In a Sane World (Take Four)
Bad actors are wasting time and exploiting loopholes and other system failures to undermine life in America and around the world
Some weeks—in fact, far too many weeks—the gap between common sense and madness seems especially wide. This is one of those weeks—providing powerful reminders of the necessary work ahead to drive change and confront bad actors aggressively exploiting loopholes and other failures in our social and legal systems to achieve their dark purposes.
Yes, it’s maddening: They are wasting time. Delaying productive action. Putting the country and the globe in increasing danger. But their grim pursuits require us to keep clear what’s actually happening—to avoid normalizing this reality and accepting it as given. Simply tolerating the power of bad actors and resigning ourselves to their desired outcomes increases the chance that they will succeed in shaping our fate. So let’s posit a sane world, one that we believe is still possible to achieve.
In a sane world:
The man who incited insurrectionists to attack the U.S. Capitol to overturn his election loss—more than three years ago—would already have been brought to trial. The country would not still be waiting to learn when or if he will be held criminally responsible for his role.
The man who took classified documents from the White House, stored them carelessly in his Florida beach club and allegedly shared them with a variety of people would already have been brought to trial. That man would not have the satisfaction of knowing that the assigned judge is going out of her way to slow down the proceedings.
That same man would not be the leading candidate for president of the United States in one of the country’s two major parties. Nor would running for president provide him the possibility of delays from prosecution, the potential opportunity to evade justice before the nation votes or, ultimately, the ability to throw out the federal legal cases against him if he retakes the levers of power.
Georgia courts would be moving swiftly toward setting a trial date and beginning proceedings involving the efforts of a former president and his enablers to interfere with and overturn election results—not listening to details of the romantic relationship and credit card use of its lead prosecutors. That court would not have heard Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis declare on the witness stand: “You think I’m on trial. These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020.”
The U.S. Congress would have quickly passed additional funding for Ukraine, understanding full well that the lack of ammunition undermines their ability to fend off the Russian invaders. House Republicans would take their jobs seriously, recognizing that their failure to act puts democracy, territorial integrity and individual human lives in danger—not just in Ukraine but in other NATO nations that count on American support in the face of Russian aggression.
A former TV host and multimillionaire like Tucker Carlson would not use his platform to jet off to Russia, give its murderous dictator a global platform to spread lies with a softball interview, then spew disinformation about what makes Russia better than America. He wouldn’t stand in a Russian grocery store, praise the low prices and insist that it’s experiences like this that explain what “radicalizes” people against American leaders—ignoring Vladimir Putin’s track record of murdering journalists and committing many other crimes against Russian people.
An American presidential candidate also would not be using his platform to do the bidding of Vladimir Putin by working systematically to undermine NATO and encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to NATO countries that don’t spend more money on defense. Members of his own party would not be covering for him and his vision of NATO as a protection racket, but rather speaking out loudly against this un-American, pro-Putin demagogue.
Kansas City football fans would not be celebrating their team’s Super Bowl victory party and end up running for their lives from gun violence which killed one person and injured at least 21 others. The country would not be quickly turning away from yet another mass shooting because we have become so inured by these tragedies and have become resigned to the refusal of elected Republicans to do a damn thing—all in the name of a fake idea about the sanctity of the 2nd Amendment.
Republican members of Congress would not be abandoning their positions of power because they’ve come to understand the increasing impossibility of getting anything done amid their party’s internecine warfare and service to a cult leader over the needs of America. The day after the broken House impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Rep. Mark Green would not have said without a hint of irony: “Our country—and our Congress—is broken beyond most means of repair. I have come to realize our fight is not here within Washington, our fight is with Washington.”
The President of the United States would not have attacked “Trump’s MAGA Republican friends” because they would have voted on a bipartisan bill that provides substantial concessions on immigration policy and border security. Those Republicans would not be relying on a Trump-kowtowing House Speaker who called the bill “dead on arrival” even though it provides $6 billion in supplemental border funding—and likely will lead to the release of thousands of detainees because of a major budget shortfall at Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
MAGA conspiracists would not be convinced that a globally successful female singer/songwriter and her relationship with a bearded football player is part of a covert government conspiracy to rig football, re-elect Joe Biden and destroy America. They would not have lost their minds when Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce kissed on air after the Chiefs won the big game.
Logic, education and reality would continue to define the country’s path forward—and not be put at risk by anti-education policies and the continuing spread of crackpot conspiracy theories.
“Making America Great Again” would mean the expansion of education, rational thought, justice and democracy from sea to shining sea. Imagine that.
The first time I imagined a sane world in this form, I wrote: “My goal is to keep expanding this core…Because if we don’t look at what makes no sense—no matter how much we tend to think it can’t be altered—then this broken reality will continue to define our world.”
Yes, I still believe change is possible. How about you?
Check out the previous “In a Sane World” collections: the original one from March 2022, Take Two from September 2022 and Take Three from September 2023.
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Razor sharp analysis.
We need this read on every TV news platform, printed online in every newspaper and editorial column,and sent out to the masses on paper flyers dropped from the sky around the country. It’s the Federalist Society, in part, and power hungry bad actors who seem to have broken us.
Thank you Steven!
When listed, the actions are breathtaking in their ability to destroy our long-held societal norms. But the list also allows us to be clear-eyed about the necessity of voting in November and, where necessary: ‘vote blue no matter who!’ The voting norm really counts and WE are the change we’re looking for and need.