“There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear. There’s a man with a gun over there. Telling me I got to beware.”
“For What it’s Worth,” — Buffalo Springfield
Written almost 60 years ago, this song still resonates today. Then it was police harassing people protesting. Today, it’s soldiers invading American cities and occupying our communities. That this is blatantly illegal and unconstitutional doesn’t matter. Only the show of force does.
Again, we find Donald Trump, the wannabe dictator, telling us we got to beware. He says the National Guard is there to protect the peace. These cities have high crime rates. Neither is true.
Crime rates have dropped; some by 30%. Crime could drop by 50% and it wouldn’t matter. Trump wants to instill fear and intimidation to suppress dissent. Soldiers walking down American streets with rifles will do that.
Wake up America! Soldiers are being put in many American cities so he can control the country and no one will stop him. And no, I’m not joking.
It’s the old story of putting a frog in hot water and he’ll jump out. But turn up the heat slowly, he won’t notice and he’ll die. Guess who’s the frog now? Trump is slowly taking over one city after another. Soon your freedoms are gone.
Trump wants his own national police force beholden only to him. Courts have already told him he can’t do this. You can’t have soldiers on American streets with no emergency. Governors are supposed to control the National Guard unless there is one; which there isn’t.
Another part of the song says “it starts when you’re always afraid. Step out of line, the man come and take you away.”
Because of this illegal occupation, morale in the Guard has dropped sharply. People say they feel less safe because of them. Once there, the soldiers have nothing to do. They walk around. They pick up garbage. They’re bored. Why; because there’s no problem in the cities. This is an active power grab and unless everyone wakes up and does something, its goodbye democracy.
Here’s a perfect example of your tax dollars at waste. The Washington invasion is costing you a fortune. So far, $201 million dollars have been wasted on this nonsense. That’s almost two million dollars a day! Here’s some of the vitally important work the Guard is doing to make Washington safe again.
A USA Today report noted “Those troops have cleared 1,015 bags of trash, spread 744 cubic yards of mulch, removed five truckloads of plant waste, cleared 6.7 miles of roadway and painted 270 feet of fencing.” Alas, the report doesn’t say how much manure Trump spread around for this. Does the phrase “getting rid of waste, fraud and abuse” ring a bell?
So nobody’s happy. The Guards lose money because they’re not at their real jobs. Communities lose taxes because the workers are gone. The people feel less safe and taxpayers are stuck with a $200 million disaster; all because Donald Dump wanted to play dictator.
He’s violated the Posse Comitatus Act. This 1878 law says the federal military can’t act as a domestic police force without specific authority by the Constitution or Congress. So this Act forbids what Trump is doing; which is breaking the law. But after 34 convictions, what’s one more broken law?
The occupations are racist. The cities taken over are Democratic with either a Black majority or heavily Black. But don’t worry they’ll be coming for your city soon. When Black cities are controlled, guess who’s next?
This comment should scare the hell out of you. Donald Dictator actually said “I have the right to do anything I want to do. I’m the president of the United States. If I think our country is in danger, and it is in danger in these cities, I can do it.”
No he can’t. Tyrants have said this throughout history.
Wake up people! We’re watching the end of America. Is this what you voted for only last year?
Next year is the 250th anniversary of America. Will we observe freedom or fascism? Armed soldiers are patrolling the streets. Look like an immigrant? You’ll be picked up and arrested. Your right to vote will be severely restricted, if you have one at all. The economy will collapse but others will be blamed.
Don’t like your future? Then do something about it. Organize. Protest. Rise up. Resist.
If you want your child’s freedom tomorrow, start fighting for it today. If not, when you’re asked “mommy what’s democracy?” You’ll look at them sadly and say “that’s something we used to have in America.”
Allan Bieniek is a Wayne County-based author.
