I keep thinking that if there is a slight pause to catch my breath I will write about normal things – about the ins and outs of a small but worthwhile life, comfortable in its way. When you reach a certain age that kind of life seems more inviting than it did when you were young and full of fire, seeking to make a mark on the world and change it into something more to your liking. You discover, eventually, that the world changes in its own way and on its own schedule and you make your peace with that and having done so you discover that the best part of life is found in the ordinary things and the people you surround yourself with.
That’s why I started this blog after all, back in 2008. To record those things, and perhaps to look back on them when I might otherwise have forgotten them.
But we find ourselves in a time of crisis, one that was entirely predictable – indeed, one that I was clear was coming here in this very space, a bit of fortune-telling that I claim no particular credit for since it was obvious to anyone who cared to look. The United States of America is under attack by internal enemies, the figurehead leader sitting in the Oval Office itself while the minions, lackeys, cronies and slaves who are doing the actual planning and executing are busily tearing down a century of labor by better people than themselves.
I will bear witness.
I will take what opportunities arise to make a difference.
I expect that this will lead me to harm, as Fascists do not take dissent lightly and are not clever enough to have any response other than violence. But so it goes. You do what you can. I am old now and have reached the point where my primary concern is the world I leave my children.
“You cannot kill me in a way that matters,” as the old meme has it.
The current coup has progressed quickly, but American patriots are starting to get their feet back underneath them and fight back.
“We don’t have kings in America,” said Illinois Governor JB Pritzger the other day, “and I don’t intend to bend the knee to one. I am not speaking up in service to my ambitions but in deference to my obligations. If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this: It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. All I’m saying is when the five-alarm fire starts to burn, every good person better be ready to man a post with a bucket of water if you want to stop it from raging out of control.”
Much damage has already been done, and more will come. Some of it is not recoverable. The United States will be fortunate to emerge out of this with the Constitution intact, with some allies who still trust us, with an economy worth mentioning and a society not utterly corrupted by hatred and bug-eyed insanity.
It will be the work of a generation of Americans to rebuild from this, if it can be done at all.
And we’d best start now.
I have, thus far at least, refrained from making any meaningful comments on this subject here since the election - mostly because you are much more eloquent than I am on this subject, and I’m more than willing to defer to you. If I don’t feel a pressing need to comment on future posts, remember that ’Silence gives consent’. (Which, in your case, is a good thing.)
ReplyDeleteThat being said, understood, and agreed …
You are not ‘old’ - not by a long shot. You and I are significantly closer to the end than the beginning, but that does not make us ‘old’. Weary, maybe... But not ‘old’. We may only refer to ourselves as ‘old’ when we no longer have the ability or the will to stand and fight for that in which we believe.
The current administration has destroyed the full faith, trust, and honor of this country. What remains of this nation is no longer salvageable. WE, as a nation, have proven to the world that The United States of America is no longer trustworthy. IF, in the decades ahead this nation can alleviate this stain, whatever rises from the ashes of this republic will not be anything that we would recognize as the country that we grew up in. You and I will not see that. I weep for what might have been while trusting that our children (and theirs) will learn from our errors and build something even better. In the unlikely event that you have forgotten the words:
https://youtu.be/KAu1T6syiD4?si=I6CuG5FmPznav5ta
When I served in the Air Force back in the day, I started servicing teletype machines. One of the first things I learned was to type two lines of text repeatedly that (a) used every letter and number on the keyboard, and (b) filled an entire 70-character line on the page.
(a) The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog’s back, 1234567890 times.
(b) Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.
We have allowed (a) to happen far too many times in the last five decades. The time has come for (b).
Lucy
It's going to get a lot worse before it will get better, and it is indeed time for (b) these days.
ReplyDeleteI am closing in on retirement, and I'd hoped to have a quiet path toward those years but it doesn't look like that will be the case. Definitely weary. But old enough to know better.
It's my country too. They can't have it. We will not see what comes next, but we can prepare the way for it.