We’re the good guys; they’re the bad guys.
That trope has been used by both sides. Of all conflicts. Ever.
We’re right; they’re wrong.
Gay rights? We’re right; they’re wrong. Doesn’t matter which side of that argument you are on, does it? Abortion? Gun control? Pineapple pizza? Duck Dynasty?
We’re right; they’re wrong.
Every conflict. Always.
So long as society can be thus divided, conflict is inevitable. The *nature* of that conflict, however, is up for discussion.
Maybe we just get half-pineapple/half-duck pizza. Compromise.
Or, fine, let’s get pepperoni. Avoidance.
Or, I get my pizza, you get yours. Appeasement.
Or, I’m paying, I choose. Golden Rule.
Any of these ways will end the conflict.
That is the problem.
The Right doesn’t WANT to end the conflict. They want conflagration. They want destruction. They want chaos to reign supreme. Survival of the fittest. I got mine, you can pry it out of my cold dead fingers.
It doesn’t matter if we want to play nice, or nasty, or descend to their level, or rise above.
The other side will never capitulate.
There will never be a settled issue, where they are happy with a compromise, or even a win.
They need to obliterate their foe.
They want ashes.
Yes, yes, yes, they want you dead in the meantime. They want your surrender. They want your capitulation. They want your desperation. They want your complicity. They want you to be part of the problem. It is not enough for them to win: you must lose. And, if you still have anything that you can possibly lose, you haven’t lost enough.
Fine. That’s the game.
That’s it.
You are never ever going to be the one guy standing at the end, with the flames shooting into the heavens, so you aren’t going to win the game. The only question is when you get out, and how. Or, if, I suppose. That’s legit.
But, playing their game at all means that you are going to lose.
As it happens, we happen to be playing an altogether different game. It’s called “Civil Society”. In our game, the happier we all are, the happier we are. The more misery there is in the world, the more misery there is in the world. The world isn’t a closed system where if one person wins, everyone else loses. In our game, there is a real argument to be made that the more people who win, the better the prizes there are in the middle. In fact, that was America from 1930 til about 1980.
It just so happens that one of the political party has been taken over by a bunch of people playing an entirely different game.
In their game, democracy has to lose.
For example, our guys can be impeached for the most trivial of offenses; their guys have to tear down the republic; both sides do it; neither matters. Why not stay home? Don’t vote. There’s no difference between the parties.
Look, you’re all right.
The fascists are here. They aren’t coming; they are here. They are not in power. Yet. But, we are a hair’s breadth away.
And once we fall, it doesn’t matter if we fight fair or fight dirty or fight at all. We all fall. Who cares who falls first?
BUT,
We’re still standing.
TODAY,
We’re still the ones in power. We still have our friends and families and neighbors who ARENT fascist lunatics.
NOW
Is the time we fucking phonebank and write letters and knock on doors.
NOW
Is the time that we encourage our young friends, our old friends, our queer friends, our straight friends, our friends of color, our friends whose parents were born in another country, our friends who appreciate the arts, or Sesame Street, or the public libraries…
NOW
Is the time when we build a supermajority of people who will vote. In every election. And say that
IN THIS GENERATION
We can say “we fought the fascists, and we won”.
Because
The US is holding the greatest arsenal on earth, and no nation, or consortium of nations, can take us down. A fascist America is a fascist world.
And one step closer to that one guy, standing in a field of flames.
Just don’t let it be Elon Musk.