Behold the Naked Emperor

Skepticism of those who rule over us is an ingrained part of human nature. The tale of the Emperor's New Clothes, attributed to Hans Christian Andersen, has its roots in ancient times - possibly even beyond Aesop's fables.

Until he assumed the presidency, President Trump only held authority over his employees and had to pay them for the privilege. We, as citizens of the modern mega-state, are compelled to pay our taxes so that the government can constrain our personal freedoms and occasionally perform useful tasks like filling potholes or defending national sovereignty.

Trump's presidency is either a significant turning point or an exception to the prevailing status quo. To be considered a turning point, his successor would need to share his similar inclination. Having multiple successors in a row would even be better, as repairing the damage caused by previous administrations is a much easier task than reversing it.

Moving down the political food chain, local corruption and incompetence are the real elephants in the room. National issues receive more attention because we're all in the same boat... but the collapse of our urban environments is where the bulk of the damage is being done. Can you say "crime and squalor"? Recently, a spate of mayoral and prosecutorial recalls, along with failures to get re-elected, has rattled the cages of many hack politicians.

But who can step in and straighten things out? In Oakland, we dumped an obviously corrupt mayor early in her first term... only to replace her with a blatant communist. By a series of rigged elections, Barbara Lee assumed "Red" Ron Dellums' congressional seat when he retired in the middle of his term so she could become mayor.

At that time, Lee was described as the head of Dellums' field office in Havana... but that record has been expunged. There is still substantial evidence of Lee's affinity for the Castro brothers. In the old days, corrupt urban machine politicians at least made sure the trains ran on time to keep voters satisfied.

Nowadays, corruption has been enhanced by ideology. Festering conspicuous vagrancy (a.k.a. homelessness) is more than just tolerated... it is being enabled because the naked local tyrants have long been telling themselves and us that rapacious capitalism is the real cause of this problem. The same goes for rampant crime.

Back to Donald Trump: He is nowhere near being corrupted by ideology - he hardly has any at all. He's nothing more than an experienced executive with a reasonable amount of talent for being a problem solver.

The same qualities would benefit his successor(s) as well as local politicians interested in making their cities more livable for ordinary citizens. What's holding them back? The naked tyrants have taken over most forms of education - not just grade schools but colleges and universities as well.

Still, the survivalist underpinnings of human nature question the ideology pushing the decline of the human environment. Several mythical dogmas dictate the agenda for the naked tyrants... and we get to witness their malfeasance.

To start with is racism. Come on... the Civil War is over. America is what it is: a mingled ethnic group, religious diversity, and mutual tolerance. Pandering to pseudo-victimhood only goes so far, especially when it isn't real.

Next up is climate change. We just had catastrophic floods in Texas... and before white could fall on rice, the naked tyrants tried to blame Trump's DOGE, and when that failed because FEMA had more than the usual boots on the ground in Texas, they started blaming climate change...

Without any supporting evidence. Who cares? It's for a good cause. Right?

We have settled into two opposing constituent groups: the MAGA group whose motto is "results matter" and the useful idiots who enjoy soothing sounds of compassion coming from the fetid swamp.

To the useful idiots, results mean nothing... just the aura of compassion. Being lulled into a rhapsodic slumber by soothing signals of virtue, they easily notice how nice the emperor looks in his new clothes.