Fair warning: Tonight’s post is all reaction, no research. And the essence of it, yes, is about a former president on the verge of being indicted. But I’m not sure that this is the best option right now. It feels, however, like we’re desperate for any sort of accountability, so we’ll take this win, even if it’s not the high point of honoring the democracy we all thought we learned about in school.
For a lot of people, actions have very few consequences. Privilege and access and money all lead to avoiding almost all repercussions for the people who have it and the choices they make. Even as we travel around this part of Florida, you can almost see the disdain for some rules, and a strict adherence to others. Want to fly a Pride flag? Absolutely not because the H.O.A limits which flags can be flown. Need to double park “just for a second” to run in and grab a few items at Publix? Nobody will mind because they all know me. And the enforcement of which rules apply to which people is constantly compounded by the darkness of people’s pigment (despite the fact that most of the homeowners around here haven’t met the right amount of sunscreen in decades).
So, I’m not sold on the fact that our former Commander-in-Chief is going to see any real ramifications for what he decided to do years and years ago. And, honestly, I’d much rather him face much more severe punishment for the crimes against our Republic. I don’t want these hush money payments to get swept under the rug, but at the same time, these aren’t the charges I really want to stick. He tried to subvert the peaceful transition of power. If we can’t hold him accountable for that, then all those platitudes we learned in school mean about as much as those yearbook promises we made to “K.I.T. over the summer”.
We are finding out, more and more, the pledges we always relied on to hold our society together are only as good as the people who are willing to keep them. If those people turn out to be untrustworthy, scurrilous, self-interested, profiteers, then the rest of us are left shaking our heads and wondering how we get our democracy back. I know it’s easy to say voting is important, but it’s become much more than that. The extremists aren’t coming, they’re here. And they are actively taking freedoms away from our most marginalized. It’s time to start getting a lot more vocal about holding people to the promises we were tested on in school. Otherwise, we’ll be spending the next few decades hoping one of these narcissists gets caught with their pants down, because — apparently — that’s the only kind of treachery we’re unwilling to tolerate.
Big Dumb Sex
30 March 2023
Just us.
Fair warning: Tonight’s post is all reaction, no research. And the essence of it, yes, is about a former president on the verge of being indicted. But I’m not sure that this is the best option right now. It feels, however, like we’re desperate for any sort of accountability, so we’ll take this win, even if it’s not the high point of honoring the democracy we all thought we learned about in school.
For a lot of people, actions have very few consequences. Privilege and access and money all lead to avoiding almost all repercussions for the people who have it and the choices they make. Even as we travel around this part of Florida, you can almost see the disdain for some rules, and a strict adherence to others. Want to fly a Pride flag? Absolutely not because the H.O.A limits which flags can be flown. Need to double park “just for a second” to run in and grab a few items at Publix? Nobody will mind because they all know me. And the enforcement of which rules apply to which people is constantly compounded by the darkness of people’s pigment (despite the fact that most of the homeowners around here haven’t met the right amount of sunscreen in decades).
So, I’m not sold on the fact that our former Commander-in-Chief is going to see any real ramifications for what he decided to do years and years ago. And, honestly, I’d much rather him face much more severe punishment for the crimes against our Republic. I don’t want these hush money payments to get swept under the rug, but at the same time, these aren’t the charges I really want to stick. He tried to subvert the peaceful transition of power. If we can’t hold him accountable for that, then all those platitudes we learned in school mean about as much as those yearbook promises we made to “K.I.T. over the summer”.
We are finding out, more and more, the pledges we always relied on to hold our society together are only as good as the people who are willing to keep them. If those people turn out to be untrustworthy, scurrilous, self-interested, profiteers, then the rest of us are left shaking our heads and wondering how we get our democracy back. I know it’s easy to say voting is important, but it’s become much more than that. The extremists aren’t coming, they’re here. And they are actively taking freedoms away from our most marginalized. It’s time to start getting a lot more vocal about holding people to the promises we were tested on in school. Otherwise, we’ll be spending the next few decades hoping one of these narcissists gets caught with their pants down, because — apparently — that’s the only kind of treachery we’re unwilling to tolerate.
See you tomorrow?