Republican America

“Stop being Democratic or Republican. Be honest, have morals, show empathy, value integrity. Be a GOOD HUMAN.”

That little meme came around on Facebook this week. It seemed like good advice, so I offer it here.

The President was acquitted by the Senate in an impeachment trial that wasn’t a trial. We all knew that his acquittal by the Senate was a foregone conclusion.

Before the trial, he said that anyone who opposed him would end up with their heads on pikes.

Shades of Henry VIII. I suppose we should be grateful that he hasn’t cut off the heads of the wives and other people who have lost his favor.

As many Americans are grieving the end of our democracy, the rule of law, and our constitution, Republicans are shouting about how Democrats are responsible for those things. You know, like those preachers and politicians who scream and holler about the evils of homosexuality and then get caught soliciting boys in public bathrooms. I grow weary of people complaining about other people committing the sins of which they are guilty, truly I do, although it is the best way to keep track of what they are up to.

Many people are celebrating a victory for Making America Great Again, which is code for Making America White Again.

Not that America ever was white. It has been ruled by white Western European males since the 1700s – check out those paintings of the founding fathers - but when Europeans arrived, the Americas were populated by millions of indigenous people whose ancestors had been here for tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of years. They had cultures, customs, cities, languages, laws, agriculture, trade routes, wars, spiritual beliefs and practices.

All that and most of those people were virtually wiped out by 1900.

African slaves were brought to Central and South America in the sixteenth century, and then North America. Slaves were bought and sold and bred like cattle.

Up until 1860 Africans and their descendants numbered about one-fifth of the population in the US census. In the 1860 census the US began to count American Indians, Eskimos, Aleuts, Asian and Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics of all races - people who were here all the time but were not counted.

When the Irish, the Greeks, the Italians, and Eastern Europeans arrived, they were not considered properly white. Jews? Hah.

America has never been white. It has been ruled by western European white men ever since they could grab the power, true. I believe this whole “making America white again” means a hysterical grab for power by people who feel they are being robbed of their white European birthright. Just guessing.

A little over half the country is certain we are seeing the death throes of this republic and what it stood for. All the high ideals we were taught about freedom and liberty and rights and patriotism and us being the good guys seem to be going by the wayside. Now we’re living George Orwell’s vision: “Lies are truth, wrong is right, up is down, day is night.”

Forget the comparisons with Nazi Germany. We are Republican America, with a new madman at the helm, Henry the VIII with a Twitter account and the certain knowledge that he answers to no one, at least in this country. His followers cheer because for some reason they don’t see the world of hurt that’s building.

For some of us our nation’s best hope is to vote him out this November. That’s tough when the Democrats seem as organized as a herd of cats on the back of a flatbed truck, but still – vote.

It couldn’t be easier here in King County – the ballot comes to your house with a postage paid return envelope. Follow the directions and send it off. Get registered now if you are not registered.

How to register or make sure you are registered: google King County Elections, and that will be the first thing that comes up. Go to the site and follow the instructions. They tell you several ways you can register, online, by mail, and in person.

If you are not a computer person, go to the library and ask for help.

We can expect outside interference, prevention of people voting, the “loss” of votes, and plain old dirty tricks. Voting might not matter in the end, but we must act as if it does, and hope it does.

I hope I live to see the reunification of our country. That’s what I think would make America great.

Because, yoo hoo: climate change. Again, the planet will survive. It’s our children and grandchildren for whom we need to work and fight. Sitting around snarling at each other like we’re doing now, we lose track of what’s important.