Let’s Talk, Dysfunction

I know most of us don’t know what to say anymore. I surely don’t have the words, well that isn’t entirely true; I have the words they just aren’t used in polite society. We have two parties, one presumably taking the high road, the other rapidly taking the road to hell. Both are frankly leading this nation into a pit of despair, one without true direction or the ability to dig us out of this quagmire we find ourselves in today.

On June 16, 2015, the man who would be king rode down the escalator with his bombastic rhetoric about how he would save America from itself. The ignorant, the fearful, the fools afraid they were losing their place at the table bought his promise to return them to the top. With each rally, each gift of another interview with Fox, he pushed further outside of everything normal; every value we once thought of as America and the underbelly was exposed for who they were. The America that had hidden their bigotry, fear, and ignorance were ripped open and given permission to be themselves after decades of living in closets and shadows. They marched on the streets of our cities and violently attacked their enemies; anyone who did not look like them, love like them, or challenged their narrow view of what the world should look like were targets of their vitriol and violence.

On January 20, 2017, much to the dismay and shock of so many of us, that same ugly, ill-equipped, and unprepared charlatan was sworn in as the forty-fifth president of the United States of America. In his Inauguration speech, he painted a picture of this nation that was nowhere near the truth, but his loyal followers faithfully latched on and repeated it. American Carnage was the start of what would become America’s downfall.

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

His disregard for America ended up costing millions of lives, yet still, they sing his praises.

Then we came to that critical day that divided us even further as if we could be further divided: January 6, 2021. The President of the United States of America proved beyond a shadow of a doubt he was not fit to hold any public office. This man who for four years had destroyed our international relationships, killed millions of Americans, robbed the public coffers, and treated the office as an extension of Trump Enterprise, LLC. What happened? After months of stoking the fire with his lies about stolen elections, his attacks on private citizens and public officials. He invited the worst of his followers to Washington, D.C., for a ‘protest party,’ in real terms, an insurrection to overturn the election of a New President because he lost.

He LOST.

During his months of whining, pissing, and moaning about how the election was stolen his acolytes stuck to him like glue. Fearful of his rage, they encouraged his lies; they told more outrageous lies of their own. Some of them even planned their own nefarious means to help him steal the presidency. They planned their anointing of the would be dictator; against their oaths of office, against their fealty to the Constitution; these eight (8) Senators and (139) Congressmen and women voted against certifying the election, among them Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan, Steve Scalise; all of them traitors to the United States, all of them within a hairs breath of the presidency if only through the Speakers gavel.

So, with that tiny bit of history, let’s focus on today. The fallout of Donald J. Trump’s Presidency and how it has shaped America and the Biden Presidency. During the first eighteen months of his term, the Senate and House were controlled by the Democrats. However, in both cases, there were slim majorities in the Senate and outliers like Joe Mansion and Kyrsten Sinema, who constantly threw in their two cents of hackery and nonsense like fire bombs. Then came 2022; what a year that was in the history of elections. We saw more fools, charlatans, and outright frauds running for office than I think we ever had before. The Democrats maintained control of the Senate, with Trump’s hand-picked candidates losing everywhere they ran. The House went to the GOP, but by such a narrow margin, they couldn’t afford to expel George Santos, a Jr member under indictment with 24 separate federal crimes.

I remember when Republicans told Richard Nixon it was time to leave office for far less.

Now we come back, full circle to the chicanery and pure, undiluted fuckery of that which is the cult of MAGA and Donald J. Trump. The ruin of American Democracy, the burn-it-down party and their nihilism. Led by a handful of MAGA Senators and Congresspersons, we no longer have a working government. They don’t want to legislate; they want to parade in front of the camera, grin and create soundbites for Likes and Dollars. They put our nation at risk with their tricks, and worse, they’re playing up to their twice impeached, four-time indicted, facing ninety-one criminal charges, not to mention the civil cases he has already lost. With all this, their feckless leader pushes them to make the government his defense shield.

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Dear God, XI

Dear God, have you noticed it getting worse down here? Your name is being used not just in vain but to create a new religious order based on hate, fear, bigotry, and exclusion. I don’t know about you, God, but I have read the bastardized version of your roadmap a few times, and I am confident this was not the message you sacrificed your son for.

Dear God, have you been getting your rest lately? You must be taking a break, maybe gearing up for the big one. That is the only conclusion I can draw from all the terrible and terrifying going on down here. We are more divided and less trusting of each other today than we were even fifty years ago. We have failed to move closer to the dream, and there are those among us who are committed to a return to the nightmare. God, this dedication is in your name, from pulpits and State Houses, in your name. Haven’t you rested enough?

Dear God, I recognize you have been taking a hands-off approach for several thousand years, letting humanity do what they will, how they will and seeing where they will go with it. But have you been at least taking a peak down here? Do you see where this is going? The Morning Star is winning, and I mean winning big time. The pack is rising, ugly, and mean down here. It might be time to pay attention before it all blows sky-high, maybe even taking a piece of heaven with it.

Dear God, I know plenty of folks down here thinking the Apocalypse is near. God, fools are standing on the side of the road holding up signs and waiting to be Raptured as if they are holier than holy and have lived sinless lives. Some of them need to be scrubbed up and prayed up for days, if not months, before they are worthy of even stepping feet across the threshold of your house, never mind being lifted up on judgment day. But there I go, being all judgey; some days, I can’t help myself and you and I both know I am far from sinless myself. But God, at least I know I have spots on my soul, and at least I know I may not be a first-round draft pick. I am honestly good with all that.

Dear God, I remember when I thought it was getting better. Oh, I know there were always those fools who would stay in their pockets of ignorance and hate, but I honestly thought we were getting better. There was a time when I was younger and far more idealistic when I thought we were ripping away the centuries of hate, bias, prejudice and becoming better than we had been. I guess I was just young. I saw what I wanted to see and believed what I wanted to believe about humanity. Worse, I saw what I wanted, even about people I thought I knew well.

Dear God, bombs are dropping, children are dying, and there is a rise in authoritarian governments who claim your name as their purpose, not just in this nation but across the world. In this nation, we have a rise in the illiterate, a disdain for science, for facts, even for books, and the truth of history. A distortion of your Word is entering our classrooms and public spaces at an alarming rate. Hate seems to be the new coin of the realm, and people are storing it in their souls as if it will save them. The marginalized, disenfranchised, those outside of what has been deemed normal, or maybe better stated ‘White, Christian, Heterosexual,” are all being attacked with a ferocity not seen in decades.

Dear God, are you there, are you listening? I am not asking for myself; there is plenty I might ask for myself, but I don’t want to bother you with the petty stuff. But God, this world could use just a bit of attention right now, just a poke or a prod to get these people using your name to suck the life out of the easily misled, the foolish and the furious who believe their lives can only be better at the expense of other peoples misery. Maybe you could strike a few pulpits with lightning? Flood a few rallies during their speeches? God, I would even take skywriting, just big letters in the sky:

“THAT IS NOT WHAT I SAID YOU DUMB FUCKS!” 

Dear God, I know it might feel like too much for you to take on all at once, after all, you have been watching this unfold for a very long time. I get it, I do. I am exhausted after only sixty-six years. But really, this is your job; you signed on for it. So, could you kindly take it a bit more seriously? People are being hurt and dying for no reason other than the color of their skin, the person they love, or how they express their gender. God, I know you don’t make mistakes, so maybe you could just remind others of this one small thing: stop these fools in pulpits from cherry-picking your Word to serve their personal bigotry. Stop those in power from serving up their love of power with a side dish of hate. Just this, God, would go a long way toward bringing back those who have turned away from you.