It rained the other day, thank the heavens above. Grass was crisping; even the tomatoes show signs of stress. Porch plants need extra watering with the water we save at the sink when we rinse vegetables. I am one of those odd people who walk into a friend’s house, spot a houseplant, stick a finger in the pot and announce its need for water. I can’t help it; I see what I call “the color of thirst.” The plant is calling out for help.
These days I see the color of thirst everywhere — in the faces of Ukrainian grandmothers who have lost their grandbabies to vicious Russian bombing of civilian targets; in the faces of refugees trying to reach safe haven only to be turned away or scorned. I see the faces of young women who have just been told they are second-class citizens with no bodily autonomy in the most intimate of issues — childbearing. The thirst shows in the faces of anguished parents of school children left unprotected while the right to bear arms — any arms in any situation — is exalted over the lives of children.
The faces of people of color have reflected the thirst for justice for hundreds of years, for our entire national history. The color of thirst reflects in the faces of exhausted firefighters in Spain and Colorado weeping at their inefficacy in the face of raging wildfires. The bewilderment on faces of people around the world facing the highest local temperatures of all time reflects another thirst — for truth and leadership. We are parched and panting; despite brief local rains we face the drought of our democracy.
The former president will be known as the one who tried to take down our democratic government. Joe Manchin will go down as the man who torched the planet. What of Joe Biden? Polls show him unpopular; but let’s look at some of the context of his two years in office since January, 2021:
*A nation rattled by images of insurrectionists swarming the Capitol to overturn the election Biden won by 7 million votes;
*A pandemic made immeasurably worse by political denial and misinformation, exacerbated by a host of incapable appointees who undermined our once-vaunted CDC;
*Labor markets and world trade systems destabilized by both COVID-19 and the war of aggression by Russian against Ukraine;
*A Russia emboldened by the sycophantic former president and such truly scurrilous people as Manafort, Flynn and Bannon;
*A climate crisis made acute by inaction, denial, and outright blockading led by the likes of the former CEO of Exxon pretending to be secretary of state;
*International alliances shredded by abrupt changes in policy and unpredictable behavior;
*A federal workforce crippled by people like DeVos (who believes the Department of Education should be abolished) or DeJoy (who believes the U.S. Post Office should be privatized), and agencies such as an IRS deliberately hamstrung by reduced staffing to frustrate taxpayers and ignore tax evaders. Even the Secret Service is now suspect for erasing texts related to Jan. 6.
Only two presidents have faced conditions this horrific: Lincoln and FDR, one Republican, one Democrat, who rose to help the nation stay a nation and cope with unprecedented crises in the form of civil war, global war, and massive economic collapse. So before condemning Biden we must look to ourselves. His ability to take action to protect the health of the populace, the economy and the planet requires tools. Namely a majority in both chambers of Congress until we can shift the ugly extremism that wracks our legislatures, Congress and Supreme Court.
Of course we are all frustrated; people are suffering from the inflation and the ever more frightening impacts of climate change. We can see the thirst everywhere; we are dying for the truth, difficult as it may be.
No one likes to be made a fool of, and millions of Americans, fed grievance-fueled misinformation, have fallen for the violent, radical, right-wing view of our country. But remember the founding words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident….” How do we invite each other back to the core of our nation’s character — equity and opportunity?
We have the technical means to save ourselves from climate disaster; we can solve inflation, unemployment, health care, even racial and gender disparity, if we decide to activate our wealth and creativity. We need a cloudburst of truth-telling and downpours of voting to end our national drought.
Judy Wagner lives in Northfield.