Our future and being honest about the past

 

“In this new world, it may be that big, ideological changes are not caused by bread shortages but by new kinds of disruptions” - Anne Applebaum

In her book, Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of AUTHORITARIANISM, Anne Applebaum discusses events that led post-Soviet Hungary from a newly formed democratic-republic to its current, Russian-style autocratic state.   She goes on to make parallels there to what we are currently experiencing in the U.S. 

In an early chapter she reflects on a form of nostalgia that enables this anti-democratic transformation.  There’s the reflective nostalgics who miss and dream of the past but are content to leave it there, knowing that all was not as idyllic as some fantasize. 

It’s the restorative nostalgics however that pose the greater threat.  “They do not merely want to contemplate or learn from the past” Applebaum tells us.  “They want … to ‘rebuild the lost home and patch up the memory gaps’.  Many of them don’t recognize their own fiction about the past for what they are.” 

They’re in denial about the past’s dark moments, with its flawed leaders and lethal consequences of military victories.  “They want the cartoon version … and live it as they think their ancestors did, without irony.    Eventually, those who seek power on the back of restorative nostalgia will begin to create conspiracies theories, or alternative histories, or alternative fibs, whether or not they have any basis in fact.” 

Restorative nostalgia is indicative among those Lost Cause believers of the old South.  We’re seeing a more contemporary version of this with the MAGA crowd who’ve been led by Trump and his acolytes to believe his defeat was the result of massive voter fraud. 

The former President’s use of lies and unfounded conspiracies is alluring to people who feel the changes that have resulted with our more inclusive policies for people of color, women and the LGBTQ community have taken away the past they were more comfortable with.  One that was predominantly white, Christian, overtly heterosexual and conservative.

On this perspective, Applebaum refers to research by Karen Stenner who suggests that "authoritarianism predisposition ... is not exactly the same as closed-mindedness.  It is better described as simple-mindedness: people are often attracted to authoritarian ideas because they are bothered by complexity.  They dislike divisiveness.  They prefer unity.   A sudden onslaught of diversity  - diversity of opinions, diversity of experiences - therefore makes them angry."

As a response to today's socio-political complexities MAGA-ites have not only followed Trump's voter fraud delusion down the rabbit hole with the fraudit in Arizona and more repressive voter restrictions coming out of GOP-controlled state legislatures, many are followers of the QAnon conspiracies which perpetrate myths that should qualify them to psychiatric wards.  Anti-vaccers among them have been dismissive of the coronavirus vaccine due in large part to Trump’s flippant attitude towards it and the virus as well, putting millions at risk now with the rapid spread of the Delta variant.

Needles to say all of this is having a destabilizing effect on our society, with trust evaporating on so many fronts and making prospects for the future of our republic difficult to sustain itself.  Could this be the end game for Trump and his coterie of enablers?   A scheme to disrupt the current order so vast that a remaking of it to fit something that Vladimir Putin would be proud of may lay at its foundation?

Longing to capture an imaginary past that ignores its many unpleasantries along side its more admirable achievements means we have to be honest enough to dissect the delusions foisted by charismatic people whose grab for power is their only focus.  A false rendering of our past by those willing to bend our social norms for personal gain can create the potential for constitutional and political chaos, which can only end badly for all parties, unless you’re a fan of authoritarianism.

Franklin’s apprehension of America’s Future

Shortly after the Constitutional Convention convened in September, 1787, Pennsylvania delegate Ben Franklin was approached by Elizabeth Willing Powel, a pivotal woman of the founding era and asked Franklin, "What do we have, a republic or a monarchy?’’ "A republic", Franklin replied, “if you can keep it.’’

In a recent PBS documentary that made credible parallels between the rise of Nasism and today's Trumpism, educator and anti-fascist activist Ash Sarkar points out that “democracy is fragile because in order for it to be truly democratic, in a purist sense, it leaves itself open to being taken over by fundamentally anti-democratic forces.”   

In a similar vein, NYU Professor and scholar on Authoritarianism, Ruth Ben Ghiat explains how “one of the most crucial moments of authoritarianism capture is when traditional elites invite the Authoritarian-in-the-making into power”  believing he can be contained and controlled to accommodate their ends.

I believe we’re seeing this authoritarian cycle repeating itself.  Evidence of this is becoming more apparent almost daily.  

Former Trump ally and convicted felon, Michael Flynn, recently called for a military coup to overthrow our duly elected government .  Just prior to this, Trump co-conspirators Matt Gates and Marjorie Taylor Green made “inflammatory remarks on gun rights and armed rebellion”  at a Trump-style rally in Georgia.

Paramilitary thugs like the Proud Boys, Three-percenters and the Oath Keepers were in force at the January 6th insurrection.  Menacing groups not unlike Hitler’s Brown Shirts who were loyal only to the Führer, intimidating all who opposed the dictator, in and outside of politics.  We’re seeing a similar stratagem being played out here today.

 
Though not as prolific yet as Hitler's paramilitary hoodlums were, we have witnessed the handy work of Trumpian thugs in their nascent stages.  After Charlottesville there was the foiled kidnapping plot of Michigan’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer and serving as the template for the January 6th terrorist attack on the nation’s Capital.  An assault downplayed as little more than a “normal tourist visit” by  Trump todies in Congress.  These same people have now opposed a bi-partisan 1/6 commission for fear that it will expose many of them as being sympathetic to the insurrectionists.

Nazi Party office holders in 1930's Germany stoked animosity towards their Communist Party counterparts in the German Reichstag or Parliament to win over converts to their ill-fated cause.   Today, many congressional Republicans are copying this tactic, weaponizing their attack by mis-appropriately painting Biden and congressional Democrats as “Socialists”, intended to provoke their base while persuading Independents and defecting Republicans to join their grab for power.

Like their Nazi predecessors, GOP-controlled state legislatures are enacting legislation attempting to give credibility to their leader’s big lie about massive voter fraud.  Measures that are primarily designed to hold onto power in a Party that has lost its moral compass.

Today’s Trumpists represent a demographic in this country, not unlike Hitler’s supporters, who seek to establish a nationalist purity, spearheaded by a dominionist theology and white nationalists groups.  A mindset that too many of our relatives, friends and neighbors have identified with, most without fully understanding how ill-fated this is for sustaining a republic worth keeping.

The greater threat if Facebook doesn’t ban Trump permanently

“Those who stand for nothing fall for everything” -  Alexander Hamilton


After Facebook’s Independent Oversight Committee‘s ban on Donald Trump expires within the next six months, will Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to extend or end it be motivated primarily by financial concerns rather than issues of truth and preserving our democratic-republic?

Facebook and Twitter took the correct action they did to muzzle the treasonous rantings of a loser who never takes responsibilities for his failed performances.  Trump’s delusional bombasts on January 6th presented a clear and present danger to our democracy by undermining our electoral process.  Until he is willing to denounce his unfounded claims of massive voter fraud, the ban should remain in place.

The virtuous idiom - “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”  - is familiar to us all yet not one that social media platforms are apparently guided by to offset many posts on their platforms.  Posts, that if not evil in and of themselves, are at least horrendously ugly in ways that threatens personal security and the socio-political fabric of our country.

The notion expressed by Trump cult adherents that freedom of speech is at issue here is a straw man argument.  Consider their own efforts to silence Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney along with a few other Republicans wanting only to speak truth about the former President’s role that incited the January 6th insurrection on the nation’s Capitol.

Free speech concerns shouldn’t prevent social media platforms from banning those who deliberately spread malicious rumors and outright lies.  It’s a standard practice for most blog sites or social media pages who reserve that right when people sign up for them.  For those who avidly crave Trump’s every mutterings, there are ample media sources like FOX, Newsmax and the more current right-wing conspiratorial OAN, who are more than willing to feed their need.

We can’t always control seeing and hearing evil.  But speaking it arises from one’s own volition to do so.  The least that responsible adults can do is to inhibit those who would use public platforms to broadcast it.

The greater threat comes not from a few obscure voices in the blogosphere but from someone who convinced 74 million voters that his loss last November was a conspiracy that involved multiple GOP election personnel, courts and judges across the country.  A notion that defies all sense of reality and sanity.

Totalitarian regimes, once they get a foothold into government, become insidious.  They mask their violent and discriminatory natures through populace rhetoric that claims some nebulous patriotic ethos to the fatherland that actually narrows rather than broadens legitimate political participation.

Our current, divided political state is ripe for some authoritarian to project themselves as  one who’ll restore a bygone era that many feel has been lost as a result of our expanding, diverse culture.  It is this not-so-subtle intent that plays “us” against “them” that mandates a continuing ban from social media sources by those who attract the darkest elements within our society, preventing an honest reconciling of what divides us.

A Tribute to Our Daughter Eileen

 

 

 

This Wednesday, February 24th, would have been our daughter’s 39 birthday.  That proverbial age memorialized by the "ageless" comedian Jack Benny.   For Eileen however, she will be 38 forevermore.

Eileen would've been a fan of Jack Benny because she loved all the old sitcoms and comics of that past era that her Mom and I grew up with during the 1950’s and early 60’s, especially the hilarious skits of the I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners series.  

And there was no end to her admiration for the ill-fated Marilyn Monroe.  Her apartment walls had more than one photo of the glamorous Hollywood star, like this one.

She kept uplifting quotes for herself, especially those of social psychologist Dr. Bo Bennett.  For example:  “For every good reason there is to lie, there is a better reason to tell the truth.”  She was also apparently aware of how people stereo-type others, negatively impacting one’s self-esteem.  Several quotes from her papers show this:

“The  more you know who you are and what you want, the less you let things upset you”

and

“If people talk about you behind your back, it’s because you’re ahead of them”

She had a fondness for writing poetry and from some of hers that she left, not realizing that her Mom and I would read these after her short life ended, we found this one, dated January 17th, 1998, rather prescient and reflective of who she really was inside.

Before It’s Too Late by Eileen Beck    

I’d like to say all that needs to be said, before it’s too late;
Tell you everything I’ve always wanted to say.
Realism doesn’t click in until something real happens,
but why did you have to prove it to him?

Before it’s too late I just want you to know just how much I care,
because this has made me realize we won’t always be here

Before it’s too late put my hand in yours
Assure me that you’ll hold me dear until we live no more
Because nothings worse than knowing that you ran out of time

This is but a small sample of who Eileen was   I could fill a volume of these memories.  She was brave on so many fronts but being human she also had her fears and worries.  There were those times when she would want to be around her family lovingly and at other times wanted more keeping to herself.

Those who knew her well I’m sure will recognize this glimpse of Eileen and who perhaps have even deeper, ebullient remembrances of her.  Her mom, brother and I would love to have you share them with us.

I feel certain that Eileen would want you all to love and hold those close to you everyday so you won’t have to regret that you waited too late.  Extend acts of kindness to strangers.  I’m sure she would feel that in doing so you would lift those up who perhaps never heard or felt the love and concern from those they wanted to receive it from the most.

We love you Scooter

 

 

 

A Day of Infamy - January 6th, 2021

 

 

police officer Michael Fanone

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2021/01/16/capitol-police-speak-out-over-trump-mobs-medieval-style-combat-13913921/?ito=cbshare

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MetroUK | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetroUK/

police officer Michael Fanone

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2021/01/16/capitol-police-speak-out-over-trump-mobs-medieval-style-combat-13913921/?ito=cbshare

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MetroUK | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetroUK/

police officer Michael Fanone

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2021/01/16/capitol-police-speak-out-over-trump-mobs-medieval-style-combat-13913921/?ito=cbshare

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MetroUK | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetroUK/

Police officer Michael Fanone's body lies near motionless as some terrorist thugs pummel his body

“Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.” - Samuel Johnson, 1775

The mob action and violence that forced its way into the halls of Congress on January 6th should be remembered by most as yet another attempt to overthrow our government, not unlike what took place on December 7th, 1941 and September 11th, 2001.  But unlike those two dates, this threat came from within, not from foreign adversaries, and was orchestrated by the man who was in denial about his defeat in last November’s presidential election.

It should also stand out as the date when Joe Biden showed his presidential gravitas as opposed to Donald Trump who abdicated his role as the leader of our Constitutional government when he threw his lot in with the thugs and patriotic pretenders who humiliated and shamed us all to the rest of the world with their unchecked anarchy.

To all of those Trump enablers - who even as rioters stormed the halls of Congress were still prepared to speak in support of the conspiracies that generated the riots - as well those who  are now saying “enough is enough”,  there is blood on your hands for your failure to stop this coup attempt in the months and years that preceded it.

Though people like Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley served as the most recent and conspicuous flame throwers for this insurrection along side the lame duck president, it was the silence and inaction of every elected Republican official over the last four years at most given times that provided a path and open door for this sociopath to carry out his autocratic maneuvers.

Trump’s most avid support comes from armed white supremacists who even before Charlottesville, the El Paso massacre and the kidnap attempt of the Michigan governor have vainly compared themselves to colonial patriots to validate such insurrection as some imagined noble cause in today’s polarized culture. 

It’s ironic however that what the real American colonials sought to achieve is the polar opposite of what these domestic terrorists are attempting.  The American Revolution was fought to separate themselves from an autocratic rule by a foreign British monarchy, unlike today’s revolutionary pretenders who used violence in the hopes of creating an autocratic rule by a domestic, deranged demagogue.

I concur with Dalton Gregory’s assessment expressed in his December 18th commentary in the Denton Record-Chronicle of the Trump power grab that’s being played out here.  But in just that short period of time we’ve come from thinking that it will soon be over to watching a hostile takeover attempt posing an ongoing threat.  

None of us can remain silent any longer and allow threats to our democratic republic to be passed off as patriotic expressions of discontent.  There are players in place determined to replace a government of, by and for the people with an autocracy.  For those who have, intentionally or not, aided and abetted this ignoble cause, it falls on us to hold them accountable under the laws that were designed to prevent this unthinkable act.