This quote has been running through my head in distracted fashion, snippets of the quote echoing in the crevices of my mind. And it gets me to thinking about what has been happening in this country. I’m seeing our nation unravel from “is” back to “are” again. My nuclear family lives in Texas now. I still have extended family here in California, and the relationships we have are strained, though not as frayed as the relationships between other families.
We live in such a tribal time now. I was so very wrong about the last election, and the expectations I had of the Biden Administration. I thought, naively, that the Biden Admin would be kept in check because the Republicans would hold the senate, and act as a check on the President. I thought that Biden’s perceived moderate nature and establishment would somehow resist the pull of the various progressive and authoritarian forces that had coalesced against Donald Trump. But I was unfortunately wrong.
And when I try to tell people my concerns about the blasting away of our freedoms and liberties, I get more resistance and insulated responses from folks who genuinely believe that everything is fine and that the current administration is, in objective terms, very damaging to the country.
I look around at my life, and this is what I am seeing. My family’s favorite restaurant has had to close for a week because they were so short staffed. Gas in my neighborhood is over $4.00 per gallon. The grocery store is regularly out of food. When I go to eat out, my total is routinely $12-$20+ for my food alone that only a couple years ago was under $10 a plate. The electricity bills are higher, lumber to do housing projects costs twice as much as a year ago, and my searches for apartments shows that studio apartments cost over $1000 a month. Life is getting harder to live here in the Golden State.
I am managing. I don’t go out as often. I’m cooking more at home. I’m finding cheaper alternatives when I do go out. I postpone projects so I can save up for them and pay cash. I’m trying to pay off my debts as best as I can. But I ask myself, is this really what people voted for?
And in my mind, I think that those who voted against Trump, and that accounts for millions of people, the answer is no. I don’t think people voted for record inflation, thousands of Americans potentially getting stranded in Afghanistan, food shortages further complicated by massive spending and enhanced unemployment benefits, a never-ending and ever shifting stance on the latest variant of a virus, and a corporate oligarchy that increasingly requires you to tow the line in order to use their services.
Many people love their small businesses, but as the economy spirals and our currency gets spent into oblivion, the only things that can survive are those large corporations, regulated by and beholden to the state. It would be heartbreaking for my family’s favorite Italian restaurant to go under, but they are a small business in an increasingly corporate world.
I think that people, particularly those who voted for Biden, deeply long for safety, and the sense that the government is “doing something” about the myriad of problems facing us today. I just don’t believe that they’ve thought long term about the alternatives and consequences, and who they hurt along the way.
A Place 4Politics 