What is hope but futility for moments stood on end? (Sydney Lee)
Coursety of electriclight.com
When I was a child learning my catechism, I wondered about the hopelessness of hell. Condemned to the fires of eternal damnation, why didn’t those lost souls rebel? What had they to lose? Lucifer rebelled and he didn’t do badly.
Thinking about the question, I decided that the hope of salvation might be the source of human misery. I recall my priest warning that the reward for living a good life was in heaven and not on earth. Later, the words of Karl Marx exposed religion as the opiate for the masses, a doctrine that kept the poor twisting in their rags while those who duped them dined on squab. I was inclined to agree.
Eventually, I abandoned religion and chose to think for myself. That decision I have never regretted. Now that I am old enough to stare death in the eye as an equal, I subscribe to the words of Miguel A. De La Torre, To embrace hope is to mask a world where human evil prevails.
As for the joy of the holiday season, what I’ve observed is that much of the light in this world comes from the fires of war. Yes, I have witnessed acts of kindness that bring a tear to the eye. But I can’t pretend it is the norm. Too many of us live in fear, our lives blackened by the shadows of tyrants and oligarchs, vampires who steal more than their share. The wonder is that instead of casting them out, the victims convince themselves that with prayer or patience, their situation might improve.
I see hope as the child of willful ignorance rather than stupidity. Its victims know their masters. In the whole of human history, no villain has admitted that the evil he inflicts is to improve his condition and does nothing for the greater good. The cry is always, “Reform.”
In our last election, the oligarchs promised the same. They bought seats of power within our government with the promise of change. The oil men were among them as they always are. But in the last round, a new breed rose to prominence, the titans of cryptocurrency. They said they wanted guardrails for their burgeoning industry. Noble if true. Still, one wonders why they want that oversight assigned to an agency too small for the task.
Some of us have seen this movie before. In 2008, the banking industry, giddy with greed, dug itself into a financial hole. The taxpayers had to bail out the industry, and it took decades for the economy to right itself. Never mind. The bankers did well. Little wonder that the oligarchs of cryptocurrency want the same protection.
I have written that the 2024 election was the result of a caste war, but I’m not blind to the class war that is also brewing. Brian Thompson‘s murder, the former head of United Health Care, is a symptom. Many approved of the killing. Notable, for example, is the absence of tech sleuths who normally volunteer to help with police investigations. Perhaps, the words scrawled on the bullets, deny, delay, and defend made them pause.
Words matter, yet their meaning isn’t always clear. Ask citizens if they want honest government and they will answer yes. Even so, in the 2024 election, a majority voted for a man whose corruption is well-documented, and who campaigned on a platform to end social benefits. Did his supporters discount his promise, knowing he is a serial liar? If so, it was a dangerous gambit.
Already, this unserious President has made unserious proposals for his rule. He has chosen a drunk to head our military; put a Putin apologist in control of our strategic secrets, and designated a quack to determine national healthcare policy.
Like himself, Trump has chosen at least eight billionaires to determine how our government shall work in the future. If Project 2025 is their blueprint, they will do more than shake up the establishment, as they avow. They will choke its cogs with sludge.
Ninety million people failed to cast ballots in the last election. If the government doesn’t meet their parochial needs, they see no need for the government. Or, perhaps next time, they will wait for the oligarchs to pay for their votes.
“Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.” That sentiment once tugged at our hearts but seems to have fallen out of favor. If that is true, I abandon hope for the nation’s future. Instead, out of desperation, I offer a modest proposal. Let us agree that in succeeding elections no citizen of this country shall be allowed to vote. We will assign that privilege to our immigrants. They, at least, know the value of democracy and the rule of law.
Note: Boycott Tesla
