In 1965, a song unlike most of the time was released in which the artist, Barry McGuire, asked the question whether or not did you understand we were on the eve of destruction,It was reflecting on a time – THE time – when “ violence is flaring “ and “ human respect is disintegratin ”. It was the mid sixties and there was, in spite of the mood in some sectors of the up and coming generation and in spite of the progressive efforts of many,  a great deal of chaos and social strife which led to significant  disenfranchisement of even more groups of people. There was division about the war, about race and about mores – all taking it toll across the board. In short order, the whole Watergate mess hit the fan, so to speak,  and deep rooted corruption  directly involving the White House further intensified the growing rift among segments of society. But, as the saying goes, we had seen nothing yet. Fast forward to 2016 when a well known bigot, grifter and pathological liar, while losing the popular vote, by virtue of a dysfunctional “ Electoral College “ system, still won the election and was installed in the Oval Office, due in addition to the hatred of voters  shown against one family and a voting population which was enthralled with a  reality television barker.

The next four years were to witness corruption of historic proportions. The famous journalism duo of Woodward and Bernstein had thought that the Nixon era  defined corruption but then came the trump era and not only was there clear evidence of deep rooted corruption but , with the unqualified cooperation of the GOP leadership, unfathomable manipulation of congress.

Fast forward and indeed the worst was yet to come. And come it did. The lies and conspiracies intensely promulgated over the previous four years now all came to a boiling point and the extreme right wing elements that were for years just under the surface , compliments of the White House and its cabal of loyalist supporters, now had  a path to not only up to the surface but to the front of the line. What was of particular impact was the out and out lie that the 2020 election was rigged and that the actual loser won. There were all manner of conspiracies associated with this lie – some ridiculous, some unbelievably outlandish and a few just simply insane such as voting machines being altered by satellites from Italy or two thousand “ mules” carrying secret ballots to drop boxes.However, what was started back in 2019 well before the actual election, became the mantra for the extreme right and, as they say, the rest is history – including the storming of the capitol building by a domestic terrorist , armed mob literally sent by the sitting occupant of the oval office with the express purpose of having the certified election thrown out, eliminating the “ peaceful transfer of power “ and literally overthrowing the democratic system of government. It was, for historians, a replay of 1939  Germany – an insurrection right out of the Third Reich play book. The  “deconstruction of the administrative state “  almost succeeded.

And now, the aftermath, as it were, and the outlook for our future time. After trying to cope with nearly three years of the lies and mindless conspiracy theories promulgated by the far right and its entertainment outlet supporters – one must refuse to call them news outlets –  the stacking of the Supreme Court and the constant pounding ot he “Big Lie – the “ stolen election “ — the events following have shown that far right extremism has now taken over and the tide toward authoritarianism is gaining stronger foothold as  the election season approaches.Red states have enacted draconian voting regulations. Legislatures are introducing Bills which would take us back to the nineteenth century, such as in Arizona where one member is on record saying that not everyone is entitled to vote while another introduced a bill that  would make members of the senate  be appointed by the legislature. There are also states which would give the legislature the authority to overturn an election  in the event that it did not approve of the outcome.

All of this as the GOP is now not only supporting but fiercely pushing candidates who not only support the far right agenda but also openly support trump’s big lie about a stolen  2020 election. The lies are spreading far and wide with even more intensity and sadly, the fearful and ignorant are willingly joining what can only be described as a cult, complete with blind loyalty and a rage against “ non believers “ such as we have not seen since the McCarthy era. The venom is flowing especially from the white supremacy factions and those who, while they have no clue what CRT really is, believe that elementary schools are teaching what they consider doctrines which espouse the hating of white people. The insanity is mind boggling and to try to reason with any or all of the members of these factions is, as Thomas Paine so aptly put it, like “…administering medicine to a dead man…”. And so here we are. With the likes of Kirk, Keshel, Pastor Locke, White supremacist Nick Fuentes, members of congress like  Boebert, Green,Johnson, Biggs and Gosar being the messengers, the message of the far right is clear. The agenda is to eliminate a central federal government, replace it with an authoritarian dictatorship headed up and controlled by whites only and install as its leader – one donald j trump.

Welcome to what could be the newest third world dictatorship. We as a nation are sitting on the edge of the abyss and, if the body politic fails to awaken to this reality and fails to take the necessary steps to turn this tide particularly by the use of aggressive voting, then we shall see the fall of the “ great experiment “ at the hands of those who chose power over community,  donors over voters and conspiracy theories over sanity.

To quote , “  I can’t twist the truth, it knows no regulation ; handful of senators don’t pass legislation ; and you tell me over and over and over again, my friend,

Ah, you don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction “.

Take my word for it – BELIEVE IT