"It matters not where you live, or what rank of life you hold, the evil or the blessing will reach you all. The far and the near, the home counties and the back, the rich and the poor, will suffer or rejoice alike. The heart that feels not now is dead; the blood of his children will curse his cowardice, who shrinks back at a time when a little might have saved the whole, and made them happy. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death. My own line of reasoning is to myself as straight and clear as a ray of light. Not all the treasures of the world, so far as I believe, could have induced me to support an offensive war, for I think it murder; but if a thief breaks into my house, burns and destroys my property, and kills or threatens to kill me, or those that are in it, and to 'bind me in all cases whatsoever' to his absolute will, am I to suffer it? What signifies it to me, whether he who does it is a king or a common man; my countryman or not my countryman; whether it be done by an individual villain, or an army of them? If we reason to the root of things we shall find no difference; neither can any just cause be assigned why we should punish in the one case and pardon in the other. Let them call me rebel and welcome, I feel no concern from it; but I should suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul by swearing allegiance to one whose character is that of a sottish, stupid, stubborn, worthless, brutish man. I conceive likewise a horrid idea in receiving mercy from a being, who at the last day shall be shrieking to the rocks and mountains to cover him, and fleeing with terror from the orphan, the widow, and the slain of America.
"There are cases which cannot be overdone by language, and this is one. There are persons, too, who see not the full extent of the evil which threatens them; they solace themselves with hopes that the enemy, if he succeed, will be merciful. It is the madness of folly, to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war; the cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf, and we ought to guard equally against both."
Just for a second, I’m not going to tell you who wrote those first two paragraphs or when. I want to imagine that if you don’t recognize those words, you might assume some pretentious but bighearted scholar wrote them this weekend.
I feel bad for America today, because most of us don’t read. Which means this may be the first time that many of you have encountered the words “I should suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul by swearing allegiance to one whose character is that of a sottish, stupid, worthless, brutish man,” instead of knowing that, whenever you feel like shit about the state of the country, you have these words to draw on.
People keep saying “This is fascism!” But this is America. This is America. The men with guns, hiding their faces behind masks, tearing people out of their beds and carrying them off into the night? That’s not some German Nazi shit. That’s the White League and the Red Shirts and the Ku Klux Klan. Are you shocked to see men pushing women out of the armed forces, out of the workforce, out of public life? That’s also what happened here, in America, after World War II.
Abigail Adams diagnosed the issue that has always, always, threatened to destroy the United States, even as it was being founded: “I have sometimes been ready to think that the passion for Liberty cannot be Eaquelly [sic] Strong in the Breasts of those who have been accustomed to deprive their fellow Creatures of theirs.”
In other words, when you oppress others, your ability to dream of freedom for yourself is diminished. Adams spoke it plainly at the start of the nation, and it remains a true thing that stares us in the face but we refuse to see.
Homan recently appeared on Fox News to talk about ICE coming to Nashville to 'flood the zone in the neighborhoods to find the bad guy'
It’s frustrating, because as a nation, we’ve done what Trump is doing so many times before, and it never fixes things. We saw unimaginable racist violence during the reign of the second Klan (starting with the release of The Birth of a Nation in 1915) and through to the start of World War II. We still had the Great Depression. One might even argue that white Americans running around wholesale destroying Black wealth by burning down their neighborhoods and towns might have been a substantial factor in tanking the economy, since it stunted the growth of an increasing source of the country’s wealth.
No matter how many times we terrorize and destroy parts of the country, America has this fantasy where it can, metaphorically, set fire to one end of the ship, but somehow none of the “right” people on the other end will drown. But as the country is destroyed, we will all suffer. Because we have all suffered — every time we’ve pulled this annihilationist bullshit.
Thomas Paine wrote the words at the top of this post. They’re from his essay “The American Crisis.” You know, the one that starts: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.”
I have my issues with Paine. It’s annoying when he’s all, “Surely, if anything can be called slavery, it’s this,” meaning that the king of England was pissing them off — which is much different than, say, having your children stolen out of your arms, not being paid for work you can’t not do and being working to death. And Paine absolutely knew this, because he lived in an enslaving society. Plus his whole “the Jews are dumb” thing in Common Sense also feels a little like he’s just throwing non-Christians under the bus in order to try to convince Christians to adopt his position.
But he is right that it’s hell living among people who sell their souls to “a sottish, stupid, stubborn, worthless, brutish man.” He was then, and he is now.
I take hope, though, that there’s a spirit of resistance also built into the foundations of the country — a belief that we can work together to all get free. It may not happen in our lifetimes, but we can clear the path as far as we can for the people who come after us.
Judging by history, the assholes can win for a while, but then they start to turn on each other. And once that happens, they fall. They always do.
