There’s a kitschy meme that circulates the corners of the internet I lurk that reads something like: “I’m getting real tired of living through historic events.” I used to think it was a little… I don’t know, saccharine? It sorta reeks of that faux-authentic liberal nonsense that makes me nauseous–you know the type, with the cutesy instagram infographics, ostensibly reactionary politics, you get it. I mean, c’mon, myself and you, the reader, are likely kickin’ back comfy here in the first world–at least, relatively comfy, given the situation the more-exploited-than-we find themselves in. How could *we* be tired? Sure, when the wheels of this whole “America” thing come unscrewed and fall off, people like myself (and probably you) will suffer–but, how can I whine about how tiring it is to ride business class while countless others get run over by the wheels of the empire? Then again, Viktor Frankl once said that suffering is gaseous, filling whatever container it finds itself in, so maybe it’s all the same experience of pain? I don’t know. It’s probably best to be mindful of both perspectives. I digress…
With all my screeching being said, I do feel a bit… exhausted, I think, with the totality of American politics. And it’s a different experience of exhaustion this time around–god knows I’ve felt exasperated, dejected, and utterly “over it” given the political state of things around here before. How could one not, given everything? But the total repudiation of neoliberal capitalism (as represented by the *crippling* defeat of Kamala Harris in 2024) and the seeming heightening of pre-fascist fervor (“pre” is being obscenely generous, by the way) makes me genuinely very scared for our future–and by “our,” I don’t mean something as sentimental as “America,” more so “us” as in the people who just so happen to live within the arbitrary lines that dictate our citizenship (and, therefore, our relationship with the largest empire the world has ever known!)
“Oh no, the Democrats lost. Boohoo, that’s all they ever do anyway.” True! It’s not so much that I’m bummed that the Dems managed to muck everything up–that’s like being surprised the sun comes out every day. It’s more than that; the ground we’ve lost in terms of civil rights and social justice is growing by the day, and I increasingly fear that we may be on the cusp of living through the greatest singular backslide of social progress our nation has ever known (at least, in the contemporary sense). I’m talkin’ a return to pre-FDR levels. At my most hysterical, I sometimes wonder if we’ll remember Joe Biden how we remember Gorbachev, or worse: Brezhnev. Old codgers meandering their way through the death of a nation.
And worse still, the Dems being the Dems, no alternative to the cold, austere moralism that everyone hates has been offered. Left wing populism? Dead in the water! Even the most left of our current mainstream political programmes (namely, “The Squad,” and our measly progressive caucus) hitched their electoral hopes to JOSEPH ROBINETTE BIDEN. Genocide Joe! What a demoralizing mistake! How can one hold any faith in an institution who’s willing to compromise their central beliefs to *THAT* degree? Pragmatism without discipline is just apathy! Of course, none of this is too surprising–both political parties serve the primary function of upholding imperial capitalism, differing solely in their aesthetic vision for that system, I get that–but, I must admit, the right wing vision for our economic order is *far* scarier for anyone who isn’t white and heterosexual than the alternative. If the long con we’re working towards is universal liberation, at the very least the ”Democratic vision” lends itself better to the types of social conditions that would bring about more liberative change—at least, in theory, it should. Or hell, maybe that’s too naive. Maybe there’s no saving the Democrats. Besides, who’s to say they won’t go the way of the whigs?
Frankly, left wing populism (as represented by ol’ Bernie, let’s say) wasn’t even *that* big of a threat to capitalism (if at all!) All anyone wanted was free healthcare like a bajillion other social democracies have figured out! But even *that* concession was too steep for the powers that be. And now we’re here, with a dead political program that we shuffle out every 4 years “Weekend at Bernie’s” style, and an increasingly unstable far right party–who just won with the same fool at the helm as who won before. Given all of this, maybe it’s alright to feel a little tired of it all. I can’t fault those millions of people who shrug their shoulders every election season–why should they care? The Democrats surely haven’t given them a good reason to. Haha, but then again, have us far-lefties fared much better in that regard? Maybe not… but, it’s worth bearing in mind, we’re not the ones abetting genocide and kowtowing with the Cheneys. Maybe deadlock is more merciful than the active enactment of evil upon the world.
As I write this, I’m hunched over my keyboard in a very unflattering position. I’m very tired. I have a Twitch stream of the inauguration in a small window beside my Google doc. They just got done praying together. Right now, there’s a band in full military garb singing “The Battle Hymn of The Republic.” Everyone’s all smiles. Trump says he’s going to utilize militarized police to deport millions–big applause.
It’s like he said: welcome to the new golden age.
“Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.” –Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte
“Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: ‘Too late.” –Martin Luther King Jr, Beyond Vietnam – A Time to Break Silence