Two items from the US of A
Tidbits of news that speak to a change in our once fair land
My time in China was a chance to look at the US from afar, something I valued during my years in London. The view is grim now, though there are some terrific people working to change the trajectory and I hope for better days ahead.
I thought you might want to know about a couple of things that won’t hit the international press. They are, to my mind, quite telling—especially in terms of the psychological and emotional shift that makes authoritarianism possible.
First, a story from the Washington Post (gift link) about an ICE raid in the small town of Great Barrington where I live. I was in China when it happened, but it was only a few blocks from my house.
This is not the America I grew up in. It is an event I would never have imagined possible in this country.
Here’s the story: “The secret police descending on Small Town, U.S.A.”
My second link is to a story about a US senator, Mike Lee. We have only 100 senators, so this is a senior and influential position. He is now a sycophantic follower of Donald Trump, promoting absurd conspiracy theories. But as recently as 2017 he was supporting efforts to increase social capital! There are many examples of this kind of self-serving turncoatery, but this one strikes home. For someone in a leadership position to care about social capital, and a few years later to tweet that the “Left” is responsible for the murder of Democratic legislators in Minnesota? I’m disgusted but also saddened.
is this simply transactional behavior, ot are there otther dynamics at work? Are women as likely as men to make this kind of change? I would, truly, like to know what you think.
Who is Karen Christensen? Find out here. What is The Way We Live Now trying to accomplish? Read about it here.
This is not the America I grew up in either.