The Slippery Slope of Eroding Our Rights
I really don’t want to wade back into the cesspool of American politics, but the recent Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has upset me, and I feel that I must speak out.
I’m not reacting out of hatred or anger. Instead, I’m sad and afraid. Our society fails to practice Kindness and Compassion because everyone is caught up in the industrial hate machine.
Our society thrives on crisis and reaction to events rather than working to avoid crises and events. We have no middle ground left. Everyone has taken sides, and the metaphorical equivalent of WWI trench warfare has arrived. No progress is made, but we are prepared to sacrifice lives in a futile attempt to break the stalemate.
In the SCOTUS decision, it is clear that a religious segment of the population is determined to rule according to their beliefs instead of the laws. This is a dangerous precedent and puts this country on a slippery slope towards authoritarian government and Fascism.
When I was in high school, a Holocaust survivor spoke to us. She remembered how her family in Germany failed to recognize the warning signs of German politics as that nation slowly inched toward Fascism and Nazism. She remembered her parents telling her that things would improve because Germany was a civilized nation, and the political system would eventually return to normal.
Her parents said that the Nazis were just a fringe group full of lunatic ideas run by a convicted criminal and con man, but they would never gain enough support to be a real danger to her family. “Democracy and common sense will prevail” is what her parents told her, and she believed them.
She talked about the growing unease as she and her family saw the growing menace of the Nazis. The Nazis and their demented leader proclaimed that they would “Make Germany Great Again,” although they didn’t mass produce red baseball caps in those days.
The Holocaust Survivor reminded us that Hitler and the Nazis were elected. There was no coup de tat or revolution. A modern civilized nation chose to be governed by Nazis and Fascists. It happened in Germany, and it can happen here.
We all know how her story went from there. Her rights as a German citizen were slowly eroded until there was nothing left. She and her family were vilified by the “Real Germans” and persecuted with the approval of the State. She was torn away from her family and sent to a concentration camp where she endured unimaginable horrors. Her family was all dead. Thankfully she survived and emigrated to the United States.
When she became an adult, she dedicated her life to remembering the Holocaust. That is why she spoke at our high school. I remember seeing her number tattooed on her arm. She told us to touch it, to see and feel the evidence of what she went through.
That brings us back to the present. Our nation is eerily similar to Germany in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The similarities are apparent, and the SCOTUS is clearly not interested in protecting the rights of every American anymore.
When a group screams about protecting their rights to discriminate and disenfranchise others, and SCOTUS agrees with them, we are in bad shape.
We cannot hear the alarms ringing because we are too busy screaming at each other. The political stalemate must be broken. The two political parties are neo-Fascist and spineless cowards. The Holocaust survivor told us that the danger must be faced, it must be rejected, or history will repeat itself.
I am a proud member of the LGBTQIA community, and our rights as Americans are in danger. This nation is supposed to represent Freedom, but sacrificing our rights to satisfy someone’s religion is not a part of this country. I see the creeping danger coming from a segment of the population. I will do what I can to fight this encroaching Darkness.
 If you want to read more of my stories, please check my website