) abortions, women who miscarry, and discriminate against the non-white, non-Christians among us.   Moreover, he has already said he doesn’t like the Constitution.  The entire package appears to hate the America that we are and love the America we have never really been.

I wonder how much room there really is between the Jihadists and the ultra-right and ultra-left-wing nuts in our midst?

Who is more religiously fanatic?  The Ayatollahs or Speaker of the House Mike Johnson or US Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Samuel Alito or the Alabama Supreme Court?  Who “hates” America more?  The Islamic Middle East or the neo-Nazis, skinheads and white supremacists marching in Charlottesville and Nashville along with the Christian Nationalists who believe the US is a white, Christian nation or the far-left progressives who apparently despise our basic principles of self-determination, personal responsibility, and our commitment to continue the world’s greatest economic engine ever seen.

For a substantial minority of our population (at least I hope it is a minority) we have apparently become that which we hate:  authoritarian, religiously orthodox, and immensely threatening to those who think differently than “us.”  As Pogo one said, “we have met the enemy and they are us.”  Like authoritarian regimes have always done, we are being bombarded with propaganda fabricated from lies, innuendo, and misrepresentation.  And a whole bunch of us (again, hoping it’s a minority) are buying this fecal matter hook, line, and sinker.

I submit to you that an America under a second Trump administration will destroy our democracy, diminish our rights as enshrined in the Constitution, try to eradicate our dedication to a pluralistic society, and annihilate our standing in the world.  We will abandon our allies, encourage despots across the globe, and surrender any moral superiority we ever thought we had. Do I wish President Biden was 30 years younger? You bet. But do I see, right now, another Democrat with his experience, humanity and humility, commitment to being the country we could and should be, along with the political experience and know-how to get shit done. No, I do not. And I am not going to be swayed by some Republican hack who, like James Comer did to Hilary Clinton, cannot prove the case and so resorts to ad hominen attacks in the guise of commentary to disparage the candidate and influence the election.

We live in a time when the headline screams “Nearly 70 percent of voters say Biden is too old to serve again” while the second line in much smaller type goes on to say, “The … poll showed that 49 percent of registered voters support Biden and 45 percent support Trump.”  We are being manipulated and played with, the truth is being made illusive, and the people facilitating this bullshit are getting rich doing it.  It is never “Haley racks up 40% of the vote in South Carolina versus Trump” but rather, “Trump wins handily.”  It is not, here’s the proof, its “witnesses” commiting perjury and investigators in their official role sliming candidates with innuendo. In other words, if you cannot win, cheat and lie.

The inmates are running the asylum.  As Charles Blow remarked, “If you don’t think this country is sliding toward theocracy, you’re not paying attention.”   I am terrible frightened that I am in the minority – people who read about the Alabama Supreme Court decision for identifying embryos are babies because that’s what God wants and have visions of “The Handmaid’s Tale” coming to reality.  Our Constitution has been and continues to be abused by seemingly educated legal experts who are either corrupt or religious zealots or both.  Senators, Representatives, and Supreme Court Justices are routinely being caught abusing their privileges and lying about their intentions to rebuild and reinterpret the Constitution to fit their political and/or religious beliefs.

And it is not just theocracy we need to worry about.  Autocracy is now very much in favor –  I am still trying to get my head around the MAGA republicans becoming Pro-Putin or celebrating the destruction of democracy in Hungary, or threatening to withdraw from NATO, or agreeing with Presidential candidate’s promises to decimate the civil service and replace them with loyalists.  Impeaching Cabinet members because of policy differences.  Supporting mass incarceration of anti-Trump protestors if Trump is elected.  And the list goes on and on.

These threats are very real.  I submit that friends do not let friends go down this path.  Do not for a moment kid yourselves, this election for President and Congress is not about “politics” or nuances in approach, it is about fundamental values and beliefs.  It is about democracy vs totalitarianism. 

George Santayana and/or Edmund Burke proffered that, “Those who do not know history are bound to repeat it.”  That rings true and right now the history to review is German history starting a bit before 1923 and Italian history starting pre- 1922.

Regardless of any other disagreements on foreign policy, regulations, economic action, taxes, and really anything other than the core of a commitment to democratic rule in an open and pluralistic society, the choice should be crystal clear.  Make that choice.