People are hearing the word Antifa, meaning anti-fascists, many times as the right-wing tries to blame the Jan. 6 riots on someone besides Trump and his poor deceived followers.
Our grandparents were antifas, fighting against fascists in World War II. The dictionary defines fascism: “A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, a capitalist economy subject to stringent governmental controls, violent suppression of the opposition, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.”
Texas is a good example of how fascism works in real time.
Republicans there have dominated politics for many years and do whatever they can to suppress the vote of mostly people of color, who often vote democratic. They stringently control their economy with entities like the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which is controlled by the energy corporations, and which failed dismally to spend the money to prepare its equipment for a disaster.
Their housing codes allow the cheapest building practices, including un-insulated water pipes and houses. As for nationalism, Texas Republicans, who love state’s rights, are loud and clear they don’t want the Feds telling them what to do.
Yet when the crisis came, Texas Republicans ran away, leaving Democrats (Biden, Ocasio-Cortez and O’Rourke) to rush to the rescue. Now they’re complaining that the federal government is not doing enough.
This is the kind of government that Trumpian politicians want to have instead of democracy? Trump proved that governments don’t have to work for the “people.”
People who like that kind of disastrous response should vote for Trumpians.
Richard Fochtmann, Leeds
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