Political Commentary

I awoke this morning with a sense of fear and dread, frightened about what the future might hold, how it was going to unfold for me. I awoke with a sense of hopelessness, unable to do anything in the light of such a great struggle. I awoke with a sense of sorrow, a sadness for loss of so much, for the defeat of so much I valued in my life.

I did not wake up thinking about ALS. I woke up thinking about what is happening right now in the USA, that great neighbour to the south, that nation which Canada has called friend since 1867. It has not always been a easy friendship. As all neighbours do, we have had our differences. Yet now those differences seem even greater than ever.

No, this blog is not about ALS, except for some interesting parallel. A great system, a great body, is under attack from within, struggling against a sickness it can barely understand, let along defeat. It is, as we watch it, becoming weaker and more fearful by the day, more isolated, more crippled by it's own constituents. I am not sure if I am talking about my own body, or about America.

Aside from the fact that President Trump took office with 3 million fewer votes than his opponent, aside from the fact the Electoral College was designed to ensure states with large population did not continually dominate those with fewer resident, aside from the fact that there are numerous checks and balances designed to protect Americans from their own government, this swing towards a strong man approach has happened, and it is supported by so many, encouraged by so many, empowered by so many.

America is a nation divided, and, as Abraham Lincoln famously said "A house divided against itself cannot stand." This division is deeply rooted in the changes of the last half century, in the transition from rural to urban, in not only the loss of education but in the triumphalism of the uneducated, in the ever growing gap between rich and poor, in the disempowerment of a people betrayed by a government which has sold out the interests of its voters for self-interest, in the ever increasing detachment of those governing over those being governed.

It is no surprise that every day Americans want their country back again. It has been stolen from them by corporate interests and powerful money. Yet those same interests and money have given a much more succulent target for blame, that gift enabled by a compliant media and failing leadership. Give them a villain, one that is easy to identify, one that clearly is guilty of something even if we don't know what. Create a distraction from those who have stolen the power of the American people, and point the finger at it.

My greatest wish is that we, as people around the world, begin to recognize how our institutions are failing us, how corporate money and power are destroying us one freedom at a time, how any nation and all nations are corrupted by this influence. Just as my friends to the south of me, I want a healthy body, a body which can perform, a body which can live freely and without fear. I want to know why my body is failing me, both my body physical and my body politic. My body has a disease, a disease replicated world wide, a disease where the corruption of the body is so well hidden we have to blame other things. I just wish we could see it clearly, and treat it.

For those of you who agree with President Trump, I simply ask that you focus on more than just this thing thrown before you. As William Goldman, script-writer for the movie "All The Presidents Men", famously wrote "Follow the money". Look at who is enriched by this hatred, this dystopia and disfunction. Who owns the media which sells us our news, true or false? Who has the greatest interest in creating fear and mistrust? Is it we, the governed, or is it those who would manipulate us in their continuing grasp for ever increasing power?

The real tragedy is the truth behind the lie, the truth that makes it all so easy to believe. The enemies of America want to see it destroyed. It is an even greater tragedy that the very people of America are the ones doing the real destruction. The body is destroying itself, muscle by muscle, tissue by tissue, day by day. I need a cure. I need a treatment. I need education. I need understanding. I need peace.