Crashing the Clown Car

How does one stay committed to justice and not go crazy knowing so many people are literally getting away with murder? I’m talking about police shooting black folks, war mongers, Wall Street greedy tycoons sending people spinning into poverty, Republicans hoping to cancel people’s health insurance. For starters.

I’m a sucker for courtroom dramas (movies, plays or books) where the bad guy gets convicted and the good guys win. Likewise the fairy tales where the dragon is vanquished, the giant who hid his heart so he could wreak havoc discovers someone found it and dies when they squeeze it, the monsters who see their reflection in the mirror and die from the sight of their own ugliness. But I know “real life” doesn’t always work that way—the murderers of Emmett Till not only got off scot free, but earned $5000 telling their story to Life magazine smirking that they actually did it, George Zimmerman was acquitted after killing Trayvon Martin and then sold the gun he did it with on E-bay for a few hundred thousand dollars. That hurts. It is just so wrong.

But may I say that some perverse part of me is enjoying watching the circus in the White House, feeling more and more confident that the circus tent will collapse. Sean Spicer (not anyone’s idea of a great guy) gets fired, the “Mooche” Scaramucci gets hired and as of yesterday, fired after 10 days in office. 10 days! How many is that now who have been fired in Cirque du Trumpé? Is anyone waking up here? Are the Republicans with an ounce left of political savvy and respect for political process noticing all this and thinking about jumping out of the clown car before it crashes? In a mere 7 months, 45 has managed to put together the most confused and corrupt and transient administration in the history of the Oval Office and no one is predicting an end in sight. I mean, come on, he not only pissed off Fox news, but recently Paul Ryan as well. Not to mention the ongoing Russian investigation and unrevealed taxes and family nepotism. There’s no hiding good intentions behind a smokescreen of rhetoric, just the constant fact of his pathological narcissism at work and why are his voters surprised about this? Perhaps the most astounding thing is that 34% still insist that this Emperor has his clothes on.

But I think others are starting to wake up. Though no one can predict anything these days, I’ll venture a guess anyway that the guy is painting himself into a corner and no one will help him get out. There’s a trap door there and finally someone will signal “push the button” and he’ll fall away out of sight. Wouldn’t that be a perfect fairy tale ending? Won’t it be a fine day when the jury of American voters finally proclaims, “Guilty.” Of what? Of being out of his mind, out of his heart, out of his body, of being loyal to no one but Me! Me! Me!, of committing treasonous acts against the country he’s supposed to be leading, of being the least patriotic citizen in the history of our flawed (but mostly good-intentioned) democratic experiment. May it be so!

Meanwhile, I have yet again the supreme pleasure of gathering in the beautiful Carmel Valley countryside with some 100 lovely souls here to learn how to raise better children through the vehicle of music and dance, some 75 who got past the “America First!” borders and came to invade us with intelligence and love. Folks from Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Korea, Finland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Russia and more. The month turns to August, signaling the imminent return to school. But not yet. First two glorious weeks and then one more in Toronto. May the politico-clowns fall and the teachers rise up!