Sinclair Lewis' - It Couldn't Happen Here

America voted to bring us closer to Armageddon and the Rapture. The Fundies on both sides believe they have God on their side and His promised eternal reward but I stare only at the maw of an earthly Hell. I envy them their assurance of Heaven – at least they have that illusion to comfort them now.

I am most disappointed in our youth. They failed to show up and yet they will most reap the loss of Liberty, the financial ruin from crushing debt, the collapse of society as we know it because of our failure to plan for the loss of oil energy, the environmental devastation, the proliferation of nuclear weapons and rapidly escalating threat of nuclear war and the Crusade vs. Jihad. I am terrified for my life and weep for the generation that follows me.

I am not over-reacting. Bush believes he carries a mandate – he will stack the Supreme Court with people that are radical extremists in his image. The right wing has gained seats in the Senate and the House. Gerrymandering will continue and this will worsen. He will continue to consolidate the power of the Executive Branch and eliminate the checks and balances put in place by our founding fathers – men who had thrown off the yoke of tyranny and knew that power corrupts absolutely. You can count on Roe v. Wade being reversed, women’s rights being taken away, sex and morality legislated, passage of a federal marriage amendment and loss of gay rights, and civil liberties blatantly negated because it is “necessary for security”. The Orwellian Patriot Act will be expanded. Benjamin Franklin said: “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." America is going to get the government they deserve: neither free nor safe.

Sinclair Lewis wrote a novel “It Can’t Happen Here” in 1933 about the triumph of fascism in the United States in an alternate reality where FDR is not elected and an ideologue rises to power on the coat-tails of a Christian evangelist. I thought it could never happen here. It just did, 70 years later, almost exactly as he had forecast. Sy Hersh ended his recent book “Chain of Command” asking “How did 8 or 9 men co-opt democracy in the U.S.? Is our democracy that fragile?”

Yes, it was.



> This is what I sent most everyone I know, left and right, this morning. One RW friend basically told me to suck up and get over it - quit whining and another RW friend told me that he agreed with most of it but didn't think it would be that bad. All my liberal friends are grieving.

We have to deal with "why" and "how" - America will survive - laws can be changed - the pendulum swings - the slow one now will later be fast....

will he still be saying that when he's thrown into a "re-education camp?"

My only consolation is that half the country voted against him, he got more votes against him than any incumbent president in history. That half has got to stand up and fight against all this bullshit, starting RIGHT NOW.

Any person who isn't intelligent enough to express grace in victory is not worthy to be my friend. Telling someone to "get over it" is crude and callous (Freeper jerks say it to people who have lost their jobs too). What you wrote was thoughtful and eloquent, and you deserve better responses than just "suck up and get over it".