Author's note: I wrote this last year (2019). As the 2020 election approaches, I think the warning still stands, despite the many, many more current scandals which have continued to rock our faltering nation. I love America. This essay is satirical in nature. I do not condone fascism, I mock it. And I believe that we are stronger when we are critical of ourselves with a view to transformation. Questioning is healthy!
If you would like to know more about the rise of fascism in Europe in the last century, check out Rick Steve’s powerful documentary on the Rise of Fascism in Europe:
https://youtu.be/JU1IVW6uqM0
My views in no way reflect on Rick Steve's views or assign any connection or affiliation to his work.
I typically shy away from writing on anything political for fear of adding to the increased polarization and animosity of our nation....
Disclaimer: I am an independent voter. I do not align myself with either major political party in America. I vote my conscience.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."― James Waterman Wise
Fascism 101- A How-To Guide for Beginners
Well-meaning Christianity has subverted our nation, calling for a Christian dominion in the USA (Chris Hedges, 2006) while promoting a theocracy, not freedom of religion. Narrow definitions of Christianity and what it means to be an American perpetuate an ideal: Only rich, white, Republican, charismatic, evangelical Christian men who are pro-Israel are approved or can be "true" patriots. Democrats, undecided voters, independent voters who won’t toe a party line, women, people of color, blacks, immigrants (legal or illegal), LGBTQ, liberal, moderates, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists or any other religion, or even moderate conservatives are suspect and incapable of being true American patriots. In this limited world view, poor people (many of whom jump on this very band wagon) are suspect. They don't even see that they are excluded from this elitist, members-only club, yet they vote for charismatic, powerful, greedy despots because the Christian Right leaders say this is "God's man". (See Charisma magazine 2015, In Trump We Trust and Ann Coulter's 2016 book of the same title). And like all fascist saviors, "God's man" promised them the moon while ranting against all their push button issues.
In this limited socio-political theocratic worldview, communism and socialism are anti-Christ and anti-America. Only greed-based capitalism is God's chosen Biblical economic system. All liberals are labeled extreme left-wing. Only the right wing has the corner on truth and integrity. As fascist leaders know, STEP ONE in establishing a fascist or totalitarian state is to narrowly define what a good patriot looks like, and clearly define a scapegoat (in this case, immigrants) for all the evils and woes in the country. Crime, economic downturns, unemployment, underemployment, poverty, joblessness, factory shutdowns, and terrorism are laid on the vulnerable populations, the scapegoats.
In order to establish a fascist state, in which one charismatic leader promises simple solutions to complex problems, be sure to use labels for everyone and everything. Anyone who dissents, disagrees, or just asks critical questions is evil, fake, a liar, a crook, a loser, treacherous, fraudulent, or nasty. And be sure to repeat your labeling messages as often as possible. Because weak, gullible, desperate people will believe even the most dishonorable lie as long as you repeat often enough.
In this power struggle for the minds of Americans, intellectuals are suspect. College professors are all liberal, ranting, extreme left-wing indoctrinators. These bleeding-heart liberal corrupters have hijacked the minds of young people. Intellectuals are all labeled atheists and extremists, socialists, and communists (gasp! the most despicable epithet in modern America). In this restricted paradigm, Science is suspect. Reason is anti-God, anti-faith. Logic has no quarter with religion. Compassion is weakness. Don’t believe me? Tune in to Fox “News” any time of day to hear them beating this drum and repeating this chant. Or OANN (One America “News” Network) . I put “News“ in quotes, because these networks are not NEWS networks. They do not report news. They are propaganda machines. They are opinion networks. Unsubstantiated claims? Non-factual “reports”? The wilder, the more extreme the better (for ratings!). Truth be damned! Who cares about truth as long as you preach to your viewing base, as long as your opinions reflect the worst opinions of your audience, and get you the best ratings! And ratings mean more money. Greed is the biggest driver for these networks as they have continued to push the limits on extreme opinion, pushing the right wing as far right as they dare, in order to cash in on the lucrative commercial ads that these unsubstantiated claims make. Integrity? No, Greed is their doctrine.
All fascists leaders know that intellectuals must be silenced. Their loyalty to the nation is cast into question. STEP TWO in establishing a fascist state: discredit or silence all intellectuals and drive them out, accuse them of polluting and corrupting young minds, while only the great leader has the right ideas, the genius, the willpower to alleviate the suffering of the masses. All intellectuals must be silenced in order to stop the illiterate masses from asking questions, from doubting the infallibility of the great leader. Reason is abandoned for feel-good messages. Truth is only what the great leader says is truth. Objective reasoning is no longer trustworthy. And if the great leader contradicts himself from one phrase or sentence to the next, you heard wrong, just like Orwell described in the classic 1984.
Don't believe Americans are illiterate? Though the literacy rate seems high in America, few Americans are taught to think or read or absorb media critically. And with the advent of Google and Facebook and complex algorithms which enable internet searches to only find the queries which the algorithms allow (based on previous search histories, political preferences, and ideological leanings), the reading list of many Americans is much smaller and less varied than in the past. Other world views are squelched in this age of Google. Reality TV and easy access to streaming and broadcast/cable TV, also diminish the need to read. Talk-show pundits, political and social "experts" spout polarized viewpoints. Viewers tend toward watching/listening/and reading only sources which reflect their own worldview. No need for understanding other viewpoints.
In reality, all intellectuals, all thinkers, all critical thinkers and geniuses must be silenced lest someone make unflattering comparisons between the logic of the intellectual or even the common sense man and the rhetoric of the great leader. Boy, would THAT be embarrassing, eh? Can't have the plebeians thinking their great leader is a doofus, full of hot air, and enamored only of himself. Hint: your leader might be a fascist if he goes around telling everyone that he is a genius, the only one full of great ideas, wonderful plans, the best....ever! In short, no one has ever been as great as him. And anyone who doesn't jump on his bandwagon is disloyal to America. If your leader spouts this kind of shit, he might be a fascist at worst. At best, he's just a pompous, bullying, moronic jack-ass.
STEP THREE in creating a fascist state and overthrowing a democratic system: Use fear of the "other" to get poor desperate people on your side, then use fear to keep them on your side. Threaten and bully and publicly shame anyone who disagrees or who points out the fallacies of your twisted rhetoric. Anyone who is not for you is against you, which automatically deserves the label of unAmerican, unChristian, traitor, or corrupt. The very people who point out the evil and say, "Hey, we can be better than this. We don't have to go down this hate-filled road" are condemned publicly as liars and divisive. The people who stand for good, for compassion, for human rights, for the dignity of all people, for the preservation and care of the planet are labeled as communists, socialists, anti-American, Anti-Christ, destroyers and unpatriotic. To take a stand against any American foreign policy is to be unpatriotic, no matter how insidious and destructive the policy might be. Allow no one, NO ONE, no matter how commonsensical he or she may be, to question your authority, your ideas, your propaganda or your rhetoric.
Anyone who questions the demagogues of this "Christian" ideology are automatically labeled anti-patriots, traitors, and sinners. To question, to not swear absolute unquestioning loyalty to all acts of the American and by extension Israeli governments (whether constitutional, ethical, legal or not) is automatic treason against America and against God. To question this radical, political "Christianity" is to invite their enmity and become a target of this "Christian" hatred, venom, wrath, violence and intolerance.
I keep putting "Christian" and "Christianity" in quotes. I should probably define Christianity first. For me, Christianity is based on only two rules: love God, love all people. My definition is inclusive and respects the dignity of all. Have I modeled and do I always live this out perfectly? No. I'm flawed. I'm imperfect. I get things wrong. I misunderstand. But this is the goal as I try to understand and live in peace with others. Beyond the basic two rules, everything else is just stuff, non-essential.
But for the Christian Right, "Christianity" has a very different connotation: it is a narrowly defined western ideology based on many rules and strict, cultural norms. Some rules are written, many are unspoken. They have their own jargon or language. It is exclusive! And this "christian" identity is intertwined with their American nationality. Their American-ness or identity is intertwined with their ideas of western, individualistic, gun-toting, anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-women, anti-BlackLivesMatter, anti-immigrant, anti-welfare....well, you get it..."Christianity". I put quotation marks around these words, because I do not think they are anything like the Christ of the early first Century. This "Christianity" is altogether something else, something bastardized; an idol, a grotesque mutation so far removed from the original as to be unrecognizable.
The "Christian" Right revels in its victim hood. This goes back to step one. They believe they are continually discriminated against. They resent any groups who claim victim hood: blacks, people of color, immigrants, poor, LGBTQ, etc. Rich people are victims of discrimination. Conservatives (interpret Republican, rich, white) are victims of intolerance. They themselves are not intolerant, though they call for the subjugation of women, oppose LGBTQ rights or even the basic human right to dignity, oppose religious freedom for all other religions except Judaism, oppose freedom of the press to question the increasingly erratic behavior of the great leader, oppose immigration (whether legal or not), rally voters around fear-mongering themes, and openly call for the oppression of dissenters and hecklers at rallies (see Trump's 2016 rally in which he called for supporters to beat up a heckler), etc.
As fascist leaders know, crowds need to feel abused, victimized, mistreated by the system. Establish this victimized group as true patriots. Promises of simple solutions for complex problems are a staple of fascists. Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. Promise them a great economy. Fascism 101- there must be a scapegoat for these problems: for the Nazis, it was Jews and outliers; for Italians in the last century, it was wealthy elites; for the Christian Right, it is Muslims, Democrats, and immigrants....pick a group or groups and rally the crowds against them.
STEP ONE continues constantly. Repeat STEP ONE AT ALL TIMES. Large rallies are held to pump up the crowds, highlight their victimization, channel their frustration at the interlopers and traitors, encourage violence against traitors/others/political enemies, and promise a better future for an exclusive members-only base who all will get the jobs they deserve. Be sure to decry the state of the state and blame every bad decision on your predecessor or on the scapegoats. Make frequent use of US-THEM statements. "They are against us. They don't want us to succeed. They are responsible for every woe." Calls to violence stir giggles and laughs and "amens" among the crowd. After all, dehumanizing the "enemy" (your own compatriots, your own brothers and sisters) starts with gleefully contemplating violence against THEM, the "other".
In this creation of a fascist state, dependent on a benevolent (though narcissistic, even solipsistic) leader, all rhetoric is permissible. Lies, "alternate facts", untruths, half-truths, deceptions, and full-on propaganda are acceptable. In this worldview, the ends justify the means. Manipulation is always justifiable. Gas lighting the masses is the only solution. See Trump's weather map snafu (Sept 2019).
Right out of the fascist leader's handbook is the rule to NEVER, ever, ever admit you were wrong or made an error, EVER. If caught in an error, rewrite events, hold a press conference, and try to prove that the "biased media" was wrong.
In a totalitarian state, the great leader never misspeaks. If he says that the National Weather Service says that Hurricane Dorian would impact Alabama, even though they never did, then by golly, here's this weather map graphic from last week which shows the trajectory of the storm and look! Added there, obviously drawn onto the graphic with a sharpie, after the fact, is a semi circle expanding the NWS forecast map, to include Alabama. Sharpie-Gate, as this preposterous scandal became known, would have been laughable if weren't for the fact that this leader continually tries to gaslight America. Ah, Gaslighting 101. Straight from the instructor's manual. If caught in your own web of lies and inconsistencies, deny it and turn it back on your doubter. Rewrite history to show you are unerring. The glorious leader is not crazy. You are crazy for doubting the great leader.
A hypocritical, different set of rules applies to the great leader. He is above the law. He is the law. He is above the truth. He is the truth. He is a god. He is the second coming. He is the chosen one. (Cue the angelic host). Unethical, illegal actions for which any average American would go to jail don't count or never happened. Stories of illegal/unethical actions are "fake news" made up by a biased media.
Dissenters or even insiders who question are disloyal losers. Those inside the inner circle must show absolute loyalty at all times, never questioning the rationality of the great leader. To even hint at questioning the wisdom or efficacy of the leader or his ideas is the ultimate betrayal! He will use the public forum to shame you, to abuse you, to discredit you. How dare you ask a legitimate question about anything the great leader decides? Fascist leaders label any dissenter or any questions as unpatriotic betrayal.
STEP FOUR: control the media. Create your propaganda machine to rewrite actual historical events. The Trump administration has literally re-written one particular incident now (2019) as "fake news". They say that Trump did not ask his followers to beat anyone up or "take them out on a stretcher"...the liberal media made up that story. And now, the propagandists (Fox News) point to a new app which supposedly can make it look like someone says one thing in a video, though they never actually said it. This is yet another "proof" that the liberal media just lie.
Fascism 101: you must control the media. Those you can't control, you must label as unpatriotic, unAmerican, liars, illegitimate, unethical, corrupt, fake news. All propaganda must be slanted toward discrediting any questioners, any doubters, any dissenters. If they accuse the great leader of unethical behavior, he must accuse THEM of unethical treatment. If the media catches him in a lie or contradictory statement, he accuses them of lying and making up the contradictions. Like Hitler's use of large crowds for propaganda films to convince all German citizens to join his party, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named insisted that his inaugural crowd was the largest in the history of the nation, ever. Hyperbole is a tool of manipulation of this particular egomaniac. Everything he does is the biggest and best and most expensive and most fantastic. To admit anything less than the biggest or best is to belittle his identity. Real-life photos of the less than record-setting crowd were immediately and vociferously rejected as "fake news", a belief which many of my own family members hold to this day.
If you point out the fallacy of this hyperbolic claim, they immediately accuse you of believing the "fake news" and biased against the great leader. To deny that the weather was less than perfect, as we watched it begin to rain on the crowd and the umbrellas to go up during the inauguration, is a lie manufactured by the liberal, biased media. Oh no, the leader only had PERFECT weather for his inauguration. This denial of actual, factual reality is beyond ludicrous. Day one was the first of many gaslighting episodes: The victim of gaslighting is lead to distrust their own wisdom, their own senses, the facts before their eyes. Only the leader is right, even if he contradicts himself over and over again. You did not see what you saw with your own eyes. You saw wrong. Period.
In this New World Order, citizens and especially Christians must obey without question. Do not exercise critical thought. Even the term "critical thought" is suspect. It's dangerous. It's a slippery slope to doubt and apostasy. And do not question the amoral leader. He is God's chosen. After all, he let Christian leaders pray for him once. In his great wisdom, he unilaterally decided to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, promising to spend millions of taxpayer dollars. As all good autocrats and dictators do, he simply handed down his judgment, to be obeyed without question, and with an expectation of applause for his great beneficence. He must be a Zionist, and thus a Christian, which by default makes him a great patriot and a great American.
Speaking of New World Order, the Christian Right have heard rumors of this dangerous, secretive system for decades now. Rumor has it that this secret network wants to overthrow America and make us subject to and accountable to the rest of the world. As Americans, who are above all laws, except those we make ourselves, this is untenable. But what the "Christian right" doesn't know is that the very network, which they fear so greatly, is the one pulling their strings. Rumors and even IRS-verified facts about The Family or The Fellowship, formerly the ICL, are true. The Family is responsible for backing Trump as "God's chosen man" and foisting him on an unsuspecting right wing. Only a few years ago, right wing Christians were terrified of such a spider's web of control and the power they might wield over American policy. But The Family has existed for decades in secret, hand selecting politicians and men of power, the world's elite. I'm sure many or most who have joined this secretive organization (though they claim not to be an organization), this fellowship, over the years were innocent people who genuinely wanted to positively impact the world. But you have to question any organization, er...fellowship, which works in secret and uses manipulation to achieve its goals. In this atmosphere, secret, back room deals among power brokers, whether illegal or unethical, are the norm. When do the ends justify the means? Manipulation is not acceptable. Using the National Prayer Breakfast, The Family provides an avenue for back room power deals to be brokered. What God-fearing Christian Right folks don't know is that The Family, a secretive, manipulating "Christian fellowship", is the New World Order which they fear. See The Family on Netflix (2019) and Jeff Sharlet's book: The Family: the secret fundamentalism at the heart of American power ( ).
Fascism cannot win over or convince decent, thinking citizens without the all powerful propagandists. As part of the propaganda strategy, lies are prevalent. Lies have become the norm. Any challenge to the unquestioned authority or veracity of the speaker of lies, the perpetrator of lies, is just "fake news". In this mentality, lies only come from the Left-Wing media. In an era of "alternate facts", truth is no longer objective. The latest White House administration will have much to answer for in future generations for the flat-out lies they touted as truth. I see Sarah Huckabee Sanders finally stepped down. How she can live with the lies she peddled over and over again....how she can even look herself in the mirror without shuddering, knowing she sacrificed ALL of her morals, all of her convictions to prop up a mad man, day in and day out, I don't understand. I believe she had a conscience at one time. But as all great fascists believe, if you repeat a lie enough as truth, it will be true.
As Rick Steve’s points out in his documentary, “Duce, Duce, Duce, Duce, Duce"- Mussolini was the first to use this technique of repetition to subdue the crowd, to get them to believe the bald-faced lie. I do not mention Kellyanne Conway in the same way as SHS. This woman has shown that she has few morals or scruples. She is the chief liar, the twister of truth, the author of "alternate facts". What conscience could she possibly have? She slammed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named as a degenerate and immoral pig until he bought her loyalty. She sold her soul to the devil and continues to peddle her newspeak to the masses without a cringe in her twisted, blackened soul. But I still have hope that even she will wake up from this nightmare.
As comedian Steven Colbert quips, we are inundated with "truthiness", in which truth has nothing to do with facts. We are in a Post-Truth era.
https://youtu.be/Ck0yqUoBY7M
Truth is whatever you want it to be. This kind of approach to truth as being whatever you want it to be was completely anathema to these same right-wing "Christians" just a couple of years ago. They railed against moral relativism or relative truth. There were absolute truths. Truth was not subjective. It was objective. To say that truth is whatever I want it to be was heresy. But the great leader can make his truth whatever he wants. Truth has nothing to do with facts. After all, he is God's chosen man. His made-up "reality" must be truth, because he thinks it is truth. And everything he says is truth. Like all great fascist leaders, truth is whatever you say is truth and no one can question their god, er...idol....I mean, leader.
Before 2016, idolatry was rejected by the Christian church. Yet, the idolatry of the fascist leader is unbridled. Excuses are made for his bad behavior. Jesus said you can't get good fruit from a rotten tree, that we would know who was good by their fruit, by their own words, by their lives, by their character. Yet American evangelicals blindly ignore any rottenness in their great leader. They blame his crude words, his bad behavior, his immoral actions on a liberal media which is intent on tarnishing his image. It’s THEIR FAULT for reporting the truth! How dare they report actual facts??? He is not guilty. He is not held accountable for his words or actions. In fact, those couldn’t possibly be real facts, because that doesn’t support what I WANT to believe. So, it’s fake news because I don’t want to believe in the truth. The truth is only what I want it to be.
How hypocritical! In the 1990s, when Bill Clinton, a Democrat, ran for office, the right wing was outraged over rumors of "bad character", immorality, deception and fraud. "Character and integrity matter," they chanted. Poor personal integrity will infect the White House! The Moral Majority had been formed to prevent such ‘immoral characters’ from infiltrating the White House. Yet how quickly they abandoned their morals for an amoral, narcissistic, despotic candidate who tickled their itching ears and promised to fill their pockets.
I guess the Moral Majority could be bought. Sacred principles were easily dropped in exchange for promises of wealth and prosperity. Character and integrity became meaningless in light of the promises of great riches for America. All immorality was forgiven in their leader as long he promised good paying jobs.
Like all great fascist leaders, He-Who-Must-Not Be-Named thrives on crowd worship and sycophantism. He demands gratitude. And if the crowds don't gush with thanks and worship for every common act of basic decency, he throws a tantrum and remarks on their ingratitude to him, because he did something "nice". He always points out that he "didn't have to be nice" (though any child would know that "niceness" isn't done just to get thanks or praise, it's done because it's just the right thing to do). No, he didn't have to be "nice", so they should have praised him more for his "niceness".
I can see it now. "Good boy! Who's a good boy? Who did something nice? Yay! You are such a big boy for doing the right thing, the common decency thing! You are the BEST! No one is nicer than you. No one is better! Praise you! You are better than God. In fact, you are like the second coming of God. And anyone who tells you differently or doesn't thank you profusely and immediately for doing something which the rest of us do continually without thanks or praise (try being a mom) is an ungrateful two-by-four and a loser. Because YOU deserve all praise for everything you think or do." Oh yes, sycophantry is expected and demanded!
Any dissent is disloyal to the leader, who is always right. Questions are disloyal. Disloyalty will not be rewarded. To question him is to question America, to betray America. To mock him is to mock America. He is America. America does not exist outside of him. "In Trump we trust" reveals the sickening, grotesque idolatry. Trump is God. God does not make mistakes. God is a genius. God only has fantastic ideas.
How can this level of idolatry happen? How could good people go along with fascism in Italy in the 1920s and 1930s? In Nazi Germany? How could decent folk be a part of something so heinous? How could they call themselves Christians and participate in the extermination of Jews, the vulnerable, gays, gypsies, blacks?
Good people, wanting to believe in an earthly national savior, deceive themselves willingly. This is how fascism rose to power in Nazi Germany and in Italy and in Spain in the 1930s. This is how good people tolerated evil. All good fascist leaders know that as long as most people are fed and have jobs, you can pacify the masses. There is no revolution when people are well-fed and satiated. Poor, desperate people will riot and revolt, but promise a select group of people jobs, and they will follow this messiah anywhere and do anything. The masses can be bought. They will sell their souls for a piece of bread and a charismatic promise for a future of wealth and comfort.
As witnessed in August 2019, which feels like a lifetime ago, in the absurd offer to Denmark to purchase Greenland (a measure which my brother-in-law defended as a normal idea...after all, we bought the Louisiana purchase and Alaska), all good fascists believe in expansion of the empire through whatever means possible. Expansion through soft methods first (attempt to purchase), but by force if necessary or if you don't get what you want. Let's not forget the expansion of Star Force, as promised earlier this year. And when the Prime Minister of Denmark politely refused this "absurd" offer, like all true despots, Trump's response was petulant and childish. Because to refuse him is to refuse America. To rebuff him is to rebuff America. Um....reality check! NO, it's not! The president of the USA is NOT America! You work FOR the people. And most people --intelligent people who don't drink the Kool-Aid of your idolatry-- thought your idea was ludicrous, ya big moron! Sorry...that was uncouth, ungracious, and snide on my part.
So what do we do with a “conservative Christian” political machine which insists on “proving” a literal Bible, and propagating a narrow culture as defined more by their national identity than anything Jesus said or did? If Jesus were in front of them today, they would not recognize him as their messiah. They would shun him as a new age, Eastern mystic with all his talk about loving people, including their enemies! The mind-boggling thing about this American Christian identity is that it is baseless, unscientific, narrow minded, exclusionary, and frankly, stubbornly and willfully ignorant! I understand the frustration with the so-called “Christian right”.
Not only are Christians called to faith in the creator, but to love all of his creation. There is no love in trying to prove everyone else wrong and only Christianity as right. This is indeed pointless and faithless. God does not ask us or need us to "prove" the accuracy of the Bible or the creation story. Even God knows the limitations of the fallible, weak, inconsistent, hypocritical, chauvinistic men who wrote the books and stories of the Bible. For those who can believe a creator could literally form the universe in a word, how is it so hard to believe that he may have taken millions of years to do the same thing if he chose to? My faith allows me to believe in a God who exists outside of time. My faith allows me to believe that God could have achieved these ends in a number of ways as he desired. 6 nano seconds? 6 days? 6 billion years? Why get so hung up on the details? Why continually drive a wedge between faith and science? Both can exist together.
In my youth, I was a raging creationist, as I had been taught by Ken Hamm's radio show and my father's own faith in the Bible as unerring and literal. I say "raging" because I was mad all the time, looking for a fight, ready to prove all unbelievers wrong. I laugh now to think of poor, gentle Dr Schaefer from Blackburn College, trying to teach me physics. I would try to draw him in to arguments of faith v science. And he would always tell me, "Miss Garner, I have no conflict with faith. I believe faith and science work together." I was skeptical. Well, Doc, believe it or not, you got through to me. Faith and science are not polar opposites. Logic and reason are not anathema to faith. This is one of the basic tenets of the Episcopal church: faith and reason work together.
This constant division, this chasm between believers and non-believers; science v faith; intellectualism and reason v blind obedient, unquestioning belief in the ridiculous, Republican v Democrat, it does no good to our human condition. It only divides, makes "others", makes enemies, produces hatred and judgment on both sides.
Unfortunately, these same well-meaning "Christians" believe that it is up to the Christian Right in America to push a limited worldview on all Americans (and by proxy, the world), to force everyone to believe in their version of God (the very thing they say they hate Muslims for), to force everyone to their idea of morality (excepting their own candidate, of course).
The 1970s and 1980s really saw a rewrite of American history by Tim LaHaye and James Dobson and others. Suddenly, America had always been intended as a "Christian" nation, chosen by God and our founders to establish a Christian theocracy on earth. The Pilgrim story gets repeated about how they were fleeing from religious persecution. They claim it is THE founding story of Christian America. Other stories of early settlers and greedy, violent men are conveniently ignored or left out of the narrative. And when the constitution was written, "freedom of religion" could ONLY mean Christianity as we know it today; a license for greed, corruption, and imperialism on a global scale, NOT freedom for all religious persons regardless of faith.... No, these liberties were secured for right-wing Christians, not for homosexuals or poor or liberals or Muslims or.... No, these freedoms were written for strong, bullying Christians, the kind who believe in pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. These freedoms are for those who believe that America is a meritocracy, not for the vulnerable populations.
These are the same proud to be an American Christian folks who send out those judgmental emails and Facebook posts and try to shame their friends and family into forwarding and reposting their bigoted, in-your-face brand of hate speech which they call "Christianity" and tell you that if you don't repost, you hate God and America.
So what are we to do in this age of newspeak? How should we live in the midst of the rise of fascism in America? How do we confront such insidious evil which seems so banal (see Arendt's definition of the 'banality of evil') without losing our own souls to anger and hatred? I can't help but think of Viktor Frankl's post-WWII book, Man's Search for Meaning. Frankl was a holocaust survivor. He had survived four of the most dehumanizing concentration, labor, and death camps. He had survived the impacts of a down-and-out democratic nation willingly, blindly following a fascist leader, a savior. And yet, after the unspeakable horrors which he had suffered at the hands of his fellow humans, he was still able to find joy, hope, and grace...sweet, gentle grace for others, for his persecutors, for his fellow survivors, for outsiders who had never gone through such tragedy. He was filled with a gentleness of spirit and understanding. He chose to live graciously.
We can learn from the Hannah Arendt's and the Viktor Frankl's and the John Steinbeck's and the George Orwell's. Steinbeck once wrote in a letter, "All the goodness and the heroisms will rise up again, then be cut down again and rise up. It isn't that the evil thing wins-- it never will-- but that it doesn't die." Fascism is one insidious evil which wraps itself in a cloak self-righteousness and which must be overthrown over and over again. One of the ancient proverbs (Proverbs 4:23 NIV) reminds us "Above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it." And the writer to the Hebrews once wrote (Hebrews 12:15 NIV) "See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many."
We can't control others. To do so would make us fascists. But we can guard our hearts and not let bitterness and anger twist our souls. We can speak for those with no voice, for the vulnerable among us. We can stand with the oppressed, the powerless. We can try to appeal to our better natures. What more can we do? We can speak truth, even when it’s not popular. Not in a self-righteous way. No, being self-righteous only makes me feel indignant and self-important while leaving others to feel intolerant of my intolerance....
What more can we do?
There's so much more I could write about how "Christian Americans" have made God in their image, not the other way around. I could write more about the idolatry of a Christian political savior. I could write about the abuses and evils of a totalitarian theocratic society, which the Christian Right seems intent on foisting on the world. I could write more about the stubborn refusal to see anything wrong in the blessed leader's behavior or words or actions, the blind obeisance of good people to despotic leaders. I could write more on bullies and how they always try to kiss up to people they fear. I could write so much more on American Exceptionalism: how all basic human rights and common decency rules and laws apply to the rest of the world, but not to us. We are exceptional. Manifest Destiny, God's Chosen. A bloody American history built on violence, genocide, and avarice. I could write of perceptions of the American patriot: how we think we are the most noble race, everything we do is righteous and good, and everyone else is ignoble, corrupt, and evil. We are nothing like the Nazis. Of course, no one wants to think that they are the bad guy. I could write about the rise of nationalism with its narrow definitions of what a true patriot looks like, thinks, says, and does, as one of the leading divisive, nation-shattering forces of the 20th and 21st centuries. See Harry Anastasiou’s text book, The Broken Olive Branch- Nationalism, ethnic conflict, and the quest for peace in Cyprus. Volume one: The impasse of Ethnonationalism. Anastasiou warns of the dangers of narrowly defining a “true patriot” as he saw his own country torn apart by civil war.
I could write about this disconnect between soul and action, hypocrisy, saying we believe one thing but doing the opposite and demanding that everyone else do as we say. I could write about how "Christian America" has not only worshipped at the idol of wealth, but embraced the destruction of the planet, claiming the dominion theory as rationale for destroying the planet and other species if they get in the way of our greed, and setting a price on all things, sacred or not. How American Christian greed sold out, raped, and disemboweled the planet in the name of God.
But for now, I am going to serve my little community and my nation in my own small gestures; serving at my little church, standing with the oppressed and powerless, feeding the poor, washing laundry for the homeless, by traveling to other parts of the world and listening and trying to understand other world views, and helping out friends and family who are struggling to survive with whatever abundance I have been given. I will pray as Jesus did, "Those who have ears to hear, let them hear."
