For most of my life I\u2019ve taken the meaning of the 4th of July for granted\u2014a time for grilling burgers, drinking beer and hanging out with family and friends. Why not? Year after year independence day celebrated the success of the United States as a country where citizens were free, the economy boomed and life was good. For native-born or recent immigrants the \u201cAmerican Dream\u201d was still part of our self-awareness.<\/p>\n
Today I\u2019m not so sure. As a student of history I see things happening in the United States that I have identified with authoritarian governments in Europe and Latin America – attacks on the media and universities, the undermining of the judiciary, the abuse of representative assemblies, enhancement of executive power, scapegoating of racial and ethnic minorities, and cultural warfare.<\/p>\n
We have people being rounded up and sent to detention camps without due process of law, courts vilified and ignored by the executive branch, universities hamstrung because of unpopular policies, and politicians threatened or run out of office for voting their conscience. And the context for this is a climate of cultural correctness dictated by a president and his cronies much like those in Saudi Arabia or Iran.<\/p>\n
What I\u2019ve written here is no great insight; this stuff has been going on since Trump first became president in 2016 and has accelerated with a vengeance during his second term. Interesting and frightening is the fact that Trump fans either don\u2019t see this, are in denial or simply appreciate his actions as a means to an end, just like those who gave their blessing to the Nazis, the Islamic terrorists, Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Allende in Chile or the generals in Argentina. Later, of course, after the curse passes, these sycophants will become invisible, denying their complicity.<\/p>\n
This is what I will think about this independence day as I join the celebration, praying that our republic will survive the unprecedented challenge of the Trump years. My blind confidence in America\u2019s immutable success has been shaken, and I\u2019m forced to face the possibility that the United States might fall prey to the same authoritarianism that has destroyed other nations.*<\/p>\n