A trip to Europe convinced me the USA is ill [View all]

[DemocracyMouse]

Returning from a vacation in Spain with my son, I had the profound impression that this country is ill.

In Barcelona, Girona and the small seaside town of Cataqués I had dozens of encounters with Spaniards (and Catalans) that were marked by a kind of sweetness in the speech patterns that I almost found incomprehensible. Even the police went out of their way to be helpful, despite my lack of reasonable Spanish.

Now I know that Spain has a high rate of unemployment and cops have motivated a wide array of protests from the Catalan independence movement. But during the entire two weeks in Spain I rarely heard signs of distress such as sirens or raised voices. Frankly, the only real disturbance was that of me and my son squabbling over his (distracting) computer game. The people of Spain had every right to roll their eyes or shout "shut up, stupid Americans, don't bring your technology problems and your abysmal record of teaching manners to your children." But they politely endured us. Interestingly, the profusion of "Llibertad" banners could be called "distressing" but the effect for me was the opposite. Those cloth banners were putting the police and unscrupulous politicians on notice that democracy, not fascism, has the upper hand. This is why I often place handwritten signs across my bumper to challenge the status quo and I encourage every DU member to do the same. It would probably be catalytic across the country. (Handmade, across the entire bumper, beats printed stickers).

NOTE: Many Europeans live in apartments with railings which are perfect for cloth banners. In the US we virtually live in our cars so the bumper is the medium, paraphrasing Marshall McLuhan.

It was on the return that I experienced the greatest sense of what has happened to our country. My very first encounter with a US citizen was with a border guard who was checking passports and those "declaration" cards we had to fill out. I had filled out the card for both me and my son – which we had been told to do (nicely) by a Norwegian stewardess. As I leaned forward to hand over the card, this guard barked "step back!" as if I were a criminal. After managing to get through that hostile welcoming committee – and still shaking – we passed posters with pictures of armed policemen (with machine guns) and a statement along the lines of "if you see something, say something." The usual SS propaganda wihout a hint of concern for how our approach to security is still terrorizing citizens long after 9/11 . While waiting for our bags a large sign could be seen with a list of horrors you could be arrested for. Welcome to America.

But the final straw was on the ride home. I could swallow, grugingly, the $240 pricetag for parking and the almost pre-industrial and supremely ugly parking systems, but nothing but a bottle of whiskey could medicate me for what followed. Every few miles I saw police cars with strobe lights. They lit up the night sky as if the US were a war zone. Some were due to crashes (which seems insane enough). Some were for speeding perhaps. A plethora of overdue infrastructure work might have employed the cop cars as safety lights, effectively militarizing a civilian operation. But the sheer number of cop cars and the intensity of their strobes was astounding. I don't recall seeing – or hearing – a single stroboscopic display of police power like that anywhere in Spain – and Catalonia was going through a virtual revolution.

These barking security guards, gun-flashing security posters, and insidious over-amped police cars (everywhere), is a sign of national illness. I would stake my life on it. I think the Europeans know this. The Norwegian Air flight included many films that addressed fascism, obliquely and otherwise: 3 Billboards, The Shape of Water, etc.

If I were an alien zoologist studying this region of planet Earth, I might easily conclude that the United States is diseased.

People, we must vote like never before on November 6, but we must CONTINUE to change the culture wherever we can. If nobody in the police headquarters says a peep about whether the order of insanely fascist strobe lights, or sports car police vehicles with aggressive lettering is really necessary, the technology is ordered and employed. If no one on the airport security board questions the appropriateness of posters that makes our country look like a militarized shithole, then creeping fascism is enabled.

A culture dedicated to education and moderation doesn't order strobes like that. This is where US "pragmatism" falls apart. Yes the strobes might prevent an accident or two, but I have nearly had accidents due to the same blinding lights. And the psychological effects are withering. The delicate threads of manners, design and culture can add up to a "city on a hill" – or a fascist dump where a grotesque number of citizens are incarcerated – or shot to death – for standing up to unnecessary police power.

So vote we must. And we must come together in each others homes, break bread, drink wine (or beer), and support each other and the country. We have no choice. We must become a thoughful, caring, cultured country or this great experiment in democracy dies. Each one of us must act as cellular antidotes.

ONCE MORE:

So Democrats unite! We must get out the vote precisely BECAUSE our lives are becoming depressing and too many are resorting to opiods to become, in the words of the great Pink Floyd, "comfortably numb."

Resist these asinine, psychopathic Russians and their sick Republican enablers. Vote in November. Get your neighbors to the polls. Encourage every young person you meet to register as a Democrat. And change the culture – and the infrastructure – a little bit every day.