THE STORM HAS BEGUN

An unnatural disaster is upon us

I understand why people would be silent right now. In a country that’s so divided, you run a risk in even saying what’s true. Two days ago a TV weather reporter lost her job because on her X account she tweeted about Elon Musk’s salute. People have to make a living, and there’s a lot less risk just keeping our mouths shut.

What’s happening now is not within the normal range of political opposition. President Trump is neither a high minded conservative nor a normal Republican. Everything we’ve ever learned about dictators and fascism, and most importantly the role of silence and acquiescence in allowing their rise, is relevant right now. From rolling back Civil Rights protections to halting needed health functions to mass deportations to withdrawing from any allegiance to climate protection and revving up support for Big Oil, he’s on a roll.

Mass deportations having begun, I think of things that could be happening right now. Prohibition against ICE raids at “sensitive spaces” such as schools and churches have been removed, and while border czar Tom Homan says their first target is violent criminals (few have a problem with violent criminals being deported), it’s anyone’s guess who they’ll get to next. Most Americans seem to have little understanding how many are forced to live in the shadows by our own immigration laws. How many will now be hunted down, with no legal protections? My heart breaks for children who are traumatized by all this. We are inflicting damage on innocent people in ways for which there is no excuse.

Trump’s mass deportation project is far more about race than it is about immigration. If it were about immigration, Trump himself would not have blocked the remedy contained in an $8B bi-partisan bill that had been worked out in Congress over a year ago. He simply didn’t want Biden to get the win during an election year, therefore told Congressional Republicans to vote against it.

Upon Trump’s return to the White House, the Constitution was removed from the White House website. Also removed was the Spanish speaking page - and until the administration was forced to respond to public outcry, the only message on that page read GO HOME. The page is still gone, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that now it says to Return to Homepage. Clever, right…?

White Supremacy is real and it has a political agenda. Yes, Elon’s “gesture” was a Nazi salute. And he doesn’t have to be a Nazi himself - though he sure did have the move and even the look down! - for his action to have been a dog whistle to right wing extremists. Many of those extremists were released from prison in Trump’s full pardon of the January 6th rioters, some now saying they plan to run for office!

Gee, I wonder who would pay for their campaigns.

So who and what will they go after now? It’s anyone’s guess. But there are powerful forces in this country for whom a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-racial society is contrary to their ideological worldview, and they’ve amassed enormous wealth and power with which to halt its ascent. That is the struggle that underlies all this: the essential question, who does American belong to?

White Supremacists and Christian Nationalists are very clear who they think America should belong to, while many of us take the Declaration of Independence to be our mission statement and North Star. For us, America’s sacred creed is this: All men are created equal; endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and governments are instituted to secure those rights. If government isn’t performing that task, it’s the right of the people to alter or to abolish it.

Radical stuff in 1776, and radical stuff today. Many have sacrificed greatly, even at the cost of their lives, to protect those ideals and expand their franchise. Clearly, it’s our turn now.

This is more than a contest for the soul of America; it’s now a contest for our very existence as a free, democratic society. (Please, no one comment with the silliness that we’re not a democracy; we’re a Constitutional republic. Of COURSE we’re a Constitutional republic - and we are also a representative democracy! It’s like saying we have both windows and doors.)

No, we’re not marching in the streets this time. But that’s okay; it doesn’t say to me that people don’t care. Many are in shock and there is a lot to take in. Sober, silent pondering is in order, as we seek to adjust to a new reality. The most important thing to avoid is the temptation to look away. Read up. Know what’s happening. And as my father used to say to me, “Don’t let the bastards get you down.”

No matter what, do not lose hope. Other generations handled this kind of thing, and somehow so will we. I believe in America. And I believe in miracles. We will make it through this storm.