As of 1:45 AM CST this past Wednesday morning all members of the Democratic majority throughout the nation and along this the most conservative stretch of Old Route 66 who care passionately about their country and its future have been working through the five stages of grief after Tuesday’s historically cataclysmic electoral loss. I, like all the others, have been internally struggling hard to reconcile what the results mean for me and what my duty is going forward to exemplify in my daily life the democratic and humanistic values I hold dear. I have done my best to lend a sympathetic ear to all kindred progressive spirits who are seeking decompression from wrestling with a toxic mixture of negative feelings of fear, disbelief, bewilderment and a growing sense of hopelessness and helplessness. My sense of depression has been well palliated by my already existing knowledge that so many of my fellow Oklahomans do not care what is being done to our state by elected officials and legislators with an extremist agenda to eradicate all vestiges of old Democratic and New Deal programs and to block or at very least slow down the evolution of progressive social trends as well as to promote corporate business interests over those of any one citizen or any one group of citizens.
After examining the deepest recesses of my own soul and coming up with a sense of positive affirmation on who I am and what my destiny holds, I found myself at a proverbial fork in the road. A beautiful autumn Sunday and a trip my local south Tulsa Unitarian congregation aided me in examining my options. Going forward I realized exactly what life in President Donald Trump’s America is going to mean for me personally. I will not mince words here. I am a middle aged Caucasian male, Naval Reserve retiree, mid-level health care provider that fits any reasonable definition of the classic “Middle Class American.” I am one of the rank and file of south Tulsans that has yet to feel the direct pinch of (other than dealing with decaying infrastructure) the mismanagement of our state government. As such, at this time I see that I have two possible options:
I could take George Carlin Road. I could divorce myself from all the BS, sit in the front row of the Freak Show and in my due diligence take my notes, write my memoirs and enjoy my latter days watching the steady decline of a self-indulgent society in a nation where the number one god is the Almighty Dollar, national and even Christian values merely make for good campaign sloganism and the loudest mouth wins all arguments.
Or:
I could take the Route66Kid Highway. I can prepare myself to be ready to step up to the call when it comes to serve my community and my state when my fellow Oklahomans begin demanding reasonable answers and solutions to pressing questions and issues. I know they may reject me for who and what I am and with whom I associate but I am willing to provide an alternative choice and direction from what our people are being offered. I do shudder to think how far this state is going to have to sink for me to have a legitimate chance at affecting change but I am willing to be ready to step up and take that chance at the appropriate time.
It is incumbent on all of us to exercise maximum vigilance and duly note all that happens in our nation and community and act on wrongs when appropriate. We, the local members of the Democratic majority, must let those in charge know that we have not gone away, that we are still here. If history is our guide then we must anticipate that harder times are just over the horizon. We must keep our heads about us and be willing to serve when the time arrives. As it turns out, all is not as bleak as it may seem, especially after such an abysmal few days. I encourage everyone to hold your heads up. We have each other and more importantly, our communities, state and nation have us and is counting on all of us to choose the right road.
The worst part is a majority of the people who supported that orange charlatan did so just to stick it to liberals and democrats. They could care less if Trump and all his corporate fat-cat cronies exploit them. All they care about is getting the last laugh, even if their idiotic decision screws us all over.
word of the day: Kakistocracy – Government under the control of a nation’s worst or least-qualified citizens.
Very well-stated. The shocking thing was not Trump’s victory but that 60 million fellow citizens were able to mentally justify voting for this hate-filled incompetent clown. Many are still working through the grief and not ready to even decide which fork in the road to take, or how on earth to even take the active, engaged one. How do you work for constructive change if it involves continued association with people you no longer respect? A lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth still remains to be done.
That’s surely the right choice, cousin – the only one that makes any sense for old warhorses like you and me. For after a coup d’etat has already befallen one’s country, what other options are there, really? But I have more than a sneaking suspicion that ‘normal’ politics are soon to go by the boards, and that the essential structures of American government themselves are about to be ripped up and discarded. Only time will tell whether it is to be the gulags for us all, or something even worse… and there are things that are worse still, even than that. We could very easily be looking environmental doom in the face, during the next 25 – 50 years. You and I will be long gone before that, but the country’s present children and grandchildren will not be, and will have to struggle on as best they can, until the final eventual collapse of a livable planet. And we are running out of time – some say we are already beyond the point of no return – through sheer scientific ignorance, and human stubbornness. The one thing that I am sure about as a result of all that has occurred recently, is that I have no intention of going down into my inevitable darkness quietly… I will live my life as a free man until the day I die. They cannot take that away from me, they can only hasten it. And I will continue to speak out against injustice wherever I see it, and however I can most loudly do so. For first, last & always I am an American Citizen and it my birthright to do so!