COWARDS.

Cowards.

Someone wrote an anonymous op-ed in the New York Times recently. It told of a “quiet resistance” within the White House—the actions of patriotic Americans who realize what a disaster Donald Trump is.

Never fear, the author said. The members of this quiet resistance are sabotaging Donald Trump to prevent him from doing the worst—to keep him from making huge mistakes that would imperil the country.

My first thought is that they aren’t doing a very good job. I mean, look at the guy. But maybe they have prevented some really bad stuff from happening.

But lots of bad stuff has happened and keeps happening. The op-ed reads like we’re supposed to feel some sort of relief at their brave, covert actions. It’s okay, the writer says; we’re on it. They’re the secret babysitters that Trump doesn’t even know are babysitting him, diverting his attention so they can steal documents off his desk because, you know, out of sight, out of mind. Like Trump is a child you can distract with candy. Well, that sort of makes sense.

These quiet resistors are clearly superheroes, right? I mean, they believe in conservative principles; they just know that Trump is a loose cannon and that they’re the responsible adults in the room keeping the West Wing from completely imploding like that house in the original Poltergeist movie.

Bullshit, I say.

Trump is furious about that op-ed, as well he should be. And it’s not just maddening—it’s embarrassing. Has an American president ever been treated this way? No, but then, in the resistors’ defense, no other American president ever HAD to be treated this way.

But their actions don’t prove that they’re not patriots. It doesn’t prove that they’re brave or that they’re saviors. It just proves that they’re not doing the right thing. The right thing would be leaving the administration and coming forward to Congress and publicly telling the American people of their concerns. Sure, the Republicans in Congress have a history of ignoring ANYTHING to do with Trump’s wrongdoings since he took office, since of course they only want to enable and support him. But these resistors should not be some fifth column in the administration. They should be publicly screaming of their concerns. The Republicans can pretend that it’s crap, and Trump can cry that it’s fake news, but that’s what they should do.

It’s the RIGHT thing to do. Not anonymous op-eds. I don’t fault the New York Times for publishing it; of course they published it! No, I fault the writer.

There’s nothing patriotic about pretending to babysit Trump. That’s just enabling him. That’s just supporting his bad behavior and justifying it by claiming they’re stopping some of it.

They’re not patriots. They’re something else.

Cowards.

HEROES?

Heroes?

That’s what they call all who serve in the United States military. Some of them certainly are. But where does this blind religion come from that places all who wear military uniforms on a pedestal? Why must we accept that all in uniform are  heroes—period, end of story, no discussion?

World War II vets were heroes. They came back to parades and honor on a national scale. Later came Vietnam. They weren’t treated like heroes. Despite being drafted an forced to do some horrible things in a horrible, unjust, and unnecessary war, they were reviled in the streets of their own country. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t right. We got better after the Gulf War. Troop flights coming through Bangor, Maine, were met by people cheering them on at the airport. They held constant vigils, day and night, whenever troop flights came through. It was inspiring.

But the hero worship has blossomed from there.

Are they all heroes simply for enlisting? What about those who never saw combat? What about those who spent their military careers in the States—say, working in an office or cooking food on a base?

Well, they contributed to the overall military effort, so they’re just as heroic, right? If a guy only plays a few baseball games during the season but his team goes on to win the World Series, he gets a ring because he contributed—even if he never had a single hit or recorded a single out against an opponent. He was part of the team, and is treated as such.

So what about civilian employees in the military? There are lots of them. According to statistics from February 2018, there are about 1.35 million active-duty military and over 681,000 civilians, so plenty of civilians contribute mightily to the military effort. Are they heroes? If they’re not, why is the uniform and an enlistment the deciding factors?

What about those who tried? I tried to enlist in the Air Force in the early 1990s. I contributed A LOT to the 3519th USAF Recruiting Squadron. I typed. I mailed. I built a computer database. I showed training films to prospective recruits. I cleaned the office. I marched in practice. I showed Marine recruits how to do pull-ups on the bar in their office. And I worked anywhere from 8 to 30 hours every week volunteering my time. The two recruiters in that office trusted me with keys to the place. Ultimately, I was medically disqualified, but I contributed. Am I a hero?

I didn’t draw a paycheck. Military folks earn paychecks. Are they heroes then? What about volunteers who assist the military in many ways—are they heroes?

After all, it’s not about a uniform or a paycheck, right? It’s about service. We call them heroes because they served their country. And if they typed letters in the States while others were dying in combat, do we differentiate between those two people? Are they equally heroes? People always tell someone in uniform, “Thank you for your service.” Not “Thank you for risking your life” or “Thank you for collecting a paycheck”; those don’t matter. What matters, evidently, is that they served.

So why don’t we offer the same to non-military personnel? If you saw a civilian employee who works for the military, would you say, “Thank you for your service”? If not, then why not? We’ve already established that you don’t have to risk your life for the country; just serving is enough. So why must there be a uniform for one to be honored for service?

What about non-military service? Let’s take letter carriers. They brave rain and sleet and snow and hail. They brave dog attacks. They carry heavy bags around and labor hard to get the mail through. And not just junk mail. They deliver medications that people need. They serve as the first pair of eyes in their neighborhoods. I’ve read at least one story of a letter carrier who noticed an elderly shut-in’s mail piling up calling the police, resulting in life-saving intervention. Sounds heroic to me.

They collect canned goods every year for the hungry. Pretty heroic. And in the event of a natural disaster, the post office is a federal outpost in nearly every community in the country. Heroic indeed. And many of them literally risk their lives to deliver mail in dangerous places—where there’s gang activity, or in extreme weather conditions.

Letter carriers also wear uniforms. Service, uniforms, dangerous situation. Shouldn’t letter carriers be thanked for their service? Aren’t they heroic? Or do you have to be killing people in a war, even when there’s no actual threat to the security of the United States, in order to qualify for hero status?

What about employees in the Social Security office? USDA employees who get food to the hungry? FEMA employees who assist after a disaster? Intelligence employees who do everything from spy on the enemy to analyze data to counter cyberterrorism? Do they qualify as heroes?

What about non-federal employees, such as police officers who protect and serve? What about everyday volunteers at shelters and food banks and non-profits who provide for those in need?

Shouldn’t they all be thanked for their service? Aren’t they heroes?

I don’t mean to say that all in the military aren’t heroes. Some certainly are. I’m just trying to understand how one small portion of those who serve others in this country are stamped with that extra-special label, without any consideration for others or for the differences between the people who serve in the military. I wonder about this blind requirement that we must label them all with this extreme designation, and that you qualify as a horrible person if you’re not guilted into agreeing.

I object to any societal demand that I MUST say this or that or behave a certain way, and that I am judged a certain way because I refuse to kowtow to what all the lemmings are doing. Some words are super-strong. Applying a word like that to EVERYONE simply because they fit into a narrow class and because some demand that it be that way seems a bit robotic.

Heroes?

FASCISTS!

Fascists!

There’s a quote attributed to Sinclair Lewis that he never said. He alluded to it in some of his works, but never said it in these words. That doesn’t matter; what matters is the quote. It goes like this:

“When fascism comes to America it will come wrapped in a flag and waving a cross.”

He never said it. But someone did at some point, or at least wrote it down and attributed it to him. Angry fascists—I mean, the ultranationalist, far-right conservatives trying to rule the country—decry this merely because Lewis never said it. It’s amusing to hear them use that argument, as if because Lewis didn’t say it then the line is somehow inaccurate. It’s sort of like if I claimed that Abraham Lincoln once said, “Pedophiles are horrible people” and pedophiles crying out, “Aha! He NEVER said it!” as if that makes the sentiment untrue.

The fake-Lewis quote is just as accurate as saying that pedophiles are horrible people. When fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in a flag and waving a cross.

Let’s do it again, to let it sink in:

When fascism comes to America,
it will come wrapped in a flag
and waving a cross.

How far are we from that?

Just about there.

The extreme-right folks are quite fascist. They scream “DEMOCRACY!” but what they mean is “OUR WAY OR NOT AT ALL!” They want to hate. They want to not tolerate anyone or anything not like them, not in agreement with them, not in line with their view of America. They don’t want non-whites. They don’t want gays. They don’t want transgender people. They don’t want any rules about their guns.

Most of all, as I’ve stated on The Cud before, conservatives want two things. First, they don’t want anything they’ve ever known to change. Second, they want everyone to do it their way.

After all, it doesn’t matter if gay people marry. That doesn’t stop extreme-right conservatives from not being gay, and doesn’t infringe on their marriages. But they invest lots of time and money trying to keep those same rights from gays. Why? For no reason that matters. They just do it because they’re like angry children who are jealous that someone else might play with their toys. Marriage is THEIRS! Gay people are going to HELL! So if that’s the case, why do they care? God will sort it out, right?

Apparently, the fictitious Christian god is an idiot who cannot be trusted to sort out the sinners when they die. His minions on Earth have to do it. And even as Jesus talked about feeding the hungry and helping the poor and welcoming immigrants, American Christians just want to screw everyone. I don’t think they’re as CHRISTian as they claim they are. They certainly don’t seem to understand the mythological figure of Jesus Christ like they claim to worship.

Waving a cross.

They do it all the time. They make demands on society, demand control of others, demand that rights be taken from others. And why? Because they just don’t like it, and they’ll use their religion and their biblical book of fairy tales to justify any dreadful thing they want. And the mindless Christian masses will line up in lockstep and scream their agreement.

But they use more than their religion. They use their patriotism—which has become inextricably intertwined with their religion. Disagree with them, and you’re un-Christian! But many people don’t give a crap about that. I’m extremely pleased to not be Christian (I grew out of believing in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny when I was very young, and so do I disbelieve in mythology). So they proclaim that you’re not patriotic! You’re not American! The implication, of course, is that you’re not worthy of the rights and privileges of REAL Americans. If you kneel during the national anthem instead of the silly ceremony of putting your hand over your heart, you are un-American. If you don’t agree with “under God” in the pledge, you’re not un-Christian—you’re un-American. If you do anything that the extreme right disagrees with, you’re un-American. You’re a sub-standard, sub-civilized, sub-citizen, sub-patriotic subhuman.

Wrapped in a flag.

Fascism is, by definition, the product of extreme-right ultranationalism, and that is exactly what this nation is undergoing right now—and it’s being justified with religion and patriotism. They enabled Donald Trump, who is the closest thing to a fascist president that we’ve ever seen. He’s only been stopped by the Constitution and the courts, and he’s working hard to get around those. We are on the brink, folks—on the brink of our democratic republic crumbling and a fascist dictator taking over.

Hyperbole? No way. A terrifying reality. We are on the precipice of our rights being taken away in favor of what the fanatically religious want their version of America to be. And it isn’t just Americans who will suffer—it’s the whole world.

Whole world: We’re working on it. We’re hoping to retake Congress from fascist-leaning Republicans and at least check the president on his power—and get the REAL investigations going into this man and those around him. We’re hoping to retake the White House in 2020 and put an end to this insanity. We’re doing our best as a nation to undo this horror show.

We’re doing our best to undo the beginnings of a terrible dystopia. We’re doing our best to stop THEM from taking power, but we’re teetering precariously.

Fascists!

A long time contributor to The Cud, David M. Fitzpatrick is a writer based in Maine, USA. His many short stories have appeared in print magazines and anthologies around the world. He writes for a newspaper, writes fiction, edits anthologies, and teaches creative writing. Visit him at www.fitz42.net/writer to learn more.