A Country Divided Cannot Stand

A Country Divided Cannot Stand

Over the last couple years, when our society, and Western civilization in general, has been declining too rapidly for my comfort, but still, not fast enough to wake up the broader masses to the insanity of it all, I’ve been stuck waiting in a purgatory of sorts filled with dread, impending doom, and a fear of total disaster that has only been mitigated by a resilient hope that something unexpected and massive would occur in the 2018 Midterm Elections that would set the ship right again.  Unfortunately, my over-optimism was misplaced and today has not been such a good one, but as the results sink in, it’s not as bad as it could’ve been either and, barring a total meltdown to anarchy, the stage is set for further advances.

In all honesty, the election went the way most pollsters called it, with the House changing hands to the Democrats (picking up 30-40 seats) and the Republicans picking up a few seats in the Senate.  However, after the troubling last two years of the Trump presidency and such a divisive GOP campaign centered on racism, hatred, division, voter suppression, endless dishonestly and outright lying, I had thought the polls would break hard to the left and that the Senate was in play, which is where my initial depression is rooted. 

At this moment, the Dems have taken 223 seats in the House, while the Republicans have 199 with 13 races still outstanding that should largely go to the Dems as well.  The Senate is 53-45 with a few races still too close to call and the Dems did manage to secure some key governorships, including Wisconsin and Kansas, so there is some light to cling to, but I keep asking myself how America has become such an angry and divided country where facts, honesty, goodwill towards others, science and righteous leadership do not mean anything.     

Today, Trump held a news conference where he claimed a “great victory” in the midterms that “defied history”, but he was just as angry and deranged as usual.  It is a scary thing to behold.  Trump offered to work with the Democrats in the House to find some common ground, but then, in the same breath, said only if they do not use their oversight powers to investigate him and his administration.  He then threatened that if they do investigate, he will have the DoJ investigate them.  It’s so Mickey Mouse, it’s ridiculous that this is the state of US politics and government.

Of course, we need to honestly investigate and provide the check and balance on the Executive branch as the Constitution envisions the House to do.  No more rubber stamping, which is what congresses do in authoritarian states.  We won’t be losing much of an opportunity to get anything legislatively done, as with annual deficits of around $1 trillion for the foreseeable future, there isn’t much funding available without raising taxes, which the GOP will not do.  Also, we are in a war for the soul of our country and with so much blatant corruption in this administration, there is a lot of low hanging fruit that we need to take- violations of the Emoluments Clause is an obvious place to start, as is Russia interference, money laundering of the Trump Organization, Zinke, Pruitt, countless Hatch Act violations, nonsecure Iphone use, spilling classified secrets to the Russians, and so much more.  

Also today, Attorney General Jeff Sessions resigned at the behest of the president and his acting replacement has been on the record for over a year saying that the Mueller investigation is a witch hunt that should be reined in with its budget cut to the point where it will have no choice but to come to a halt.  I think the chances of this happening in some form are quite high, so the Dems will need to immediately put the pieces back together and ensure this investigation has the resources (and protection) to come to its rightful conclusion when they take the House in January, but of course, this will delay everything even further (barring some major indictments and reports that may come out over the near term).  

Now that I’ve digested everything, there is some good news.  As we start honestly investigating this administration in 2019 when the new Congress comes to office, the massive tax cuts that juiced the economy in 2018 will have largely faded and with higher inflation from the tariff war with China still being felt, sentiment toward the president will continue to be low and falling. This will give the Dems more support from the electorate to investigate.  From these investigations, and the Mueller report (whenever it is issued), a strong case will likely emerge that should undermine the President and the GOP in the next election cycle and, if we can put up another batch of good candidates and a young, dynamic presidential contender, we should be able to take the White House, the Senate and add to our House majority, which could finally allow the country to take some serious steps in the right direction and reform our system for the better.  

As Lincoln said, “a house divided against itself, cannot stand.  I believe this government cannot endure permanently…I do not expect the house to fall- but I do expect it will cease to be divided.  It will become all one thing or all the other.”   This rationale is relevant again today.  The Left has the numbers and we will overcome and rid our politics of this pestilence eating away at our values, morals, ethics and democracy.   We will continue to fight onward and upward! 

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