It's Time To Face The Music, Folks

Dark days ahead

To say I was concerned about what would happen if Trump were elected for a second term is an understatement, and sadly, many of my fears have been realized. ICE agents are in airports, the US is spending billions on a frivolous war to keep the Epstein files secret (and keep Trump & Co. out of jail), Project 2025 is being implemented in many ways, and fascism feels like the best description for the type of government in the US right now. Fair and free elections are under threat, and yet they are the only hope many Americans feel can "save us" from political (as well as economic and societal) doom. For most Americans, things under this presidential administration are grim.

First of all, let's talk about fair and free elections. Steve Bannon said that ICE's presence in airports is on-the-job training for their future presence at election sites, and that, unfortunately, makes a whole lot of sense to me. We should therefore be prepared for intimidation at the polls in November... And, despite Trump himself voting via a mail-in ballot, let's remember that he has been cajoling the Supreme Court to limit mail-in voting for everyone else (disenfranchising voters and making it hard to cast a vote). Plus, he has been applying pressure to get the SAVE act passed, which is in effect a voter suppression act (making it more arduous and expensive for many citizens to vote). It is clear the groundwork has been laid to question the outcome of future elections. Lovely.

Let's also address the standing & position of the USA in the world. As I have opined before, how is any non-fascist regime able to trust us? The damage wrought by the current administration cannot ever be fully undone. It has undermined the UN, NATO, the CDC, and USMCA/NAFTA2.0, waged an unprovoked war, levied tariffs on our trade partners, threated to take over sovereign nations, and committed war crimes both home and abroad. While we may never fully understand the motivations behind all this (is it really just so Trump & his cronies stay out of jail and get richer??), our allies will understandably have a hard time getting past it, should they even try to do so.

And finally, let's talk about the American experience these days -- the life most citizens are living day to day. First, there's fear (especially) among those who are not cis, white, Christian, males thanks to ICE and the camps they run. The potential retribution at home from the war with Iran is weighing on folks' minds, and let's not forget the sacrifices those who are serving in the armed forces and their families are making. Add to that the economy, which is slowing and under stress: groceries, gas, insurance and most other costs of everyday living have risen significantly while people are losing jobs. Net worth for many of those invested in the stock market is declining, and the future of social security solvency is truly in question. Plus, we have a buffoon (to be generous) in charge of our healthcare. All the while, members of the administration couldn't care less because arguably every single one of them is incompetent in their job, amoral in their ways, and/or cashing in big time on the atrocities they wreak.  This regime is not trying to support its citizenry, it is trying to cull it.

The time has come for a seismic shift from the current state of our democracy. The almost 250-year experiment has failed; roughly half of the population does not seem to believe in the equality and freedom our founders embraced, nor are they willing to impeach Trump for any of the impeachable acts elucidated in the Constitution (emoluments, treason, disability). In my opinion, anyone who thinks our democracy can be resuscitated is being naive, overly optimistic, or disingenuous. Plus, why would we want to return to a democracy that enabled Trump to be elected TWICE even if we could? Things need to change; the system is clearly broken.

I'm not happy to say this, but I think that states/ groups of states need to coalesce and extricate themselves from the unrecognizable country the US has become under this regime. I don't know the mechanism to make that happen (maybe secession, maybe soft secession, maybe a political divorce?), but doing so could potentially establish geographical units based on shared economic and fundamental human values. It could enable citizens to live in societies that represent their values (like freedom, equality and a commitment to protect its populace or a Christian Nationalist state). It could enable trade across borders (or not), and if they were to follow the EU model, the currency (without Trump's face on it!) could remain in circulation. While I would obviously hope that a move like this would not be bloody or violent, let's remember that Trump has already blessed a lot of needless sickness and suffering, thanks to ICE, a lack of reliable medical direction (e.g. measles), war, and Trump's government shutdowns (hello, TSA shortages). And, for what it is worth, I can easily imagine that this rift would be desirable to the folks pulling the strings in Washington, too (as it would allow them to control their followers without the annoying woke people). Who knows?   

Look, I'm (obviously!) not a political scientist, and I'm certainly no economist. But I am a realist and sometimes even a pragmatist. The time has come to rip off the band-aid holding this country together under the aegis of saving our democracy. We need to be reborn so that citizens can get back to feeling safe and so they can regain a sense of pride and belonging. We need to create new governments (democracies, hopefully) which work for the people living under them. I'd like to think much of the free world would be grateful for a change like this so that they can add at least parts of the former USA back to their allies list and work toward rebuilding mutual trust.

While it feels like there's not much we can do to effect change, speaking out and protesting are apparently meaningful. So write your representatives in congress, VOTE, and make your voice heard at peaceful protests like the No Kings Day ones, the next of which is this Saturday, March 28th. Let's put these dark days behind us, folks.