Lot of disappointment this year. Well, that’s not entirely true – lot of disappointment the last two months of this year. A few deaths thrown on at the end just to drive home the point, including a dear friend’s parent and my own aunt who in her own fashion lit my way to California almost from the beginning.
The vast majority of Americans didn’t object to returning to the stupidest era of American political life. Including the entire Washington press corps (press corpse, more like), which as always focused on the odds rather than the stakes. Now matters are worse, and a country that works like Alabama is exactly what we’re in for with no higher authority to appeal to than God. And God, in all likelihood, will be away on business.
“First as tragedy, then as farce.” The thing is, laws are made up. Rules are made up. Apparently all you have to do is say no. You’re already seeing the beginning of this. The reason people are bricking it at how much people are celebrating the death of the UHC CEO is because there were finally consequences for something bad. We tried to fix health care at the ballot box, but it never gets any better, because someone’s always there to kick the slats out from under it. If you can’t rely on the soapbox, the jury box or the ballot box, that only leaves one box. And people whose lives are free from consequences will provoke celebration when they finally face some.
That’s the great disappointment of 2024. No consequences. You can be convicted of a crime, you can be found liable for felonies, you can be doddering and deranged, and the press will cover for you and the judiciary will shield you and the stupidest people on earth will sing your praises as if you are Jesus’s big brother. The worst people in the world continue to get away with being the worst, and no one lifts a finger to stop them, and then someone finally does and we were inundated with how bad this is without stopping to think about how it got to that point.
Protect my found family. Stay alive. That’s pretty much all that’s on the horizon at this point and that might be doable, with God’s help and a little more self-awareness on the part of the public. Don’t count on things getting better, don’t even count on keeping what you have, just throttle the loss as much as possible for as long as possible.
It’s called life. Best just to get on with it.