The Q at Parkside

(for those for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain)

News and Nonsense from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Lefferts and environs, or more specifically a neighborhood once known as Melrose Park. Sometimes called Lefferts Gardens. Or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Or PLG. Or North Flatbush. Or Caledonia (west of Ocean). Or West Pigtown. Across From Park Slope. Under Crown Heights. Near Drummer's Grove. The Side of the Park With the McDonalds. Jackie Robinson Town. Home of Lefferts Manor. West Wingate. Near Kings County Hospital. Or if you're coming from the airport in taxi, maybe just Flatbush is best.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

We've Been Here Before

Must viewing, for those who think the Republic is at its breaking point. Perhaps this election is a sign of powerful movements to come?

When you strip away the parts of Trump that seem so cartoonish, you're left with the notion that this nation has always been, and may always be, the byproduct of tensions between revolution on the right and revolution on the left. The slow trudge towards a progressive politics may be frustrating, but the question remains...is it better to allow the free flow of ideas, no matter how painful or hurtful, or to work out our difference with bloody warfare in the streets? Hilary Clinton is in many ways a perfect embodiment of a bloodless civil war. If the Secret Service does its job, she may actually see us through the tumult.

On November 9, as the Donald announces his new venture into identity TV, an anti-Oprah channel maybe called simply T, we will realize that we HAD to live through this in order to see ourselves more clearly. Really. It's actually a good thing. Much worse is the sublimation of the American id, only to emerge powerful and monstrous when we're at our weakest. Think about it...had Trump come on the scene at the nadir of 2008, and Hillary had won the primary? That might have been much, much worse. And still, I can't help thinking the genius of the Constitution would have seen us through.

No comments: