This weird little blog has been dormant for quite awhile now. No real reason why. Not that much I found interesting to write about, life happens, etcetera, etcetera. In the meantime, a man that I, and many others, consider to be a completely unqualified and rather dangerous authoritarian demagogue had been elected the President of the United States. Now that I'm trapped in a glass cage of emotion with sadness, despair, helplessness and anger sweeping around me, I guess I found a few interesting things to write about again.
We Americans, I assume, are all familiar with the Pledge of Allegiance. Many of us grew up mindlessly reciting the pledge every morning with the rest of our snotty little elementary school class. Interestingly enough, it was originally published in 1892 by a socialist (I bet that would freak out a lot of people who push for it's recitation) named Francis Bellamy in The Youth's Companion and read "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Beautiful right? This was of course eventually changed in the 1950's to the more familiar to the school kids "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Still pretty beautiful sentiment right? I know I thought so, even as a snotty little kid. Considering our current political circumstances, however, let's unpack the pledge a little bit.
One nation...
I think it's pretty clear to everyone in both parties that we are not one nation. I literally do not know what close to 50% of the country are thinking. I cannot wrap my head around their thought process. I cannot see how they could vote a dangerous, authoritarian, demagogic clown as the leader of the free world. It is almost as if half the country just wants to see the world burn. Yet, vote they did. The man legitimately won despite all he has said and done, both in his cruel and vile campaign and earlier in his life. And I guarantee they do not understand why I am so fearful and why I find this so dangerous. "Let's mix it up because what have the other politicians done for me anyway. He at least tells it like it is." When the constituencies of the two parties look across the metaphorical "aisle" with confusion and concern on their respective faces, we are not one nation.
Under God...
Well I guess to large swathes of the nation, that would depend what god you are praying to. The President-elect proposed a ban of all Muslims entering the country (although that has been recently scrubbed from his website now that he has actually been elected) and encouraged Muslims to spy on their fellow believers in order to "keep America safe." I guess it is all gravy as long as you believe in a Judeo-Christian god. Kind of takes away from the one nation again doesn't it?
Indivisible...
See points 1 and 2 above. I'm relatively young (shut up, I am!) but I do not think I have ever witnessed a more divisive time in my life. When the conservative leaning faction of this country thought they were losing the election, they obliquely threatened armed insurrection, possible refusal to accept the "rigged results" of the election and cried for the imprisonment of their chosen leader's political opponent for some undefined offenses. Now that their candidate has won, they still cry for their political opponent's imprisonment in the cozy confines of the President-elect's victory party. Are you f*&%ing kidding me? On the other side, the more liberal and progressive leaners, myself included, were overconfident and under-prepared for this result. Now shock, anger, confusion and a deep, deep sadness have set in. People are unsure of how to deal with the unfathomable. Thankfully many have chosen to express their confusion and rage in a non-violent insurrection with protests and marches across the country but it is still striking how clear the division currently is. Add in Black Lives/Blue Lives Matter with the racial undertones that are baked in there and I, for one, do not see it getting better in the near future.
With liberty and justice for all...
Speaking of those racial undertones, clearly many people in this country do no feel like there is liberty and justice for all. It is not just race-centric either. Part of the reason for the results in this election was the class based resentment in a large number of post-industrial areas in this country where things just have not felt like they have been getting better. People became scared for their future, angry that their circumstances have not changed, and decided to vote for a change in whatever form it came. Unfortunately for all of us, the standard bearer of that "change" is someone who has espoused normalizing the usage of "stop and frisk" procedures that lead to the targeting of people of color by police forces and the underlying resentment of police that then brews in minority communities. Someone who has proposed the violation of the Geneva Conventions, the institution of torture by our federal agencies (CIA/FBI) by utilizing waterboarding and "much worse." Someone who, as was previously mentioned, wants racial profiling by religion to be the norm. It is hard to see how this election leads to anything but the retreat from liberty and justice for all.
If you bake in the fact that Russian officials, despite previous denials, now explicitly met that they've been in contact with many members of the President-elects team throughout the election, I feel like I am living in a scary time. I do not understand how we got here. I do not see how we appropriately move forward these next four years in a unified country. I do not see how the leader of this country could possibly represent me, my views and my ideals. I'm a great believer in and admirer of our Constitution. It is one of the greatest documents this country, and possibly this world, has produced. It is the reason why this country is great yet all I can see is a man who seems ready and willing to trample on the rights that we hold so dear by threatening the freedom of press and religion. I am sickened. I am sad. I'm scared. I'm terrified.
But I am also willing, ready and able to fight to protect those rights and I hope you are too. Small minded men and women can only take this country from us if we let them. We cannot. We will not. Be vigilant. Be wary. Be vocal.
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