Rants of a Grumpy Old Man: Pity the Nation

Tweet

The great San Fransisco Beat poet, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, wrote in a poem of the same name:

“Pity the nation whose leaders are liars

Whose sages are silenced

And whose bigots haunt the airwaves.”

How true it is as Americans (and the world) deconstruct how Trump could have won by a landslide a few days ago. How could this have happened? How indeed.

Let me offer my cynical take (please keep in mind that I am a former American who fled the U.S. during Vietnam and now lives (thankfully) in Canada).

Let’s look at the dramatis personae, first of all:

Joe Biden: a pathetic old man who, due to his hubris and desire to preserve his “legacy” refused to step down (despite saying initially he was a “one term President”), and like some petulant child, held his breathe until the 11^th hour when his face (and the voters) turned Red, immediately dooming Harris’ chances.

Kamala Harris who, despite a valiant effort, despite being charismatic, intelligent, and seemingly a good person with morals, made a fatal mistake, which was her failure to separate herself from Biden and his policies (even saying on national TV that she would have done “nothing different.”) Ok, I get it: Harris came into the nomination with impossible odds stacked against her, but by going to the center right, she lost the left wing of her party, as well as the working class and, ironically, suburban white women. She also shamelessly changed her position on fracking, just so she could get the Pennsylvania votes, which turned out not to be the case after all, as she also lost all of the other swing states. A total Republican ass-kicking. While she did focus on women’s rights (much to her credit), she said NOTHING about the true existential concern, which is the environment. Nobody did. Instead, she hammered home how Trump was an “existential threat” to democracy, time and again. Nobody cared.

Donald Trump: Yes, we all hate him and wonder how someone like him could be the leader of the “Free World” yet again. However, decades from now (if the world is still in one piece), historian will see that he was probably the cleverest politician to have emerged in the 21^st century. After all, Trump understood the voters of America (not just the MAGA base), and understood that all people wanted was entertainment (hence all of his outlandish statement) and the “promise” that they would be prosperous again. He understood that Americans don’t truly believe in the ideals of democracy, but only in the American dollar. He understood that the real driving force of America is NOT high-minded principles, but Capitalism in its most Darwinian form (as survival of the richest and the poor be damned). He gave Americans permission to hate again, to reveal their ugliest side, to be racists, and for the many men who felt that women were going way too far and Woke-dom was threatening the patriarchy, he was their champion, their Hulk Hogan, ripping off the clothing from Lady Liberty.

Bernie Sanders: who is perhaps the only genuine politician and decent human being left said it best: “The Democrats have abandoned their basic principles, which was to be the party of the working class… 60 million American live from paycheck to paycheck.” Yet the “Woke” ultra liberals at news station like MSNBC (hello, Rachel Madow) were the first to throw him under the bus when there was a momentum growing for his campaign back when Trump first ran in 2016.

American Democracy: no, it is not in crisis; perhaps it never was. After all, what we really are talking about is red-blooded, rabid Capitalism. What people want (and this is universal) is money, the more the better and at anyone’s expense, ideals be damned. Lovable Commie (not comic) Bertolt Brecht said it best: “Erst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral.” (“First comes food, then comes morality.”) And, yes, the food may be nothing more than the right to eat Big Macs, as The Donald proved in perhaps his most powerful campaign move yet: working as a “common” worker at America’s prime gourmet establishment. “I’m just an ordinary American,” the caption could have read, “ready to make America Grate Again.” (And that last part is not a typo…).

Ferlinghetti concludes his poem: “My country tears of thee/Sweet land of Liberty.”

America, you came out to vote in record numbers.

And, sadly, you got what you deserved.