Tomorrowland

Tomorrowland

by Marco M. Pardi

“Quam minimum credula postera” (Trust as little as possible in tomorrow) Horace Odes. Book 1 (23BCE)

This site was initiated for interaction. Therefore, all comments are welcome and will receive a response. If you are unable or unwilling to comment please pass this site on to someone who will.

Although many people are familiar with the phrase, Carpe diem, to the point of it being trite, few have read, in Latin, the full context from which it came. Yet, we in America are now facing the realization that seizing the day is, while momentarily satisfying, simply insufficient to address our uncertainties about tomorrow. In fact, tomorrow, once a term which could speak of a limitless future, has become truncated to the markers which had previously passed with little or no general notice. One State has yet to hold a run-off election which will determine whether we have a functioning federal government or another episode of obfuscatory impasse as one extremist Republican Senator refuses to bring for Senate consideration any and all propositions from a Centrist Democratic President. Another marker is the hitherto pro forma Congressional approval of the Presidential vote count already held and confirmed by the Electoral College. Already there have been Republican officials voicing intentions to object to the approval, delaying the Presidential transition yet further into “tomorrow”, and even imposing Martial Law through the dispersal of armed federal troops throughout the Nation. And, of course, there is the ultimate marker: Inauguration Day in which the duly elected new President is sworn in and takes residence in the White House. The current nominal President has signaled often that he will not leave.

It may be said the delaying tactics are to further enable the extremist Republicans as they are frantically rushing to confirm more lifetime ultra-”conservative” federal judges, disable scientific institutions across the land, repeal every environmental protection, finalize the staggering economic imbalance in the country in their favor, disable or outlaw every possible social support for the less affluent, and sell off federal land to mining and other fossil fuel industries.

Currently our national attention is focused on the Covid-19 pandemic, as it should be. However, in the remaining 20 days or so of the current administration we face additional existential threats from outside and from within. The pandemic will continue and, as we deploy vaccines, will move from an acute condition to a chronic one. But just the opposite is true for the other conditions.

As time passes we easily forget exact numbers when remembering past elections. The recent exception to this, of course, has been the drumbeat from the Trump syndicate claiming false numbers from the 2016 election. But lies are not good grounds for preparing for highly probable realities. The recently past reality in the current case is that some 74 million people voted to continue the chaos, internal hatred and violence to and from practically every demographic in America, attacks on and erosion of the very foundations of American democracy, extreme exacerbation of economic disparities which favor a handful of Americans – notably including the chief of the syndicate and his family, and planet killing rollbacks of every environmental safeguard we have. Those 74 million were outvoted and defeated by a mere 7 million more. We would be well advised to remember that.

We should also realize that these 74 million are not going to “see the error of their ways”, nor are they going to get up and leave. And we should realize that these 74 million are not loony individuals dressed in Army Surplus store sartorial splendor; they are among your neighbors and acquaintances.

The internet is aflame with conspiracy theories, vicious expressions of frustration and rage, appeals to join “patriotic” militias, and exhortations from “religious” leaders to overturn what was a fair and proper presidential election. Feeding and compounding this cacophony are behind the scenes actors such as the Sluzhba Vneshnei Razvedki (SVR), the Russian foreign intelligence service arising from the former KGB. In addition to disseminating inflammatory materials on the internet they have also penetrated the operating software employed by almost all American federal agencies, including infrastructure such as electronic banking, water systems, and power supplies. In short, an EXECUTE order to their implanted software can immediately result in the kinds of social, health, environmental, and psychological panic and disorder which is exactly what the 750 and growing in number militia groups need to justify a violent uprising. This is not some fantasy. This is a sober assessment of a near future outcome. The only question applies to the degree of probability.

A stable characteristic of the American government has been the peaceful, indeed cooperative hand-off of power to the next elected administration. Indeed, it can be helpful to imagine a track & field relay race: A president gets to carry the baton for four laps around the track. If re-elected he gets to go around for another four. But that is the end of his race. As he approaches the incoming runner he makes every effort to place the baton so the next runner can catch up to him and successfully take it forward. Instead, what we now have is a president who has no concept of Team, who cares only for his own glory no matter the cost to every stakeholder in the race, who refuses to yield the baton in the belief that possessing it protects him from the federal and state criminal indictments waiting for him at the finish line.

In refusing to acknowledge the outcome of the 2020 Presidential election this current administration delayed for weeks the critical daily intelligence briefings the incoming administration seriously needs to understand and address the crises facing the nation. The current president has surrounded himself with sycophants and convicted felons many of whom are suggesting bizarre and illegal tactics to overturn the election in hopes of currying a presidential pardon for their crimes.

Although it is unlikely the current president will be able to continue clutching the baton in his little fist, it is certain that a substantial portion of the population will continue to devise ways to overturn and hijack the race. There will no doubt be many different expressions of these ways and violence is to possibility that should not be ignored as unlikely or impossible.

Speaking of Tomorrowland, it is interesting to note that the Mad Max film series was set in 2021.