A Nagging Suspicion

Optimism is one of the foundational values* of this great land of ours.

You know, the whole "tomorrow will be better than today" bit.

After all, the first few generations of Americans were screw-ups who had to leave wherever they were for one of several reasons: Religious, political, legal, or maybe just that they had failed to achieve any kind of success in their native lands.

So they came here, to the Land of Hope and Dreams, like it says on the brochure.

And for many people and many years, it was just that...

Recently, though, I've had this nagging suspicion that maybe, just maybe, we've already seen the best of it. The good times are rapidly ending and it will be all downhill from here.

Probably not a Cormac McCarthy dystopia in my lifetime; but certainly unpredictably unpleasant times ahead for my children and grandchildren.

Let us list some of the many things that will queer the deal for the generations that follow us:

Climate change. For a "Chinese hoax" it's amazing how wide spread and enduring it is. I don't want to go too far out on a limb here, but I think the 98% of climate scientists who agree that it is man made and therefore men can do something about it might be right, and the 2% or so that argue against human causes, and who, by the way, are usually bought and paid for by oil and other extraction industries, might be wrong. When California burns to the ground, Miami is completely underwater, and bits of New York City, too, maybe the 2% will finally come around--if the checks from the Koch brothers and the oil companies stop, that is. Until then, by all means let's Drill Baby Drill!

Antibiotic resistant diseases. All those goodies they shoot into our chickens and cows and pigs to make them healthy enough so we can eat them, have several "unintended consequences". One is that strains of microbes pop up that fewer and fewer drugs can combat. We are nearing a pandemic of some unknown origin, and there may not be anything we can do to stop it. Oh well, you didn't want to live forever anyway, did you?

The worldwide lurch to "strong men" leaders. All dictatorships are essentially the same: one man in charge; his family and a few trusted people making out like bandits, literally; and much suffering for the masses. Everything for sale to the highest bidder, including the right to pollute the air and water. And you either acquiesce, or are labelled an "enemy of the state." There have always been a handful of dictators scattered across the planet, though in the latter part of the 20th century they were usually isolated in inconsequential backwaters. These days, however, it is extremely discouraging that many millions of Americans seem to be fine with this approach to governing.

So, here we are. The optimist in me says there's still enough time to "fix" things. The pessimist says we won't.

It was fun while it lasted.

 *(That and an amazing ability to gloss over all of our failures--but that's another story.)

Send In The Clowns

So the time has come for Moscow Mitch McConnell to have his show trial. Stalin would be so proud.

Of course, in Stalin's Russia the innocent were convicted, and here the guilty will walk. But still...

Let's sit back and watch the gutless Republican Insane Clown Posse, led by Mitch and that Belle of the South, Lindsey Graham, dissemble and distract, whatever it takes to muddle the proceedings. That remains the only thing they're really good at.

To be blunt, what we have here is a bunch of traitors, bought and paid for by the Russians, with Moscow Mitch acting as bursar, doing their damnedest to keep an idiot, a crook, a liar, in short a complete embarrassment to the nation, in office. 

"Follow the money" and you will end up in Moscow.

Witnesses or no witnesses, it won't make any difference to the Trump Cult.

They love their boy. And won't believe anything negative about him. In their tiny, malformed brains he is them and they are him. A match made in Hell.

Send in the clowns? Don't bother. They're here.

Priorities

You might think that if you lived somewhere where the mill or factory had closed, your first priority would be some sort of retraining program so you could find a new job, perhaps in a newer technology that isn't going to disappear next week, or next year.

Wrong. Your first priority is to make sure that no woman can have an abortion.

You might think that if you had no healthcare, your first priority would be to support any plan that made healthcare more available and more affordable, so you wouldn't put off treatment until it was too late, or go bankrupt over hospital bills.

Wrong again. Your first priority is to make sure that no one from Latin America makes it into the United States--with or without papers.

And you might think that maybe, just maybe, we have way too many guns in the hands of unstable people, and keeping everyone, stable or not, away from military style firearms and unlimited ammo is a sane idea.

Silly you. How can you be so wrong?!

Finally,  you might think that if you lived anywhere affected by climate change, which in essence means if you live anywhere on earth, your first priority would be to insist on any and all efforts to save our sorry asses from the worst effects.

Also wrong. Your first priority is to support any and all Israeli efforts to punish the Palestinians and make the Middle East even more unstable. Because Jesus is coming back for the End Times and the Rapture, and who really cares about the environment? Greta Thunberg? That LOSER? Fuck her! We're going to party with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost!