The Great Experiment

 Came across this...

...in the Xhitter feed of this guy.

And even given my long attention to and understanding of the fundamental shallow and rapacious shittiness of "conservative thinking" I was kinda gobsmacked.

WTAF? Seriously, National Review? Lights on in your heads, dumbfucks!

"Grand social experiment"..?

Really, which part of high school civics were you Rushbo-wannabees sleeping through that you missed the whole "American Experiment" thing?

"The establishment of our new Government seemed to be the last great experiment for promoting human happiness."
George Washington, January 9, 1790

The promise of these United States - the only thing about them that has value, the implicit promise the Founders didn't realize they'd made - is the idea of the grand noble experiment in self-government for all of We the People.

No kings. No popes. No lords and ladies, no hierophants, no rigid social framework where those born to rule rule those born to serve.

The entire, central fucking IDEAL of the United States, the core tenet of the values that supposedly make this nation different, is that We are embarked in a "grand social experiment" to see if that can work.

The fact that we've fallen far short of that value doesn't decentralize it. The fact that we have to, that we need to, make reparations to those who, because of our prejudices we wrote into our laws and baked into our society, were held back and held behind the ideal of equal justice under law, doesn't change it's importance.

The armed forces of a Republic are representative of - must represent - the ideals and goals of that Republic. If they do not, they must be held to a higher standard than the civil society around them in hopes of reforming that society. Not the other way around.

For those reasons alone Harry Truman ordered the desegregation of the Army over half a century ago.

I'm sure the National Review tut-tutted that "grand social experiment" that time, too.

In the Age of Trump it's increasingly difficult to hide the vicious racist stupidity behind "conservative" politics. But this was stupidly racist even for these gomers.

I think I hated them a tiny bit less when they were just openly honest Klansmen,

Twenty-two

Oh, hey. I almost didn't see you there, sweetie.

C'mere. Siddown for a bit, can you? I'm just finishing this up, I'll be right with you.

That? Oh, it's some sort of IPA. Yeah, cliche, I know. Hey, I like 'em well enough, now that the Northwest is mostly over the "can you top this" bitterness craze. Go ahead, try a sip.

Yeah? Well, it was seven bucks at Grocery Outlet. Probably a reason for that, eh?

It's been a long year, hasn't it?

Retired? Yeah. Still working into that. Your mom is running in circles over at school; more to do, fewer to do it. Kid brother still gaming 24-7, baby sis ready to spread her wings and fly off to college...

Would you be there now?

Getting ready to graduate? Doctor, lawyer, beggarman, thief? Would you be working, instead? Putting in your forty hours behind a wrench or behind a desk?

Would you be cadging a drink from me like this, nasty hoppy IPA or what?

How much else would we have shared?

Your younger siblings share almost nothing with me. Your sister and I are both theater buffs, but she's very different from me in every other way. Your brother? I don't get him and never have.

And I never got the chance to know you.

I wish I had. I wish I'd been able to grow with you, to share your happiness and sorrow. To know you, as I had hoped, all those many years ago. But this day came, and went, and so did you, forever one day old.

I don't miss you the way your mother does. For her you're a huge hole in her heart, a part of her she'll never find, the end of her dreams for and of you.

I miss the you who never was. The little girl, the young woman, the strong daughter who, in the best way of fathers and daughters, stood by me into the grave and carried my memory beyond it.

Instead, we have yesterday, and today, and then you'll be gone again. Here, have another sip. Yeah, it gets a little better after a couple. Still not very good. Seven bucks worth.

But let's have a last round, you and I. And grin and shake our heads and look away, and when I look back you'll be gone.

Until the next time, love. Goodbye. I love you. I miss you.

Goodbye.

Bryn Rose Gellar. March 1, 2002 - March 2, 2002