Everybody sensible knew what was going to happen and still people stood by and let it happen, as how bad could it get? But it is getting worse day by day, and the alt-right Fascists run the show now. The Democrats lack teeth, the Republicans lacks spine and the rest of the world is paying.
But sadly this is a logical conclusion to a decades-long slide for the United States. The price to actually have a seat on the table in the 'land of the free' has been rising steeply over time. The divisions in the country through race and poverty lines are as wide as ever.
Lou Reed made an album in 1989, has last great work, perhaps even his greatest ever in an impressive career, in which he held up a gritty mirror showing how the American Dream died long ago and people were stuck in hopeless places leading deterministic lives. This reality of almost 30 years ago does not look overly cynical and dark in hindsight, and I would challenge anyone not to feel a feeling of Deja Vu when reading the lyrics to the first few songs. I could pick really any of them to make this point, but let's take Dirty Boulevard, as it references the famous saying on the statue of liberty which I was reminded of when I read the post:
Pedro lives out of the Wilshire Hotel He looks out a window without glass And the walls are made of cardboard, newspapers on his feet And his father beats him 'cause he's too tired to beg
He's got 9 brothers and sisters They're brought up on their knees It's hard to run when a coat hanger beats you on the thighs Pedro dreams of being older and killing the old man But that's a slim chance He's going to the boulevard
He's gonna end up on the dirty boulevard
This room cost $2,000 a month You can believe it, man, it's true Somewhere there's a landlord's laughing till he wets his pants No one dreams of being a doctor or a lawyer or anything They dream of dealing on the dirty boulevard
Give me your hungry, your tired, your poor I'll piss on 'em That's what the Statue of Bigotry says Your poor huddled masses Let's club 'em to death And get it over with and just dump 'em on the boulevard
Get 'em out on the dirty boulevard
Outside it's a bright night There's an opera at Lincoln Center Movie stars arrive by limousine The klieg lights shoot up over the skyline of Manhattan But the lights are out on the mean streets
A small kid stands by the Lincoln Tunnel He's selling plastic roses for a buck The traffic's backed up to 39th Street The TV whores are calling the cops out for a suck
And back at the Wilshire, Pedro sits there dreaming He's found a book on Magic in a garbage can He looks at the pictures And stares up at the cracked ceiling "At the count of 3," he says, "I hope I can disappear."
And fly, fly away from this dirty boulevard
I am not sure how to go forward from here,except to realize we are all humans here, with our needs and wants. And if we take a moment to reflect on what we would like to have done to us our actions could very well prove to be more beneficial. I am not a left-wing individual, but as a civilized human being I feel enough is enough. The 1% (or, more accurately, the 1% of that) has shamelessly enriched themselves over the back of everyone else, and got rewarded by being handed the presidency by some confused out of work miners and factory workers. It is time to wake up, this nightmare is not even remotely enjoyable.