“Wow! Rachel Maddow has horrible ratings. She’ll be off the air very soon. MSNBC IS CLOSE TO DEATH. CNN HAS REACHED THE BOTTOM. This is a good thing. They are the Enemy of the people!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform."
And please not to forget the misspelling of this demented man of the nation, Colombia, as Columbia the university. There is very, very much wrong with this man. There is so very, very much wrong with this country at this point in time but I cannot, must not, believe we are so foregone. beyond any point of redemption, that we cannot find or dig ourselves, and uncover a way back from this crumbling ridge of democracy.
Today, the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp known as Auschwitz, reminds us of how easy it is to find oneself enmeshed in a nationalism of fascistic degree and intent. A government which empowers its own paramilitary forces. When in power, the criminals of these paramilitary forces are pardoned and even rewarded for the crimes they have committed. Anathema to any kind of sane government, one beneficial to the nation and the world.
More in your face objectionable is the cynical way in which these enemies of mankind, of this nation, of you and me, use the principles and laws of democracy, of legality and worm their way up the ladder and into positions of power. Positions where they can impose their horror upon all who oppose them. Call it retribution. Call it vengeance. Call it a natural instinct of man. Call it whatever you want. But it does not belong here in America. It does not belong in the America found in the national anthem as sung by Generald Wilson at the Chiefs/Bills game. It cannot be found nor supported within the cheers of the crowd hearing his amazing performance. Nor can it be found in what I saw and heard yesterday.
Yesterday it was my pleasure to attend a wonderful performance of the play Beautiful Noise, The story of the music of Neil Diamond. I hadn't actually thought of the amount or realized the amount of music he had contributed to the. American song book. And what was even more amazing and heartwarming was the participation of the audience singing along, singing with gusto, particularly in three songs. One was Halli, Halli. Another was, of course, Sweet Caroline, all singing together, all in common enjoyment and acknowledgement of a bit of culture in common. Even as we looked around and recognized the Heinz Variety pack of the audience. They sang as Americans, one and all. I saw many, many different faces, many origins many signs of different religions, many ages, of different orientations and all sat there peacefully, together, smiling at each other, singing, gesturing as is traditional.
Finally, there was the one song The one that had the audience stopping in their tracks twice. Once in the body of the play, and a constant background motif, and a second time when the audience was on its feet, cheering and clapping. They were stopped in their tracks when the two Neils spontaneously, with no musical accompaniment, began to sing the song. All else stopped as the song was quickly picked up by the audience as the music joined in. An entire theater singing with heartfelt voice and intent and yes, an unspoken but clear demand, that we, all of us, know and insist that this is America.
The America, all our ancestors, or we ourselves came to. For the dream, carrying that dream, all those dreams with us, bags, suitcases, children and dreams. One package indivisible. That is the America we were all and continue to "Comin' to America". Where dreams can come true. Where people can breathe free without fear of ICE charging into places of worship and tearing them away from life, from family, from all that is good. Back to a world where poverty and fair, terror and hopelessness and death await. Where the shameful invasion of gurdwaras of Sikhs, their place of prayer was invaded and profaned this weekend by agents of ICE.
Shameful!! Disgraceful!! Dismaying!! Where is the America of the Lady of the harbor? Where will we be? Where will she be? In a year or two, or less. Certainly not as it is today. Think of those you know within your congregation whose entry was not exactly according to every letter of the law or whose parents entered illegally some time ago and then ...where are you?
A new noncitizen of this country, not American, an enemy of the state, disease ridden, a criminal and drug addict or merchant, unless and until proven otherwise, and by then you are far away in a foreign land. Yes, this horrible new America is a threat to us all, for we are all the same. Under the growing authoritarianism within this nation, we are all subjected to the same threats. Corruption and greed and reins of power are the driving forces. Huge dollops of fear are oh so generously provided to us by our new masters, be it the Trumpian line or one of the others, such as, well, take your pick from any of the new elite: the techies, the business CEOs, even Musk, who is presently tampering with several governments, one not being enough, apparently.
Such a future will be our consequence, unless and until we understand and accept the truth of what we have allowed and are continuing to allow, to excuse, as we give this wild and demented man free reign to forge ahead. To corrupt all governmental institutions. To unilaterally trash employees who might speak out against his plans and actions. To destroy our democracy. To rain down in unforgiving and unstoppable blows of a hammer on our Constitution and our Declaration of Independence. Congress will be as big as the Reichstag was to Hitler and the Diet is to Putin. We will be the ones who allowed this to happen. We. Nobody else.
Unless we stand tall against the fascistic policies of Trump et al, this is what we will be leaving to our kids. To ourselves as well, for corruption small leads to corruptions larger and larger, more dangerous and intrusive. There will be no justice emanating from a corrupted and twisted judiciary system. There will be no appeal to a Supreme Court dominated by bribe taking judges. There will be no relief from the legislative branch for it will be as useless as heat in the tropics. People will fall prey to those who wield the power. The ability, the desire and even the knowledge of how to discern the truth and how to speak out for it will be lost.
There are those who claim that Trump has some good within. "I'm searching, I'm searching." The release of 7 - SEVEN! - hostages is but a trickle. Where is his promised Hell should all the hostages not be freed before his inauguration? Silence. Only silence. Or perhaps a permission for Israel to once again send its people into harm's way and fight the battle of the world again. To combat those who hate the world and would do the same to them should they have the opportunity. Hell. Hell no!! Only a dead and thunderous silence. SILENCE. THUNDEROUS AND CONDEMNING.
If you are not afraid, you are fooling yourself. You are denying the evidence of your ears and your eyes and your mind. You are denying the ever growing, more rapid destruction of a dream, a beautiful. dream. A blessed country, flawed yes, but always striving to be better. That vision, that hope. is now dying on the vine. With every offense we overlook or forgive, with every excuse we create for the. egregiously wrong, we are sucking the life out of that vine and its fruits. We are denying the truth of our past. and our present. and quite possibly our future.
Where do we find the person we can trust? Give him/her/them our faith. Where is the belief that will hold true to its goodness promised? Where is our America? Not the America of the opening statement of this posting but the America who sings proudly, hopefully, that "We're Comin' to America"?
We are here. Why are we throwing it away?
On the morrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment