Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Just Another Wednesday


This post is set to go off at 3am the day after the election. I have every expectation that it will. I'll be asleep but it will happen anyway. There's always something technical that might gum up the works, but new days in general have a way of showing up on schedule. It's something you can count on.

I don't know what will have transpired last night. It's possible nobody knows for sure, even now. This is normal. It's important to know what you don't know. It's one of the hallmarks of a thoughtful mind. The cocksure are always missing something. The cocksure know everything all along, but it doesn't make them right.

I think most of us voters are driven by fear. It's a powerful motivator. The main difference between the two major American factions is what we fear. The faction I don't tend to vote with is afraid of a lot of things. In my view, most of those things don't exist. They are phantoms produced in the Devil's workshop to divert us from what we really should fear, to harvest our votes for the purpose of further siphoning off our wealth. Thus, the desperate refugee from violence is transformed into a murderous threat. Thus, a righteous movement of patriots marching for justice is transformed into roving bands of thugs. Thus, an attempt to claw back a share of our stolen treasure for the common good is transformed into the Socialist bogeyman, out to pick our pockets. These are the fictions manufactured by the real thieves. The fat cats. The wicked and criminally negligent destroyers of our future.

This faction has been conditioned to be afraid of The Other, and The Other has been defined so broadly it even includes me. A small, mouthy, entirely harmless human, still I am declared an enemy. I have repeatedly been declared an enemy by the president of the United States. I, and a solid majority of my fellow citizens, have been deemed unworthy of protection or even consideration. United we used to stand, but divided we elect Republicans. We're divided. Have we done it again?

I fear that our trust in our civilizing institutions, from the courts to the press, has been so degraded that we will crumble into gang warfare, featuring executions in the street and terrorist acts from all corners, with the heavily armed right-wing players the more dangerous by far.

What I fear more than anything is that we will miss our last chance to pull out of the death-spiral that is our devotion to fossil fuels. We may well have missed it already; we've wasted four precious years on top of another twenty years purchased by the Koch brothers, which they've blown on toys and party favors for their friends. Cheap energy has turned us into stumbling drunks, with decision-making abilities to match.

No matter what kind of world I've woken up to today, my path is clear. I must try hard to live up to my ideals to push my party where it needs to go, and resist the other party with all I can muster, and work for justice always, and do it peacefully. I once thought my political counterparts' brains had been scooped out and replaced by pudding. Of late I realize that pudding has been packed with nails and shards of glass. But I must remember to be kind. Kindness moves more hearts than belligerence. It's not easy. It will take stamina. But if we didn't have stamina, we'd be long gone by now.

I know we can't fight terror with terror. Not if we want to prevail.

29 comments:

  1. I had hoped to wake up this morning and find Biden ahead by a landslide. Instead, it's a slimmer margin than I would like, and he still might lose to that rat bastard. Instead of a landslide, we have a nail-biter. And BECAUSE it's not a landslide, it will end up in court.

    I really despair, Murr. I'm glad that I'm of an age where I don't have all THAT many years ahead of me, because I don't know how much more of this shit I can take. I need a drink, and I haven't even finished my coffee yet.

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    1. Way too slim, and depressing. We really needed to take the Senate. Instead, we get McConnell again.

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  2. I am watching in horror and fear from this side of the world.

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    1. Paul and I were starting to watch The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix last night -- which I had read was scary. Pfffft. Nothing like that can fash me after this year. Nothing. Amateurs.

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  3. I try to live up to your ideals (they are mine, too), but I can't help but be disappointed by the greedy, nasty, selfish, hateful half of the electorate. I think I'll just spend my time trying to stay healthy so I can live to fight another day. It isn't over yet.

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    1. I would add "insane" to that list of descriptors, after reading some of the conspiracy memes they're floating around.

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  4. Thank you for stating all of this so clearly.

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  5. The red folk will be all the more emboldened by their strong showing even if blue wins. There will be more intimidation, more bullying, more gun toting vigilantes. Non-violence worked for MLK but not sure it can work now. Wonder what New Zealand’s immigration policies are?

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    1. Well, you say non-violence worked for MLK, but of course it took him down, and whatever was accomplished took plenty of time. I still maintain that although non-violence often appears to be ineffective, it doesn't mean violence IS effective. Just the opposite, I think.

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  6. You are a shining beacon of hope, slicing through the dark that wishes to prevail.

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  7. Things are going to get better for a lot of people. Biden will install responsible, qualified people of all sides to participate in making this a country we can be proud of again. The despicable orange freak will go.

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    1. I'm very encouraged by the number of fine leaders we have to pick from. Looking forward to that cabinet.

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  8. The democrats have won and now they are going to take away all the wealth the boomers accumulated over their lives with high taxes and cutting SS, and are going to destroy your white suburban neighborhoods with low income housing. Everything you boomers spent your entire lives working for is now going to be destroyed. And you deserve this for selling out your own children's futures. You are feeling hopeless right now? Congratulations, this is how your children have felt for the past 20 years. Your karma is coming, boomers!

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  9. Murr: Terrific insights!
    Anonymous: Analyze more; parrot less.

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  10. Do you suppose we could persuade the rube(y) red states to just secede ? We could promise to let them go! 🤣

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    1. Shoot, we here in Cascadia have been threatening to secede for years!

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    2. Hey! I'm in GA and it's been ruby red almost all of the years I've been here, but we've been working and working, and now it's blue!!! Don't kick red states out too soon.

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  11. So well Written, Bravo! I think Superstein has a very interesting perspective, the swath of Red seceding and the refugees of Sanity could relocate and seek Asylum in the Blue that decided Democracy was far better than Fascism with a Lunatic Dictator. Of coarse, with his Greed... and theirs... since clearly they Believe there's something in it for them to promote this Moron, they'd want ALL of the States... so I'm not sure that would work out satisfactorily either. But, where else could we go? And so... here we are...

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  12. Fear is a very strong emotion. This POTUS has made no attempt to bring us together or to voice any compromise. That would be enough for me, but I amazed that he does not care about anyone but himself and his loyals do not see that.

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    1. He's been pounding in wedges wherever he can all this time. Despicable and very dangerous.

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  13. Murr! Are you okay?? I know that it's disappointing that it's such a narrow margin, but Biden IS ahead, at least. Who knew that approximately 50% of the population was racist-sexist-homophobic? I knew that they were out there... but SO MANY!

    Anyway, at least write to say that you're okay, even if you don't respond individually. I worry as if I were the guy on Lost who had to keep his finger pressed on the button every couple hours, or else BOOM.

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    1. Oh! You mean because I haven't replied to comments! You're sweet. I think I've been taking a holiday from thinking about everything for a few days.

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  14. "...greedy, nasty, selfish, hateful half of the electorate "- hey folks, the name calling is all too famiiar and that attitude isn't going to help the cause. But if that's the approach going in to this, then I guess the true colors are revealed. I hope love, peace, and improvement aren't just BS.
    Kim, a concerned Independent

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