REVIVING HOPE

"It was not the least of Hitler's formidable powers that he knew how to drain his opponents (at least in Continental Europe) of all hope."
                                                                   Eric Hoffer
                                                                   The True Believer

   To watch congressmen sneak away from their constituents under police escort, or refuse to meet them at all, is astonishing--one thing politicians love is meeting with their voters.  Then Donald Trump holds a press conference wherein he answers none of the questions he is asked, instead rambling about his election victory.  Afterward he goes on a campaign tour, revitalizing his still loyal base.  Something's happening here, something strange to America.  Traditional relationships between elected leaders, media, and voters have been shattered, and politicians of the one-party state are making sure we know about it.  Steadfast opposition has sprung up.  There is a fight, and it matters who will win.

   Current issues deal with medical and retirement benefits.  Voters elected people who pledged to end these benefits...maybe to replace, maybe to improve, but definitely to end them in their present form.  Though it is hard to see how these changes will help commoners, it is obvious how they will improve the bottom line for the upper classes who generously donate to the politicians on the winning side, leaving no doubt where the politicians' loyalties lie, and why they are not interested in hobnobbing with constituents.  Going further down the road to hopelessness, Trump bans from press conferences reporters working for news agencies he dislikes.  We get the message:  the one-percent controls the one-party state, and the sooner we the people shed our tired concepts of democracy, the less trouble we shall have.  Ignorance is strength, and freedom is slavery.  Get over it.

   The marches, demonstrations, town hall protests, and other ongoing happenings show us hopefully that many citizens have no intention of surrendering.  The congressmen who avoid their voters look like cowards, and the president who rants against the media looks like a buffoon.  But the president and congress, unconcerned by the opinions of public or press, have no intention of recognizing the opposition's validity.  Rationally or not, the rightwing base is unwavering in its support for the one-percent and the one-party state, and Trump and the congress will use that loyal following to show the rest of us that resistance is in vain.  Tempting as it is to believe it, to get over it, we dare not fall into this trap.  The conflict is about how we shall live, and what kind of future Americans will have--indeed, the stakes truly are that high.

   The elites who dominate the movement known as conservatism are possessed by a religious determination to restore the social and political order they enjoyed at the end of the nineteenth century, when they held sway over everyone and everything.  They are equally determined to strengthen their hold using modern methods of persuasion.  Inspired by Saints Ayn, Ronald, and Milton, disciples of this plutocratic faith have been regaining power slowly since WWII.  Now they have it all, and will stick at nothing to keep it.  Our motivation for resistance springs from a healthy desire to avoid going back to being wage slaves.  There is scant room for reconciliation between these two goals.  Our resistance strengthens our hope.  When the raucous supporters of the election's winners tell us to get over it, they tell us to submit to the hopelessness that (for reasons we cannot see) seems to work for them.  With the lines drawn and the curse cast, our choices are clear.