America's fascist right is terrorizing us. Is it because they are abusive bullies or afraid, or both?
Probably it is a combination of both from my youthful experience with schoolyard bullies. They enable the gun culture that is mass killing our fellow citizens at a rate the world, outside of declared warfare, has never seen. It is a way of intimidating us to submit to their will which is largely rejected the the majority of Americans. But they are not satisfied with intimidating us; they are restricting our right to convenient, fair elections with numerous voter suppression tactics, many of the tactics employing our voting laws and procedures.
Why? Because they are unsuccessful in selling their many bad ideas on race, personal rights, religion, economics, governing and many other cultural arenas. So, rather than employing logic and salesmanship, they find intimidation and fear inducement much easier and apparently more fun.
The bullying tactics emanate from their innate authoritarian personalities. The fear comes from their attachment to the status quo where they, the fast disappearing white/anglo majority, foresee their power and dominance reducing in the very near future. Rather than embracing a society of diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds, they somehow believe that life and privilege is a pie; with more of the pie to share with others taking pieces they covet for themselves.
So, how do we end the bullying and the gun to our heads? We use the legal system to fight them, the electoral arena to reduce their abuse of power, education to change some hearts and minds and imbue future generations with a love for participatory democracy, fairness and enjoyment of cultural diversity.
It will take time, but we can disarm them.
