In a series format, Francesco Rizzuto put up one of his novels on Medium. This novel was about average people with average problems and issues being caught as bystanders in the Spanish Civil War. No one asked for this war, yet forces were rolling over average people. Positive thinking just was not possible at that place and time (and 40 years after). It was just surviving, mostly by keeping one's head low.

The Americans who embrace the prosperity gospel and secular versions of the prosperity gospel really have no idea of what it is like to live in really tough times. The analogy of being a slave is so useful here. Some of us are already kind of in this situation where life does not offer many choices.

USA is dangerously close to a one-party state. There may be forces that prevent or delay that outcome, but it's folly to assume anything happening on Medium is going to change that history. These will be tough times for everyone; there will be a lot less freedom--even for many of the victorious side. All the positive thinking won't help much here either.

I was in a museum in Vienna. One of the displays was about a 15-year old Austrian girl being curious about a big crowd on a downtown street circa 1935. She was curious and worked her way to the front of the crowd. She saw several Jewish men being forced to scrub the street with toothbrushes while SA troopers barked orders. One the Jewish men was her family doctor. After a few minutes, the troopers let the Jewish men go and the crowd dispersed.

"What would I have done?" I ask myself. I still can't answer that question. We need a world where we won't be put into that situation.