Something Wicked This Way Comes

                   ÉLISEZ UN CLOWN. ATTENDEZ-VOUS À UN CIRQUE 

 SHHH...! They are listening. They are amongst us. They've Betrayed you.
You'd thought that you were amongst friends, but they (your neighbors) were faking it.  They kept quiet when you'd walked your dog -- and prayed with them for a merciful leader. You'd misjudged your girlfriends, and those from your Book-Club. But everyone loves the elephants, and everyone is heading to the circus. To be clear... what has occurred is NOT about Politics, this is "The Greatest Show On Earth", A Reality-Show way way down below deck of a ship which sank long ago. This is not a nightmare from which you will awaken.  This is a prolonged collapse.  For centuries, we've been scrubbing these decks and wringing a filthy rag, but the water in our bucket is gray.  Relax, because the circus is coming and the elephants will keep busy.  They will raise the tents, while the Asses weed the pasture, Clever Elephants will balance on a barrel, and enjoy the finest delicacies, and the softest beds.  The country-folk will be entertained to death. Everyone (but you) will assemble beneath the BIG-Top. The quiet ones amongst us having rooted for the strong-man, civic leaders have taken their seats. But D.T. Barnum is having his trained monkeys bar the doors, and they will soon be dousing all of the tents with kerosene -- "It will be Brilliant!, beautifully bright,  with big crowds, the biggest crowds ever!, I mean really big." "It will be the greatest Show Ever." We will all have a ring-side seat while it burns to the ground.
                              "...One nation under God, Indivisible..."

Shhh!, Stay home, and let them go. It's all for them. Your neighbors have already left.  America has been radicalized.  They are amongst us, they were the weak ones, but they've bought the farm.  Oh, Come on man, how bad can it be?  You felt assured that your world was full of reasonable adults - But the Age Of Reason was long gone before your ticked the box. That person who you've sene everyday at the doggie park, does not give a fuck. Your neighbor's political calculus tilted as you'd lamented another egregious slur in the media. Slander, and fast talk our ring-leader -- "Step Right Up" "Step Right UP". Apparently, they didn't see it that way, the shift, the slide. -- And you didn't see them change.  But they have. Everything has changed, and it's going to be really bad.
       America has changed fundamentally, and 'they' don't know the damage they've done.
The water in this bucket has always run red. They are of course wrong -- But it's far too late for blame.  Unfortunately, it is simply not mathematically possible that these "reasonable" people among you, didn't have other plans. That those who you'd considered "smart" would check the other box.  The math doesn't lie, and the waves are not blue.
            Relax now, reflect today on all that you have taken for granted.
This is NOT a nightmare which you will awaken from.  America is a faded, and tattered fantasy. A circus is coming to town, as it was foretold. The darkness enters earlier by the day. all the posters were painted and pasted to lure you in.  Mornings will be darker, and the evenings under a cloud veil dampen the leaves, bringing chilly air. Bitter frost bites fingers and toes. It will be cold soon, but Hey!, it's OKAY because your favorite program is on every day, and they've signed for four more full seasons. The Circus has something for everyone. We will have clowns and strong-men, acrobats, and wild animals. They will build a Big-Top with space for every debaucherous layman, priest, craftsman and billionaire in town. Under the Big Top, they will saw the lady in half, and make the dollar disappear, but not bring them back. They will erect new statues of themselves, and remove veneration of a better time. The Ticket price was nothing. Everyone is welcome to the grand reopening of Mount Rushmore. Believe it.

               The people have spoken.

 The numbers prove a strange & poorly guarded secret:
The Rich wanted a handout, Our minorities chose a Racist, Attorneys selected lawlessness, The weak voted for a Dictator, ​Dictators are granted absolution, The poor want to have less, Rural America wants a cage match, The Working class want to be broken,  Conservatives voted to raise taxes, The Elderly relish insecurity, Republicans adore chaos, And the ladies would prefer a rapist.

         In the land of the free, nearly everyone got exactly what they'd asked for.

This is the day, your life will surely change. Relax now, reflect today on all that you have taken for granted.  Enjoy a few short weeks while the train moves steadily toward your quiet comfort. If you survive the next four seasons, You may come to remember this quiet moment as one of your best. Time will slow,  the edges will soften and filth will blur the lines that drew our free republic. How you come to remember today, will show only how ashamed you are of the country you thought you once knew. What seems like today's chaos, will fade focus upon just how long things seemed comfortable, normal, even peaceful, in the "before times". Just as in any dystopian Sci-Fi, the scene will open with laughing and playfulness, as joy and hope are ground slowly into sand. Verdant days amidst the solace of nature,  birds discussing the changing season, while trees sway and shimmer by a warm breeze. Riparian respite along a river where trout shimmer beneath copper gold glittering flow. Dark filth, and pollutants will come for them. "America The Beautiful" will unravel.  Lesson One: Many amongst you, even your friends are NOT on "our side", "our side" of history. They will later lie, because facts no longer matter. They will later change their vote, pretending their hands were clean.  Today however, It is crucial that you keep these accusations to yourself, because these same people you'd trusted will expose you.  Of course, You may not immediately be shipped off to interment camps, but you will be identified. You will see the change. You will be alone for a long while, and then slowly people will come to grips with their mistake.
    You are squarely in the minority, and THAT! my plush friend, is the rub
   

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Hush!... Hushhh...  Nothing you say today matters more than the practice of remembering how it once was --How you'd thought it was.  Hold fast to your oral traditions, perhaps you can share them later.  But the books will  change, because history is written by those in power. Surviving record will reflect a gleaming tower of morality, and perfection.  A perfect Historic correction will destroy everyone with a conscience. The times they are a changing, and this river will cut right through your town dislodging good homes, separating families from their possessions, and one-another. "Democracy" is drowning it's citizens beneath collapsing hedonism. What remains will be unrecognizable, because people will forget.
  They have it coming to them,  it's going to be really big.
A Greek Tragedy is in the works, and Caesar, A Boy King, is at last going to watch it all burn. The Flood will tumble survivors like shiny stones into a backwater  -- Grey water, which once ran clear and clean, will breed new pestilence.  And in the chaos will come subversion, unchecked crime, and reprisal.  In the new world the wealth gap will broaden, and we will have to choose who we rescue, who to share meals with.  There will NOT be enough to go around. The so called system will break down. We will again want for things,. essential things, and novelties like honesty, and integrity, fairness, and shame.
  But you will NOT have to ask yourself, "What Have I done" You will have no survivor's guilt.
​

         "Nobody ever lost a dime underestimating the American Public" 
                                                  -H.L. Mencken

Learning how to game the system has always been the real American Grit.  Did you forget that this scrappy nation was built upon resourcefulness, religion, and resentment for power?  We are a diverse collection of DIY moving backwards through time. We will now be tested to provide much of what we once had once taken for granted.  Clean water, air, food, justice... Something Wicked This Way Comes, and only last week they were putting up the posters.  Tomorrow they will begin to set-up the tents, and the ring-side seats will be ablaze with suffering animals, and filth. It will be morality's biggest test to not slip beneath it's torrent. To not peek under the tent.  You are an outlier, you are exposed, and you are losing. "Nobody ever lost a dime underestimating the American Public" -- But wealth is not measured in gold. America is broken. America is bankrupt. This is where being the 'only adult in the room' got you, democracy is dead, but you were lucky enough  to see the train leave the station.
     There is a sucker born every minute, and you just happened to be walking by the tent.
Your friends and relatives have already been radicalized. This is the momentum of a wicked wave which is coming for everyone. Even the idiots who'd asked for this will be ashamed. They too will live long enough to regret lifting the flap, and ticking that red box.  We will all live long enough to regret peeking under the tent.   Everyone, except  america's showman D.T. Barnum.
                 America Is A Sucker.

FANTASYLAND BY KURT ANDERSON check it out