It is a recurring theme that people are in trouble these days. We keep hearing stories of woe from the person who repairs our car, our landscaper, or our hairdresser. The headlines read like we are in a cold war in our country. We are a nation divided, one nation under many gods, spearheaded by the new ultra-right-wing evangelicals. Yes, we are living during the time of an Institutional Crisis that has weaponized hate. It is an attack on our Democracy, the press, politicians, liberal judges, women, and the truth. Truth is now seen by some as an old-fashioned value belonging to our grandparents’ generation and, in some arenas, it no longer exists. It has been displaced by lies, extremism, and violence.
Facts and reality are lost when truth is lost. Along those lines, the Ten Commandments have met their ruin, especially the ones that instruct us not to kill, nor steal, nor give false testimony, nor covet. As the right-wing evangelicals meet in church on Sunday mornings, they practice two hours of Christianity and then return that afternoon to the fight for extremism. These conservative evangelicals, outside of their two-hour church attendance, are breeding and grooming their followers to covet, meaning to “want, crave, desire, long for, or hanker” for power. Their “new commandments” swear them to anger, hate, violence, and treason. And those parishioners are following these directives like hungry wolves chasing a rabbit.
Additionally, death threats are becoming the norm with threats against the Capitol building increasing by over 100% since the insurrection. It is as if these groomed adults are now having childish temper tantrums but with loaded guns in their hands. It is enough to make you scream OMG! Politicians to Poll Workers feel unsafe as these far-right members believe that if you do not like your opponent, you can just kill them. It brings back scenes of old movies where guns and swords determined the outcome of disagreements. We have backslidden into what might be called barbarous thinking and actions. In this new world, if you are an evangelical Christian, likely you believe that the rules do not apply to you. You crave power on every level. You killed in Charlottesville and at the nation’s Capital and would have hung Mike Pence if given a chance. You worship the god of guns and some made up god that allows you to be so ruthless. And now, you remove the ultimate freedom from women which is that of choice. And who and what is next?
The question remains, can we stop this runaway train? Can we stop the sweeping movement to upend what our Democracy stands for? Can we stomp out those supporting movements like the White Nationalist Great Replacement theory where far right groups fear complete racial and cultural replacement of the white European people?
Is it not ironic that the “first replacement” was when the white European men arrived in this country in the late 1700’s? They quickly moved to replace the Indigenous people by invading Native American land, pushing them out, killing many and their families? The white man’s commandment of the day was purely savage greed yet they called the Indians savage while they were merely trying to survive. This country has continued this horrid action towards nonwhite populations by putting Indigenous people on reservations and Black people into slavery and on plantations. Today, the attack continues on minorities, women, and anyone who is classified as different. History has a way of repeating itself as many whites have a history of herding people who do not look and think like them. And, here we go again!
For some reason, we thought this country was better than this. But are we? And as a friend recently asked us, “Has the south finally won the Civil War 157 years later?” Well, it is trying!
The conservative power-hungry white men are once again trying to take the political land away from our Democracy. Florida, for example, is now being overrun by far-right Great Replacement conspiracy theorists, MAGA types, and gun-toting, creepy white people who have joined right wing groups and the so called “movement.” This is a serious concern for those living in the south right now and those minority populations throughout this country.
We are taking a deep breath as we look towards the 2022 and 2024 elections. Whatever it takes, we must use our might to work to turn things around. In some cases, voting is our only tool so we must use it.
And as we look to the youth of the world to change gun laws, the environment, women’s and LGBTQ+ rights, remember that we all have a responsibility to jump in to help save our drowning Democracy as it is being pushed overboard into murky waters. We all need to learn to swim, to float, and to rescue each other.
The 4th of July – the birth of a nation. May the United States be born again as a nation of social justice and inclusion.
