How fitting that you chose to organize your song around a symbol of betrayal! [I used to be a Democrat.]
Because poetry is more profound than rhetoric, your song has captured what the Democrats are guilty of. All I can add is that the country needs two parties. If one collapses we can’t have democracy in any sense. We need one party to be suspicious of change and another to promote change. A one party state is not democracy.
What is it that eventually ends all this madness? All I can think of is the Salem Witch Trials which didn’t end until the governor’s wife was accused of witchcraft. It had at that moment gone too far.
You’re onto something with the Salem analogy, Mary Ann — but in this case, Boelter isn’t just another product of left-wing hysteria. He’s what happens when ideology detaches completely from any party line. He wasn’t acting on behalf of the left or the right — he was acting against anyone he saw as part of a corrupt, compromised system. In his mind, even someone like Ilhan Omar wasn’t radical enough. So this isn’t just a leftist gone mad. It’s what happens when belief becomes a crusade and everyone becomes a heretic.
An additional follow-on thought to what you said above regarding people like Boelter, those rioting in the streets, those who burned Teslas, and those who are making videos of themselves going crazy and posting them on TikTok: Political parties are perhaps the most important glue holding the body politic together. They mobilize voters, explain the issues and the solutions, and acclimate citizens to the whole idea of peaceful conflict resolutions and voting as a way to keep the peace. But when a party collapses as the Democrats have been, all that devotion to democracy disappears with it. And so we find ourselves with millions of Americans who are blaming Trump for what they see is wrong, when in truth it's the collapse of their own party that is to blame: no leadership, no platform, no solutions, and no ability to compromise with the Republicans. So I am wondering if the left-wing hysteria we're seeing is the consequence of the death of an institution that would have contained all this and channeled it into political sanity. One other point: as it turns out, the Democrat party is a top/down party that requires conformity of thought and adherence to the party line. I think that has been the case historically with Democrats. When an institution with those characteristics fractures, mental illness is the result. I don't see an end to this until the party can figure out a way back to relevance. If they can't, we will see many more Boelters, screaming TikTok videos, and rioting over issues that make no sense. And democracy WILL die.
Brilliantly put, Mary Ann. You’ve captured the collapse with chilling clarity. I actually wrote a song that speaks directly to this—The Judas Tree. It’s a lament for the fall of idealism, and how the faithful got betrayed by the very movement they once believed in. You can hear it here: 👉 https://turfseer.substack.com/p/the-judas-tree
How fitting that you chose to organize your song around a symbol of betrayal! [I used to be a Democrat.]
Because poetry is more profound than rhetoric, your song has captured what the Democrats are guilty of. All I can add is that the country needs two parties. If one collapses we can’t have democracy in any sense. We need one party to be suspicious of change and another to promote change. A one party state is not democracy.
Thanks for pointing me to your song!
In simpler words. The man is a demoniac.
Extremely well written, concise.
Thanks.
What is it that eventually ends all this madness? All I can think of is the Salem Witch Trials which didn’t end until the governor’s wife was accused of witchcraft. It had at that moment gone too far.
You’re onto something with the Salem analogy, Mary Ann — but in this case, Boelter isn’t just another product of left-wing hysteria. He’s what happens when ideology detaches completely from any party line. He wasn’t acting on behalf of the left or the right — he was acting against anyone he saw as part of a corrupt, compromised system. In his mind, even someone like Ilhan Omar wasn’t radical enough. So this isn’t just a leftist gone mad. It’s what happens when belief becomes a crusade and everyone becomes a heretic.
An additional follow-on thought to what you said above regarding people like Boelter, those rioting in the streets, those who burned Teslas, and those who are making videos of themselves going crazy and posting them on TikTok: Political parties are perhaps the most important glue holding the body politic together. They mobilize voters, explain the issues and the solutions, and acclimate citizens to the whole idea of peaceful conflict resolutions and voting as a way to keep the peace. But when a party collapses as the Democrats have been, all that devotion to democracy disappears with it. And so we find ourselves with millions of Americans who are blaming Trump for what they see is wrong, when in truth it's the collapse of their own party that is to blame: no leadership, no platform, no solutions, and no ability to compromise with the Republicans. So I am wondering if the left-wing hysteria we're seeing is the consequence of the death of an institution that would have contained all this and channeled it into political sanity. One other point: as it turns out, the Democrat party is a top/down party that requires conformity of thought and adherence to the party line. I think that has been the case historically with Democrats. When an institution with those characteristics fractures, mental illness is the result. I don't see an end to this until the party can figure out a way back to relevance. If they can't, we will see many more Boelters, screaming TikTok videos, and rioting over issues that make no sense. And democracy WILL die.
Brilliantly put, Mary Ann. You’ve captured the collapse with chilling clarity. I actually wrote a song that speaks directly to this—The Judas Tree. It’s a lament for the fall of idealism, and how the faithful got betrayed by the very movement they once believed in. You can hear it here: 👉 https://turfseer.substack.com/p/the-judas-tree
Would love to hear your thoughts on it.
Thank you for the kind words and I promise to listen to your song.