Seeking a Raft in the Sea of Darkness
A Trump presidency looms under the Christmas tree like a life sized Chucky doll waiting to burst from it’s box and murder the daft and trusting family. As soon as the box is opened, the darkness is unleashed.
Also under the tree, is a box set of prophetic Dr. Seuss books:
“The Lorax” — a tale of environmental decimation resulting from the greed of industry.
“The Sneetches” — a story about social exclusion in a community where everyone is actually exactly alike.
“The Butter Battle Book” — a cautionary Cold War tale in which a disagreement about which side to butter one’s bread turns into a full scale arms race. In the end, everyone is a loser.
It’s time to admit it. We are entering yet another dark age. We stand collectively — fists clenched and eyes closed — about to walk into a burning building. We are about to jump headfirst the sickening drop into a black hole with unmeasured dimensions and uncharted depths.
Our society has been in decline for some time. For decades, things went from OK to bad, then from bad to worse, then in a flash, to cataclysmic.
Recently, a classmate posed this question to me, “What can we do to protect ourselves during a Trump presidency?”
Answering that question was difficult and required an arduous chain of reactions. First, I had to rise above the disbelief that question compels. Will hearing the term ‘a Trump presidency’, ever conjure anything but disbelief? Doubtful. After I took a long soul searching breath, I began to arrange the diction and syntax of my response.
All I can muster at this time is this:
We must not succumb. We must not lose faith. He might strip our dignity but we will always be able to defend ourselves from Trump. The Republicans won and the Trustafairian, reality TV star, turned President of the United States of America is at the helm.
We must continuously find the silver lining in the dark cloud that looms overhead.
Artists have already gleaned inspiration from the ugliness that has begun spread forth.
Look at Nadav Kander’s brilliant photograph of Trump on the cover of Time Magazine.
Listen to Death Cab for Cutie’s new song “Million Dollar Loan.”
They are turning the ultimate lemon into lemonade.
The ship is sinking. What options do you have?
Unless you are being rescued, there isn’t a way off that boat. Similarly, I’m not sure if there is a way to protect ourselves from a Trump presidency. The only thing you can do, is sit back and watch the devastation. When those loyal Trumpkins sober up, and they acknowledge that they have been duped, bamboozled, tricked, Trumped and dumped, you’ll get a kick out of that.
Say what you will about all the folks who voted for Trump, at least they voted. 96 million Americans did not. Imagine what might’ve happened if they did?
Imagine if Bernie wasn’t cheated. Imagine if those primaries were clean, and Bernie was the winner. In the end Hillary and the DNC caused this terrible debacle we are in right now.
With Bernie Sanders now in charge of voter outreach, these next four years could be pivotal in convincing the non voting population to do it next time around. We have four years to find and promote a candidate that could inspire a nation drenched in apathy to stand up and give a fuck about politics and it’s direct affect on their lives.
We have four years to inspire and motivate millions.
Another brightly wrapped gift beneath America’s Christmas tree is Pandora’s box. As soon as you remove the wrapping and open the gift, all the evils of the world get unleashed.
In the story of Pandora’s Box, Pandora is at first unable to close the box thereby letting all of the bad things escape and unfurl into the world. Finally, she gets the box closed. The only thing that remains locked in the box, is hope.
Originally published at POLITICAL HAZE.
