APPROACHING GETTYSBURG II

As much as any event, the Battle of Gettysburg determined, at at least symbolized, the inevitable end of the Civil War. If the Confederacy ever had a chance to win that war, it definitely did not after Gettysburg. The Union went on to win the war, to to save the great American experiment in egalitarian democracy.

We are now approaching a new Gettysburg. This new battle, as the old, will very likely determine whether the democracy so hard won will continue, or whether America will turn to a fascist state. This is not hyperbole. This is reality.

As I have said repeatedly, America is now locked in a terrible culture war. The schism in South Carolina is the little sliver of that war on which we have focused for all these years. The bigger picture is this:  1-whether America will continue to evolve as an egalitarian democracy as it transitions into a multi-cultural nation-state of minorities, and 2-whether the reactionary counter-revolutionaries will diminish democracy enough to retain the old social structure under minority rule. Unfortunately, the two big political parties have chosen sides. The Democrats are champions of #1 and the Republicans have locked into #2. The majority of Republicans have adopted as their hero the former president, Donald Trump, even in defiance of the fact that he has been formally charged in court with ninety-one felonies against the United States. We now have proof that the serious right-wing elements in this country are planning, in detail, to transform the U.S. into a fascist dictatorship once Trump is elected president in 2024.

This "Mein Kampf" just came out. The Heritage Foundation recently published a nearly-1,000 page manifesto outlining how they intend to do this. Find "Project 2025" HERE . Find an article about this HERE . It is chilling. In a nutshell, it seeks to create a fascist state under the power of the president who would be a virtual dictator. It is to fire some 50,000 federal employees right off and replace them with right-wing activists who will carry out the dictatorship. Independent law functions as the Department of Justice and the FBI will be subjugated to the president. Meanwhile, the free press will be muzzled and Congress will be reduced to a Duma. 

Lest anyone just sweep this all aside as a lot of impossible nonsense, do not forget the highly formidable track record the Heritage Foundation has already laid down. It was the HF that engineered the transformation of the U.S. Supreme Court into a counter-revolutionary force. Interesting to note that Project 2025 does not mention SCOTUS. No need to tinker with institutions already transformed. 

In sum, the organized right-wing forces in present-day America have planned in minute detail to turn America from a democratic republic into a fascist dictatorship. They are making no attempt to hide, or even disguise this. Quite the contrary, they are right out front and everyone would be wise to read Project 2025.

I am eighty years old. When I was growing up, I never dreamed I would see such a state of affairs in my country in my lifetime. I always assumed, without even thinking about it, that democracy was the natural evolution of our country. As a white southerner who grew up under Jim Crow, I have seen giant steps toward racial reconciliation. We are not at equality yet, but I can assure you we are light years ahead of the crushing discrimination endemic in the South before the 1960's. 

And so this culture war we are enduring is the test of whether we will continue down the long, and albeit rocky road, toward a greater democratic republic where all people are treated equally and all are equal participants in power, or whether we roll back democratic gains in order to keep the old order in power. The old order is on the verge of becoming a minority group that will have to compete with others for power. This old order is essentially white men. They are the ones who feel most threatened by the loss of power to women, blacks, hispanics, asians, homosexuals, you name it. They are the ones driving the Trump train to fascism. And, they have a powerful voice in the Heritage Foundation. 

So, the election next year is simple. Do we want to continue developing the democratic republic, or do we want to roll back democracy in order to keep the old minority establishment in power. In short, democracy or fascism?

My (very long) study of history tells me that democracy will win out but that it may be a long and hard road with a lot of switchbacks. It is not a straight road and it is not easy. Let's look at the other three great western democracies. England arrived at democracy by a long and hard process. They chopped off the head of a king (1649) and kicked out another legitimate monarch (1688) before very gradually moving more power into the hands of the ordinary people. It took more than a century to reach universal suffrage in Great Britain. France violently overthrew the Old Regime (1789), chopped off thousands of heads, then spent the next century with revolutions until they finally settled on a democratic republic. Germany gained a democratic republic only as a bitter pill of the First World War. The Weimar Republic lasted a decade until it was infamously overthrown by arguably the worse regime in human history. Only in total defeat and destruction did the Germans decide to go with a democratic republic. England, France, and Germany are all prosperous, strong democratic states today but it was anything but easy for them to get there. We American have had an easier (but---do not forget the Civil War) way but now we are confronted by the internal divisions in our own society. Can a multi-cultural nation-state also be a democratic republic? 

We Americans are now being put to the test. Polls these days show a toss up between Biden and Trump in next year's election. The worst thing people who love democracy, and the great American experiment, can do now is to ignore the existential threat of the hour. It will not go away. Democracy is not an inevitable guarantee of history. Just ask the British, French, and Germans. We Americans are on the road to Gettysburg. The great battle will determine which is the stronger force in American life, democracy or fascism.