As with many of us I am troubled by what I see in this fractious world, a world which is teetering on the precipice of catastrophic conflict. I’m seventy-three now so I worry less for myself than I do for my children and grandchildren. We spend time as parents shielding our children from the worst of the news and for good reason. It can be overwhelming. I’m not talking about the ‘manageable and predictable don’t be so uptight, things never stay the same’ kind of change. I’m talking about those moments in history when the pace accelerates and the change is frenetic, violent, threatening, unnerving and out of control. For my generation it was the 60’s.

The ’60’s exploded into view catching us all off guard. Forces were unleashed that would change everything. Baby Boomers, now a majority and coming of age, found their voice and reached out for their power. It would unnerve our parents and rattle all the trusted conventions of the time. Even as I was living through it I could feel that everything I knew, all that I trusted was shifting beneath me. I just didn’t know how and I didn’t know my place in all of it. I was young but I was about to be thrown into the boiling political and social cauldron of the 1960’s. Unstoppable forces of change were about to collide.

And here we are again.

What for me is so troubling is that when I lay the tracing paper of history over the America of today, little if anything has changed. If anything, it is a country that has embraced extremism; once undisputedly the most powerful country in the world, now weakened from within. Once again as it was in the 60’s, the pace of change is frenetic, violent, threatening, unnerving and out of control.

America is today what it was during the Civil War, and the 1st World War, and the 2nd World War, Korean War, Vietnam War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. America is a country bitterly divided by racial hatred. History shows us that great powers, great empires aren’t defeated in battle by foreign enemies, they are defeated from within. As with any cancer. From within the battle rages.

Racial hatred

Police killings

Mass killings

School shootings

400,000,000 weapons in civilian hands

Standing militias sworn to overthrow the government

Voting rights

Civil rights

Income inequality

Ideological divides

Populism unleashed

Government unable to govern

Distrust of police

Distrust of the Department of Justice

Distrust of the FBI

Distrust of government

Distrust of the US Supreme Court

Distrust of the rule of law

Distrust of science

Unrestrained capitalism

Widespread poverty

Healthcare. For some.

Education in decline

And my list is incomplete.

It is a country coming apart at the seams.

Now, add to this toxic mix one other thing.

Donald Trump. A truly dangerous leader but a leader nonetheless of millions of disaffected Americans. He is a narcissistic, nihilist bowing his head to his one True God, the God of Money, the God of Wealth. Loyal neither to his country, his family nor his followers, he seeks one thing only. He seeks power, he seeks the presidency of the most powerful country in the world, Revenge and Retribution driving his political agenda.

History is on record. America is unwell and torn from within but too powerful to ignore, too weak to do the right thing.

God, Save America!