Yep, Joe Biden had a bad night at the debate last night in Atlanta…ok, a horrible night. Let’s be honest: Joe’s prime was long ago, and he has declined since 2020. That doesn’t diminish his accomplishments in saving the country from both COVID and the corrupt liar, Donald Trump. It also doesn’t diminish his excellent record for the past four years. Joe Biden will be remembered as a great President.
But last night, Joe confirmed the worst fears of many who have only whispered it to this point: Joe’s mental capacity is failing. It went well beyond just a stuttering problem, which has always been there, and any decent human being understands that it isn’t his fault. But neither is his cognitive decline.
The Democrats are clearly in a panic. It has been a rough week in many ways, politically. We are seeing a white Christian Nationalist push like never before, mainly through the courts and at the state level. Here are some examples of just where the religious fascists have realized some wins:
In Oklahoma, the State Superintendent of Schools, Ryan Walters, said he would be forcing teachers to include Bible instruction in public school classes. Walters issued a memo that read, “Every school district will adhere to [the memo], which is that every teacher, every classroom in the state, will have a Bible in the classroom, and will be teaching from the Bible in the classroom…” Religion is no longer a voluntary association and belief; it will be taught and shoved down the throat of every school child in Oklahoma, regardless of family beliefs or non-Christian religious affiliation.
The State of Louisiana passed a bill to post the Ten Commandments in every classroom in every public school. Knowing this will be challenged, the governor is confident that a Supreme Court ruling will sustain their new law. Christian Nationalism has reached the high court, so religious conservatives no longer fear the challenges.
In my home state of Iowa, just today, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that Governor Reynolds’ six-week abortion ban can go into effect. It was passed several years ago but was held up in court. Now, for all practical purposes, abortion rights and women’s reproductive rights have been restricted and curtailed in Iowa…which brings into serious question Iowa’s now hypocritical motto: “Our liberties we prize, and our rights we will maintain.”
Speaking of the Supreme Christian Nationalist Court (SCNC), today they ruled that hundreds of the January 6th rioters cannot be charged with felony obstruction for their violent acts against law enforcement and attempts to stop an official proceeding of Congress.
Add these recent “achievements” of the white Christian Nationalists to their other so-called efforts: implementing Christian Chaplains in public schools as an alternative to school counselors, banning books that talk about LGBTQ rights, voter suppression laws that target people of color, and attempts to strike the study of racism from American history classrooms, and you have an ascendant movement on a roll.
The Christian Nationalist experiment is moving forward with great speed.
Three Christian Nationalist-controlled states have enacted “fetal personhood laws,” which give personhood rights to fertilized embryos (Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi). But with the landmark Roe ruling protecting a woman’s right to choose now gone, efforts by conservative lawmakers and judges to advance fetal personhood bills pose a real threat to some fertility treatments, including IVF.
The Christian Nationalists’ plans to “restructure” the American bureaucratic system, according to Project 2525, and fill it with their religious fanatical cronies should disturb and cause concern to any American citizen who still believes that the separation of church and state is a foundational principle.
Freedom of thought, belief, association, and religion are foundational to the American system because these are voluntary, individual freedoms. Once a religious oligarchy begins to impose and force religious beliefs on the population, no freedom is safe. If you believe that women are the only targets of the radical religious right, you are sadly mistaken. Christian nationalists will not be satisfied until they can control your beliefs, behavior, sexual orientation, personal bodily autonomy, news sources, and thoughts.
We are on a one-way street toward religious fascism that endangers every human being, and Donald Trump, who doesn’t care a hoot about any of this, will support their project because the religious right gives him unadulterated support and adoration. It is the adoration he really wants. In return, he will give them anything they want.
The only person standing in the way, at least at the national level right now, is Joe Biden, who performed so poorly last night that Democrats are having panic attacks. I get it, and I understand; it makes me nervous, too.
But I want to suggest to my friends who love freedom and are committed to the 1st Amendment, equal rights for everyone, and a system that respects individual choice and free thought…now isn’t the time to panic… now is the moment for clear-headed reason and action. Now is the moment to become heroic.
We have a historical precedent for a time like this, and that event came to mind this morning as I pondered where we are at this moment of precipice.
Bear with me as I take you back in time to what many historians call the most essential, critical turning point in the American Civil War. The Battle of Gettysburg took place on July 1-3, 1863. On the second day of the fight, the Union lines were defending the high ground with the end of the line circling the crest of “Little Round Top.” It was the end of the Union line.
The Maine 20th division, under the direction of Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, a Bowdoin college professor, was placed at the end of the line to repel any Confederate attempts to flank them. Sure enough, throughout most of the day, Confederate soldiers tried to storm the end of the Union battery at the top of the hill. Chamberlain had good high land, but the Confederates kept charging time after time.
Finally, it was reported to Chamberlain that his division was nearly out of ammunition, and the Confederates were regrouping to charge yet again. If they charged again, they would likely overwhelm the Maine 20th flank of the Union army and perhaps win the Battle and even the war itself. Everything was at stake.
Does it feel that way right now to you? It does to me. We have been defending the hill of the 1st Amendment and the Constitution for so long, and yet, the white Christian Nationalists keep on coming. They are relentless and charge over and over wherever and whenever they can. It can seem hopeless and as if all is lost. That is how the 20th Maine felt on July 2, 1865.
Their predicament was this…to try and stand your ground defensively against another assault would probably mean failure. Your options are running out. To play defense at this point was foolish. The only option was offensive in an all-out counterattack.
Watch the film clip below to see what Col. Chamberlain did. It was the most astounding and daring move of the war. (From the 1993 film “Gettysburg”)
Now, I just wrote a couple of articles about pacifism, and I don’t encourage or endorse war or violence. (But the historian in me can only admire this scene). I am using this scene as an instructive for how we might respond in this moment of crisis. I’m not endorsing or suggesting violence, but I suggest taking the offensive in the conflict…peacefully.
The only option when your back is against the wall is to charge, advance, and take the fight to the other side. That is what Chamberlain did, and that is what we need to do right now.
Don’t wring your hands, don’t hide, don’t give up, and don’t lose heart. Now is the time for action, movement, and doing what is heroic. Remember, we have the high ground of the Constitutional system on our side and more significant numbers, just as the Union troops did. Now is not the time to panic but to act.
Support the candidates who will respect human rights and freedoms. Give your time and money to those candidates who will keep church and state separate in our government. Support Joe Biden if he continues to run because even a diminished Joe Biden is better than a democracy-killing, convicted, narcissistic felon, wanna-be dictator who attacks women.
If Biden withdraws from the race, then support whoever the new nominee would be. Rally, get behind them, advance, don’t retreat, don’t give up one inch of ground. We still have the high ground.
The only thing that will cause us defeat is panic, inaction, and despair.