Meanwhile On Earth-Deux - The Nation Stands!
And just like that I'm back. I had an impulse yesterday to close in and build a fortress of books to protect me and mine as best I could from the predations to come. But as the shock wore off that my America is even more racist than I imagined, and that a scary number of women are down with being second-class citizens, I once again found the need to speak my mind. This is the first in what I imagine to be a series of posts from Earth-Deux, a planet not that much unlike a similar one we DC fans know and adore where heroism lived on. But on this Earth -Deux "Sweet Potato Hitler" did not rise from the grave. He was defeated and the people were happy. Oh, if only it were so. But we can imagine. Join with me as we visit Earth-Deux.
With the election of Kamala Harris to the Presidency of the United States of America, the world order remains. The cruel vision of Christian Nationalism is pushed back for a time, and now it's time to see to it that such ugly ideas are once again relegated to the back alleys of American thought. It's time to bring back shame to the country and hold those accountable for this push toward a dictatorship. They must be voted from office and sent scurrying into early retirement. If they were in any way responsible for the shameful uprising on January 6, 2021, they should be brought to justice. And that includes the former President who has now lost two bids for the highest office in the land. It is critical that his trials go forward and that no talk of a pardon be considered. That would not be justice.
Now we can move forward once again and continue the work begun in the Biden administration to improve the lives of all Americans, including immigrants from other lands who wish to become Americans. With the beautiful face of a bi-racial woman now in the highest office in the land, we can again shed the limitations which have weirdly distorted our political lives for centuries. The United States has always been a land of institutional racism, but we must take steps to see to it that it's never that in the future.
We can begin to bring justice back to the land and see to it that women are returned to full rights under the Constitution. We can do that by seeing to it that corrupt judges are impeached and replaced. Expanding the Supreme Court seems like an idea whose time has come. And with that, a modernization of the American voting scheme so that no longer will a bitter minority hold the whole nation hostage to their shameful beliefs.
Russia should now see that invading Ukraine is a fool's errand and will withdraw. Israel can now see that its extermination of the Palestinians must cease, or support will disappear. Forces held hostage by the rigors of an all-important election are now free to wield the powers necessary to bring these shameful spectacles to an end.
With the election of President-Elect Kamela Harris and Tim Walz, we are once again on track toward the future and not the past. The future where my kids will live looks brighter indeed.
To reference my late wife's favorite Beatles' song -- Let it Be!
Sadly, I now return to our Earth.
Rip Off
Around 10 years ago Harry Belafonte was interviewed on BBC radio and during the interview he said that America was built on slavery, violence and exploitation. He also said "I'd get my ass handed to me if I dared say these things in America". Belafonte spoke the ugly truth about America rather than the "shining city on a hill" crap that has endured throughout my lifetime. I loathe Trump and his supporters and all those Biden voters who refused to turn out for Harris because she was a black woman but at least the whole world now sees the true nasty face of America.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The United States will not come to terms with its racist past, and to even try to teach it in school now is becoming problematic, as my daughter confronts every day in a class filled with minority kids. That "Shining city on the hill" bullshit was uttered by Reagan, the man who turned the U.S. away from progress to regress and a man I loathe. As for the folks who voted against themselves, it remains mystifying and tragic. They will learn.
DeleteA crucial mistake was made when the media went out of its way of to buy the line that Trump supporters were not racist the first time he was elected. They clearly were. The Tea Party movement that erupted just after Obama's election was always about race but pretended to be something else. This shit is able to hide in plain sight because people are too stupid to see it.
What does this election result mean for the chances of a female US president? The female candidate has now lost twice so surely neither party will dare put up a woman as their presidential candidate in future in case she's unelectable?
ReplyDeleteHere in the UK the Conservative Party has just chosen a black woman, Kemi Badenoch, as their new leader. Badenoch may be black and female but she's no progressive and boasts about being anti-woke. How a black woman can be opposed to the very progressive values from which she herself has benefited is amazing to me.
It's really quite hard to fathom this result in logical terms. Biden's administration has been a huge success for the people who just rejected his Vice President. She ran a perfect campaign, though many look to pick it apart now. In the light of those two facts, it has to be racism and misogyny. The Democrats cannot go down this road again anytime soon. I'd bet even the utter destruction that's imminent to us all from Trump's proposed plans could shove such committed racists to vote wisely. We are now a country led by a decaying mad man put in office by stupid racist people. The other fifty percent of us will just have to eat chalk for now. Maybe we'll get a break when he deports a good portion of his voting block.
DeleteAs for those who pull the ladder of opportunity up after them, it's selfishness and that's in this season.
Rip, I think a lot of us are finding or making our own Earth-Deux right now, an oasis of sanity, civility, sensitivity & empathy. I'm reminded of Andre's thoughts about "pockets of light" in My Dinner With Andre:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9sIdRwM7zo
And note that he says that these "pockets of light" aren't simply places to hide from the current Dark Ages world & its mindset, but places to nurture the positive qualities that we also take back with us into that world.
I'm also finding myself drawn to quite a few classic Twilight Zone episodes this week, such as "The Obsolete Man." Because it does seem that so many people want to make those positive qualities we cherish obsolete these days, doesn't it?
The one thing I am sure of is that succumbing to despair is giving Trump & his followers a victory they don't deserve. That's something I refuse to do - something we all must refuse to do. Here I agree with E. M. Forster, who wrote at length about people who cherish those qualities:
https://www.themarginalian.org/2024/10/31/e-m-forster-sensitive/
Greetings & agreement from my own pocket of light on Earth-Deux!
Thanks for the words of wisdom. They are worthy of reflection. I think the way forward for liberals is to focus on local, city, and state politics and so begin to create those "pockets of light" you refer to. The federal government is opened up to lawsuits in a way it has never been in decades after the fall of the Chevron decision. For once our overly litigious society could come to our rescue.
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