Well, here we are again in the midst of another world crisis that has the American public scared, ‘Trump-less.’ Since when has America run scared at the mere mention of toddlers and women entering our great nation?
The last time we tucked our collective tails between our legs and hid under the United bed of America was a year ago in fear of Ebola. The sitting Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, essentially imprisoned nurse, Kaci Hickox, who as a volunteer with Doctors without Borders, was exposed to the Ebola virus. By the time she returned from her noble mission of mercy, the country was in full panic over eleven cases in a country of 330,000,000 and wanted to close our borders to incoming foreign visitors and even Americans who had traveled away from our shores. The stock and trade of the Republican Party for nearly 30 years, has been to scare the public into the arms of daddy and hide until you’re told its okay. The predicted wide spread deaths and people dropping in the streets, never materialized and Ebola cures and vaccines were the positive result of a disease long ignored by industrialized nations. Ebola had been a dark disease, so no need for world panic.
Now we are here again, Jeb Bush today called for direct military involvement, boots, with soldiers in them, on the ground in another calculated, war preparatory, overreaction. I guess he slept through his brother, Dubya’s reign. He had no smoldering buildings over his shoulder, as backdrop, to express his jingoistic fervor, so he used the Citadel, “Mission Accomplished” banner not included. The litany of buffoonish proposals has started again, all cloaked in the cowl of the boogieman. Carson wants to go in with a coalition of participants, he can’t identify, Cruz wants to establish a Christian Caliphate, and Trump in a singular interview, wavered between sending no soldiers, wait for it, wait for it, well maybe 10,000 after a 5 minute reflection of thought.
I am at a loss. As a direct descendant of the greatest generation, who fought the Nazis and the Japanese Imperial Empire, how have we become a middleweight in a heavyweight battle flinching at every feint? America in past generations stood up to challenges to our democracy, freedom and liberty, what happened? I am no longer under the bed and won’t stand by and let fear mongers like Donald Trump, bomb or scare the ‘freedom’ out of me.