The Republic May Not Survive

Can a Republic survive with such a weakened two party system? I'm not sure that it can. In America, the GOP has gone into a total downward spiral and it doesn't look like it can recover. The silence of GOP Senators, the closing of their eyes and ears in reaction to an attempt to hold Donald Trump accountable is amazing. What's on display is the selfishness of GOP elected officials. Their only concern is what personal impact any of this has on them. Will they be reelected? How will they be viewed? Were they quoted accurately in any reports about the insurrection. They are not loyal to any democratic values or at least they don't seem to be. They do not seem to be committed to any sense of justice. All of these things are what makes me think the Republic may not be able to survive. It also makes me realize that the Republican party has left a lot of people and it will suffer. But so will all of us.

Watching the Impeachment Trial of Donald Trump also points out how dark things really are in terms of people's beliefs. People who may look normal when you meet them on the street or in the coffee shop. We have to think about what made people believe absolute and clear lies about the 2020 election? What has caused people to hate so much? Why were people prepared to assassinate elected officials on January 6th? How could people who cloak themselves as patriots, feel that they had or have a right to overthrow a government? There is no question that these people believed the lies they were fed and they were totally loyal to Donald Trump but why so dark, so destructive?

I have no answers. I just know that we're in a very bad place. A demagogue and autocrat may have helped  get us here but our troubles go much deeper. People of goodwill need to work at and find solutions.