AUGUST 12, 2020 – Not so long ago we said of ourselves that we were a deeply polarized nation. We’re now a poisoned nation.
Let’s start with Covid. There’s much we still don’t know about the disease, but there’s also much we do know about it. One thing is that wearing masks limits its transmission. Yet, many people steadfastly refuse to get on board with this simple precaution. Why? Because “no gov’mnt’s gonna tell them what to do.” This isn’t polarized political thinking. It’s poisonous, anti-science and anti-social thinking.
Now let’s take the upcoming election. Republicans know full well that easier voting helps Democrats, not Republicans. Balloting by mail renders this basic civic right and responsibility far easier than in-person voting. Moreover, in this time of Covid, voting by mail is not only easier but safer—for many, the choice will be vote by mail or not at all. Yet, Republicans, led by the Trump campaign, are pursuing a determined approach to limit balloting by mail. In the name of “down with government,” government is eviscerating an essential governmental function. Trump has assigned the task to his crony and campaign contributor, Louis DeJoy, who is doing Trump’s bidding all too . . . joyfully. This is not the result of polarization. It’s the policy of poison.
If the effort fails, Trump and the Republicans, who’ve long tied their fate to his, have a clear back-up plan: litigate the hell out of balloting by mail. By “the hell out of,” I mean dozens of lawsuits (dozens, because astonishingly, in these United States of 2020, we have 50 sets of election rules still governing national elections), which will be appealed to the ends of the judiciary, delaying interminably a potentially adverse electoral result for Republicans. Meanwhile, Trump will launch an ALL CAPS Twitter campaign casting doubt on the entire electoral process and ultimately, invalidating the election itself. Democracy—over.
This country is no longer merely polarized. It’s poisoned.
Now consider this: with Trump and Republicans determined to hold onto power, how long will their opponents sit tight and wait it out? A week? A month? Two? At some point, people will protest—in the streets. Given the state of the nation, those protests will soon yield to civil unrest. Led by GoebbelsNews at the behest of the Emperor, more poison will fill the airwaves: “Bad people threaten law and order.” The antidote? Government goon squads ala Portland, Oregon.
Democracy will succumb to poison sold down the throats of millions of Americans who will profess their patriotism, wave their flags, express their outrage at the “leftists,” the “socialists,” the “looters,” the “Democrats”—at those elements of society who would question injustice and authoritarianism. Whether by pride, blindness, embarrassment, or shamelessness, Republicans will be stone deaf to the words, “I told you so.”
And a poisoned nation, once merely polarized, will descend into agonizing chaos, a confrontation between wholesale anarchy and government at its worst. The ancient Chinese curse (“May you live in interesting times”) will be upon us all.
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© 2020 by Eric Nilsson
