Wednesday, November 9, 2016

America, we hardly knew ye


Today we mourn for the country we thought we were. Our illusions about the basic goodness of America have been shattered by the reality that Americans have elected a demagogue and a dictator as our president. Trump has made it quite clear that he will use the awesome powers of the presidency to silence his critics, bully our allies and abandon international agreements. 

Americans have also returned to power a Republican Congress that has done everything it could to damage America so that they could blame it all on Democrats. After eight years of craven racism and obstruction, Republicans will now insist that “for the good of America” we should all come together and help them pursue their agenda of tax cuts for the rich, “law and order” in the inner cities and dismantling the safety net. 

And when Americans finally realize that they made a mistake; that Trump isn’t a champion of the “common man” so much as a con man, will they learn from the experience? Recent history indicates that they will not. Republicans brought the country to the brink of economic disaster just eight years ago and then when Obama couldn’t fix it fast enough — mainly because Republicans obstructed everything he tried to do — Republicans were returned to power in Congress.

How did this happen? The balkanization of media has made it possible for a majority of Americans to live in a bubble where all of their prejudices are reinforced daily and none of their beliefs are ever challenged. No matter how bad things get in the next four years, no one is going to take responsibility for it and no one will be held accountable for making bad choices. They’ll just move on to the next candidate who can stimulate their reptilian brains.

I weep for the future of America and I will never forgive those who put us into this situation. After all, Trump's true nature has been on display since day one of the campaign. It doesn't matter any more what you thought you were doing by voting for Trump, you need to own it now. Stop blaming others for what's wrong with America and take responsibility for your own mistakes.