Sunday, August 1, 2021:  Four Horsemen of the American Apocalypse: Climate Change, Pandemics, Racism, and Voting Rights

Climate Change: Let's start with the climate. Mother earth has seen great extinctions in her history. Most have been caused by events external to the inhabitants of the planet or by the forces of nature, but then came humans. For all of our advanced intelligence, we seem to be hell bent on destroying every living creature including ourselves. Republicans in particular can't seem to grasp the concept that either we all work together to steward our fragile little planet or we all become extinct. Right now it seems that half the planet is burning up and the other half is under water. Large parts of this country are close to being uninhabitable. Wake up Republican voters! It may not be in your neighborhood today, but it will soon be, either directly or indirectly. Let's take food production as an example. The San Joaquin Valley in California produces close to 12.8% of the U.S. agricultural production and may just dry up as the drought in the Western U.S worsens. If you think your grocery bill is high now, just wait.

Pandemics: Super bugs are next. More than a few scientists feel human extinction will be from a virus, bacteria, or fungus that mutates into an unstoppable, civilization ending super bug. If this current Covid19 crisis has shown us anything, it is that there are large segments of society unwilling to do what is necessary to stop the spread of this or any virus. Here is the problem. We now have bacteria and fungi that are drug resistant. We are also unsure if all the work that has been done on the Covid19 vaccine will be enough to keep it in check if it continues to mutate, which it will if a significant segment of our society refuses to get vaccinated. What we see in Covid 19 is Darwin's theory of natural selection being proven in real time. If we as a society fail to reach herd immunity, there is reason to believe that this corona virus will out smart our vaccinated immune systems and kill even more of us. What are republican voters doing about it, defying science and logic and refusing to get vaccinated, wear masks, or socially distance themselves from others.

Racism: After the Trumpian reign of terror, is there any one who still doesn't see the open racism in America? If there is one thing Trump did, it was to pull back the curtains on all the ugliness that has existed since the days of slavery in this country. White privilege in all its glory is now out there front and center. Shit, they don't even try and camouflage it. The racists see America turning brown, and damn it, they are going to do something about that. No way are they going to give up that unearned privilege. If it takes becoming a fascist state to do that, then so be it. Democracy is overrated anyway. People, if you voted for a Republican, you are part of it. White power (aka racism) is behind everything being done by the Republican party today. Here is the problem. Unchecked and there will be a continued escalation of civil unrest and guess what, we are armed to the teeth. There are 120 guns out there for every 100 U.S. citizens. Sooner or later, people start shooting. Oh, wait a minute, they already have.

Voting Rights: And the final horseman in this race to annihilation is voting rights or rather the Republican effort to restrict or prevent certain groups from voting. The only real defense against tyranny is democracy. For democracy to exist and flourish, there has to be free and open elections. The Republicans know that they can never win an election in a society where ALL citizens get to vote. As such, their only option is to insure that brown people don't or can't vote.

Clearly these horsemen are the underpinning of today's Republican party. What they represent is the end of the common good, which if they prevail, will cement the course for the demise of our American democracy. A country consisting solely of the fascist haves and the under-privileged have-nots is not sustainable. At some point, the have-nots rise up and overthrow the fascist overlords and the aftermath is not pretty.

It seems that humankind exists in a fundamental dichotomy. At one end is consummate evil and at the other is absolute good. Most of us sit somewhere on the spectrum between the two. I think too, that we like to believe we are better than we actually are - ignoring the crappy things we do while extolling our virtues and good works.

The question is why do Republicans seem to gravitate to the evil end of the spectrum? Why is it that they can't see beyond the pathetic little world each of them inhabits? You could probably argue that one or more of the seven deadly sins (pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth) might be the root cause. I would argue that there is an even greater sin at play here and that is hatred. Much of the Republican base seems to have this fundamental need to hate something or someone. The cabal knows that, so they take advantage of the flaw to promote their fascist agenda.

American democracy is fragile - not conceptually, but because it is administered by humans. Let's face it, humankind is fucked up. We see proof of that on a daily basis and recorded history has more than documented our penchant for stupidity. It seems like the "smarter" we get, the dumber we are. If you add to that the evil that has taken a foot hold in America, it is clear we are in deep shit and it will take a monumental effort to pound evil back into the shadows and save the Republic. Given the four horsemen, I am not sure we can accomplish that task.