In life there are disappointments and regrets.
Disappointments are things that didn’t go our way despite our best efforts. Depending on how you see your life these can range from being stepping stones to better things to cruel twists of fate that we never forget.
Regrets are the things we didn’t or did do. Decisions we made, things we said, actions – or lack of them – we took. These are worse that disappointments because they’re things we had control over. They’re usually at the top of our “what if” list. Again, depending on how you look back at your life these can be insignificant all the way to haunting.
When you think about it, we face a lot of decisions in our lives. That’s a lot of opportunities for regrets. It’s also a lot of chances to get something right.
I’m an old man. I don’t know if I’ll still be alive when four-time indicted, twice impeached, sexual assaulter, tax fraudster, insurrection inspirer, wannabe fascist dictator, convicted felon, Russian puppet, President Donald Trump leaves office.
I don’t know how I’ll feel then if I am – assuming my cognitive abilities haven’t declined to the point where I don’t even know my name. I do know that there’ll be a lot of people who’ll live their lives in shame – probably not in their own eyes but definitely in the eyes of those who’ve watched them cave before the would-be king and abdicate their ability to at least control if not stop him altogether.
There’ll be the Republican Party, it’s historic corruption and cowardice laid bare. To be relived forever in the annals of history. They’ll be the Democrats, far too many of whom gave us soundbites and meme material while confusing their own celebrity with actually doing something of significance.
There’ll be people who did little who’ll think they did a lot. There’ll people who did a lot who curse themselves because they’ll believe they didn’t do enough.
They’ll be many – our friends, neighbors, coworkers, and perfect strangers – fully bought into the MAGA racism and lawlessness of Trump and his allies. Blinded by their own hate and held back by their own stupidity.
They’ll be as worthless then as they are now. A cancer that’s spread across our country. A malignancy that eats away at the underpinning of what was once the standard bearer of democracy in the world.
There’ll be the rich, who’ll have sucked up as much of our country’s wealth as our government’s corrupt compliance will allow. They’ll be the poor, who’ll be pushed even further into the depths of poverty if the wealthiest among us get their way.
There’ll be the middle class, still struggling too much to get ahead in a system stacked against anyone who can’t afford to buy the power and advantages that the richest among us can easily afford.
Mixed among all these groups will be us. For most of us our own lives’ consequences will be our first priority. That’s how human nature works, and there’s nothing wrong with it.
In decades past, children asked, “Daddy, what did you do during the war?” In the coming years many will ask, “What did you do when our democracy and rule of law was under attack?”
Will your answer be another regret? Here’s a simple and sad fact: We haven’t done enough.
That offends many good people with good intentions. Those who make phone calls to their legislators or have been among the millions who’ve taken part in demonstrations across the country – all very important things that should be done but that unfortunately have little impact in today’s political world.
To those who disagree I’d ask for all the efforts that have been made so far, what have they changed? What have they stopped? I’d argue very little of significance.
Trump seems destined to a large measure of self-sabotage. His stop-start-change tariffs effort is an example. A possible economic downturn would be another. So would a terrorist attack undetected by his incompetent and corrupt national security team.
We can wait for those. We can wait for the midterms, but for the life of me I don’t see how anyone can assume anything about an election that’s two years away and will certainly be the target of Republican efforts – both legal and illegal – to fix.
It’s been said here before that the next step for our citizenry must be civil disobedience and non-violent public disruption, with other options on the table after we see how those work out. Again, where is the national leadership on this? The people with the knowledge of the various pressure points we can use against GOP lawmakers?
Hyperbole? Trump has clearly shown that he has no issue with taking away our rights to free speech and due process. That the three co-equal branches of government enshrined in our constitution are meaningless to him when he ignores an order from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Isn’t this a case of desperate times calling for desperate measures? We must do more.
Someone recently commented on a Facebook post that we’re fighting the “good fight.” She was right, many people are. But the good fight isn’t a winning fight at this point, and winning this fight is the only thing that matters.
Disappointments and regrets. When we all look back at this time many will be disappointed.
It’s the level of regret that’ll decide if we have a country left or not.
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