The Witness Chronicles, 11/6/24

I’m not giving up

Photo by Luke Stackpoole on Unsplash

My Faith in the American Dream is Shaken

This is hard to fathom

I went to bed at midnight with a vague sense of dread which proved to be right with the morning news of the Republican triump. I really haven’t processed it or what the future will look like. That’s because we have been promised so much chaos and now we may get it.

The fact that our country chose hate and fear and the threat of a dictatorship over civility and prosperity is a sad thing. I’m truly sorry so many of us feel that life sucks enough to choose darkness. I guess they live in a different place than I do.

Fortunately, I do know that there are many of us who will work to maintain freedoms that are facing a deadly threat right now. I’m not sure where all this will go and if we have any checks and balances left. The highest court is corrupt, the right won control of the Senate, and the majority in the House is still unknown as I write this. But if there is a complete Republican victory, it may give Trump unchecked power.

That is unimaginable, yet it appears to be happening. There will be rumblings of revolt but right now they have been given all the tools to crush any attempts to regain our democracy if they decide to dismantle it.

The last check on power is the vote and it failed. We failed. Cynics will say we deserve what we get but there’s no comfort in that. In my city Democrats prevailed as they always do, so local government, for now, will continue to be stable.

I’m not making any predictions about the future because, frankly, right now they all seem pretty bleak. My optimism took a hit but it’s still there. A bit tattered and unable to see the future but I know that doom and gloom won’t change things.

This morning I’m intentionally taking a break from my usual news gathering because I need some headspace. I’ll still be writing and this newsletter will continue my goal of witnessing and trying to understand events as they unfold. Honestly, it’s not going to be easy to write or read, but we have a responsibility to pay attention and do what we can.

It’s just not clear yet what that entails. Or what the risks might be. I’ve never lived in a totalitarian country, which is the worst case scenario though now a possible one. I’m older, in the third third of my life. So, the long term effects of yesterday’s vote may not be mine to see, but if you’re younger, you are going to have to be strong.

And to my readers in other countries (60 if you can believe it, which in itself is amazing), we have not all lost our minds but apparently a lot of people here have chosen a path that could change the world and not likely for the better. For you I will try to show an inside view of those of us who did not embrace this thing. We’re out there and there are a lot of us.

It is my hope that the leading media here, including the Times, the Post, the Guardian, PBS, and others will fiercely defend their right and ability to tell the truth. They have targets on their backs and retribution was the central promise of Trump’s campaign. We will see how serious he is, but the people behind him are deadly serious.

The desire for raw power and revenge is a hard road for those who do not share that desire. Right now, a hard road is what I see ahead, but it’s just the morning after and I know things will get clearer as the days pass.

I’ll hang onto that for now. Thanks as always for your support.

If you ‘like’ this, please consider supporting my writing with a small donation through Buy Me A Coffee, a site for supporting creators, or by upgrading to the paid subscription option. I realize not all readers can afford to help out and that my writing needs to earn your support, so all my content is available to all subscribers. Thank you, ME