Bernie Scolaro is a retired school counselor, a past president of the Sioux City Education Association, and former Sioux City school board member.
It’s a cloudy day as I sit outside. I am intently reading To Kill a Mockingbird, which I quickly put down as our new neighbor walks by and waves to me. He’s wearing a red MAGA hat with a red, white and blue t-shirt. I would say it is for Memorial Day, but the attire is a common theme in the neighborhood. American and Trump flags both align the houses up and down the street like it’s getting ready for a parade or a Trump rally. But the election is over, and the news reports said it was the widest margin of victory for a presidential candidate in U.S. history.
The year is 2029.
My neighbor walks by and I stay silent, as I really cannot afford to have him know me. I have had to keep my private life private as the country is pushing for a very violent and anti-LGBTQ agenda. It has been a slow and awkward return to the “closet” where it no longer seems big enough to fill the person I have become.
I go inside my house—in fact, I go inside myself, and turn on the tv. Some Fox affiliate is sharing how great our lives are, how great our government is, which basically means Trump. Trump gets the credit for revamping our educational system, for putting our remaining public school teachers under the microscope so their uniform curriculum is marching in step with the government’s view: racism and slavery really never existed in America.
On another tv station, Tucker is fawning over Trump’s successful mass deportation of immigrants and ridding America of filthy criminal and gang members that discolored the sanitary whiteness of our communities.
Trump will be headlining some military parade for Memorial Day in Florida as commentators spew the America First, America Only rhetoric. NATO has long been forgotten, and it’s rumored that Trump is trying to secure some alliance with North Korea and Russia.
There is also some breaking news that the Justice Department will prosecute some former Democratic and “RINO” lawmakers for treason. No one dares to take to the streets to protest, as no one wants the National Guard called up again. No one has forgotten the chaos from 2027 and the jailing of our women friends who held peaceful protests for reproductive rights and freedom.
I turn the station to watch some evangelical preacher praise Trump and thank God that Trump was able to withstand the persecution from the left during their witch hunt allegations. The preacher also praises the Supreme Court for their vote on presidential immunity so that Trump can use the power entrusted to him.
God, Guns, and Trump is a recurring theme. The news does not report the school shootings that continue to occur at record level. Instead, they claim this is a false narrative pushed by leftists who are trying to undermine our country.
I stare out my window, and watch the rain fall until a rainbow dares to take shape across the sky.
Top image is by Sarofydesign2, available via Shutterstock.
2 Comments
Oh my. It’s my worst fear.
Every election seems like the most important of my life. I’ve voted sine the LBJ face off with Goldwater. Then you had to be 21 and I just was. My dad and mom were “I like Ike” Republicans. The flow among my college friends was favoring LBJ, and I went with it. By 1967 my draft number came up and LBJ was losing credibility. I didn’t pass my physical (myopia, not bone spurs), but voted for Nixon in ‘68. My point is that some voters don’t always see the big picture, and vote against their own self interest. This year, it’s more than self interest. It’s the very existence of the USA, as Bernie Scolaro so ably illustrates here. His story is no exaggeration. If we want to void this authoritarian tragedy, we’ll have to do it at the ballot box. Bring six new blue voters with you. Do the math.
Gerald Ott Sat 25 May 12:22 PM
There could be many additions to this, and other versions also...
My dystopian view includes going to my computer and searching for the latest environmental news, which, when I can find it, is a cascade of awfulness. Many public environment-related agencies on the federal, state, and local levels no longer provide reliable information, and others no longer exist because their functions have been privatized, and profit is the goal. Non-profit media and green organizations are trying to fill the large news gaps, but are having a hard time because the tax laws have been revised against them. Federal and state environmental laws are rapidly being gutted, local governments are being increasingly forbidden to enact their own environmental protections, U.S. government efforts to slow climate change have ceased to exist, and public schools are increasingly being forbidden to teach anything about climate change and other environmental realities.
Etc. etc. etc.
PrairieFan Sun 26 May 3:10 PM