Time flies, whether you're having fun or not

Continuing with my theme on aging and the unexpected ways that time can rush (and slow down) as we move along in life...

Yesterday our eldest grandchild turned 21. That simple fact is enough to hint at my state of mind as I contemplated that somewhat arbitrary number... with an importance that could not be more artificial. And yet...

It probably has something to do with Grace being our first grandchild and having a long series of fun and not-so-fun days with her, basically from her birth. But I have some similar misgivings about our youngest grandchild, Jack. He is suddenly nearly 12.

Here's one slight glimmer of good news in our trying times. Trump is nine months into his current presidency and it has been both packed with weirdness and angst while also suddenly being nearly a quarter over. 

He's a horrible human being, not to mention clearly losing his faculties. It might be dementia but might just be nearing 80 years old. Even the mainstream media simply chooses to overlook even his most alarming flubs and lies and awful name-calling... something that most news outlets would have led with for any other president. 

I have seen a lot of commentators expressing alarm that America has basically given up on caring about having a wanna be dictator in charge, and millions of sycophants genuflecting before him. They draw parallels to history where populations stopped caring, focusing instead on their personal lives and well-being. Only war or some other disaster could make a difference, but history is equally clear that the tendency of humans is fall back into the authoritarian, "what's in it for me?" camp. 

I don't want American farmers to go bankrupt, uprooting an entire way of life while causing pain for anyone shopping for food. But they are going bankrupt and most of that can be attributed to the man and the political party he took over. Nebraska farmers can't sell their soybeans to China? That is just one country calling the bluff of Trump and his cult.

Hold on. Those farmers ARE the cult, by and large. They are so deep into the pseudo-religion of Trump that they will not only drink the Kool-Aid. They will demand it.

My guess is that Trump and his minions will find a way to dispense some of that tariff income to subsidize those industrious farmers and save them from ruin. But the children of those farmers who will be rescued by this handout? My guess is that they will make the logical decision to get away from agriculture. They will find other ways to make a living... much less physically taxing ways.

I want to enjoy a bit of schadenfreude about those Nebraska farmers (and Iowa farmers, and Indiana farmers, and...), but their loss is all our loss in the long run. 

They will keep voting for Republicans, the same cult that claims to speak for them while robbing them of their proud independence and their futures. 

Look, we are Americans, and we won't make the slightest change in, well, anything, as guns continue to terrorize our children, among others. There's nothing we can do.

There's nothing we can do. 

My hope is that Grace and her generation can hold onto what was, in my lifetime, the basic idea of America: We can do it. 

If I prayed, it would be for that to happen soon.