Zombie Democracy

The walking dead are destroying our future

Night of the Living Dead, the famous campy 1968 classic horror flick, actress, Judith O'Dea. The horror we face now is real, sorry.

There are numerous ways to be dead when appearing to be alive. Lust for power can make you dead. Lust for wealth can make you dead. Arrogance can make you dead. Ignorance can make you dead. Fear of others, their skin, their religious beliefs, their sexual orientation can make you dead. It can also provide excuses to kill them. Just ask Bibi.

Trump is a convicted felon now. So what? It still breathes and walks, it can still be elected even though it’s dead.

This country is broken. Let me be clear, it has always been broken. Greed, racism, and insatiable sociopaths have always been part of the structure, and there are ample examples of the same in countries the world over throughout recorded history. The concept and practice of democracy is incredibly rare, and it has never achieved its potential. Brute rule is generally the rule.

American freedom is in direct proportion to what you can buy. It has nothing to do with justice or the common good.

Brute rule requires two elements forever imbued in human nature, ignorance and greed. When we’re lucky, very lucky, we get humane leadership. FDR comes to mind, one of our rare great presidents, but uncommon because the very desire for power attracts the ruthless, and those that wish to do good are forced to compromise. This is why everything becomes an inexorable drive to the bottom. Our great victories, such as civil rights and creation of the EPA are forever under attack and undermined, our basic human rights for equality and a healthy environment through myriad of laws written for power and greasy palms. Every victory needs to be fought for over and over.

When I was a bright-eyed little boy, I believed in our democracy. I was taught we were making strides for a better future. How ridiculously naive that belief was.

Today, we have a new class of robber barons who foist their vision on us without asking for permission, using us as labor that reduces our lives to data points. Lincoln’s government “for the people, by the people and of the people” exists for only a few.

Democracy depends on honor and intelligence, two characteristics overwhelmed by hordes of zombies today. There are failures on both sides of the aisle. FDR’s party has allowed the middle-class to be eviscerated, which is one of the reasons the country teeters on the brink of wide-spread violence, possibly civil war. The other side, infected by the Trump virus, is fully realized evil, some of it cloaked under AK-47 toting, self-righteous pseudo Christianity. How many traitors have been running the country in recent years? We can name names, although this list won’t be exhaustive. We have it all, from the cunning evil of Mitch McConnell, to the putrid hatred of Marjorie Taylor Greene. We have the bottomless greed of Joe Manchin, and the poster child for stupid, Lauren Boebert. We have the likely underage sex offender Matt Gaetz, and Jim Jordan, who appears to have turned his eye away while creepy doctor Larry Nassar sexually abused dozens of young women gymnasts. We have J.D. Vance, the hillbilly turned right-wing dirt bag, Rick Scott, Tommy Turberville and billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy. We have the devout Mike Johnson who is okay hooking up with a common greasy hustler, who sells cheap Bibles, gold sneakers, and superhero trading cards with his corpulent likeness on them.

This is freedom American style.

American freedom is in direct proportion to what you can buy. It has nothing to do with justice or the common good.

Did you ask for AI? I didn’t. Do you believe spending hundreds of billions of dollars to fly to Mars is more important than spending money to avert the climate change disaster now well under way? I don’t.

While there are honorable people, in the context of the system as a whole honor never existed. It was founded on the extermination of Native Americans and built on the slavery of Africans, half of whom died packed into the suffocating holds of diseased wooden ships. What chance did we have with that kind of foundation? The system corrupts our air and water, our food, in turn sickening our minds and bodies which are turned into centers of profit.

The system gave rise to the robber barons of the 19th century, in odious partnership with politicians to destroy lives and cultures for profit, land, water and habitat, from the shores of the east coast to the shores of the west coast. Now we have the 6th Great Extinction under way. Remember when bugs hit your windshield? I do, barely. We exterminate everything from the mighty rhinoceros to the pollinators we depend on for our food.

That’s our superpower.

Today, we have a new class of robber barons who foist their vision on us without asking for permission, using us as labor that reduces our lives to data points. Lincoln’s government “for the people, by the people and of the people” exists for only a few. They brainwash us 24/7 to consume what kills us. Go ahead, eat a Whopper. Have three. Have it your way. Big pharma appreciates your efforts. There are meds to be sold and yachts to be bought. To achieve their ends and increase their wealth the big zombies work tirelessly, or rather their well-paid teams of mini zombies work tirelessly, for the big zombies work not at all, they just fly on private jets to secretive meetings in exotic locations to determine our fates and plot our servitude in this system of self-destruction. A return to outright slavery would be best, don’t you think?

Did you ask for AI? I didn’t. Do you believe spending hundreds of billions of dollars to fly to Mars is more important than spending money to avert the climate change disaster now well under way? I don’t. Do you think it’s cool that eight men possess more wealth than nearly half the population on the planet?

We are now in a situation now where corruption and stupidity no longer mean the end of a civilization here or there. This is a planetary scale event rolling out before our eyes. It’s a bottom to top problem, but perhaps most disturbingly, our supposed leaders at the top are often as stupid as this guy.

Fucking moron trying to make America great again. Photo credit, Getty Images

We have a Supreme Court “justice” who flies his flag upside down then blames his wife, and another that has accepted private jet travel and luxury vacations from a billionaire, Harlan Crow for decades, married to a woman who is a far-right activist, and member of The Heritage Foundation whose Project 2025 (recommended reading from lawyer and journalist Jay Kuo) amounts to a 900 page planned authoritarian takeover of government. If it comes to pass, it will destroy civil protections, remove environmental protections, and get people like me locked up for calling it out. Ginni Thomas is also the founder of Liberty Central, of which billionaire Leonard Leo is a member, supporter of dear hubby Clarence, and a chief architect of filling the Supreme Court with conservative political activist judges including Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.

If you’re like me, you aren’t celebrating Trump’s 34-count felony conviction. If anything, the entire, slow motion proceeding since this ignorant psychopath incited an insurrection on live television has been a horror movie. It has shown what a mockery our legal system is if you have wealth and power.

The conservatives have been losing for a long time now. It’s only through rampant gerrymandering that they have any voice in government at all. Yet here we are, let’s give them their due. Their agenda is deeply unpopular, and people like viking guy only support them because the Democrats have failed the middle class, and he and his kind have been brainwashed by people like Trump’s Medal of Freedom recipient Rush Limbaugh, and peddlers of propaganda for profit like Rupert Murdock and Alex Jones.

The conservatives have already overturned Roe v. Wade. They’re coming for birth control, too. Their agenda looks like this:

• Establish Christian Nationalism, eliminate separation of church and state

• Promote further voter suppression

• Eliminate all gun laws

• Lock up political opponents

• Eliminate Social Security and Medicare to enable more tax cuts for the rich

• Repeal the Affordable Care Act

• Outlaw abortion under ANY circumstances, and punish women who manage to get one

• Eliminate the LGBTQ community

• Deport all undocumented immigrants, or just kill ‘em if you’re so inclined, razor wire in the Rio Grande, anyone?

This is all happening at a time when humanity is facing its most existential threat, global warming caused climate change. Never have we needed to be more united in the fight against a common enemy. In American parlance, it’s time to “circle the wagons.” Fight now, for soon it will be too late to fight and have a chance to win. Trump and the far-right are a minority, and they must be stopped. We have the numbers. I’m sticking my neck on the line with writing like this should these people come to power. Please support me and protect all those, and what you love.