It is that time again. Let’s turn back to 2647 where I considered the larger ideas that Trump reflected:
We are an impermanent culture. It is in every commercial, every holiday, heck, it is even engrained in our churches and schools. Look around you. It is more common to find a brand new church building filled with the latest tech toys than it is to find and old brick and mortar institution. Schools are racing to build themselves up in the same fashion. It is a lot like our cellphone plans where you hold on to a model for a while and then give it back when the next one comes out. Same is true of our clothing. I can’t name ten items I own that are more than a decade old. All of this new and disposableness we allow is a sort of privilege because it creates an expectation that we need the newest and hottest and we, the American people, deserve only the best.
~On Trump and Privilege (2647)
Today I drove alongside a car piloted by an older white gentleman. As he gunned his engine angrily to get in front of me, subsequently breaking to cut me off, I noticed the Declaration of Independence sticker covering his entire rear window. He isn’t original or even particularly interesting, but instead is reflective of a growing force of people of all ages who are tapping into a philosophy of American preeminence, and even above that the idea that a certain kind of American is entitled to more and entitled to the rights of leadership and majority rule. In truth, that American (and I am using the term to specifically speak of the USA here) is a minority now, but has the voice, money, and time to present as a majority. Moreover, they can further that false majority because they hold so many positions of power in the government and most Americans simply do not care or have already checked out.
Case and point, Hr.369 was recently introduced to Congress. The bill is entitled, “To provide for the elimination of the Department of Education, and for other purposes.” There is no text to the bill, but the title says a lot. I still want to know what these proposed ‘other purposes are’ but I don’t want to get lost in seeing the elimination of the DoE. Here’s the thing: when I said this was a problem back in 2647 I had no clue there would be such widespread buy in. Now it is beginning to feel like a society limping towards its final destination and that place is ultimately a darkness.