THE MEMORY OF UTOYA

In 2011, Anders Behring Breivik unleashed his horrific rampage as the Labour Party’s youth wing were at a summer camp on Utoya island.

“Hundreds of youths were chased around on this little island. Many were injured for life, 69 never made it,” Mani Hussaini, Leader of the Labour Party Youth Wing, said at the service.

“The reason we are here today, should never have happened. Nobody should be killed for what they believe in. The loss and the sorrow is there all the time and for many, that is felt extra strong today.”

http://www.euronews.com/2016/07/23/remembering-the-victims-of-the-utoya-massacre-five-years-on

Donald Trump and the New Fascists

When Donald Trump first declared his intention to run for the Presidency of the United States, many did not take it seriously.  At the time, those running for the Republican nomination where “the usual suspects:”  Chris Christy, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, John Kasich.  The potential nominees represented to two poles of the Republican party;  the fiscal and social conservatives, and the Tea Party.  However, there was one other candidate, Jeb Bush.  While Bush would seem to represent the conservatives, he also had many enemies in that camp.  He also had enemies in the Tea Party camp.  The Bush family and their self-centered policies have not been good for America.  Under both George the First and George the Second, the stock market collapsed, and it took a Democratic president to rebuild it.  We have still not recovered from the mortgage debt crisis of George W. 

So we entered the political season with the Republican Party agreeing on only one thing.  It did not want another Bush in the White House.  Neither side wanted economic disaster.  The conservative wing represents big business.  The only big business that did well under the Bushes are those associated with the family, particularly Haliburton.  The Tea Party is dominated by franchise owning, small business people, who also suffered greatly under the Bush administration.  They are the ones that lost their homes when they went underwater.  And since their businesses are mostly service oriented, when their clients also lost everything, they lost their businesses. 

Into this atmosphere of anti-Bush sentiment, stepped Donald Trump.  At first, I thought his sole purpose was to drive Bush out of the race early.  And at first, he led an effort to defeat Bush.  But when Bush dropped out, Trump stayed in.  By that time, the media had lavished attention on him and turned him into the spokesperson for white angst.  He appealed even more to the Tea Party constituency, than the Tea Party itself.  The fact that Cruz lost to Trump, shows that the Tea Party has lost its support.  The franchise owning, trust fund babies, who own small service business found their voice in Trump.

It is telling that Sarah Palin, the former poster child of the Tea Party, was banned from speaking at the Republican Convention, by the Trump crew.  The Tea Party has been usurped.  It may have represented a “grass roots” movement amongst the upper middle class.  But it has been hijacked by a megalomaniac. 

Megalomaniacs taking over middle class parties – it has happened before… in Nazi Germany.  The Nazionale Socialist Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NAZI) was taken over by Adolf Hitler.    

However, unlike Hitler, Trump has no other agenda than taking power. 

It is easy to see the appeal Trump has for the Tea Party crowd.  His Art of the Deal book has sold around 200,000 copies.  And, his personae is well known.  For the small business men and women who started their business with daddy’s money, and consider themselves “hard working,” he is their poster boy.  He started his business career with $1 million of daddy’s money, and his tireless self-promotion has fooled everyone into thinking he is successful. He has endured four bankruptcies.  Many of his followers have a bankruptcy or two under their belts.  They too have failed marriages and a string of spoiled, afluenza kids.  Yes, they are “hard working” but mostly at self promotion in the local business and political circles.

Like Trump, his followers rely on managers and minions to do the actual work of running their lives.  They are “dreamers,”  “deal artists;”  not the real doers.  They are not capable of dealing with the details.

And, so would Trump run this country.  He shouts that he will make America Safe, America Great Again.  How?  He will fight ISIS but will not send troops overseas.  He has threatened to pull out support for South Korea, Japan and NATO.  So who are we going to trade with to become great again?  The list of promises and catch phrases grows, but no details.

And there is no indication of a team of managers and minions who would do the actual work.  Who is going to run the agencies, create programs, draft legislation?

Ah, there’s the rub.  Legislation.  Trump forgets we are a democracy, a representative republic.  We have three branches of government – legislative, judicial and executive.  The executive’s role is to enforce the law made by the legislature.  It is the legislature that makes the law.  The judiciary then sees that the legislation and acts of the executive do not transgress the bounds set by our constitution. 

So how is Trump going to do all that he shouts?  The Congress, our legislature is divided.  And not all Republicans will back his plans.  And even if they do, should a back lash occur, he will lose the majority in Congress.

Populism will get you far in this country, but at some point you have to act and not just talk.  If Trump fails to do what he shouts, he will fall hard.

The Danger of Trump

Trump poses a danger for other reasons.  He poses a huge social danger.  His strident rhetoric and racists comments have infected the nation.  Over the course of my some fifty years on this earth, I have seen America take great stride towards tolerance and inclusion.  That entire legacy has been destroyed in less than a year.  Racial, religious and ethnic intolerance reigns now.  It’s ok to say anything about anybody, and to harbor violent designs against anyone.  The civil society is breaking around us.

We have all noted the rise in gun violence recently.  Trump’s “say anything you want with no consequences” attitude has led many to believe that it is ok to kill anyone you don’t agree with.  Acts of violence against Hispanics, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, and Blacks, both African and American, have increased dramatically.  So have spree killings.  From workplace violence to attacks in schools, we have seen too many shooters. 

I am all for the constitution and the second amendment, but why do we need to be able to get assault rifles?  What man needs an assault rifle to kill Bambi?  If you need a semi-automatic anything to kill an animal, then you are not really a man.  I agree with Ernest Hemingway.  It’s not sporting.  My father was an expert marksman in the Marine Corps.  He could shoot a bird flying, while he was running.  He taught me to shoot, but he also taught me to despise guns.  They have only one purpose, to kill other people.  Our ancestors did not need guns to hunt.  They used arrows, spears and atlatles.  Guns are only designed to kill people. 

But even if we allow the people to bear arms, must we allow all people to do so?  Why must we allow known criminals, listed terrorists, and people with mental health histories to own and keep weapons?  Why would the NRA not support screening?  We have to pass tests to license drivers?  Why not guns? 

Clearly, Trump has already succeeded in emboldening people with anti-social and psychotic issues.  In all the recent shootings, the shooter legal purchased the guns.  The only thing missing was a belief that it was ok to act on your impulses.  Trump gave them the green light. 

However, the blame is not just on Trump.  The American media has fawned all over Trump.  They emboldened him.  They have led Americans to believe that you can act on impulse, so or say whatever, be totally uncivil, and that there are no consequences for such behavior.  We will make you famous.  We will reward you for your actions. 

It started with Reality TV.  We rewarded people for anti-social and uncivil behavior.  We told people that it’s not only ok, it rewardable to hurt others, to cheat, to steal, to do anything to get ahead, and to be shamelessly selfish.  Trump is the king of Reality TV. 

Now we Reality Politics.  But unlike the Reality TV world that is really fantasy, this Reality Politics affects real people in the real global world.  People are going to actually suffer, and die, because of foolish policies.

Trump is dangerous for the world.  His fantasy will create suffering on a global scale, and no one will suffer more than middle income to poor Americans.  

Trump Fascism

What is Fascism?  Democracy espouses a government by and for the people.  True, we have sometimes restricted who the “people” are, but in concept, the people all have a voice.  Majoritarian democracies, like America, hold that the majority gets to rule.  In America, that is not leading to problems.  The minority is not small – it’s half the population.  Polls keep showing that on almost any issue, the nature is divided nearly half and half. 

Communism also espouses rule of the people –despite its actual application in the real world.  However, communism has a different economic model.  Democracy in the West has long been associated with Capitalism.  Capitalism is not just private enterprise.  It also espouses capital accumulation – hoarding of wealth; and the generation of wealth through passive means – through interest.  We talk about making our money work for us, but in fact, the money is not worked for – its passively rewarded for allowing the money to sit in a bank.  That money is then loaned out to others to generate more money, so that both the bank and the party who let it set get some return.  But it is not directly invested.

Communism has long been linked to state ownership of wealth – Communist economics.  There is no private ownership. All wealth is pooled – supposedly.  However, while this model may have been utilized at the micro level, among tribal members or in small villages, it has never worked on a macro scale.  All Communist countries ended up with wealth falling into the hands of the few people at the top.  In fact, these countries were really totalitarian.

Fascism is also totalitarian, but Capitalistic.  True, there is a great deal of state ownership under fascism, but the state also encourages capitalist investors.  And the economy is based on hoarding of capital, mostly by the people who are on top.  In Fascism, the leaders dominate everything, both politically and economically, and they court the capitalists to buttress their regimes.  Communism has imposed totalitarianism, with repression of dissent and oppression of the populace.  Everyone other than the ruling elite, is equally poor.  Fascism imposes totalitarianism by coddling the elites in luxury they “deserve”, using “divide and conquer” tactics, creating fear of “the other,” and repressing any dissent.  Fascism encourages violence, intolerance and hate. 

Trump is a classic fascist.  His elite faction “deserves” luxury and privilege.  They work “hard,” after all.  Forget the fact that all the immigrants in this country work harder, doing jobs that the elites would never stoop to doing.  How many Trump supporters pick grapes, work in warehouses, or even clean out the grease in the fryers in the fast food franchises they own?

I once worked a job stuffing used shoes in burlap bags, so they could be sent overseas to poor people with no shoes.  Each bag weighed at least 50 lbs.  We worked 8 hours with a ½ hour break for lunch.  It wore me out after two days.  But there are people that do that everyday… .  No body is going to hand them $1 million to start a business.  They have to really work for every dime they make.

Utoya

Unfortunately, Trump has unleashed an ugly part of the human psyche.  Satan loves to prick us to hate.  He is very successful these days.  Da’esh is spreading hate of Islam across the globe, and our foolish youth are falling for it because we adult Muslims have failed to pass on Islam.  Some of us taught our kids to pray and make wudu, but little else.  They are not capable of thinking like Muslims.  So they fall prey to the same incivility as their millennial peers – selfish, self-centered, fantasy worlders – zombies.  Cradling their iPhones, and texting meaningless nonsense to a legion of names, with no substance behind them.  You can be anything on line – you can be successful, brilliant, all that you are not.  And you do not need to try to be anything in reality.  And Da’esh offers you a place to be somebody when you are nobody back in France or Belgium, or the US.  If you are a failure in the reality, you can do one thing well – killing people.  And its easy, all you need is a gun. 

Trump and Da’esh have the same father – Shaytan.  Both feed the heads of our youth with delusions, and catch phrases.  And both lead people who are falling through the cracks to believe that you can be successful by being violent and spewing hate. 

Jesus AS may have gotten angry at the money changers in the temple – long story that – seems the Jewish establishment considered secular Roman money to be haram or impure, so you had to change your money to pure “religious” money, so you could buy your zabiha for slaughter in the temple.  It also removed any sinful taint from the earnings, including riba.  Anyway, Jesus realized the Jewish establishment was making money on this, because they controlled the exchange rate.  But the point is, he did not kill anyone.

Muhammad SAW had good reason to be upset at the Quraish, who had tortured and killed his followers.  But, his Fatah Makkah, victory entrance into Makkah, was nearly bloodless.  The individuals that dies where only ones that directly attacked groups of Muslims.  Against prevailing custom of the day, all other residents, regardless of tribe or religion, were granted safety.

This genie will not willing go back in the bottle.  I am not hopeful that our society will become more civil, tolerant and loving.  And where America goes, the rest of the world follows.  Social media sends our culture everywhere.  Only deep spiritual change will bring about a better world. 

When will we have enough of this hate? 

On a week that saw a killing spree in Germany on the anniversary of Utoya in Norway, we see starkly the face of this hate.  An immigrant boy, filled with self hate, so identified with the elitist fascistic ideology, that he butchered fellow immigrants, children, innocent children, in a wild fantasy of purification. 

How many Utoyas will we face in America, if Trump wins the day?

When will we have enough of this hate?