Dust in Our Eyes

The game being played in American politics right now is rigged in favor of the wealthy titans: corporations, billionaire donors and high tech leaders. The wealthy titans want only three things: They don’t want to pay taxes. They don’t want any regulation. They want a strong military to protect their interests at home and abroad. Wealthy titans get these three things rapidly and efficiently when democracy is eliminated and replaced by an authoritarian government. One note of caution: A lot of dust is being kicked up in the wake of our declining democracy. Don’t let the dust impair your vision.

Throughout history authoritarian governments throw dust in the eyes of the people to keep them from challenging their power. The common tactics utilized by tyrants are fear, hatred and shock. In the last few weeks, America’s authoritarian government has deported innocent students without due process, launched a global tariff war, and framed the ‘signal fiasco’ as a minor hiccup among the best and the brightest who were just getting used to their new jobs. 

The daily news cycle is awash in a dust storm. News briefs focus on globalization, manifest destiny, digitization, artificial intelligence, smart phones, TikTok, elimination of the penny, the price of eggs, the disruption of the car industry, LGBTQ people and immigrants. But it’s not really about any of these things. It’s about a bid for power.

Hitler purportedly once remarked “If the Jews didn’t exist, we would have to invent them.” This comment speaks to the core of authoritarianism. The masses who bow to an authoritarian regime must have a common scapegoat. Creating a common enemy of the Jews unified the disgruntled masses in Nazi Germany. 

The current administration’s vilification of LGBTQ people and immigrants is a diabolically strategic move to engender fear and hatred among the disgruntled masses who think they can return to a Norman Rockwell image of America. The only problem is that version of America never existed. 

In retrospect the 'Signal fiasco' was very likely staged by the current administration. A chain of command from the defense Secretary to the Vice President opted to engage in a non-secure Signal chat detailing military operations that were soon to occur in real time. It is difficult to believe that no one noticed Jeffrey Goldberg had been added to the group chat. Goldberg isn’t just any journalist, he is the editor in chief of The Atlantic, one of the leading progressive magazines in the nation. 

Jeffrey Goldberg had no choice but to report what he observed, but it is not feasible that he was accidentally invited to join the allhands on deck chat. This fiasco has all of the earmarks of a "negative P.R. campaign" designed to ensnare the enemy, i.e., the Democrats, and to make them look foolish. What happened is one more show of force, demonstrating the increasing power of the executive office, leaving the Democrats reeling in the wake. Once again the executive office got away with it. Tyrants can do no wrong and cannot be held accountable. 

Who are the architects of the incessant dust storm? Not the president; he’s not smart enough. Hitler’s final solution was the elimination of the Jews from Europe, but the quote attributed to him, “If the Jews didn’t exist, we would have to invent them,” was more likely to have been crafted by Joseph Goebbels, a skilled orator who was the mastermind behind the Nazi propaganda machine. 

It’s not clear who the American masterminds are. The architects of Project 2025 are likely candidates. But the authoritarian ideology permeates deeper layers of the government, including many Republican Senators and Members of Congress, and the wealthiest titans: corporations, billionaire donors and high tech leaders. The American authoritarian regime holds ideology, privilege, and money to be much more important than taking care of human beings and communities. 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently defended the temporary inconvenience caused by the regime’s global tariff war. He claimed that Americans wanted far more than inexpensive products. “Access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American Dream,” he stated. Never mind that Bessent, a former hedge fund investor, is worth hundreds of millions of dollars; he cannot see how skyrocketing inflation and the critical shortage of goods would be devastating to most Americans. 

Bessent and the wealthiest titans do not see that the ‘New Poor’ are increasing in numbers every day. Loss of jobs, and loss of healthcare that was already inadequate, coupled with rising prices for food, gas housing and basic sundries, will have a profound effect on Americans. Not taking care of human beings and communities will inevitably create problems that are too big for any government to manage. Most Americans can see where most of the wealth and power is going. It is only a question of time before people will feel that their lives are meaningless and worthless. And when these conditions are present, a strong and certain resistance is inevitable. 

We can trust that the bullies will continue to kick dust into the playing field, causing chaos and disruption. Cover your eyes but keep your ears open. There will be one abomination after another reported in the news cycle. But we have the weight of history on our side to show us that this game has been played before. Steve Bannon once famously said that the way to win in politics is to “flood the zone with shit.” We can trust that the stink will pervade every part of the country. What an authoritarian government does not anticipate are the swelling numbers of people who have ideas about equality and dignity and are willing to do anything to claim their freedom from tyranny.