We, The People

 Looking back on the year that is creeping toward being a memory, I have to say that I am somewhat ambivalent about seeing it go. 

On the one hand, there was the presidential election. This provided me with no small amount of stress and fatigue, even as I tried to paint a rosy picture of a future that would include our nation's first female chief executive. I let myself get excited about the possibility of driving a stake through the heart of the chief MAGAt and watching our country move on from the decade of rage and fear inspired by him. 

On the other hand, I've got a slew of private satisfactions that allow me to look into the day to day business of life with a modicum of self-assurance. I have reached a point where I can finally accept many of those things over which I have no control. Not the least of these is aging, and waiting patiently for medical science to determine that whatever ails me is just "part of growing old."

Which is what allows me to remain both incredulous and amused as I watch the Second Trumpreich stumble into 2025. I have become just a little numb to the constant barrage of "did you hear what he said yesterday," while at the same time I allow myself to be outraged within limits. Each new transgression against the American Dream for anyone who is not a billionaire reminds me that this is what we, and I'm using that pronoun very loosely, seem to want. 

Even as the edge continues to be pushed on what we have come to recognize as democracy, I maintain an old man's conviction (pardon the pun) that justice will win out. The votes that were cast for the convicted felon continue to show the United States willing to "take a chance" on the presidency not unlike buying a lottery ticket. Even though the odds are incredibly disproportionately stacked against anything that resembles prosperity trickling down past the one percent, Americans seemed to be willing to take the chance on empty and increasingly bizarre promises. 

So, I will sit here and continue to watch as someone who has already been impeached from the office fiddles while Rome burns. I will remind myself daily, if necessary, that this is what we wanted.

But there is still time to change our minds.