The national political landscape in 2026 projects continued attacks on American democratic institutions in the form of questions and threats about the ideals encased within their walls. The values placed there for safekeeping are part of our national journey to create a “more perfect union” and fulfill the conception of America as a beacon of freedom for the world.
This epic journey includes the confrontation with powerful forces led by desperate people afraid of losing power and privilege perhaps because of their diminishing numbers. This segment of our community led largely by very rich oligarchs seems to find solace in the notion that the country will fail if they are not in the lead.
I remember when a great Latino mayor asked us to “imagine a great city.” Then with faith, unity and work, he led Denver into a renaissance.
That is not the case with respect to our national leadership at the highest levels. Ironically, a meaningful journey has to have serious obstacles such as those in our present reality so that what we do on our way to the ultimate prize is epic and substantive.
Today we face a rather tragic dilemma in that fear is rampant on the part of a significant segment of the ruling class with regard to the notion of becoming a demographic minority. Perhaps this feeling comes as a result of a long history in the country of making minorities second class citizens.
The civil rights agenda is being turned upside down in that some in the majority are beginning to insists on those same rights for themselves. Civil rights for minorities is a matter of establishing an equal playing field.
When a majority that already enjoys that equality insists on more, it issues a signal of exclusivity that only a powerful community can send. It also diminishes the notion of a multicultural society that we are and seriously questions our heritage as a nation of immigrants.
The matter of doing away with immigration as an important ingredient of our history ignores the fact that, since the beginning of our presence on this continent, immigrants have been the engine that drive our progress. They work so that the rest can enjoy a better life as higher paid wage earners, managers of wealth and masters of our country’s political attributes.
Attempts to generate wealth by tariffs is actually taxing the great majority of Americans to the point that it is creating a new class of welfare recipients led by the farming community. For protectionist reasons, Ohio Republican Representative William McKinley tried that in 1890, only to have a Democratic landslide midterm election as a result.
Our foreign policy is colored by personal and corporate ambition on the part of the oligarch community led by the Presidents and his family. It is no coincidence that the President’s first trip abroad was to the Middle East where those corporate interest garnered billions of dollars in investments and a 400 million Boeing 747 plane for Trump.
Since then, negotiations for Ukraine’s rare earth minerals and almost a constant buzz about acquiring Greenland and its rich natural deposits by the same actors is reaching a sovereignty crisis point. It appears as a powerful land grab for private gain.
Finally, a US naval fleet is in front of Venezuela and has attacked the country and detained its President in the name of fighting narco-trafficking. Given the pattern of corruption on an unprecedented scale, it seems to be more about the richest oil reserves in the world.
The views expressed by David Conde are not necessarily the views of LaVozColorado. Comments and responses may be directed to News@lavozcolorado.com.
