I love my country, and there are still good people in it - but when I look beyond our little home and neighborhood, what I see is a nightmare version of America, a Bizarro world turned upside down, inside out. Not the country I grew up in.
Instead of a republic, we live now in a corrupt and corrupting dictatorship centered on the worship of a conceited egomaniac without a conscience, supported and sustained by supine legislators and venal judges. He is the complete antithesis of everything an American president should be, a monumental disgrace to the office held by Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, the Roosevelts, and so many other honest, honorable, decent men.
The dictatorship is not yet total, but his lickspittle lackeys, verminous henchmen, and deluded supporters are straining every nerve to make it so. If they succeed, we shall have, not the blessings of liberty, but the scourging of a theocratic and plutocratic autocracy. Which is just what the Founding Fathers feared and tried to prevent.
The truth is, both the right and the left have gone far wrong, and no matter how the politics turn out, the old order of thing in this country and abroad has been shattered to pieces and will never return. The clock never runs backward.
This old man has outlived his time. Things may get better eventually, or they may get worse - either way, there's nothing I can do to affect the course of events. With the infirmities of advancing age, it's all we can do here just to keep ourselves and our little home in working order.
I could say many other things about politics and society, history and morality, but that's all I can manage for now - except a prayer: God bless America and God help us all.
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I don't feel like singing today, but here is the late, great Kate Smith with the song she made famous when my dad was in England serving with the U. S. Air Force, and my mom was working in a defense plant here in Texas, turning out artillery shells:
Bonus, 5 p.m.: Former President Bill Clinton has issued an encouraging statement on America 250 and the state of the country. Excerpt:
Our Founders were wise when they gave us our mission to form a more perfect union. They knew America would never be perfect but could always be better. That’s what they meant by “more perfect.” We’ve done that by being courageous enough to acknowledge our flaws and missteps—and then bold enough to leave them behind for brighter tomorrows.
That’s the lesson of our first 250 years: we can always do better. In how we treat one another, in person and online; in building a better future for ourselves, our families, and our communities; and in standing up, showing up, and speaking out for our democracy.
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2 comments:
You know I share a like mind about all you said there...but I'm so done with blogging my thoughts or re-posting stuff from the webs. There is not much I can blog about life these days: aches, pains, the heat, the endless junipers, the garden, what we had for dinner. I've done it all before. Leon is retired and being 14 years my junior, wants to enjoy some travels and seeing places and doing things. I will try to keep up, but at this point getting myself together in the morning is an accomplishment. Best to you and M.P.
Whew! When you put it like that, I feel tired too. Yes, we've blogged and reblogged about all those things many times over the years, and I guess I don't have much of anything new to say.. And I'm past the point of ranting about politics and general stupidity in this misguided world. Just whistling in the wind.
But I can't quite let go of the Blue Truck, not yet. It gives me something to do. And I enjoy the act of writing, even if it serves no particular purpose. I hope a few of the things I post or write may have some good effect somewhere, sometime - ripples in a pond.
And I see from my dashboard that a certain predictable number of folks still read or at least click on the Blue Truck every week. Probably other old gay geezers like us. Haha. Each post gets about 20-25 views in the first week, about double that in the second week, and up to 60 or 70 in the weeks following.
So I'm soldiering on, for whatever small good it may do. All good wishes to you and Leon.
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