Casey Gilfillan

On this day, we are to be subjected to the second inauguration of Donald Trump. The ushering in of a resurgent administration calls for us to be vigilant, as there has been heavy implication that the use of spiteful, retaliatory methods of governance will be the Administration’s guiding spirit. The spite comes as a response to an Election Loss they refuse to acknowledge, while the retaliation against social progress comes from a place of genuine malice. On the campaign trail in Minnesota late last year, Donald proudly assured the Christian crowd before him that they will have no need to vote in the next election cycle, stating, “in four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you don’t have to vote.”

Donald is the only politician that would ever scathe by without condemnation for encouraging Americans not to do their civic duty and vote in every election. Even without considering the double standard, one cannot help but embrace the bewilderment that a single person would vote for a man whose speech is so thickly laced with the selfish, bellowing echoes of an authoritarian. It could only be a sickening, self-hating irony that would inspire Americans – who are infamously boastful of both the historic war to reject tyranny and the love for freedom – to vote for a man who does not want them to access their freedoms, rights, and liberties, and who would rather empower corporations and wealth-hoarders with those sacred autonomies. Donald empowers business to reign sovereignly, without safe-guarding interference from the government, without the burden of consideration of equity for the consumer.

In exploring all possible lenses of appeal and perspective, my quest to understand the delusional political inclinations of my countrymen remains incomplete. Why do those who occupy lower economic classes denigrate themselves by voting against their best interests, by voting for someone who is an active champion of the economic stratification by which they suffer? Why are poor Americans obsessed with the wealthy, and how off-kilter must our self awareness be if we truly see ourselves in our oppressors? What opaquely-tinted, heavy prescription goggles must I don in order to understand this incomprehensible affection held for the ultra-rich?

I propose an answer that overarchingly addresses this confounding idolatry of billionaires, who, by the way, are so low in quantity and unrepresentative of the vast majority, that they are commonly referred to as “the 1%.” I posit that many Americans see themselves in the wealthy, rich, and famous, and consequently act to mobilize Their interests even in the face of personal ruin, on account of nationalistic indoctrination through which they contracted the American Dream. Freedom is a prerequisite of capitalism, for the market needs the freedom to grow and morph; the more freedom it is allowed, the more regulation-free growth is permitted. And so, American children are fed this notion from which they imbibe for a lifetime, that they too can be rich and successful, happy and insurmountably wealthy, simply by embracing the traditions of freedom, working diligently, and following their passion. This idea of the American Dream festers from youth, and because it has been instilled as such a foundational element of our nation, we never question why most of us do not experience it. Even when faced with the reality of our socio-economic environment, which is far from the lofty depiction of attainable success, we have been programmed to assume it is some inward shortcoming, lack of ability or perseverance that fails us rather than our ‘billionaire-begetting’ economy.

In truth, most people in America do not get to pursue their dearest passion for a career; most people struggle financially in some capacity, for a portion or the entirety of their lives. We do not have an economy that begets billionaires, but rather one that protects and shields them from the proletariat. Evidently, the wealthy are the most protected and adored when the masses are predisposed to believe that anyone, even someone who comes from the most impoverished status, can quickly climb the socio-economic ladder. The system benefits from the delusional film that the American Dream casts over our eyes, allowing us to truly believe we might prevail against unbelievable odds while only actually contributing to the maintenance of the current status quo: a steel-toed boot on our own necks.

It is the American Dream that dually misinforms us as to the accurate level of adversity we will face in pursuit of success, and then virtue shames those who fall short of the idyllic promise as lacking of grit, perseverance, and character. This ideological manifest is both the carrot we are after and the stick we are beaten with upon inevitable failure. Because it is easier to participate superficially than admit a presupposed inferiority, most people will keep their heads down, saddled with unpaid bills, a strictly balanced yet insufficient budget, and continue to attempt in proving themselves worthy through hard work that never quite pays off, the thought of comfort and financial security a distant concept. Most people will quietly suffer because they are made to believe that pain and anguish are the price for moral salvation and tangible success.

Moral and religious philosophy often value suffering, and consider suffering not only an encouraged trial of development, but a prerequisite experience prior to receiving tangible success; the Bible speaks of suffering as a moral good that begets personal growth, endurance, and revelation. This perspective on suffering favors those in power, whether they be clergymen or capitalists, for it serves as an immeasurable standard and subsequent weapon by which they keep the masses at bay, permanently encased in stagnancy of class, perpetually trying to work hard enough, to be good enough to earn a redemption that will never come.

To suffer is required if one wishes to achieve, but there are no clear parameters on a sufficient quantity of suffering. The ambiguity in the requirements, the presupposed lack of personhood if unable to achieve and succeed against fixed odds, all serve those who pull the strings to further guilt and string us along in complicity, obedience. Further abusing this unquenchable virtue, Donald’s America will be an opulent feasting ground for industry vultures to prey on the very clientele upon which their monopolies rely. In pursuit of virtuous redemption, an unsettlingly large percentage of the nation has condemned us all through their desire for subjugation.

The existing power structure consists of few people and a majority of the nation’s wealth, and its existence remains hinged on our fervent belief that the system might one day favor us, and our assumptive investment via procreation. They need us to believe that we too can be wealthy, to inspire us to work until we die in the attempt to achieve the unattainable goal, and to produce offspring in the meantime, so that they too can become slaves of hopeless delusion. This dynamic is tightly maintained by the amorphous beast, the indomitable American Dream, which I hold to be a sickness: a virus that causes no physical illness, but casts a spell of cognitive delusion that accompanies many to the grave.

We must face the coming change, but we can resist assimilation and passive acceptance. Recognize and disengage from the superficiality of the American Dream, as it is more often inherited than achieved. While today will mark the first day of nepo billionaire Donald’s return to office, the day is more preferably notable for its commemoration of the late Martin Luther King, Jr., and it will be remembered as a moment of bitter, yet historic, irony.  On this inauguration day and each ordinary day that follows, I implore you to be critical and insufferable.