The Last Day of the Year, Part III: A New President

 I tell you... I don't care much to write about this  presidential election, but it is worth mentioning. So I will just write a little. And I will try to put a different spin on it. 

But I tell you, this doggone election has plucked my LAST nerves. 

And at the same time, it feels good to hear it announced when President-Elect Biden is going to give a speech, as he has been doing as of late. I stop what I'm doing and I sit down and I listen. And boy or boy it feels good to hear someone speak in complete sentences. Just to hear someone who cogent, who isn't treating this like some big comedy skit makes me hopeful. 

But Trump is still around, doing everything he can to seemingly sabotage the whole peaceful transfer of power process.  And whenever he was giving a speech over the past couple of years I was in search of my remote control so I could turn the channel. And if I couldn't do that, I would just leave the room. 

It was frustrating. I mean, I grew up watching the Presidents give speeches. This one, not so much. If he read from the teleprompter, that was fine. But the comedy schtick and the stretched truths.. no sir. Not today, Sir. I cannot.

Over the past couple of weeks, I read a book that helped me understand all the shenanigans. It has all been very confusing.  And I needed this book out in 2016.

I now have a fundamental understanding when they have been wailing on the political news shows about how this is an attempt to destroy our democracy.  After reading this book, I'm like... OH! Ok. 

Because that's what's going on. And the problem is that Trump is nowhere near as smart and savvy as these past dictators. They were tactical. They were diabolical. Our beloved president seems like he is... brooding, and just having tantrums.

These dictators had their opponents jailed, exiled or killed. They killed MILLIONS of people. If you were against whatever ish they were doing, or if they even so much as thought you were against what they were doing, you and your families and anybody that knew you were dead. Period.  Didn't matter how you died... guillotine, gunshot, set on fire, gas chambers, whatever... they got rid of folks quick, dirty and in a hurry.

Thank goodness we have a Constitution. That is saving us. These dictators got rid of their forms of the constitution AND the opposing parties. I mean, it was CRAZY.

We here in the USA appear to have some guardrails (democracy). But doggonit, we are slamming against those guardrails something awful. I want to go back to a time when the proverbial car was just kept in the middle of the road. 

But it was helpful to read that book. It was such a sad book, though. All the killing and torture was horrible. And I learned that a thirst for hunger and power is never satisfied. ALL that ish comes to a bad end. The seed sown... let's just say you eventually reap what you sow. Period.

And now I understand how the cult of personality, the "Fake news" chants, the lies and all that comes together.  Here is a list, the blueprint for establishing a dictatorship and destroying a democracy, from the book. (Source: Strongman: The Rise of Five Dictators and The Fall of Democracy by Kenneth C. Davis)

Does any of that look familiar??  Gives me the creeps, I tell you.

It was so crazy to read about Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Saddam Hussein and how similar the environments are between what is going on now and what went on back then.  It was fascinating and scary at the same time to read about. The horror the people suffered is unimaginable. But the groundwork, the silent groundwork and the buildup, was terrifying to read about. The whole emphasis on making the country great again was startling. 

Because that is what we are going through right now. 

And it's not over. Who knows what will happen on January 5th and 6th. Ugh. 

I know one thing... it is all emotionally draining. And anyone or anything that emotionally drains me on a daily basis demands further consideration as to why... and that book right there really gave me an understanding of what will happen if our democracy is thrown out the window. 

Ugh.  

Congratulations to President-Elect Joe Biden. 

He's no savior by any means, but Lord help us... we just need someone in office who will take their job seriously. No havoc, no messiness, no tweeting... just be President. 

And realize this is not a comedy or reality show. 

And just don't emotionally drain me. 

That's all that I can ask and hope for.