Reality--The Existential Issue From Which Most Of Us Are Hiding--

Reality--The Existential Issue From Which Most Of Us Are Hiding--

This is a general response to a question from a friend, to many friends who are asking, "what do we have to do to derail Trump and MAGA if you think that our Justice system can't, or won't?"

This is a huge subject. Maybe a series, but definitely not just a post. But for now, I would reiterate the arguments which I've been making since the Summer of 2020. 

The first thing to recognize is that the age of traditional party politics in America has ended, because there is a rebellion underway, led by a fascist theocratic movement which has hijacked one of the two major parties and commandeered the state governments of more than twenty of our states, which are now actual dictatorships run by a minority party. MAGA is a movement of white "Christian nationalists" which wants to break up the United States and form a separate nation, while still claiming the title of "Americans." They are not all broadcasting this uniform message, but with rare exceptions, that is who they are.

The traditional methods for addressing national policy through elections and constituency politics are either non-existent or endangered, and in all cases insufficient, as the prospects for preserving functional democratic processes has a two year expiration date.  That is, if the American people and its non-MAGA leadership do not change their thinking and orientation soon. 

Our system of justice reflects the ongoing breakup of the United States. You have heard the term "runaway jury" to describe the phenomena where a Jury foreman or a clique delivers a hung jury or verdict which disregards the evidence or instructions by a judge in a trial? We currently have a majority of runaway judges, who are part of an authoritarian, pro-Confederate racist cult, (The Federalist Society) who have a majority on the federal bench and control of the courts in nearly half our states. What used to be the rule of law in this context has devolved to the point of resemblng some hybrid creature combining "The Lord Of The Flies" with the legal tribunals of the Russian Federation. Given the theocratic element which is operating with these judges, a comparison with the Spanish Inquisition, the Taliban government and the Saudi Monarchy would not be far off either. 

There are outposts of sanity in Blue state Democratic strongholds and resistance networks behind enemy lines in the Red states where the law and justice still means something, but the idea that political and economic justice can be fought for and won in the courts to even the degree it was previously, in a system already long compromised by institutional racism and economic bias, that is no longer viable. Because we have a rogue SCOTUS which will rule favorably, the fascists can go "judge shopping" in renegade states for Originalist "states rights" religious lunatics in Texas or wherever, and dismantle 150 years of settled law in favor of reviving archaic Dark Ages laws like "Comstock." 

Also, another form of this clinging to traditional methods is the belief that if Trump is convicted, MAGA will fade away, die on the vine, and we can return to normal. To those folks I offer a reminder that nearly one-hundred years after the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation and Robert E. Lee's surrender, blacks won the right to vote and desegregation was enforced in the Jim Crow states. With incomplete results, even in the so-called "free North," I might add. One-hundred years, think about it. 

And what are we doing about this situation? Too many Democrats and MAGA opponents are watching looped old reruns playing in our headspace of Perry Mason and Columbo, longing for the good old days when good guys with a badge or a law firm would jump in and save the day. We are literally scared so witless that we revert to a childhood fantasy state of praying for heroes to rescue us. A significant part of the spin-doctoring hype of mainstream media is tailored to appeal to exactly this kind of Marvel Comics superhero worship which characterizes our popular culture. Put that together with the nearly complete "tabloidization" of our news media (with exceptions) and we have a toxic mix of low-intensity information warfare which has conditioned us to adopt a spectator mentality, befitting that of Roman attendees at the Coliseum, waiting to be entertained, or thrilled. 

Nothing works as it used to. We, the American people, waited too long to become self-aware, politically engaged, and active. We have been so immersed in our personal lives for so many years, we were not paying attention, most never saw the threat which MAGA represented coming, and now we are at the point that even if Trump disappeared from the political scene tomorrow, our nation is perilously divided and we have a rebellion brewing not unlike that of 1860. We are at the point where the things many of us have feared the most, such as what was warned about by author Sinclair Lewis ("It Can't Happen Here") are here. The crisis we face, in that sense, is no longer one of politics, because it is an actual rebellion, and the system which has protected us and enabled us to organize a civil society hangs by a thread, making potential victims of us all. 

I would concede that these tendencies were there all along, lurking, running in background like an app infected with malware. And then came Trump and covid, a "one-two" gutpunch which unleashed this thing called MAGA in a nation already fraught with division, conflict, and war fatigue after 9-11. MAGA did not spring from a vacuum, but it is here, and we have to fight the enemy which presents itself in front of us. 

So, we need an entirely different method and approach, based on the realization that it has reached the stage where the US is in process of splitting apart and verging upon ungovernability. Hyperbole? Exaggeration? Not happening? Replay the last seven years in your minds, and add up all of the warnings we ignored, and events which we believed "could never happen" that did, and you'll have a list resembling the Dead Sea Scrolls.

What could derail MAGA or Trump? What did it take to derail Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy? What did it take to end the Jim Crow system? Frankly, it will take one of two things. Either a bloody war, or a non-violent revolution. It will take the kind of movement, leadership and strategy which was needed to end slavery and its legacies, when the courts and elections were not a remedy because both systems were controlled by the slavers and their descendants. 

For these reasons, we need President Biden to become like President Lincoln, and we need a movement behind him such as the one which swept Lincoln into the White House as a "dark horse" in 1860 to save the Union. You will remember from your history that voting against slavery was not an option, and the Supreme Court was headed by like likes of Roger Taney before Lincoln came in. Lincoln, won, and almost half the states left. What do we think will happen if Biden is re-elected? Hopefully, that is a mere year and a half away, but the clock is ticking. We claim to be "woke," but are we awake yet?

And whichever way it goes, we cannot avoid it. The conflict, in whatever form it takes, will last for a long time, because the MAGA forces are and have been recruited through their churches, not the GOP. Think about that fact seriously for a moment, and what it means. That is why I say, this is no longer politics, it is a religious war, staged and manipulated by contending factions of those oligarchs who feed upon these conflicts to seize or keep power. (Not unlike those in Europe which lasted for decades in the Middle Ages, and like that which has run the Middle East for centuries)  And it is why I talk about the civil rights movement so much, as an example of what we have to do when elections and the courts are being commandeered, and are in the hands of an ongoing rebellion. 

Am I arguing that democracy is dead, and to not bother voting, or, that lawbreakers should walk free because the court system is corrupt? Of course not. Not yet, in any event. But those who wish to keep our system intact need to face the new reality that the days of conventional strategies for remedying injustice have ended. There are times where traditional approaches and standard practices are made obsolete by the very nature of new emerging crises. It is in the spirit of being prepared for this that I raise these issues in the way I do, rather than trying to make people "feel good." 

What am I proposing as a plan? Hell if I know. There is a famous quote from part-time philosopher and ex-boxer Mike Tyson, which went "everybody's got a plan when they go into the ring, until they get punched in the face." 

I've been trying to avoid stating all of this directly but this Fox case has brought out a lot of angst and reactions ranging from euphoria to despair.  There is too much commentary which parses the language of commentators and cites legal precedents, quoting sources on this or that, rumor mongering and speculation, most of which is a total waste of energy better directed elsewhere. Too many people want Trump and MAGA to go away by magic, and want some other entity, elected officials, prosecutors, media, judges, celebrities to do it for us so they don't have to do anything themselves. This is our leading problem, with the exception of the actual existence of our MAGA enemy.

Why is this?`Well, largely fear. Think about the terror of being black in the south, and having the KKK living amongst them, firebombing homes, churches, and conducting lynchings. Or Hitler's Brownshirts during the Weimar period. That is what we are confronted with by MAGA, which is being prepped for white nationalist stochastic violence by its leaders on a scale worse than January 6th. 

Aside from the fear, which is normal, and the kinds of denial which flows from that, (which is real, legitimate, and therefore an understandable reason for remaining on the sidelines as a cheerleader) there are cynicism, despair, indifference, and ignorance as justifications for inaction. Or equally problematic are those among us who are self-satisfied that what we are doing is enough, within the limits of our comfort zones, and see no need to change what we are doing.  Each of these are a choice, (for which I have little sympathy, by the way) and not a necessary condition, and has no legitimacy as an excuse in my view. 

I'll do what I can to educate people and help them overcome their fear. That is what I've been working on throughout four decades of organizing. But otherwise, a lot of people need to make some personal decisions to change their lives around, to decide what they are personally going to do, instead of "hoping and praying" for something to be done by others. We need a movement which is bigger than electoral politics, and not dependent on lawyers and courts. We need to find or create new leaders from among the 20-45 year old age demographic. Not just activists or protesters, but leaders. They are out there waiting for direction and backup, and represent our greatest hope for durable effective change. If you are cynical about the youth, then you aren't serious about winning or changing anything.

The most important thing for those people who want to defeat this MAGA rebellion is to stop living in the world of delusion and denial. We blame Fox and the media for so much, but the far greater problem are the Americans who don't watch it who are gaslighting themselves, living in a fantasy bubble world in which this crisis will be solved without them risking anything, just watching it while "eating popcorn," clicking "Like" and posting emojis or memes on Facebook. 

This is pretty rough stuff. It's not meant personally as an indictment against any one of my friends. It's not even in response to today's events so much or the questions I've been getting, so much as thoughts and observations which I've had for a while. 

Keep the faith. There is hope. We just have been looking for it in the wrong place.