I would not have thought it was possible but I’m finding that I am running an outrage deficit. There are so many utterly appalling situations in our country right now that I can’t process it all. As angry as I am I can’t track everything at once. As I look at any given situation and try to determine how to respond I know I am losing track of several others that are just as, if not more, pressing.
I think a big part of my problem is that I don’t know what to do about any of the most critical issues.
I know that nothing I say will matter. Best case 40-50 people might see this blog. Most of them are already the choir.
I am exhausted from battling a non-stop series of archetypally first world problems in my own life. It makes the prospect of trying to face the big issues crushing.
No amount of money that I can bring to bear will move the needle. (Admittedly I have not emptied my financial resources to prove this.)
But the biggest problem is that I just don’t know where to start. I don’t know what has to be the highest priority.
How do you pick between children being separated from their parents and held in cages and the US standing aside to allow ethnic cleansing of our allies? Both are horrifying. Both need immediate action. People are dying faster in one, the other has been allowed to persist longer and is closer to home. In both cases there is a point at which if it is not addressed it will be too late. In both cases it is already too late for far too many people.
This does not even begin to get in to things like police being called for a wellness check by a concerned neighbor and responding by shooting the resident they are supposed to be checking on, in her own home, through the window. This is just the most recent in a seemingly endless saga of violence by police and toward police in an increasingly antagonistic and polarized relationship between the police and the public.
At the heart of much of this we have a nominal Chief Executive who seems to swing between being utterly immoral, greed driven, and self-serving on the one hand and totally unhinged on the other. The avenues available to deal with this lunatic are too slow to help those who are endangered by his orders and are dependent on rules of law that seem to be increasingly meaningless.
As Trump becomes more and more blatant about his belief that he is above the law I have to wonder if there are any federal law enforcement agencies that aren’t compromised. The FBI, DEA, ICE, CBP, and USMS all report to DOJ or DHS, both of which are firmly under the White House thumb. So even if the House of Representative were to start issuing contempt of Congress citations who is going to enforce them? As far as I can tell the House of Representatives has one Sergeant at Arms who has one deputy. While they can place an individual in custody if they are on the premises it seems unlikely that they are going to go out of the building to find and arrest individuals held in contempt (e.g. for non-compliance with a subpoena).
There is unquestionably sufficient evidence for the House to pass articles of Impeachment, but to what end? Trump has already stated that he considers the impeachment investigation unconstitutional and invalid. There is no reason to believe that he would acknowledge the validity of a Senate trial even if it happened.
I see no reason to believe that McConnell would not block the reading, debate and vote on any articles of impeachment just like he has blocked so many things.
For that matter, if we reach the 2020 election, if the votes are counted and reported accurately, and if it turns out that Trump has lost is there any reason to believe that he will accept that result and leave office?
I have not even touched on the fact that we are rapidly running out of time to try to slow and reverse the damage we have done to the one and only habitable planet we have access to. Which could ultimately (and sooner than we used to think) render how we treat each other moot.
Does it seem like this post is chaotic and all over the map? Welcome to what I am trying to process. This is the whole point. In a situation like this how do you pick a starting point and make any headway?
The United States of America was founded on high ideals. Historically we have fallen short of those ideals, time and again, but at least it seemed like we were trying to do better and be better. Now we have a very vocal part of the population arguing that we need to abandon those ideals and become, in essence, an isolationist theocracy.
The Great American Experiment is hanging in the balance. We have failed to stop a cheap huckster from assuming the highest office in our country. We have failed to stop the sale of our democracy to the highest bidder. We have given power to self serving demagogues who are patently unfit to hold it.
Fixing this situation will not be easy if it is even possible.
I don’t know how to start. I don’t know how to move the needle. I’m not sure I believe that slow and steady wins this time. I would very much like to hear from anyone who has any idea what to do first.
