Politics

Politics Aside, We Are Supposed to be a People…

To file under the auspices of “I think we’re living in a science fiction parallel universe…”

Or, more accurately, “Please God, let us be living in a parallel science fiction universe…”

Yeah, I know it’s horribly arrogant. But I’m going to say it anyway: The United States is supposed to be a beacon of hope to the world. The Founding Fathers tried to establish a government that would “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence [sic], promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”

Secure the Blessings of Liberty…

First, please be aware: I do not accept the idea that there is a Right and a Left in American politics. I perceive these as fictions designed with one simple (and unfortunately effective) idea in mind: to control the population, to pit one “side” against the other, the convince people on one “side” to ignore their own best interests under the auspices of supporting their party.

Second, I ain’t the brightest person Sol III’s produced. I admit that readily. The trouble is, of all of my attributes, my intellect lets me down the fewest number of times, and it’s whispering some dark things in my ear…

I get that the political elite have utterly (and I fear, irrevocably) ignored the needs of vast swaths of the population. Global trade deals, while necessary for the country’s long-term health, were implemented in such a way that too many citizens lost their jobs. One would have been too many, but these losses crushed the middle class — the segment of the population on whose backs the country rested.

Much like the military rests on the backs of the senior non-commissioned officers.

The political elites — the military officers in this analogy — abdicated their responsibilities. Instead of building programs to retrain those who wanted to be retrained, or to incentive industries in the same areas where the jobs bled away, the political elites made deals that ensured their personal futures and fortunes.

And the middle class workers watched their livelihoods wither.

To support this rift, to obscure their real goals and to maintain their power base, the political elites pushed more and more heavily the false “right vs left” paradigm. They also manufactured artificial enemies, whether they be minorities, those who have non-traditional (whatever that means) sexual views, or whether they hold a faith different from those in power, because what artificial power base can exist without a presumed enemy?

I mean, the very last thing the political elites want is for citizens to awaken to the simple idea that they were all suffering, and that many of their collective woes could be addressed by a common set of programs and themes.

I also get that those who were neglected and relegated to the fringes would latch onto anyone who seemed like they would speak for them. The hero motif is strong in human civilization, isn’t it?

But…

Pink Floyd’s The Wall was not supposed to be a How To!

I watch The Wall’s scene for “In the Flesh” and I see the coming inauguration…

Watch this and be honest. How many of the “enemies” that Bob Geldof’s character call out are the same ones that the current President Elect, and his supporting apparatus, call out as enemies? As those whose rights must the stomped into the dirt?

And these same people who are called out are United States citizens!

I watch “Run Like Hell” and I see the first 100 days…

I mean, we’re already seeing an upsurge in incidents of cruelty. I’m not talking about sins against “political correctness,” a concept that I reject as nonsensical. I’m talking about humans being cruel to other humans. No spin, no euphemisms, just a stark, honest recognition that those who now see themselves as in power are ramping up their verbal and physical attacks on humans who are not now in power.

White supremacists supporting the President elect

How is that an America ideal?

Thousands of Americans died in the mid 1800s in an attempt to kill the idea that one color of skin was superior to another.

What’s it going to take to grant Liberty to all Americans?

What’s it going to take for those of us who the political elites ignore to come together, ignoring the political parties who have clearly failed us, and demand that the government do the work “of the people, by the people, for the people?

As a science fiction writer and student of history, I can see that the times we live in are of academic interest. I can compare what I’m seeing how to 1984 and reflect how that, too, was not supposed to be a “how to” manual. I can reflect on how my next novel was going to tackle many of these themes, but now I’m wondering if history’s caught up with me. Maybe I’m writing a news article instead of a science fiction novel?

But as a human, as someone who struggles to understand the plight of other humans and who tries, however much in vain, to alleviate the pain our society inflicts on others…

This is a terribly dark time to be alive.