THE UNCIVIL WAR

Today marks the symbolic end, 161 years ago, of the Slaveowners’ Revolt that tore our country apart for four long years. It had cost the lives of some 750,000 soldiers on the two sides, roughly two percent of the population. That would equate to six million deaths today. It left cities in ruins and farms in ashes awaiting the return of the armless, the legless, and those suffering from “soldier’s heart” as they called it back then.

Though it officially ended slavery it did not end the vicious cruelty imposed upon those who arrived in our country in chains, a sin still visited upon their descendants.

Now we are engaged in a great, but differently fought, civil war to determine whether the imbedded promises of April 9, 1865 will prevail. How long, we wonder, must the battle for human decency last?

We can hope, but the monetary resources of a great international cabal face us as the murderous artillery faced American soldiers from Missionary Ridge and the cliffs of Omaha Beach. Their power flourishes within from the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg. Even the purchase of a chicken sandwich or hobby tool bolsters their power. What we need more than ever is the will to prevail against monstrous odds.

We could use a man like Ulysses S. Grant again.

DEFEAT FASCISM

 The “listen to” book for Bessie and me is now “The Ship That Wouldn't Die: The Saga of the USS Neosho- A World War II Story of Courage and Survival at Sea Paperback” – by Don Keith. It is another tale of great heroism, by my beloved Navy.

The name "Neosho" refers to a river in America. They named tankers like the Neosho after rivers for anyone thinking the name sounds Japanese.

Oddly, I’m finding it a precise allegory to our present condition in America. We are now experiencing the historical equivalent of the second wave of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The brave protests of last Saturday mirror the fury with which Americans responded to an attack on their country. Anchors Aweigh!

DEFEAT FASCISM

 It appears that people who love America are in for some rough times. A missive (Project 2025) written for a dictator in exile is now the operating manual for our country. (Yes, the similarities are devastatingly terrifying.) Will these times make us hate America the way our current leaders do? They don't have to. Let us consider other groups that have lived through hard times. There are several.

One includes our African American brothers and sisters. They descend from those who suffered the unimaginable effects of raw slavery here from 1619 until 1865, and economic slavery until now.

Do they hate America?

No, they have served honorably in every one of our wars since the one that freed them.

They have contributed to every aspect of story of America's greatness, including science, work, service, art, literature, and sports almost always without the recognition afforded their Caucasian kin.

Role models exist for us as the darkness descends. Let us draw strength from their bravery.

DEFEAT FASCISM

 A sad misconception these days is that there is a "depravity bottom." There isn't. When Donald Trump ridiculed a disabled reporter on national news, and his base expressed no concern, the word went out.

"We can get away with anything."

Later days proved it was true. The filth. The lies. The deaths from Covid 19. The felony convictions. Nothing moved the needle.

Now we see folks still in hopes that, somehow, he will perform a deed of such baseness that the ground will swell and burst beneath him. A "tipping point" will occur.

Ain't gonna happen.

There is no bottom.

"But the Epstein files," you say.

Truth is, if the Epstein files, once opened, contained a verified video of him abusing a 12-year-old while she screamed for her daddy, would he lose one vote from his extreme right-wing evangelical base? Would one Fox entertainment pundit suddenly have a "John Newton Moment?" Would one ultra-rich supporter cease donating? Would one right-wing think tank alter course. Would one hate-pod influencer shut up?

Sadly, possibly not.

He is their "flawed messenger," the one who brings them power and torments the ones they hate. The ends they seek justify the means he uses. Fear, hate, and greed sell better than grace, compassion, or good government.

We are stuck with him. Nations, like people, choose poorly at times.

DEFEAT FASCISM

 There is a scene in the film version of Red Badge of Courage—the one starring Audie Murphy—in which the actor Andy Devine plays a character called “The Cheery Soldier.” It is an odd scene. During a frantic battle, the protagonist (Murphy) runs away. He joins a sad caravan of defeated and dying men. That night, lost and bewildered, he encounters the Devine character who exudes joy and hope, leading the young man back to his unit. Next day, he performs bravely and becomes a hero.

The allegorical example of heroism born of positivity and duty is so inimical to the standard thirst for revenge and power that it makes one tremble.

This echoes the New Testament account of Paul and Simon “locked in jail” as accounted in Acts 16-25-26:

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.”

Perhaps we could all learn from these examples, those of us who believe that the forces of darkness have descended upon America. They have won. There is no doubt. The depravity of their actions has served to prove that there is no limit to what their followers will tolerate. Now they are "rubbing it in." What can we, the losers, do?

Maybe quit trying logic and anger and become the “cheerful losers.” Perhaps a display of what we consider righteousness, displaying how that makes us cheery instead of argumentative might work to make the prison doors fly open.

Who knows? It might, in some redeemable soul, cause a moment of “winner’s remorse.” If we are cheery with loss, might they develop some sense of over-optimism about the value of what they have won?

After all, they are so fond of the scriptures. Isn’t it written “ For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

It is indeed, in Mark 8:36

DEFEAT FASCISM

 It becomes more apparent each day that traditional political efforts won’t work against the MAGA dictatorship. It owns the congress, the courts, the presidency, and is working on the military and the media. There is no way that those in power will permit another election in a form consistent with Democracy. The January 6 thugs have formed a fledgling “brownshirt squad” and are actively recruiting members.

What is left? Perhaps what Karl von Clausewitz called “friction.” In Clausewitz's "On War", friction is defined as “the obstacles and difficulties that arise in war, making it more complex and challenging than a simple plan on paper. It's the force that makes "the apparently easy so difficult".

In other words, slow them down, make each step more difficult than the last, and wear them out.

How?

Let us put our heads together. What has worked so far? The efforts of brave lawyers for one thing. Even though they face a 6-3 negative majority in SCOTUS in significant cases, the efforts of getting cases there must be taking a toll. Also, there is the possibility that one or more of the MAGA judges will have what I call a “Thomas Beckett Moment” and shift to the side of righteousness. Our contributions will help.

Let us think more on this strategy. Comments?

DEFEAT FASCISM

Sometimes fiction is more realistic than reality. Take the current dictatorship in America. Compare it to a fictional work, the 1971 Woody Allen film Bananas. In this spoof of the Cuban revolution, the rebel leader of the fictional country of San Marcos, Esposito, seems admirable when compared with the dictator Vargas.

Then the rebels win and Exposito becomes the new dictator. In a surprise development, power has driven the leader mad. He announces that he is the ruler of San Marcos, and orders that the country's official language will be Swedish and that citizens must now change their underwear every half hour, wearing it outside their clothing so that it can easily be checked.

This wasn’t foreseen and leads to many plot escapades.

Let’s look now at two actual dictatorships during the last century. They announced their plans early, openly, and proudly, the first in Mein Kampf and the second in Project 2025. Each laid out clear plans for the resulting victory to their adherents.

Whereas the change in the film’s protagonist was a complete surprise. The results of the two real cases simply appeared as fulfillment of plans and prophecy. Their actions surprise no discerning citizen.

Can we note differences? Yes. Even the brilliant imagination of Woody Allen couldn’t have utilized the plot line of America’s dictatorship. The actions of our dictator reside far outside the boundaries of what one would imagine the inhabitants of a modern democracy would accept, even an imaginary one.

In other words, the idiocies currently flowing from our current seat of power defy logic to the point that they wouldn’t lend themselves to believable fiction such as the plot of a Woody Allen film.

Also, they just aren’t very funny. Maybe if the president grew a beard.

DEFEAT FASCISM

 The closest analogy I can think of for America's current predicament is my experience in military survival training. In a training exercise in a California desert, we were starved for four days and then sent to a mock prison camp. Enemy forces had "captured" us and held complete power. They owned the prison, the guards, the weapons, and all communication. What could we do?

"Resist," our trainers had told us. Resist and cause them effort in every movement. Wear them out and wait for any opportunity. Tell them nothing. Offer them nothing. Resist every command. Make nothing easy or simple for them.

My first encounter came when a burly guard approached me as I was standing almost naked by a large pile of tree limbs and brush gathered by former prisoners. He barked. I resisted. He knocked me over into the pile of limbs.

Resistance was a bit harder after that, but I tried.

Let us all try now. They own everything: the presidency, the legislature, and the supreme court. They will soon own the military if unchecked. Times will get harder. Things will get worse. It will not end well unless we check them with scarce resources. It will be difficult. They flaunt their power as if they have won. "Look what we can do," they jeer.

Yes. They own everything.

They think so. But they don't own our souls.

DEFEAT FASCISM

 It dawned on me this morning, the 77,302,580 didn’t make a vote, they took an oath. It wasn’t like the oath I took to protect the United States and its Constitution. It was an oath to follow a single man, Donald J. Trump.

How do votes and oaths differ?

A vote is a formal indication of a choice between two or more candidates or courses of action, expressed typically through a ballot or a show of hands or by voice.

An oath is a public pledge that a person will perform some action or duty, generally with the promise of doing so truthfully. An oath can also be used as a way of promising oneself to support a cause or an entity.

It came to me while walking with my dog this morning. We like to listen to audio books as we walk and this day’s fare was “The Last 100 Days” by John Toland, a detailed recounting of the end of WWII in Europe.

I was struck by the number of high-ranking German officers who would not surrender in the face of overwhelming odds, a surrender that would have save thousands of lives and avoided the destruction of many German cities. As their armies collapsed, generals prolonged the carnage with, “I have taken an oath to the Fuhrer never to surrender.”

I was struck by the fact that, even after Himmler told the concentration camp guards to flee and save themselves, many chose, instead, to march their prisoners until they died of fatigue or starvation.

I was struck by the thousands of suicides by those who couldn’t live in a world without Hitler, and the horrific insanity of Josehp Goebbels and his wife Magda who took their six precious children with them into death by poisoning them.

Then while walking through a quiet city park, a cold thread of abject terror ran down my spine.

This isn’t going to end well.

DEFEAT FASCISM

 While I can't say for sure what caused this insanity in other states, in mine it was the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States of America. Twice. It lulled many of us into the false assumption that America had turned a final corner leading to a righteous state.

It made me remember when I had seen witnessed an African American man allowed to sit in a movie theater in my state, in a spot chose by himself, for the first time in my life.

It made me remember when I had seen an African American family served in a restaurant in my state for the first time in my life.

It made me remember when I had seen an African American sit on a city council in my state for the first time in my life.

Now an African American and his family occupied the White House. I thought we had arrived.

Unfortunately, we hadn't. What happened next was reminiscent of the old science fiction films of the 1950s. You know, the ones in which nuclear testing had awakened some prehistoric monster who emerged full-grown from the bowels of the earth to wreak destruction. Only this time it was the monster of bigotry, prejudice, racism, and xenophobia that slithered out quietly then, emboldened, transmogrified into the monster of all monsters.

Worse still, whereas in the old movies brave people fought and destroyed the monster. (Remember: "It just might work?") This time evil people said, "We can train this monster to do our bidding." It was easy. All it took was a reshowing of "Gone With the Wind" and some jokes about watermelon patches on the White House lawn. Americans do love their myths.

So here we are, ruled by a madman and an army of monsters. Of course not all states have joined the horde.

Just enough. 

DEFEAT FASCISM

 This will not end well. Consider the great fall of fascism in 1945. As the allied armies devasted Germany from the east and the west, Nazi commanders refused to cease fighting, help stop the devastation, and save thousands of German lives because, “I took an oath to The Fuehrer to never surrender.”

Though Himmler himself had ordered some concentration camp guards to flee and save themselves, they instead gathered the remaining prisoners and forced them into death marches.

As resistant collapsed, Army commanders still tried to follow Hitler’s orders to counter-attack with divisions that no longer existed from bases in cities that had been leveled.

As the remnants of the Third Reich huddled in Hitler’s bunder, the Gestapo was still applying the death penalty to Germans caught listening to foreign radio stations.

The fruits of moral collapse became evident as thousands of Germans killed themselves and their families rather than live in a world without Hitler. The Russian Army found the bodies of the six Goebbels children poisoned by their parents prior to their own suicides.

How the power of one man is able to poison the minds of so many may be a question never answered by our books or science, only prevented by “the better angels of our nature.”

DEFEAT FASCISM

 The term “chilling effect” refers to the power of evil to influence its aims indirectly, without the need to expend resources. It is much like a dark cloud settling over America now. Honest, conscientious government workers, military leaders, journalists, and even judges are feeling its weight.

A government worker presenting facts that contradict or suggest analysis of a MAGA edict face the loss of their job and employment future.

A person who has chosen a career serving in America’s armed forces must exhibit allegiance not the oath sworn but to the goals of a fascist regime, many goals of which aim toward personal enrichment and not national security.

A journalist presenting facts contrary to party edicts faces being shut out of access to the workings of our country.

Judges making decisions based on the rule of law are seeing their families threatened with public assault through social media and faux-news services.

The long-term result? Resistance can die from lack of will without the use of much direct force, just a chilling cloud that says, “Do the right thing and you are finished.”

 

DEFEAT FASCISM

 We concern ourselves, perhaps irrationally, with causes and reasons. Given some four billion years in forming a life-force and a few million in forming the branches that led to our current species, there may be causes and reasons we’ll never uncover.

But we try. Let's give it a shot.

The best guide presently to America’s current darkness is the one that overshadowed Germany in the 1930s. So far, analysis indicates a predictable path, with some modern tweaks.

-         Fictionalize the reasons for a defeat in a war. Modern tweak: We won. This press just didn't report it that way.

-          Capitalize on any unfair resolution to a war, including a civil one, and use national catastrophes as a tool for spreading hate. Modern tweak: when there is no catastrophe use the modern advances in thought control, i.e. “social media” to convince the weak-minded that there is one.

-          Publish plans so the public can see progress.

-          Use hate to gain power.

-          Use power to defuse constitutional safeguards. Modern tweak: Infiltrate the apex of constitutional justice.

-          Demonstrate invincibility to reduce resistance.

Let’s stop here for today.

How does the power elite stop and consolidate gains? The Nazis used Kristallnacht. That’s when: “Nazi leaders unleashed a series of pogroms against the Jewish population in Germany and recently incorporated territories. This event came to be called Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) because of the shattered glass that littered the streets after the vandalism and destruction of Jewish-owned businesses, synagogues, and homes.” (Holocaust Encyclopedia)

The current regime used what would have normally been an unimaginable attack on the most prestigious and sacred seat of American government, the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The message gained further power when the perpetrators were pardoned for any demonstrated participation and may now even serve in the American version of the SS.

Why is this step important?

Simple. It delivers the message that “We are in power now. We can do anything we wish. You are powerless to resist us.”

That message sinks and rots the very roots of the tree of justice upon which America depends.

DEFEAT FASCISM

 As if a dark sci-fi film is playing, America has left its home, passed through a portal, and entered a dark world. As hard as one might try, no happy journey’s end appears, at least not for the immediate future. The leaders of this tragic journey now own the three legs of our governmental stool and a majority of its wealth. The press, that much ballyhooed "Fourth Dimension" loses more prestige each day while chasing distractions.  Little friction remains to hinder the achievement of the evildoers' goals.

This does not bode well for those who will spend their productive years under the dark regime.

A large cohort will not live to pay the ultimate price. Some, having served their country and taken an oath to continue, will resist with the powers they have remaining. Some wiggle like maggots in a pile of ignorance. Some have served the agents of hate and now wait for their reward.

Will it come?

It is hard to say.

But in searching for that answer, one might assess the benefit to the agents of evil that would accrue to them should they halt in their march for domination and expend resources on rewarding the misguided.

Our most recent historical guide, the Germany of the 1940s doesn’t support the assumption.

DEFEAT FASCISM

 Thoughts on tipping points. As it stands now, the orders to hate center on a relatively small cadre of usual suspects: the different, the disabled, people of color, librarians, and teachers. At some point, the hate-field will grow, and continue to grow. The movement will reach a tipping point.

When the tipping point is reached, the impacts of fascism will spread to the hitherto unmolested. Those who voted to install the fascism will begin to feel its wrath. The surprise on a supporter’s face will resemble that of a famous painting.

Will this create resistance? Perhaps.

Will this resistance overcome the worst impulses of those in power?

Not if the experience of Germany in the late 1930s is any guide, and history is sometimes our most reliable guide.

DEFEAT FASCISM

 Ever wonder what has happened to America? Let’s look at some famous observers.

“In laws one should make a careful distinction between the aims sought and the way in which they progress toward that aim and between their absolute and their relative excellence.”  - Alexis de Tocqueville

“The manager who comes up with the right solution to the wrong problem is more dangerous than the manager who comes up with the wrong solution to the right problem.” – Peter Drucker

A fanciful example is that of the bull forced into an arena filled with thousands of drunken, jeering, morons there to witness the bull’s savage and tortured death. The bull goes into decision-mode and decides that his immediate danger is the red cape waving in front of him, not the little murderer behind it. He attacks the cape, the right decision based on his analysis and goal to protect himself, but fatal in the end.

A more realistic example lies in the decision that the purpose of government is to preserve the wealth of the few, the rich. Then of course the right decision, though a tragic one, is to make sure that none of the riches of the few are allocated to the safety and welfare of the many.

In an aristocracy where the purpose of government is to enrich the few, laws are simple and effective.

In a democracy where the purpose of government is to make society prosper, laws are complicated and often flawed. The ill-intended can, and do, become masters at blaming complications and flaws on a carefully selected enemy.

DEFEAT FASCISM

 Today the news reports that President Two-Doll Donnie plans to announce while on his trip to Saudi Arabia next week that the United States will now refer to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia, according to two U.S. officials.

Public administration at the national level has degenerated to the point where, each day, the elected president of the United States of America says something monumentally stupid. The press runs to his side to report it.

Then the worst happens.

The hardcore cult enthusiasts run around saying "Nah, nah, nah, nah nah. We can do anything we want to and you can't do a goddamned thing about it.

It might be funny on a reality TV show. I don't know. It just doesn't seem, to me at least, to fit the country whose men stormed the beaches at Normandy to rid the world of a previous fascist regime.

DEFEAT FASCISM

 Each day a meme appears on social media implying that what the MAGAs are doing is okay because Bill Clinton did something similar. The memes don't bother to say whether it is true, whether Clinton "did" it, or whether Congress "enacted" it.

At any rate, this doesn't pass my Sainted Mother's "jump off a cliff" rule. Yes, "if all your little buddies were going to …." That's the one.

Oh, and by the way, am I the only one in the country that doesn't always believe in coincidences?

DEFEAT FASCISM

 So far, the MAGA cult has followed the path of the most destructive fascist government of the last 100 years. It has demonized opposing political parties, spread fear and hatred of selected racial groups, suspended the rule of law, and effectively disabled congress, putting the future of America into the hands of one figure. Whether that figure is a sole leader or charismatic figurehead controlled by selected oligarchs is open for discussion, but it really doesn't matter. What matters is what is happening and what will happen.

If the model is followed, we should be on the alert for a couple of moves.

First, there a manufactured emergency will occur in resemblance to the Reichstag fire of February 27, 1933. The cult will use this as justification for martial law.

Next, the cult will cleanse itself of dangerous internal segments that would create friction to slow the progress toward final goals. Read about the June 30, 1934 "Night of the Long Knives" here. Purity is important to fascism and any friction must cease. A group that views its own goals as more important than cult objectives is expendable. It should surprise no one if this happens to be the religious fanatically followers largely responsible for the current darkness in our country. Having served their purpose, their power is no longer essential.

In the meantime, notice how mainstream media outlets are beginning to drift more in line with party dogma in order to preserve their existence. Or, notice how major institutions of higher learning are succumbing to the demands of the book burners.

Let us just hope that when it all ends, we will not be in the line of those forced to walk by and view the corpses and carnage march.

DEFEAT FASCISM

Adolph Hitler became Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933. Although his Nazi party was now in charge, he lacked dictatorial power. But next month a fire erupted in the Reichstag. Hitler blamed the Communists although many now believe the Nazis themselves did the deed. At any rate, the event resulted in Hitler achieving absolute power over German rule, including effectively abolishing congress.

If a modern cult wanted to use Hitler's playbook, it would certainly wish, as final step to power, the elimination of congressional power. Could it be done? Today, my state would guarantee six votes to allow the fatal act. All they would need would be a catalyst. Scary thought?

Yes, very scary. So here is my new motto for our country. Roughly? So long, it's been good to know you.