Terrible Days Lay Ahead

I have been voting since the 1980 elections and throughout that time there have been those that conflate ‘conservative’ with ‘fascist.’ To be fair it was with equal abandonment that ‘liberal’ was conflated with ‘communist.’ Both conflations were the product of the ‘us’ vs ‘them’ mentality that required political opponents be treated as enemies rather than people with different views, opinion, and premises. A natural consequence is that the weight of those terms evaporated. If everything conservatives, right or wrong, is fascist by sheer frequency of occurrence fascism becomes more commonplace and therefore less terrible.

Now, the fascists that always hid inside conservatism have taken the movement and its devices. This was not a bolt from the blue because of a single presidential candidate or election. This is the result of decades of tolerating hatred, bigotry, and cruelty because it yielded electoral benefits. Eradicating fascism from American political life will be long, arduous, path requiring an unending commitment to its defeat at every level.

Because this is a long war, dark days are coming.  The fascist war on people, currently the focus is on the Transgendered community, but should they win, they will move against their next target, is not a war about any sort of sane policy or principled stand. The fascists, as fascists have always done, are fixated on myth, lies, and a history that never existed. They have created a prior existence and view of the world that is no more real that Camelot’s Court or Wakandan Science.

From 1980 through 2003 I was a registered Republican, though I scarcely agreed with everything the party argued for. (IF you do agree 100% with a political party I seriously doubt that you are critically considering all aspects and are more of an ‘us’ vs ‘them’ mentality.) To me it was clear that the growing authoritarian movement within the GOP was ascendant when they embraced torture of prisoners. A political philosophy capable of torture is capable of any terrible atrocity. The intervening two decades has only strengthened my conviction on this matter.

The fascists are going to win some of the battle ahead. There will be setbacks for liberty and freedom. At times all will seem lost, but we must never stop fighting. Only by thoroughly crushing this poisonous ideology and idolatry can we move forward to a future where everyone can live their true authentic lives.