As an elderly American, I have never felt so fearful for our nation’s future – so angry about the barrage of attacks on the rights and guarantees of citizenship we’ve enjoyed all our lives – so alarmed about whether our Republic, as we know it, will survive the constant onslaught of lies and determined ignorance being heaped upon it.
We are living in times none of us have faced before. The continual drumbeat of lies and distortions about nearly everything dealing with our system of governance has taken a toll on our way of life such as we’ve never known.
There are millions of Americans who believe their ignorance of “facts” is as good as your knowledge of the same facts. Their determination to distort reality is literally dominating the lives of millions of people. Our foundations of freedom and quality of life are facing an onslaught not seen since the Civil War.
Pick a subject – any subject – and you’ll find we’re split nearly evenly down the middle. Elections end with no clear direction. No definitive roadmap for the future. Our two principal political parties seem ineffective.
The continued attacks on our system of elections by voices determined to guarantee they win, regardless of the expressed will of the majority, are weakening that basic freedom we’ve known for some 260 years.
Our President lies to us on a nearly daily basis. Lies. Makes up his own “truths” as he goes along. In Congress, we have multiple caucuses splintering the body politic. And, splintering truth at times. Even members of the President’s Cabinet feed us fallacies. Truth – real truth based on real facts – is sometimes hard to find.
One of the current “whoppers” is that Trump is going to somehow take control of Greenland. Buy it. Trade for it. Steal it. No one knows what “powers” he feels he can use to control events. But, it’s a subject – a lie – he proffers regularly.
Another is his repeated claim he’ll run for the Presidency again when his current term ends in 45 months despite the Constitution’s clause limiting occupancy of that office to two terms.
The latest distortions of truth are the – on-again – off-again tariffs he’s wielding like favors to various countries. He got up really close to implementing them this week. But – he backed off. Said he’d give it a respite of “90 days.” Except for China.
Now, Marco Rubio seems like a guy who’s got his act together. But, as Secretary of State, he’s got to be going bonkers with all the tariff talk. Which nation is “in.” Which nation is “out.” Who’s paying and who isn’t. Marco needs a score keeper.
A national political administration with so many lies in its activities is bound to fail eventually. But, a lot of damage can occur before that ultimate end. In this case, Trump’s got nearly another four years.
I think many of us have clung to the hope that some sort of “White Knight” would suddenly appear to set things straight. Not gonna happen. We’re stuck with the lies and distortions.
We’ll survive. But, there’s gonna be an awful lot of pain in the process. The question of the day is – “what or who is next?”
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