By Vicki Bush

Special to the Daily Commercial

August in America is normally a slow roll down a grassy hill. Long, warm humid evenings sitting on porches and decks mesmerized by luminescent twilight fireflies we relax into doing nothing.

There is that period right before sleep when your thoughts are pure and concise with the optimism of a best possible world. But in the blink of an eye, hate for hates sake, takes control. Freedom feels fleeting as innocent body counts rise. Thoughts turn dark, as we realize how we have been inundated with raw vile hate filled speech, policies, and lack of action, administratively delivered in a supersized suit and elongated red tie. Consequentially, in our America 2019 the “nightmares come when you wake up.”

American’s once again find themselves sick at heart in a locked down collective angst. Our gut feeling tells us that those in power do not care. Have never cared. Care only about keeping power. The signs were always there. Trying to cast off the reality because it is too much to bear, we shift gears into an organized timeline of what we do know and what we can immediately do.

What we know is that we must, for America, and humanity’s sake, “do something” to end bullyragged intimidating displays of strength through highly objectionable hate-fueled rhetoric while stopping the NRA’s stranglehold lobbying control of state and federal representatives. We must ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines. We must pass universal background checks, red flag laws, end loopholes, and for God’s sake, admit and call this national horror for what it is: domestic terrorism.

Let’s push Congress, at both the state and federal level, to “do something” immediately. Let’s not let gun violence and mass shootings be America’s persisting legacy.

Playing both ends against the middle on offense and defense, the unspoken edict of American gun culture has always been about white supremacy. And the only party blocking stricter gun control is the Republican Party. The president’s recent reversal of safety-first gun laws, which had shown positive results, once again leaves the public to cross fingers, duck and cover.

Consistently using basic liberal values to presume their innocence, a Mad Magazine’s version of a “what, me worry?” presidency, Trump and Republicans when caught dead-to-rights will grasp at anything to stifle, cool down, and contain their negative, criminal or corrupt interference for personal gain.

Worldwide, the United States stands alone at the high bar statistical chart for epidemic mass shootings. And nine of 10 states with the highest gun death rates — Montana, Wyoming, Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and West Virginia — have Republican-controlled state legislatures and weak gun laws. Only Republicans refuse to figure out that fewer guns equals less killings.

Trump Republicans have continually laid out a buffet of Jim Crow hoping to destroy the positive progress that comes with being on the right side of humanity. Blaming people of color for what are Republican faults and fears shows that the GOP has never had much faith in their product. And now, they are “giving away the store” to corrupt foreign entities and white supremacy domestic terrorist hate. Force feeding repetitive fear, threats, and humiliation, ad nauseum, Trump shadow puppets multiple authoritarian dictators and oligarchs because the troll, the hack, and the propaganda machine work together to control and manipulate the populace.

We have been warned, repeatedly, by both nationalist conservatives and classical liberals that the president is treading in dangerous territory when he panders to white supremacists. From birth certificate conspiracy theories to asking campaign rally crowds to beat up protesters, to glorifying the ugly racist rally rhetoric of “panhandle shootings” of immigrants, Trump and supporters pollute the airwaves because within their self-contained nihilistic bubble they are more than willing to destroy societal norms. For decades Republicans have utilized and leveraged toxic racism, divisiveness and anger as part and parcel of their Molotov cocktail coalition.

The Bulwark precisely calls out Trump’s shtick with this quote: “We have an arsonist who has set our country on fire and he is standing around in the crowd with the rest of us, watching the blaze and lecturing us like he is one of the firemen.”

American’s do see and hear every contemptable word and deed that this Republican Party of Trump is spewing. The majority will continue to stand indivisible against white supremacy hate and all gun violence. We stand firmly on the shoulders of liberty; a consecrated democratically declared independent constitutionally sanctified American land where “no one is above the law.”

Vicki Bush lives in Lady Lake.

https://www.dailycommercial.com/news/20190818/from-left-for-humanitys-sake-do-something