That rain was just glorious, wasn’t it?
Since I couldn’t work in the yard, I spent more time on the sofa with a stack of books, accompanied by the pitter-pattering soundtrack on the rooftop.
My science-fiction summer — the project I launched a few weeks ago to catch up on my sci-fi reading — has been less concentrated than I expected. I keep getting distracted by the likes of Martin Cruz Smith’s latest (and final) Arkady Renko novel, “Hotel Ukraine,” and “Poets Square: A Memoir in Thirty Cats,” by Tucson resident Courtney Gustafson, a woman who draws important social lessons from her devotion to rescuing feral cats.
Not to mention “The Rough Patch,” a picture book by artist/writer Brian Lies, which should not be mistaken for a children’s book.
But I also found time for these classics of the genre:
“Foundation” by Isaac Asimov
“Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson
“Starship Troopers” by Robert A. Heinlein
“Rendezvous With Rama” by Arthur C. Clarke
“Neuromancer” by William Gibson
All set in the future, they offer varying visions of how things might go for us. Several portray unappealing possibilities, with technological advancements and economic domination that insert oppressive tendrils into the lives of human beings who have themselves not evolved very much.
They’re also, to some extent, heroic fiction, so they feature dissenters who find ways to rebel against or overcome their circumstances.
Each of these — and every book I’ve read this summer — deserves a more thorough analysis, but for all the imagination used to create them and draw us into their worlds, we still wake in our own, in a country in which, as Asimov once described it, “a cult of ignorance … has been a constant thread.” That is nowhere more evident than in the numerous zealous followers of President and convicted felon Donald Trump.
Maybe, as their neighborhoods are threatened by masked and armed troops; as prices are driven to never-before-seen heights; as Trump fails to draw attention away from his ties to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein; maybe something will click and they’ll finally realize that they’ve been conned.
Others have seen the light. Former Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh, who left the Republican Party in 2020, joined the Democratic Party in June. In a Substack post, he wrote, “Without freedom, democracy, and the rule of law, America ceases to be. And currently, only the Democratic Party is on the side of all three of these core American values.”
And former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, a Republican who published “GOP 2.0: How the 2020 Election Can Lead to a Better Way Forward for America's Conservative Party” in 2021, joined the Democratic Party last week. “My decision,” he wrote in an op-ed for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “was centered around my daily struggle to love my neighbor, as a Republican.”
But while the choice seems obvious to many, others remain unconvinced.
In a recent story about our city’s current activism, WFDD’s David Ford profiled our friend Tommy Priest:
But when it comes to protests, [Priest] would like to see more strategy, and a shift of focus from protesting against to protesting for the things that have long distinguished America.
On the one hand, I think just not being as stupid and mean as Trump is a valid position, and one worthy of votes. If we all join John Pavlovitz’s Church of Not Being Horrible, we’ve already got a better platform than stealing from the poor to give to the rich.
Not to mention, haven’t we already done this? President Joe Biden did many practical and beneficial things for the American people: Passing a bipartisan infrastructure bill; reducing the costs of prescription medications; expanding overtime pay for 4 million workers; cracking down on junk fees; overseeing the creation of over 16 million new jobs, the most of any single term president; launching multiple environmental protection programs, including supporting a shift away from fossil fuels; boosting manufacturing jobs in red states; and bringing microchip production back to America. (America first!)
But neither Biden, his staffers, nor the media publicized those accomplishments well enough. Plus, they were fighting against a full-time Republican propaganda machine.
And much of the public can’t remember further back than last week’s gas prices.
So Tommy has a point. We can’t just be against Trump, we must be for something better, aggressively and constantly. We Democrats, moderates, independents, progressives, leftists, people of conscience, whatever we call ourselves, and with whatever level of dedication we have, need a superior vision of a bright future that benefits everyone. We must demonstrate something better and find ways to make the points stick.
And here, I invite you to be your own science-fiction writer: What beneficial future can you imagine for our city, our country? Sit back and think about it. How would you like our society to be?
I doubt we’ll have flying cars or robot chefs anytime soon. But we could still have a better society, one based on optimism, cooperation and courage, rather than constant culture wars and fear of people who look different.
We know the things that would improve our societies: Workers’ rights, universal health care, independent commissions for drawing district lines, all the things the oligarchs don’t want us to have. All the things Republicans call “socialist.”
I imagine: A city that is efficiently run, clean and beautiful. Trees and gardens, parks, walkable pathways, public art. While our downtown is still vital, it wouldn’t hurt to have a few other commercial centers with cafes and shops. Maybe we could bury our unsightly power lines, as is done in the Netherlands and other places.
I imagine: Solar panels on rooftops. Increased public transportation and less reliance on fossil fuels. Let electric and hydrogen-fuel vehicles fight it out for dominance.
I imagine: A populace that values curiosity, conversation and intelligence; one that invests in books and lectures; one that is engaged in issues of the day and gathers, in coffeehouses, pubs and other public spaces, to discuss matters in good faith, with no rancor or MAGA-mind insults.
I imagine: An international city, multi-cultural, celebratory, with arms open to the world.
To a large degree, I think this already describes Winston-Salem.
To expand, we need a world-class public education system. We must devote the same level of fanatical resources to education that Trump is putting toward deporting brown-skinned people. I have waited years to quote The West Wing’s Sam Seaborn:
Education is the silver bullet. Education is everything. We don’t need little changes, we need gigantic, monumental changes. Schools should be palaces. Competition for the best teachers should be fierce; they should be making six-figure salaries. Schools should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge to its citizens, just like national defense.
Many of these ideas rely on the principle that some things are more important than money, which I know is a hard sell in America.
But perhaps Trump’s excesses, his $200 million ballroom, $1 billion personal aircraft and $60 million on golf this term alone, taxpayer money, while the rest of us tighten our belts, will finally be enough to wake the public. To be great, a nation must invest in the advantages that make life better for all.
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.
…..
Overflow:
Not meeting my description of dystopian sci-fi was Arthur C. Clarke’s “Rendezvous With Rama,” published in 1973, about an alien starship that drifts through our solar system, which Earthlings with advanced technology board for study.
This was somewhat echoed in real life by ’Oumuamua, an interstellar object that drifted through our solar system in 2017. NASA defined it as “the first confirmed object from another star to visit our solar system.” While most astronomers concluded it to be a natural object, Harvard theoretical physicist Avi Loeb insists that it must be artificial in origin.
Hmm.
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The Asimov quote:
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’”
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“The only way Republicans win elections is ignorance. They can't govern. They have no reform ideas. They just slash and burn because they hate the idea of community and shared responsibility. We saw that with their anti-mask and vaccine obsessions during Covid. Reactionary Republicans have no affirmative ideas. They cannot build great things, only tear down what they cannot understand. This is why they love censorship and why they must lie constantly. They have to lie and cheat to win.”
— Matthew Sheffield, former NewsBusters (right-wing site) founder and former GOP media consultant. Surely we can do better than that.
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Tommy Priest breaks it down:
Writer/pastor John Pavlovitz has proposed starting a new church: The Church of Not Being Horrible:
Our mission statement is simply this: Don’t be horrible to people.
Don’t treat them as less worthy of love, respect, dignity, joy, and opportunity than you are.
Don’t create caricatures out of them based on their skin color, their religion, their sexual orientation, the amount of money they have, the circumstances they find themselves in.
Don’t seek to take away things from them that you already enjoy in abundance: civil rights, clean water, education, marriage, access to healthcare.
Don’t tell someone’s story for them about why they are poor, depressed, addicted, victimized, alone. Let them tell their story and believe they know it better than you do.
Don’t imagine that your experience of the world is everyone’s experience of the world; that the ease, comfort, support, affection you have received are universal.
Don’t be preoccupied with how someone experiences God, how they define family, who they love. Cultivate your faith, family, and marriage alone.
So negatives — don’ts — can be positive.
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Came across this yesterday and it seemed relevant to the topic:
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Biden did not receive adequate credit for his accomplishments:
I think we should learn from other nations: The Netherlands, Norway, Japan. But Vice President JD Vance wants us to learn from Hungary’s authoritarian prime minister, Victor Orban:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jd-vance-viktor-orban-smart-decisions-face-the-nation/
Geoff Duncan is now a Democrat:
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5439065-geoff-duncan-georgia-democratic-party/
So is Joe Walsh:
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5330476-joe-walsh-says-hes-becoming-a-democrat/
Does the White House really need a $200 million ballroom?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/07/trump-white-house-ballroom
Former Superman actor Dean Cain has become Bizarro:
Come to think of it, the Trump administration is Bizarro World, where the worst is the best:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bizarro_World
Bridge protests!
4:30 to 6 p.m. every Monday
7:30 to 9 a.m. every Tuesday
10 a.m. to noon every Saturday — except next Saturday, Aug. 16
At the Green Street pedestrian bridge above Salem Parkway. We have crowds, but we need more! This is, I guarantee, the most fun protest in town!
I’ve written two books!
My newer book, “Tiny Sliver of a Moon” is available from Bookmarks, Book Ferret, The Eclectible Shop and the trunk of my car.
My first book, “Stardust and Scar Tissue,” is available from Bookmarks, Book Ferret, The Eclectible Shop and from the publisher, Press 53.
And, if you must, from Amazon.
Closing out with the futuristic David Bowie. Thanks for being here today. If you know anyone who should be with us, send them along.
Love this, Mick. Maybe Democrats can agree on messaging using the words of Rep. Joe Walsh, “Freedom, Democracy, and the Rule of Law.”
Such a great one, Mick. So we'll researched, so helpful. And amidst everything, offers hope.
Thank you.