An Open Letter to the Threat of Fascism
Dear Conservatives, Republicans, friends, family, or casual readers,
You Have Been Lied To
The promise of “Making America Great Again”, has tricked you into thinking this is a movement designed for you, family, friends, community, and country. A movement that is designed to target the effects of the Great Recession, exacerbated by the Obama Administration, who used our taxpayer dollars to bailout the very corporations that laid us off. I know this because I had also been sold on the messages of bringing manufacturing jobs back from overseas, and improving wages for Americans that had been campaigned on. So much so that I even owned my own MAGA shirt and flag. However, like many other politicians before us, Trump had lied and formed the country in his own agenda.
Real wages in this country have been stagnant for the past 20 years when adjusted with natural inflation (Pew Research Center 2018). Additionally, the average American paid a higher tax percentage than billionaires, thus creating a regressive effective tax rate for the first time in US History (Washington Post 2018). After all, Trump’s federal tax returns in 2017 were reported to be a lower amount than a school janitor, or teenagers working minimum wage. Supporters of Trump (both citizens and political pundits) will point to the record low unemployment rate prior to the pandemic, and the increase in the stock market as proof of Trump’s economic success. However, can we as Americans look at one another in the eyes and say low wages that seem to only keep us afloat in economic turmoil is acceptable for the richest country in the world? Can we honestly say that the stock market is important for the regular citizen, when the majority of stocks citizens own are simply 401K’s, that not only fund the billionaires making the most off the stock market, but is considered a chore to secure your future retirement (Forbes 2020).
I now see a growing threat of fascism in the United States, and I do not use that term loosely. The two essential components of fascism argued throughout academics and political science since the 1900’s have been met by the Trump Administration. In 2016, when Trump offered a new wave of “conservatism” that would no longer ignore rural America and challenge establishment GOP members, he had offered a fake revolution built on the pains of rural America, thus meeting the first key component of fascism. Additionally, when his supporters had violently broken into the Capitol and lawmakers offices, resulting in the death of 4 people; the second component of the use of violent terror was met. However, this is not the first instance of violence via a new form of conservatism issued by Trump. We must look back at the El Paso shooter who had opened fire in a crowded Walmart, and the reasoning for the violence was the growing threat of “mass immigration” as stated in his own manifesto.
How many instances of violence via this new wave of “conservatism” do I need to point to illustrate the threat of fascism in this country? How many varying definitions of fascism must be drawn to illustrate the criteria has been met?. Furthermore, how many times will you scapegoat immigrants, Black Lives Matter, and ANTIFA as the source of your political hardships? Or play cheap what about-ism arguments that attempt to justify violence and terrorism with property damage? How many times do I have to elaborate that the property damage caused by BLM (though not justified), was neither the norm as 93% of BLM protests were peaceful, nor was it inconsistent with every human rights movement in world history. The concept that the civil rights movement avoided property damage or clashes with state officials is not only laughable, but ignores various historical contexts and figures. The mere disagreement in implementing equity for the black community between civil rights leaders Malcom X and Dr. Martin Luther King should be the obvious evidence of so.
Every time in history this type of movement has risen into power, it has slowly been disintegrated and looked down upon in textbooks by future generations. Is this how you want to be remembered in history? As the group of people who faced the brunt of terrible economic policies and responded with fascism and scapegoating immigrants and “black culture”?
Best Wishes,
A Former Fascist