America's a dystopia now. A security-obsessed dictator rules by force. His thugs make even Trump look good. He's right to fear his own people; no one really supports him, and killing the leader really might bring down the whole regime.

For hours I try to get home safe--cross the Bay Bridge, then San Francisco, on back streets. Problem: my papers are somehow flawed--instant trouble if they're checked. I haven't commited any crimes, but these days ID must be perfect or they assume subversion.

I stumble on a local meeting of the Democratic Party. They're few, timid and bitter--know the government lets them meet and talk, as long as they don't really do anything. Spies note anyone planning action--and families vanish.

My friend Patagia drives me home from there. She sticks to back streets but gets slowly turned around till we're headed not north to my home but somehow south near the airport--not that far from my childhood home on the mudflats, and getting closer.

Even smaller alleys. Tiny tract homes. And now we're on foot.

Near sunset, we find an empty weedy fenced yard. Rather private. Has a faucet; we drink, though I regret we have no canteen or cup. A woman next door sees us but doesn't assume we're trouble; takes it for granted we're persecuted and to be quietly helped.

There's a burned-out tank in the next fenced lot! And holes blasted through fences--that tank fired shells here in a dense housing tract. So THAT'S why the occasional empty lot... battles we never heard about.

The tank-corpse isn't visible from the street. But it proves the regime's opposition has the firepower to win battles; and the regime either doesn't know about this hulk, or dares not punish the neighborhood. And people tell me a LOT of neighborhoods hide relics of similar firefights.

I need to join the REAL opposition--those who fight tanks and win! Not those timid Democrats.

NOTES IN THE MORNING

• Fascists take over: just read a savage article by George Packer in The Atlantic, on Trump's GOP.
• ID problems: I needed to log on to two government websites but they both rejected my ID.
• Democrats helpless: the Biden-Clinton wing, unwilling to really tax and regulate the rich.
• Protest ineffectually, cowed by threats: On the BBC mystery Vera, one man protested waterfront development by a mob-related firm, and thugs came to his home & threatened his family.
• Effective rebels: the populist Sanders wing, who face that the GOP's declared open war on the working class.
• ACTION: Vote. But also send serious money to populist Democrats running for Senate seats. Ignore the Democratic Party leadership; they're unwilling to fight.
• 6 MONTHS LATER: I did. Contributed more this year than all previous contributions in my life, put together! Interestingly, Patagia did too. "Why not? With Covid, we can't go to shows, or travel, or eat out... might as well spend it on kicking out the guys who botched the response." Most of those we supported still lost... but not all. Toppling the powerful takes time.

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