Unsinkable

The unsinkable RMS Titanic sank in under three hours after hitting an iceberg. It would be easy to just blame the iceberg and call it a day, but the iceberg was just one factor in many that killed 1,635 people. Human error, poor design, and a series of events all added to the death toll.

Likewise, it would be easy to be a “Monday morning quarterback” to the events that have precipitated the fall of our democracy and blame Donald Trump. Certainly the planners of our country, like the designers of the “unsinkable” Titanic, didn’t account for "our iceberg" which was the likelihood of pure evil being elected to our highest office.

While Trump may be our figurative iceberg, there were other factors involved that contributed to the sinking of America. A compromised congress, a corrupt Supreme Court, voter apathy, misinformation, racial prejudice, misguided nationalism, and religious prejudice all managed to send us to the lifeboats. Like the Titanic, the wealthy may survive the carnage, but many of our poor will pay the ultimate price. Lives will be lost. Lives have been lost.

Like Captain Smith of the Titanic who ignored warnings of icebergs ahead, Donald Trump ignores everyone and everything. Had he skippered the Titanic, he would have just drawn a line on the charts with his Sharpie to eliminate the iceberg menace. For him it is full speed ahead and we will clean up the mess later. No silly Constitution is going to get in his way. Bill of Rights be damned.

Well, our hull is damaged, we are taking on water faster than the pumps can manage, and 342 million people won’t fit in the lifeboats. Where would we go anyway, Greenland? Canada?