Copeland's Corner: February 1, 2024
The only thing standing between freedom and fascism is you.
I think that the American ideal that most of us had hammered into us throughout our youths was this idea of Democracy. We were taught that the United States held a unique place in the world because it was a nation built (at least in principle) on the concept of self-rule. Americans had no monarch, no dictator, no strongman. The people of this country decided what was best for this country through majority rule while also (again in principle) respecting minority rights. The colonists of the 18th century had escaped the brutal, and by most contemporary accounts, insane rule of King George III and they were determined that this new nation would never again live under the thumb of a megalomaniacal, mentally unstable tyrant.
That being the case, why are so many of my countrymen not only happy, but eager to voluntarily give up the rights that generations of their forefathers shed blood, life, and limb for?
In a recent interview with Fox blowhard Sean Hannity, Donald Trump was asked to comment on the talk going around that if re-elected, he would be a dictator. Without missing a beat, Trump said that if he won presidency, he planned to be a dictator… but only for the first day. The sheep who follow him actually liked the idea, completely missing the critical thinking skills that would have enabled them try to find a single solitary example of a fascist who established a dictatorship and then relinquished it in one day. The truth is that they held onto the power until they died, were assassinated or were overthrown by the force of the people.
The very idea that Donald Trump would take the power that enabled him to control all branches of government, have political rivals, investigated, jailed, and even killed, control the military and order it to quell dissent and silence, jail or murder those who opposed his twisted view of government is preposterous at best. Delusional at worst.
The thing that scares me is that so many people who were raised with the same American ideals that I was have no trouble gleefully throwing them away. In a recent series of interviews with red MAGA hat wearing Trump acolytes at one of his rallies, people were ask if they would have a problem with Trump being an American dictator. To a person, they said that they wouldn’t.
“We need somebody to come in, take care of all of this mess without interference,” one ‘Trump for President’ wearing supporter said.
“Sometimes, somebody just needs to take over until things are set right,” another said.
“It’s like when you were acting up in school and the principal would paddle your behind until you did things the way they were supposed to be done,” another supporter of this Hitler wannabe espoused.
It’s beyond frightening. It’s terrifying. I’d bet that the people voicing these views had relatives who fought Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito. I’m sure some of them have family who shed blood and lives fighting Saddam and his ilk. And this is how they honor them? By willingly giving up the liberty they fought for to a conman real estate developer from New York who dodged the Vietnam draft and referred to America’s fallen war heroes as “suckers”?
By now, I’m sure you’ve heard that the 2024 election is an election that will decide whether or not we have a democracy. If Trump is elected, he showed us on January 6 that he will NEVER voluntarily give up power. This could potentially be our last fair and free election. I’m not being hyperbolic here. I’m not Chicken Little screaming about the sky falling. We have a legitimate chance of fundamentally and irrevocably changing everything this country stands for.
The only thing standing between freedom and fascism is you.