You will find short stories on this site. Most are autobiographical. Some are fiction.

ELECTION DAY 2024

I have to reinforce my emotional stability in light of the very real possibility of a second Trump presidency. One tool I will employ in this effort is writing about my concerns. I fear that if elected he will: 1. try to subvert our constitutional government changing it into a fascist state. 2. That he will cease to supply military equipment to Ukraine. 3. He will back out of supporting NATO. In so doing, he will leave Ukraine and Europe out in the cold to fight it out with Putin’s Russia alone. 4. He will supply Bebe with endless support in his effort to destroy Palestine and Lebanon. 5. I expect towitness the further bifurcation of economic opportunities as the extremely wealthy continue to subvert our government to further inflate their burgeoning bank accounts. Trump, his family and his wealthisest supporters will devise ways to profit from the tax payers, much as he did when president the first time. with his hotels and tax breaks for him and his wealthy supporters. 6. He loves tariffs, and will likely follow through on his policy of placing tariffs on all imports, driving up the cost of living in the U.S. 7. He will move toward restricting the practice of any religion other than Christianity. He did this in his first term by expanding the educational voucher systems supporting parochial schools while cutting funding for public schools. 8. Trump will act on his threat to deport all undocumented immigrants. As a consequence, he will cripple the agricultural sector of our economy. 9. He will confound the functioning of our government by purging competent civil servants. 10. We have already seen a loss of liberty under Trump, resulting from the politicization of the US Supreme Court. Finally, He will declare that anyone opposing him and his changes to our government will be “an enemy of the state” subject to deportation or arrest and imprisonment. These eleven fears are based on Trump’s stated or implied intentions.

Is it possible that all this could come to pass? Or will our constitutional government be able to resist Trump’s efforts? It can happen. Similar events have brought fascism to four great countries in my lifetime. I was born in the same month, November 1938, that crystal nacht cemented Hitler’s hateful grip on a fascist Germany. Mussolini managed to bring fascism to Italy. It happened again when Putin directed the transformation of Russia into a fascist kleptocracy. Most recently it happened when Viktor Orban succeeded in transforming the Hungarian democracy into something resembling a fascist dictatorship. Putin and Orban are both leaders that Trump eulogizes. Orban gave the keynote address at last year’s Republican CPAC convention.

So how do I continue to live here witnessing this attempt to subvert our democratic form of government? This country is a glorious attempt to accommodate the inevitable mixing of skin colors, spiritual beliefs, and cultures. It will be a travesty to have it be dismantled. I will try to be a dispassionate observer. I will try to watch, with dry eyes, the slow degradation of our economic and governmental institutions. Through it all, I hope to retain my composure and use writing to purge my mind of the psychic turmoil that such events will thrust upon me. Just writing these few paragraphs have begun to assuage my anxiety.

Posted Election Day 2024