All fascist
governments act the same. They do whatever they want to do
irrespective of laws. Rights or Constitutional authorities. They
operate on the principle that it is far easier to “not seek
forgiveness than it is to get permission.” The leaders who direct
such enterprises never are sorry or apologetic for anything they do.
All rhetoric and action is fully justified I their own minds. There
is nothing that is off-limits to such people.
Whereas the
constitutional concept of “innocent until proven guilty” was
supposed to protect prisoners and the accused from punishment without
due process, that concept has been perverted by the present
Administration to dodge the consequences of their highly questionable
acts and policies. In the same way the Tobacco Industry claimed that
tobacco usage did not cause cancers, lung and heart disease, this
Administration claims it is not affiliated with obvious foreign
influences. Not being tried in court for crimes and official
irregularities is not the same as not having committed the crimes.
Opposite the Tobacco Industry claim that correlation doesn’t prove
causation, this Administration colors the nature of immigrants and
asylum seekers in the hues of criminality. The Administration
purposefully declines to differentiate among the types of people who
arrive at our doorstep seeking entrance.
There are those who
arrive at a port of entry seeking a visa to stay. They cite economic
and persecution reasons for their long arduous journey, typically on
foot with children in tow, hoping for the ability to stay and build a
better life. They are summarily turned away by border control agents
at the behest of a President who doesn’t like their language,
national heritage and customs. Such people are profiled by their skin
color and physical stature.
There are those
people who made the same onerous trek of 1,000 mile or more and
crossed the US/MEX border and sat down to wait for border agents to
pick them up and take them to a place where they may apply for
permission to stay based on political asylum. They too are held
indefinitely while “their case is pending” maybe for years as
though they were criminals. The Administration labels them as
criminals and undesirable without evidence or proof of either claim.
There is no due process. There is no right to reasonable bail being
honored. No writs of Habeas Corpus are being filed seeking the
whereabouts of misplaced children or adults in detention. All of
these Constitutional Rights are being summarily denied by the
authoritarian Administration on the principle of “we will do what
we want until a court orders otherwise, then we will challenge the
court decisions.”
There is no end to
the atrocities a rogue government will commit when the President
orders it and the Legislature is cowed into silence and inaction.
Half of the deafening silence is due to them liking what the
President is doing while the other half is scared at what the
President and his organization will do to them. Many of them surely
have been the recipient of “the offer you can’t refuse.”
This “offer”
takes several forms in the political arena. Hardcore Republicans
speak of a resistant incumbent being “primaried” in the next
election. That is the GOP will put up and support a candidate to
replace incumbent. Such action would effectively end their political
careers. The Fascist style relies heavily on threats and coercion
rather than cooperation and compromise. The GOP Senate is universally
silent on everything the current President does. They may have been
subjected to the most extreme meaning of “the offer.”
If so, it would
explain how a Senator such as Lindsey Graham could speak truths about
how wrong and ignorant Donald Trump is then like flipping a switch
turn and praise his prowess and benefits to America.
Trumps highly
visible relationship with the Russian President and his praise for
the man, shows that he too has been compromised and forced to toe the
line. In a country where journalists and political adversaries drop
like flies it is not a long stretch to imagine how far their
influence extends.
