A Brief Recap

America is at war, an internal war. We’ve had class war most of our history, with race, sex, and immigration status used to focus the rage of the lower strata on those even lower than themselves. I’ve quoted robber baron Jay Gould before but his statement during the 1886 railroad strike bears repeating: “I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.”

After the Second World War, in the 1950s and 60s, the working class saw unprecedented prosperity and what might be called a temporary truce. Then, starting with Ronald Reagan in 1980, the wealth of the nation was increasingly siphoned upward.

By 2021 inequality had reached levels not seen since the Gilded Age of the late 19^th Century.  And here’s a quote from Warren Buffet that bears repeating: “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”

Now—since Trump’s second inauguration—the pace of the rip-off approaches the speed of light.

War Has Already Been Declared

In 1776—almost 250 years ago—the founders of this country wrote a Declaration in which they listed the abuses committed by a tyrannical English king. Here I’d like to list some of those inflicted on us by the current President, his henchmen, and corrupt Republican majorities in the Supreme Court and in Congress:

Trump has declared half the country to be “the enemy within” and called Democrats “The Party of Hate, Evil, And Satan.”

He has sent armed troops to occupy cities with Democratic leadership.

His lackeys have spied on the People, on all our communications, comings and goings, with the excuse that they wish to ferret out lawbreakers.

They have given the hirelings of an unelected billionaire access to all our most private data, including Social Security numbers, medical and mental health records, and family court information.

They have arrested our elected officials who came to inspect federal facilities.

They have fired or furloughed government workers whose duty it is to protect the environment, promote education, ensure worker health and safety, oversee national parks and public lands,  assisted farmers in building irrigation systems and fighting invasive agricultural pests,  and control or prevent human diseases.

They have shut down the government, forcing essential employees including air traffic controllers to work without pay.   At the same time, they are “repurposing” funds to ensure the military and the armed thugs of ICE never miss a paycheck.

When seven million of us came to the public square in peace, to speak our minds, masked thugs—the contemporary equivalent of Jay Gould’s hirelings—beat us and shot us with pepper balls and tear gas, and Trump showed his contempt for us by having one of his lackeys create a video of himself defecating on us.

These are just a few items. I haven’t even included dismantling the gains of the civil rights, feminist, and gay movements, nor the Trump-ordered murders of people in small boats in the Caribbean, nor…. The list of outrages grows daily.

How Shall We Respond?

First we have to accept reality. Articles in news sources, campaigns on social media, lawsuits, and peaceful demonstrations have built a resistance, but they haven’t stopped the juggernaut. Moreover, the administration clearly wants an excuse to declare martial law. Their excuse could be violence by demonstrators, violence by their own agents provocateurs, or another January 6 assault to overturn an election that doesn’t go their way—if, indeed, we are even allowed an honest election.

To quote that earlier Declaration:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all human beings are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among us, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it. And when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

*          *          *

Although I would very much like to see a peaceful restoration of democracy in this country, I doubt it will happen without violence.

We are at war.