First, they came for me.

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. ~Martin Niemoller

I saw this the other day, I commented on it, and shared it on Facebook with my comments. In the actual meme there is a picture of a dude in a Guy Fawkes mask making what should be the obvious statement that other people who are struggling aren't your enemy.

And it's been bothering me ever since.

Why is Narcan free to a "Dope addict" but my insulin is $750 a month?

Well, for one; Capitalism and not enough having been done to reign in the drug companies.

Also, I think even at this debased point in our national life, because we as a society don't want drug addicts to become dead people.

Now, let me tell you something about me.

I have been an addict, and when it was me there wasn't any Narcan or anything like that and for the most part, in the mass media and popular culture of the middle and later 1990's alcoholics and drug addicts were generally treated as criminals, so I beat that shit the old fashioned way, church and community and twelve step meetings and sheer willpower. And it would still take me another eighteen years to quit smoking.

So, to me, things like Narcan are something I understand could save the lives of people like who I was.

And isn't that a good thing?

With proper care, some people who give a shit, and maybe just a little grit and determination...any addict no matter how hard they've hit rock bottom can again become a productive member of society, but you gotta still be alive to do that.

And that's something I've started seeing a lot lately, a complete lack of regard for the lives of other human beings.

Any addict, any homeless person, and for that matter any bamboozled cult member can again become a functional member of society provided they get some help and have some people around them who give a shit.

Instead, we have no less of a person than the President openly being offended that homeless people exist where he and those like him can see them. He's not talking about helping people in need, he's talking about turning the cops loose on them or shipping them off somewhere else,

Because basic compassion for another human being regardless of circumstances simply because they are a living being is too hard, apparently.

I find that frightening, and I can't say that about very many things. Why? Because I used to be a Christian, and a Conservative, and the value of human life was something that, at the time, was held as a core value.

Without regard for life, any philosophy or religion can easily be converted into nothing more than an excuse to kill those who can't or won't bend the knee or conform...but I kind of feel like that goes double for conservatism as practiced in the United States of America. Given Americans' tendency towards fanaticism and religion (or toward using other things to scratch that itch) owing to the fact that Colonial America was often a dumping ground for Europe's religious fanatics. I was taught that people in leadership positions have a responsibility to be good role models and have good conduct for exactly that reason.

Instead, for a generation, conservative leaders have tended to be more the problem than the solution, often in plain sight and with malice aforethought. Newt Gingrich, anyone?

And things like internet nihilism and religious fanaticism haven't helped one damned bit.

And too many people are unwilling to take a stand for anything, because we as a society have become addicted to passive-aggressiveness and fearful of confrontation...even as a small percentage of us become only ever-more belligerent, confrontational and hostile.

What increasingly bothers me, is the prospect that enough people in some places get that we have a problem, enough people in some places are willing to do what it takes and keep showing up and standing up for the right thing, and in others there aren't or no one does. 

Some of us are going to make it,and some of us aren't...and we're all going to see ethnic and political conflict, horror and war and death, not in the middle east or some post-Soviet shit-hole, but right here at home. 

Why? Because even though by the numbers enough of us know what's going on that we could stop it, those in power on all sides seem bound and determined to let each person do as they damned well please instead of demanding that we all stand united and giving each of us the facts so we have to make that call. That's a hell of a problem when some people's only real ambition is to have their boot on somebody else's throat before they die. That's a problem when some people just want another civil war, or to watch the whole world burn. Too many of them care more about their donors or popularity or reelection prospects or their own stinking hides more than they care about the civilization that holds them up. And one way or another, even if we salvage this mess, or part of it, we're all going to pay for that.

When even something so basic as "Do not commit adultery" is casually flouted by people at the highest levels of our society...and all the way down to somewhere as simple as my own workplace...I think we can say we have a problem.

What's worse is the Evangelicals don't just wink and nod knowingly, they give the people who do this shit their full and enthusiastic support. Where I work, it's the people with the conservative and Evangelical backgrounds that are often the biggest offenders...whether they are still actively religious or not.

Hell I was one of those people for awhile too, the difference is I grew out of it.

When even impeachable offenses and outright treason by the President elicits not much more than angry comments on social media by the other party...and full-on fanatical defense by the President's own...I think it's safe to say that we have a problem. Just let him do what he wants, we'll wait it out.

But what happens when there's no waiting it out. As I've said many times, some of these people seem to care more about their place in the magical city than they do about the society that holds it and them up.

It's going to fall to the rest of us to stand up, and to keep standing up, or everybody is going to lose.

We have to not only plan on showing up, standing up and voting the goddamned Republicans out, we have to expect at least some people on our own side won't be much better than they are, and push back against them too. We have to vote the bastards out...and then probably expect we're going to have to fight a war to keep these idiots from simply breaking off a piece of America and going their own way with a Soviet-style Russian satellite state, because if we don't that'll just lead to even more wars.

And there's going to be no glory in it, no gratitude, no nothing but putting your back into it and pushing back hard against these motherfuckers.

All of them.

Oh, there might be a positive mention in the history books somewhere down the line, I rather expect a few particular events or people will get most of the attention. But we all have to stand up anyway.

That is, if we want there to be history books.

It shouldn't be that hard. Trump and Netanyahu and Boris Johnson and assorted other nationalists and wannabe fascists face a degree of open opposition and their opposition in many countries...especially this one...have degrees of legal protections and support from people in society in their own countries and abroad that Anti-Nazis in Germany (or the Jews for that matter) could only have dreamed of having. Hell, if you're a Hungarian and you don't like Victor Orban or you run afoul of his government...you can just go somewhere else in Europe, as many have. Even in Russia, where things are basically completely fucked...or in Hong Kong where they are very nearly so...people keep stepping up and fighting back against these assholes.

So what the hell is our problem?

If you want to stop this shit, you have to stand up.

For everybody, not just the people you like.

If we want a better country, a better world, we have to be people who care enough about each other that we wouldn't take the Narcan from an addict who is dying from an overdose.

That is a pretty damned low bar, why can't so many of us clear it?

...The people who were put in the camps then were Communists. Who cared about them? We knew it, it was printed in the newspapers. Who raised their voice, maybe the Confessing Church? We thought: Communists, those opponents of religion, those enemies of Christians - "should I be my brother's keeper?"

Then they got rid of the sick, the so-called incurables. - I remember a conversation I had with a person who claimed to be a Christian. He said: Perhaps it's right, these incurably sick people just cost the state money, they are just a burden to themselves and to others. Isn't it best for all concerned if they are taken out of the middle [of society]? -- Only then did the church as such take note.

Then we started talking, until our voices were again silenced in public. Can we say, we aren't guilty/responsible?

The persecution of the Jews, the way we treated the occupied countries, or the things in Greece, in Poland, in Czechoslovakia or in Holland, that were written in the newspapers. … I believe, we Confessing-Church-Christians have every reason to say: Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa! We can talk ourselves out of it with the excuse that it would have cost me my head if I had spoken out.

~Martin Niemoller