America's Trump Dilemma

First, please don't call him "president-elect." Maybe "presumed electoral appointee" or "Mister Trump." Thank you.

At this point his newly appointed administration seems to be comprised of beady-eyed little men, small in every sense of the word, and mean and shrewish, power-hungry soulless women, all sworn destroyers of lawful societal gains painfully acquired over the last 150 years. The distorted campaign lies are over, and the disassembly of democracy awaits January 20th to begin in earnest.

Media talking heads, news anchors, and privately owned networks are all sugar-coating the constant stream of ethical insults emanating from the fascist revolutionaries - is there no honor in this new Amerikkka?

There should be enough data to compare the 2012 vote to 2016, precinct by precinct. Then run a formula to spot anomalies. If the Democratic vote declines by (say) 10% in any jurisdiction - look for vote suppression - go out to neighborhoods and interview, look for valid voters routed to provisional ballots. Another possibility: look at the percentage of Trump votes compared to the number of registered Republicans, calculate the percentage of presumed crossover Dems and compare to historical norms - if a precinct shows a higher than average crossover, look at balloting procedures. Diebold machines preset to favor Trump, debit Hillary? Poorly designed paper ballot? Alt-right volunteers misreporting local results? What about more votes cast than the number of registered voters?

But there's no time - mere days until the "Electoral College" selects our next president. There are multiple reasons to disfavor "the Donald" - but what about the cadre he has aroused? The breadth and depth of middle US rejection of federal power, the 60+ years of fifth column propaganda from John Birch Society, Cato Institute, Koch Brothers, Rupert Murdoch etc. resulting in a potential army of rednecks, neo-Nazis, survivalists and racist cops who were poised to revolt if the pre-election polls were correct and take the "lib-tards" to task if (shudder) a Clinton should be elected again. They were readying to oppose, deny, obstruct and commit atrocities if their guy didn't win. So having won the theoretical electoral vote (by minus 2.8 million popular votes) imagine the furor, hate, vitriol and violence that would be unleashed if the present Pyrrhic victory is snatched away December 19th!

The opposed personality types and opposed philosophies involved in our country's perpetual political seesaw have borne a smoldering resentment toward each other since the first settlers hit the eastern shores of the US. This deep, inherent tension flared into horrible violence with the secession of the Confederated States. The defeat of the Southern rebellion merely marked an end to armed conflict - the enmity continues.

Perhaps God's gift of free will has doomed us to centuries of struggle - autonomous individual versus communal consciousness: "I'll get mine, you get yours" versus sharing and compassion. Planet-wide, unscrupulous seekers of wealth and power connive to achieve their own elevation, play upon our fears, create enemies that they alone are qualified to save us from. And then, due to the nature of the human mind to seek collaboration and find validation and easy answers, the manufactured scapegoat becomes agreed upon, an object of hatred and derision.

And there are other power seekers who would subvert the intentions of the Good Samaritan - play upon the sympathies and dreams of their constituency with the same goal: to control elements of destiny for personal enrichment and aggrandizement. They have no need to demean their opponents, merely shrug, condescend, suggest that if their critics were capable of logic, reason, possession of factual information, they would come around and see things differently.

The aggressive and war-like personality against the peace-loving pacifist type - ''twas ever thus." The Democrats are up against their own nature - mustn't rock the boat, be careful of the precedent you might set - we can't overturn the results of a certified election...

Well. (that's a Jack Benny "well!")

The Democrats and the nation are damned if you do, damned if you don't. Accept the tarnished folly of 2016's unprecedentedly puerile election process, accept the subterfuge of innuendo, voter suppression, foreign interference and disingenuous FBI complicity - or risk civil unrest, perpetual legislative gridlock and a cementing of the divide between conservative and liberal factions should enough "faithless electors" be found.

Most likely we will hand the keys to the corporate fascists. The new regime will up the ante, betray us all, accelerate the transfer of wealth to the few controlling families. And they will concentrate most of their destructive power against their perceived enemies: those who are college educated, liberated females, artists, people of color, those who won't turn against familial and community mores to support the new orthodoxy. And there will be collateral damage to the underprivileged who misread the import of the struggle and voted for the red hat. When the jobs don't return, when their friends and relatives lose their health care, can't afford to rent a home, let alone buy, when interest rates go up, taxes increase, the invisible rich will get invisibly richer and the right wing media will convince the beleaguered masses that their increased woes are due to the prior policies of the Clintons and Obamas.

And there will be warfare, for war means money for munitions manufacturers and purveyors of petrol - war will rally the populace to face external problems and ignore the domestic transgressions of the new conservative fascist ruling elite.

This is such a tragic juncture. If we embrace the Trump governance our lot may very well be a surveillance state, loss of personal liberties, continued economic collapse of our households, and we will be sold devastating popular wars in the guise of patriotism.

If we manage to refute the machinations of the RNC - their vote suppression and Koch inspired statistical analysis that led to leveraging the electoral vote - if we convince the Electoral College to bar the door against the demagogue in accord with Hamiltonian principles and the original intent of the electoral college, then we risk revolt and the possibility of a second Civil War.

Personally, I have no appetite for war external or internal. But having been born to this planet Earth I am forced to witness all manner of atrocity. And having lived some 73 years at this writing - I can't speak for you - but I know this for myself: when the end draws near, all one has left is one's personal integrity. The weight of conscience dooming your spirit/soul to rebirth, to do it all again and try to get it right the next time - or the knowledge of living an honorable life, setting oneself free to rejoin the pool of Godliness - unless you choose (for some crazy reason, like too much altruism?) to come back and help those in this sphere who remain ethically challenged - and there are many.

So, no matter what lies ahead, do what you know is right. Speak when you encounter ignorance. Refuse to accept that which is unfair or immoral. Don't remain passive when learning of distant atrocities - it was the silence of the "good Germans" that doomed those forced to wear the Jewish star and the pink triangle.

The economic disasters of 2007-2008 have been somewhat mitigated and while we achieved a post-meltdown equilibrium that has been less than idyllic - the stable economy and low interest rates of the past four or five years are soon to become the "good old days."

While "divine guidance" is an imperfect and human way of describing a marvelous and righteous serendipity of events, that phrase was indeed employed to describe the improbable victory of the Colonies in our war of Independence, and the confluence of great ideas that came together in the form of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. In the trying times ahead it would do us all well to go back and study the writings and philosophies that formed our great nation.

I fear the effect of the dark forces latent in the American psyche, now unleashed by the machinations of those who call themselves "conservative." They seem hell-bent on destruction rather than conservation. We are at an impasse with opposing points of view, both sides seeking to educate - or punish - the other. The larger spectacle will play out as it will. The forces are already in motion. At this juncture all that is left for the individual is "to thine own self be true."

And for God's sake - don't be silent.         Federalist Paper no. 68