[N.B.: Lemmings, are a species of short-tail rodents that assemble for mass migration, and develop some kind of compulsion and, carried along by such unreasoning compulsion, or mass hysteria, fall into step for a march, that will take them to a strange destiny; they are victims of obsessive thought, e.g., “move on, move on,”…. then, reach a precipice, and go over.]
Our Nation has, by and large, enjoyed a two-party political system, each party, customarily and usefully, in mutual contention on controversial issues such as, fiscal and public policy, citizen rights, the extent of governmental participatory responsibility in the commercial and private arenas, and a virtual myriad of presenting subjects, both domestic and foreign. Such relationship of contention, as originally conceived, salubriously, assures necessary consideration and balancing of the equities. Moreover, consistent with the intended dynamics of representative democracy, it, significantly, affords to the citizen by use of his voting franchise, the opportunity to weigh in on legislative and executive policy.
Despite discrete historic episodes of hiccoughs and temporary roadblocks, the American Nation has been, discernably, successful in its slow, but continuous, progress towards its avowed aspiration of true and universal equality; such democratic goal, however, eternally hobbled by a portion [“underbelly”] of its citizens, clinging, like mindless lichen, to their atavistic prejudices.
Such slow, but steady advance, was road blocked, by the surprise elevation to the American Presidency, of Donald J. Trump; the latter, a demagogic snake oil vendor, and the perverse darling of the Nation’s underbelly. Demonstrably incapable and corrupt as an executive, he is a former part-time host, of a second-rate television game show, and widely reputed full-time real estate grifter. In view of his ignorance, egotistic self-promotion and overt rejection of mainstream standards of morality and decency, it is difficult to conger up rational reasons for his bizarre elevation to the venerable, Oval Office; the exceptions, being the eternally discontented “underbelly” and the financing by certain air- polluting industries, which, sociopathically, value profits over human health.
Trump’s first [and only] four-year term, in addition to attaining the singular distinction, of two Congressional Impeachments, proved to be a National disaster, domestically and internationally, by reason of his colossal ignorance, serial mendacity, and empirical incapability. It resulted in a major loss of American prestige, an exponential increase in National divisiveness, [to the point of development of insular cults in mutual tribal conflict] and a stalemate in racial justice, the latter, affected by his public encouragement of America’s Christian White Supremacy Groups. His autocratic attack on newspapers and the media and on the existence of factual truth [“alt. facts”] were frighteningly analogous to the perverse tactics employed by fascistic Hitler and Mussolini.
Trump’s most impactful autocratic program, was his “Big Lie,” viz., his false claim of election theft conspiracy, relative to his election defeat for a desired second term. This ploy was no less than catalytic for his tribal, compliant, cult, and the lemming-like, right-wing asylum, of delusional conspiracy mongers, leading to their notorious and shameful, violent insurrection at the Capitol Building.
The pathological falsity and effect of Trump’s delusional charge [The Big Lie”] of election tampering were metastasized by various State [Trump- Majority] Legislatures. Contrary to the provisions of the Constitution, they enacted legislation to eliminate or make difficult, the votes of communities of color, as their articulated, reaction to the latter’s widespread support of Biden. It is no less than maddening, to note that such actions were perversely intended to alter or distort the results of the popular vote, in an illogical and clearly, hypocritical reaction, to the [patently false] “ Big Lie” claim of unfair voter irregularities. [More bizarre, Alice-In Wonderland reality or Franz Kafka justice].
Autocratic tactics were employed, including, voter and citizen intimidation, denigration of truthful facts, in favor of those, subjectively, deemed more useful [“alternative facts”], a continuous assault on the public media, the inculcation of tactical and conspiratorial ideation, of prejudicial beliefs and bigotry, against “others,” the degradation of science and learning, and many anti-democratic, memes were validated by a large number of cultishly hypnotic followers. This has led, to the present, bizarre phenomenon of having two parties, one of which, in practical effect, supports democratic governance, and the other, essentially opposed to it. There are miscreants, who, for personal and sundry motives, effectively, plot the destruction of our democratic way of life and civil society, with the loyal support of lemming-like citizens, uniformly complying in a perilous, unaware and thoughtless trek to tragedy.
We are completely nonplussed and enormously alarmed, at the substantial number of lemming-like, thoughtless individuals, faithfully responding to the orange-haired huckster,[ analogous to the Hamlin town rodents, hypnotized by the fluted notes of the Pied Piper, or, applicably, to the tragic hypnotic attraction of the German people to demagogic Adolph Hitler in the 1930s]. Such misguided and delusional, Trump acolytes, evince tribal belief, in the false, conspiratorial allegations of Trump’s “Big Lie,” and to perceived governmental secret conspiracies of every nature, including, tiny, government installed, tracking computers in Covid vaccine, rockets sent, by laser beams, to Earth by Israel, a flourishing, left-wing, child sex enterprise, a plot to take away all gun ownership, a government plot to morph into Socialism, the control of banks by Jews, the dedicated evangelical capability of homosexuals, democratic party voter fraud, and secret plots of the Federal Government; all of which can only have their origin in Trump-inspired paranoia.
These deluded hordes of conspiracy mongers are, unsurprisingly, Trump confederates, in his autocratic, “Big Lie,” supporters of [Trump inspired], legislative interference with the vote [notably, with respect to communities of color], opponents of immigration, castigators of newspaper and other media, opponents of empirical truth, and, in contrast, supporters, of “alternative facts” and consistent with autocratic theology, staunch opponents of enlightenment, freedom of artistic expression, universal equality and the traditionally accepted criteria of democratic republicanism.
It is certain, in fact, inarguable, that the lemming is not celebrated for his predictive acumen. Should the violent anti-democratic lust, and “group think,” of the rare species, of American lemming- citizens, conceivably, be successful, they will have achieved, by such thoughtless insular tribalism, entirely altered life-styles under autocratic rule; predictably, portending a plethora of State control and a contrasting, dearth of personal liberty. Their faux “patriotic” means, for the moment, may seem to them, exciting, even inspirational, [albeit distorted and delusional], but the ends predictably, achieved would lead such “lemmings,” to the dark, unforeseen, cliff’s edge of autocratic existence.
-p.
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