America In 2022: Worthy Of A Ph.D. Dissertation On The Emerging Science Of "WTF??"
If anyone can do it, America can
So nothing much happened over the weekend, right?
Oh, yeah; I almost forgot. A delusional geriatric sociopath and wannabe Mussolini fanboy decided this would be a GREAT time to dismantle the Constitution. Why? It seems he promised someone he wasn’t going to change his diapers until the “injustice” of the 2020 Presidential election was undone and he was “reinstated” as President.
Someone should probably tell him that Presidents are “elected,” not “installed,” or “reinstated.” There’s not even a mechanism in the Constitution for “reinstating” anyone as President, which probably accounts for why Mango Mussolini thinks it’s time to “terminate” the Constitution.
[Feel free to insert Arnold Schwarzenegger joke here. I’m going to resist the temptation.]
Oh, and after 25 months, it might be a good time to change those diapers, son. They’ve GOT to be a bit ripe by now, knowhutimean?? Omigawd, that must be revolting….
Ironic, eh? Mango Mussolini is now demanding to be “reinstatedConstitutionsidency while also calling for “the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.” Perhaps his delusion and/or his time out of office has caused him to forget that part of the job of the President is to uphold the Constitution.
Or perhaps he’s finally saying the quiet part out loud- Orange Jesus wants to be an autocrat, an American dictator. (Welcome to Gilead, my fellow Christians! Join me in prayer as we lovingly execute our very first batch of non-believConstitutioner criminals! In His eye!!)
Given his rant on his wanna-be-Twitter site over the weekend, it seems he’s finally stopped pretending (as if he ever had) that his goal was anything but absolute power.
Remember, kids, power is fun, but absolute power is kick-ass fun!!
So it would seem the time has come for Americans to turn the question upon themselves and ask what kind of country they want to live in. Do we still value freedom and liberty as defined by the Constitution (Constitutionh it may seem sometimes)? Or are we to accept the idea that (soon-to-be-a-minority) good, God-fearing White, Conservative, Christian heterosexuals wConstitutione the ones setting the rules and determining who sits atop the pyramid (themselves, of course)?
Are we going to be OK with an America in which hypocrisy, mean-spiritedness, and greed are accepted as the way things are supposed to be? Will compassion, kindness, and tolerance be considered signs of weakness and moral turpitude? And will selfishness, avarice, and the never-ending desire for “MORE” be considered the highest and best values?
Of course we will. The oligarch class did that long ago; they just managed to distract us with not much bread but a whole lot of circuses.
Is America destined to become a Randian “paradise” where each accumulates according to his abilities, thus weeding out the weak, lazy, and infirm? Will we end up looking to build a society where the strong survive and the “less than” are abandoned as burdensome and left to fend for themselves?
I can only speak for myself, but I certainly hope not. America today is a messy, imperfect, sometimes gawdawful clusterfuck, but the world still looks to us for leadership in many aspects. People still emigrate here from many corners of the world, some looking for freedom, some for an opportunity, some for new chConstitutiond some for all or some of the above. Despite the Sturm and Drang we consistently see on cable television news, America still has a lot to offer the world. It’s easy to lose sight of that, given the images fed to us daily, but we still have much to be proud of.
That’s the inevitable byproduct of the bread and circuses.
We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that news outlets run on thConstitutione fuel of controversy and contention. They depend on conflict, scandal, and petty squabbling to generate clicks and attract eyeballs. Unfortunately, Americans have become conditioned to the dramatic, scandalous, and “WTF happened there??” We’re addicted to the news helicopter hovering over the police chasing bad guys down the freeway. Or the hostage situation in the bank downtown. It gives our otherwise mundane existence a patina of excitement and takes us out of our daily routine.
Donald Trump is a jolt of adrenaline, a shot of outrage combined with a double helping of “WTF?” We never REALLY think that any of his ridiculousness will come to life until it does, and then we realize that OH SHIT, we’re in trouble now.
So it is with his demand to “terminate” the Constitution. NO WAY could that possibly happen…right? Until the day we wake up…and guess what? Trumpers have stormed the Capitol and the White House, and a coup has put Donald Trump back in power as President for Life.
Could it happen? It seems unlikely- but then so did January 6th, until it did happen. If January 6th taught us anything, it’s that democracy is not a given and it’s a very fragile commodity. Democracy can be easily undermined and rolled up. The January 6th rioters came precariously close to doing that.
We’re still America. The whole of that isn’t going to change. But what may change before long is that our government and how the world sees us may fundamentally change. If that happens, it won’t be because we changed for the good. It will be because people who believe America should be their property and playground have seized power and are busily disenfranchising those who don’t look, think, believe, speak, live, and/or love as they do.
America doesn’t and shouldn’t “belong” to any one demographic group. Sure, White Christians may have founded this country. But, ultimately, America grew and prospered because of the labor, skill, brainpower, love, and commitment of people who came here from all over the world. They all had something America needed, and wanted a chance for a better life. Some found that here and some didn’t, but most everyone save for the slaves arrived with the same belief.
Now that America is a mature country, we’re by no means perfect. Far from it. We have faults that can be seen from space. That should continue to drive us to make things better for everyone, not just those within our borders. But, unfortunately, some Americans have little to offer; all they want to do is take from those determined to do what they can to make things better.
The takers hate those whose only “crime” is not being like them. The disdain they have for those who don’t look, think, believe, speak, live, and/or love as they do is astonishing. Rather than attempt to understand so they may live in harmony, they fan the flames of hatred in their hearts and those of others. Ultimately, they do themselves far more damage than those they hate.
These people aren’t “Patriots.” They’re not protecting American “values.” Their poisoned, cretinous minds are so closed and their hearts so blackened that their souls have shriveled to the point of desiccation. They hate because that's what they do. It’s what they were taught and it’s the way it’s always been. They can’t grasp that “different” doesn’t equate to “threatening.” And they can’t understand that their Way of Life isn’t the One, True, and ONLY way of life.
I can’t predict what the future holds, and the past few years have been pretty FUBAR’d. All we can do is take this one day at a time, one person at a time, and hope that, if we’re fortunate, we might change one mind, one heart at a time. If we can somehow find a way to do that we might stand a chance. If not…well, your guess is as good as mine.
