Get Busy!

There isn't a minute to lose!

Thoughts concerning Newark:

As the Revolutionary War approached, there were incidents that gradually raised both the awareness and the outrage of the colonists. Remember the Townshend Acts and the tariffs they imposed in 1768? How about the Boston Massacre and the Americans killed there in 1770? Or, the Boston Tea Party in 1773? There were many other incidents as the British trampled on American rights. Eventually, all this led to the Battle of Yorktown, which concluded in October, 1781, and resulted in our independence. No longer would we be ruled by a king.

Now, in Newark, we have seen an incident that shocks the conscience of any true American. ICE, the trump gestapo, seized the mayor and manhandled members of the US House. This is one of what already is a lengthy series of events in which trump’s thugs have acted illegally and outside the Constitution. Incident after incident.

Americans have adroitly and conscientiously avoided letting our protest become violent. We have stayed within the bounds to which we are accustomed under the Constitution while we exercise our rights peacefully to assemble. The extremists, though, have behaved violently and without the restraint we expect of any legitimate law enforcement agency. This could be expected, since their ICE is not legitimate. Their behaviors are disgusting and gratuitously cruel. (The individual perpetrators of these horrifically un-American acts must be identified and held accountable.)

The level of protest and opposition must — absolutely MUST — crescendo in volume and frequency. Every day now counts hugely because every day the trumpists tear down more of our government and rip away people who have done nothing wrong and send them to foreign countries to be imprisoned in inhumane settings, boasting that no one comes out alive. Some of the victims’ babies were left in their car seats! People of color, people with accents, children, women, men, even American citizens. Under orders of the Supreme Court, this instrument of oppression refuses to bring home those unjustly sent out of the country. They defy the court and they defy congressional investigations.

Some of our leaders are stepping up, but I have seen only a couple of Republicans take any stand at all against this cruelty and illegality; apparently they enjoy it. Nothing is more important to them than to get reelected and to roll in the riches they either enjoy now or expect to enjoy once the seizure of power is complete.

Democrats in increasing numbers, average American citizens of all parties, and some of our young people are taking action. Now, though, no one can stand aside. Everyone must choose: Freedom and liberty, or the crushing cruelty and abuse of an autocratic government dominated by billionaires. To try to stay out of it, or to declare neutrality, is to side with the extremists who seek to destroy us. Any Democrat holding elective office must shout out their anger and opposition. Those Dems, particularly, must act.

Any of us who have not yet decided what actions to take and how to support the opposition effectively now must decide and act with vigor. Once again, these are times that try our souls! History will remember what we choose to do and what we fail to do.

Now, dammit, GET BUSY!