WHAT DO WE DO NOW? Short of moving to Canada

A friend of mine, a retired teacher and swimming coach, asked me what we do now. This query was prompted by the recent presidential election, which in the future may become more like Russia's elections. Or Hungary's. We are now faced with a president who fancies himself a 21st century Hitler. As this letter is written, he is assembling a cabinet that is filled with unqualified people ready to swear fealty to this demigogue-to-be. An attorney General who has been credibly charged with drug abuse and sex-trafficking. A Director of National Intelligence who has not exhibited intelligence, and has been accused of being uncomfortably close to Vladimir Putin. A Director of Homeland Security who shot her puppy because he wouldn't behave. That is only three of close to two-dozen of the least competent people to lead massive public bureaucracies, and growing daily. A paranoid observer might think this is being done by design. As if the objective is to disassemble the administrative state. That was Steve Bannons wish, to tear down the thing that saved us from the occasional authoritarian that the Republican party slips in. Maybe I'm wrong.

(A brief note, the child sexual predator nominated to be Attorney General, Matt Gaetz, has pulled out. We may assume that it was not premature.)

There is nothing we can do. All of the layers of bureaucracy that we grumbled about, but which could  restrain the too ambitious,  are gone. Supreme Court, corrupted beyond our wildest imagination. A legal underworld that give right wing court challenges a lift to the big show-those vaunted originalists whose origionalism may be too original. A legislature where one party is over-represented with con artists lacking in art, spineless pearl-clutchers, and power-hungry autocrats, and power-brokers looking for one last big deal before they retire and collect their government pensions, and perhaps generous honoraria from various billionaires. This extends down to state governments. No legal challenges will ever threaten Mr. Trump or any of the people within his party who have been credibly accused of multiple crimes and misdeeds. It is entirely possible, should the spineless Senate allow recess appointments, that the next Attorney General will be able to quash any federal charges hanging over their heads, including the child-sex charges hanging over the Attorney General nominee now seeking other productive employment. Charges that include Rep Gaetz, the too-brief AG nominee, taking two under-age girls over state lines to (ahem) in NYC. Included in that entertainment package, which includes VENMO computer records, is watching him being interviewed on Fox News, followed by tickets to the Broadway play, Pretty Woman. DO I NEED TO TELL YOU THE PLOT OF PRETTY WOMAN? 

We have no choices. We're screwed! It has taken the Heritage Foundation fifty years to destroy our great heritage, it will take twice that amount of time to claw back half of what we have lost. And only if some billionaire with a heart of gold (Edward, the character played by Richard Gere in the movie Pretty Woman), can enlist a couple other billionaires willing to spend a few billion dollars to take back our country from the billionaires who bought it, and restore it to the people who fought to preserve it. This would be pure altruism, a quality not usually practiced by billionaires, ever. They must do this expecting no reward other than our grateful appreciation. Such people are as rare as hens teeth among the wealthy. But we cannot do nothing! We must resist every step of the way. We must. We all have a skill to contribute, some of us some loose change we can donate. If you are retired, volunteer for local groups involved in the resistance. If you write, chronicle events for history. If you have a sense of humor, and what Democrat doesn't,  abuse Republicans with humor, if you sing, write songs for the struggle. We have done these things with middling success. Help out at a soup kitchen, throw blueberry milkshakes at Steven Miller. Stand up in public to defend marginalized people. These and more are waiting for your participation. Will they work? Who knows, we've  never had to repair cracks like this in our Constitutional foundation before. Other country's have had to go underground to fight off occupiers from outside their borders. That may have had more success than repelling occupiers from inside our borders, but to do nothing is precisely what they want us to do.

We are watching mainstream media toady up to our oppressors. We must find sources of information that are less dependent on Wall Street to inform us. That may require joining and supporting blogs. Listen carefully, there are right wing bloggers on the same pages. If you can do a podcast, do it. Whatever creative outlets you can use with skill, we must use. Our children, grandchildren, even  great-grandchildren need us to save this nation from those who would carve it up into fiefdoms.