IT'S A MAD, MAD, BAD, BAD, SAD, SAD WORLD

     September,2031
     Somewhere in the USA

     I write this today somewhere in the USA, somewhere in the deep underground redoubts in which we remain, hide and plan. We are the last remnants of what used to be the United States of America. We are the last fighters for the return to the past, to a country that stood as an example to the world, as a bastion of hope and freedom. But no longer. So you who will read this, ask yourself how this occurred, how we let it happen and what we can do - and what we need to avoid if we are ever to return to what once was and make it so again. Our hope for the future is a return to a better past, to a once upon a time.

     By the tail end of 2017 edging into 2018 the world had already begun its change. Trumpian Tweets became the law of the land and it was impossible to know from minute to minute what was legal and what was not. That legality was determined by all the crooks, all the ethically challenged people we allowed to be installed in our government. Crimes and deeds that they openly admitted, or discussed under pressure, were written off, the same misdeeds which in earlier times had meant disqualification.

     It quickly became clear that morality was a discarded idea. It quickly became clear that the supposed representatives of the people had turned in their hats and exchanged them for hats of the PARTY rather than the Country. And we, the people, were the ultimate losers. And we were also the ultimate cause of all this as we allowed it to take place, making excuses and talking of chances. What chances? The chances to destroy us and our country? The chances and time needed to rip out every founding principle and value?

     The warnings were raised. The voices were raised. Over and over again columnists from all walks of political life warned of the possibility and woe upon us, the coming necessity of rebellion, of revolt, for if not, then who knew where it would stop. We learned too late that there were people enough to build a support for takeover of the country, for the establishment of a true dictatorship. Right to vote? Ha!! Politics became a tug of war between dictatorial groups and once the Trumpians took over they had to defend themselves against the Pencians and the Ryanites with bloodshed being the key ingredient. Masses of people whose jobs were lost through the manipulations of those in power hired on so they could feed their families. And the blood poured like multiple rivers through our streets and countryside. Huge swaths of the country became and remain dark, deserted by most and only the few remain, skulking and hiding but at least free of those in power.

     The Wall? Ironically enough Mexico is now paying for it in its maintenance as it struggles to keep out American refugees from their real life horror. Texacali, the states that seceded, are in a struggle with Mexico and the rest of the country is in tatters as well. Oregon, Washington, Alaska have formed an alliance. Canada is in talks with them to annex them. And order is being kept elsewhere with the use of our friendly troops from our friendly ally, Russia, who came in under Putin and Trump to "aid" Trump in his takeover and "restore order". They never left.

     Order is kept in the country that remains via a national police force and don't they look  nice in  their jackboots and bandoliers. And do not forget the 3G rule, wherein if you are in the first or second or third generation to enter this country, well, you are liable for deportation. Watch out. The raids that began in February, 2017 are peanuts. Hundreds have become thousands and even more and it has spread. The UN is now a subsidiary of what is supposed to be the USA and Israel is no longer as control over it was handed to Trump and his supporters in  2018 and the 3G rule went into effect there. Millions were deported from Israel back to Lithuania, France, from whence they had fled from bloody anti Semitism, to Russia, to anywhere that served as a deposit basin for bewildered and frightened men, women and children and the bloody pogroms of the past , the hatred, just bloomed in the toxic air.

    Back here we lost all rights and our land and waterways were contaminated. All safeguards for workers, the right to education for our children, the right of free speech and a free press just went whoosh! off to somewhere. The warnings made by the protesters, the passionate and brave speeches by those who dared speak up were ignored or scoffed at. Meryl Streep said in Feb., 2017 “We have the right to live our lives, with God or without, as we choose,” Streep said. “There is a prohibition against the establishment of a state religion in our constitution, and we have the right to choose with whom we live, whom we love, and who and what gets to interfere with our bodies. As Americans, men, women, people, gay, straight, LGBTG.
All of us have the human right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Said with tears in her eyes, it has now become a rallying cry for those of us who remain in the fight. And at that very moment the first attempts to make protest felonies and banned were taking place.

     Life has changed. Frighteningly so and yet, as we look at our kids who have survived, we know that we have raised a strong generation, one that wants what we once had and are willing to fight for it, to die for it and most important, to live for it. They sing the refrain of an old Disney song - "here we stand and here we stay" and are determined to make it so.

     As for us, the remaining adults who still remember and who have survived the bad times, this is what we say to you. Believe only in the truth. Do not allow history to be perverted such as the turning of an attack on children in Sandy Hook Elementary School into a hoax, for there are NO alternative facts, only lies, terrible ones. Fight for the rights that we gave up and are so desperately fighting for. Fight for them all over, be it in the national or local sphere. Challenge and demand.

     I do not even know if there will be anyone reading this in the future. But if so, heed my words. Hear our voices and see our blood and the stains it left behind. And pray, pray for all of us. Remember that the differences of color or belief or gender or loving mean nothing if there is no hope, no freedom, no rights and no justice. And so I end this letter to the future with this, taken from a favorite song of that past time.

      "Lead us to the place

      guide us with Your grace

     To a place where we'll be safe."

   May the Lord above, by whatever name He be called, may He watch over us. Hear us. And may we all aid Him in this fight by standing up tall and proud and fight for these rights and a way of life seemingly banned and destroyed. We are trying - you out there must succeed where we have failed. May the Lord be with you - signed, Tired yet Hopeful.