THE FEED  

06 January 2022 | Everything Lost and More


Everything Lost and More

The event horizon of a black hole is not a hard, physical boundary. There is no tape around it or flashing sign. The only reliable way to know you're there is when all the velocity you can muster won't move you to where you need to be. And even then, you probably won't notice much.

Do I need to beat this metaphor even harder? You won’t know how screwed you are until it’s impossible to escape. You can still move about, but the reality is that you certainly are doomed. It just doesn’t feel that way because, again, you think nothing has really changed.

I cannot say if America is doomed with Hebrew prophet gravitas, but I can definitely say that there is no going back to the ante-Trump status quo. I loathe to use that foul creature’s name, but it must be said to make my point: this country has crossed the event horizon and there is no going back to the time before this repugnant, anti-democratic filth got to the White House and poisoned everything. There is no return to norms. They have been irrevocably weakened. The country’s institutions were faced with the ultimate test and barely survived, but the verdict remains: mene mene tekel upharsin. (You have been judged and found wanting.)

Like climate change, we have waited far too long to do anything meaningful. The perversion of the electoral process has been undertaken by various Republican (and yes, it’s Republicans) legislatures across the country. Not only are there laws to restrict voting, but people who declared that Biden did not legitimately win are running to be Secretaries of State. Current Secretaries of State are now the objects of laws that *reduce* their power and ability to certify elections so that GOP dominated legislatures can choose winners if they don’t like the results.

Why is this not pissing anyone off? Well, because we Americans believe that Congress will pass some voting law to prevent that, or that the courts will certainly strike these things down. This is foolishness. It’s already too late; we’ve crossed that event horizon and there is no escape velocity powerful enough to get us back to that which we have taken for granted: fair and free elections run by people who put aside their personal feelings and follow the rules and the laws ultimately in support of the democratic process. But remember: death by black hole does not happen in a matter of minutes: it takes its own time and for a long while, it will not seem so bad. In fact, everything will look normal and you’ll have enough time to figure out an escape.

Except, there is none. And that’s where we are. We are beggars to our own demise because it’s just too late.