BY BOB BEARDEN
If you are in a deep funk brought on by the election just passed, take heart – the world is still out there and, despite all the negative, it will not end. We have just found ourselves dropped into a deep hole of which we did not dig for ourselves. But there is a light up above and it is still shining brightly.
We can’t fix stupid and we never could. There were positives even though at this point in time they are hard to see. Small victories! Ones that are not always evident to the naked eye. A lot of states are turning purple even as we despair over the election results. Change comes almost never as fast as we want it or expect it too, but it comes.
We had a lot of small victories this election and as time goes by those small victories will multiply and grow larger. And even though our world turned to the right of center again those small victories are and will grow in importance as the days, weeks and months go by.
Try as they might the right-wing nuts can’t take us back to them good old days, because they never existed and going back in time isn’t an option. FDR nailed it when he said, “A conservative is a person with two good legs that has never learned to walk forward!”
The march of humankind has always been forward not backwards. Even though a lot of cranky old white people seem to think they can hold back the dawn, the sun will come up and we will go on.
Bigotry is a cancer that so many people have been injected with, because their fears and the people who monger them tell them they have a right to fear. They have a right to hate. And they have a right to monger both fear and hate.
But it isn’t working and it never will. As Dr. King said, “Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”
Fearmongering may get you elected. Selling bigotry and racism may work in the short term, but in the long scheme of things Dr. King was right in his assessment that the arc of history always bends toward justice.
We humans are an impatient lot and we want what we want as soon as possible, if not before. The world, of course, doesn’t work that way.
Con artists often seemingly get their way because they are adept at fooling the public into believing what isn’t true. They work their vile magic because they have no conscience and they are willing to exploit the masses to get what they want. The electorate was conned and taken advantaged of using fearmongering.
Scaring people to vote against their best interests can and sadly often works. But charlatans are, in the end, always exposed for what and who they are. A lot of people have been conned. And already we are seeing that the big con that one candidate exploited is being walked back and presented as just suggestions for negotiations so much for a breath of fresh air.
The air surrounding him is already starting to smell and the stench will only get worse.
The sour grapes will soon be on the other side when his rabid supporters find that he was playing them as much as he was playing us all.
Oh, woe will they be! But, hey, it just ain’t possible to fix stupid!
– Bob Bearden is a trustee with the Central Oklahoma Labor Federation, a member of Mayflower Congregational Church, UCC, and a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer
