My, how a few short years make such a difference! Our society has changed and morphed throughout our history, but lately things have accelerated so much. I feel like the layers of civility are being peeled away bit by bit. The very people we trusted and looked up to have been proven to be unworthy as leaders of our country. So many officials have decided they are above the law, that truth is passe and party affiliation Trumps (sorry) bipartisanship at the expense of our democracy. Everyday citizens are becoming more and more polarized. Instead of a nation laws and decency we have devolved into a nation of idol worshipping and selfishness. Believing you are above the law has become indelibly ingrained into our collective consciousness. Getting over and ignoring all the norms and traditions as well as the rule of law has somehow become uber cool. But at what cost?

These days we don’t scrutinize our leaders, we idolize them! It is now a binary choice between the competing tribes. We are categorized by the media as either members of the “radical far left” or the “radical far right” and we only support the candidates from the same tribe as us, whether or not that candidate is worth a damn or even outright bananas! I used to be rather conservative, but my political evolution has taken me to the left I suppose. Gone are the days in politics where you could be a middle of the road ANYHING. The gap between us grows ever wider. The fringe has become the mainstream. As George Orwell, who wrote the novel 1984 over seventy years ago said: “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength”. To read the book again recently was very scary for me, as opposed to 1970 when I was forced to read it in JR. High. The story seemed so improbable for the times. Today, it looks sadly and frighteningly prophetic. “We have met the enemy and he is US”, is a fitting quote from the comic strip Pogo by Walt Kelly, among others.

Is the cake baked? Are we doomed to a future of never-ending social wars; fiction peddled as fact on obscure websites by people who want to make a buck by spewing venomous bile to folks looking for answers? We listen to millionaires being paid by billionaires to convince us that they alone have the right perspectives from the perch of their cable news broadcasts at the expense of those with differing viewpoints. I don’t pretend to know. Something has to change to effect change. Our democracy is in real trouble today and I believe many people want it to fail, tragically. Perhaps you have an answer or suggestion? Are we changing for the better or the worse? Is one person more important than our American way of life? I sure miss 1970. A lot.