I'm newish to substack and not sure how I stumbled upon your piece....it was an open tab from a couple of days ago. I've also been following the trumpland diaries and his piece called Democracy is done: the rise of corporate monarchy has left me in a perpetual state of panic where I'm unable to see any news except through the lens of what he described... and what you've described here. Subsequently I've been listening to the podcast Dystopia Now, beginning with episode #2; et all, it's a new program and designed for our current climate. I have kids....this is scary stuff :( I've never before wondered what it would be like to live in another country (well maybe as a kid) but if things don't change....who knows. I think of those who fled the holocaust before it was full fledged and wonder at what point they made their move.
Hi Debra, please make sure to check out my last three posts, which are more hopeful and talk to the reality of raising children into these troubling times.
The problem is that we all knew this moment would come, where there was nowhere left to flee to. As Carl Sagan said “the Earth is where we make our stand.”
We need to pull together actually.
I would go so far as to guess that we did not meet by pure accident.
Real leaders will rise, out of necessity. They are already here but themselves still waking up to the reality of what our shared troubles are asking of them.
New voices are speaking from the corners of our social spaces, not the loud ones, but they will grow in stridence and strength.
Nailed it. 🎯😣 At least this seems to paint the clearest picture of how this all might play out. I guess everything old is new again, like when fashion gets recycled after a few decades. Feels very Monty Python fiefdoms meets 1984 insanity mixed with the darker episodes of StarWars.
Give than this feels very helpless/hopeless, can you do another article extrapolating how past societal revolutions might look in this dystopian future?
Oh it’s tempting to get drawn into it but there’s a few things I could point to:
- we’ve all been disillusioned enough times to know that the same power game is being played on both sides of the isle. There are good people elected who are really about governing, but not enough to ‘unrig’ the system
- I got in touch w my Anabaptist roots. A lot of churches and Christians are aligning with power but that’s exactly opposite the message of Christ. So while it’s a struggle to unhitch from all that while pointing to the 3rd way, these are my people and I’m trying.
- Mark Charles spoke at a local event back during Trump 1.0 and pointed out how far back (to the founding) all of this really goes. We’re out here dissenting against injustice but it’s baked in. And as Jemar Tisby points out, while many have been speaking out, the church has been complicit all along the way.
- Because my personality type keeps seeking how this all connects I can’t be content just to “flip the seats blue.” There’s more going on here and if I’m going all in on something it better have the bigger picture in mind. That’s what had me looking for posts like yours.
- And it’s because of my daughters that I’m willing to face all this. What’s the point of raising them to “love God with all your heart soul and mind and strength, and live your neighbor as yourself” if the very faith is being co-opted and twisted into something that excuses harm toward others and looks a whole lot like the Nazism I studied with disbelief as a teenager? I’m trying to walk out what I believe and I don’t believe that one side or the other will get us there. But I am willing to work and protest alongside folks happen to wear blue or even though that raises other questions. Because to put a stop to fascism we have to work together. But also be smart about it.
This article perfectly captures the growing concern about corporate dominance in American politics. The revolving door between government and big business has turned policymaking into a profit-driven enterprise rather than a public service. When corporations hold more influence than voters, democracy becomes an illusion. The real question is—how do we break this cycle before it’s too late? 🤔💡 #CorporateCapture #DemocracyAtRisk
I'm newish to substack and not sure how I stumbled upon your piece....it was an open tab from a couple of days ago. I've also been following the trumpland diaries and his piece called Democracy is done: the rise of corporate monarchy has left me in a perpetual state of panic where I'm unable to see any news except through the lens of what he described... and what you've described here. Subsequently I've been listening to the podcast Dystopia Now, beginning with episode #2; et all, it's a new program and designed for our current climate. I have kids....this is scary stuff :( I've never before wondered what it would be like to live in another country (well maybe as a kid) but if things don't change....who knows. I think of those who fled the holocaust before it was full fledged and wonder at what point they made their move.
Hi Debra, please make sure to check out my last three posts, which are more hopeful and talk to the reality of raising children into these troubling times.
The problem is that we all knew this moment would come, where there was nowhere left to flee to. As Carl Sagan said “the Earth is where we make our stand.”
We need to pull together actually.
I would go so far as to guess that we did not meet by pure accident.
Real leaders will rise, out of necessity. They are already here but themselves still waking up to the reality of what our shared troubles are asking of them.
New voices are speaking from the corners of our social spaces, not the loud ones, but they will grow in stridence and strength.
“The world ends not with a bang but a whimper”
Nailed it. 🎯😣 At least this seems to paint the clearest picture of how this all might play out. I guess everything old is new again, like when fashion gets recycled after a few decades. Feels very Monty Python fiefdoms meets 1984 insanity mixed with the darker episodes of StarWars.
Give than this feels very helpless/hopeless, can you do another article extrapolating how past societal revolutions might look in this dystopian future?
You get it. I’m presently amazed by how so many don’t or can’t. I have other trajectories in mind of where real hope lies. I will consider it though.
If you don’t mind my asking Shelly, did you come by the sense or ability to see past the binary politics almost all others seem drawn into ?
Oh it’s tempting to get drawn into it but there’s a few things I could point to:
- we’ve all been disillusioned enough times to know that the same power game is being played on both sides of the isle. There are good people elected who are really about governing, but not enough to ‘unrig’ the system
- I got in touch w my Anabaptist roots. A lot of churches and Christians are aligning with power but that’s exactly opposite the message of Christ. So while it’s a struggle to unhitch from all that while pointing to the 3rd way, these are my people and I’m trying.
- Mark Charles spoke at a local event back during Trump 1.0 and pointed out how far back (to the founding) all of this really goes. We’re out here dissenting against injustice but it’s baked in. And as Jemar Tisby points out, while many have been speaking out, the church has been complicit all along the way.
- Because my personality type keeps seeking how this all connects I can’t be content just to “flip the seats blue.” There’s more going on here and if I’m going all in on something it better have the bigger picture in mind. That’s what had me looking for posts like yours.
- And it’s because of my daughters that I’m willing to face all this. What’s the point of raising them to “love God with all your heart soul and mind and strength, and live your neighbor as yourself” if the very faith is being co-opted and twisted into something that excuses harm toward others and looks a whole lot like the Nazism I studied with disbelief as a teenager? I’m trying to walk out what I believe and I don’t believe that one side or the other will get us there. But I am willing to work and protest alongside folks happen to wear blue or even though that raises other questions. Because to put a stop to fascism we have to work together. But also be smart about it.
You are my kind of people Shelly. I appreciate you. Let’s find the others.
You might appreciate this then:
https://open.substack.com/pub/roccojarman/p/making-sense-of-whats-happening?r=12ddu0&utm_medium=ios
This article perfectly captures the growing concern about corporate dominance in American politics. The revolving door between government and big business has turned policymaking into a profit-driven enterprise rather than a public service. When corporations hold more influence than voters, democracy becomes an illusion. The real question is—how do we break this cycle before it’s too late? 🤔💡 #CorporateCapture #DemocracyAtRisk
Rings as tragically true. 🤕