democracy in ruins


democracy in ruins

The clandestine operations of paramilitary agents is alarming, as jolting as the clock at the beginning of Native Son.  They inspire dread, the dread felt deeply by those of us who saw them face-to-face in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  Armed to the teeth, an unidentified woman or man in black ostensibly defending the rule of American law causes one's blood pressure to rise and one's body to feel more pain than is occasioned by an advanced case of shingles.  The recent presence in Portland, Oregon of Nazi-imitating operatives reminds us of Germany in the 1930s and the free display of neo-fascism.  Is American democracy swiftly descending into ruins?

Do not expect truthful answers from the Department of Defense, CIA, U.S. Air Force, Department of Energy, or NSA, government agencies that spend enormous sums of money to maintain the status quo of chaos around the world and to perform in dystopian drama.  Know that we live at this moment in a theatre of domestic terrorism.  The names of the actors ----Air Scan, Adademi  (Blackwater and Xe), MAG, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, G4S (Wachenhut), Vinnel Corp., and so forth--are  well -known although much of what they do is wrapped in fog. We are as clueless as Amasa Delano in Melville's Benito Cereno. We only know what fog portends.  If this is misinformation, blame Wikipedia.

Many of the mercenaries are former law enforcement officers, Green Berets, Rangers and SEALS.  They are trained killers who wear the mask of being security management personnel.  Surprisingly, they have a code of ethics, but like the fraternity of policemen they are far more loyal to the code of secrecy. That pernicious code is protected by law, and those who live under it believe it is most patriotic to serve the interests of fascism as they terrorize people who advocate civil and human rights in the streets of America.  Those who demonstrate against systemic racism and for one version or another of LIVES MATTER need to be fully cognizant of why they are candidates of refurbished American concentration camps and why American citizenship is too often a matter of compromised bullshit.

Like characters in Alice in Wonderland, we are hard put to repair what has fallen into ruin. We should seek grounds for vigorous resistance in our reading of Ernesto Cardenal's With Walker in Nicaragua and Other Early Poems (1984) and in arming ourselves with knowledge about the major gun manufacturers in America.

J. W. Ward, Jr.   July 30, 2020

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