I'm now the main caregiver of a 35 year old Trauma survivor. When she was 17 years old, she sat belted in the back seat of a speeding car that overshot the exit ramp and rolled several times. She was the only passenger who suffered grievous injury, a brain injury that from then on limited her physical and mental abilities to do everything she had hoped to do in her adult years. Up to this summer, she was able to work part time jobs and enjoy a social life in our community. Several weeks ago, under tremendous emotional strain caused by several factors, she suffered a mental collapse. We are grateful for the caring healthcare community that is overseeing her recovery with medications and therapy.
But this brings to mind how little we appreciate the vulnerability of our mental health, as well as our abilities to grow our own intelligence and creativity. We assume too much and make too little effort. Hence, mental health resources, public education K-16, and every individual's access to affordable/equitable/high quality healthcare and education has deteriorated. This Trump administration and the Republican party have used their powers in many states and from the White House to decimate resources that help all people achieve their goals and receive the care they need when emergencies arise.
Far worse than the politicians and power players who hold Americans hostage to policies that help only the richest and whitest among us is that millions of Americans vote for these policies via their loyalty to the party. We expect wealthy people to be selfish, corrupt, self-dealing, and cruel. Power and extreme wealth corrupts them. And for 250 years, we've seen the parade of wealthy white American scoundrels make their way into seats of influence and power. However, it boggles our understanding of basic human decency that millions of our fellow Americans -- many living paycheck to paycheck, many with few financial worries, many others ekeing out their existences -- vote for these scoundrels.
Who are these Americans who keep the Right Wing in power in their states and in Washington, D.C.?
1 They are white supremacists. No trait describes the majority of Republican leaders and voters as easily and inarguably as their belief in the supremacy of White Wealthy Males. Nothing decribes better the cohesion among them and the core of their policies. Without this, today's Republican party would not exist.
2 They are afraid of each other and all who differ from them. Hence, their devotion to authoritarian behaviors and policies. They need 'strongmen' and loud mouths and bullies to hold them together. No place in the USA shows how authoritarianism works like its churches. No people are more devoted to Republican leaders and Trump than these Christians. The high turnover rates, incompetency, infighting, hypocrisy, cruelty, backstabbing, and self-dealing in their churches and legislatures and clubs are testament to the total inadequacy of authoritarian rule. Without white supremacy at the core of America's right wing, rational and empathetic conservatism would have survived the Christian Nationalist takeover of the Republic party.
3 They abhor rules, policies, laws, and actions that help everyone. Because they believe in strict societal tiers of 'worthiness'. They want to decide which individuals and groups receive aid or are allowed to benefit from social programs. There is no blanket of hope; they cut holes in the blanket and would rather burn the blanket than help people or institutions with whom they have disagreements. This is another way that they hurt each other without remorse.
4 And because they abhor rules and policies that provide help to everyone, they give no rational thought to the long-term consequences of policies that reward only right-wing elitists. Nevermind that a generation of hungry and neglected youths to whom Republicans refuse aide and hope become criminals. Nevermind that girls and women who are denied safe lawful and affordable access to their reproductive care and decisions become helpless and hopeless. Nevermind that ensuring legal and public protections for sexual predators, especially the predators within seats of power and right-wing influence, also ensures that those growing networks of sexual predation will target their own children and grandchildren.
Nevermind that the increasingly large gap between poor/low-income earners and the wealthy is annihilating America's middle class, creating a new generation of Americans who loathe the wealthy class and demand change. Nevermind that most Americans are finally seeing that never-ending wars, militarization of local police departments, tax laws that benefit the wealthy and thereby increase the burden on workers and small business owners, extremely high education/healthcare/housing costs, etc. etc. are the consequences of voting Republican (as if this one is the same as Eisenhower's Republican party).
The 35-year-old woman with whom I share life as her grandmother and caregiver is thoughtful, empathetic, strong, rational and practical, kind, generous, intelligent, and brave. She brightens our lives. When I listen to her and think how far she has come since the TBI nearly 18 years ago, my heart is stirred to be a better person and to care for the millions in this USA who like herself need helping hands.
Yes, I've grown in my old age to loathe America's right wing, both the political and religious, both politicians and its voter base, both their policies and the consequences of which they give no thought. I do not believe that our celebration of Trump's death will mark a turning point in the nation's progress toward good or bad. He is what he's always been -- moronic, selfish, insecure, amoral, cruel, and self-dealing. But America's conservatism has morphed into something that will endure MAGA's passing. Christian Nationalism has created a very powerful class that will not let go without a fight.