Featured image by David Brossard. Follow the link for more of this artist’s work.
I think that historians are going to look back at these years and see a clear fall of the United States. In a hundred years, we’ll see the events unfolding over the years and clearly note when our second civil war began, and be able to mark the “important battles” of this internal conflict. Depending on who wins, either history will remember how the state had to overcome those who were “selfish” and isolationist during the continuing pandemic, or we’ll see how the patriotic forces overcame the might of the neo-fascists who nearly toppled this great nation. Either way, the conflict will get much worse before it gets better.
We are in a cold civil war. The weapons are information and institutions, the ammunition tweets, posts, and memes. The casualties are in dollars and livelihoods lost rather than deaths. It is still a battle for resources, but the control clearly depends upon the emphasis of fear, violence, and potential terror of the opposition. Our federal government is looking for evidence that those who still value liberty and personal freedom are violent and willing to engage in violence. The never-ending refrain of the “January 6th Insurrection,” now disproven as an organized attack on our “democracy,” but rather a number of one-off actors with a dash of federal plants.
But that incident has sparked a new era of the war on terrorism, with the security apparatus of the United States now being turned on the people. All of the surveillance, quasi-governmental organizations, and meta-data scraping of the federal government are being fully turned on the American people, tinged with the corruption that comes with playing party politics. For those who do not share the approved governmental lines, they face digital non-personing. One would think that we do not agree with the Communist Chinese or the KGB of old in making people disappear, and yet, here we are. We claim to be a free nation, but everywhere we have government actors and bureaucrats attempting to erode our rights. And we have the gall to tell other nations that they need to respect the rights of their people.
But what is it that we can do to win this fight? What tactics can we employ to retake the levers of power and restore liberty to the forefront of this nation?
First and foremost, we must remember who we are and what values we stand for. For too long we have conflated our liberties with freedom. We are a free people, but those freedoms come with an equal responsibility. We must return to the roots of this nation, to remember that man is a limited and short-sighted creature. We must recognize that our inherent nature is one of dominance and control, and therefore we must limit our ability to control others both externally through our laws, and in our own hearts. We must return to a moral foundation and shared values, lest everyone become an island.
Second, we must refrain from using violence as we engage in civil disobedience. We do not respond to the provocations of those who would amplify any aggressive act. We must remain dedicated to the righteousness of our cause, and lean on the patience and power of God, the universe, or whatever higher power you may believe in. We must never, ever lash out at our enemies, for they will replay that again and again, using it as justification for their own cruelty and hatred.
Third, we must continue to be scholars of the truth. We must do the hard work, digging through the lies that the institutions tell us, and be apostles of it, whether it helps or hurts our cause. We must live in the truth, for secrets create uncertainty, weakness, and corruption. We must admit when we do not know something, and strive always to grow and improve ourselves.
And Fourth, we must use love to win the day. Hate begets hate. We must show compassion and grace to even our worst enemies. Forgive those who do not know what they do. Show mercy even to those who wish you ill. If we are truly the better cause, we must act that way. The descent into violence does nothing to advance our cause, and everything to damage it.
It will be hard. It will have a great cost, but the righteous path is hardly ever easy. Be willing to follow it, and pay the cost. Plant the tree under who’s shade you will never sit. Let there be trouble in our time so our children may know peace.
A Place 4Politics 