William Hemmel: Country’s trajectory chillingly like ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’

To The Daily Sun,

I was struck by how chillingly prophetic this passage from "The Handmaid's Tale" (by Margaret Atwood) now feels in the context of our country's' trajectory. (Items in parentheses are my edits):

“... everything went on the Compubank (Venmo, etc.). I guess that's how they were able to do it, in the way they did, all at once, without anyone knowing beforehand. If there had still been portable money, it would have been more difficult.

It was after ...the (president) declared a state of emergency. They blamed it on (illegal criminal immigrants) at the time.

Keep calm, they said on television. Everything is under control.

I was stunned. Everyone was, I know that. It was hard to believe. The entire government, gone like that. How did they get in, how did it happen? (Department of Government Efficiency).

That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn't even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at night, watching television, looking for some direction. There wasn't even an enemy you could put your finger on.”

“...Things continued in that state of suspended animation for weeks, although some things did happen. Newspapers (and TV networks) were censored and some were closed down, for 'security reasons' they said. The (immigration) roadblocks began to appear, and Identipasses (RealID).

Everyone approved of that, since it was obvious you couldn't be too careful. They said that new elections would be held, but that it would take some time to prepare for them.”

In the famous words of a Chinese blessing/curse: “May you live in interesting times.” And here we are.

William Hemmel

Moultonborough