Requiem for a declining nation

All democracy is a work in progress. So long as human beings are in charge, all things administered by them will be subject to their frailties and subsequent failings. Many social and political endeavors instituted by visionary men and women have sought to exemplify and amplify all that is good in their species only to fall prey to their own limiting faults. Such is the circumstance of the United States in 2020.

After three years of weak and often absent leadership, it hasn’t been enough that through ill-advised foreign policy decisions the American nation has abdicated its de facto role as leader of the Free World. Nor has it been enough that every toxic social minority has been emboldened and encouraged by the Executive branch occupant to not only display but outright flaunt their true colors. It wasn’t even enough that well documented and proven crimes committed by the occupier of the Oval Office resulting in impeachment on multiple counts by the House of Representatives was given a pass via dismissal along party line votes to not convict on any charge in the Senate. The coupe ‘d grace however was gross negligence in failing to ensure the nation was prepared for a pandemic that was expected at some point. In addition to costing a once great nation most of its worldwide respect, trust and prestige, this latest flailex of epic proportion is costing American lives at an alarming rate! This is the week the USA will pass the grim milestone of 100,000 lives lost to Covid-19! Sadly and frighteningly, the number is only rising. The larger tragedy is that while this mismanaged crisis is sinking the incumbent regime, it is sinking the country along with it.

It is truly a telling sign when there are no American assets available to care for our own people. When an outfit like Doctors Without Borders has to be dispatched to the Navajo Nation in Arizona, we really have sunk to 3rd World status.

I have long since stopped asking myself that pointed query as to how much further until we reach bottom. Perhaps it is the enduring glow of my own eternal optimism that insists November 3rd cannot get here soon enough. However, while the ballot box may be the only hope to restore a functional government and something resembling a respectable republic, that prospect doesn’t provide any real guarantees. Survival of the American nation requires a level of resolve, self-sacrifice and commitment that I’m not sure enough Americans to matter can muster. When over one third of registered or registry eligible voters refuse to even show up to mark a ballot on Election Day, (notwithstanding all manner of obstruction to it), my flickering glow of optimism dims to near invisibility.

We must never forget that despite its original sin of tolerating involuntary servitude, denying participation in the democratic process to women and non-landowners along with its litany of other flaws and ongoing social and economic woes, this nation was founded upon some ethereal and at times allusive but nonetheless good ideas. As was stated in the opening platitude, all democracy is a work in progress. Atop of that lofty notion sits this grand experiment known as the United States. On this Memorial Day 2020, America’s status as “a bright shining city on the hill” is a withering shadow of its former self.

So, exactly what is the price of a clean conscience as the nation languishes in mismanagement with the American Dream contorted into a surreal nightmare? That may vary widely from one soul to another. If one has a history of service to nation, state and community and has stepped up to try to make a difference by serving to elect politicians in whom they believe or anyone who seeks office because they have a genuine belief in their own ideas to improve the human condition, if they can or could do no more then they may rest easy with a sparkling clean conscience. Lip service is nice, but without substance of effort it really is nothing but white noise amid a cacophony of cries for help, criticism and the levying of blame. All this matters little as the nation continues to sink under the weight of its own excesses and mismanagement. It is for those among us with the wherewithal to prepare to for the extreme adjustment ahead. Although the new normal remains to be determined, we can all rest assured that it won’t be like the norm prior to March 11th. On this Memorial Day, we owe it to those who made the ultimate sacrifice in causes far greater than themselves to at least try to preserve the nation they lost their lives defending. That begins with a solemn commitment to do all in one’s power to place this nation on a path to return to sanity. Please, register and vote and pester all family and friends to do the same. That is all anyone can ask besides enjoying the memory of America when it truly was great!