It Is Time To Take Away Their Keys

“The man at the center of the motorcade has just learned to tie his boots.”

Howard Devoto, Magazine.

I remember when we had to take the keys away from my parents, first my Dad and then my Mother. At a certain point, it was beyond the potential danger that driving posed to them, or even their loss of independence. There was the small matter of public safety. Could we live with ourselves if we did nothing?

We were sitting in a small waiting room, and the Doctor came in. I don’t remember what the reason was for the visit, but since my Dad was dying of congestive heart failure, we knew that it was only a matter of time as the clock slowly counted down. We asked the Doctor if it was still ok to let my Dad drive.

With elderly people, there are questions of dignity and independence that must be considered. The Doctor surprised us when he said that he saw no reason why father could not still drive.

Then he added, “But not in my neighbourhood:”

Freedom is a big deal in America. It is part and parcel of their mythology and history. Freedom of the press, freedom to openly carry a gun in public. The freedom to smoke yourself to death or drink yourself to death. The freedom to consume the manufactured crap that Is American fast “food.” The freedom to send bombs to Israel to kill children, while simultaneously talking about a peace deal.

Americans have the freedom to kill themselves and others in many different ways. This freedom is part of their DNA, dating back to 1845, when the concept of Manifest Destiny became popular. The prophet Google states, “Manifest Destiny was the idea that white Americans were divinely ordained to settle the entire continent of North America. The ideology of Manifest Destiny inspired a variety of measures designed to remove or destroy the native population.” God had given his chosen people, his chosen white people, not only the power to commit genocide in His name, but to believe that they had His permission to feel good about it. They were just following the word of God, His mission to expand and conquer. To bring salvation and smallpox. Freedom was an intoxicant, a religion, a drug, a God-given right. Freedom was not just a right with divine justification. Freedom is your duty.

To question the patriarchy is to question God himself. In Canada this concept was also popular. Besides the indigenous enemy, the early settlers in Quebec and Ontario also feared the hungry American, who would spread his appetite to their lands. Chapter and verse of Google tells us clearly that “The phrase "manifest destiny" is most often associated with the territorial expansion of the United States from 1812 to 1867. This era, from the War of 1812 to the acquisition of Alaska in 1867, has been called the "age of manifest destiny".

The woman in this painting “American Progress" by John Gast was known as Columbia. Gast envisioned the struggle between darkness and light. Americans believed that they were superior to the Native Americans. This "superior" knowledge is represented by the lightness, which is brightest on the right side of the painting or in the east. The left side of the painting, or the west, you can see the Native Americans painted in the dark. They are painted to show that they do not have the same bright knowledge as the God’s chosen Americans.

The concept of a chosen people with God given agendas is what drives all genocides. We are witnessing this play out in Gaza. Is it any wonder that the Zionist concept of Israel, resonates so strongly with American politicians? Both candidates for President support this war, stumbling over each other to tell us who supports Israel more. There is no second thoughts given for the Palestinian people. There is no shame for either candidate in the wholesale killing of women and children in the name of God.

The concept of Manifest Destiny explains why America is content to let two old white men with dementia fight it out. Elections? Debates? We might as well have jello wrestling. Do I need to remind everyone here that no matter who “wins”, the outcome of the election will still be the same? The US empire with its white patriarchy and settler culture will still be in control.

This empire is an insatiable machine that feeds on greed, God and lust for domination. The freedom to kill in the name of God will continue without end no matter who wins. If we cannot see this, we are all as delusional as Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber.

After witnessing the recent debate, does anyone actually believe that Joe Biden is running anything? Does anyone believe that Donald Trump was actually allowed anywhere near the nuclear codes? It’s like the Emperor’s New Clothes.

Watching the debate, I am reminded of the classic reveal in The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy and her trio of wise men finally see the Great and Powerful Oz behind the curtain. “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain”.

It takes a little black dog to pull back the curtain, to reveal the Wizard is a fraud. That the Great and Powerful is none other than the charlatan conman and fortune teller, Professor Marvel.

In the debate on Thursday night, we saw a sad, and lost Joe Biden, struggling to put his words together in some semblance of structure that is not salad. He kept mixing up millions, and billions and trillions, as if there were no difference besides the added zeros. And maybe there isn’t.

I remember a housing co-op meeting where we were to vote on a new roof which was going to cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars. For a half hour we debated the purchase of a chocolate cake, which had been bought from a store called Capers, later to be bought by Whole Foods, later to be consumed by Amazon.

Why did we spend $50 on a cake when we could have purchased a grocery cake at Safeway for $19? For half an hour we debated this question. When the time came to vote on the roof, valued at about a quarter million dollars, there was not a single question asked. The numbers were too high to comprehend. Therefore we had to trust the experts who had brought the motion forward.

But a chocolate cake, that was something everybody had an opinion on. Should we save $30 and eat a cake made from petroleum products? Or spend the extra $30 to eat a cake made with butter? These were the real questions.

Should America vote for a man who has no problem supporting a genocide, or a man who lies every time he opens his mouth? A man who pressed his forehead against the Pope and Tiffany Haddish? Or a man who was convicted of trying to hide hush payments to a porn star?

How short is our memory? Do we remember the daily chaos? The almost endless state of hallucinations and outrage? Remember all the generals?

Nowhere is the hypocrisy more evident than when American leaders talk about “the troops”. The pious and sanctimonious rhetoric where candidates talk in hushed tones about their beloved troops, who are paid shit wages, then left to fend for themselves when they return from these endless wars in support of Big Oil, Big Guns, and Big Lies.

I am about fifteen months sober (with the exception of a stout last August). I think back on all the horribly bad decisions that I made when I drank. When I ritually over drank. I would say to myself that hard liquor doesn’t affect me like others. I said I was a professional drinker. I said I could even drive better after a few drinks, that I concentrated more. I was wrong. Horribly wrong, and gratefully I was also a very lucky man. A lucky idiot.

Cancer gave me the gift of sobriety. It was an easy decision. After cancer, everything became a life and death decision. Why would I knowingly fuel a personal fire with poison? Life is hard enough. Life can be beautiful enough without booze to make it better. Do I need to smoke a joint to expand my mind, or did it just make me anxious self centred, and paranoid? Try not sleeping. It’s way cheaper, and you get the same effect.

I wonder why these false narratives have such power over us. Most people, even the uneducated, are not inherently stupid. We are not born stupid. The state of stupid welcomes everyone. It is willing and addictive. Don’t forget to support the tropes.