A New World Order

There is a new world order coming, can you feel it?

A shift. A cataclysmic shift to the right. To dictatorships. To authoritarianism. To Christian theocracy dominated by white, male, heterosexual men. And I am frightened for this world of ours.

As the Trump regime cozies up to the Putin regime, the minions of yes men hired by Trump are spreading out across the globe, meeting with other dictators, forming alliances with Neo-Nazi political parties, and denigrating democracy in front of the masses.

How did this happen so quickly? A month into this new American regime and oligarchical coup d’état, and we find we are headed toward an abyss from which there is no return. Certainly not within my lifetime. Certainly not for many, many decades.

But here’s the thing: it didn’t happen quickly. As any historian can tell you, not only have we been here before – think robber barons of the 19^th century in America – but the Republican party has clearly been on this trajectory since Reagan in the 1980s, if not before. The writing may have been on the wall but complacency paralyzed the Democrats. We believed nothing could usurp the Constitution of the United States of America. It was the be-all end-all of this great country. It couldn’t be broken.

Or so we thought.

Now, here we are. Quickly learning that the revered Constitution is nothing more than a flimsy piece of paper, not worth the ink used to write it. Unless, of course, it is defended – vehemently, constantly, relentlessly. It was created as a roadmap, detailing the composition of our government, its power structure, its checks and balances, and what our expectations of our government, as inhabitants of this country, should be. It was written with an eye toward the type of country we should strive to be. It was written by flawed human beings who did the best they could with what they knew at the time, so, yes, of course, it is a work in progress. Proof of that is the 27 amendments added to the Bill of Rights to date.

Now we find ourselves threatened by a puppet president who strings were bought and paid for, to the tune of almost 300 million dollars, by a billionaire suffering with his own striking case of narcissism and delusions of grandeur. Shadow President Musk and his rogue band of childlike Muskrats have put their fingers in every cookie jar of this country, now having access to the Treasury payment systems, US Agency for International Development (USAID), Social Security Administration (SSA), the Office of Budget and Management (OBM), The Governmental Accountability Office (GAO), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), just to name a few. They have gained access to every American’s personal information, and we don’t have a clue as to why.

Doesn’t that scare you? Or do you honestly believe Musk is doing things for your benefit?

Look, I don’t have any answers as to why this president and his shadow are undermining this country and the world, except to say their motives are not pure. They are aligning with Russia against our allies. They are now removing some of our top military leaders. They have proven they lack compassion, empathy, and integrity. What I do know is that if we don’t stand up now and call out what is clearly wrong, this chance will quickly pass and the script will be written.

This is a non-violent coup d’état in the process of forming a dictatorship. I know even the republicans who voted for the Trump regime can see this although they may be unwilling to admit it. They drank the Kool-Aid and are embarrassed to admit how wrong they were. But when they no longer get the benefits this society has long provided, like SNAP benefits, social security benefits for the aging and disabled, Medicare and Medicaid benefits, student loans with reasonable interest rates, reproductive healthcare and birth control for women,  worker’s rights and protections, environmental protections, and voting rights for all, well, then, maybe they will admit they were wrong. There is no shame in admitting you were deceived. There is shame in continuing down a path you now know is clearly wrong and harmful to all the people residing in this country and this world.

Perform an internal check of your personal morals, values, ethics. Do your own integrity check. If you find you are okay with our government intentionally and indiscriminately harming others, then so be it. But if your ethical standards are being sorely tested right now, consider taking what is perhaps the more difficult path, but clearly the more righteous one.

“Dark and difficult times lie ahead. Soon we must all make the choice between what is right, and what is easy.”

~ Professor Dumbledore, Harry Potter ~

I trust we will all make the right choice, sooner rather than later.

~jwb~