The Fire This Time — Trump and Civil Disobedience
I was recently sent this article by a friend. I am appealing to my “conservative” friends to consider this. This is from The Nation, a paper that has been in continual print since the Civil War when in 1865 it replaced Horace Greeley’s abolitionist magazine The Liberator. It has a long and distinguished history as a progressive paper. And although it tends left, it has a great degree of integrity in its reporting. See media Bias Fact Check in comments.
This article is a discussion of the current situation and the author is concerned that there may need to be bloodshed to stop the Presidents steady march to authoritarianism. The concern is that the American People may not have the political will to stand up to injustice and pay that kind of price this time. The reason I personally have become as politically active as I have is because as a historian and American Citizen I see this as an unprecedented time. This is not normal. This President is not normal. And what we are all losing, Liberals, Conservatives, Progressives, Libertarians, and all others, is our citizenship in a Constitutional Republic. For those who admire the actions of the President, I will remind you that his actions are helping assure you a life in a future authoritarian state, one that will NOT be to your liking. Now is the time to put aside party difference and unite to save the Republic. We can return to squabbling about politics and our own small culture wars when this is over. But we cannot afford to stand by and watch this happen. If we do not oppose the actions of this President we are on the wrong side of both history and justice.
Here is a quote from later in the article: “Trump is beyond the rule of law now. Republicans have placed him there, and armed men keep him there. People have to think through what that means, about how to stop a man who is above the law, using all the peaceful tools (always the peaceful tools) available to us.
If history is any guide, there’s no simple option. The only way to stop a brutish demagogue like Trump, the only way men like that have ever been stopped, is by people who are willing to lay down their lives to do so. Who is going to be our Hero of Tiananmen, our Unknown Rebel who stands in front of the tanks when they come rolling through Times Square? Who is going to be our John Lewis and get their skull fractured as Trump Troopers hurl projectiles at peace?”
