Of Two Minds

Rolling Thunder rolled through DC again, for the 29th time this Memorial Day. And Trump dumped his stump lump because of course he did. I'm sorry to report I did not attend the event, and not because my bike is in the shop.

As far away from this first-hand combat experience and ensuing lifestyle as I am, I think RT got started with some good goals: raise awareness of veterans' issues, put up some money and political pressure to fix same, unite people across the country. In that regard, it qualifies as an elder, pre-Internet, grassroots movement. And that's not a bad thing.

But then it gets weird, and it all has to do with war.

As I mentioned, Trump spoke today, with some fanfare and some vets sporting "Hillary for Prison 2016" pins. Because wars are apparently desirable. Because Trump has advocated for more nuclear states (Japan and Saudi Arabia specifically), and for cutting VA and other programs that benefit vets. And, of course, for chastising POW John McCain for being weak enough to be captured.

Let's unpack this a bit. RT is supporting a candidate who would put the next generation through the same or worse horror, with the same consequences in personal and societal trauma they claim to rally against, while cutting support services to the bone or excising them altogether. In other words, everything that stands against their 29-year history.

Let me be clear: this is madness, and it is a singular example. A cognitive dissonance rings through the body politic, built upon superstition, legends, and lies promulgated by a complacent, if not corrupt, media and America is deafened by fear, blinded to the past, and numbed to the rumblings of the very fascism it claims to stand against. If you are confused by the term "fascism," and how that might differ from socialism or communism or federalism or republicanism or libertarianism, I suggest you look those up now or consult your nearest political scientist, because that's the determination we, as an apparently highly civilized and educated country, are about to make.

Election 2016: Sacrifice your interests and your values because fear and hate are rooted in your reptile brain.

And this is the test of democracy*: can it be left to the people, as misguided, uninformed, biased, and simplistic as they are, or do we trust self-styled visionaries to determine our best course? Silicon Valley, Wall Street, and Big Oil would opt for the latter, because they "create value and efficiencies" per the Free Market**. But for whom? Or do we seek a better society by correcting the above?

I am not of two minds, but of one: the free flow of information, the ability to validate it, and the mechanisms to critically analyze it are endemic to our survival as a species. It begins with education, but we are all responsible for realizing it.

* Yes, for the pedants, I understand that we live in a republic, not a democracy. Everyone else can go read the Federalist Papers.

** The free market is to economics as the perfect vacuum is to physics: it doesn't really exist, but it's a nice sandbox in which to play.