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Living the
American Dream
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| For Fascism to rise to
power in a democracy, there are several steps that must be
followed. |
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By
Debby Long |
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“None can love freedom
heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license.”
- John Milton, “Tenure of Kings and Magistrates”, 1649
It may be true that the coda for this decade of debasement of
American democracy is beginning to slowly appear out of the
chaos. It’s not likely that we’ll have a Joseph Welch moment
like that of the Red Scare era of 1954, when Welsh finally stood
up in the senate and said to Joe McCarthy, “Until this moment,
Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your
recklessness…Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?”
This is because it is perhaps impossible to defenestrate an
entire political party after they broke all the windows getting
into Congress.
American society has been mangled and atomized into so many
small factions that putting us back together again might take
decades to achieve. But when the coda in this story starts to
take shape - in this case the Republicans losing law suit after
law suit in court after court - an epilogue is bound to follow.
One of the most memorable epilogues of a hateful era - the WWII
Nazi Movement - was spoken by Lutheran pastor, Martin Niemöller
in 1946. Niemöller was an early supporter of the Nazi Regime
until he, too, found himself in a concentration camp until the
war’s end. He said these indelible words upon reflection:
“First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out -
because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out
- because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I
was not a Jew.
Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for
me.”
This is where we are today: we’re being gunned down, and we’re
dying – in supermarkets, in grade schools, and on every main
street in America. For Fascism to rise to power in a democracy,
there are several steps that must be followed. Domestic terror
is a fundamental step. This is where we are today: we’re too
terrorized to use our own power as voters to protect our society
from Donald Trump’s “American Carnage”. And whether you feel it
personally or not, Faith Ringgold’s painting (above), entitled
“Die”, reflects accurately what most American families are
feeling today.
Ringgold’s painting was purchased by the Museum of Modern Art in
2016 and is considered one of its most important acquisitions.
“Die” was intended to express the terror that the social chaos
of the American Civil Rights movement of the 1960s felt like.
One can see the similarity to Picasso’s, “Guernica” - a
deliberate reference that Ringgold acknowledged was a model for
this piece. She remarked, “I was . . . terrified because I saw
Die as a prophecy of our times.” The children clutching each
other near the center of the painting speaks directly to the
heart of our enveloping shared national horror: we are afraid
we’ll be mowed down by the ideological movement that has emerged
from the guy who can stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and
shoot somebody, … and not lose any voters. Because now we know
that he was speaking truth that day on January 4th, 2016 as he
campaigned for the office of the President of the United States
– because, indeed, he hasn’t lost one vote.
Trump’s fascist movement in America is founded on the principle
that, as John Milton wrote almost 4 centuries ago, “they love
not freedom, but license”.
So, who among Democrats will stand up in Congress and speak for
all Americans by saying to Gym Jordan, to Kevin McCarthy, to
Mitch McConnell, and to Donald Trump “I think I never really
gauged your cruelty or your recklessness… Have you no sense of
decency, sir, at long last?”
In light of this, the 2023-24 election cycle cannot possibly be
about politics. And we must not permit the Republican Party to
revert back to their previous fake identity: the party of small
government, deregulation, and tax cuts in an effort to change
the subject. We all know that they are no longer that party.
They are now the party of Donald Trump and his creeping fascism.
They are now the party of chaos and terror in pursuit of the end
of democracy and the establishment of fascism in the United
States. And should they win back the House, the Senate, and the
presidency in 2024, they will become the party of jack-booted
thugs that will enforce their cruel policies.
And when they come for you because nobody was left to speak for
you, who will write the epilogue?
image: “Die” – Faith Ringgold, 1967 |
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