Kaned

No doubt you're sitting in your spinning chair, your fingers rapidly tapping the arms with  piston precision, frequently checking your e-mail and my delightful non-graphic blog site and wondering, "where is Kane?" Well, Mr. Kane is right where he has always been, trapped in darkness and tortured by demons, but enough about my love life.

There is a lot of political matters to write about and yet nothing to write about. We have eighteen days to go before Donald J. Trump becomes President of the United States. Speculating on what is about to happen is quite pointless but his Cabinet nominees give some indication of the overall tone of the incoming administration. All very rich with a few poor millionaires thrown in for good measure. All with a philosophy from earlier times in history when the nobles of the land ruled while the rest of us toiled in the field and said yes my Lord. Trump speaks endlessly about deregulation but it won't be about making the opening of a small business easier and less costly, it will be about unleashing large corporations to do anything they please without repercussions. Trump has promised a massive investment in our infrastructure, which I support. Obama and most democrats also wanted to do this but Congressional Republicans did not. Will they now change their minds?

To be fair, a careful examination of past Cabinets would reveal a majority of wealthy people sitting in those chairs, most wealthier than their boss, the President. It is not the size of their bank accounts that I object to but the ideology of profit, no matter the human cost.

What will happen during the Trump years? I don't know except for this, the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer, it's a tired old line but a true one. In this, Trump will continue the tradition of the United States. The economy will grow and thrive, for a few. That's already happening because we are emerging from the devastation of 2007. Trump naturally says it's because he was elected. The stock market is booming, all because of him, the country had no hope until he was elected and now he is riding to the rescue and his supporters believe it.

Many of his supporters are related to me. On Christmas Eve I dined with some relatives and the topic of Trump was raised and I had to hear about his greatness and all the good things he's going to do and his commitment to fighting for workers. I held my tongue and said nothing, an excruciating exercise, it was a festive occasion and I knew there was no point in arguing. I took the high road and filled my mouth with food. Fortunately the topic passed quickly but I could not help but think here sits a table of typical Trump voters, decent people who have bought a lie from the very kind of salesman they would have warned their children to beware of. Then I remembered a conversation with one of my Grandmothers many decades ago, she was a hard-working woman who believed that it was better that a rich man be President than a poor one. Her reasoning was that a rich man could not be seduced by power and the trappings of the office, he could not be corrupted. Her confidence in the rich was greater than mine but I did not argue the point, it would have been disrespectful to her, she did not often voice her opinion on such matters and I didn't want to sound like a youthful know it all by poking holes in her theory. I also realized that her opinion was a generational one based on how she was raised and the limitations society had placed on her.

As a political junkie I am baffled by the Trump phenomenon on an intellectual level, but on a visceral level I understand it for what it is, bread and circuses. Ancient Rome understood the popularity of gladiators and the need of the arena. Trump embodies the slayer of beasts for his supporters, the beasts being government in general, they want a blooding but who's blood will it be?

I have not been posting regularly because frankly I'm not sure of it's value. I've been trying to avoid "news" overload and my own life is certainly not what I had envisioned. I have suffered from deep depression for many years so the election of Donald Trump does not phase me, he can take nothing from me that has not already been taken.

Kane's Realm is a desolate land with rotten crops and no promise of renewal in sight.

Happy fucking New Year.

Too dark?