Dangerous Times

As I read the news today I thought of a blog that I penned in 2010. It read in part:

“The white cracker who wrote the national anthem knew what he was doing. He set the word ‘free’ to a note so high nobody can reach it.”  From Tony Kushner’s, Angels in America.

I heard this on XM radio today and it struck me that, more and more, and at a seemingly  exponential rate of growth, this country is losing its ability to sing harmony. Forget hitting the high notes, we don’t even reach for them. This is so true that when someone does sing the original notes, they sound queer and even off key.  Rather than a land of the” free and the home of the brave” we are rapidly devolving into a nation of religious intolerance led by cowards who hide behind the rights garnered and protected by brave men and women who understood both the words and the spirit of the score.

Little did I realize at that time the depths to which we would descend. Today’s news includes:

• The governor of Georgia sending thousands of national guard troops to help treat COVID patients in hospitals while vaccination centers were closed in Georgia because a mob of anti-vaxxers threatened workers there.
• In Northampton, PA, a candidate for county office said that he would lead gangs into school board meetings, physically remove the elected members, and replace them with people who opposed masking in the classrooms.
•  Macon County Republican Party, Representative Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) insisted that the January 6 rioters are “political hostages” and said he wanted to “bust them out.” When someone in the audience asked “When are you going to call us to Washington again?” he said, “We are actively working on that one…. We have a few plans in motion that I can’t make public right now……..The Second Amendment was not written so that we can go hunting or we can shoot sporting clays…. ”
• The Right has moved so far to the extreme that former President Trump, their hero, was booed when he encouraged vaccinations to the gathered admirers.
• Fox News host Tucker Carlson has openly called for the removal of President Biden and Vice-President Harris.

Democracy is in peril when citizens believe it is their right to use force to replace elected officials with individuals with whom they agree; January 6^th was just one manifestation. Democracy is in peril when politicians use rules to stifle legislation that the majority support. Democracy is in peril when elected officials design strategies to make the very act of voting difficult for those who might vote against them. Democracy is in peril when a religion believes that it is “the chosen” and would enact laws that support their beliefs at the expense of others.

I vividly remember the Cuban Missile Crisis and the very real threat posed to our nation. That event pales in comparison to these.