Fears of an Authoritarian Regime

For the first time in our history we have a Presidential candidate who has called for “military tribunals” to try cases against his opponents, both Republicans and Democrats. These people are to be arrested by a military squad. In his debate with Biden he called for Biden’s arrest if he is elected. He has informed a group of Christian supporters that this election will be the last time they will need to vote. He has also promised to become a “dictator” if elected (the following day he modified that to dictator for “one day”). Due to his claims most of his supporters no longer trust elections he does not win, Many of his supporters are now promising to use their guns against his opponents, a citizen’s Gestapo. He also refused to answer whether he would obey a final court order as President which would render any court seeking to protect our rights powerless and futile.

In making judgments about politicians the soundest ground is to judge them by their own words instead of how they are described by opponents. Based on these statements it is now very clear that a powder keg is planted in plain view in the foundation of our democracy. This is clear for anyone willing to pay attention. The fuel for this powder keg is the endless lies poured out around the keg. Everyone vote for him will be one more match set to the fuse.

Any politics based on fear and hatred of others will destroy us as a free society only if we allow that to happen by giving in to that fear and hatred.

Very few Americans have ever experienced life under an authoritarian regime. We naively assume that a dictator who we support will help improve our lives in some way by punishing people we disapprove of. No problems are solved or solutions are offered. A politics of retaliation and retribution is believed to be the answer to every national problem. This is a flight of magical thinking beyond understanding and is guaranteed to lead to disaster and economic decline, if not collapse.

As a young man I witnessed first hand Francisco Franco’s police severely beating peaceful protestors, smashing their faces and skulls with clubs and laying out their immobilized and bloodied bodies along the streets of Madrid ready to be thrown into prison vans. In Spain thousands of people were murdered over many years for opposing Franco. They paid for their freedom with their lives . They are not going back.

Is this nightmare scene coming to America? That possibility has never been more real than it is right now.