Descent Into Madness

An election postmortem

Photo by Volkan Olmez from Unsplash

Yesterday, I was without words for the election results. Today, I think I have found them. Perhaps the biggest question for most of us is how did America come to this? Thankfully, a comment from a new reader focused my thoughts.

Rachel suggested that perhaps collectively we deserve this. I have a friend who expressed the same as I made the case for her to vote for Harris in one of the swing states. However, I will argue we don’t collectively deserve this outcome. The pain should be felt by the ones who drove us here.

America has always been a violent, racist country, little wonder, being built on slavery and genocide, spawn of the brutal British Empire. Our war for independence was no romantic story about a fight for freedom and justice. It was a revolt against a king not playing nice with his colonists. Some were fleeing religious persecution, but many were here to get rich. They had no compunction about murdering the indigenous people who saved them from starving in their first winter on these shores.

From an article I wrote in the spring of 2023, Imagine an Earth First Policy:

The birth of America was of course a commercial venture. The first colony, Jamestown, Virginia, was founded by the royal charter of King James I. The London Company was granted territory from Cape Fear to Long Island Sound in the interest of its shareholders, who sought to increase their wealth by exploiting the New World’s seemingly endless natural resources. Colonizing North America to enrich the British Empire was the plan.

Never mind that there were already people living here.

Jamestown was the beginning of a gruesome disaster for native people, who preceded the invaders by twelve thousand years. In the winter of 1609-1610, the under prepared colonists experienced the “starving time” in which they resorted to cannibalism. Five hundred died, only sixty survived. Some fled to the Indians, where they were fed. That following summer, when the defectors were retrieved, Chief Powhatan was deemed to be, “prowde and disdaynefull.”

In retaliation, the English attacked an Indian village, killed fifteen or sixteen people, burned their homes to the ground, chopped the corn down, and abducted the queen and her children in boats. The children were thrown overboard, and the soldiers enjoyed “shoteinge owtt their Braynes” in the water. The queen was later stabbed to death.

Apparently, these policies were good for commerce.

This country has always been racist and tense. The basics are well known. Native Americans were slaughtered, the survivors driven across the land to reservations, their resources stolen. Texas was annexed in 1845 from the brown people of Mexico under the newly invented guise of “Manifest Destiny” which argued we have moral virtue, and a divine right to that destiny. Through this time and well before, Africans were packed into the holds of dank, leaking ships for weeks long voyages across the Atlantic Ocean. The fifty percent that survived disease outbreaks from these barbaric conditions were sold as if animals. Eventually, slavery ripped families apart in the Civil War. The emancipation of blacks led to the Jim Crow laws in the south not overturned until 1965. Even the obvious intelligence and eloquence of Frederick Douglass couldn’t stamp out vile racist theories revolving around skull measurements. This brief indictment is of a nation regarded as second rate power until the end of WWII, when the devastation of Europe led to our preeminence world. To understand what happened on November 5, we must consider history.

This map illustrates the devastating extent of the transatlantic slave trade from the 16th century to the 19th century. It’s worth studying for the stunning numbers. Source: University of Pittsburgh Library System

There are numerous fingers we can point for the outcome of this election. We can suspect racial and gender bias, although I don’t think that was nearly the biggest issue. Biden should have gotten out of the way sooner to allow for a primary process. Like Hillary Clinton in 2016, we didn’t get a choice. Sure, we had a primary that year, but it was apparent the Democrats foolishly preordained Hillary, and worked against Bernie Sanders’s populist campaign that would have played well with many of Trump’s eventual voters. The party chose to ignore the baggage she carried, and when she used the word “deplorables” it was a stunningly arrogant and stupid gaffe. It demonstrated of how insular, elitist and deplorable both parties have become, completely out of touch and indifferent to average Americans. However, the biggest issue that doomed Harris was her association with the horrifying, continuing genocide in Gaza only made possible by US weapons. She failed to properly address the stench of tiny dead children blown to bits, rotting in the rubble, probably from fear of pissing off the mighty AIPAC lobby. Her language on the subject was tepid.

There are numerous other reasons. Rupert Murdoch’s heinous FOX News and NY Post have undermined national unity with their constant stream of lies for decades. Putrid far-right sites such as Breitbart, Newsmax and Alex Jones’ InfoWars have done the same. Billionaire owned social media, twists algorithms for addiction and profit, not the protection of democracy. Elon Musk turned once useful Twitter into a cesspool of lies and trolls, amplifying his voice and disappearing others. Certain content isn’t allowed on these sites, and quickly removed, such as most of my articles, which oh, so sorry, may not flatter billionaires, while Russian disinformation and bots proliferate. Congress has been conspicuously absent in addressing these issues. Instead, we get occasional dog and pony shows where the January 6 fist pumping insurrection supporting luminary Josh Hawley can grandstand for the cameras. Putting Mark Zuckerberg and similar in front of our vigilant, concerned, erudite leaders with no punitive measures is at least a great look, and that’s the best we can expect these days. Hey, if your child is harassed by sexual predators, hooked by addictive features and plagued by suicidal thoughts, eating disorders, bullying and unrealistic beauty standards from cynically engineered Facebook, Meta, whatever, all you have to do is apologize to get back to business.

Zuckerberg stood, turned away from his microphone and the senators, and directly addressed the parents in the gallery.

“I’m sorry for everything you have all been through. No one should go through the things that your families have suffered,” he said, adding that Meta continues to invest and work on “industry-wide efforts” to protect children.

Aww, thank you, Markie.

A vigilant, erudite leader at work during a presidential address.

Let’s talk about the present

Up to this point, my writing here has focused on climate change and overshoot. While there are endless issues and injustices to write about, not controlling our accelerating destruction of the Earth will undermine all other worthy efforts. We are witnessing or victims of ever more destructive storms, fires and floods costing in the tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars. A few weeks ago, we just saw the southeastern states trashed by Helene, and the Valencia region of Spain just endured similar. Each cost over 200 lives and ruined countless others forever. Meanwhile, billionaires are buying Supreme Court justices, elections and political favors, buying policy. They want you and me off this planet. That solves so much without sacrificing a single yacht. Our governments here and world over have had decades of lead time to respond to the climate disaster that is just getting under way. Do you seriously think they’re going to save you?

We haven’t seen anything yet as we fly by 1.5° C. Trump pulled out of the Paris Accords once, obviously, he will do it again. Consider this: a billionaire creates more CO2 in ninety minutes than the average person in a lifetime.

Let’s talk about the future

We blitzed over the past and grazed by the present, because what we need to focus on is the future, and I’m sorry, this has been a pretty shitty read, but hopium ain’t gonna save us. I was useless yesterday from the weight of the election outcome. Today, as you might perceive, I have a bit of an attitude. When you grow up as an undersized male and frequently the new kid on the block, you learn the only course of action when confronted with bullies is to punch bullies in the face. It’s face punching time.

You may still be grieving, and that’s okay. Take some time, then accept and embrace the job we MUST do. I want you to have an attitude, too. It’s empowering. We’re going to need a LOT of attitude. As you may perceive (I realize I have been slyly subtle to this point), I have no belief our elected leaders are going to save us, particularly the new regime whose intention is to pick our bones because they pretty much already harvested our organs. Screw that. Ultimately, we have power if we organize at the local level or contribute to a strong local, regional, national or global organization, not just as much money as we can afford, but time. Getting physically involved can lift us out of our sad haze. Being involved with other passionate fighters is rejuvenating.

There are endless worthy candidates — Greenpeace, Oxfam, ThirdAct, The Nature Conservancy — the local food bank, whatever fits your style, they all need help. We live in a society where many are reduced to GoFundMe drives to pay for medical bills. We have to save each other. Who are your favorite causes? Let’s share.

Here’s an important word: boycott. What do the billionaires want? Your money. Don’t give it to them. Don’t buy anything you don’t absolutely need.

Last I looked, Jeff Bezos had lost 250,000 readers of the Washington Post for blocking his reporters and editors from making a presidential endorsement. He was also one of the first to kiss Donald Trump’s ass after victory was announced. Boycott the shit out of Amazon and tell all your friends to do it as well. Bezos is a traitor and a thief that has destroyed countless small businesses and treats his workers like cattle. He thought going neutral on the election was his best bet. We can make him wrong. Who would you boycott?

Get your money out of fossil fuel sponsoring banks. They are the blood supply of the cancer of fossil fuels. If our corrupt politicians won’t stop Big Oil, we must.

Elon Musk’s smugness, destruction of Twitter, and ease with which he fires thousands of employees puts him firmly in the high end of heartless sociopaths. Trump intends to make him Czar of cutting government waste. Musk also has hundreds of billions of dollars in government contracts. A bit incestuous, don’t you think? Don’t buy Teslas. Virtually every one of them had to be recalled because their misleadingly named Autopilot system is dangerous. And people, these vehicles aren’t green. Read my article about lithium mining here. It’s eye-opening. It takes 500,000 gallons of water to produce one ton of lithium ore. Not only is mining always environmentally disastrous, it competes with drinking and agricultural water in regions experiencing record climate change driven drought, and tramples over indigenous people’s culture yet again. The mines at Thacker Pass, Nevada, are literally being dug in an area where their ancestors massacred by the Union army are buried.

Last suggestion for now (this has been a twelve-hour effort) try cutting down on beef. It’s tasty — I used to love a rare peppercorn steak, but cattle grazing is the biggest contributor to deforestation of the Amazon and the largest emitter of GHGs in agriculture by far from the methane from the cows, and CO2 from the myriad industrial processes. I haven’t eaten beef in fifteen years and learned not to miss it. It’s seriously doable.

Okay, I’m lecturing now, not good, so I’ll stop. Thank you for reading, please share your thoughts. They mean much.