It’s time we come to terms with the fact that that ‘America’ as we know it is dead and buried, and it has been for decades. We live in UMERKA now. The country has reverted back to what it has always been throughout its history: a white supremacist, oligarchic, theocratic, authoritarian imperial power.

tRump and his ilk are no accident; it is the America of our youth (and of our delusions) that was the fluke, and it’s not coming back in our lifetimes, if ever.

Unlike most of my contemporaries, however, I have never been guilty of a positive bias towards the United States. Ever since I was a child I’ve seen for myself how truly misguided this mentality of ‘American exceptionalism’ is.

I acknowledge that such a bias is mostly rooted in a mere 30-year span of American history, from 1933 to 1963, essentially from the ascent to power of Franklin D Roosevelt to the assassination of our last President, John F. Kennedy.

From 1945 until 1963, we saw an America that broke up illegal monopolies; a country that ensured protection of workers’ rights, with wages that pulled people out of poverty and established the basics of a welfare state. Real Americans fought and won against tyranny in World War II were and rewarded with the GI Bill, giving millions the opportunity for a top-notch free university education [the GOP would consider that socialism today, of course…]

America once gave a home and a chance to millions of refugees fleeing oppression the world over, and asserted the power of the Federal Government to enforce the civil rights of minorities [but NOT Women, unfortunately…go figure.] These people protected and treasured democracy with a religious zeal.

…And in its spare time the USA gave the world Hollywood, jazz, rock’n’roll, Pop Art and a friggin’ man on the moon!

But then there was Vietnam, and US meddling around the world: the ousting of Mossadeq in Iran, Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz, the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the first PM of the Congo; the Bay of Pigs, Operation Condor, etc…but when seen through the prism of the Cold War, the United States on balance was still [wrongly] perceived as a force for good in the world.

President Kennedy was the most popular human being on the planet because he spoke truth to power and he was a man of integrity and vision, intelligence and wit. Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK began taking steps to rid the planet of nuclear weapons and he spoke openly about his desire for peace on Earth.

No wonder the Military-Industrial Complex [MIC] hated him so much. JFK was a serious threat to their agenda. He had to go. This was by far the most important and far-reaching coup conducted on behalf of Umerka’s REAL rulers – the MIC – which President Eisenhower had warned the country about in his farewell speech in 1960. Since then they’ve made out like bandits. Weapons makers and oil companies just posted record profits this year [2022]!

It has taken 60 years to reach this low point in our sordid – and ironically, mostly secret – history.

But most Umerkins don’t give a shit about civil rights or democracy anymore, anyway. They’re more interested in becoming rich overnight, and they are enamored with diversions such as iphones, Ultimate Fighting Championship, video games, NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB; their stupid fucking Christian God, and of course their precious fucking GUNS…which apparently matter more than family in Umerka now…

The only time important people in the USA start bitching about civil rights is when they happen to get pulled over by the cops for drunk driving and are forced to take a breathalizer; or if they think they are being discriminated against at work; or their kid is arrested at school and jailed for delinquent behavior.

And most of Umerka’s women were apparently out to lunch as the nation slow-walked its way to reversing Roe v. Wade. WTF?

Thomas Jefferson said, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” Sadly, it’s come to the point where no one really cares much about anything beyond the latest Apple product or NETFLIX mini-series.

But let’s not forget about that other important problem we face here in Umerka: a total lack of accountability for the evil-doers. We had a group of right wing radicals attempt to violently overthrow the country. These traitors – who oddly refer to themselves as patriots – tried to deny the results of a free and fair election and install themselves as autocrats…without any repercussions! Nobody outside of the trolls who carried out the actual attack for them have faced any criminal charges. A majority of Republican nominees on the ballot this November for the House, Senate, and key statewide offices — 299 in all! — have denied or questioned the outcome of the last presidential election. 147 Republicans went on record opposing the election even after the attack on January 9th.

Somehow, trying to take over the government by any means necessary, including violence – while summoning an army of brain-dead wannabe terrorists to do your bidding; committing perjury, submitting fraudulent Electors and vowing to ignore election laws doesn’t result in a single indictment. No wonder nobody has any faith in our democracy anymore…

It looks like the Republicans will undeservedly not only get the House, but the Senate as well, crippling the Democrats and paving the way for a full-blown – but long-planned – permanent Christian fascist takeover in 2024. Democracy itself is indeed on the ballot, and Umerkins are sleepwalking lazily towards authoritarianism. Do ordinary voters really think that Donald tRump and the Republicans have any answers to the country’s economic problems, or even give a shit about them? C’mon, man!

What more proof is needed that the ‘dumbing down’ program of the last 50+ years or so has been a spectacular success?

Umerkin “democracy” is a charade designed to distract from the uncomfortable truths we can see with our own eyes, every day.

Vested interests with unlimited power and wealth have hijacked the nation in the name of maintaining and increasing their profits.

The US Constitution codifies inequality of representation, notably in the Electoral College and the idea of giving each state, regardless of population, just two senators. It doesn’t help that a highly-politicized Supreme Court, packed by competing parties, is the final arbiter of decisions about fundamental human rights.

Doddering imbecile Joe Biden is a truly terrible president and he only appears tolerable when compared to the utterly loathsome and supremely divisive tRump. Biden has made zero attempt to move away from the excesses of tRump’s horrendous regime. ‘The inflation reduction act’ cost a half-trillion dollars, with absolutely no attempt to pull the country back together.

Not so long ago many of the rich and powerful elite in Hitler’s Germany had no problem supporting fascism, and they happily dispensed with ‘democracy’ when it ceased to be in their best interests. They were more than happy to go along with a dictatorship as long as they could turn a profit…and as long as those considered “not the right sort to govern” [the lefties] were kept out of power. Make no mistake – tRumpism is backed by the same sort that backed Hitler. Literally: Nazism is alive and well in the USA.

I honestly don’t know what to say about the hijacking of US politics by tRump and the right wing goons. It should never have been allowed to happen. It only goes to illustrate how weak the system really is. And for drooling morons like Herschel Walker to be able to run for the senate is simply beyond the pale. We already have a couple of retards like him in congress, wreaking havoc at every opportunity…

It’s up to the people now to bring about the massive changes needed but with half of them utterly stupefied, what can be done? Not very much is the answer – which is exactly the point at which democracy dies.

The tribal wings of either party that prosecute the puerile ideology of identity politics above genuine issues must be made to heal. We must also put a stop to the obsession with provincial politics and special interests over matters of the public good and the absolute denial of competing perspectives and plurality – the very foundations of progressive democracies.

Umerkin democracy is clearly broken. A defining principle of any democracy is tolerance and the acceptance of opposing views as legitimate. Without that, there is no democracy. The US seems now to be defined by intolerance and the complete inability to accept opposing views. Clearly it is the far right that has fomented this intolerance. It is promoting dictatorship, not democracy. It’s like a wildfire, fueled by ignorance and prejudice, and it seems to be out of control. And the more tolerant Democrats seem impotent in the face of it.

Frankly, I fear that civil war in Umerka is inevitable.

What’s startling is how easily an electorate like the USA is ready to give up democracy when sufficiently radicalized. This isn’t new of course – Nazi Germany being the obvious example – but for it to be happening in the my own country is something I would never have imagined. It now seems a foregone conclusion that a functioning democracy in the US will be gone within 5 years at the most.

There is no good outcome to this.