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Any reprobate will tell you that prospects for rehabilitation, recovery and redemption improve markedly when rock-bottom is reached. Your average substance-abuser has to go through delirium tremens, withdrawal, blackouts, and overdose before he's ready to kick whatever is holding him and amend his life. His dissipation is a process of self-destruction, reversible only when destruction is imminent.
The USA has been pursuing such a process over the last 40 years or so, dumbing its people down, degrading standards of every kind, indulging in endless, aggressive state violence, concentrating capital and power in a coven of rapacious predators, strutting the world stage in camouflage fatigues, and otherwise abusing its privileged status. Our economy--which is fueled by debt and controlled by bankers and their greediest debtors (who are also our creditors, loaning us money they borrow from us at zero interest)--had been waiting for a precipitant to fail catastrophically. The epidemic, coupled with irresponsible public policy, brought about the collapse we're witnessing today.
With the election and official vindication of Donald Trump, it looked a lot like we'd hit rock-bottom, but we don't seem to be there yet. First, we have an election to get through. Conditions recorded so far suggest this set of events will oblige us to plunge further. That's unfortunate, because rehabilitation is imperative, and we're working to a deadline now. We don't know exactly when our time expires, but we know untoward events are a certainty if we stay on the current course. The election, no matter how it turns out, is almost certain to commit us to four more years on the current course.
Forget about Sanders, whose capitulation is all but complete. It appears that Democrats tolerated him because they thought he might deliver votes from the left of the political spectrum. That's not going to happen, but Crats probably don't need this crowd now, considering the damage Trump has sustained. As for Sanders, he obviously doesn't want to win the election. With the failure of the economy, there's no way he can accomplish any of what he's promised. Imagine having to police the debris of this disaster. It would probably kill the old geezer within a year.
And that's without sabotage. And sabotage is a certainty if the left ever gains power. Rich people hold us all hostage, in case anybody hasn't figured that out yet. In 2007 they threatened to destroy the economy if we didn't make up their losses--about 10 percent--so we complied, and they're richer and more powerful now than they ever were. This time, with the assent of Trump and his accomplices in the media and in both political parties, they didn't even have to ask. The Federal Reserve pumped a few millions of millions of dollars into their grasping paws to gamble with. They lost. Our stake.
Biden's a long shot, of course, but his party's OK with that. Trump is a gold-mine for people who make their living in Democratic politics, and news-mongers feature him above all other subjects as the backdrop for the food, drug and cosmetic ads that pay their salaries. There may never have been a national leader as ugly as this guy, making him a very hot commodity. He's good for the press and great for the losers that oppose him politically. If he goes, it's going to cost them.
It may be that the pandemic and its aftermath will mark the end of Trump, but if it's possible for a Democrat to lose the election, Biden's the guy to do it. Not only is he mentally deficient, he's a Republican. He loves war, lives off rich people, cheats and lies as a matter of course, and has opposed every social justice initiative that's come before him. You might as well put McConnell in a rumpled suit and call him Ralph Nader as pretend this jerk is capable of governing responsibly.
But don't despair, because it's not all bad news. Keep in mind that Trump--a reactionary--could be the principal catalyst for radical change. Does anybody doubt that we have him to thank for the surge of the left? The strength of the erstwhile Sanders movement is directly attributable to the misconduct of the ruling class, which Trump personifies. Is it likely that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her squad would be in Congress if the Clintons held the White House now? Because of Trump and his acolytes and sponsors, lefties have managed to put a scare in the rich, who understand that it's going to cost them money if we ever gain political power. We're probably not ever going to prevail in a big election--we almost never win--and Sanders is certainly not up to the role we've cast him in, but the existence of the movement gives some faint hope of recovery. Four more years of decline could fuel a serious rebellion.
It would be nice if there were a way to prepare for what's coming. Maybe corona will chart a course for us. If it infects six out of every ten of us, and if it kills three out of every hundred infected people, and if the dead are mostly in my age group, and if commerce is seriously curtailed for six months or longer, Americans could be looking at a culling, not only of the population, but also of major sources of profligate consumption and waste. But that's the good news.