The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
Tell me, who decides?
Who decides what this nation will become?
Who decides what legacy we will leave our children?
Who decides how America will be remembered by history?
Who decides if we will be nation of tolerance and freedom, an example to the world, a shining city upon the hill…
… or whether we will be a nation of barbed wire and secret police?
Who decides that?
“We originally created the House Un-American Activities Committee to go after Nazis. We passed several laws in 1938 and 1939 to go after Nazis and we made it illegal to help the Nazis. We're going to presently have to go take the similar steps here."
We are going to have to take similar steps.
Similar steps as the House Un-American Activities Committee.
That was former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, who yesterday on Fox and Friends suggested without any trace of self-consciousness or shame, that the US resurrect one of the most vile and Un-American periods of its history.
Gingrich, commonly referred as the smartest guy in the Republican party, suggested in all candor on national television reestablishment of the House Un-American Activities Committee.
The House Un-American Activities Committee.
This is what it's come down to. The House Un-American Activities Committee.
The presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United States of America has made walls, barbed wire, guns, secret police, mass surveillance, mass deportation of undesirables based on religion, all, planks in his platform.
And he is cheered.
He is cheered.
He is cheered by the masses. And embraced, however fearfully, however reluctantly, by the cowed Republican establishment.
And now?
Now we are actually talking about these things as a nation as if this fascist Nazism isn't an ideology our grandparents gave their lives to wipe from the face of the earth.
And now?
Now one of those being considered for Trump's running mate is openly suggesting America go full on Tail Gunner Joe.
It was bad enough, McCarthyism, in the 1950's. Imagine it today. Go on, imagine a congressional "Un-American ‘Activities’ Committee" helmed by the likes of Trey Gowdy and armed with the tools of modern surveillance, unfettered by the FISA court, enabled by the Patriot Act, and backed up with the vast invisible bottomless power of the National Security Agency.
Gingrich would make Hitler's Gestapo and Stalin's Cheka look like rank amateurs.
What's it going to take here? Actual goosesteps and the sound of fucking tanks in the streets?
Who decides?
Who decides what's Un-American? Donald Trump? Newt Gingrich? The howling Brownshirts who make up Trump rallies? Congress? Congress can't even agree on what to order for lunch, half of them believe the Earth is 6000 years old and their God gallivanted around the Sea of Galilee on a velociraptor handing out Glocks to the faithful. For fuck's sake, we're going to let these certifiable lunatics decide who is and who isn't an American?
Who decides?
Tell me, why is it that a religion which preaches intolerance every single day in the name of their deity, whose adherents embrace violent nationalism and daily wave their guns and clamor for the elimination of those not like them, who daily declares their intention to burn down the elected government of the United States and replace it with a religious theocracy more to their liking, why is that religion American simply because it's Christian?
What?
What's that?
Oh no. No. No. No. Don't you dare try to tell me that's not what a significant percentage of homegrown religious extremists are saying. That's exactly what they are saying. Every. Single. Day. All you have to do is look at their Facebook pages and their websites. All you have to do listen to the various militias. All you have to do is tune into Franklin Graham or Bryan Fischer, or drop by a Trump rally. Hell, a bunch of Mormon fanatics just took up arms against the rest of us in the name of their God while Christian extremists cheered them on and rallied to their defense -- or have you forgotten Malheur already? And as long as we’re on the subject, look up Nevada State Assemblywomen Michele Fiore.
Who decides?
Who decides what is and is not American? The fucking Bundys?
This guy, this asshole who murdered 49 people in Orlando? That guy? That guy was as American as it comes.
Oh yes he was.
He was born right here in America. He’s more a natural born American than Ted Cruz or John McCain.
He raged against gay people just exactly the same as every pinched faced conservative Christian preacher currently spewing hate and intolerance from his pulpit. No different than Pat Robertson or John Hagee. No different from the politicians currently rushing bathroom bills through the various state legislatures. No different than Kim Davis, conservative hero. There is no difference in rhetoric or the target of their hate whatsoever.
He loved guns. He saw guns as power, power over others, power to impose his will so that he didn't have to suffer those he despised. So he didn't have to compromise. Guns, for him, were freedom, liberty, and a final solution to his hatred. How is this different from those who took over Malheur? Who threaten daily to march on Washington with their guns in the name of their god? Because he pulled the trigger? Because he was actually willing to shoot down his fellow Americans? Look at any Christian militia Facebook page and tell me how they are any different. Go on, I'll wait.
You going to tell me this guy wasn’t an American?
Who decides? Who?
I am once again watching Fox News national security experts blame political correctness for the carnage. Over on Twitter disgraced spook John Schindler is beating the same drum. Schindler wasn't much of a spook, but like those of his ilk he's damned good at telling the brass what they want to hear – and today he's busy telling conservatives it was "political correctness" in the same tone and phrasing guys like him told Donald Rumsfeld about those weapons of mass destruction which were surely waiting for us in Iraq.
Political Correctness, that's why the FBI didn't do anything about the Orlando Shooter.
Political correctness is why we tolerate Muslim extremism in our own midst.
Sure. Why not? I'm hip.
When will we set aside this political correctness and call out religious extremism residing among us be it Islamic or Christian or Mormon or the National Rifle Association?
Who decides?
Who decides what is American and what is Un-American?
I'll tell you who decides: You.
You decide.
Each and every one of you. You Americans.
If you don't speak up, you decided.
If you turn a blind eye to hate and intolerance in your religion without public and vocal challenge, you decided.
If you allow attacks on your neighbors verbal or physical, you decided.
If you allow the politicians and the preachers to decide who can and cannot use the bathroom, who can get married, you decided.
If you allow 33,000 Americans to die every year from gun violence without protest, you've decided.
If you don't vote, for whatever reason, you've decided.
Who decides?
Who decides what this nation will become? Who decides what legacy we will leave our children? Who decides how America will be remembered by history? Who decides if we will be nation of tolerance and freedom, an example to the world, a shining beacon on the hill, or whether we will be a nation of barbed wire and secret police?
Who decides?
If you don't, then small fearful men like Newt Gingrich will.
If you want a better nation, then you must decide to be better citizens.