Patriarchy Strikes Back
I’ve been away from my blog for a while. Somewhat on purpose. I realized during the election cycle that I might embody road rage through the written word. I didn’t want to be another space that complained, yelled, and stomped my feet. I self censored, but spoke to people when asked my thoughts. Self government is fickle and to borrow a phrase, “you have to want it.” I want to be able to respect and see the better nature of my neighbor. Here on Nov 9, and going forward, that will be a bit harder. Our Nation voted on the social contract yesterday and it appears that the great sage Yoda was right: Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. And hate leads to suffering. Is that winning?
The GOP didn’t govern alongside the first black man to be elected President. They nullified his election and the spirit of America with their rhetoric and actions at the Federal and State level. The red/blue map of the election notes the growing confederacy. In the end a white, northeastern male who was born into wealth, identified people to blame and a majority of the country bought it. What a great simple con. Now what? The Brits have asked themselves the same question since the Brexit vote.
We still don’t know who the President Elect owes, how charitable he is, or what his governing philosophy will be. We know his ability to insult and belittle. We know he is impressed with his own brand and that he will do whatever is necessary for the brand to grow it’s bottom line and enrich himself. We know he thinks women are objects. We know he thinks he is the only person that can fix a democracy that needs more than a tune up. We know he is an overt and unapologetic liar. The GOP own all branches of government for the next few years and the Christian taliban feel energized to crusade. I wonder how quickly all those infrastructure investments will begin that could not be afforded while a non-white face was President? I wonder how far back in time our Nation will turn before equity, justice, and the ideals of America shame those that voted for Donald Trump and Mike Pence.
I consider myself a global citizen and wept for the nation of my birth last night and this morning. No more tears. I’ll be more politically active in the second half of my life. I’ll be reading, Go Set a Watchman, this month. From the reviews I’ve read it will be enlightening fiction that describes and give background to the election of President Trump.