As America quietly reflects on the past four years, the biggest lesson by far is one that we are doomed to repeat if we refuse to learn that there is verily no meaningful difference between the two wings of the Republicat Party.
Let me be solemn and clear: history will not likely deem our current president as one of our finest. He has proven himself to be below-average when it comes to the caretaking of our norms and institutions. This is arguably due to his naiveté and, frankly, the unusually difficult learning curve he faced in fully understanding some of the more nuanced and quaint traditions of our cherished democracy. We may never know for certain whether or not he consciously approached the job in a less-than virtuous manner. We can only objectively conclude that, for whatever reason, he was not fully equipped to fulfill his stated goal of being more effective than Lincoln at bringing our country together.
That said, I issue the following challenge to all my left-leaning friends: ask yourself honestly if you, and the country, would have really been any better off with a Hillary administration. Maybe you would have preferred this or that minor policy change, but, can you really say, after witnessing her many paid speeches, and her “putting of the thumb” on the DNC, that anything fundamental about this nation would have been any different?
It’s time for some tough talk among us, in these final days while we are still the loyal opposition — before we allow power to blind us to our own foibles and corruptions. Our penchant for hypocrisy is infinite, and will only grow as we fatten ourselves with the fruits of our recent victories. Already, the new Democratic standard bearer, Joseph R. Biden III, is promising a “ten-day blitz” of executive actions— this while so many Dems (and the media elite) enjoyed harping on the current president’s reliance on same. What’s that all about? Is this mic even on?
From the moment our current president discussed his unfettered access to, for example, women’s puss*es, we were already primed to excuse Biden’s grossly excessive hugging. We must be consistent if we are to be taken seriously by our fellow citizens.
Let’s face it folks, corruption is corruption. Every time we condemn, for example, the current president’s tight grip on his Attorneys General, we ignore that sunny, unspectacular day in Arizona when Bill Clinton sat on a tarmac with Obama’s attorney general for many, many minutes. This proves we need to be much more vigilant about our own confirmation bias. Otherwise we fail to see the emotional perspectives of our adversaries. We complained repeatedly that they attempted to block every action and initiative coming from the 44th president, yet we seem to have lost all empathy for our fellow Americans who could almost sense our lack of respect for the 45th president from the very moment he took the high oath of the highest office in the land. The lesson? Politics ain’t bean bag. If we’re going to be hysterical, we need to be patient with the perceived histrionics of our opposition.
Yes, just as Hillary was congenitally beholden to Wall Street and special interests, there is some evidence the current president has been beholden to his own special interests. But in today’s Republicat party, fighting for access is the name of the game. That’s the American way — and it won’t change until we admit that they’re all equally guilty. As we await the inevitable confirmation of Biden’s selection of a former Fed Chair to lead our cherished Treasury Department (!), it’s only a matter of time before we are assaulted by the violent gushing of capitalism champions such as the likes of Andrea Mitchell. We bemoan the current president’s love of military parades, yet we say nothing when the 46th president’s (-elect’s) mouth virtually waters at the thought of placing a ruthless warrior in charge of the Defense Department. I could go on and on, ad nauseum.
We like to pounce on recent unrest at our beloved Capitol, yet we continue to ignore at our own peril the damage our side has inflicted upon the other side’s cherished institutions. Please, just look with a clear head at the dismal state of major league football today, which we like to blame on Covid-19 — which came from China — but clearly the erosion began with the likes of Colin Kaepernick, who is, if we’re being honest, our direct analog to Rudolph Giuliani. We may think the appointment of a Muslim head coach is “ground-breaking,” but we know deep inside that this only rubs sand in the face of cultural enthusiasts who simply have alternative opinions.
We make way too big a deal of what are essentially cultural differences when we brand our neighbors and co-workers “deplorable” just because they like to wear their hearts on their sleeves and their caps on their brows. Consider this: Hillary, had she won the presidency, might not have forged new relationships with leaders like North Korea’s Kim Jong-un — merely because of stylistic differences, perhaps attributable to her insecurities as a woman. (Susan Sarandon was the first to point out that it’s not a woman’s job to promote a woman to the highest office in the world just because she’s a woman, when in reality her womanhood could actually lead us into a nuclear confrontation with someone with whom a man could more readily cozy up to in a more productive manner.) The point is not whether the current president did or did not avert a nuclear war. You simply can’t prove a negative. The point is that until we admit thatthey are all the same after accounting for style, we will never realize our goal of absolute equality and justice. We simply cannot continue to pretend that we can make anything better without making everything better.
Mediocrity, thy name is incrementalism. During this period of peaceful transition, we have to admit that we envy the revolutionary-style commitment of the loyal opposition. Without it, the current president would never have been able to accomplish all that he has. (We can acknowledge his accomplishments without necessarily agreeing with every single one of them.) Just as he was able to out-build China’s great wall, we should experience little trouble building our own wall around the timid apologists of the status quo — except that such significant change can only occur when we shed the constraints of what we have come to call “civility” — which is really just another name for “selling out.”
Be strong, my friends, as we prepare to boldly, in italics even, condemn even the smallest missteps of the incoming regime!
----—
UPDATE: Well, I’m beyond honored my friends. The piece was clearly a smashing success. So many, many comments — some are saying the most in history.
I’ve received so much important attention today, and, as our current president has taught us, nothing is more valuable than attention! Maybe I should even sign up for Twitter! Many, many millions of people are saying I should.
But I must leave you now, and attend to my own needs. Medication awaits.
Until next time!
Petey2