He Unleashed The Dogs of War [View all]

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.