Cycles of Immunity and Resistance

My father had the swine flu of 1918. He was three. They thought he was going to die. The (probably useless) pills he was being given were found in the sheets. He had been feigning swallowing them and then spitting them out when no one was looking. That early evidence of a willful, deceitful streak notwithstanding, he went on to lead a good life.

The 'healthy middle" suffered more in that outbreak. Children and older people were more likely to survive. This was due to some kind of acquired or inherited immunity. Their systems had seen enough of something just similar enough to that horrible virus to survive. I assume now that societies work the same way, avoiding a repeat of past calamities through lesser exposure, acquired immunity or inoculation. 

I thought we were inoculated against fascism by witnessing its horrors. I thought we were too wise and committed to our laws and traditions to betray our fundamental, founding ethos, that societies are there to enable, enhance, promote and ensure the well-being of ALL citizens. Our failure leading to Trump isn't a matter for analysis but for observation. 

We have failed. It is observable in the destruction of the middle class. It is observable in the closing off of opportunity to poor people. It is observable in the fights for fair taxation, healthcare, security in old age, and workers' rights. It is observable in the wholesale auction of government controls over large businesses and other interest groups to those with vested interests--pay-to-play government. 

Our overall failure is observable. We lacked immunity and resistance. It doesn't matter how right now. We are too sick. We have succumbed to a disease. We must accept the fact of the illness--not an easy task in an exceptionalist society--and fight to survive. We must fight to survive the Trump-Republican infection--a parasitic illness of disenfranchisement. 

That is our only hope. But we can't pretend we aren't sick anymore. How we got here might matter, but only if it helps us get better. Attack the disease. Attack Trump. It's a fight for survival now. Everything else comes later.