The plague that is upon us
In 14th century Europe during the black plague, devotion to a god once thought by followers to be their servant turned to devotion to another god thought to be more serviceable. To a god whose intentions seemed a better fit with the times – Satan. The god now installed at the head of the Republican party may or may not be Satan. But to his cult he certainly seems to be a better fit with the times. Not with COVID since they apparently welcome it, but with democracy that fails to deliver what they demand of it: entitlement. Always winning.
If the risks of Creation into the unknown and the Child’s free will that measures its Worth interfere, then the authoritarian is done with it. No more pretense of unity. No more pretense of free will, the Child, the Logic of governance, or democracy. The lord and master of the Republican party is Parent: the supremacy of the absolute. No more questioning. No more accommodating or reconciling. No more Creation either, because evolution – change – is the enemy. Things under the absolute, under Parent, must be fine just the way they are.
These are the times ruled by 14th century Europe’s black plague and its devil worshippers. The times about to be ruled today not by COVID but by another plague. The plague of Republicans – “conservatives” – who enable the Joker at their head. Authoritarians who not only condone but support his crimes. The affront to democracy and to everyone who loves democracy. Who serve it in their everyday lives, fight to preserve it, and depend on it.
There is only Logic. There is only Democracy
If one protests the dismantling of democracy with an attempt to understand its philosophical and psychological roots, how is that an affront? The affront to all of us is the wrong being done by the politics of victimhood. By its systematic assault on Reality, Truth, and Logic itself. By a Republican party so dismissive of family -- self-absorbed, aggrieved, and psychotic -- that it’s all but given up on sanity. That it might as well have succumbed to the chaos, the lawlessness, the anarchy, of devil worship.
Where is the affront and to whom? When is spirited defense of democracy not true conservatism: the inheritance and duty of all Americans, all patriots, to safeguard the institutions, the traditions, the laws, of our country? The values of Freedom and Unity enshrined in our flag. Are these not the substance, the meaning, of conservatism? What are “conservatives” thinking who take offense at Democrats being democrats: guardians and lifeblood of democracy?
When will “conservatives” wake up to the truth: there is no refuge in the absolute. There is no Parent to save us. To do our thinking, our choosing, for us. To be accountable for us. There is only Reality: the risks of Creation into the unknown and the free will of the Child – us – to share it, live it, experience it. Together. Family inviolate. There is no escape, no alternate reality where things are only as we wish them to be. Where there is “liberty” to have and do whatever we want with whatever we fantasize is “ours.” There is only sharing. There is only Logic to govern, not rule. There is only democracy.