In Honor of the United States Armed Services

[BOREALIS]

This Independence Day Let's COMMIT to Saving Democracy

Tuesday, July 04, 2023 at 6:52:38a CDT


We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident

Today, we in America rightfully celebrate the birth of our country, a Democracy founded upon the precepts of equality and Divinely bestowed "inalienable" rights such as the pursuit of "life, liberty and happiness."

But as we celebrate the joy of being Americans, let us also recognize the fragility of said democracy, and renew our commitment to the PRESERVATION of it, in full recognition of the equally "self-evident" truth that our Democracy is now being threatened, undermined, and imperiled like never before, by authoritarian elements of fascism and supremacist ideology, promoted by wealthy power brokers and oligarchs (domestic and abroad), whose sole purpose is to further empower themselves via hate based rancor, divisive rhetoric, and the systemic demonization of some perceived "other." Just as they ALWAYS HAVE.

And imo, few narratives have captured and quite succinctly summarized how this has played out time and time again, from early in our nation's history, as did Thomhartmann's rather excellent piece,
"Why are We Letting Red State "Welfare Oligarchs" Mooch Off Blue States?" .. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/27/2177933/-Why-are-We-Letting-Red-State-Welfare-Oligarchs-Mooch-Off-Blue-States

In it, he wrote:

Fewer than 2000 families — six-tenths of one percent of the Southern population — owned more than 50 enslaved people and ruled the oligarchy that we call the Confederacy with an iron fist. The 75 percent of white people in the South during that era who did not own any enslaved persons generally lived in deep poverty.

Women had no rights, queer people were routinely tortured and murdered, education for both enslaved Africans and poor whites was generally outlawed, religious attendance was often mandated, and hunger and disease stalked all but those in the families of the two thousand morbidly rich planter dynasties.

Think about it. SIX-TENTHS OF ONE PERCENT of the South were slaveholders while 75 percent of white southerners lived in DEEP poverty.

Yet, much like the Capitol rioters who were prepared to die on January 6, for a grifting con-man who'd never known hunger or had to go without, who (according to some Capitol rioters) USED them, and who even now, in the face of serious charges, is STILL siphoning and pocketing campaign contributions,

110,000 poor "sons of the Confederacy" died on the battlefield (and by some estimates, many more from associated causes) to preserve the wealth of a few slaveholders, killing an estimated 94,000 fellow Americans in pursuit of their "cause."

They were USED by the powers that were. Because, like now, all that was needed was for someone to stoke their hatred for some "other."

Fortunately however, OTHER Americans rose to the challenge - whether to defend Democracy, preserve the Union, or fight for a NOBLER cause. And now, at this point in our country's history, is up to US to rise up for an equally noble cause.

After the Civil War the South concocted the bogus postwar narrative of "the lost cause" to lend legitimacy to an inglorious effort. Likewise, the MAGA GOP, their enablers, supporters, defenders, and associates want us to buy into their bogus narrative of a "culture war" in order to elevate its legitimacy.

It is no such thing.

Theirs is nothing more than a equally fraudulent DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN, based upon lies, distortions, unfounded fears, and a litany of hate, too often devoid of truth.

It is nothing SHORT of a full court assault upon education, science, history, medicine, and TRUTH, facilitated by the demonization of Jews, Black people, the LGBTQ community, immigrants, and anyone, anyTHING else, that doesn't fit their narrow-minded, retrogressive narrative.

The purpose of which is to divide, conquer, and again, further entrench their own POWER... ready even to destroy Democracy itself to achieve THEIR ends.

And while they get their often too eager supporters hating some demon "other" they undermine the rights of women, they marginalize and disempower minorities, they limit and restrict academic access to knowledge, reality and truth ITSELF.

While they enact laws to protect the wealthy and corporate elite, they seek to undermine the right to vote by creating doubt in our election process, by installing partisan election officials and writing laws to reverse voter outcomes, and by disempowering democratic governors and municipalities.

And they (with the assistance of their Trump stacked far right SCOTUS) work to undermine the wellbeing and financial stability of AMERICANS,
by attacking healthcare legislation, by opposing a livable minimum wage, by passing laws limiting a consumer's right to relief via court, by opposing worker’s rights, pandemic relief, student debt relief, aid to veterans, and by sabotaging assistance and social safety net programs, upon which MOST of their OWN CONSTITUENCY depend. .. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/05/who-is-receiving-social-safety-net-benefits.html

Worse still, they have gone about setting America back DECADES with impunity and without regard of the will of America's majority, in part because that majority has reacted rather sedately to a number of their draconian setbacks.
I've written of this before, as have others here. .. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/11/3/2061960/-Why-Aren-t-Democrats-Obsessed

So now America has reached the point where threats are being made to elected politicians' families, where Nazis protest outside schools and synagogues, where immigrants are fleeing Florida,
where ideals such as diversity, equality, and inclusion have be made into pejoratives, and people are being discriminated against, insulted, attacked, even shot and killed because of the language they use, the gender they identify with, and/or color of their skin.

Yet, in the face of the ever increasing hate, violence, and vitriol, we have people such as Mike Pence and useful tools like Tim Scott telling us there's no racism in America.

Which of course is more right wing denial and DISINFORMATION. More lies, designed to lull us asleep until it's TOO late. A lie because the TRUTH is, the struggle for civil rights on MANY fronts, is far from over. In fact, it's only just begun.

WAKE UP America.

This content was created by a Daily Kos Community member.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/4/2179222/-This-Independence-Day-Let-s-COMMIT-to-Saving-Democracy