“This is a fine mess you’ve gotten us into”, said Oliver Hardy to Stan Laurel of the early 20th century comedy duo. That is what everybody is saying. Both sides of the aisle believe to their shoe soles that they are the ones who are trying to “save America”. The right is particularly fond of using the phrases “we the people” and “the American people”, as if they are speaking for all of us, myself included. Nope, they aren’t speaking for me. And they are speaking with a clear bias: The only “we the people” they want to succeed is the ones who share their views. The rest of us? Tough. Move if you don’t like it.
The America I grew up with in the sixties and seventies is almost unrecognizable now. When I was a boy, I used to look at the American flag flying outside, through a high window in the school cafeteria. I was so sure that my country was the best in the world. And it was, then. But now, we have media personalities such as Tucker Carlson who don’t give a damn about American democracy, and are working to eliminate it. As well as congressmembers ostensibly serving America, who in fact are domestic enemies and terrorist supporters. In the day, they would have been jailed by now. But no. Donald Trump is still a free man, after all he has done. Ditto his loyal aide Rudolph Giuliani. The January 6 committee is picking up speed, as well as the DOJ investigation, so we will see what happens. I admit that I was skeptical, and said bad things about AG Merrick Garland. But I have since adjusted my opinion on Main Justice and AG Garland. They have to follow the law. And you know that these right-wingers who are accused of a crime, they will have some competent attorneys. Just because something is obvious doesn’t mean that it will stand up in a court of law. So we’ll see. It will be an interesting time, starting with the January 6 committee hearings beginning on June 9, all the way through until the end of the year.
I might have said this before, but I used to think that the Germans of the WWII era were a different kind of people than Americans. No. Human nature is not defined by nationality, race, religion, sex, sexual preference, physical or mental challenge. It is truly an equal opportunity cesspool. We have people who are not in the lowest common denominator, but not enough of them. It usually takes an effort to attain a degree of morality. Americans are lazy, by and large. We
want instant gratification. We might just get some gratification that we did not wish for.