Dear Principled Conservatives — We Need You. America Needs You. You Need You.
We need you. Yes, we, the hippie, free-range, single-source socialist-pinko lefties, need you. However, in the paraphrased over-utilized words of Jerry Maguire: Helping us, helps you.
I used to think that Donald Trump was just a shyster. A con-man praying on the naivety of the American populace. Now I believe that either he is a fascist, or Steve Bannon (who once described himself as a “Leninist” who “wanted to destroy the state... I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.”) is really running the show.
What defines a fascist? According to conservapedia.com (with my links provided to Trump’s examples of the pertinent characteristics):
Characteristics of fascism include a belief that the state is more important than the individual (“At the bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of America, and through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other.”); a leaning towards authoritarian government and violence; preference for centralized economic planning; an emphasis on nationalism and national traditions; militarism; information control and censorship; media propagation of the Great Leader which demonizes and trivializes his critics; and a rejection of both free enterprise and Socialism in favor of corporatist economic policies….
Fascist regimes have pushed their agendas by concentrating on a “scapegoat” — typically a group that is deemed to be foreign in origin or beliefs or both. The characteristics of fascism also include rampant cronyism and corruption, as well as rigged elections and a general disdain for human rights.
Trump hates dissent, wants to curb freedoms of the press and assembly, unify the populace through “patriotism,” and on and on and on. Will he downsize the federal government? Probably. Will he lower taxes, at least for the wealthy? Almost assuredly. But unless you think he can carry through with his promises to bring back manufacturing jobs that have been lost not to outsourcing, but automation, and unless you think none of his myriad scandals will injure his already low approval ratings, then there is a good chance that President Trump will be a four-year (if not less) wonder. And the alternative, come 2020, will be the Democrats, and the Bernie wing of the party is gaining power day-by-day.
But there are two things that America 2017 has that Inter-war Germany and Italy did not have that can potentially save us from fascism: The Constitution, and the Rule of Law. The Rule of Law has been a staple of conservative ideology (and mine) since the beginning of conservative political ideologies.
You don’t want to join in our protests for better access to health care, reproductive rights, or to protect the social safety net? That’s fine. I, as well as many of my species are sympathetic to the ideas of personal responsibility and Judeo-Christian values, even if we don’t believe that those ideals should form the basis for government actions. Sit those protests out. But we need you to show up when Trump infringes on basic liberties (like denying legal green card holders the right to reenter their homeland or any of the rights in the 1st Amendment)
Make sure you DO come out to protest to protect our right to advocate for those very same things, because if there is one this that CAN unite most of us, Democrats and Republicans, it’s a belief in the rule of law. You might disagree with my interpretation of the Constitution, but I’m willing to bet you wouldn’t argue that people should be allowed to ignore it. When some of you called Obamacare socialism, I cursed the name of my fellow social studies teachers who failed to inform so many people of what “socialism” actually means. But I don’t think I, or anyone else, for that matter, argued that you shouldn’t be allowed to say it, or be afraid of socialism, or have Tea Party protests against the A.C.A. I still argue for it. Milo Youpadoopawhateverhisnameis, is an idiot, and by all means, boycott his publisher for giving him massive amounts of money to spew his bile. But don’t prevent him from spewing.
The more people ignore the most basic tenets of the rule of law, and the more they bend the Rule of Law to fit the whims and wonts of President Trump’s “patriotism,” the more pliant it will already be to be bent further to the fancies of President Warren’s “social justice” agenda. And then, instead of being able to protest that President Obama made you buy health insurance, you’ll be forced to sit by as President Bernie seizes the means of production.
So, if you want FOX News to be protected when President Warren seeks to nationalize the press, and if you want to be free to demand that President Franken not require that all schools eliminate the teaching of intelligent design, and if you want to be able to demand that your congressmen vote against the appointments of Supreme Court Justices Michael Moore, Cornel West and Margaret Cho by Comra, errr, President Sanders, you had better get out there and protest with us if Trump decides to sue the New York Times for publishing a negative op-ed, requires Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Selma, Alabama, and the Stonewall Inn be removed from all history textbooks, or forces Muslims to register with the government. I won’t join your protests, but I will for damn sure be there to make sure your right to advocate for your causes is not infringed upon.
In short, if you don’t want to be wearing our red shirts in four years, don’t put on the brown shirts now. Help us. We might not agree on much, but hopefully we can agree that President Trump CANNOT be allowed to trample our fundamental right… to disagree.
