This is something I had hoped not to write. I've started it in my head a dozen times. Last week I started to write it for real, and then threw it out. I've been trying to avoid it, but I no longer think I can. A lot of things need to be said. I will try to say them clearly.
I am at the point of emotional breakdown. Election years are always rough on me, but this one is the Election from Hell. It's all I can do to be calm. I swear to you, I feel like I'm losing it a lot of times. I'll bet a lot of you are in the same boat.
My friends have always been my strength and my refuge. You are what keeps me going. Although I am obviously closer to some of you than others, I love all of you in my own way. I have tried, in recent times, to keep my public postings on Facebook light and funny, so as not to stir up controversy (although I inadvertently still do from time to time). I know that many people see Facebook as a refuge from the lunacy around us, and I finally got it through my thick skull that arguing issues with others on Facebook is largely futile. So I'm not looking to convince anyone. But I will pull no punches.
America is everything to me. I was raised in a small Midwestern town where things like Memorial Day were treated with great reverence and the veterans marched proudly on the Fourth of July. Even as I came to understand that my beloved nation had flaws and genuine problems, I didn't abandon it. You see, everyone I know and love has flaws and genuine problems, and god knows I sure do. But you don't give up on people because they're not "perfect", or because they don't fit some idealized image of what you think they should be. You accept them, warts and all, and focus on what's best in them.
And you don't give up on America, I always thought. As an adult, you understand that we have our share of sins in the historical record, but you still think America is what Abraham Lincoln called it: "the last, best hope of earth". You need it to be that. Patriotism becomes a sort of secular religion, an article of faith, an expression of confidence that no matter what we face, when we face it together, we can handle it.
So I hope you understand how hard it is for me to say this: I think the country is falling apart at the seams. It used to be my view that by the Tricentennial in 2076, the U.S. will have devolved into several autonomous regions, loosely connected, perhaps even still known collectively as the U.S.A., but it will not politically resemble the country we know today.
I no longer think so. I think that process has already begun.
You might find this to be presumptuous on my part, but I've thought long and hard about what's been going on, and I've identified some crucial factors. Understand, of course, that the whole picture is too big and too complicated for anyone to understand fully. So I don't claim to have all the answers. But I think I have some of them.
First, many Americans are historical illiterates. I don't say this to sound superior to others, but I think it's true. Many Americans have a very poor understanding of their own nation's past. For most of us, the last time we read any American history was in high school, and then it was from some god-awful textbook written by a committee. This pervasive ignorance has real consequences. When we don't know the story of our country, we are inviting charlatans and delusional people, or those with ulterior motives, to fill in the gaps for us.
The misunderstandings resulting from this can be grievous. Many people come to have a romanticized picture of the American past, a belief that there was a time when America was overwhelmingly better than it is now, a nation that expressed and upheld everything that is best in humanity, the kind of "history" more appropriate for a Hallmark greeting card than a serious analysis. Others come to see the American experience as uniformly dark and sinister, marked by incessant cruelty and injustice, an evil country. Both of these pictures are wildly distorted and thoroughly removed from the truth, which is far more complex and studded with gray areas. I think the great mass of Americans realize that neither of these views are true, but they don't know what is true. Hence they are open to manipulation by those who seek to use the past to bolster their power in the present.
In many ways, the idealized picture of America is more destructive, because it blinds us to the causes of our ordeals. Historical events cause chains of other events to unfold, chains which intersect with other chains, and cause all manner of unintended consequences to arise. From slavery to the brutal exploitation of poor whites to the Civil War to the rise of an urban, industrialized society, to a nation amazingly different in ethnic composition from its original population, these chains and consequences still wrap themselves around us. And although it is less destructive, the view that condemns America's past as having been unrelievedly brutal ignores every person and every movement that worked to make America live up to its ideals. It ignores the heroism ordinary Americans have so often displayed in the face of daunting hardships, and it ignores the everyday decency and good humor so many Americans have possessed.
Second, many Americans have fallen into the grip of sheer irrationalism. I don't know how else to put this. I'm enough of a historian to understand that there has always been a strain of lunacy that has woven itself through our history, and I realize that many Americans in the past held strange beliefs that seem incomprehensible to us now. But, in recent decades, driven to new levels of intensity by social media, bizarre ideas seem to be more widespread than ever. Some of these ideas, rooted in religious zealotry, have been around for a long time, but have received renewed currency. Others have a more recent origin. Here are some of the things millions of Americans, at the end of the second decade of the twenty-first century, actually believe:
--That the Earth is only a few thousand years old, humans have been present from the first week of its existence, everyone is descended from a couple that only had two sons, humans played with dinosaurs, and that God drowned the entire human race save for one family.
--That the government regularly manufactures diseases to inflict on the population, or at the very least facilitates them, and that COVID is an example of this.
--That there is a plot to hand the United States over to the UN.
--That billionaires are seeking to use vaccines to electronically tag people.
--That a shadowy group of (take your pick: Jews, bankers, pedophiles, reptilian-like aliens) controls the world.
--That the end of the Earth is imminent.
The grotesque Q-Anon movement embodies a number of these delusions. Its rapid spread among our people is an exceptionally poor sign. Not only is Q a manifestation of historical ignorance and a complete inability to analyze the world rationally, it has become a political force with potentially dire consequences. The whole Q-Anon view of the world is quite literally insane, completely removed from reality. And yet, prominent individuals are pushing it, hoping to exploit the irrational fears and beliefs it promotes.
Third, a great many Americans have never bought into the idea of a democratic republic. Large numbers of Americans find it unbearable that there are those who oppose them. For many decades there have been people who said newspapers shouldn't be allowed to say whatever they wanted, that the government had the right to imprison anyone who criticized it, and so on. Such people are still to be found. They seek to silence those who oppose them, or at the very least intimidate them. I will concede that there are those on the political Left who seek to control debate by a combination of extreme hypersensitivity to any "offensive" expression and by attempting to shame others by unfairly attaching labels (such as racist or sexist or "privileged") to them. I'm not blind.
But the part a lot of you won't like is this: the political Right has been far more destructive in this respect. Looking at the frankly cult-like adoration directed toward the current president, and the outrage directed against anyone who criticizes him, or looking at the statements of those who want a nation built on "Christian" [sic] principles to the exclusion of all others, one can only conclude that a lot of Americans want a right-wing dictatorship.
I've seen this emerging for years. The Religious Right (so-called) started out of resentment to forced racial integration, not originally abortion, and their program for America's future is frightening. It is underpinned by a belief in what's called Dominionism, the domination by "true Christians" (a designation they believe applies only to themselves) of every institution in American life. This, more than anything else, drove me out of the Republican Party in the early 90s.
The so-called "militia movement" quite frankly uses the threat of physical violence to intimidate others, and right-wing political terrorism in the last decade has vastly outweighed that perpetrated by leftists or Islamists. I condemn non-defensive violence by anyone, and I don't care what "cause" they are promoting. But the bulk of such violence is now emanating from a distinctly identifiable source. This is not to say that anarchists and extremists from the Left or Radical Islam are not a threat. They are. But it is the extremists of the Right that are--at least at this time--more dangerous.
Fourth, many Americans have crippled attention spans. A combination of factors has withered the ability of most Americans to attend to any long or complex set of propositions. The rise of television was a body-blow to our attention spans, and the Internet may have been the death of them. TL/DR (Too long, didn't read) is now often being applied to paragraphs, much less entire essays or articles. No movie or TV show or website can substitute for in-depth reading. And without widespread in-depth reading, I don't see how the Republic can survive. The whole idea of the public school system is founded on the contention that an informed populace is absolutely indispensable. I think a lot of people see "research" in the most shallow terms, because they aren't capable of attending to anything for more than a few minutes.
Fifth, many Americans live in information "bubbles". It is a natural human inclination to seek out those with whom one agrees. But the rise of "news" tailored to the prejudices and biases of a particular audience has reached unprecedented levels. Again, I recognize that there have always been blatantly partisan news sources in American history. The verbal wars waged by newspapers against each other in the 18th and 19th centuries are examples of this. But the rise of electronic media has greatly exacerbated this state of affairs. Many Americans live in what might be called epistemological isolation. They never hear anything that contradicts their pre-conceived notions. This has fostered the rise of tribalism to a degree that has become downright alarming.
Sixth, the celebrity culture has gotten out of control. Many prominent people, whether they are in entertainment, sports, politics, what have you, have been raised to the level of super stars by our 24/7 media, and their doings are followed by tens of millions of people. The adulation of celebrities has become flabbergasting. Some celebrities appear to be famous solely because they are famous, if that makes any sense. Many of these celebrities are depicted in ways that are at complete variance with reality. An illusion is presented, an illusion more compelling than reality, an illusion that seduces millions and which gives these celebrities an aura of glamour and authority.
Seventh, economic and political power in America have become fantastically concentrated. The wealth of the top 1% of Americans, or even the top .1%, has reached jaw-dropping levels. Not since the 1920s, or even the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, has so much wealth been controlled by so few. In recent decades, lobbyists for the rich have gained control of the legislative process to a shocking degree. As has been said before, it's not what's illegal that is the problem, it's what's been made legal. The IRS now shies away from auditing most of the rich, and actually now goes after lower and middle class taxpayers. Tax avoidance schemes are ubiquitous. Hundreds of billions of dollars are hidden in offshore accounts. Prosecutions at the federal level for white collar crime have virtually ended in recent years. In a nation where 60% of the population couldn't handle an unexpected $1,000 expense, the rich enjoy a dominance that is quite simply astounding.
Eighth, corruption and organized crime are pervasive. This is tied to the previous point. Legalized bribery, in the form of dark money given to politicians, has helped corruption metastasize throughout our country. Of course, corruption is nothing new, but its scope today is breathtaking. If you truly want to be depressed, read about the FinCEN investigation of our banks, or look at the Panama Papers, or read about the shady practices of Deutsche Bank. It will sap your faith in people. This corruption is facilitated by an international network of criminals, many of them situated in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and China, who cooperate with their counterparts in west Europe and the United States. The amounts of money they have funneled into their own pockets are staggering, in the trillions of dollars. The power of these organized criminals is such that I'm not sure how they can ever be displaced.
It is these factors, I believe, that have led us to our current impasse. And here's where I am going to be bluntly and frankly partisan: all of these factors are implicated in the rise of Donald Trump. All of them.
No, I do not seek to convince any of you who support Trump. But I have to tell you what my rather exhaustive research has uncovered.
Trump appeals to many Americans who have an idealized picture of the past, and who are ignorant of the main contours of American history. He exploits those who believe in conspiracy theories, and has expressed support for Q-Anon dozens of times. (Trump recently re-tweeted the assertion that Osama bin Laden is still alive and that Seal Team Six is all dead!) He encourages authoritarianism and has distinctly authoritarian tendencies, asserting, for example, that Article II of the Constitution gives him the right to do anything he wants. He has purged the government of competent officials, and has demanded that all government officials show unwavering loyalty to him personally. He has demanded that his political opponents be imprisoned.
Let that sink in.
That's not normal, and in my 68 years I have never seen any public figure demand such a thing, ever. He has frankly uttered threats of violence on many occasions, saying in 2016, for example, that Hillary Clinton's judicial appointments could be stopped by "Second Amendment solutions". He has encouraged his followers to employ violence against others. And he lies.
And lies.
And lies.
And lies more, in a virtual firehose of mendacity. He lies constantly, he lies shamelessly, he lies so much that one becomes almost numb to it. There is no lie he will not tell. Fact-checkers have catalogued this torrent of lies, have presented them in context, and have cross-referenced them. And still the lies pile up. This is not only a sign of Trump's pathology. It's a technique dictators use to knock down opposition. Simply lie about everything, and demand that your spokespeople and defenders lie as well. Wear people out by constant lying.
Trump has the fervent support of the most dangerous elements of the Religious Right. He has a fiercely devoted militia following. He has attracted the ugliest elements of the White Supremacy movement.
Trump became famous through celebrity television, which presented a completely false picture of who he is. He relies on short attention spans and uncritical minds. He is supported by what I can only call three State Propaganda Television Networks (Fox, Sinclair, and OANN) and by countless radio shows, web sites, and newspapers, all churning out the same propaganda line. It is this demented beehive of propaganda outlets that has painted people like me, people who vote Democratic, as quite literally the worst thing in the world, more hateful than any other enemy America has.
Trump advocates solely for the rich, despite his populist fairy tales and his laughably untrue assertion that he "built the greatest economy" in history. And his corruption is almost beyond belief. I have traced, in sickening detail, the history of Trump's sexual predation. I have documented Trump's ties to organized crime, both domestic and foreign. I have pierced the veil of lies that surrounds the preposterous notion that he is a "successful businessman". In truth, he is one of the biggest failures in American business history, sustained by bribes, lawsuits, defaulted payments, and money from criminal sources and foreign powers. I have traced Trump's ties to Deutsche Bank, and his praise of authoritarians around the world. Many of these same authoritarians are brazenly supporting Trump's reelection efforts, by the way, in violation of American law.
And I have traced the history of Trump's utter failure to control the COVID epidemic, WHICH IS AT ITS HEIGHT RIGHT NOW. I have exposed Trump's ties to China, Saudi Arabia, and Russia. I have exposed Trump's lies about the "Wall" and I've highlighted Trump's shocking behavior following the 9/11 attacks.
And there is much more, but I'm not going to bother to link to it.
You see, I've come to understand that those of you who are for him don't want to look at it, or don't believe it, or don't think it to be significant.
And that's part of what is defeating me inside. I am your friend, I am for you, I would never lie to you no matter what anyone did to me. And yet, you believe someone who could not possibly care less about you and who will tell you any lie he thinks he can get away with. I guess the cognitive dissonance is crushing my brain.
I have all the receipts, as they say. And it makes no difference.
The Republican Party's behavior during this election has been appalling and enraging.
Trump has spread the LIE that voter fraud is widespread, when every single study we have says otherwise. He has spread the LIE that mail voting is regularly open to fraud. (Trump has actually voted by mail himself!)
The Republican Senate has refused to enact any election protection laws, laws designed to keep out foreign influence.
Trump appointed an individual with no experience in the Postal Service to sabotage mail delivery, which he has done successfully, forcing millions to brave a pandemic and vote in person.
In Ohio, the Republican Secretary of State decreed that every county gets only one ballot drop box. One for Democratic Cuyahoga County, population 1.2 million, one for the tiniest county in Appalachia.
In Texas, the Republican governor has tried to limit drop boxes to one per county. One for Democratic Harris County, population 4.7 million, one for every tiny county in north Texas.
In Pennsylvania the Republican Party tried to outlaw drop boxes altogether. Now they are threatening to send their own electors to the Electoral College, regardless of the outcome in their state.
In Georgia, black voters who voted early faced waits in line of up to twelve hours, wait times that never seem to occur in white districts.
In Wisconsin the Republican Party sued to try to prevent ballots which arrived after election day from being counted, even if they were postmarked on time.
In Florida in 2018 the voters overwhelmingly approved a law restoring voting rights to those who had served time for felonies. The Republican state government sabotaged the implementation of the law, and only 8% of people in this situation actually had their rights restored. I'm sure it's a coincidence that 43% of these individuals are black.
In Montana the Republican Party tried to block mail voting altogether.
Moreover, Trump has threatened to use "poll watchers" to intimidate voters in minority districts. A group of such "poll watchers" recently disrupted voting in Philadelphia.
Worst of all, Trump has said he will litigate any result in which he loses. Alone among American presidents, he suggested delaying the election. Alone among American presidents, he has refused to say he would abide by the outcome. Alone among American presidents, he has refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power.
I wonder what some of you would have said had Barack Obama done those things.
And he has helped push through a Supreme Court justice who may rule in his favor in a disputed election, a justice confirmed just EIGHT DAYS before the election.
So much for the idea that people have the right to have a say in these matters. Too bad, Merrick Garland.
This is naked, unashamed authoritarianism. Such bare-knuckle tactics are not only un-American, they are anti-American. The essential principle upon which this country was founded is that the individual American has the right to have a say in the governing of their country. And the Republicans are trying to strip as many of my fellow Democrats of that right as they possibly can.
And again, my heart breaks at the idea that there may be people I know who approve of such disgusting tactics. I hope not, I really, truly hope not.
Finally, let me say this. I saw an ad for a pro-Republican shirt the other day. It showed counties that voted Republican in 2016 and those that voted Democratic. The shirt had a color key on it.
Blue represented Democrats, it said.
Red represented Americans.
This garbage, this filth, this slander has become commonplace on the political Right. The idea is that "real" Americans are Republicans. Tens of millions of my fellow citizens apparently believe this, unable to see that such vile nonsense is tearing us apart. I see Trump supporters repeating these lies everywhere. So let me ask you something:
How would you feel if YOU were the target of these smears?
WHEN PEOPLE SAY THESE THINGS ABOUT DEMOCRATS, THEY'RE SAYING THEM ABOUT ME.
Just to be clear.
I'll tell you how I feel about such attacks: angry, betrayed, bitter, and hostile to anyone uttering them.
But it doesn't seem to matter.
It feels like the end of the road is here.