Eden, still

So, let me get this straight – the President of the United States believes that he can “take over” municipalities in the United States. Claiming that crime is out of control in many cities, namely those led by Democratic mayors, he intends to save the day by sending in Federal troops. He sent Marines and National Guard to Los Angeles. He’s now sent the National Guard to Washington D.C., and you’ve got to wonder how those who have been unexpectedly deployed are feeling about that. He is threatening to send a military response to Chicago next and possibly Baltimore, although no one has requested his assistance. He says those cities are “a mess” and he must restore order.

Ummmm, despite his spurious claims that data showing that crime statistics from Washington D.C., Chicago, and Baltimore are manipulated or erroneous, he’s doing nothing more than playing to his own fantasies. There is no room for dissent, his word is the only one that matters. We’re not heading into authoritarianism, we’re already living in it.

As an aside, I am waiting to see how the National Guard fares in New Orleans. Their vehicles will probably wind up on blocks with the tires removed after 24 hours there. NOLA is uncommonly irreverent and not impressed by shows of force. The last time the National Guard was there, they were inspecting ruined houses after Hurricane Katrina and counting bodies. This time, it’s slightly less serious and far less organized, so they may well wind up “patrolling” Bourbohn Street.

Be that as it may, I’m more than a little confused by why this trend cannot be slowed, if not stopped entirely. Truthfully, I don’t believe these are moves engineered by the man who sits in the Oval Office. I believe these decisions are being made by a consensus of several people in the administration, e.g. Stephen Miller. The POTUS is simply the overly enthusiastic mouthpiece of these unpopular trends. Regardless, this is apparently the state of the union at this point, and unless the other branches of government, namely the legislative and judicial, sop enabling him, this is going to get much worse. But still, is not any hope of bringing this assault on democracy to a halt?

This is what happens when narcissism is used to leverage numeric minority power grabs. This is what happens when the forces of the dark side get a running start on furthering their agenda. More than one friend of mine is eyeing Canada as a port in this storm, but I am wondering when Canada might close its doors to U.S. immigrants. It’s not that current policy is making us any friend of other usually friendly nations – Greenland is a bit hot under the collar at this point, as is Scotland and most of the rest of the European Union. Most of Africa is watching and waiting to see how this all turns out.

This is a moving coup d’etat? They are taking authoritarianism on a less than scenic tour of the United States. Things look rather bleak for the future of democracy as we have known it, and maybe that’s not totally a bad thing. The democracy we spoke of has been eroding for quite a while now, and now the erosion is in full view. The damage continues, and no amount of reinforcement or shoring up of the skeletal remains is going to stop that. Perhaps we should devote our remaining energy toward a celebration of life for that late, great democratic idealism and give it a good burial. So then what?

I might argue that, at this point, it’s time to build. Not re-build but construct a new entity from the ground up. It’s time to figure out what the hell we want in a country that we can be proud of, that will allow us all to thrive, that honors our journey here but allows the story to continue. It’s time to figure out who the hell we really are, not the static picture of the Mayflower landing all those years ago. We’re something more than that now, whether any one of us likes it or not. We’re not as white or homogeneous as we used to be, not as compliant as we used to be, not as competent as we used to be, and definitely not as clear on the point of any of this.

If we choose to end the story here and return to a previous point in the story – which is actually impossible – it’s our choice. I don’t believe it’s the best choice, or a choice that will yield success. We can’t be successful at pretending to move backward and act as if we are living in some other time. We’ll continue to be at each others’ throats by trying to do that, because moving back in time is actually impossible. The best we can hope for is cloaking the present in the garb of the past, but scratch the surface and reality will come roaring through. Maybe that’s the solution, then – remain superficial, never let them see you sweat, walk hard and carry an enormous stick. I don’t believe that will be a successful endeavor, seeing as how it has consistently failed in the past, but we’re allowed to try, regardless of the death toll.

I can only imagine the Divine sitting at the kitchen table, drinking a cup of their favorite beverage and turning the pages of some cosmic chronicle while checking the time and chuckling at our stubbornness. Like the small children that we are in a Universal sense, we’re having a tantrum. As a species, we have thrown ourselves on the floor of the Garden of Eden, screaming in frustration, because nobody told us that eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge would bring us…here. To this moment, to this knot in the fabric of Time, only to find that our reward is more choices. The Divine smiles indulgently, drains the last drops of a calming brew from their cup, and stands. “Shall we continue?”, they ask. “No rush on the decision, but let me know. Until then, don’t burn down the house, and remember to clean up after yourselves because this is still the Garden of Eden, a.k.a. Paradise, with everything you need to get by.”