Diary 200

Sunday, October 4th

200. I’m not sure any celebration is in order for this. 

On a day when the ‘president’ decides to get out of his covid bed and do a ‘victory lap’ around the hospital (thus endangering the lives of, and enforcing quarantines on his staff, driver, and so on) it would seem there’s not much more to add.

Today, as I received my change for a loaf of bread, I felt the coins were somewhat light. I looked closely at these quarters, usually so shiny and substantial. These new coins looked shabby, and felt cheap. They were legal currency, but for the first time ever they felt like toy money. They reminded me of those French coins one could find in the sixties that were made of such debased metal it was possible to float them on still puddles. Truly. I saw it done and I did it myself. This was the coinage of a feeble government. 

This it got me thinking about how much else has been debased in the last four years. White House press conferences that have become platforms for propaganda; ‘presidential’ statements that are incoherent rants; White House spokeswomen who have become a by-word for shameless lying; the American flag, once a proud symbol, now co-opted by the far right militias.

And voting, which is now a system that the Republicans seem to think needs to be suppressed.

There’s work to be done to clean up this mess.