I’ve always wished that I could read the opinions of my grandfather, great-grandfather and so on about the politics of their day. What did my ancestors think about Lincoln? What were their thoughts on FDR, Eisenhower, Kennedy?
Growing up politics was a bland affair and I was more interested in cartoons anyway. I knew Reagan was President and I was taught to respect the office. I knew nothing, nor cared nothing for policy as I was simply too young.
Now here we are in the year 2024 and the political scene has gone completely off the rails. Therefore, I thought I’d write my own thoughts for the benefit of my descendants should they be curious.
To my descendants,
You may be reading the history books and wondering how it could be that half of the country has fallen in love with a narcassistic, demagogue, conman, felon. I assure you I’m just as baffled as you must be. I had always thought that with all the eduction we would be smarter as a whole. Unfortunately people couldn’t handle social media and have a hard time determining the truth. At this point, it doesn’t seem they even care what the truth is, as they’ve fallen into the cult of Trump. It is bizarre and scary.
On the other hand, Trump wins, destroys democracy and you’ve all been brainwashed in whatever dystopian future awaits. I hope your future isn’t similar to The Handmaiden’s Tale as we could certainly go that way.
I abhor Trump, but conmen are everywhere. What I cannot understand is why so many have fallen for his lies? My main theory is that people are angry. Many jobs were shipped overseas in the pursuit of profit and so, like many times in history, people need something to be angry at and Trump takes advantage of this. Just like many times in history it is “blame the immigrants” all over again. The egalitarian society of the 70s began to unravel in the 80s and with many losing their factory jobs people started to become upset. Then with social media this anger was amplified and stoked by people like Trump.
Riding this train has lead to representatives that would be unthinkable just a few short decades ago. Boebert gives hand-jobs and vapes in the theater. Majorie Taylor Green is another hot mess with no tact, no ethics and has nothing going for her except to throw out the most idiotic statements. Two trailer trash queens are in congress and the media eats it up as the nonsense drives clicks.
The Republicans now look towards a Christian theocracy to take the place of Democracy. I want to say it is simply a dying party fighting like a caged animal but they could win and change everything.
This isn’t to give a pass to the Democrats although the Republicans are magnitudes worse. My gripe with the Democrats is the leaders refuse to let go of power. Our senator here in California for ages was Feinstein. She became senile and didn’t let go of power until she died. I’m half wondering why her most recent supporters don’t just throw her corpse back up on her senate seat and have her govern still? “Her death will not affect her duties and she’s not stepping down.”
Another one is Nancy Pelosi. She abdicated but then announced she is running again not so long ago. I don’t know what the status is on that but it was certainly disappointing. I couldn’t tell you about her track record but from where I stand she was just another elite hungry for power and wealth. She advocated for Congresspeople, who have inside information, to be able to trade stocks. She never understood China and refused to take into account the history of Western nations feeding on that country, abusing it to no end. Now, she wants her power back and Californians would give it to her if she is running again.
On the Republican side you have McConnell who freezes up when making statements. He is another one who just cannot let go.
Finally, there is Biden who is too old to run again. His recent debate was a disaster and most recently he referred to Kamila Harris as “Vice President Trump, and introduced Zelenski as Putin! He needs to be moved aside but just like many of his cohorts refuses to do so even though it would be better for the part and for the nation.
As for me, Trump has already been a disaster for America and they must be stopped at all costs. I do not support Biden but I would vote for a rock over Trump. Hopefully, we’ll have a better option than Biden soon. Otherwise America is looking to become something that would be absolutely shocking to all Americans just a few decades ago. I fear America will become a bad place should he win and it is very close. It is like the country is sleepwalking to disaster where people should be screaming from the rooftops in an effort to get it to change course.
If Trump wins the world at large will also become a very different place and not for the better. China will probably be given free reign over Taiwan although I agree with China that Taiwan is part of them. I however have never lived in Taiwan and it is a steadfast rule to not make strong opinions about a place I haven’t lived, nor understand. Whatever happens with Taiwan, my main fear is the animosity between China and Japan. I have ties to Japan and although I am not bias against China, bad things could happen should China become too strong and the US exit the scene.
Anyway, I wanted to get those thoughts down for your benefit should you take an interest.
Right now it is 4:12 on a beautiful Friday evening and I’m on the porch swing. I should throw in that I am very concerned about climate change. Many parts of the world are now seeing temperatures of 120 degrees and the hurricanes are getting stronger, one just having ravaged Houston. In addition to the danger Trump poses to the USA, climate change should also be front and center in the news everyday. These two subjects go together as the Republicans would rather ignore all these warning signs and would rather just ban the world climate change outright. This is depressing, sad and incredibly stupid. They have become something unrecognizable to the ‘Grand Old Party,’ of the past, now being run by fanatics.
Well, that is enough for now. I’m living in a very strange time and I can only hope things will improve. I suspect the world will continue to become more strange over time as we cannot go back to the past, we cannot just say ‘stop, let’s be normal again.’ I have no idea what the future is going to look like and I am very worried.
