Dark Times for America

  These are dark times for America. The Civil War was dark. Other moments have been dark. How we rank this, I do not know.
  But, I wonder if our nation has ever been so assaulted, so imperiled. I wonder if it has ever turned to the dark side so much.
  A leader who would send those who oppose him to jail. This is almost the very definition of a dictator. A nation with so many people dismissing and rejecting the regular media -- as the president tells them to do -- and turning to the fables he offers them.
   Have we turned to the dark side? We say we do not care what his morals are, as long as he brings us prosperity. More than that -- most serious -- we watch as he withholds foreign aid to a nation, giving it only on exchange for that country promising to dig up dirt on a political opponent. And, we find no fault in that?
   Rather than promising a fair and impartial trial, our top Senate leader promises to do whatever the defendant tells him to do, and promises he will not be impartial. Railroad justice? -- Not railroading someone into jail, but railroading them to safety. Railroading is the same, whichever side it takes. Justice in America has never been so assaulted.
   Dark times for America? The masses are buying into this president, following him almost with reverence, following him as he leads us off a cliff. We read stories of pied pipers, but we do not recognize them when their flutes play for us.