What do you think about this pivotal moment in history?
A new "Writing to Right the World" space for conversation about this urgent, fraught moment
It is 130 days to the US election. I want to keep a diary of sorts, and have a conversation with anyone who would like to talk about what is going on in the US and the world—a civil, sober conversation about where we are at this moment in history.
I don’t think I’m imagining things to say that we are at a pivotal moment.
There have been other huge turning point moments before, of course, when decisions were made that affected millions of people—that affected the well-being of all life on our planet.
The difference now is that so many of us are tuned in and aware of what’s going on.
It’s not like back in the days of the US Civil War, when news took weeks to travel, or the “Roaring Twenties,” when the good old boys made their private deals in smoky clubs that resulted in the rise of the railroads, highways, factories and industry that led us to the climate crisis we’re in today.
It’s not like the days when FDR could singlehandedly bring about a New Deal, while his wife negotiating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the United Nations.
It’s not like my own childhood, when Walter Cronkite brought us toned-down digests of the civil unrest and constant stream of assassinations, while the Vietnam War droned on sending home a stream of body boxes.
Our time is different because we have become an interconnected network of individuals, linked together in a single super-consciousness—a good thing, on the face of it, but also terribly dangerous, because there is so much misinformation swirling around.
DJT was able to spend 90 minutes of “debate” time spewing a vomitous mash of lies and not only did he get away with it, he’s being applauded for it! The other guy stumbled and mumbled and could not express a coherent thought—the only clear takeaway he offered was that his opponent is a “whiner.”
These are the two men who have been anointed by their political parties to steward the US, and by extension the world, through this polycrisis moment in history?
It’s appalling.
I want to wash my hands of the whole dismal debacle, retreatunder the covers—wake me when it’s over!
But I can’t, because I have skin in this game.
I have a granddaughter who will look back at this moment and wonder what her family did to try to avert disaster.
So I will join the chorus calling for Biden to step aside and let a younger, abler person run.
Biden has so much to offer as a seasoned counselor. He has done the country great service in his governance during his term. But he needs to get over his own ego and face the truth that this moment calls for a hard-swinging candidate, with energy to gut-punch the stupid, sneering, shrewd GOP candidate.
There is just too much at stake to hope that Biden is up to the task.
He clearly showed last night that he is NOT up to the task.
For the good of the country, for the shining future he wants for his own grandchildren, he needs to step aside graciously and put everything he’s got into getting a younger, fiercer Democrat elected.
Do you agree?