With instant communication and 24-hour news cycles, everything can appear important from media sources. It is – after all – the business of media to promote the news as important. Reporting can slide into expert opinion and speculation where the definitions of “news” and even “truth” seem under constant revision.
None of us truly knows what story today will be significant history tomorrow, but I believe we are in historic times with three examples.
First, the US Supreme Court’s revocation of a half-century right of American citizens based partly on antiquated English Common Law touched off a fiery backlash that resulted in unexpected electoral outcomes in Kansas and other state primaries. Some pollsters (often featured speakers on analytical newscasts) see a slight but growing reversal of political party fortunes in the upcoming midterm elections. Polls have been spectacularly wrong in the past, though, reminding us of Americans’ reluctance to match our public opinions with our private votes.
Second, Ukraine is a part of this moment; a proxy war we support, fought on foreign soil and framed as a battle for democracy writ large. Without American intervention – albeit with materiel, not men – Ukraine will surely fall to Russian aggression, just as we saw in 2014 Crimea. Part of the American Confederacy’s 19th century doom (beyond its immoral underpinnings and other factors) was its bad luck to be the battleground. Allied support for Ukraine can offset that disadvantage.
Russian president Putin’s pursuit of land previously part of imperial Russia drives him to push the envelope on every border unless opposed by equal or (threat of) greater force. We watched from afar his Crimean invasion and, thereby, rewarded his aggression. I believe future writers will deem the current Ukraine conflict an important historical inflection point for better or worse.
Last is the United Kingdom with an amazing sequence of recent events. One of the architects of Britain’s departure from the European Union became its Prime Minister, only to be ousted for reaching his level of incompetence and exceeding the public’s tolerance for shenanigans. He was replaced by a woman, only the third female Prime Minister in a century.
Within a week, Queen Elizabeth II died after ruling the UK for over seven decades. Her male successor, KC3, is the oldest monarch (74 next month) ever to be newly crowned. His possible short reign would usher in a generational shift. Despite Great Britain’s recent leadership upheaval, it remains a solid example of the peaceful transfer of power. Both between genders and generations.
In America, we have a stark comparison where a rampant plutocrat hopes to bend a two-century standard of peaceful political transfers, i.e., the outcome of orderly elections, the basic essence of a democracy, to his personal will and benefit.
Our current political climate has been deemed pivotal for our national democracy by president Joe Biden. No surprise to readers, I concur and view MAGA republicans as irrational, immoral citizens, at least by the definitions held within my bubble. I compare them informally to antebellum southerners who forced our 19th century Civil War, resisted an imperfect Reconstruction, and enabled a social system of inequality that favors them to this day.
For two years MAGA republicans have worked against any peaceful transfer of power from their chosen leader to another. They failed at ballot boxes in 2020. They failed again in violent insurrection at the Capitol in 2021, intended to spark other local aggressions. Their anticipated spread of insurrection also failed and we are learning now about the slimy connections and secret treasons that organized and abetted it.
A parallel storyline involves the antics of a tarnished ex-president with poor impulse control. Through wealth he evades consequences that would immediately threaten the rest of us. That wealth and privilege (except the Executive kind) afford him continued political power. His example emboldens followers to think they, too, can be lawless without penalty. The only fee for admission to the club is personal allegiance to him.
His supporters now run for offices in many state and local elections. Their most consistent campaign message is, “I’m like Him (sic)” and “the only way He (sic) could have lost is by a rigged election.” Such is the climate of our potentially unpeaceful elections next month and in 2024. I hope they are orderly, accurate, and peaceful. And I hope you vote.