Europe Weeps and Wonders

Finish with the End in Mind

I started this post as a travelogue, covering an amazing trip that we took in April through the countries of Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, and Hungary. It was mind shifting for me, thanks to some things I saw and conversations I had. I want to share this part first, for those that don’t want to bother with all the travel stuff. 

This used to be Yugoslavia

I was fortunate during this trip to speak with many locals in six different countries; fortunate because they all spoke English far better than I spoke their native languages! At some point in these conversations, the person would change their tone because they wanted to ask a very pointed question and didn’t want to offend me, their American visitor. The question would vary but the gist of it, every time, was something this.

“How did America elect Donald Trump as President when everyone doesn’t like him? And how soon can you get rid of him?”

Electoral College

I would explain that not everyone doesn’t like him, that over 60 million people had voted for him and our Electoral College had enabled him to be elected. (I gave this civics lesson, multiple times. I’m glad I paid attention in school.) His term was four years and he would serve at least that long unless something happened to shorten it. And there is no guarantee that he won’t be re-elected to another one. Then, I would ask why is it so important to you? The answers were eerily similar and focused on the same themes.

They would respond with something like this, “America has led democracy in our country, too, as we’ve tried to model ourselves after how you govern. Since 2016, we’re seeing people that resemble our old, autocratic rulers and right-wingers, all of whom seem emboldened by Trump’s election, running for election here. He’s awakened an ugly part of our potential leadership and the people that vote for them, and it’s at every level of elected government from local to national. Some are already getting into office! Our democracy is only 20 years old and is far less stable than yours. We’re worried that we’re going to wind up back in a very bad place. Isn’t there something you can do?” (This last line was always delivered as a plea and it caused my heart to hurt, each time.)

After having one of these conversations, it began to hit me that these smaller countries, who have only been able to taste self-governance for a generation or so, are in such a tenuous position. They’ve only just begun to manage democracy and need some time doing it, and doing it well, before it becomes cemented into place. Our last presidential election put a big barrier in the way of that.

Currently not sleeping well

George Washington once referred to our brand-new government as “The Great Experiment” because it was unlike any that had existed before. In those early years, there were multiple opportunities for it go south and disintegrate. Hell, less than a hundred years later (Four score and seven to be exact) our country nearly collapsed under the weight of the Civil War.

As I considered their points, I began to feel ashamed. Ashamed not for my country but for the way we’ve let our fellow citizens of the world down. For the way that we’ve disintegrated into a divided people who refuse to hold our leaders to task for not doing what’s right. For the way we’ve allowed another country to influence who we elect into the highest offices. And most of all, for abdicating our role as the leaders of the free world by focusing on “America First” and allowing others who are less scrupulous fill the void we’ve left behind. (China and Russia.)

Our President is turning our country into something it should never be. To established countries, we’ve become a laughingstock. We are led by someone who has no sense of acceptable behavior for a World Leader, is ignorant of the rule of law, in denial of any notions other than his own, is crass and misogynistic, and is being enabled by a party that is unwilling to hold him accountable for any of his regressive actions. To all the new democracies, we’ve become a cautionary tale – how not to keep your democracy intact in one simple lesson!

For those of you who are still Trump fans, I want you to know that I truly respect your desire to have a conservative government, one that allows free enterprise to expand and rewards hard work. I’ve voted for a conservative at least as many times as I have a liberal when I thought that person was right for the job and the time was right for that kind of leadership. You see, I like to think about keeping the car somewhere in the middle of the lane and, to do that, one must vote the other way when necessary. Capitalism is how we got this successful and I'm not interested in getting rid of it.

But I believe that Donald J. Trump is not the person to lead this country. I’ve watched the man in action for over 35 years and he’s never been that person. He’s a con man of the worst kind, always has been. He’s been stealing from people while smiling and telling them how great they are, for his entire adult life. He’s been letting them know he’s on their side while taking their wallet. For you to continue blindly following him as he does this, well, I have no idea what you need to see to change your mind. Maybe that’s it. You can’t be bothered to read, watch, listen to anything other than his propaganda. If that’s the case, I can't help but think that you’re lazy and you get what you deserve. I've done the research and I can tell you that I have no qualms saying he's the BullShitter in chief.

I don’t mind telling you that I’m concerned that we’re not going to be able to pull this slow, excruciating train wreck out of the ditch before it’s too late. And it’s up to us, We the People, if we’re going to do it. How? Email, call, text, Tweet, Facebook Message – however you communicate – to your representatives and let them know you’re waiting and watching for their actions. If you have money, give it to some form of resistance. Or, if you hate to contribute to politicians, put it into a non-profit that helps those in need. But do something. 

If nothing else, stop spreading the fertilizer that I see on social media without bothering to check its validity. (Seriously, a Google search takes 30 seconds. Are you too busy looking at cat videos to check???) Take some responsibility for insuring that what you say is factual or at least can be shown to have some factual content before you post it. And if you're proven wrong, take it down and admit you were wrong. I've done that and it doesn't hurt.

I’m convinced that we need to take this country back and I’m doing my part. I hope you’ll join me, too, and soon.