Troubles? Not In My America
It’s All Good
Hold on, I have to turn on the light near my computer because the sunlight outside is being blocked by smog blanketing much of the United States, including New Jersey, thanks to those pesky wild fires raging in California all on account of bogus climate change. And I don’t know why, but it seems like it’s getting hard to breathe. OK, now I can see and I’ve turned on the light which is powered by electricity which is powered by giant gas turbines which throw pollutants in the air that give a boost to global warming. But that’s not my problem and it reminds me of that old maxim, things aren’t bad until they get bad. And that reminds me of another truism and that is that we live in a very fragile environment, both literally and figuratively. And I’m still having trouble taking a deep breath and seeing clearly, both literally and figuratively.
We could have avoided the rapidly deteriorating effects of climate change if we had acted many years ago when scientists first hoisted the red flag of warning. But few people believed then that it would get bad and few people believed in those dystopian, apocalyptic images of drought, famine, killing heat, wildfires and more. And besides, our technology will always save us because we are America and we have a protective shield around the nation that will stop anything or anyone from hurting us. And need I remind you that we have God on our side.
And why would we ever need clear laws to stop a fascist leader from launching a nuclear weapon that could result in the end of mankind? We all know that we would never have a president who would be so careless, so lacking of insight, so uncaring, so reckless as to do something so terrible. And if a president even thought of it, the good people who outnumber the bad people would stop it. And besides we are America, a country where things like that just don’t happen.
And why have laws to stop a tyrannical leader from lying about matters of life and death? This country would never elect such a leader and we all must rely on a mutual set of values to keep us safe. And that is why we have a tricameral government, for the checks and balances, so that the Congress will be a check and balance on the executive and the judicial branch will be a check and balance to make sure that the other two branches don’t go rogue.
Honesty, apple pie, mom, you know all those values, well they have kept us pretty safe for nearly 250 years and there is no reason to think things will be ever be any different. And why on earth would a president, leading a government of the people, by the people and for the people ever do anything to knowingly jeopardize the health of millions? Why would he spread lies that result in deaths? It would never happen.
We’ve never had a clear cut law to stop a tyrannical leader from orchestrating his own re-election because it never was necessary as the system would kick into gear and stop such shenanigans. And our system isn’t devised to stop a despot from enticing his supporters to launch a coup d’etat at the capitol because as we all know, we elect honorable people to lead our country, people who understand that we are a nation of laws and that nobody is above the law and everybody knows that.
There are no laws to stop a president from simply reversing the progress that has taken years of hard work to at least try to stop polluting the environment. and at least to protect the natural beauty that makes the country so much of a wonder. That kind of law would be absurd because it would assume that we would elect a person who had no respect for the environment and saw it only as money engine and that my friend, is impossible to even imagine.
Why would we need a law that prohibits police from killing unarmed people of color? We wouldn’t because those things don’t happen because the police are here to protect us and they shouldn’t be hamstrung by unnecessary restrictions. And we all know that all people are created equal and deserve equal protection under the law and that includes LGBTQ and transgender people, but that’s already a law so we don’t have to worry about a self-styled usurper eliminating legal protections just because he doesn’t like LGBTQ and transgender people.
And of course, we all know that the Internet has made it possible to communicate anywhere in an instant and why would anyone want to spread lies and who would believe that Democrats run a child sex ring or that the government wants you to be vaccinated so they can implant honing devices in you? That is just too crazy and I’m sorry but I have more faith in my fellow Americans to believe that they would stand for such nonsense. They are Americans, after all.
Oops, I think we just had a president who broke the mold in the worst ways. But don’t worry, it was a freak of nature, an abnormality, a one of a kind thing, that could never happen again. Wrong.
Our system may seem strong but it is extremely fragile and we have to prop up protections to stop a tyrant from destroying us; we have to see with more clarity and understand that evil is around us and that we can’t rely on good will to keep us free of tyranny.
So remember that it’s not bad until it’s bad and then it may be too late.