Business as usual?
Photo by Comstock on Freeimages.com
Moments before the Earth was destroyed by the Vogons to make way for an interspace bypass, Arthur Dent managed to hitch a ride onto a passing spacecraft, thanks to the quick thinking of his humanoid alien buddy, Ford Prefect. (For the uninitiated, I’m referring to one of the best sci-fi novels of all time – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams.)
Prior to the global kablam, Arthur was just an average, down-on-his-luck earthling, going about business as usual and doing the best he could to get through each day. Part of the irony of h2g2 is its spot-on portrayal of stereotypical bureaucracy, particularly middle management. I have even used excerpts from the movie in my public administration courses as discussion prompts.
Unfortunately, what we’re living through right now is not sci-fi.
The rest of us have been trying to sound the alarm for years, but it’s as if people didn’t really believe the Cheeto-in-Chief when he said he’d be a “dictator on day one.” By now, I shouldn’t be surprised by the lackadaisical non-response from his followers about these things, yet I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around the utter lack of competence — much less credentials — of his Cabinet nominees.
I come from a military family and have always felt proud of that background. In fact, I’m a lifetime member of the VFW Auxiliary and currently serve as a Trustee for our local post. Meanwhile, Chief Cheeto’s newly appointed Defense Secretary is merely a talking head from Fox News. He has very limited leadership experience, couldn’t even name one country in the ASEAN during his confirmation hearings, and he holds insultingly archaic beliefs that women shouldn’t be allowed in combat.
We’ve got a wrestling entertainment exec on tap to serve as Education Secretary, despite the fact that she has zero full-time work experience at the K-12 or post-secondary level. From what breaking news I’ve heard thus far today, though, I’m not even sure what “education” she’ll actually oversee, since Dept of Ed employees are apparently already receiving dismissal notices.
Chief Cheeto’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services is an anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist who once dumped a bear carcass in Central Park, is a proponent of unpasteurized milk (gross), and even advocated for the unsubstantiated use of a de-worming drug during the pandemic. Totally [insert sarcasm] the kind of dude who should be overseeing our health department.
A pro-oil, software exec is the top pick to run the Department of the Interior, because that’s a great [insert more sarcasm] skillset and philosophy for the person in charge of all of our National Parks and other protected lands.
There are more horrific Cabinet picks we could discuss, but I feel nauseated just writing about those four, so I’ll stop there for now.
I’m upset about a lot of things right now, but one that is causing a lot of ache on my heart is that I’m frankly not proud to be an American anymore.
The quote on the Statue of Liberty that reads: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" clearly refers to a time in the past. Our so-called “land of the free” has always had fine print exceptions, but we’ve made a lot of strides over the past few decades to level the playing field, and I was starting to feel a little hope during the last administration. Now, the proverbial clocks have been turned back, and the white supremacists among us have become emboldened to act without fear of repercussion.
Need I remind anyone that we are only one generation removed from the internment camps?? My late father-in-law (a first-gen American citizen of Japanese descent) spent his high school years in one; his mother even lost her life there. Here we are, in 2025, and yet in recent days, Chief Cheeto has talked about not only sending American citizens to El Salvadorian prisons, but also “taking over” the Gaza Strip – an area we clearly don’t own – and forcibly removing the Palestinians, apparently with the goal to raze the area and build a resort.
Have the collective We learned nothing from the past?
I’m angry; I’m disappointed; I’m heartbroken; and I’m embarrassed. I wish I could hitch a ride on a spaceship and leave this nonsense behind. Since that isn’t an option, I’ll wrap things up with this quote from h2g2: "Don't Panic. It's the first helpful or intelligible thing anybody's said to me all day.”
Don’t give up, friends. Do what you can do within your sphere of influence. Hold fast to your scruples. Use your voice. Don’t panic.
