Forever the wealthy try to push the poor into being even poorer. I used to ask why but I think I know why. They do it because they can. Because they discovered we can’t stop them.

They wouldn’t try this on their rich neighbors because people with money can protect themselves. But the poor? They’ve got enough trouble trying to keep food on the table.

I’ve watched this country for a whole lifetime. It has gotten worse. Since Trump? It’s worse that I imagined it could get. I actually thought — as a people — we were smarter than this. That we wanted a democracy. That we cared about equality and fairness. I was wrong.

A lot of people blame Trump for everything, but he wasn’t the cause of the mess. The mess enabled him and gave him the tools he needed to wrench us apart. Trump was the RESULT. He was what we got by being a country rich in hate and refusing to let go of it. We got used to declaiming our hatred when we were in the company of like-minded people. Trump, as president, told us hatred was fine. He gave Americans permission to hate anywhere. Everywhere.

We earned Trump. Maybe not you personally or me personally, but “us” in a more national sense. We applauded his ugliness and bought his lies — and too many continue to do so even when everything shows him for the bastard he is.

We bought and paid for him with PACs. We didn’t make a fuss because we were too busy to fight for the right stuff simply because it was right. Trump wasn’t the cause of this mess. He is the summary, the totality, the end result of our hate and ugliness.

Now that all the cats are out of all the bags, we don’t know what to do with ourselves. Who ARE we anyway? Is there anything left we can do now that will make a difference? All the other stuff we did which we thought made a difference turned out to mean nothing.

What’s next? Is there a next?

It makes me angry and sad. I don’t know if we will survive as a species, much less as a nation. I used to think I knew something, but now? The only thing I know is that I don’t know anything.

Categories: #American-history, #Photography, #Sketches, Anecdote, Arts, Drawings, Hatred and bigotry

Tags: #Photography, Marilyn Armstrong, Sketches