We Are All Here, Now

Perhaps it has escaped your notice, but American society has pretty much collapsed.

It most likely has escaped your notice, because when you wake up in the morning, the lights work, the birds are singing, you go to work, you put gas in your car, you buy groceries, and it all seems... normal.

There are no troops in the streets. No one is driving around shouting out their car windows about revolution. Masses of people are not standing guard over barricades.

But if you step back from the minutiae of your life, the picture becomes clearer.

There is a doddering, selfish madman in The White House, enriching himself and his "friends." Congress is impotent, run by a party that supported the madman and now seems embarrassed by it, but can't break free of his Svengali-like idiocy. And the Supreme Court is run by Conservatives who are not interested in maintaining the integrity of the Constitution, but opening the door to fascism.

All the while, the engine of this destruction of Constitutional order, the White Christian Fascist movement that is woven into the fabric of our nation, is promulgating the removal of rights from anyone who is not a white, Christian, cisgendered male. Voting, birth control, abortion, gender-affirming care, and any kind of program meant to support the poor and indigent, these are slowly being erased as quickly as can be managed, only to be thwarted by a judicial system which, below the level of the Supreme Court, still seems interested in applying rules equally (with some exceptions).

We are all here, now.

If you're not seeing it, that's your privilege at work. Or, perhaps, it's because you are working so hard just to survive, you don't notice and have no time to think about it. Or, further still, maybe this is what you wanted, even as you profess "This isn't what I voted for!" Whatever the reason, it's here. We're here. There are charlatans, liars, thieves, and proto-Nazis wandering the halls of a building where Abraham Lincoln worked to hold the Union together, where Teddy Roosevelt fought the trusts and established our national parks system, where FDR brought a country back from the brink of disaster during the Depression and then fought a two-front war to end the threat of Fascism, and John F. Kennedy launched our nation on a trip to the Moon. Part of that hallowed building has already been physically destroyed.

Everything happening now enrages us. You see it poured into the text boxes of apps and websites to be posted on every variety of social media forum, from text to video. We are furious. We are anxious. We are petrified. We are panicked. We are confused. We are hoping, beyond hope, that someone comes to fix it all.

I'm sorry. It doesn't work that way.

True, there are organizations fighting every day, mainly in the courts, sometimes in the political arena, to stop the madness. They are, however, only working against those things that are happening now or have happened. They are not preventative. Nothing it seems, prevents this "administration" from moving on to the next set of outrages, as if the plan is to simply overwhelm us with a tidal wave of despair.

Honestly, and you're not going to like this, it's time to stop being outraged.

I'm not saying don't be angry. I'm not even saying to accept this as our fate.

What I'm saying, is that outrage is energy wasted. Outrage poured onto the Internet is energy diluted. Frustration, arguments, bickering, and the like, with other people we do not know, who may not even be people at this point, is not what is needed to meet the current crisis. We can continue endlessly - and we will - to rehash how we got here, but the essence is, that we are here. The question now is: What are we going to do about it?

This isn't just about elections, and who votes and doesn't, and who voted for what, when. None of that matters now. The fact is the forces that have expended decades planning and slowly executing their vision of an American run by white cisgendered men are within striking distance of their goal. They have created an atmosphere where people believe there is little be done, that voting changes nothing, that to rise and speak out means losing everything they own, and that they know what's best for everyone, even though it is quite clear through their dogma, that they think only of themselves and their "race" and religious proclivities.

These people profane the Christian religion, even as they pound pulpits and proclaim themselves arbiters of God's word. These people look down from their piles of money and contemptuously tell us to "work harder," even as they game the system to ensure that no matter how hard we do work, we cannot get ahead, falling even further behind. They proclaim the superiority of a "race" that is a figment of their imagination, built up by the perversion of science to fit a white narrative over the last two centuries. We are being ruled by the dregs of society, and we are allowing it.

You can tell yourself that all we have to do is win a few more elections, spend our money wisely, show up in the streets every so often to make sure they understand we aren't going to put up with this, and everything will be "normal" again.

We don't want "normal" again.

"Normal" is how we got here. "Normal" is white people on top, and everyone else scattered below, fighting to survive, picking up our scraps, and having to expend quantities of energy so vast, to get the simplest rights applied to them, as they should have been from the beginning. "Normal" is not having to think about who the people we elect are, because after every election, the country seems to keep running. "Normal" is, your cause doesn't impact me, why should I care? "Normal" is refusing to see the big picture of how the planet, life on it, and the processes of time and space affect it, and realize we are damaging it. "Normal" is trying to buttonhole people, force them into convenient categories, instead of accepting them as they are, even if we don't understand what that means. "Normal" is handing your ability to think rationally for yourself over to a machine that has no intellect, no passion, no feeling, and doesn't understand the simplest concepts of what it means to be human.

"Normal" is the set of chains we apply to ourselves while telling ourselves we have free will.

Nothing is "normal" anymore. Nothing, really, should be "normal" anymore. What it should be is equitable. What it should be is livable. What it should be is establishing community. What it should be is tolerable. What it should be is harmonious. What it should be is sharing and caring for each other.

They nailed a man to a cross for saying those things roughly two thousand years ago.

They are trying to chain us all up and imprison us for saying them now.

When are we going to stop them?

What are we willing to do to stop them?

That's the question you have to ask. It's not just voting at the ballot box or with your wallet or with your attention. No, it goes beyond that, because we let it. We let the barbarians into our hallowed halls of government and now they are destroying it, the thing that grants us everything. The rights we take for granted. They money in our pockets. The education we receive. The exploration we desire. The health we depend on. The help and support we need to survive in bad times and when we decide we can no longer work. All this is being destroyed. Physically, socially, psychologically, take you pick, but everything you know as "normal" is slowly being undermined and buried. When they are done, it will be gone, and we will have the Devil's own time getting it all back.

If this seems gloomy, if this seems like the seeds of doom, that's because it is. Take it any way you like, but yes, our country is coming apart at the seams, and the vast majority of us either see it and can't bring ourselves to do anything, or don't want to, or are frightened by the prospects of having to do anything about it. It's not 2026, really; it's more like 1775. The Redcoats are here. They are quartering themselves in people's homes without a by-your-leave, they are arresting people on the flimsiest pretense, they are marching through the streets letting people know they are there and making sure that the populace is frightened. And in quiet lanes and back rooms in taverns, and barns in the countryside, people gather and say "Enough!"

So, when are we going to say "Enough!"?

When are we going to accept that everything our nation was founded upon - and yes, there are problems with that founding - is being torn down after 250 years by a selfish, arrogant, stupid, incompetent man and his horde of ingratiating, venal sycophants? When is the outrage over this destruction going to go from the timidity of social media posts, to the full-throated roar of bodies massed in the street every day? When are we going to stand up, en masse, and make it clear, not just that we're upset, but that we want these people gone? When are we going to challenge their power over us, because government derives its power from the consent of the governed, and I, for one, do not consent.

Note, that if we're going to fight back, we do this together. Whatever differences may run through us, they need to be put aside. As the cartoon said in pre-revolutionary America, "Join Or Die." We join as one and reestablish and reconsecrate our rights as citizens, or we are put to the grinding wheel to become grist for the whims of billionaires. Make you choice. Make it soon. There may be little time left.

You Are Here

One aspect of WWII that is often overlooked, is how, before one Allied soldier put a toe on the European continent, men would squeeze themselves into heavy insulated flying suits, clamber into the tight spaces of two- and four-engine bombers, loaded with tons of high explosive, and fly unescorted over enemy-held territory, to drop that ordinance on factories, bridge, railroad yards, ball bearing plants, oil refineries, etc. They would travel at altitudes above 28,000 feet, in cold so bitter, taking off a glove would mean almost instant frostbite. They would do this, knowing full well that the Germans knew they were coming, and would fly through walls of flak bursts and waves of German fighters, being killed wholesale or wounded grievously, to accomplish the mission. Then would return home in those same planes, sometimes badly shot up... then would do it again. And again. And again.

The most interesting part is, most of those men didn't sign up for this. They were drafted, conscripted into a fight that most of them were not gung-ho to sign up for, Pearl Harbor be damned. That had families and homes and jobs, and they were pulled from their comfortable lives, to be shot through the air and into the teeth of cannon fire, to try and cripple the enemy's war machine. Their accomplishments do not have the shine of Patton's drive across France; the Eighth Air Force was not high on anyone's publicity charts, because the losses were so fearsome. Flying high altitude bombing raids over France, Germany, and Italy, and later, Japan, during the war was not glamorous, and these men paid dearly. If not physically, then mentally. They did their jobs. They paid the price. And we were able to remain a free country.

This preamble is by way of saying that, right now, we face a war, and a foe, as menacing and destructive as they faced, but the worst part is they're here, in our country. They have taken over our government, they have begun instituting policies reminiscent of mid-1930s Germany, and the rhetoric they use is straight out of any White Christian Fascist tract you care to name. After sixty years, the Republican Party has what it wants: domination of Federal government and the means to wreck it utterly. The glee that they have tucked into it with is unrepentant and savage.

I would like to believe that there will be ways to derail this freight train of malevolence, but I can't say for certain. The ground for this rampage was well paved beforehand, mainly through the generation of apathy on the hearts of tens of millions of Americans, who couldn't rise from their recliners to vote for honest and decent government and condemned their vulnerable neighbors to pain and suffering at the hands of barbaric louts.

The only way, however, I see for us to send this nightmare train off the tracks is for everyone of good conscience to get involved and get organized. Barring that, I don't know how we mass the force capable of repelling these invaders in the sanctum of our democracy. We're here, now, and this isn't going to change of its own accord. We cannot wait for aid from abroad, we cannot expect help from within, we can only rely on ourselves.

We're going to have slip into our flying suits, now. We're going have to fly into the face of raging winds, bitter cold, and determined opposition, in order to turn back the tide. It is going to take every one of us. And right now, among you, are people, like those men in WWII, not keen to fight the war, but called upon to do it anyway, knowing the chance of survival is small. There's nothing for it. We either stand as one or fall as many. The engines are turning. What will it be?

The Day America Changed

I posted to Spoutible on January 20th, 2025, shortly after noon, that the American experiment was over and that the nation that had stood for over 200 years was no more.

I think a bit of explanation is in order, because I see people going on and acting as if the act of fighting back or resisting can be wholly accomplished through the means we have always had at our disposal. I'm afraid it's not that simple anymore.

By outward appearances, the Federal government is the same. The same buildings, the same logos, the same mission statements. To look at it, at a glance, is to see nothing different. It's the same way with a large oak that has been in your yard for decades, shading you and projecting durability, is still standing day by day, apparently unchanging, until the storm comes, knocks it down, and realize how hollowed out it had become over time, subject to parasites and rot.

Currently, this is how our Federal government is: the appearance of strength, shot through with rot.

A criminal sits in the Oval Office. He is surrounded by other criminals and "Yes!" men who covet the power and money that they could never gather on their own, leeches attached to malevolent coattails. Already, their path is clear: destroy everything that stands as a symbol of our collective society, liquify it, and pour it into their personal coffers, doing so as they use its assembled power to meet out vengeance and injustice upon those who have "wronged" them or refuse to bow before them.

So, you may wish to sit and think that the nation we have lived in our whole lives still exists, but it does not. It has been subverted. It is being carved up. Every dollar you have put toward the maintenance of freedom and liberty will wind up in the pockets of crooks, liars, and thieves with titles and suits.

If this makes you angry, even irrationally, good. Anger is the first step to burning away the complacency that will keep you from taking the steps that need to be taken to wrest control of the nation back from the criminals. It will not be easy. The end result will not look like freedom and democracy, because, in order to get them back, we are going to have to write them off in their current form. We cannot trust that the systems, the departments, and the bureaucratic machinery of our government will be restorable to working order.

We're going to have to say goodbye to the democracy we know. It will be time to build a new one, one that cannot be so easily subverted or manipulated. To do so, it can't look like the current one. We've seen how easily sixty years of slow Republican corruption destroyed it. Our democracy will have to be rebuilt with all threats in mind, slow and quick. It will have to be built so that every voice is heard. It will have to be built from scratch, on the bedrock of the idea that all Americans are created equal from their first breath, and it can be no other way.

So, take your time, but do not tarry. The forces ravaging our country are hard at work. We will have to be prepared to meet them when the moment comes. It will look a lot more like Lexington and Concord than D-Day. We have to be prepared for moments that will pale in comparison to anything we've known since The Civil War. It seems harsh to say it, but it's true nonetheless. America has changed, and now we must also.

The No-Win Scenario

The United States was Admiral James T. Kirk in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," right before the near-fatal encounter with Khan aboard the Reliant. Spock makes the following observation: "There are two possibilities. They are unable to respond. They are unwilling to respond." At that point, he has given Kirk a clear warning: this is accidental or on purpose.

We all learn shortly thereafter which it is.

We are now James T. Kirk after the attack on the Enterprise. the turbolift doors have opened, and there is Chief Engineer Scott, holding the plasma-burned body of his nephew, Midshipman Preston. The shock envelopes the bridge leading to audible gasps and a pained expression on Spock's face.

You might wonder why I would talk of the country in these terms. Not everyone may be familiar with the movie, and while "Star Trek" is a global phenomenon, many people would not think to imbue it with more than entertainment value. But the many series and movies have always been about telling the story of the human species (and other species) from a distant perspective, to highlight the issues we face in the current centuries.

Right now, is our Wrath of Khan moment.

We seem to be dealing with the No-Win Scenario, mentioned as part of reminiscence about Kirk's days in the academy, taking a character test called "The Kobayashi Maru," in which cadets are faced with a situation which has no practical solution. Kirk, deciding the conditions of the test were unwarranted, reprograms the simulation to "win" the no-win scenario. Rather than being expelled, he gets a commendation for "original thinking." Even in the 23rd Century, a white man can fail upward.

Our no-win scenario is this: we cannot trust the Democratic Party to fight for us with all the necessary vigor and fortitude, despite their best of intentions. We cannot get the Republican Party to care about us at all. Given the outcome of the 2024 Presidential Election, it does not appear we have anywhere to turn. All the signs and portents indicate that we have stepped off a cliff, to plunge into a chasm of Fascism, from which we cannot recover. We are enveloped in a miasma of hopelessness that has rocked so many of us progressive stalwarts to the core.

As we know from the movie, Kirk eventually defeats Khan, with guile, trickery, and the use of knowledge and skills Khan, despite his intellect, does not possess. He harnesses everything in his power to bring about a successful conclusion to the adventure... but at a heavy cost, that of the life of his friend and first officer, Mr. Spock.

This is what we face. In order to turn back the tide of White Christian Fascism that threatens to overwhelm and undermine our Constitutional republic, we are going to have to tap the deep veins of knowledge, experience, and original thinking that we possess, to beat our opponents at their own game. They have had the advantage of time, time to plan, time to be outraged, time to plot their vengeance, and we are left with very little. But those of us not subsumed by the darkness of our situation have energy, determination, knowledge, and healthy dose of cunning to use in order to rescue ourselves from the situation. To do this, we're going to have to set aside the preconceptions of what the election represents, and focus on the future, and what steps we will need to take.

We may very well face hard sacrifices, and there will be casualties. No fight against Fascism is ever free of them. We have an opportunity, if we play our cards right, of stopping the march toward autocracy before it gets too far down the road. There are always possibilities. Now we have to find them and exploit them to arrest the slide of democracy into the void.

31 Days

 We are in the final laps of the race. We have focused, we have concentrated, the finish line is in sight. But one small lapse, one mistake, a moment's overconfidence is all it takes to put us into the wall.

I use an auto racing metaphor, because, in essence, that's what this election, above all others, has been. Unlike a horse race, where there is a jockey and a horse and a limited amount anyone else can do during the race, an auto race of most types involves not just the driver and the car, but a pit crew, a strategy team, team principals, and support staff. A lot goes into making a race car go, even when the car is out on the track. There are people monitoring every part of the race, feeding that information to the driver, attempting to put them in the best position to win.

We're thirty-one days out from the most consequential Presidental election... since the last one. And the one before that. The fact is, we've slid into a skid that we are desperately trying to turn into and pull out of. We're trying to maintain control of the race, to bring home a win and seal the trophy for ourselves and our team, America. This race has been tight, it has seen attrition, it has seen wrecks, and it is seeing it's fair share of swapping paint.

I'd love to have political discussions about the future of the country that were not so monopolar, but it really is down to a binary choice right now, of Freedom vs. Fascism. There isn't much more to be said about either major party Presidential candidate. One is clearly deranged, the other clearly determined. One is completely self-centered, the other, completely selfless. One is a convicted criminal, the other convicted criminals. To be honest, talking about policy seems like a detour from the real issue: Who will guard freedom and democracy in America?

I think we all know the answer.

But many don't. Over a hundred million people did not vote in the 2020 Presidential election. The reasons are legion, but at the end of the day, irrelevant, because by not voting, they made their voices heard loud-and-clear: they simply don't care. They've been so beaten down by what they consider "politics," that they have benched themselves, and left the decision making up to others. They chose not to decide, and in doing so, made their choice.

It should come as no surprise that everyone who is a pundit or prognosticator seems bent on proclaiming this race close, but the fact is, not yardstick currently available can measure the true disgust many now have for the convicted criminal running as the Republican nominee. That alone should have caused the vast majority of people to vote every Republican out of office, but their hold remains firm because 100+ million people sit on the sidelines. If even a lousy 3 to 5 percent of them woke up, saw reality, and voted, there would be no doubt who would win on November 5th.

So, now we wait.

We have 31 days to do what little we can, as individuals, and as organizations, to trumpet the cause of freedom and get people to see that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are the future we need and want. The checkered flag is in the distance. We cannot allow our concentration to fail.