A not-so-long time ago, in a country not-so-far away.......... [View all]

[DFW]

It was a period of civil war.

One side, the evil empire, if you will, was well-organized and accepting help from militaristic regimes looking for a proving ground for their most modern weaponry, so that when "their time" came, they and their equipment would have been battle-tested. Their local "ally" was a dedicated enough fascist in his own right, but smart enough to know that the wind could easily change and start to blow against his benefactors. He was prepared to abandon them completely and declare "neutrality" rather than face the wrath of the victorious powers that might have destroyed his original allies. When enough time had passed, he even declared allegiance to his original soulmates' enemies, his erstwhile fidelity to the powers that put in him charge forgotten like a snowman in July.

The pragmatic leader of the victorious forces wasn't even supposed to be the leader. The general who was supposed to be in charge was waiting in a small plane weighted down by his many uniforms and decorations. His pilot expressed misgivings about trying take off in a plane so weighted down with heavy baggage, but the vain general insisted. The plane took off, promptly crashed, and the general was killed.

The forces of the good Republic, while well-intentioned, couldn't get organized. Everybody was right. Some of them even took to harassing, demonstrating against, and even executing ideological opponents within their own ranks. After all, THEIR main benefactor did so regularly. When their treasury seemed in peril, they secretly arranged for all the gold in their national treasury to be brought to a waiting boat at one of their coastlines, and sent off to that benefactor for safekeeping, so the bad guys wouldn't get it if they got too close. Their "ally" said "thank you very much!" and refused to give the suddenly VERY poor nation a receipt for their "contribution."

The refusal of the Republic's forces to unite (a true case of "nobody's right if everybody's wrong" ), the loss of their treasury, and the ruthlessness of their well-organized fascist enemies ended in their inevitable defeat. The cheering crowds supporting the victors celebrated in making the country "great" again, even adopting "One, Great, Free" as the national motto. Like so many countries in the future, such as "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" or "German Democratic Republic," none of the terms had much truth to them.

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I lived in this country less than 30 years after the Republic was defeated. The fascist era was drawing to a close, and the world was passing them by as a political anachronism. Ten years after that, less than 40 years after the Republic was defeated, the Republic had been restored in all but name. The country has a token constitutional monarch in place but he is essentially powerless. Demonstrations still take place, and disagreements still occur, but they are no longer settled by firing squad.

The country I am talking about, as, presumably, just about all of you know, is Spain. It would be a REALLY good idea not to repeat the history of what happened there between 1936 and 1975. We do NOT have to repeat the actions of the Spanish Republic in 1936 in the face of the brutish, organized fascists.

A dying Basque author and intellectual told the fascists at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War:
"Venceréis, pero no convenceréis. Venceréis porque tenéis sobrada fuerza bruta; pero no convenceréis, porque convencer significa persuadir. Y para persuadir necesitáis algo que os falta: razón y derecho en la lucha."

"You will conquer, but you will not convince. You will conquer because you have overwhelming brute force; but you will not convince, because to convince means to persuade. And to persuade, you need something you lack: reason and righteousness in the fight."

The Republicans (and their benefactors-whom they will also ditch the moment they become excess baggage) DID conquer with their overwhelming brute force, and they DID NOT convince--not in 2001, and not in 2017. Like. the Spanish fascists, they also lack reason and righteousness in their fight. They are not worthy of being imitated.

Let us not start organizing our own political firing squads, and let us keep in mind that brute force, including megaphones on people's lawns at midnight, also will never convince. If you need to resort to that, you have already lost your argument.