The title may be a bit overly dramatic, but perhaps not. I really do believe there is an ongoing battle for the soul of the United States. If the GOP prevail, we will most likely have an authoritarian, racist future dominated by the super rich and corporations where the poor and old struggle to survive. With the Democrats, hopefully, we will have a kinder, gentler future with a country willing to accept all and support all where moneyed people and corporations are not the ultimate arbitrators of policy.
I ride my bicycle for exercise in several places, but frequently in Creve Coeur Park. The park has several miles of paved trails that folks use for bicycling, running, walking and in-line skating. The last few weeks I have seen anti-Trump slogans written in chalk appearing on the trail. They include such things as “Trump is a racist”, “Putin owns Trump”, “Trump is a liar”, “GOP = KKK” and many more. In my mind I had pictured a young female millennial scribbling these slogans. I’m not sure why. Yesterday, riding my bicycle, I came across a 50ish male jogger hunched over the sidewalk with a big piece of chalk in his hand. He had just finished writing “Trump is a racist”. I gave him a big thumbs up and rode on.
As I rode I started writing a blog article about this in my mind and I decided I wanted to get a picture of a couple of the chalked political slogans. As I had taken a fairly long ride out of Creve Coeur Park and over the Missouri River to St. Charles, it was a couple hours later before I got back to my truck and the location of the chalkings. In the interim someone had rubbed all of anti-Trump chalkings out. I rode another 2 or 3 miles hoping to find one unmarred and did not. I suppose it could have been the park employees, but I do not believe that. I do not think the park is particularly understaffed, but neither is it so over staffed that they would send someone around to do this.
Since I could not get a picture, I went to Google images to find one similar. I did, but interestingly, this seems to be a real thing around the country. Most of the images that I did find on Google were pro Trump, Universal Life Force help us all.
In my article, Meatloaf, I mentioned the graffiti war for and against Trump going on inside the golf carts at the course I play most. This war of graffiti and chalk for me for some reason has a 1984 feel to it. You cannot directly confront authoritarian regimes so underground battles go on.
It will be interesting to see what happens on the trails of Creve Coeur Park in the next few weeks. There is indeed a war going on for the soul of this country I once loved, and would like to love again.
Keep well.
Perhaps you should carry chalk and add some of your own.
Indeed, concealed carry and use surreptitiously and ferociously. But, always with a smile.