I Fear for America

I fear for America.

Not because of the pandemic. Not because of the economy. Not even because of the chaos that has followed the death of George Floyd, and not because of Donald Trump’s corruption.

No, it is none of these things that are disrupting my sleep, disturbing my waking hours and making me, literally, sick. It’s the oncoming war. The oncoming second American Civil War. It won’t be between the North and the South, and it won’t be over slavery. I’m talking about the impending war between the Right and the Left, and who will decide the path we will follow as a nation.

America, since Reagan (Barack Obama’s eight years in office perhaps excepted), has become progressively more conservative. The Right’s agenda, which includes—but is not limited to—ramming through unqualified judges who are committed to the extreme-right Trump agenda (including, quietly, White Supremacy and the protection of those who practice it in the guise of upholding the law); ubiquitous gun ownership and the freedom to use them, in fact or as threats of intimidation; the sometimes-tacit endorsement of police brutality; the “give to the rich at the expense of the poor” mentality; denying minorities equal opportunities (to vote, for example, or to obtain safe, affordable housing); repressing them, and oppressing and marginalizing women. (Never mind women’s advances in politics and, occasionally, business. They’re still oppressed and marginalized. #Metoo notwithstanding, women are still treated, thought of—at least by most men in power—as objects.) To name but a few examples.

The political haves exploited their privilege. Fairness, they make clear, isn’t a doctrine; it’s an obstacle. The minority—minorities—is there to serve the interests of the majority. Or the would-be majority. Say what you will about equity, nothing speaks louder than someone facing you with a Smith and Wesson, a can of tear gas, or an arrest warrant in hand.

Are politicians and their handmaidens there to serve the people of the city or state who elected them, by taking action to help them overcome the rage life in America has created for them and the sense of helplessness that comes with it? Or are they there to ensure their re-election, maintain their privilege and to hell with the people who lack influence in the form of clout and money?

I think many of them are there to incite the electorate, to antagonize it, to further minimize its power and influence while ignoring the endemic needs of the people who comprise it: You can vote, sure, they say—this is America, after all—but we’ll decide whether that vote matters. That is truly America, after all.

The “we” of that today is, of course, Donald Trump’s powerful organization and political allies. If the people elect Joe Biden and flip the Senate, I believe Trump, and they, will not simply take that rejection in stride. He, and they, will—both between the election and Inauguration Day 2021, and after Trump’s removal from the White House (which, I expect. will be embarrassing because it will be forcible)—rage and browbeat, and the objects of their rage and the victims of their browbeating will be the American people, especially the minorities of the American people. If ever there was a movement that would not go gentle, it is the one that supports and empowers Donald Trump.

I fear this because, if Trump loses his re-election bid, he will coalesce his supporters into an army that will have no qualms about exercising its freedom of assembly and speech by parading the streets in riot gear, fully armed, announcing their control over bullhorns and loudspeakers, and methodically assassinating anyone who might try to stand up for a differing point of view.

The result will be Civil War. Tens of thousands of deaths, and the billions of dollars of destruction, that will come from it. And millions of Americans with nowhere to turn but violence.

Violence, as in Revolution.

I fear for America.

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