The Witness Chronicles, January 13, 2024
A pragmatic look at US politics, global issues, and climate change
Virtue vs. Victim: Our Choice in 2024
Reason and sanity, or a monstrous ego gone haywire
This morning historian Heather Cox Richardson posted a brief video of her interviewing Joe Biden and, specifically, asking him why he chose Valley Forge as the place to kick off his campaign about the future of democracy in America.
The President’s answer was a thoughtful talk about how average Americans have always risen to defend the country and our ideals, just as those beleaguered soldiers did that bitter cold winter before our Revolution was successful.
His tone was quiet and his pace reassuringly calm, but his thinking was incisive, not the voice of a man wrestling with infirmity. The contrast with his opponent was striking. Instead of taking the question as an opportunity to cry about the wrongs done to him, Biden spoke of his faith in the American people, all the people.
Meanwhile, given a few minutes to address the courts investigating his business dealings, Donald Trump gave an abbreviated version of his campaign speech, once again portraying himself as the ultimate victim of conspiracies and demons.
One man sounded like a man, the other like a spoiled child. A spoiled child with everything the American dream offers, untold wealth, a family, and a life handed to him on a golden platter.
If voters can’t see the stark difference, we have a serious problem. One man considers our history and looks forward, the other thinks of nothing but himself and cries out loud in public at every opportunity.
The fact that Donald Trump has a cult of rabid supporters speaks volumes about the state of our society, a society of victims who blame everything in their lives on the actions of others when they live in a country where our actions, and only our actions, determine our success and happiness.
Life is a challenge. That challenge is the great task we inherit at birth, to be a decent human and contribute to the lives around us. Not to simply grab all we can get and take from others when that is not enough.
We sit at the crossroads right now in 2024, and like the legendary bluesman Robert Johnson, we have the choice to deal with the devil for short term gain or move forward into a better future. Johnson chose the former but his choice was based on a desire to be a better voice for the hard life.
Trump’s choice has never been the better voice.
We are only a few weeks into this election year and his choices have succeeded in throwing the entire country into undeserved turmoil. Our economy is booming, joblessness is at a historical low, the markets are near peak, and we are visibly rebuilding long neglected infrastructure all over the country.
Those are concrete, measurable accomplishments, not castles made of sand like Trump’s constant claims of greatness with nothing to show for proof. Think about those infrastructure improvements. During his tenure as President, Trump constantly proclaimed the next week as infrastructure week, a week that never came.
As the neon sign in my neighborhood bar once proclaimed, ‘Free Beer Tomorrow’.
That could be Trump’s campaign slogan. And those who read it and decide to get in line for that free beer will only see the first part. In Trump’s world there is no free beer, just the claim it is coming.
Meanwhile we must worship him. He has declared himself created by God to save us, but somehow, he is the victim, making him a Christ figure. How, you might ask, can a man in his situation claim to be a victim?
And how are so many of our fellow citizens falling for this insane scam? We have a simple choice this year, virtue or victim, for the leader of our country. That choice speaks volumes about our country, ourselves, and our future.
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As an objective observer, (I am not a US citizen and don't live there), it's hard to see why any American would vote for Trump. But if I had to sum it up with a single word, I would go with "greed". Of course, it's a little more complicated than that....
The "land of opportunity" mantra of many decades is still, not just an expectation - but, for many, a God-given right. But it is no longer viable. Why? Because the vast proportion of American wealth is now in the hands of a tiny minority. And that tiny minority is now controlling politics and the legal system in the US.
Those who believe that their God-given right to opportunity has been taken away from them, (let's call them the MAGA cult), are easy prey for someone like Trump. He tells them exactly what they want to hear - i.e.: "your opportunity has been stolen by.... you name it! Immigrants, communists, Jews, Muslims, the Democrats, etc.". And the only way they can get it back, is to rid the USA of the "vermin that is polluting the blood of the country", by voting for him. This misdirection, together with a big dose of wingnut patriotism, results in Jan 6.
The greed of the mega rich created the problem. And the greed of Trump's enablers, (the GOP), allow it to continue. I hesitate to label Trump's followers greedy, (for wanting/expecting their fare share of the pie), but I think it is an inherent human condition/problem.
Greed is also destroying our planet.