OPINION: Behind the boogeyman is a mountain of gold

As if there wasn’t enough confusion to go around, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. went all-in with Donald Trump while Dick Cheney has been seen fawning all over Kamala Harris. To top things off, my daughter had announced her own bid for president — to lead the Quail Student Council at her middle school. I shared with her that I was thrilled and suggested that we get Elon Musk to fund a super PAC for her campaign.

She drifted off, not before reminding her father not to be so silly. If only I could explain to her that my silliness is how I camouflage my confusion.

I want to believe in simple aphorisms and that they apply to politics. What I wish for is what Abraham Lincoln wished for: “of the people, by the people, for the people.” Even I was inclined to believe Dick Cheney’s assessment that one individual is a significant “threat to our republic.” And Elon Musk claims that the same person, vilified in some circles, must be president again to “preserve the Constitution.” Namely, our freedom of speech. Apparently to Elon, that freedom is a good value at over $100 million in super PAC funding.

I suppose that what confuses me most is that the media’s rhetorical megaphone is working so well; I feel the onset of agitation, as though there is a looming, existential threat to the ideals of Jeffersonian democracy, to the collective will of the people that Lincoln underscored at Gettysburg. I fall under a spell that only the elite political class of donors can fund and fabricate, the spell that says if I don’t cast my vote for candidate X, all I cherish — my community, my agile pen, my weekend pickleball socials — are sure to fade under a dark cloud of fascism. Take away anything, anything except my pen and pickleball racquet. (Again, her voice, “Dad, stop being so silly.”)

Even though I could dispel my confusion in a moment, I hesitate. Acting bewildered has become preferrable to stepping up to the truth. The truth, as Al Gore reminds me, has become “inconvenient.” I am loathe to admit that I’ve been bought and sold, that we’ve collectively been sold down the river. Makes me think of the legendary swindle that the Dutch made with the Native tribes to get Manhattan: the equivalent of $24 in beads. Beads were the crypto of yesteryear.

We’ve been hoodwinked into framing this election in terms of threats to that “shining city on the hill.” The threats are a necessary illusion, a decoy of sorts. The city is actually shining brighter than ever atop an ever-expanding mountain of gold. Decades ago, the city was sold off to the highest bidder, and has since grown into private fortunes in real estate and equity holdings, treasuries. That’s called predatory capitalism, and its devotees are holding the megaphone.

The reinvented Dick Cheney, a handy template, whose benevolence extends to us common folk and our freedoms, was the architect of the global war on terror; the person who advanced the weapons of mass destruction fib which enlarged his bank account with a tidy fortune of over $100 million, mostly in Haliburton stock. That’s the real Dick Cheney we have recently come to love. Just one of the many elites pulling the strings. Timothy Mellon recently cut a check for $165 million to the Trump campaign. He too sees threats, especially from those on government assistance. “They have become slaves of a new master,” says Mr. Mellon and his political investment.

Please remind me. A common will for a common people? Is that what we are protecting in this election?

My daughter won the presidency. I told her I was sorry for the nonchalant remark about Elon Musk. She told me about Shi Huangdi, an ancient Chinese Emperor she is studying. He unified China, and executed, banished those who opposed him in the process. He was buried with more than 8,000 terracotta soldiers to protect him in the afterlife.

Some things never change.

After years of globetrotting, Todd J. Broadman finds himself writing from his perch on the Palouse and loving the view. His policy briefs can be found at US Resist News: https://www.usresistnews.org.