Here are a few lines which I lifted from Donald Trump’s acceptance speech of his nomination for the presidency of our country, delivered on Thursday evening July 21st.

I have visited the laid-off factory workers, and the communities crushed by our horrible and unfair trade deals. These are the forgotten men and women of our country. People who work hard but no longer have a voice.

I AM YOUR VOICE.

I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people that cannot defend themselves. Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.

I have made billions of dollars in business making deals – now I’m going to make our country rich again. I am going to turn our bad trade agreements into great ones.

I am going to bring our jobs back to Ohio and to America – and I am not going to let companies move to other countries, firing their employees along the way, without consequences.

We Will Make America Proud Again.

We Will Make America Safe Again.

And We Will Make America Great Again.

To my ear Mr. Trump asserted that I live in a dystopian society, characterized by oppression and terror.  It would be easily to reflexively disagree, because I am a white guy; I live in a safe neighborhood; and have the good fortune of a good education.  However, I have lived in this country for almost as long as Mr Trump.  I recall the post war 50s of my childhood, the 60s with protests against the Vietnam war and the shift away from traditional moral strictures.  I’ve traveled some too.  I’ve recently been to Mexico.  Just last week I spent a few days in the Detroit area in Michigan.  I’ve been to Oregon not too long ago.  And I travel to North Carolina frequently.  I do not think that this is a ruined society of extreme deprivation.  Nowhere close.

I think Mr. Bruce Springsteen’s assessment of our condition is to the point.  Life is always hard, always has been, and always will be.  That must be accepted.  As humans we must wrest our survival, and our well being from nature, and from society.  This is the given of human existence.  Living with our brokenness is non optional.  Anyone who offers salvation is a false Messiah.  Sure there is trouble in the Heartland.  Hope, faith, and love alone may raise us from these badlands someday.  We’ve got to save ourselves, my friend.

On our earth we can only love with suffering and through suffering. We do not know how to love any other way and know no other love.  —Foydor Dostoyevski