Governments naturally operate in ways that will ensure their own longevity. Dictatorial regimes employ tactics involving fear, force, and psychological pressure to maintain their control. Less oppressive reigns use similar schemes, but the pressures they tend to use often are disguised behind artificially compassionate façades. In most—if not all— cases, deceit ensures that the governed are carefully kept in states of powerless confusion. Keeping people worried, uninformed, and distracted is vital to maintaining lasting control.
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If the proponents of “Christian Nationalism” were honest, they would acknowledge that they are, in fact, supporters of “Fascist Christianity.” Whatever that malignancy is called, it is rooted in a desire for crippling power and a complete abandonment of morality and human decency. These are your neighbors and, possibly, your friends.
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Revolution has become much more difficult in the age of ubiquitous social media. Secrets are impossible to keep. Enemies of state control of every aspect of citizens’ lives cannot rely on social media to keep their identities or their plans from “the authorities.” They must resort either to old-fashioned “resistance” tactics or innovative ways to distribute information and enlist support for their causes. Looking back to our days of innocence, we trusted government with enormous power to control our lives…assuming people in government would not take malevolent advantage of their power. Today, that power enables them to watch almost every move we make and to intercept and crush messages that might lead us to greater freedom.
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The effects of Monday’s chemotherapy session, coupled with a sense that I am powerless to stop the dissolution of democracy, leave me feeling uncomfortable, exhausted, and enraged. I tried to expunge this rage from my brain through silent meditation, but the attempt morphed into visions of Buddha beheading thousands of fanatical right-wing deviants in a festival of flowing blood. The muscles in my gut ache, as if I had been doing sit-ups for hours. Anti-nausea medication is, apparently, keeping me just barely away from the threshold of being sick, but close enough to be unsure if it’s just a prelude of what’s to come. Sleep is the only reliable way to keep this sensation at bay.
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My PET-scan has been scheduled for late next Thursday afternoon. Nothing on the books beyond that, so I do not know when I’ll get the results and discuss next steps with the doctor. I’ll find out, eventually. And then I’ll know more than I know today.
