The How & The Why of Our Current Reign of Terror

How could they have let it happen, we asked when we were younger. How could good people have allowed their hurting and struggling nation to be taken over by hate-filled, fear-wielding, greed & power opportunist thugs?

This is how. This is exactly how.

They said they didn't know, didn't realize, but the signs were all around them. The signs have been all around us, and now the dark evil destructions begin again. And it is our family, friends, neighbors, teachers and preachers -- some of them -- who will soon claim they didn't know.

Already clang the calls for imprisoning the enemies of the state. And those have just been defined as not only the voices of loyal opposition politicians and the investigative media. But also included are the non-profits like the ACLU, the SPLC, Planned Parenthood, and others who defend the oppressed and support the truth-warriors.

This did not happen overnight. It is not new this week. It is, though, what caused the election of Kamala Harris to fail. Fear, hate, greed, ignorance, self-interest, grievance and revenge politics. And the stink of white supremacy.

For years, books presenting history, cultural and religious diversity, books that challenged received -- meaning, conventional -- "wisdom," science and the healing systems of indigenous peoples have been banned. Education has been so watered down as to be nearly useful. And just to be certain the young don't learn any better for a generation or more from tax-payer funded public schools, the Department of Education is on the chopping block.

Those who are now in control mean us to have no choice but to bow down and lick their boots for mercy.

Those now scrambling to come out of the shadows and shine in the glare of corruption made popular, are dancing with delight, their weapons like Project 2025 and mass deportations at the ready.

Those who deny the rights of women's health care, of socio-economic justice and equity, and of organized dissent and resistance are salivating in response to their dear leader's lunacy. And frighteningly more competent than he are they to accomplish his fever dreams of destruction and retaliation.

Those who seek to destroy the governing principles that formed the reality we believed would last forever -- never mind the collective delusion that gave that belief life -- grin at the prospect of our fearful compliance.

The American Experiment of Jefferson and Hamilton is over.

To be sure, after 248 years much needed to be changed, improved, developed. No doubt in the distant future scholars will be asking: was this 21st century reign of terror the only way to accomplish that?

Someone recently commented that the US Constitution was not written for anyone but white men of property. Reading it, we see that is true. The ugly soul of the United States has never wanted to include women, people of color, nor the blue collar working class, much less our own indigenous nations and members of the LGBTQIA+. This is proven over and over again with increasing vehemence erupting into violence in each generation.

So it is with stark disillusionment that we who aspired to peace, hope, and unity reel as we struggle to keep our balance and put one foot in front of the other on the disorienting road we are all on -- a road with 9.9 Richter shaking, feeling like it's dropping out from under us with every step.

The only hope I have today is the hope that I am wrong in how I see the future unfolding, and that I am wrong in thinking there will be no allied force crossing the oceans to free us from this tyranny.