I’ve been thinking about World War II lately and how it applies to our current situation. Watching “Darkest Hour”, the movie depicting the first few weeks of Winston Churchill’s prime ministership, when he convinces his citizens to go to war with Hitler rather than negotiate a surrender, put a finer point on my thoughts.
In a geopolitical sense, the Republicans leadership are not Nazi’s. Within the framework of American politics they are. American politics used to be played “between the 40 yard lines”. Their leadership moved the party so far right and adopted tactics so draconian, where their sole focus is on power, destroying their opponents and hurting the most vulnerable (mostly people who don’t look like them) in our society. How else can you defend their concern for deficits when Democrats are in power and then blow the budget by giving tax cuts to rich people and paying for them on the backs of the working class? What about their indifference to the plainly illegal and corrupt actions by Trump? Why do they discount intelligence showing Russian interference in our elections and possible probable/actual support for the Trump candidacy and doing nothing to prevent it from happening again 2018? Their hatred for the Press, purposely undermining its reporting by defining their work as “fake news”. Their not-so-subtle racism? The “wall’, DACA and splitting-up families? (Please note, not all Germans were Nazis, but they supported the Nazis. The same is true of rank-and-file Republicans and its leadership.)
So, back to Churchill, but also his predecessor Neville Chamberlain who, after negotiating away Czechoslovakia and learning nothing about Hitler’s real intentions, tried to do the same to Britain. What’s the parallel with our current situation? Did President Obama negotiate with Republicans (Nazis) rather than oppose them? Did his insistence on compromise and civility allow Republicans to block his agenda, appear strong and then win future elections? Was Obama Chamberlain? I think so. He never had a red line. Republicans took advantage of that and now we have what we have in the Trump administration.
The question for Democrats is: are they going to be Chamberlain or Churchill? Can they do the necessary things to defeat the Republicans without losing what Democrats stand for? They will have to do some unsavory things while maintaining their altruistic ideals. More importantly, can our country be the country we know it can and should be if Democrats continue to act like Chamberlain?
Unfortunately, I see no one on the Democratic side who is a Churchill. I see nothing but Chamberlains. Voters respond to strength and purpose. Democrats look and act weak.
Incompetent, Irrelevant & Immaterial! 