Episode 186: 3 Chords & the Truth: Not going back

10/26/24 • 92 min

This could be the end of the world as we know it. I don't feel fine.

I am old enough to know what American fascism is like, having grown up in the deepest of the Deep South in the 1960s and '70s. I am old enough to have been threatened, by my parents, with being sent to "the n***er school" when I acted up -- as if that legally were possible then.
Having grown up that way informs who I am. Having spent a lifetime trying to dig myself out of that fascistic black hole -- and if you don't think Jim Crow was fascism, open up a history book, why don't you -- informs who I am even more. It also informs what 3 Chords & the Truth is . . . every damn week.

That doesn't mean the Big Show isn't fun. It is. But, trust me, it's a damn high-wire act.

And here we are, a week and a half out from the most consequential presidential election of my lifetime. And fascism is on the ballot. That's because, as it turns out, a lot of Americans are. . . .

That does not surprise me. I'm a Southerner, after all.

There's not much more I can say about that, so I won't. I'll let the music do the talking from here on.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

This could be the end of the world as we know it. I don't feel fine.

That doesn't mean the Big Show isn't fun. It is. But, trust me, it's a damn high-wire act.

And here we are, a week and a half out from the most consequential presidential election of my lifetime. And fascism is on the ballot. That's because, as it turns out, a lot of Americans are. . . .

That does not surprise me. I'm a Southerner, after all.

There's not much more I can say about that, so I won't. I'll let the music do the talking from here on.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Previous Episode

Episode 185: 3 Chords & the Truth: <i>Life is a cabaret, old chum</i>

What good is sitting alone in your room?
Come hear the music play
The Big Show's a cabaret, old chum

Come to the cabaret

(Boots clicking on the pavement en masse. . . .)

Put down the knitting, the book and the broom

It's time for a holiday
Life is a cabaret, old chum
Come to the cabaret
Come taste the wine
Come hear the band
Come blow your horn, start celebrating
Right this way, 3 Chords & the Truth's waiting
What good's permitting some prophet of doom
To wipe every smile away?

(Voice on the PA speaker at the political rally down the street
rails against scum, vermin, the enemy within. . . . )

The Big Show's a cabaret, old chum
So come to the cabaret. . . .

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. While you can. Aloha.

Next Episode

Episode 187: 3 Chords & the Truth: Take out the trash

This election is tight. That's the problem.

Donald Trump is a demonstrated "fascist to the core." His rhetoric sounds exactly like Adolf Hitler's. About half of Americans tell pollsters they'll vote for the fascist. For the Hitler impersonator. That's the problem.

Does -- can -- the program, 3 Chords & the Truth, go forward in a fascist country? I don't think so. There will be other priorities, namely, either fight or flight. Trying to ignore evil -- killing one's conscience with the excuse "I'm not political" is not an option that allows you to look in the mirror every morning.

So, we have come to what just might be the Big Show's not-very-long goodbye. Going on as normal -- even by the loose definition of normal we've had this past decade -- will be impossible, as least for me. Your mileage may vary, but be warned that the risks to your soul in the face of a Trumpian "normal" are unacceptable.

I SPENT much of my young life in Louisiana observing and living a version of that reality during Jim Crow and in the wake of Jim Crow. The America of Trump 2.0 would be even worse, and it would have the weight of the entire federal government and military behind it.

And that is our choice. It's either "a new way forward" under Kamala Harris . . . or the abyss.

That it's entirely possible Americans will choose the abyss points to the real problem, of which Donald Trump's rise is merely a symptom. The last decade has pointed out the terrifying likelihood that the United States' real problem is more akin to societal -- civilizational -- collapse.

Every institution is amid a full collapse, and the void has been filled with distrust -- which is not irrational by any means -- alienation and boiling anger. And demagogic psychotics like Trump know exactly how to exploit what ails us.

Feed your demons, feed Trump. Feed Trump, feed our demons.

The end result is the grave. It would not be a peaceful death.

Boy, this doesn't sound like a pitch for this week's edition of a show that's supposed to entertain. No, it doesn't. On the other hand, 3 Chords & the Truth never has been just about entertaining you. It's also been about something bigger. It's been about trying to make you think, too.

Well, we stand at the corner of THINK and DON'T THINK -- or at least, if you do think, don't let anybody know what you're thinking.

I can't live that way. The Founding Fathers didn't think anyone could live that way. You shouldn't accept living that way.

And if you think electing the fascist won't crush your freedom and come after your very soul, you're a damn fool.

Don't be a damn fool. Do listen to the Big Show; it's as good as ever this week.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all -- for now. Be there. Aloha.

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