“When remedies are past, the griefs are ended By seeing the worst, which late on hopes depended.”-William Shakespeare. Since the 1630s, the US has left a trail of ghosts in its relatively brief span of violent and bloody history--Fueled by tyranny and the archaic school of thought of European feudalism. Well, that was until the mid1770s rolled around, and folks started figuring out that was no way to rule a nation. So, with blood and black powder, a collective group of men took to the battlefields and declared their independence from the tyranny, and start over with a clean slate with a newly born nation..
And yes, it's true some of it boiled down to wealthy slave owners not wanting to let go of their atrocious way of life--It also long precedence of what would later go on to be what we know as a "Constitutional Republic" or an indirect form of democracy. These same men thought believed this idea and formula to be unbreakable and unshakeable, but as our history goes to show, that was just a mere "fool's dream".
If you were to ask Martha Washington, the loss of the grand illusion of what architects of the nation had in mind-- started slipping away when Thomas Jefferson became president. And it's very possible she had a point with her views, as Jefferson was a big fan of European aristocracy but also liked the idea of expansion of the US even if it meant breaking the Constitution.
It's important to understand that the origins of the MAGA movement and the Far right came from the Confederacy which left quite an impression. In fact, the entire Democratic-Republicans that Jefferson started then became the "Jacksonian Democrats" influenced one of the most prolific dictators the modern world had seen. You guessed it, Adolf Hitler. In fact, Germany was very much in love with the idea of Antebellum that they had whole beer houses in the 1860s theme and donned General Lee's old Army of North Virginia battle flag everywhere.
The Nazis believed that the Confederacy was the last of what they thought to be a true European aristocratic legacy and everything that is implied with it. Including Christian fascism, "Lost Cause" mythology, and White Supremacy. In fact, Nazi sympathizers were a common thing in the United States before our involvement in WWII. So common that the US had Hitler Youth camps scattered across the nation and a Nazi Rally in Madison Square Garden in 1939.
We could argue that the same folks that embraced Jim Crow saw Nazism as the rebirth of a fictionalized past and a way to regain power. But at that time, The US War Department decided to try to combat folks from the Nazi talking points by making anti-Nazi films to combat the rising sympathizers. And while the anti-Nazi drove the sympathizers back underground and disenfranchised, and even more when folks became a bit more "progressive" in their way of thinking when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 became the law of the land.
And by 1968, the "Old South" found a new home in the modern Republican Party thanks to folks Barry Goldwater and Lee Atwater, and began building their power through the state houses. It's fair to say that the moderates of the Republican party did try to keep this movement muzzled and on the fringes of their circle for a really long time. But that illusion quickly fell apart when the Tea Party took over the party and became the MAGA movement in 2016. Then "Dante's Inferno" became more of a reality as opposed to being a literary piece.
However, that was just the beginning of the complete, deliberate chaos that consumed the nation--particularly in the "Red State". Between the epidemic of gun violence and a crashing economy due to a global pandemic that sent the chaos into overdrive. Let's stroll into the current events that look so eerily familiar to past events. The current tactics used to create deliberate chaos range from excessive gun violence to constant constitutional violations. Unfortunately, those examples are just the tip of the iceberg of the shenanigans going on in Republican-controlled state houses. Of course, none of these things are coincidence or by accident. These are well-organized and coordinated attacks on citizens. Giving us a front-row seat to see how straight-up American fascism became a thing back in the 1860s. Contrary to what Mr. Tom Nichols says, these folks have both an ideology and organization. And generally the super ruling majority in state houses. Like any other fascist movement that started out in "democratic" nations - these fools are gaining momentum and power through the local governments and state houses by citizens, cutting off access to information, economic underdevelopment, creating voter suppression through gerrymandering long before hitting the National or International stage of politics.
If one was to look at the GOP-controlled states through a historical lens--One might assume that they were looking at the Weimar Republic before it fell in 1933. The parallels are uncanny, especially in the ways legislation is going. Like the indoctrination of "Patriotic" education, God in public school, absolute loyalty to the government and not your countrymen, and the list goes on. Then there are the laws against homelessness, registries for trans people that our Attorney General Andrew Bailey started today. Along with the "Filth and Trash" laws (book bans anti LGBTQ+)bans recently passed.
Despite having a grim reality, we still have hope. We can still have ourselves from the perversion of "freedom" and "liberty" these jokers want to force upon everyone, but we have to start talking back to law-makers. We have to start pushing back and fighting back. Because if we give up, these fools will burn our Constitutional Republic to the ground, and we'll be right back to where we started. Under governance of tyranny and puritanical rules with no liberties, rights, or freedoms to speak of. So, get involved, organize, and find candidates that are not crazy and can see past the partisan indifferences into the bigger picture. Talk to your neighbors, and let them know you're there to help them, get back into real community mindedness, and most importantly of all. Show kindness and that you're not afraid of these bully lawmakers. Because we can beat this back, but it's going to take all of us to beat back 247 year old polterghiests that keep coming around watch the burning of a nation. With all of us, we can find a remedy for this takedown of democracy and make the world a little better of a place in the process. As always, Lots of love and peace out, Jojo
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