About Last Night...
Hello friends. I didn’t get much sleep last night. You know why, I’m sure.
As you can see by the title of this blog, yes… I am going to discuss the election results. I know folks come here to be distracted from the events of the world and I am here to inform, entertain and dwell in the positive things, plus discuss my work. However this election was most likely the most important election in my lifetime, so I must react to it. I’m sure my art will reflect that sentiment as well. Cause good honest art reflects messages from the artist to the observer in whatever form it takes. A painting, a song, a movie, a blog… Any art at all. So please forgive me this one blog that lacks proper distraction. If you don’t wanna hear about it anymore, I completely understand, and you are welcome to motor and we’ll go back to regularly scheduled programming from this point out. I don’t intend my site to be a place where I rant and rave. But please, indulge me my moment here to exercise my own free speech. You’re welcome to disagree but do it on your own blog. (sigh) Here it goes…
He did it. He swindled you. Again. The great con is still on. Congrats. You “won.” What did you “win” exactly? We’ll see. I hope I am wrong, and things turn out great for everyone and there’s rainbows and lollipops and kisses for everyone. And the price of gas and eggs will go down and we would all be in happy peace. But my magic eight ball says that I would be a stark raving loon to think that. Cause it won’t. Why? Because we’re stupid. Stone stick stupid. And we deserve all the shit that is about to happen to us.
I wanted to believe that there weren’t so many racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, hate filled, pure dumb blind luck stupid human beings in this country. I completely missed the mark on that one. We’ve now made our bed and now we will toss and turn with regrets on this moment as time goes on, I assure you. They don’t care about his lies. They don’t care about his crimes. They don’t care that he’s a moron. He makes their hate okay. He gives them permission to be terrible, and that’s enough for them. Now their cruelty will be rewarded.
Am I wrong? What did I miss? The man was the most corrupt, morally bankrupt, hate filled evil thug who ever sat in office (and against NIXON that is saying something). And when he got voted out, he staged a coup. Then he stole national secrets and sold the ones he didn’t store in his own bathroom. He was convicted of fraud, found liable of multiple sexual assaults, a proven adulterer, a proven repeated narcissistic liar, convicted of 34 felonies. He’s in a half billion dollars of debt and is the biggest national security risk to our nation… hell to the world!
But at least he’s not a minority woman.
That’s what it comes down to. We weren’t ready. People fear the unfamiliar or any sort of perceived “change” to quo. Am I over selling it? I’m sure we’re not just disappointed in the outcome but now we are also terrified that democracy will die and our hard-fought freedoms will be torn away. Make no mistake. This will have global ramifications. Personal ramifications. You ain’t seen nothing yet. The world you felt safe and comfortable in is now about to completely change. And it’s your fault. Cause the price of your eggs was too high? Sold your soul, eh? Hope you got a good price for it. We’ll see. We’ll see. You’ve screwed over all those who are in the way of course. That’s on you. If you have any shred of decency or empathy in you, you will one day open your eyes and see that.
With this decision, we enable him and his behavior. For entertainment. For sport. There is no justice to arrive to. We just don’t care anymore about morality or sanity. We just don’t. That to me, is the saddest part.
I also blame the media. They selectively buried real stories and expected everyone to forget them all in the sake of ratings. Their silence wasn’t just an oversight. It was complacent. It’s now up to us to remember and act and push back on the selective memory and keep those discoveries in the public knowledge and conscience. Accountability must be maintained. True journalism is dead. The TRUTH is dead. We simply don’t care.
For me, I continue to have no faith in Americans. Not since oh about, 1980. Probably even before that. Look what we were founded upon and by whom. And what we are now becoming. I essentially for my own sanity and peace just need to throw in the towel. My generation just doesn’t get it. So, I am just gonna go sit at the evolutionary ladder. Maybe ya’ll will catch up. I’ll wait for you. Cause I know we as human beings can reach it. Not today, sadly. But we will. Hope always springs eternal. Maybe we can learn from this moment and pass the ball to the next generation for the layup.
Okay, now you’re thinking “Cry your liberal tears, snowflake!” Rubbing the “win” in the face for how I think and feel about this. Let me tell you something my friend… had this went the other way, I wouldn’t have rubbed it in yours. I woulda leaned back in my chair with a sigh of relief, like Admiral Ackbar in Return of the Jedi. Taken the W and kept believing in Americans. I wouldn’t have fought with you or treated you any differently. That’s the difference between you and me. Personally, I’m fine. I am just one middle aged guy. I cannot fix the world. The only thing I can do is take care of my own back porch. Take care of those around me locally. Friends and total strangers who need me, REGARDLESS of who they supported. Cause I can matter in their lives. That’s where the real progress will be. And I believe I probably will never again vote in any national election and only vote local if at all. Cause fuck it. We’re morons here. Stone stupid with the brains of an artichoke. It is no wonder why there is a lack of education in this country. That’s why there is such a push to weaken education programs, ban books, outlaw the teaching of cultural history. We can’t take care of each other or even care to think to do such a thing. To take care of our neighbors or those less fortunate than us. Nah, that would be something CHRIST would do. So rub it in. You “win.” The price of your eggs and your gasoline was worth the soul of our democracy, the freedom of women’s rights, trans rights, actual lives that hang in the balance, freedom of speech, freedom of actual thought, and your own personal scruples and morality. Sleep tight.
Yes, I give up on big voting. I’m done with the team mentality. I gotta quit caring cause it just leads me to more hurt and anger, coupled with sadness and pity for those that will be directly affected by the things to come. The anger from those who differ with my viewpoints can be so strong. I have been called names, judged, deleted as a friend and more. I NEVER did that to anyone who opposed mine. I have friends that lean toward the other side and I think of them no less at all. I didn’t end any friendships or delete them on socials or called them names or made assumptions about them. Again, that’s the difference. I thought we were evolving. I thought we pulled back the curtain of darkness just enough to know what we need to rise collectively against. I was wrong. Dead wrong.
I only care about caring local only. That’s what I am doing from this point forward. I’ve voted in my last national election. I’m out. I’m playing another game. Survival. Taking care of those in the way of this moment.
As Henry Rollins said in 2016: “This is not a time to be dismayed, this is punk rock time. This is what Joe Strummer trained you for. It is now time to go. You’re a good person. That means more now than ever. ‘Cause, as a voter, you throw your penny and you throw it in the sea, that’s all a vote is, it’s like nothing, you don’t even hear it fall. But you can be thunderous in your own life, and being cool to the eight people around you? It rubs off. Goodness is viral.”
So, I got your back. I’m here for you. But on the world, belief in this country… I’m out. No more news scrolls. No more newspaper headlines. I’m out. Because they don’t care about us. Never have, never will. That’s what you “won.” Enjoy it.
Now comes the “if you don’t like America you can get out!” Well, notice how above I said AMERICANS, not AMERICA. Cause I still believe in the potential of the place and the dream. The people, right now… not so much. Perhaps that can change after we do indeed hit the rock bottom, wherever dark place that will take us. But for now, I am happy to live here and be here with you. Cause you need me. And I will pay Caeser’s laws to Caeser. I still will earn my place and my pay. I will take care of my kids and fulfill my obligations. I don’t tuck and run. Like a rabid dog I just don’t go down. And I’m one of the good guys. You need me. I’ll catch you when you fall. Count on it. I don’t give up hope. When and if you wake up and realize what you have allowed to happen, I’ll still be here with open arms. Truth is you need us. And while we are indeed “stupid” at this moment, we can learn and grow.
We can grow from this. It don’t seem like it now, but we will. Faith. And hope.
Hope springs enteral. Always. It’s the one thing that is undefeated.
Thanks for reading. Onward and upward! -T
(steps off of soapbox. Back to drawing comic books alone in the quiet. I’m leaving the table. I’m out of the game.)
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