This week, I have decided not to write a complete essay, nor dredge up anything from my old newspaper columns. I feel I have been a little too serious of late, and I am pretty sure I'm not saying anything that most of my readers don't know already.
Writing about America and her big birthday brings up a bunch of unhappy feelings I have about where we seem to be heading, creating an undue sense of unease about our fellow Americans who decided to follow an authoritarian cast of characters and the rampant religious funding that has gone to back much of the current versions of legislation. I’m not easy in my mind about it, but I still think that there is much of worth to celebrate, and if we celebrate the good things, it will cause us to remember that they’re the more important, in fact, vital part of our republic.
It can feel pretty hopeless. I have, I admit, over the last decade, had some real moments where I felt that the ship was going down. If, like Spock in Wrath of Khan, I asked, “Ship out of danger?” I wouldn’t get good news. However, despite how rough things have been and are, I will say that I believe we are not done yet. We have traveled down a very dangerous road and undone many essential things in the process, but I believe that America is not wholly lost. In our national core, there is a strict lack of tolerance for bullshit. It may take a while to present as such, but when it finally does, most of us do not care to keep going with it or those who produce it.
It's just one of many characteristics of our nation that I hope will hold us to a higher standard in the future. 250 years isn't a very long time for a country, but it is long enough to learn some very important lessons. The last decade will have to go down in history as a warning, as some decades in the previous century did. I just hope that this time, we remember those lessons and don’t make them again. It will have to be checked and verified by future generations.
One evening, while Micki and I were flipping through streaming services looking for something to watch, I came across old episodes of Saturday Night Live, from somewhere in the middle of the first season. Kris Kristofferson was the guest host. It was made in 1976. America was still reeling from Nixon’s criminal activity and resignation. There was a lot of political commentary about Ford’s fitness to serve (lots of comic hilarity around how klutzy he was), and much of it seemed relevant to today, though it was 50 years ago. The names have changed, but not much else has. It is amazing how much things change and how much they stay the same. Jokes about Spiro Agnew could have been jokes about our current VP. Jokes about corruption, misuse of power all fit now as well as they did then. It was a timely reminder that we’ve had a lot of the same issues going on for a long time now.
Some of us feel like the last decade has been unlike any other time in our history. I have felt like that, too. Things that used to seem like they were unthinkable happen all the time. In point of fact, America has been battling the same demons for much of its existence. If America were a superhero, her arch nemeses would be the same gallery of rogues: greed, lust for power, dogma, xenophobia, miseducation, corruption, and rampant classist tactics to keep the poor, people of color, immigrants, the asylum-seeker, and anyone who doesn't look, worship, or have access to massive wealth, down. Maybe it is more amplified these days. Maybe the ones committing the crimes against the nation are more brazen. This is certainly why things have felt so helpless to me.
Even so, I don’t think it is the end. We can turn the ship of state around. It will take courage, dedication, a steadfast faith in our founding documents, and an adherence to the idea that the only ones who can change our nation for good are the people who live, vote, fight for, and believe in her. It seems we’re beginning to remember this. More and more, I see people caving, backing down, making concessions rather than doubling down. It will take more time, but I think it is happening.
In the meantime, I will keep hoping. And it helps that I'm proud to be from here. I'm far from a nationalist, but I do care deeply about this, our nation, built entirely on enlightenment ideals. It's not a perfect system—we have learned that there are scoundrels who do not care and will take down the essential (to us) establishments for their own gain. We will have to rebuild and we can. We can secure the best parts of America and make it a place where the ultra-minority of wealthy and hateful people have to pay their fair share, too, even for legislation that doesn't directly enrich them or kowtow to their confessions.
We are a nation built upon a very clear idea: when something isn't working, change it. Make it better. There will always be those on the wrong side of history, but we must press on despite them. We can only proceed in unity. Screaming diatribes online or in person won't solve anything. We have to forget our political affiliation with party and denomination. It is time to reach across the aisle and work hand in hand.
I truly believe we can do this. Soon, we will wake up and the era of authoritarians will be gone. They will be done and gone. And in that dawning, it will become very unpopular to be seen as having supported the movement. Some will get their just comeuppance, and they will have their day with the law. Some may not. That’s okay. The movement toward liberty and justice is not about vengeance. It is about growth. It has to be. We will never go back to a time before. We have to move on, grow past this era.
Yes, it will help if we can outgrow our childish addiction to iron-age myths, and our fear of ‘the other’. I hope we can find a way to spread the wealth around for the benefit of all. Scandinavian countries have both billionaires and free healthcare. It can be done and I think if it could be done better, then America is the land where it can happen.
Back just after 9/11, there were a lot of signs and stickers going around that said “United We Stand”. It is a worthy sentiment. My political bent has not always been in the direction of unity. For a while, I too, was determined to show others just how wrong they were and keep clear of them because of it. Now, though, it is time to move together. We just have to change our movement and ask which policies, candidates, legislation move us toward unity? That movement could be my party. Let’s come together, as the Beatles said. Let’s show the 1% minority that we will no longer worship them just because they have money. Let’s start reaching out to our fellow humans and loving them, as we were meant to do, no matter how they look, who they love, or how they worship. That is, to me, the genetic inheritance of men like Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, and Paine. They are worthy to be emulated, and it will make us worthy of their great experiment.
In the meantime...
I hope we all have a safe and happy Independence Day. We have a gift of such rare beauty and promise in America. I hope we stop wasting it to make scumbags wealthy and start helping one another.
Be safe, use skeeter and tick repellent, put on sunscreen, cover your ears, and go easy on the drinks and potato salad.
See you next week.
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