Can America survive next election cycle?
Three years ago, the nation simmered under the relentlessly progressive agenda President Barack Obama and his administration set from the prior eight years, since 2008.
During those years, we were under attack from Al Qaeda, the Middle East was (and is) in tatters, and the economy was just recovering from a near disaster engineered by a band of unscrupulous and greedy lenders and bankers. In the background, corporations continued to send American jobs away to India, China, Manila, Vietnam, Mexico, and anywhere where a semiliterate workforce could perform American jobs for next to nothing and bolster company bottom lines. The Rust Belt continued to corrode, and the vast swatch of middleclass Americans had no control of their lives as they despaired and lamented their abandonment. The rich got plenty richer, and the poor got prison, drug overdoses, and death.
The climate was right for a strong man to step forward and make America great again. Scapegoats were identified, immigrants were targeted, liberals and European nations were to blame, and minorities were definitely ruining the nation more than ever. That was the simple agenda of Donald Trump.
But our despair has not left us in 2019. In fact, it is far worse. What is the heart of the matter? Day in and day out, there is a terrible disconnect between facts and lies. Lies are rampant. SOMEBODY is lying. Who could it be? The nation is locked in civil discord. Racism and antiSemitism simmer and boil. Yet corporate profits continue to soar and the rich are beyond rich while the poor are still getting prison, overdoses, and death. Who is actually holding corporations accountable? Who is stopping the destruction? Who is really making America great again?
And now, legal minds and media talking experts warn us that our very democracy is in jeopardy. The Executive Branch is contemptuous of the Legislative Branch, the Supreme
Court is teetering on being packed with one viewpoint, the Justice Department is a mere extension of the Executive Branch. And a private citizen, Rudy Guiliani, was found to be conducting activities on behalf of the Executive branch with foreign governments in efforts to interfere with our very own elections. The president is about to be impeached but has stonewalled any investigations into his actions. In fact, he viciously and daily attacks the opposition party and anyone who opposes him.
I fear there will be another four years of this. Trump began his campaign for a second term on the very first day of his first term. His primary focus has been holding onto his power, demonizing, insulting, and rooting out his enemies, real and imagined. He has undercut our military, our intelligence agencies, our courts, and our Constitution by denigrating its builtin balance of power clauses. He directs others to disobey the law, ignore subpoenas, and obfuscate their testimony. Who is the traitor in the room?
Is there despair? More than ever. Are there betrayals? Oh yes. Are there lies? We got lies. Is the Rust Belt still rusting? You bet. Can Trump be reelected? For sure! But there’s just a handful of Democrats who might overturn him: the moderates, such as Joe Biden and Cory Booker, among others. But I fear if either Sanders or Warren is the nominee, it’s over from the start. Americans are moderates at heart, the silent moderates who still believe in the American dream that the backbone of this country is composed of immigrants and strivers, innovators, and geniuses, a unique melting pot of those who have come here from all over the world to enjoy a chance at a better life. It’s simple. There’s no place like it on Earth, the “last best hope” for humanity. Can it survive? It is overwhelmingly depressing to think that it can’t.