A Fleeting Uplift

I felt a little uplift from the news yesterday. Macon’s solid win over the far-right extremist Marine Le Pen in the French elections was heartening. Democracy withstood a formidable assault. NATO and the European Union withstood a formidable assault. Another cheerful bit was the report of Secretary of State Blinken’s and Secretary of Defense Austin’s visit to Kiev to meet with President Zelensky. Biden has not flinched in the face of Putin’s fist-shaking. The U.S. has stepped up delivery of weapons and humanitarian aid as well. My uplifted mood lasted until I watched an evening news show featuring the Democratic attorney general of Michigan, who left no doubt that American democracy is on the edge of a cliff and that powerful people are pushing hard to shove it over.