Drinking The Kool-Aid

There seem to be American voters who don’t understand what an autocrat is and legislators who embrace an autocrat if it brings them power. Or money.  Do the voters not realize that when an autocrat is in power, no one is free? Do the legislators not understand he will be their master, too?

How is it that someone like Ron DeSantis or Donald Trump can worm their way into voter’s heads? I watch people I know, friends even, who can’t see the danger in men who snub their noses at our laws, our history, and our common humanity.

They miss clues from the autocrats’ own mouths. “Only I can fix it.” Those are the words of a megalomaniac.

This county has always been stronger and more just when its citizens work as a community, when we, The People, have our say. Winston Churchill said, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried.”

Democracy isn’t perfect. We don’t always get the candidate of our choice. Sometimes, we are in the minority, and minorities struggle for their rights. Ask any black person who lived through the Jim Crow era. Ask black drivers who are afraid of being stopped. Ask Native Americans in Oklahoma whose governor wants to take away their sovereign rights. Ask asylum seekers and refugees. Ask your gay friends. Ask any trans person. Ask women, and we’re not even in the minority.

Whose fault is it that so many American voters are uninformed? Or is it misinformed, even lied to? Maybe all of us should shed our biases and talk to people to whom our country has been less kind. And to help the next generation navigate the future, we must teach honest history.

Things have changed for the better in this country, but we have a long way to go. And recently, we’ve been going backwards. That backward slide down the hill will become an avalanche if voters don’t see the danger of a party in total control [see Oklahoma], legislators who want a state religion [again, see Oklahoma], or a president with no regard for anyone but himself.

What did the followers of Jim Jones get for their complete dependence? Death by Kool-Aid.

What did the congregants of Pastor Paul MacKenzie get? It wasn’t paradise they earned by starving themselves and their families.

What will we get if people don’t come to their senses, if they don’t recognize liars and bullies for what they are?

I don’t want to find out.