People were angry with me as they drove by. I had big trucks with belligerent white men screaming out the window at me. They were not even clear what my message was, they just knew I didn’t like their guy? A display of random hate tossed out a car window like litter. It was going around, you know, HATE. The guy they call POTUS was dispensing it like candies from a cheaply made plastic dispenser. I don’t know what passerbys’ thought as I said our Democracy was in danger under this man named Trump. They would look at the ground, perhaps wishing me and my message away. I wasn’t going to go away. It was a cold January day in 2018. Maybe people were in the indifferent ‘stage’ of this presidency? Perhaps it was a state of denial, I’m not sure?
And now, as I sit here drinking coffee, the sun shining in my she-shed window, I’m reflecting on the last 4 years; I was pegged a loony when I went to the mall that cold day. My single, one-person talking point session causing me to feel even more lonely. I stood on a milk crate in the downtown, open-air mall. Me, with my megaphone, some wrinkled notebook paper, and a book, ‘The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, A Duty to Warn.’ It seems so long ago, yet like yesterday at the same time. My warnings were clairvoyant predictions, it seems.
Refuse Fascism, an organization that at the time was proclaiming; Authoritarianism Rule is coming, it’s in the works, couldn’t get traction, and I wanted to help. I didn’t understand why people couldn’t see it? Our Democracy was on the vine, withering. The president was lying every single day! How can this be alright with any of you! I was screaming on the inside, not able to find a way to tell others I could see the end of governmental institutions in the future. I could see the incompetence accepted over truth and sound logic. Reasoning, and calling Trump out, wasn’t happening, and I was so frustrated. To no avail, I was the outlier to be sure. I was ‘that’ person who was overreacting, causing upset, and making you uncomfortable. I saw a civil war in the making. The only opposition against it was my megaphone, my weapon, my voice.
After last night‘s DNC speech, made by former @BarackObama & the previous night’s speech by @MichelleObama, I feel vindicated and profoundly sad. We, the people, as a whole, have dropped the ball. We have let this happen, and have been giving up our freedoms, willingly! It is a tragic story that has befallen the human race before. I looked to Hitler and his reign to find relevance to what I was witnessing. Timothy Snyder has written about it. I feel vindication, yet I have not one ounce of peace right now. I am astounded and keep recalling what Obama said. IMHO, now is the moment, the tipping point of the 21st century. Will democracy survive, or will it die? We are on life support and running out of ventilation machines.
Please, for the love of God, tell your Trump friends, if you have any, about history. If you love Trump, please educate yourself about authoritarian rule. Let your friends know it is time for a talk about Trump. Have words now, tell them you LOVE them, and TEACH them about democracy, and the freedoms they have. SHOW them WHAT will go away under an authoritarian ruled state. SHOW them with stories. Remind them that it is easier to find commonalities than differences. It is far easier to be kind than angry. Let them know you understand their frustrations and fear. Let them know you are frustrated as well. Tell them your heartfelt truth. Be apart of the Resistance and act as if your life depends on it! Our lives do depend on it. There will be more deaths, not just from the pandemic, but from fellow citizens.
What would you do if the government came and dragged your neighbor out of their house and took them away? What if FEDS perpetrated violence in front of you against your NEIGHBORS? What would you do? What could you do? By then, it would be too late, wouldn’t it? Even if you don’t like your neighbor, would this be alright with you, knowing that they could come to your home also and there is no recourse? This is where you, the reader, may say I’m overreacting, and fear has taken control of me. This is where I tell you, no, keep reading, and educate yourself. This is where I say to you, this is the reality of our times.
No, this isn’t Nazi Germany, but our leadership is already Hitleresque. Trump has unmarked Federal soldiers dressed in full assault gear, shooting rubber bullets, and teargas at his citizens. Hitler had his very own police force. Cops have been instructed by Trump to be rough when arresting people. Be tough, be mean, and take care of the problematic Antifa and human scum that have never voted for me. He encourages police to enforce laws when it comes to oppressing protesters, all the while, federal agents, dressed in military clothing, without insignia, are apprehending citizens in unmarked cars, not reading them their rights, and holding them against the laws of the land. This is Authoritarian and, THIS IS WRONG! Citizens have a right to due process:
This is an authoritarian ruler’s tactic. As I sit in my office, I know this time, if we don’t vote, don’t speak out, don’t pay attention, we will not have freedoms. If you are frustrated with the government, and the socio-economic divide now, just wait! Trump is just getting warmed up. Might as well come get me, human scum, and shoot me in the cul-de-sac as an enemy of the State! Will this make the neighbor happy? I’m referring to the neighbor that said to me, as I was off to a protest on immigration, “We are on the other side.” Will they watch me bleed to death and do nothing? They would do nothing because they have not said no to anything their POTUS does. When children were locked in cages and separated from their parents, did that bother them? No, not enough to say anything. Other than, of course, saying, yes, we don’t like his mouth and some of the things he says, but that’s just Trump. It was like that in Hitler’s Germany until it wasn’t.
NO! They have not said anything against the beloved leader. They are SILENT.
Silence is Compliance
The DOJ has flipped & DHS is gone as we know it, along with the State Department. The FBI and other agencies that work for you are gone or can no longer be trusted. It is a slow process in an authoritarian ruled state. Many of which happen in the dead of night or right under our noses. Slowly, insidiously the services we use and rely on as citizens slowly go away. It is happening as I write this. It was happening that cold January day as I stood on the milk crate in 2018. It is happening right now! We are officially a Banana Republic– a politically unstable country… While the reference to the economy and bananas doesn’t really apply in our times, it does nail the nature of instability, chaotic life, and the dangerous environment we now live in America.
When you cry for help someday, you will be foolish to think anybody will come to help you! That is what you will get. You, I, us, we will be on our own. What is left to do now? VOTE! I do not want to see what I have seen. I do not want to feel the helplessness I feel. I want to shout at the top of my lungs loud and clear. SILENCE IS COMPLIANCE! WAKE UP, PEOPLE! This is not a joke.
Possible Transformation Seriously Do-Able 