I apologize that it has taken me too long to understand the magnitude of today’s title, especially with my background in educational therapy. Raising a son with Autism, developing Parkinson’s Disease in my late 20s, serving in the field of educational therapy, and then having other experiences gave me the ability to eventually see the whole truth, that a human’s worth and value are not based on anything except that they are all equally-created in God’s image, no exceptions. My love and service to others never hinges their skin color, aptitude, background, orientation, identity, or theological beliefs.
But this is not the mindset of the Catholic Right/Religious Right. With a hyper-obsession on sexual ethics and “saving the unborn,” these two hot button issues are being used as weapons to eliminate those who are not white, straight, Republican, “Christian” and neurotypical, especially trans kids. After watching this video below, it reinforced my observations.
I was watching this interview on MSNBC yesterday about what has transpired in American politics. Even though I am not a fan of even the earlier Republican party of Reagan, there was still a two-party working system. Now we have a theocratic Confederate party rather than the Republican party of Reagan. The Religious Right/Catholic Right is willing to take the nation by force into a monolithic theocratic “ideal.” If the rest of the nation doesn’t comply, then they are going to attempt to force the nation to comply. The current-day Republican party is a great threat to a peaceful secular democracy. I have a serious problem with this from an ethical standpoint and even the heart of social justice teaching in my faith. A government should be seeking what is best for the Common Good of society through justice in both political parties, even if they have different ideas on how the public should be served. The current-day Republican party (Confederate party) is doing the opposite which is deliberate injustice. As the commentators said, some Republicans are no longer Republicans but Confederates who align with Putin and fascism rather than the Common Good. Since these Confederate-type Republicans can no longer persuade others to come to their side, they want to force those who will not comply.
As I have written about emerging fascism in my previous posts, I will list the traits again because I think we are undoubtedly in the early stages of it now. Once a political power turns to genocide, which is exactly what they are doing right now to trans children, we have stepped into the early stages of fascism.
I believe that the current legislative actions of some far-right Republican politicians (not all) are now falling in alignment with fascism, especially in Texas. Ohio, and Florida. According to Encyclopedia Britannica and The Washington Monthly, I close with these primary traits of fascism once again. I believe we are now inside the outer rim of a fascist state.
1. sources and capitalizes on economic woes and anxieties
2. shifts political blame on to scapegoat groups like minority groups, the Democrats,
immigrants, and other groups while taking away blame from where it belongs, on the leadership
3. propagates extreme nationalism going hand-in-hand with racism and militarism
4. a melding of church and state when there should be a separation
5. subjugation of women and sexism
6. a disdain for human rights except those of the elite, especially a disdain for those who identify as LGBTQIA+
7. obsession with crime and punishment
8. identification of enemies as a unifying cause for political action
9. disdain for intellectualism, science, history, and the arts
10. control of different types of media, including books
11. rampant cronyism and government corruption
12. attempt to control elections, like through voter suppression
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