Welcome to America, circa end of 2020.

The COVID is full steam ahead, the country is in shambles, there are so many hungry and homeless, the President won't leave, the climate is in chaos, ecosystems are collapsing, pollution of every sort everywhere, and of course these are just the catastrophic symptoms.In our communities of whatever sort, we find brokeness. In our families conflict and way too much pain in our personal lives.

This piece may be premature, as there is a least a small chance Mr. Trump and his Republican allies might pull of The Steal, curiously shouting their motto, Stop the Steal. But for our purposes, we will assume even this beleaguered democracy can hold up through this assault as she has many times before.

In this crazy year of 2020, we’ve already been forced into some pretty substantial changes. COVID-19 has most of us in masks in public, social distancing and avoiding what used to be commonplace like going to a game or shopping. All changes we didn’t seek, but changes we have to deal with none the less. And that’s just coronavirus stuff.

Change or Die applies to the more active resistance to police abuse. If you’re a person of color, your very life is threatened by systemic racism and cops who want to control others instead of supporting their communities.

For some of us, the idea that Black Lives Matter is kind of a duh. Of course they do. Human life is a rare gift and should be held sacred, not disposed of as an inconvenience or act of hate acted out. George Floyd's murder by a Minneapolis police officer has been the straw that broke the camel's back, the camel being the corrupt culture of police and police unions. They are now so busted.

There is an implicit notion in our culture that corporations equal capitalism. Nothing is more false. 

Capitalism is the notion that folks make products or offer services, each with a relative value. The customers have the option of this pair of shoes or this house painter, and they base their choices on the perceived value each vendor offers.

It's actually quite a good system. Honest competition, along with a bit of salesmanship, lets the customer decide the best value or the vendor who most suits them. We learned about it in high school.

The corporate right to make money has always superseded our right to live.

I repeat. The corporate right to make money has always superseded our right to live. Do you need it again? The corporate right to make money has always superseded our right to live.

The coronavirus has revealed the deep level of unfairness built into a culture where corporations rule the day. COVID-19 has revealed the folks who are important to keep society intact. And we know it is not the barons of corporate America and their political lackeys who are taking an honest lead.

Not much to be done for it. It's nicely quiet here...

Sisters and brothers, we are separated and broken. Fearful for our lives and livelihood. For our families and friends. This is not an easy time. Epidemics are stressful, and our shit was already all broken. 

I could go on and on about the latter, but we already know. Glaringly, corporate greed and human health are incompatible. COVID-19 is providing the magnifying glass on the corporate behaviors that have been wrecking our lives and our planet for decades, corrupting our political process and encouraging endless war.

Bernie is no longer running for president, but the movement is on...

So it's come down to one of this group of three leading our republic for the next four years, if they can keep breathing that long. Seems sad somehow. Not that we've ever been the Great Nation the government public relations people claim, but we seem to have reached a new low in our 'democracy'.

Trump, Biden and Sanders. Clearly old, clearly white, clearly men. At least one is a sociopath, caring for nothing beyond himself, he's clearly unable to see beyond his own interests, even in the midst of a pandemic.