January 19, 2025

Standing Outside the Door 
The Age of Savages

It is Sunday today. There is a rumor that America, or all I have known to be America, will end on Monday. Two of my friends, separately, have assured me that this will mean the dawning of an age of transcendent peace and hope. Somehow… But I have been listening carefully. Those who are scheduled to receive the extraordinary gift of power over the most powerful nation on earth tomorrow have little to say of peace or hope. They speak of control, of retribution, of their gleeful plans for a permanent mangling of the delicate balance that has maintained this rare experiment in human governance for 250 years. They speak of new wars, of inflicting Hell on Palestinians (already so deeply familiar with Hell)  They speak of aligning America with the far right fringe of Christian extremism with its horror of independent women, of reviving imperialism ( Greenland and Panama will be ours. We need them.)  Perversely, they plan to put tariffs on friend and foe alike, risking the intricate balance of economies all over the world and surely refiring inflation. And no messing around this time. They promise to make massive cuts in the vast workforce of knowledgeable career workers that have ensured the functioning of American laws and institutions through myriad diverse presidencies. They promise to deport, and if necessary, brutalize and incarcerate 11 million immigrants as they return to their grotesquely inhumane strategy of separating families. They threaten retribution against “the enemy within” (anyone who speaks up), woke teachers (anyone placing a value on accurate history or human rights) cutting government support for the poor and the elderly in order to pay for massive tax breaks to the richest among us. (Bye-bye Medicare and affordable, actually useful insurance. And God help the starving on food stamps or the disabled and demented as their assisted living centers close).  Last but certainly not least, they plan to stop and then actually reverse progress made against climate change, just as the predicted parade of irreversible and accelerating tipping points have begun, as North Carolina still reels from flood damage and Los Angeles still puts out the last embers of its urban firestorm.

I cannot see peace and light ahead. This will be a savage time. Those coming into power are unrepentant in their savagery, proudly ignorant, and utterly corrupt.  Their hallmark, from start to finish has been and is cruelty. They celebrate it. They proclaim it. 

I cannot see the end. For now, I see tomorrow. And I remember all those around me who will live through it with me. I know there will be surprises. Some may even be good ones. But no matter what happens,  I think America will never be the same.