Apollo Pursuing Daphne, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, National Gallery of Art
The American experiment is heading toward an uncomfortable conclusion, our democracy, precariously teetering on the edge of authoritarianism, is being strangled lifeless by wicked men. Our country is charting a dark, fascist path that'll abort the Founders' ideal of a free nation because bigotry, thievery, and laziness in the pursuit of power are easier than hard work and honesty.
Trump's accomplices – innocently labeled as "acting" heads – hold powerful positions in dictatorial departments that can prey upon millions of Americans, unbound from the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Congressional accountability. We have unconfirmed loyalists coordinating military operations against the people of America thanks to the immense powers handed to the Dept. of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and whatever Orwellian soup of surveillance agencies Trump is eager to deploy in his scheme to secure a reelection. And our politicians paved the way for this abuse with overwhelming bipartisanship.
One-hundred miles in from the U.S. Border is a Bill of Rights no-go zone where the powers of civil liberties are devastatingly vague and gleefully disregarded by those who see the rule book as an obstacle. Millions of Americans live there: Los Angeles, D.C., Toledo, Seattle, Detroit, Cleveland, San Diego, Milwaukee, Duluth, Miami, Tallahassee, San Francisco, Minot, Baton Rouge, Dothan, Portland, Houston, Mobile, Savannah, Richmond, and thousands of others. The very rights we’ve sent thousands to their death defending are questionable here.
Excuse me?
Today, there are videos of a de facto secret police, with questions of its authority going unanswered, snatching Americans off street corners. Trump and Barr have skirted the rule of law countless times – the instances we know of – and it will be our country’s suicide if we believe either will show any political decorum or restraint leading up to the election.
But a maltreated America is already shrugging its shoulders at 160,000 dead countrymen and women. Politicians are terrorizing parents into pleading for teachers to return to the classroom, so we the people don't have time to debate the prognosis of democracy in an America where merely wanting to survive a global pandemic is now a partisan issue.
This doesn't go away when Trump loses, if he loses, if he leaves, doesn't contest the election on the way out the door, or commands his ideologues to secure polling places and ballots to the illegitimate cries of voter fraud. Trump and Barr are laying the groundwork for such scapegoating. If Congress's power has failed to hold either to account for their bludgeoning of American norms, it's doubtful our representatives rediscover that their oath is to us, not their party.
This idea will have detractors, writers who earnestly defend the erosion of our institutional norms, those who'll point to past deterioration to justify their continued undermining, though this will propel us beyond redemption. The nation's largest media corporations will champion these ideas as we hate-click our way into authoritarianism. Can a free press fulfill its duties as defenders of freedom if they're championing the voices that'll lead to, and support, its destruction?
It's naive to think that corruption capable of destroying a democracy couldn't happen in America. Think about how quiet many of our politicians have been over the last several months as the pandemic ravages America's working class, devastating the economy, and Trump and Barr consolidate authority. Where are our representatives? Bickering as we bleed.
If we use the last six months as an indicator for the next six, what insanity could ensue? We don't know where this ends, but we know it doesn't end on November 3. Not even if he loses. The last three years have been a bender, and Trump is a showman. His final act will top them all, and our democracy may not survive to see the second act of our young experiment.
Democracy requires diligence.