No Place Left to Hide

It's tough sometimes.  Politics and world events are often so ugly and brutal, the instinct is to stand as far away from it as possible, and not get involved.  I am a very political person, and sometimes it is even too much for me.

But sometimes it's unavoidable.  Sometimes the events are just so great, so impossible to escape from, they pull you win, and you have to take a stand.

I'm sure our ancestors would have loved to avoid the bloody conflict of the Civil War.  But the issues were just too great to isolate yourself from them.  I remember participating in the musical Shenandoah, which was about a Virginia farmer who tried in vain to keep his family out of that terrible struggle.  But in the end, a decision had to be made.  Do we disintegrate the Union?  Do we abolish, contain, or preserve slavery?  Choices had to be made.

The Great Depression swept through the lives of our parents or grand-parents (depending on your own age - I suppose at this point it could even be great-great grandparents!), and no one could ignore it, because it effected everyone.  There was so much sacrifice, and restructuring of priorities, and relearning what was really important.  But they endured and worked as best they could, and put their faith in a patrician legislator, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who proved to be the ultimate "git-er-done" President, and did whatever he could to put the country back on track.

When the Nazi came to power in Germany, and the military fascists in Japan, the Greatest Generation rolled up its sleeves, and engaged the enemy.  We have the world we have today because everyday Americans stood up to the Nazis.  It was tempting to stay on the sidelines and let Europe duke it out, but we didn't.  We came in and gave the knock out blow to one of the greatest evils this world has ever seen.

During the Civil Rights era of the fifties and sixties, many were called again to get off the sidelines. Not everyone answered the call, and some who did came in on the wrong side of history.  But decisions were made, and the promise of freedom ringing came to more and more Americans.

We are now at decision time again, where it is impossible to sit on the sidelines.  Silence at this point is equal to complicity.  We have a President who has clearly revealed who and what he is.  He has chosen to side with white supremacists and Nazis.  His statements in his Tuesday, August 15th, press conference, revealed himself in a way that repulsed good people across the political spectrum.

His statements did not surprise me.  I knew this about him all along.  But his rhetoric, his both side-isms, his "some of them are very fine people", his "the alt-left came charging."  It's the equivalent of Toto pulling back the curtain and revealing the Wizard (in this case, Grand Wizard, maybe) for the fraud he is.

To side with Trump now is to side with all the wrong forces of history.  It turns your back on all those who went before us to make this a better country and world for all.

I'm sorry, but you can't hide anymore.  Silence is tantamount to collusion.  You have to be clear where you stand on this Presidency, because decisions will have to be made, and they will be very difficult without the support of the American people.  You don't have to favor impeachment, or go out in the street to protest.  But you do have to make it clear.  Do you oppose this President's blatant racism and intolerance, or do you stand with it?

Aversion to politics not withstanding, you can no longer stand on the sidelines.  You have to make a call.

Your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, will be asking you what you did and what you decided, and where you stood.

I pray you have a good answer.