Dear Malta

Dear England:

I wrote to you a number of years ago with no response. Again I find myself at the beginning stages of the American election cycle. Again I find myself face...

Well. England has a bit of a Brexit problem. I probably won't get a response. That's probably true of all the islands right there and thereabouts.

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Dear Malta,

Thank you for a taking a moment to read my request for asylum. As you may have noticed in the past few years The United States of America has become a beacon of mental instability. We are so divided and so full of hate that we can't seem to enjoy anything any more without it being somehow offensive to someone else. Then to better our civil discourse somebody that neither enjoyed the event nor was offended by the event decides that they should champion the cause of the offended (who probably had already forgotten that they were offended). These champions of justice or, social warriors as they are both righteously and pejoratively called, create the echo chamber in which hate takes shape. Other unconnected people with an exactly opposite political bent then weigh in on the matter which they knew nothing about until the social warrior had brought the obscure event to their attention. From this exchange creates a back and forth that is nothing short of abject hatred. Never mind that the two arguing parties have more in common with one another than differences and that temperamentally they are suited to be excellent friends. Their political differences, these political ideals that govern all their conversations and none of their daily actions, are too self-important and prevent any kind of kindredship between the parties. This process is repeated millions times a day and then plastered all over the internet and fed to us as news.

I was so wearied by the Republican Primaries in the last election that by the time of the General Election debates you could have knocked me over with a feather. The candidates decided to complete their easy task with sledge hammers. Through the whole year I found myself waiting, desperately for November to come and put a silence to the madness that was the election build-up. I figured of course, that the election would solve the problem. Election day would be a deafening crescendo for sure. Then for a week or two the losing side would raise holy hell but slowly their disappointment and anger would dissipate into the more comfortable resignation. I admit that I thought it would not matter who won. One candidate would shift to the left upon winning and the other would shift to the right. There would be all sorts of demagoguery in front of the cameras and behind the veil some work would get done. I would get a respite from the relentless nature of the previous campaign.

That however has not been the case. The holy hell was raised and it kept on raising. Three years in and we are still hearing about a stolen election. Nothing is really being done in Washington but its forked tongue is screaming out warnings and apocalyptic narratives at such a pace that it is nearly impossible to make sense of the whole. So instead of making sense of the whole we latch on to a single narrative thread and treat it as the main plot and color our entire worldview around it. A birth certificate? Some Tax Reports? Quid pro quo? Deep state? Which of these one attaches ones self to will change the way the world is at appears to the holder. It makes communication across imaginary political lines impossible and the few that try are labeled traitors to their kind, even if they did not know that they had a kind prior to becoming a traitor.

It's all exhausting. The modern world as it is means that the election cycle is going to be brutal. But, that should last a year for most, average Americans. The political junkies and the local politicians have chosen their vice and let the suffer its consequences as they reap its benefits. I want no part of that. In this new world the election cycle seems to have no end. If one is reelected then we have another four years of all the chaos on top of the year we already have left. If he is removed through anything by other than the election it will be seen as a coup d'etat even by a large portion of moderates because there will be no true smoking gun. The closest that has come so far is the Mulvaney quip about getting over it. I think, through no intention or planning on his part, Trump has been the most transparent of all Presidents in modern history. Mulvaney basically said that, "America puts political pressure on people to achieve its agenda. This is how it's been done for years. You know it. I know it. Nothing new here. Move along". He's right. He's just an idiot it for saying it. But he's a genius for saying it because it will rile up a vocal part of the base with him using the system against itself. This will be spun as a heroic act in some circles. Others won't even know how to understand this logic, let alone how to responds. There will be rage. If one of the Democrats win there could very well be a smattering of small wannabe militias roaming the streets causing unrest after the election. There could be people out there in the name of journalism provoking violent reaction to the election so that they can gain clicks regardless of which side wins. I want no part of that.

I am writing you today to ask for a way to come and stay with you. I am willing to work, I simply require the legal framework from you. Please don't turn me away because I'm too tired to deal with this for the rest of my life, which will be greatly shortened by being bombarded by this nonsense at every waking hour.

Yours Truly.