NPCs

If you are into online role-playing games (full disclosure: I'm not), you are probably familiar with the concept of the non-player character, or NPC - a character controlled by the master of the game or by a referee, rather than by a live player. The purpose of an NPC is, essentially, to provide background noise or flesh our a scene, much like the extras in movies who fill out crowds. The NPC has no effect on the game itself.

We are NPCs in the game Der Furor and his cronies are playing with the nation.

We have no input into the game other than by casting our votes*, and the next opportunity to do that won't come until November ... by which time the game controller will have, with no input from us or from the other NPCs we seem to have elected to Congress:

Destroyed our economy, once the envy of the world;

Undermined trust in our elections ... and in each other; 

Stacked government agencies with unqualified ciphers whose only qualification for their positions is obsequious devotion to Der Furor;  

Brought about the return of diseases once eliminated or, at least, under control; 

Ruined our standing in the world and eliminated the support of one-time allies who now view American leadership - once the gold standard for reliability and competence - as a laughingstock; 

Wasted hundreds of billions of our tax dollars on a completely unnecessary war against Iran ... which, although a loathsome regime, posed no immediate threat to us; 

Subordinated our national interests in the Middle East to those of Israel; 

Demolished part of the White House to make room for a ballroom for which there was no need;

Turned the stately and dignified Oval Office into a cheap imitation of a gaudy whorehouse; 

All but ruined the Kennedy Center as a focus of culture in the nation's capitol; 

Put us under attack by a private army answerable to no one; 

Attacked our treasured freedoms of speech, assembly, the press, and religion; 

Turned the Department of Justice into a juggernaut focused on vengeance against Der Furor's enemies, real and imagined; 

Utterly ignored the Constitution's guarantee of religious freedom in an attempt to transform the United States into a theocracy**; and,

Hugely profited - openly, blatantly, and shamelessly - from the abuse of public offices for personal gain, ensuring that the rich get richer and the rest of us get ... what's left.

I could go on, but you get the idea.

Hope you enjoy being an NPC in a game run by Der Furor and a bunch of entitled billionaires.

Have a good day. Be sure you are registered to vote and that you actually do vote in every upcoming election. Turn out for a No Kings rally this weekend. Now - more than ever - the nation needs your voice. Make it loud.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* We can also badger our elected officials to find their spines and stand up for country rather than party or self-interest, but the degree of susceptibility to badgering depends on the degree of fealty to Der Furor.

** Look how well it's worked out for Iran.