First my partner and I played a little parlor game, we tried to decide what's the worst crime in the bill this zombified Republican Congress, and this criminal President just passed?
1. Taking Healtcare from our fellow Americans?
2. Stealing food from poor, needy children?
3. Killing off Green Energy prjoects?
4. Giving tax breaks to the filthy rich?
5. Funding ICE to make that abominable force the shiny new Police State in USA?
6. Building concentration camps in every state of the Union?
7. Disappearing Human Beings off the streets of America and putting them in cages like animals?
Hard to pick the worst offence. We decided they were all dastardly evil crimes against humanity, against our intelligence, good cheer and well-being too. Fuck. Welcome to our New American Dystopia.
A day off. So, yeah, we turned away from all that shite, ordered up some takeout: vegetarian ravioli & lasagna, and spun Steely Dan records on the box, while we lazed around on lounge chairs under big canopy umbrellas, next to a large pool, and a garden of earthly delights (not our place, a caretaking gig).
We are not wealthy, but we work for some very nice, benevolent, progressive, fully-woke & wealthy folks.
My partner remarked, "Steely Dan always makes me happy." Yes. Indeed, nothing like blasting "Countdown to Ecstasy" (1973) at maximum volume on a magnificent stereo system. "Show-biz kids don't give a fuck about anybody else..."
We talked of other things; movies, books, philosophy, ways of keeping our heads, trying our best to be happy, in the face of the shite & madness. We ignored the hoopla of the lakefront 4th of July celebrations. The teeming masses were burning meat on grills, playing volleyball, gathering for the evening fireworks display.
Did any one of them give a fuck about the trashing of our Constitutional order? The strangling of our little Democratic experiment? What & why exactly are we celebrating today? Who knows? Fun & frolic seemed to be the theme. Denial is a powerful tool.
Lots of "sound & fury, signifying nothing."
Anyway, we adopted a defiant attitude, we decided that we will refuse to be defeated. Dreaming of better days. You know, Hope, it dies last. Fuck the evil-doers. Damn the Torpedoes. America is a story. The story is still unfolding. The future is unwritten.
