Comment: October’s a scary time, but not because of Halloween

By Tom Burke / Herald columnist

It’s October — in an election year — and so time for Republicans to amp up scary “news” about invading immigrants, rampant crime, Biden-, Pelosi- and Democrat-caused inflation, vaccine mandates, grooming pedophiles, Critical Race Theory, voter fraud, socialism, communism, stolen elections, Patty Murray, James Madison’s crystal flute and a black female musician, the Deep State, DACA, drag queen story times, “Democrats doing everything in their power to drag Washington and all of America down” (says Tiffany Smiley), college loan forgiveness and the plot to replace the white race.

And it’s all cynically managed via the Republican National Committee, Mitch McConnell, MAGA-a-Largo, QAnon, and Republican candidates.

There’s only two things missing:

• Actual Republican solutions to these apparently existential disasters; and

• The real issues.

The Republican media propaganda blitz is a replay of Trump’s dystopian “American Carnage” inauguration address describing how our country is in decline.

And candidates here in Washington state decry the state of the nation; accuse opponents of deliberately sabotaging the American dream; but offer nothing but platitudes and “Trust me!” as their solution.

There’s tons of “sky is falling” but nothing about how to fix it; except threats from Republican leaders to abolish Social Security and Medicare and “Vote for me,” ala Trump’s “I alone can fix it.” (You’ll note: He didn’t. Not even come close.)

What especially galls me:

Most of their depictions of America today are, simply, lies.Lies about the economy, crime, etc., (See list above). Unless you believe in Trumpian “alternative facts” or watch Fox News. Then it’s all true.

The real threats are being ignored amid the Republican spew:

The MAGA-fascist domestic terror threat to American democracy that brought us Jan. 6, 2021; Russia’s Ukraine war; a woman’s right to choose, destroyed in red states via the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade and Republican promises to pass a national abortion (and contraception) ban if they regain power; antisemitism; corporate profiteering, driving half of the inflation threatening our economic recovery; hundreds of classified documents illegally retained by Trump threatening our national security; and Christian nationalism threatening 246 years of American democracy.

A few words about Christian vationalism:

First, what is it? According to Christianity Today, the publication started by Billy Graham and evangelicalism’s flagship magazine, it is, “the belief that the American nation is defined by Christianity, and the government should take active steps to keep it that way.”

So what do they believe? A look at the Watchman Decree (promulgated by a group affiliated with the Family Research Council which featured Marjorie Taylor Greene at its 2022 conference) pretty much defines their beliefs. (My comments in parentheses)

“We, the Church, are God’s governing Body on the earth.” (Just your church? On the whole earth? Wow.)

“We have been given legal power from heaven and now exercise our authority.” (Legal power! From Heaven? Impressive! To do what? Outlaw abortion? Mandate prayer in schools? Run Bingo seven nights a week?)

“We are God’s ambassadors and spokespeople over the earth.” (Uhhhh…so your little American Christian church is now speaking for 1.97 billion Muslims, 1.2 billion Hindus, 1.3 billion Catholics, 400 million Buddhists, 14.4 million Jews, and 17 million Mormons? Interesting. What do those folks think about that?)

“Through the power of God, we are the world influencers.” (See above.)

“Because of our covenant with God, we are equipped and delegated by Him to destroy every attempted advance of the enemy.” (“Destroy?” “Enemy?” Where’s “Turn the other cheek?”)

And what do they Decree? Here’s a sample of how they would rule: (And who’s the “We” do’in all the “decree’in?”)

“We decree that our judicial system will issue rulings that are biblical and constitutional.” (Supreme Court take note: Now you gotta decide if it’s biblical and Constitutional.)

“We declare that we stand against wokeness, the occult, and every evil attempt against our nation.” (So “Harry Potter” and the “Lord of the Rings” are banned and burned?”)

“We decree that the blood of Jesus covers and protects our nation. It protects and separates us for God.” (Seems with that extensive litany of Republican-listed ills Jesus hasn’t done a very good “protection” job. Time for an employee performance review?)

“And we decree that AMERICA SHALL BE SAVED!” (Wish they’d decree the Seahawks would win the Superbowl.)

Managing an America of 330 million ain’t easy. But making this country work has never been easy.

But we’ve come to a point, today, right now, where we have to choose between democracy as we know it and a right-wing, authoritarian, religious-influenced regime that’s been explicit about its fundamentalist agenda and destruction the Constitutional church-state firewall.

Over the next 15 days there’s a decision you, gentle reader, have to make: Vote for democracy or vote Republican.

It’s that simple. The Republicanss at all levels are toeing the MAGA line. So don’t be fooled by the vagueness, platitudes and campaign rhetoric you hear on TV or see on Twitter.

If you don’t want to wake up on Nov. 9 saying “Oh, crap, what have I done?” Vote Democratic. Right down the line.

Slava Ukraini.

Tom Burke’s email address is t.burke.column@gmail.com.