Thursday, April 18, 2019

4-18-20, The Day America Died.

Today, 4-18-20, America died.  We are now a fascist country. No one really cared.  They're too busy to notice.  Busy with personal stuff.  The pubic stuff for most is out of view.   Today, the Mueller report was released.  And what it revealed about corruption, appeasement, conspiracy and obstruction are important, but not the most important thing.  What it revealed is that the pillars of American republican democracy are mostly gone.  What remains, mostly, is an authoritarian tyrant.

The pillars are torn down, excepting a free press we can be thankful for and a House of Representatives who might keep us breathing with some brain activity.   Gone are an Executive branch that we can count on to do the right thing, a Judiciary with a balance of conservative and liberal justices to try and do the right thing and a Senate than we can count on to take a broad view of what the right thing is to do.  The Senate majority has abrogated its responsibility to provide its work in checks and balances vis a vis the Executive, to whom it has offloaded all power, including appointing massive numbers of right wing hack justices, rather than give us a balance of differing views on the intent of the Constitution.  The rule of law now is disabled.  The Justice Department, through the highly partisan Attorney General Barr, has assumed the role of the President's counselor and defender rather than the role of the people's ultimate lawyer.

What remains is a fascist regime designed to disrupt the rule of law and the provision of services and protections Americans have mindlessly ignored or have been ignorant of and don't care.  Democracies require alot of work to maintain and correct when they fail to deliver and American's aren't into this kind of work.  Most don't vote regularly, let alone stay informed on policies being put in place by people they haven't voted for.  So, they've let it slip away from their control.  Americans are into instant gratification and quick results.  Authoritarians give more results, faster.  And that is who we allowed to lead us through disengagement.  Let someone else do the work; we're too busy with self gratification or with about 40% of us, just hard scrabble daily coping for survival. 

Rest in peace, America.  Maybe enough of us will be concerned about a Resurrection to bring back the hope and promise America offered, but I for one am not counting on it.  Given that we didn't rise up to release and help innocent children caged in camps on our border, there's little evidence enough of us will rise up to save ourselves.   RIP.