2023 Was Mostly Good, But Two Things Worry Me About 2024

When I wrote my year end dispatch for 2022, I declared it may have been the best year of my life. 

In so doing, I set myself a high bar. With just under 6 hours remaining in 2023, I can say that the past 12 months were mostly good. I am still where I want to be in my travails in Boston, Cambridge and Somerville and occasionally beyond. Aside from several trips to New York to see my Dad (as well as my older brother Ezra back in July), I also ventured out to Western Massachusetts to see June Millington play at a club in Amherst and stayed at an AirBnB for the very first time.

In 2023, I began posting #AaronsSongofTheDay2023 on my Facebook page. Today, I posted The Pointer Sisters' cover of Allen Toussaint's "Yes We Can Can" in honor of the anniversary of Anita Pointer's passing. I plan to continue sharing more songs with #AaronsSongofTheDay2024 beginning tomorrow.

My employment situation remains very good, and I come and go as I please - although sometimes I don't have as much access to the kitchen as I would like. Fortunately, there are restaurants within a stone's throw of home. There are annoyances but they are easy enough to navigate.

I did have a significant health scare with a kidney stone which required 4 ER visits and 2 surgeries which took up late October and most of November. Most of that is behind me save for some post-op follow ups and, of course, the bills. Fortunately, I had a fair amount of OT in December and expect this to resume in mid-January. 

However, going into 2024, there are two things which worry me greatly - the future of American democracy and anti-Semitism in America. I did touch on these concerns a year ago:

Then there are concerns over the future of American democracy and the rising acceptance of anti-Semitism in this country. Sadly, these two things go hand in hand. 

While American voters denied Republicans a red wave in part over their insistence about overturning elections, we must remember a majority of Republicans led by defeated former President Trump insist on overturning elections. There are also a growing number of Americans of both right-wing and left-wing persuasion who while condemning anti-Semitism among their adversaries are willing to tolerate anti-Semitism among their own ranks. 

A year later, my concerns have grown exponentially on both fronts.

First, let's address the future of American democracy. Of course, much of this concern centers around defeated, former President Donald Trump. During 2023, Trump was indicted on 91 state and federal charges pertaining to his business practices in New York, withholding and refusing to return top secret classified documents, his role in inciting an insurrection on January 6, 2021 to prevent the peaceful transfer of power as well as his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia. 

Despite all of these things, Trump will become the Republican presidential nominee barring death and even that might not be enough. On top of this, it is more than plausible the American electorate will see fit to return him to office despite his unlawful behavior and his stated desire to adopt an authoritarian style of governance. Should this come to pass then we will deserve everything that is coming to us. The only people not deserving of this fate are the children who had no say in the matter.

There is a more frightening scenario. President Biden wins as he did in 2020, but if there is a Republican controlled House or Senate, I do not see those bodies certifying Biden's victory as they would make unsubstantiated claims of election fraud. This would throw the election with the House of Representatives. Even if Democrats were to take control of Congress, the majority of state delegations would likely remain under Republican control thus returning the nuclear codes to Trump. In this case, we would not have ourselves to blame as the will of the voters would be expressly denied.

Whatever the circumstances which could lead Trump returning to the White House on January 20, 2025, I believe he would invoke the Insurrection Act to impose martial law, rule by decree and suspend the U.S. Constitution. Such decrees would likely outlaw demonstrations and organizations perceived to be disloyal to Trump, a purge of civil servants, a shuttering of media outlets perceived as being disloyal to Trump and arbitrary detention and imprisonment of his critics real and imagined. I can easily envision a scenario in which during a State of the Union address, Trump takes a page out of Saddam Hussein's book and declares members of Congress, the military and the Supreme Court to be traitors and they are escorted out of the chamber forcibly and summarily executed.

Under such conditions, some might be tempted to move to Canada. Well, it is entirely possible Trump could see fit to restrict the movement of Americans in traveling aboard or even domestically. But even if that doesn't come to pass there is no guarantee Canada would be a safe haven. Because if the United States embraces authoritarianism, then other democratic countries will likely follow suit. It is quite plausible that Canadians would elect a Conservative government led by Pierre Poilievre who has embraced an authoritarian populism of his own. In Europe, there are already hard right governments in Hungary, Italy and possibly in The Netherlands. I believe that it is more than likely the French will elect Marine Le Pen as President come 2027. 

To some degree, I can understand why voters would abandon democracy for authoritarianism. Those who have lived in democracies their whole lives and are unhappy with their lot are susceptible to the lure of the easy answers of authoritarianism. Of course, easy answers are invariably the wrong answers. But once a country embraces authoritarianism, it is very difficult, if not impossible to go back to democracy. Not without bloodshed. Authoritarians do not voluntarily relinquish power. Contrary to Trump's claims, no dictatorship has lasted only a single day.

So, what if we re-elect Biden and his victory is certified? Obviously, this would be the best-case scenario. But while Trump might be defeated yet again, Trumpism won't be. So long as Trump continues to question the legitimacy of those who dare to reject him, then the Republican Party will go along with him. Nor do I think Trumpism will die when Trump does. From where I stand, Vivek Ramaswamy isn't running for the GOP nomination to defeat Trump but to be his heir apparent. And who will be President Biden's heir apparent?

As gravely concerned as I am about the 2024 election and the future of American democracy, I am even more concerned about anti-Semitism in America. 2023 will be the year that anti-Semitism came out in the open in this country. The Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7th ought to have resulted in sympathy for Israel and solidarity with Jews. While this is true for a majority of Americans, there is a critical mass in this country which openly celebrated the attacks placing the blame squarely on Israel not only absolving Hamas but championing their genocidal objectives.

While pro-Hamas demonstrators blockade highways leading to airports, disrupt the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and even killing a pro-Israel activist near Los Angeles, Jews must meet in secret to discuss how to combat anti-Semitism. This does not bode well for the future of American Jewry, and I believe things will get a lot worse before they get better.

And by the time things do get better there might be another Holocaust. I have long believed that as Holocaust survivors died and with fewer first-hand accounts of what happened there would be a resurgence in anti-Semitism leading to the subjugation of Jews in the course of making another attempt to eliminate us from the face of the Earth. I believe this campaign is now underway. 

Don't get me wrong. My life is good right now. But life is fragile as the COVID pandemic demonstrated. I survived it, but millions of others did not. The state of American democracy and anti-Semitism in America make for a fragile existence. Both of these matters, especially the latter, could disrupt and possibly end my life. Perhaps not in 2024. But perhaps far sooner than later.

With that, since the kitchen is occupied, I should probably go out and grab myself some dinner. Tomorrow, I shall begin 2024 with a laugh as I meet up with my old friend Christopher Kain to watch 7 hours' worth of Marx Brothers movies. Well, I got to start 2024 somewhere and enjoy it while I can.