This commentary is by Bob Stannard of Manchester, an author, musician and former state legislator and lobbyist.
“There’s no doubt that it (the Jan. 6 attack on our Capitol) included individuals that we would call militia violent extremists and, in some instances, individuals that were racially motivated violent extremists who advocate for the superiority of the white race. The militia violent extremists is probably at the moment trending the biggest bucket, if you will.” — FBI Director Christopher Wray
“Except for the relatively small number of Fascist sympathizers, almost any English person would accept ‘bully’ as a synonym for ‘Fascist.” — George Orwell 1944
“This machine kills fascists” — Woody Guthrie
Sometimes it feels as though not a day goes by that America is in a tug of war with itself. Lately things seem to be taking a turn and I’m not sure it’s for the better.
January 6, 2021, should have been the wakeup call for the majority of Americans. I don’t know about you, but my stomach turned when I saw aggressive bullies carrying a Confederate flag into our nation’s Capitol. That should have done it right there. Folks who do not support the rise of fascism should have gotten off the couch and fought back.
Instead, many went back to watching Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, who tried to convince us that there was nothing to see here and that the riots were no big deal. Inasmuch as this lying bully now no longer has a job, it might be safe to say that he was wrong.
Where has our obsession with conflict avoidance led us? Time will tell. The good news is that of the thousands of people who attempted a fascist coup of our democracy, many are now in jail. “More than 1,033 of the rioters have been arrested, with approximately 485 federal defendants receiving sentences. About 277 defendants have been sentenced to time behind bars, and roughly 113 defendants have been sentenced to a period of home detention.”
This is great, but we can ill afford to rest on our laurels. America is in a war that it’s been in for many years; a war of good versus evil, love versus hate.
The overwhelming majority consists of people who are good, kind and caring. We have a very vocal and active minority who support authoritarianism. These people were empowered by our former president and still stand by him today, in spite of the fact that he’s been indicted twice. This man supported the authoritarians of the world and his followers thought that was just fine. It wasn’t. It wasn’t fine in the 1930s and it’s not fine today.
As we bury our heads in the ground, school boards and states are banning books. According to PEN America, which tracked book bans for the last six months of 2022: “Although book bans have been reported in at least 32 states, most bans between July and December 2022 were concentrated in just five: Florida, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah.” 70% of the people oppose book banning, yet the banning continues.
On Father’s Day, I remembered my dad who fought to destroy fascism. A generation later, fascism, white supremacy, call it what you will, is rearing its ugly head once again.
Vermont is not immune. Last month we learned of a man named Ryan Dumperth of Barre, Vermont. From VTDigger: “Under the Twitter handle ‘Treblewoe,’ the person who appears to be Dumperth disseminates a unique brand of Lutheran facism. He hosts a podcast, Stone Choir, with fellow Lutheran fascist Corey Mahler, the subject of a Rolling Stone exposé earlier this year. The story ran with the headline, ‘He Believes Hitler Went to Heaven — and Wants to Take Over the Lutheran Church.’”
What are our options? Should we just look the other way? Should we write Dumperth off and hope that he will just go away and we’ll live happily ever after? It doesn’t work that way, folks. History has shown us that those who become complacent will get steamrolled by those who promote hate.
Yes, it’s hard to fight back. Just ask your father/grandfather what he went through to keep Hitler from succeeding. It’s hard to push back, but rest assured that those who promote fascism and hate are committed to their efforts. You fight back or wish you had.
What can you do? You can run for your school board, which is what many authoritarians are doing. You can attend meetings, speak up and shout down those who promote book banning. You can attend one of the 14 events being held around Vermont by our Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, who will be reading from banned books and raising attention to the rise of fascism.
No, it’s not easy to fight back, but it’s more necessary than ever to start doing so now. We must say “NO” to bullying. If you want America to be a free country, you must not tolerate the banning/destruction of books and/or music. Lest we forget, the BBC banned playing The Beatles “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.” How’d that work out?
Only you can make a difference. I’m rooting for you.
