The State of Our Union
Today I’ve struggled to fully process last night’s election results, and I am hardly the only one. So many people I know are both exhausted and traumatized. Still, I had sensed it was coming. Working at the polls right next to our Republican counterparts was like sitting in the room with a smoke alarm screaming in my ear. The warning signs were impossible to ignore. So, for the past week I’ve been trying to prepare myself emotionally for what comes next.
And that’s where I’m stuck. I have no real idea about where we are going, but I am guessing the next few years will not be good. Part of my depression springs from my career. For decades, I made sure my students were exposed to the horrors of the Holocaust. I would guide them from the rise of fascism in Italy in 1923 and connect the dots to Hitler’s assent to power in 1933. We would discuss how entire nations could be hypnotized by a demagogue who subverted democracy with the willing participation of a blind citizenry. When confronted with the atrocities committed by these fascist governments, my students would always ask, “Why did these people go along with this?”
And now they know. Elected officials, drunk on power, have fallen over one another to curry favor with a narcissistic conman. Wealthy people, more concerned about adding to their swollen bank accounts, willingly financed a fraudster. Bible thumping preachers pleaded with their flocks to “save the unborn”, while ignoring the man’s predatory history and dehumanizing rhetoric about vulnerable immigrants. Others feared repercussions from an army of cult followers who would do anything to please their infallible leader.
Leading up to this election, we have been subjected to an infinite stream of lies designed to stir up a smoldering rage until the vitriol blossomed into flaming hatred. Political rallies fired up supporters when bulky wrestlers ripped off their shirts in a show of hyper-masculinity. Over and over again, we have been bombarded with fascist tactics displaying ultra-nationalism and dark threats against political opponents. All of these methods have been used before by other authoritarians who disdained free speech and the democratic process. We are seeing nothing new.
Our nation’s founders worried about such people trying to claw their way to power, so they infused the Constitution with clever safeguards to discourage stealing power away from the people our government was meant to serve. But the preservation of the Constitution requires elected leaders who place their loyalty to our nation over their own selfish interests. We need citizens who are literate in history and analytical thinking to serve as the last line of defense to preserve our frail democracy.
Our failings as a nation stagger me. We have been given a great gift of self-government and stability, only to fall victim to racism, misogyny, and disinformation. Now we must ready ourselves for the likelihood of authoritarian rule. We may not repeat the horrors of the Holocaust in the years to come, but even treading within the same shadows should bring shame to us all. I wish I had words of inspiration to offer hope, but that would be disingenuous. I have been watching members of Congress, corrupt judges, despicable billionaires, and my gullible neighbors enable this man as he unraveled the same democratic principles I used to brag about to my students. So, I am depressed, feeling dispair that my former students, children, and grandchildren have to live in such times.
I do hold out hope, though, that someday enough people will wise up and create a more perfect union out of the wreckage we have made of this one.