Remember to speak

This is primarily directed toward my conservative friends and family, but of course anyone is welcome to read it.

I don’t believe that voting Republican automatically makes you a racist. I do believe that you can be conservative and also be compassionate. I don’t believe that you can hate the sin and love the sinner, but I do believe that you believe it, and intent counts for a lot these days. And while I firmly don’t believe that person-hood begins at conception, I understand that if you do, then trying to ban abortion is not only morally appropriate, but morally imperative.

Further, I firmly believe that we need people on both sides of the aisle to actively engage in debate. Diversity of thought makes us stronger, not weaker, and though we may disagree on things, working together is what makes democracy work.

So, having said that, I don’t think that you can support Donald Trump and also support America. Last night, Donald Trump tried to kill democracy. That may sound hyperbolic, but he lied, over and over, from the briefing room at the White House, alleging election fraud where none exists in a blatant attack on our most fundamental of rights.

Donald Trump is a fascist. You may not be a fascist, but if you continue to support Trump, you are supporting a fascist. Now, you may be ok with that because you don’t currently feel threatened by him, because you’re white, or male, or socially conservative. You may even agree with his policies or his ideology, but here’s the thing: in a fascist regime, the only policy — the only ideology that matters — is power. Cultivating and maintaining power. And that means that no one is ever safe.

It won’t matter how many guns or MAGA hats or Tump flags you own; or who you voted for or how many rallies you went to or how much you donated to his campaign when you piss off the wrong bureaucrat and the secret police come and disappear you in the middle of the night. They’ll tarnish your name and manufacture evidence and that’s if your family is lucky.

And no, that’s not where we are now, but this is how it starts. This is always how it starts — by good men doing nothing. As Stephen Colbert said in his monologue last night, when faced with a choice between democracy and fascism, there are not very fine people on both sides. This is a choice between Trump and the citizens of America.

If you care about democracy, if you love our country like I love our country, if you love my family like I love you, then you must speak up. You must speak out. In America, the power sits with the people, and we must not let it slip away.