Democracy for America
Related: About this forumHe Unleashed The Dogs of War
HE UNLEASHED THE DOGS OF WAR
By Al Garcia
Hate, bigotry, racism and prejudice was always here. It never went away. It was just hiding behind closed doors, inside ordinary houses, in All-American neighborhoods, and beneath the waving flag of liberty. Hate, bigotry, racism and prejudice gathered every Sunday across America in churches, cathedrals and houses of worship of every kind and every size. All hidden inside embittered minds and festering souls.
It may exist in your friend, your neighbor, your family member, or maybe even within a part of you. For it infects the human heart and soul like the blackness of a cancer that eats away the flesh and bone and blood that sustains and maintains the humanity and nobility of the human race. It has no bounds and feeds and grows on fear and hate. They question the authenticity of every color and religion except their own, and then begin to draw apart in every way the essence of what and who and why we are at least those not born into the chosen race and creed.
Five years ago or so, on a Sunday afternoon, a man descended down an escalator through the pink marble and brass atrium of a looming New York tower to announce his candidacy for president of the United States. On that day he unleashed the dogs of war on the civility and the tranquility of a nation, and on the nobility, morality and character of the legacy of America.
On that day, those hiding behind closed doors, inside ordinary houses, in All-American neighborhoods throughout America, flung open their doors and their windows and let loose their rage, their anger and their bigotry. It was like the awakening of a dormant volcano, erupting and spewing all the pent-up blackness of decades of hate, evil, bias, racism and bigotry. But now it had a face, a name, a platform, and the money and the motivation to rise from the ashes of history and once again attempt to triumph over decency, dignity and honesty.
And today, even though he was removed from office, we watch and listen to the stories of hate being played out in El Paso, Dayton and across America. Shootings. Mayhem. Chaos. Fear. The dogs of war are upon us. We have become our own enemy and our own executioners. He unleashed the worst of us, upon the rest of us.
The world no longer envies America. And now, the world need not fear America and its once great might. For America has become its own worst enemy. And that enemy has a face a name, and a platform from which to continue the attack on America the Republican Party.
Karadeniz
(23,517 posts)slightlv
(4,422 posts)No idea how to rec, if one can rec a message here. Long time reader, fairly new poster. You have stated the truth passionately and eloquently. But the dogs of war that have been unleashed are growing, I fear...
You see, all my life I'm been a pacifist, tho I'm an AF Veteran, Vietnam Era. I've marched for women's rights, for civil rights. I taught myself computers, building, using, and the popular software, and then turned around and taught other disadvantaged women what I'd learned. I cannibalized and begged parts of non-working computers to build a computer lab for a barrio school. I've taken in every kind of injured or abandoned animal you can name, and many became my 'family' if they couldn't be rehomed. I never had much money. If you wanted to make money working in computers in the 80's and 90's, you'd better have been male. And I wasn't. But as much as that yanked my chain, as long as I had enough to feed my daughter, my animals, and give to a friend in need... that's all I cared for.
After 4 years of Trump's Dogs of War, the peace and serenity I had in my life is gone... perhaps, I fear, forever. For the first time in my life, I realize what "hate" is, and I detest the feeling. But I can't rid myself of it. I can't forgive these people, especially since they won't stop being evil imbeciles. My father fought the fascists in WWII, and was proud when I enlisted to carry on the tradition. 1/3+ of this country makes a mockery of our service, and I'm just so glad my father isn't alive today to see what has become of this country he was so proud to serve.
My great-grandfather fought the Koch brothers' father. I boycott the Koch's. Seems to be embedded in the family DNA. But I'm to the point where all those states passing laws saying they're not going to abide by this or that law of the U.S., and those in militias, sovereign citizen groups, or just plain hateful, bigoted individuals... I want to put them altogether in a part of the country that's all theirs. Let "Separate but Equal" have a whole new meaning in the 21st century. I'm sick of them impeding progress and making us the laughing stock of the world. The truly awful thing for me to realize is I wouldn't care if we lined them all up and gave them a taste of their own 2nd amendment solution.
Can you understand how broke my soul got with all this? I still help, I still give, I still rescue; but now I feel like a hypocrite. Because I never really knew what hatred was... what true evil was... until 2016. And believe me, I really wasn't naive! But it was always an idea of evil; not evil thrust into your face. And I can't help but feel I'm not alone with this feeling; this realization. What happens when WE have enough of what they're doing to us, our fellow humans, and our country? Unless this country splits into two separate halves, I do fear we're headed for civil war. Too many of us feel downright militant now. We're no longer friendly "snowflakes" and we're willing to fight to retain the founders' idea of this great experiment. We're not going to buckle to fascism or authoritarianism. We'll fight back with our lives.
And thus ends the grand experiment, I fear. Trump did more than unleash the evil that lies in the hearts of men and women who were just like him. He pushed it until it infected the whole country, every man, woman, and child. Under those circumstances, how can there ever be a coming together ever again?
When and how can we reclaim our souls and what penance will there be?