In what spare time I have had the last few days, I have been working on one singular blog post. Thousands of words have been written and rewritten, and dozens of supporting documents and links collected. But the only reason to use thousands of words, with videos and transcripts, links to original source materials, and footnotes sprinkled throughout, would be if a case must be made to convince others that something is true and the conclusions drawn are correct … or to correct misinformation, or educate. As I have spent time these last few days gathering information and writing those thousands of words on the subject of political violence in America, the only conclusion I have drawn is I should not need to convince any of my fellow Americans there are currently events taking place which should be repugnant to anyone claiming to love our country and the ideals upon which it was founded.
Every human being in America should feel at least some measure of unease, if not outrage, that a person of my small stature was thrown to the ground, pinned down, and stepped on for daring to express a political opinion that was different from the majority surrounding her, or that a journalist was handcuffed and harassed for asking uncomfortable questions of someone seeking political office, or any of the other many, many instances of violence and aggression that have been occurring in the United States of America the past few years. There’s simply no argument to be made. No debate to be had. There aren’t two sides to the coin. No matter what political persuasion one holds dear, violence, aggression, and harassment due to differences of political opinion should be abhorrent to all people. In particular … freedom-loving Americans.
If the United States of America is so exceptional –so special and so much better than every other country on this planet– then why are we beginning to look like a country where voter intimidation and the suppression of political expression is condoned –if not provoked– by portions of the populace? Do we really want to live in a country where power and strength and number makes right? Where minorities comprised of those who are different in thinking or being are trod upon by the mob of the many? By the powerful? By the most angry and aggressive? All along the course of human history these methods of determining the rule of law and the structure of governmental power have been used … and are being used to this day in some parts of the world. There are many excellent examples available which show what madness can be found down those paths.
The city on the hill is glorious and golden as well as a being desperate pit of wretched despair, depending on one’s circumstances and point of view. I’d suggest that those advocating and perpetrating hostile actions and aggression in their attempts to form the world they wish to live in consider carefully the methods by which they create the America they seek to call home sweet home. In their mad rush to birth their concept of societal perfection into existence, they will simultaneously be creating a pit of wretched despair for those unlike themselves, with different ways of thinking and being. The weak and timid. The peaceful. The ill. The others. But tides turn, ideologies rise and fall, and majorities become minorities, and one day the rules they create and the injustices they allow themselves to perpetrate will come back to haunt them.
In America today, those who most quickly decry the current governmental administration as fascist are the very same ones who seem so terribly eager to harass, push, kick, punch, and step on others or trample their rights in other ways, some even going so far as to threaten use of force to gain political power and create their perfect vision of American life … if the people of this country don’t hand it to them freely or our democratically elected representatives don’t bow to their demands. Whether or not they would mean to do it, they seem determined to create the very fascist state they claim to fear. Of course, fascism isn’t as ugly when one is a member of the privileged group is it or at least imagines oneself to be?
But as I said, tides turn, things change, and what’s preferred and privileged becomes denigrated and oppressed. This cycle can be seen occurring over and over again through time all across this planet, which is why the great experiment known as the United States of America was meant to be different. We, the people of this country, are meant to share our collective power for the welfare and security of us all. We, the people, are meant to speak our minds truthfully, freely, and peacefully express our ideas, plans, concerns, hopes, dreams and fears –both personally and through our elected representatives.
From that cacophony, through open debate and compromise, a consensus of opinion is to be formed for the benefit of us all, which does not come at the expense of the welfare, freedom, and security of others. We, the people who make up this great experiment, are meant to be equal to one another. We are meant to fight with and for each other to create that equality and guarantee our freedoms are enjoyed by all –no matter our differences– and no one group or person is meant to use the tip of a sword or the heel of a boot to gain power and rule over another.
Of course, we are still far from being a paragon of what we should be, and there is nothing at all keeping us from traveling whatever path we, as a country, wish to take. There is nothing to preclude us from giving free rein to our baser instincts –our lesser selves– and allowing that path to take us farther from our ultimate goal of equality, freedom, and justice for all. I suppose there’s nothing to preclude us from collectively deciding we no longer wish to be what our founders set in motion and hoped would survive. All that’s required is for good people to say nothing or even worse, buy into the hate-mongering and fear-mongering and join the righteous angry mob. Those who would place themselves in the position of supposed privilege will do so, whether they truly believe the course they are on is correct or not, if they see the opportunity to find themselves at the top of the heap.
So I warn all Americans to be aware of the society they create for themselves, and I ask all Americans to imagine how that society would look from the point of view of others wholly unlike themselves. Is it still the shining city on the hill? Or is it a desperate pit of wretched despair? Power can be acquired by many means, including violence and aggression, and it can be maintained for years, decades, and sometimes even centuries. But just as the world turns, tides change … ideologies rise and fall, and majorities become minorities. The privileged become the disadvantaged. The boot worn on the foot of the powerful one day may be pressed into the face of its owner the next.
Be careful what you ask for…
It’s entirely possible there are errors of the spelling and grammatical variety.
It stands as it is.
It’s also entirely possible I will have offended someone somewhere.
I will not be apologizing.
