To the Editor:
Sadly, the U.S. doesn’t seem to be making much progress in saving our democracy and way of life. Humans have a great gift for resilience, which helps us go through some very tough times and come out stronger. The flip side of that is we can get used to anything if it goes on long enough.
America is being subjected to a tsunami of grievance and fraud visited upon us by a very troubled man who, driven by his deep well of insecurity and need for control, has seeped into every corner of our lives. Masha Gessen, a Russian-American journalist, warns us of “Shock Exhaustion.” It is based on Masha’s experience of living, working and being tried in absentia in Russia, where Putin made changes in such rapid succession that people accepted his policies as routine and thus acceptable. Many believe that Putin’s influence on our president has resulted in our rapid rise to authoritarianism. Are we letting ourselves fall into complacency and a normalization of cruelty and fear?
Hitler was named chancellor on Jan 30, 1933. Dachau, his first concentration work/death camp, was opened on March 22, 1933, about two months later. (We are nearing our sixth month of autocracy). It started out as a forced work facility, but many died of starvation, disease, “medical experiments” and execution. Are our new immigration camps modeled after Hitler’s (who built more than 1,000 in total)?
In the Big Billionaires Budget, $45 billion was allocated for new camps which could add space for 100,000 detainees. The administration promised they would only be jailing and deporting dangerous criminals, but quickly expanded by white supremacist Stephen Miller to include law-abiding citizens and immigrants who were working toward becoming American citizens. This cruel policy is due to a hatred of difference and works as permanent voter suppression.
Thanks to all who are gathering together, protesting, writing, speaking out and learning to moderate the stress he puts us through. We all need to up our game and not be lulled into complacency. We are at a very perilous place.
Caryl Brt
Waynesville