Fascism and Protests
We are just getting started, so are they!
I keep up as best I can with this column and the political developments. I care about and l love my country. I am 72. I attended a pop up protest rally in my town of a
about 4000, today. I had my sign and so did about 75 others. I had just come from church where our pastor broke down in tears at the pulpit over the recent events, and the shooting of Renee Goode as well as the growing fascism of Trump and his cruel policies and the cruelty of the ones carrying it out in cities across the country. Most people in our congregation feel the same, we lament and weep and pray but many get out with our signs and protest. In our little town there is a movement called Indivisible. Mostly seniors and vets come to the protests but more middle aged people and younger are starting to show up. Last night I made my sign for today, a large one that read "NO ICE, STOP ICE TERROR." Still I wish there was more I could do besides post, speak out and attend local rallies. I have signed so many petitions and sent letters to our elected politicians. Some agree and are doing what they can in DC, one is basically absent from us, does no town halls and his form letter responses tell us nothing except that he is Trumps horn here and is OK with his policies. How can these people call themselves Christian and sleep at night. Have they not read the gospels of have any clue about Jesus' teachings and ministry? The level of deliberate ignorance, political amnesia and denial is staggering. The hypo-christianity displayed by these folks in MAGA and surrounding Trumps is sickening. Trump is not a savior or acts like a Christian. He is a graven "Image" of a cult that may be starting to weaken or is digging in, depending on who you get your narrative from. I ask myself every day, how shall I then live given these times. Life is not normal as what I witness is not normal. Fascism is ulgy and we have been warned so many times from so many sources for the past several years and yet, this craven man bloated with hubris and drunk with power has been allowed to take our country by some force which I can’t quite determine right now. Is hate that powerful? Are there nefarious evil forces behind he scenes at work? Or do people just not care as long as they have their comforts, light screens and entertainment - bread and circuses? How in then hell did such a gross con man become our president and hold so many mesmerized under his control, especially the politicians on the right. How did they once condemn Trump and now kiss his ass and act like all that in the past was just fun and OK now. The rewriting of the history, controlling the narrative, propaganda and lies, suppressing dissent, controlling information, suppressing and slandering opponents, then use of fear and force to control, intimidate and threaten people and their families, and the use of scapegoating and slander or minorities are just a few tools of a fascist dictatorship. Such leaders can do no wrong and cannot be questioned. Those who do, meet tragic ends, but eventually so do the fascist leaders but not before a great deal of damage is made and people suffer. I hope we can skip that latter end but we have reached a tipping point - return to democratic norms and decency or allow full blown fascism to drag us into another dark period of our history right here on our homeland soil. Our soldier bled and dies fighting fascism in WW2 and the time has come to in any way we can to protest, resist and deny consent to the regime of Donald J Trump.