America is in chaos.

Simplistically this is about a personality, Trump, claiming the priorities of his ‘populist’ base.

But this is too simple.

America was founded on a promise and a dream….truths self evident that all men are created equal.

And yet many of the people believed and continue to believe that all men are not equal. And in particular some men are inferior – those inferiors being blacks, women, gays, non-Christians, the impoverished and the like.

And yet, America also promotes the notion that it is the land of opportunity. Anybody can rise to success and wealth off the back of their own sweat and perseverance. This is not true. The USA has low rates of moving upwards in socioeconomic terms and the the reasons include a false meritocracy and a local of true equality.

I spent some months in the USA in the mid-1990’s and attended lectures at an esteemed mental health faculty. The message I took away was that America actually doesn’t care about the mentally unwell or to be more specific, the underprivileged, the poor.

And so, I can only conclude, that equality and individualism as ideals are incompatible bedfellows, especially when greatness is founded in bigotry.

And so we are left with a Capitol stormed by agents of chaos. They seek their own order but bring no organizing principles.

Ironically the Congress, House and Senate, are now tasked with recovering from COVID -19 and a brave new world where the ‘base’ is the underclass and they will and demand and the very same social supports that they deride as socialism.

I don’t know where the USA should go from here but it must re-invent itself and perhaps it should start by looking in the mirror and conducting a reality check.