Facing the Endgame
https://9gag.com/gag/av7j0OX/thanos-trump
Coming this spring, a massive blockbuster that could very well break all kinds of records! The media coverage is continuous! Any new snippets released are followed by guesses of what they really mean and how everything will all play out. A huge cast of characters with interweaving storylines are facing existential challenges without many details of what will transpire or who will survive. The suspense is killing us!
I’m not talking about the upcoming release of Avengers: Endgame but something a bit more real in many ways and equally a bit more surreal than an intergalactic hegemon imbued with the power to snuff out the lives of a huge swath of the population with a mere snap of his fingers. I’m, of course, referring to the ongoing saga of the Trump Administration and its tragicomedy of errors that are having a cascading deleterious effect on the very fabric of our society and our world.
Every day we are cudgeled with the latest inanity, faux pas, screw up, cruelty, vile act, etc. from an administration that clearly demonstrates that it has no business in the business of running a country. Let’s list (non-exhaustively) the current and ongoing Trumpian blunders—the threat of “doing a national emergency” (yes, Mr. Trump actually said this) to build an ineffectual barrier, the ongoing record government shutdown using federal employees and contractors as leverage, the overtly racist obsession with the southern border with the factually-deficient claims of terrorists, drugs and rapists, the hollowing out of the public education system, the inexcusable indifference to those in poverty, the pernicious denial of the threat of climate change and the unconscionable rolling back of environmental protections, a full frontal assault on the freedom of the press, and so, so many more. All led by a terrestrial hegemonic wanna-be who believes he is beloved and doing a fantastic job.
And likewise, the political opposition to the confederacy of dunces attempting to lead continues to squander nearly every opportunity to put a stake in the heart of the vampirical neoliberalism that has been draining the life’s blood from the people of the United States for the past forty years or so. Instead of addressing the burgeoning wealth and income inequality, usurious educational loan racket, corrosive corporate money furthering the decay of our democratic ideals, skyrocketing healthcare and pharmaceutical costs and so much more, the Democratic leadership deigns to climb into the swamp with Mr. Trump and play by his rules. If the will was there, this could be a time of tectonic shifts in the political landscape. Instead, the Democratic leadership is playing its role very well and not upsetting the status quo by attempting to stifle the loud voices of the few Congresspeople attempting to shout from the vaunted Capitol Dome about the injustices inherent in the system.
And who is paying the price for this Political War to End All Wars? Why, the people, of course. The canon fodder. As both the members of the Party of Trump and the Democrats lob their rhetorical bombs from the trenches and fire their staccato rebuttals from their ensconced positions, the common people are caught in no-person’s land, being mowed down by ideological shrapnel or picked off by high-powered policy rounds. In this land with little cover, the human cost of this attritive assault is very much real. And somehow, even though we are all trapped in the meat-grinder, amassing grievous casualties, we turn on each other and tear out each other’s throats.
Why? What are we fighting for? Against? Who is giving us our marching orders? The absurdity of this civil war, and make no mistake, we are involved in a civil war, grows daily. The powers that be continue to stir us up and set us against one another, keeping us occupied as the rules are changed or rewritten in their hope of remaining perpetually in charge and stripping us of our collective agency. It is drilled into us to accuse our neighbors of being un-American if they don’t agree with us. The corporate media plays perpetual identity politics porn 24/7, keeping us hyper-offended and ready to lash out. We are continually reminded to blame the convenient other for the woes of the age while worshiping those who set themselves up as our betters. Haven’t we had about enough of this?
Most of us have more in common with one another than differences. Most of us want to live healthy, productive lives with enough to get by and perhaps a little bit more. We want a safe, warm and dry place to live with enough food to eat. We want our kids to be able to grow up not facing the specter of hunger and ignorance and lack of opportunities. We want to be able to spend our later years in repose and not fear that we won’t be able to afford the medications necessary to our survival. Am I wrong in this?
What has happened to us that the pursuit of these basics has become so politicized that we cheer on leaders who actively work to deny these to certain people while amassing as much as they can for themselves and fortify the means to hold it fast forever? When did we become so inured with this myth of competition and striving for more for the sake of having more that we have virtually lost our sense of community? I understand history and sociology and that person striving against person is a theme throughout, but when it reaches the point of utter destructive madness as evidenced in our newsfeeds every minute, it is time that we start to think about reassessing our collective vision. Perhaps it is time for a systemic deconstruction followed by a fair reconstruction, a hard reset. Maybe the rules do need to be rewritten, this time with an emphasis on building an equitable society where the needs of the many are the focus and not an afterthought.
In order to do this, though, we need to recognize the deficiencies in our current structures and not be afraid to point them out. We need to shed the political reticence that has been bludgeoned into us and eschew the fallacy that we need not concern ourselves as common citizens with the grown up government talk that we just couldn’t possibly understand. For too long this has been the case. We have nearly abdicated in total our civic responsibility to those we see as our elected betters. Who elects them? For whom should they be working? To whom should they answer? For whose benefit should they be striving?
Indeed, we are nearing an endgame scenario. We are faced with a growing authoritarianism where the whims of an unfit chief executive dictate the direction of our country instead of the collective will of the people. We are balanced upon the edge of a precipice. If we surrender to this massive overreach of executive power for which Mr. Trump is striving, what will keep him from further demands? What will constitute the next national emergency in his mind? Presently he is demanding a wall be built at a huge cost monetarily as well as reputationally. Next time what will it be? Suspending the First Amendment freedoms of the press and to protest and to speak out? Stripping us of our right to question his policies and vision so as not to bruise his gargantuan ego? Or suspending the next presidential election due to meddling by foreign powers? What will be the line that is finally crossed where the will of the people will be sufficiently roused to demand that things go no further? At that point, will the will of the people be enough or will it be too late and, with the proverbial snap of his tiny fingers, could Mr. Trump achieve his authoritarian dream?
