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The “Me First” Movement

My 75^th birthday will forever be marred by the spectacle of a sneering and insolent Brett Kavanaugh debasing his senate confirmation hearing, his face twisted up in self-righteous indignation as he professed his “innocence.” That image invaded my dreams and will forever be etched in my memory as a reminder of the white privilege and misogyny that permit him and those of his ilk to do whatever necessary to further their self interest, no matter the cost to society. That face has become the symbol, for me,  of the “Me First” movement, born of white privilege and racism, emboldened by Ayn Rand and furthered by people the likes of Paul Ryan, to whom nothing remains sacred in the quest for MORE—more money, more power, more control, more advantage, more, more, more, more, more—the insatiable desire that animates their thinking, their beliefs and their actions—that leaves in its wake the spoiled hopes and dreams of the poor, the sick, the elderly, the migrants, anyone of a certain color or ethnic identity or suspected religion—have I left anyone out?—with utter disregard for what might evolve from their decisions beyond the next quarter’s profit statements. It is the rot at the heart of the American dream, the little hidden secret no one wants to talk about, the bane of our existence, and , it is now clear, it is the engine that impels the Republican Party’s frenzied drive to appoint this disappointment of a man to a position of power, to accede to the demands of a petulant and petty man-child disguised as a leader,  to abandon all hope of democratic process, to forget to pretend they still care about those constitutional principles they claim to hold so dearly, while twisting them with a perversity so intense that their original meaning and intent are obscured if not forgotten altogether. In their eagerness to appoint Kavanaugh, McConnell & Co. display a lack of awareness or concern about the hypocrisy, the irony, the utter indecency of what they have set about to do . . . and all in the hopes that by so doing, they will receive still MORE of what they so fervently desire.

Discounting the damage they are doing to the constitution and to our democracy, what about the effect on the environment of their refusal to acknowledge global warming? What about the world they are leaving for their children, you might ask? Are they as oblivious to their actions as to not be able to perceive, at least a little, the consequences for the environment of their decisions and policies? Haven’t they noticed the increasingly severe weather patterns? The glacial meltdown? The sea rise predictions? No problemo, mi amigo! That’s easy to fix when you’ve got alternative facts! Repeat something often enough and it becomes real, right?  If that fails, we’ve got a handy-dandy little backup plan!  If everything goes to hell in a handbag, it doesn’t really matter because Jesus is coming and we’ll all be swept up in the Rapture! Maybe that’s what we deserve when we elect children, or more properly, failed adults, to positions of power.

It’s a sad state of affairs we’ve come to, Ollie!

One thing is certain; we sure aren’t in Kansas anymore!

October 5, 2018

Petaluma, CA

Tim Konrad