Politics in America is so serious that to survive as a citizen, one must learn to laugh. If we can’t learn to laugh, and we cannot bear to weep all the time because it makes us sad, stupid and soggy, some of us leave.

I know that Europe is full of Far Right Radicals (they’ve infested the entire globe) similar to what the U.S. suffers; I don’t know how Europeans slog through it day-to-day—do you laugh, ignore it and move to another country? If we can, we laugh, we make fun of it, although it’s a slippery slope.

You see, that slippery slope behavior of meanness from the Far Right often brings on meanness to the victims of it, so soon enough, the whole country is name-calling. The Left does not say the horrible things heard from people on the Right, but it’s pretty much tit-for-tat. The Right makes a habit of mocking individuals who have physical disabilities; as far as I know, the Left does not. The Right is happy to ridicule all women who speak against them as “nasty.” They make fun of heavy women. So I, as an opinion columnist on the Left, believe there are more Left women than Right women (no stats on this of course), the Left does not make fun of women because they’re women. The Right demeans soldiers who became prisoners of war. Why there are War Veterans on the Right is difficult to understand. The Right lies like a rug—never seen anything like it.

The Left tries not to be as mean as the people who seem to be hell-bent on destroying a democracy, but in all of us humans is a mean streak. This forbearance on our part is not easy, and in fact, social media, where one does not have to be identified, is full of “nicknames” for many leaders on the Right, penned by people on the Left of course.

One of the saddest things to ponder for those who are authoritarian types is that they have no sense of humor; they cannot laugh at themselves. They are seriously serious, to the point of giving themselves heart problems, one would think; we never see them fall over clutching their hearts, however.

Many of us Americans get our political news from our late evening comedians rather than the regular media news outlets. The amusing men and women of the night satirize every word out of a Far Right mouth. They are fair in giving it to the left, as well, but the Left doesn’t utter such funny, idiotic statements to be made fun of, and the Left does have a sense of humor about itself and life itself. This Right-directed humor is a salve to the Left side of politics as well as to the a-political and the middle-of-the-road voter. The Far Right wants these hilarious wits taken off the air, but this is still America where the first article of the Bill of Rights gives us the right to say what we please, even if it is untrue, mean or stupid.

Perhaps someday, this particular freedom of expression will be altered by law and tempered with common sense; to lie, lambast and hurt people on purpose with one’s words is not the road to a compassionate world, which we need to start working on soon, before we all kill one another and leave the planet to the cockroaches. Or maybe it no longer matters, what with Climate Emergency and so forth.

Just as a by-the-way, Far Right leaders in America have no time for discussing climate change unless they’re lying about its existence. In Florida, protocol is to call the state “not a global warming” area, even though, according to a survey from Florida Atlantic University, 90% of Floridians think climate change is happening.

This is not a laughable situation, and the only hope is that the state government will be voted out at the next election. In the meantime, individuals establish solar power on their own roofs.

And some just move out of state, a situation which is mildly laughable when the politics of the state is listed as the main reason for fleeing. According to the U.S. Census, Florida over the last 10 years grew about 3.7 percent a year in population and lost about 1.5% per year. Old northerners dig out of the snow seeking the mild winters despite the Florida humidity, bugs and alligators; many return to summer in their northern origins to avoid the Florida nuisances.

Humor saves us. Education might save us also. We need classes on satire through history, how it can reach to the very nut of a problem and make us laugh out loud. It could relieve the stress of autocrats telling us what to do or threatening what they will do once in power. Most of us aren’t crazy about being laughed at, but most of us do have a sense of humor that allows us to take it; autocrats despise being laughed at and get even.

Another solution to America’s current political weirdness has been to merely leave the scene—not just the state scene but the federal one. They move out of the country. Friends of mine went to Mexico after the election of 2016 and stayed several years until drug problems infested their chosen area; they returned. Portugal was briefly a popular respite, so popular that the prices have gone out of sight. According to Microsoft news, as of 2020, three million Americans had fled the States because of cost of living, political climate, gun violence, adventure, appointed jobs, paucity of inclusive social programs such as universal healthcare and education.

Folks have fled to America for a couple of centuries because their own lands were not fit to live in. America was an escape, advertised as the land of opportunity; it still is, in many ways, but it has developed its problems. It is now known as a homeland that people hasten to leave, just like their predecessors had to leave the “old world” decades ago.

Life is strange, isn’t it?