A Time of Deep Sadness – The American Political System 2021

As a people, we should be deeply troubled about what has transpired over the recent past.  The change that has apparently overtaken the American political system began with the election of America’s first Black President, Barrack Obama, the 44th President of the United States.  For on that day, the underlying malaise that has haunted this country since its inception as a supposed Democratic Republic finally broke through the surface and shattered the veneer that has dominated the domestic landscape.  Once the imposing barrier that had existed to forestall real social progress imploded, a significant portion of the white population found that the new reality encompassing a ethnically, culturally, and racially diverse nation was regarded as entirely unacceptable.

 The malaise I am referring to is that of the profoundly delusional belief in the supremacy of the white race.  This belief together with the corollaries that it embraces is particularly absurd in the twenty-first century where the modern understanding of molecular biology and genetics has clearly established that race is a completely manufactured concept having no basis in reality, for all individual human beings regardless of their place of origin, color of their skin, cultural identity, system of beliefs are all members of the same species with no essential differences between them.  

Our history as a nation has much to atone for in regard to the malevolent and evil behavior directed at Native American peoples that led to their near-genocide and the unconscionable stealing of their birth rite and homeland.  This appropriated land and natural resources were takings that the colonists and their descendants enormously benefited from.  This belief in the supremacy of the white race was also used to rationalize the institution of slavery that deprived the freedom, dignity,and welfare of people of color forcefully removed from their homelands for the sole purpose of enhancing the economic status of the slave owners and all those who indirectly benefited from this forced arrangement.  To this day, Native Americans and African -Americans are still paying a horrific price for the color of their skin – a wholly accidental difference that is insignificant from the perspective of the inherent biology of the species.

The reality of the bigotry and prejudice that is the essential consequences of this belief in white supremacy – this lie of monstrous proportions – has so distorted the mentality and intelligence of those who hold it as a fundamental truth that it has elevated sheer stupidity and staggering ignorance to a such a place preeminence within our culture that an entire major political party has come to embrace it.  This is the price we are collectively paying for not condemning such preposterous lies. 

The reality of what actually transpired on January 6 is a clear indicator of how far we have come to our own self-immolation.  Any impartial observer to the horrendous events that transpired on that day could not come to any conclusion other than that the perpetrators involved held the system of laws and beliefs that are absolutely essential within the framework of a democratic republic in complete contempt.  To conclude otherwise is to make a mockery of democracy itself. 

Democracy cannot be sustained if truth and reason are held suspect.  Democracy requires an informed, educated, and intelligent population.  Without this bulwark, the enormous problems that confront the nation cannot be delineated, analyzed and successfully addressed.  Without an informed, educated, and diverse electorate, we will effectively jeopardize our future and may well experience a kind of dystopia that has usually been addressed in fictional literature and the medium of film. 

If the violent mob that attacked the nation’s capital - encouraged by a significant portion of the Republican Party - actually succeeded in the installation of a deranged, intellectually challenged and horrendously incompetent leader like Trump in defiance of democratic principles we would be witnessing a significant acceleration of this apparently inexorable process of decline.

One might argue that this line of argument I am presenting is extreme and somewhat exaggerated.  However, please remember that we now live in a country that has justified the universal acquisition of firearms of all varieties including assault weapons.  Within this environment, this country has come to tolerate a level of violence that most civilized societies would find entirely unacceptable. 

Given these realities, what would be the consequences for a country with an abysmal public health system, a failing infrastructure, a catastrophic and extreme climate, a large population of poor and homeless when all of these issues are ignored or mismanaged by an extremist, autocratic, undemocratic, and corrupt government?  What would be the status of the ordinary citizen among a thoroughly armed and disaffected population?  Are we prepared to accept such a bleak and unforgiving environment for ourselves and future generations?