Our president did not like the data that the National Labor Relations Board presented, so he fired the head of that organization and installed a guy who has told us that we do not need these reports, and may not get them. The Donald has claimed that crime rates in cities with Black mayors are sky high, and has threatened to send, or, in the case of D.C., already has sent in red state National Guardsmen (I wonder whether our Mississippi National Guard is enjoying their view of our nation’s capital). The data disagree. D.C. has a breathtakingly low violent crime rate, by far the lowest in decades. So, The Donald has ordered the Justice Department to “investigate” the crime figures and the people who report them. This denial of information reminds me of the Emperor’s new clothes, except there seems to be no little girl willing to point out that the Emperor is naked.
Apparently, we will no longer receive reports from the people who measure climate change.
I kind of hate to bring up 1984, but the parallels are just too striking to ignore. The Ministry of Truth (Social) is in full flower — complete with destructive vines. The attacks on academia bring to mind newspeak, seeking to reduce our vocabulary, thus limiting our ability to think. And, of course, Big Brother is watching. We are in a surveillance-saturation state. Our phones, our cars, our social media, ubiquitous traffic cams, orbital satellites, drones, Siri, Alexa — Orwell just had our TVs watching us.
In the novel, Orwell had the state in what amounted to a perpetual war. Has the United States NOT been at war since the Twin Towers fell? The War on Terror feels like a forever war.
In Alaska, Vladimir Putin instructed President Trump about how to have elections that are not elections, the kind that Uncle Vlad has enjoyed for twenty years. He told the Donald that mail-in ballots are bad, and the Donald, in the face of Republican support for mail-in ballots, has said that he may “outlaw” them.
In 1984, Winston and Julia, the couple resisting Big Brother our of what amounted to forbidden love, betrayed each other under torture. “I betrayed you,” they each said. In a sad irony, we are all betraying one another today, by not using every bit of energy, influence, wealth, or simple expressions of outrage to stop this in its tracks. “My beautiful Christians — you’ll never have to vote again” is neither the first nor the last time he has proclaimed the end of elections. In the end, nobody will be safe.
Bill Gillmore
Columbus
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