And Now We All Will Suffer

 

My letter In today's Trib Star, Nov. 23-24, 2024. Much to mourn in the 2024 election result and the post mortem analyses I have read. What is most concerning to me, however, is the refusal to face head on the problems and the crimes of racism and sexism embedded in the votes for Trump. In 1894, Frederick Douglass had this to say as he faced the realities of post-Reconstruction Black disfranchisement and segregation: " I hope and trust all will come out right in the end, but the immediate future looks dark and troubled. I cannot shut my eyes to the ugly facts before me."

_____

2024–Celebrate or lament?

Clearly it’s lament. American voters turned their backs on an experienced, qualified public servant. But . . . Harris is Black. Harris is a woman.

These realities didn’t make it into the answers of those who frown with fear and lie to questions asked by pollsters. And sure, many Trump voters saw the price of eggs each week. But do you really doubt that voting for a woman, a Black woman, meant nothing to a large sector of Trump voters? Did you see or hear of this in the instant gratification offered by reports on the polls?

These sexist and racist realities continue to be the shame of the nation. Once again what stares us all in the face, racism and sexism, was encouraged in the demeaning language of Trump’s speeches, underlined by the torn shirt spectacle of Hulk Hogan in his Republican Convention performance.

So this was an election that put a felon in the White House. Trump is a citizen who has a rap sheet of 34 convictions. He is a former public official who was twice impeached during a hodge-podge presidency. Voters’ short and self-censuring memories refused to see that four year run as one in which cabinet members and close advisors went to jail or were fired for failing to kiss the ring of the master.

Those in his administration with a backbone and self-respect resigned or worked behind the scenes to temper his hollow, self-rewarding style of governing. They recognized the incompetence and dangerousness of an executive who knew little of American history and even less about science. They warned us about his character flaws and the extreme dangers of his impulse decision making. All were appalled and disgusted with Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U. S. Capitol and our Constitution.

Sour grapes? Of course, but with a difference. It was candidate Trump who hung the demagoguery of low hanging false fruit out for justifiably confused and worried Americans to devour. And they did. And now we all will suffer the result.

Letter: These words will inform you

 

Terre Haute Tribune Star, Nov. 5, 2024

Voting today? Are you uninformed, undecided, unhappy?

These negatives are supposed to tell us why the 2024 election is razor thin close. At least this is what battalions of pollsters report with the seriousness that only numbers can supposedly express. “Margin of error” is the usual term of choice used to make this all sound scientifically irrefutable. Is any of it helpful?

Not a single voter is part of this abracadabra “margin of error” facade. In fact, not a single voter is uninformed or undecided. Polls are all a part of the horse race coverage we get every election. But those horses endlessly pounding around the election track are missing one thing. You. The jockey with the vote.

Uniformed? The so-called uninformed voter is informed by something or someone — be it a yard sign or a loud-mouth in a coffee shop. Or maybe it’s the old guy sitting at the end of the bar who voted for George Wallace in 1968. Now he’s spouting off about criminal immigrants or “garbage” Puerto Rican Americans. You are not uninformed if you sit frozen faced in front of a TV screen watching Fox. You are being informed in the way a silo works. The grain of fear and grievance is poured in, the oxygen of rounded truth is lacking, you ferment with anger.

Undecided? The undecided voter is just the citizen who votes out of confusion. This is understandable. There are tariffs and taxes, women’s rights, health care choices, gas pump prices bobbing up and down. Also, Trump’s felonies. Also, Trump’s impeachments. Also, Trump’s mental health as evidenced in his 39 minute silent, scary zombie trance dance. It’s all part of your decision-making vote.

Unhappy? Each of us is unhappy to a degree in our own, personal ways. Politically we may be unhappy with government. Do you feel government pushes you around? Waiting to cross the street on the corner of Seventh and Wabash, standing next to the stoplight, what do you hear? Is the “deep state” robbing you of your happiness, commanding you to “Wait! Wait! Wait!” when the light is red? Is this curtailing your freedom or working to keep you and your children safe and open to freedom?

Nearby, on the northwest corner of the Crossroads of America, you have the words of a great Terre Haute poet. Read his words. They will inform you, help you to make right decisions, and assure you there is much to be happy about in this world. Read Max Ehrmann’s words from “Desiderata”:

“Avoid loud and aggressive persons. They are vexations to the spirit. ...

"But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. ...

" ... many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.”

— Gary Daily

Terre Haute