My first Fascist Summer.
Now is the 'summer' of our discontent. (Sorry Shakespeare. 🤷🏼♀️)
This is Essay #142
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It’s here.
The season of watermelon chunks and watching tomato plants grow on the deck. Weeding my zinnias in the morning. Good books in the afternoon.
It’s packing the car for short road trips. (Boston, I’m headed your way.)
And fresh berry crisps pulled from the oven. (Pass that vanilla ice cream.)
It’s also the season of angry crowds in the cities, piercing protests, and giving dirty looks to those neighbors who still have their Trump signs up.
The general atmosphere? Everything’s fine.
Which of course is absolute bullshit.
What was once polite, eyes-down, “let’s change the subject” denial is now evolving into a kind of slow, wide-eyed waking up with soul sucking dread.
Welcome to your fascist summer. States rights are being challenged, science is being tossed aside, the climate is being destroyed, the authority of governors is being usurped, senators are wrestled to the ground.
Republicans are raping the country. Democrats are dazed and confused.
And the American people are getting exactly what they voted for.
For the first time in my life, I’m ashamed to say I’m an American. And if I lose subscribers over that statement, so be it.
The constant tension. The “oh, god, what now” feeling. The cruelty is breathtaking. This is no way to live your precious life. I didn’t vote for this.
Let me direct you to an essay that brought me to tears. Patrick has made a compelling argument here. I hope you’ll read it. It is a strong and sobering take on his view of how America arrived at this sorry place.
I resisted agreeing with him… but now I do.
He writes:
“…the question is no longer Can we save America? It’s Can we save the world from America?
You may not like that. You may not be ready for it. But readiness is a luxury of the past. This is the emergency.
Defending this country, this convulsing empire, is no longer a political position. It’s a threat. A weapon. A violence dressed as patriotism. Because the longer America leads the world, the more likely it becomes that the human experiment ends in fire.”
Patrick makes valid observations that none of us wanna hear.
America cannot be saved because the only people capable of saving it are the ones pulverizing it into historical detritus.
He goes on…
The most dangerous lie in American life is the belief that the people are good, that they want better.
They aren’t, and they do not.
They are the reason this country is dying.
They saw the children in cages. They saw the bodies stacked in refrigerated trucks. They heard the cries for breath from George Floyd’s throat and still chose faux "law and order" over life. They watched a rapist grin through a defamation trial and nodded like parishioners at mass. They studied the gallows erected on January 6th and still whispered, maybe they had a point.
Ho-Lee-Shit. Those are painful thoughts. The kind will make summer even more uncomfortable. And that’s what we should be-uncomfortable.
Cause we did this to ourselves.
Listen… I’m a midwesterner. I’ve always tried to see the cup half full. I cling to hope. I wait for the better angels in our collective humanity to appear.
Now?
I don’t think they plan to show themselves. I don’t think they’re even in the country. I bet they are drinking in a little bar in Barcelona. (Which is where I wanna be.)
Summer has never been my favorite season but this one is excruciating. I’m getting through these months by planning my next adventure. Earlier this year, I went on my first trip abroad with a highly experienced and wonderful guru who showed me the ropes.
But now it’s time to fly outta the nest and go it alone. Gulp. 😳
I’ve planned an itinerary where I can stay affordably, relax, take pictures, write, and just BE for November through December. A holiday escape.
And, my new luggage arrived. Here’s the question: Can I make it 6 whole weeks with just one bag?
You bet I will… I’m nothing if not determined!
Hang in there, dear friends. I appreciate you all. 💙
We are living the MAGA wet dream and I’m sick with worry for our children and grandchildren. Maybe Germany will save us this time? *sigh*
I agree with you 100%! Btw, I had 2 great-uncles who served in the US Army during WWII. One did combat in Europe and the other was a MP guard at a camp here that had Nazi POW’s. If the both of them were alive today. They would be saying: WTF is this shit!