The View From Here
David Mark Greaves
I imagine there could be a future study on the number of excess stress-related deaths around the time of this election. In the past, elected officials and administrations came and went in an orderly fashion, Republican or Democrat, we may not have liked what the winning party had in mind, but we were not afraid of them. The Republican party of today has transformed into something to be afraid of.

The party is controlled by primal forces for the survival of what they see as their kind, White Christian supremacists. And as we’ve seen in the past, they are capable of anything, most recently, storming the Capitol and having armed vigilantes at polling sites. For them, taking over the government and running it as an authoritarian state is the goal. They may consider this their last shot at control of the nation, and they’re taking it. And this may be our last chance to stretch and block it and save the game for democracy. There are only microseconds left before the ball is beyond our reach; we have to make that move and vote.

Polls are tightening, polls are widening, and margins of error vary. The bottom line is that no one knows what will happen with the midterms until all the votes are in. Then we will learn what kind of country we will have as we go forward. And what the nature of the struggle will be—offense or defense.

Donald Trump is like the Hollywood movie host of a malevolent spirit that infects on contact and takes control of mind and actions—propelling formerly ordinary people to acts of violence in their cult devotion to the Leader.
And, of course, they are being used by American oligarchs spending millions of dollars attempting to control elections for their benefit and at the expense of the rest of the country, including the blinded followers of the Leader.

We’ve seen where the Trump Republicans want to take us, cementing their control in national and state leadership, having shock troops on the ground, ready to appear with long guns, short guns, and tactical gear that you know gives them a thrill of satisfaction putting on.
I was in a LYFT recently, and in conversation with the driver, a white man in his 50s, I asked him if he had voted. He had not and did not intend to. He does not vote because he said the politicians were in a “different world” from his and had no effect on his life. “Maybe in a way, but not really.”

Another driver, a White woman in her 50s, was speaking about the current state of affairs in the country and said her mother, who had been very happy when Barack Obama won, would be turning in her grave at what was happening today. I suggested she’d be spinning. The driver agreed, “Yes she would.”

I don’t know what can be done about the non-voter, but I believe there are more voters of good conscience than not. They just have to come out, in droves.
If not, all will not be lost. Life will still go on. A little different and with more political drama than we would like, but we’ll muddle through. Give it another generation and the U. S. will be right back on track.