tfpg

                                 IS THIS THE APOCALYPSE?
(Written and posted 3 October 2001)

       I am scared. No, I am terrified. I am terrified of the future. What will this country become?
       We hear that the government wants the unlimited power to secretly tap your phone and trace your calls. (Big Brother wants to know who you are talking to.) The government wants to power to peek into our e-mail, to see what web pages we are reading. In short, the government wants our permission to turn our great country into a police state.
       The justification for this is “security.” Of course, we should not forget that that was the exact same excuse used by the ELECTED right-wing, reactionary government of Germany in the 1930s to quash the civil rights of the German people. For those who do not remember their history, Hitler manipulated the German electoral system to become chancellor, although he and his party did not win a majority of the vote. Once in power, Hitler used the legitimate instruments of the government to incrementally strip away civil rights, until there were none left. First, Germans were told what to think. Those who did not think like Hitler were branded as traitors and moral reprobates. Then, Germans were told who they could associate with. It became illegal for non-Jewish Germans to associate with Jews. Association with Jews was considered treasonous.
       Of course, not all of the Germans went along with the stripping of civil liberties. So, Hitler justified his actions by calling them a matter of national security. To reinforce the danger, he torched the Reichstag, the German Parliament building. Hitler used the ensuing paranoia and patriotism that that act (conveniently blamed on Communists, Jews, malcontents, and other groups that opposed him) sparked to suspend civil liberties and democracy and create a military dictatorship. The result was the death of millions of innocents.
       I am worried because I am seeing the exact same pattern occurring here in the United States. We have a leader who does not have a legitimate mandate who was able to manipulate the mechanisms of the government to assume power. His party is right-wing, reactionary, and increasing xenophobic. Persons of a particular religion (Islam) and ethnicity (Middle Eastern) have been singled out for persecution. Anyone who does not agree with the government is being systematically silenced, as evidenced by the firing of newspaper columnists who have had the unmitigated gall to question the Supreme Leader, and the threats by the White House against others. If you don’t agree with the government, then you are a traitor. Now, we see the excuse of security for trampling our civil rights.
       I am scared. If past history is any indication, we are well on our way to a military dictatorship. Remember, the venerable Roman Republic morphed first into a military dictatorship (Julius Caesar used to military to help gain power) and ultimately into an Empire. When the first of the Romanovs was crowned tsar, he was elected tsar by an elected assembly. Less than a century later, Russia morphed into an absolute autocracy. (Remember, the Romanovs took power during a time of great crisis.) Of course, we know what happened to Spain, Germany, and Italy. I do not want to live in an American autocracy. I am much more afraid of what my government can do to me than what a terrorist can do.
       What terrifies me the most is that because our Fearless Leader has cloaked himself in morality, we are allowing this to happen. We seem to have forgotten that he acquired power through the strength of the military. (If the questionable military ballots had been discarded, Gore would have won.) Remember, though, that the prophecies say that the anti-Christ will gain power because millions will believe that he is righteous. I am not saying that the Fearless Leader is the anti-Christ. I do believe, however, that as long as he continues to illegitimately usurp power in this country, bad things will happen. I am afraid that September 11 was only the beginning of something horrible, something apocalyptic. For every wrong response Fearless Leader gives, the counter response will be more horrific than we can possibly imagine. Do we really think that sending in the military is the correct answer? The Afghans have a reputation for defeating foes of far superior strength and technology. (The British in the nineteenth century, the Soviets in the twentieth.) At a time when we need a real leader the most, we have none. Instead, we have an automaton, a robot, a Fearless Leader who is incapable of straying from the rehearsed script prepared by others. Perhaps a marionette is a more apt description, with the strings being pulled by the military, big business, fundamentalists, reactionaries, and xenophobes.
      Like I said, I am downright scared. I am scared for my children. I am scared for the world. It only takes one tiny mistake to unleash the dogs of war. It only takes one bad call to beckon the four horsemen upon the earth. Unfortunately, once the four horsemen have been beckoned, they cannot be sent away again.
       I am praying to God that the rapture does not come in my lifetime, or the lifetime of my children, or their children, or their children’s children, or their children’s children’s children. I pray that the end never comes.
       We do not have anyone at the controls right now. Heaven help us make it through.