Progressive Democrat Issue 81: THOUGHTS

On this 4th of July I remembered the words of Thomas Paine in The American Crisis, written to inspire nascent America in its darkest hours of 1776:

THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.

American Democracy is seeing its darkest time since the Civil War. A group of extremely wealth, extremely powerful men have, in essence, seized the reigns of our government and our media and are taking control of our voting system. We are faced with a military-industrial-religious complex that profits off the death of our soldiers in a so-called "Crusade" whose only purpose seems to be to enrich the bank accounts of the wealthiest people in the world, from America to Saudi Arabia. We are seeing a government that cares nothing for the people or the nation, but is only out for the personal gain of the elite. We are seeing rising oppression and intolerance in America, most frighteningly illustrated in the Delaware pogrom which I will discuss in this issue.

America has faced many crises. Mostly we have stood firm against those crises and triumphed by sheer force of will. Mostly even though our nation was at risk, our fundamental values seldom have been at risk.

Right now, the very foundations of America's traditional values are being threatened by right wing extremists whose only interest is their own monetary and political benefit. "THESE are the times that try men's souls...and he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and women."

You and I are among those who are standing against modern tyranny. Have no illusions, what is at risk is the American Republic. As with the Roman Republic, our American freedoms could well be lost quietly without a clear transition to Empire. Our Republic could lapse into tyranny almost without notice. But you and I are the ones who are noticing and we cannot sit idly by as the ideals of 1776 are dismantled by right wing extremists. From freedom of speech to the wall of separation of church and state, our traditional American freedoms are being taken away from us by a Republican party that has lost its soul and, it seems, lost its mind.

I have no illusions about America. The American dream has never been fully achieved. We were founded with slavery as an institution and upon the genocide of the true Native Americans. But despite the fact that we have never achieved that dream, we still were able to conceive of that dream. And that dream that inspired white patriots in 1776 also inspired Martin Luther King, jr. and inspire us know. We conceived for the first time on a national level the IDEA that all people are created equally and deserve equal consideration under the law, even if our society has never fully lived up to that ideal. What we are losing is not a fully achieved dream. We are losing a work in progress. We are losing the potential of achieving that dream. In fact, the right wing extremists are trying to destroy the dream itself. The dream that inspired Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther King, jr. is being strangled by a Republican party that is so power hungry and greedy that it will destroy America to further its own wealth and power.

I am Jewish and as such grew up with the Holocaust as a shadow over my world view. American Jews have always asked questions like, "Why did they stay?" and "Why didn't they fight?" I now know enough history to know that for European Jews Germany WAS the safe place, the welcoming place...until the 1930's. There was no place to go. Now here in the US many of us see parallels with the rise of tyranny in Germany. Not that I think Republicans are Nazis. No. But in both cases a Republic was threatened by tyranny and in both cases those who were viewed as "different" suffered the consequences. America is following that path from Republic to tyranny and throughout history, tyranny, particularly when led by angry white Christians, has hurt the Jews. I feel threatened in America today, for the first time in my life. Events in Delaware show that these fears are not theoretical or potential, they are very real.

And of course it isn't just Jews, just like it never was just Jews in Germany either. It is anyone different. Different religiously, ethnically, politically. Anyone who isn't with the tyrants is considered against them and is confined without due process and, if the tyrants think it necessary, tortured and killed.

We face two futures. One is to continue to struggle for the realization of a dream, a hope. The other is to submit to the nascent tyranny, to be "with them" in the hopes that they will leave us alone and take their wrath out on others.

But there is no choice. They won't leave us alone as they didn't leave two non-Christian families alone in a backwards part of Delaware. If we don't fit their vision of a "real American," if our religion is wrong, our skin the wrong shade or our beliefs too different from theirs, they will attack us. Mostly they attack with words, but they also have threatened violence and even used violence.

There is no choice. The Delaware pogrom is the latest in a series of wake up calls for all of us. We must fight and we must fight now and we must fight harder than ever because in a very real way, our lives depend on it.