The Crisis

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph..."
December 23, 1776
Thomas Paine
The Crisis
Imagine you are pulled over for speeding 6 mph over on federal land. They take you to jail for an indefinite period while your case goes through the court system. They take your kids who were with you, and put them in a detention facility, because they were with you. It is the same level of misdemeanor as the people seeking asylum at the border are being charged with. They are not imagining it, they are living it. There are 7 month olds in that HHS facility with the North Korean style mural of Donald Trump at the front door.
It does not matter to me who's party is in power, or who wins what in the next election. This is what is happening today, and we should all demand it stop. Or, should we just wait until they start shooting brown people they have pulled over for no particular reason? Wait...never mind.
Yeah Joe, that is not a fair comparison, nor anywhere near reality...Wait...never mind.
That would never happen with all the cellphone cameras...Wait...never mind.
These are church people that quote the Bible, they...Wait...never mind.
No American that served and watched buddies die to free other nations would stand for...Wait...never mind.
No law enforcement officer in uniform would publicly defend this on camera...Wait...never mind.
Congress would never allow the Executive to make up laws on their own...Wait...never mind.
The President will not publicly wish this was a dictatorship...Wait...never mind.
We won't build "camps"...Wait...never mind.
We don't think that other people of other citizenship are devoid of human rights...Wait...never mind.
The courts will stop this...Wait...never mind.
The press will point out...Wait...never mind.
People of integrity would resign before they defended this...Wait...never mind.
I am not a crook...Wait...I did nothing wrong.
NO AMERICAN CITIZEN WOULD EVER LET THEIR NAME BE ATTACHED TO SOMETHING SO COMPLETELY AGAINST THE AMERICA THEY ALL DREAM THEY LIVE IN.
No, they would not, THEY ABSOLUTELY ARE, ABOUT 62 MILLION AT LAST COUNT.
That my friends, is some bullshit right there.
This is not who I thought we were, and not how I think of myself. But it is what I have been painted with. No American citizen gets out of this without some responsibility for this. We, the people, constitute and form our government. All of us are responsible for the government we elect, whether we voted for it or not.
LET ME SAY THAT AGAIN, WHETHER YOU VOTED FOR IT OR NOT, WHETHER YOU VOTED OR NOT, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE BECAUSE YOU ARE A CITIZEN.
If you don't like it, speak up. Say something. Get off your political ass and do something about it, because the only thing we know for certain with humans is that things will only get worse if left unchecked.
Or, if you are cool with all this, say so. Don't hide because you don't like this one aspect. In for a penny in for a human rights abuse pound. And don't give some spineless mumbling about well, "we got an anti abortion judge, and we knew he was no saint." If you voted for this mess because you care about unborn children and are not horrified about treatment of children that are already born, you are a hypocrite, and sorry, you are not Pro Life. You are just, well, I don't know what the hell you are, and I doubt you know either.
This is one of those moments that tries a man's soul. Summer soldier, sunshine patriot, or are you actually a citizen that believes in all 27 Amendments and the Constitution they are attached to?
Because, it is time to say so, loud and clear. Either way. We all need to declare where we stand. Or, regardless, you will declare where you stand. Silence is complicity, which is exactly the same as support. Go whole hog, and actually take a stand. Where do you come down as an American?
Where do you come down as a Christian? Muslim? Jew? Mormon? Hindu? Buddhist? Agnostic? Atheist?
These are the times that try men's souls, or help you figure out if yours is in okay shape, or has a lot of holes and corruption in it. You can buff out the rust and sew up the holes, but only by being the best version of yourself, as you are constituted.
Being silent, ignoring things that you don't like, not having time, being bored with it, too damn lazy to figure out if you are getting lied to, too damn stubborn to accept that you have been lied to, too damn hateful to see outside yourself, those are all things that represent holes. Easy to patch, you just have to decide not to do those things anymore.
Or, do them all the damn way, don't hide in quiet because you know it is pretty shitty, but you hope no one really notices your part. I mean that way, you can always say later, yeah, I was never okay with that. I was silent, because any of the reasons above, but I really was not complicit. I did nothing, but in my heart I was a good person. Maybe even smile while you say it, that creepy smile you get when you are flat lying.
"These are just brown kids from some shithole country that don't even belong here. They have no rights, no place and no standing to even be upset about it. We can do anything we want to them, and we will with these ones we have, to keep those other brown folks from bringing their kids with them or coming here."
That is the government's position. That means it is your position. YOU! How do you like someone doing that in your name? Tough enough for you, so you can proudly say, "YEAH! Screw them." Or does it make you cringe, and demand that things change?
Saying nothing is the same as saying "Screw them." Because they are getting screwed. If you don't speak, you condone the behavior. All of us.
Peace.

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