Letter to the editor for 6/18/20
Letter to the editor for 6/18/20
Letter to the Editor:
In Kathleen Parker’s recent column in the Washington Post, she presents a survey of the worry being expressed by many about the chaos and upheaval we are seeing in the U.S. and around the world and that these event may be leading toward an authoritarian reaction. She says, “. . . we seem to be at a tipping point, slipping gradually into a chaotic period that, if we’re not vigilant, could be followed by a time of authoritarian zeal.”
As examples of this reaction, Ms. Parker points out, “You can read the signs in President Donald Trump’s threats against looters in Minneapolis, his rumblings about shutting down the United States Postal Service rather than allow mail-in voting; his vow to crush social media that threatens his grip on the free dispersal of false information.”
She also points out Trump’s calling the demonstrators and looters “THUGS” and tweeted that he had the military at the ready to move in, adding, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Appealing to those who might find Trump’s militaristic “law and order” message comforting, the threat of a tyrannical authoritarian becomes more real and possible. And we don’t even have to guess what Trump’s response to dissent might be because he showed us when he called in the military, cleared Lafayette Square via tear gas and violence, and executed a piece of performance art by marching through the park for his photo-op in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church with that Bible. Ms. Parker points out, “Therein lies the real threat, of course, as many on the right would see it—the acceptance by the fearful of what would amount to military occupation and permission to shoot…Whatever it takes to feel safe.”
There has always been a delicate balance in the U.S. between individual freedoms and the security and safety of the public. That dichotomy was brought into high relief by the manufactured controversy around the use of masks to reduce the transmission of the Coronavirus. The “unmasked man” in the White House made it a rallying cry and slogan, thereby creating yet another point of division between “His” people and everyone else. You could almost tell who a person voted for just by who was wearing a mask or not.
Carrying the possible ramifications of how Trump, Barr, and other authoritarians in this government might respond to the social upheaval we are now seeing, Ms. Parker points out, “Meanwhile, the obvious irony is that if there is to be an authoritarian federal crack-down—as in destroying the Postal Service so that people can’t vote by mail and shutting down Twitter or imposing liability restraints—it will come from the man they (Trumpers) (my parentheses) support.” I might add military occupation to this list.
I find it shocking that a substantial percentage of Americans – who on one hand, demonstrate at state capitols with rifles for their “individual rights” to get a haircut—would willingly relinquish our Democracy and their individual civil rights to an authoritarian “law and order” dictator just to have the illusion of feeling “safe” from those “others” (foreigners, people of color, etc) who they see as threats.
William E. Conti, PhD
Honolulu, HI
