The election is over. By all accounts, no matter what is done from this point forward, the result will remain the same: Donald J. Trump has lost. Yet, nothing has changed. His enablers – the likes of Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham – and his lackeys – the worst of whom is probably the Gollum-like Rudy Giuliani – continue to spew their bile and shred the social fabric of America with their gnarled claws. Mass media tells us that we are a dangerously-polarized society. This is not fake news; it’s not even news.
We have all been forced to declare for one side or the other: Republican or Democrat. The soothing, neutral gray of compromise and mediation is gone, the fevered dream of idealists.
I cannot emphasize enough the depth and extent of my shame. My America, the one I was born in, the one who taught me about the miracle of democracy, the land I criticize because I love it so fervently, is crumbling before my eyes, disappearing. This is tragedy. The fall of America is that much more horrifying because it is from such a great height. I am ashamed to be an American and, no matter what the outcome of this, that shame will burn for a long time to come.