Not a popular or short opinion:
When I think about this election, I think about my grandparents…
My grandmother spent five years in a Japanese concentration camp when she was 19.
My grandfather just a little older fought in the resistance in occupied Holland.
My other grandfather was a bomber pilot (and at the tail end of WWII, was part of the 15-month-long Berlin airlift to fly in food and water when they were blockaded) however the majority of his friends didn’t survive join in that mission. Meanwhile, his wife took shelter in the London bombings with their infant child.
All enduring, fighting or imprisoned for years by a dangerous political ideology that unfortunately (and for whatever reason that I cannot fathom) Trump shares and even aspires to. Look to General Kelly’s statements this week for confirmation, (and similar statements made by many of Trump’s previous administration and inner circle).
What I learnt from my elders, is that the world is more fragile than it seems. It can turn. Quickly.
And there is a Fourth Turning due, (if you follow the theory).
For many of us, we’re extremely privileged to not have experienced these things, but sadly our generational history is fading fast from our collective memory. It has been just long enough for us to not take it seriously. To think it can’t happen.
The water simmers for quite awhile but when it boils and the bubbles rise, it happens in an instant.
If Trump is elected (but is likely a Trump/Vance Presidency which no one seems to discuss much) the inevitable will likely happen, institutions will deteriorate, freedoms and sovereignty will have to be fought for again. Freedoms our grandparents won, will instead be handed over for entertainment, bravado and brand. (Because admittedly Trump is very entertaining and brave and on brand). And then perhaps in four more generations it will all rhyme again. Unless, just maybe, ‘the people’ decide to break ‘the cycle’.
This feels very much like a question of whether we have collective free will, or are instead resigned to repeating our intergenerational political patterns.
