One of the great achievements of free society in a stable democracy is that many people, for much of the time, need not think about politics at all. The president of a free country may dominate the news cycle many days — but he is not omnipresent — and because we live under the rule of law, we can afford to turn the news off at times. A free society means being free of those who rule over you — to do the things you care about, your passions, your pastimes, your loves — to exult in that blessed space where politics doesn’t intervene. In that sense, it seems to me, we already live in a country with markedly less freedom than we did a month ago. It’s less like living in a democracy than being a child trapped in a house where there is an abusive and unpredictable father, who will brook no reason, respect no counter-argument, admit no error, and always, always up the ante until catastrophe inevitably strikes. This is what I mean by the idea that we are living through an emergency.
The Madness of King Donald
There has been no other time in my life when I have been so absorbed in the news. I am also communicating with my Representative and my Senators more often, which is good. But this long news cycle is dominating my life. I used to get lost in novels, my favorite pastime since childhood. But now it’s all I can do to keep up with the international dismantling of civilization by populist hucksters. This shit is tedious. The War of the Five Kings had better dialogue!
I don’t want to complain too much. I’m not living with hyperinflation or literal civil war. But I am watching tragic stupidity ruin our politics and institutions, and I can’t look away. If I have to be obsessed, I must do everything I can to help the Democrats, and they must know — you are the hope of this nation. Ain’t no fucking around. We are day and night consumed with worry and we need a party that works for us.
