’Twas the night before the night before Christmas and the preacher was being stirred by the memory of a childhood experience. Walking down the street, listening to his transistor radio playing the holiday classic “Snoopy’s Christmas.”
This merry little Christmas song told of Snoopy piloting his World War I airplane against his dreaded foe, the Red Baron. Fighting fiercely, Snoopy realized he had ice on his wings (it was 40-below) and as the Red Baron flew closer, Snoopy was sure he was a goner.
Andrew Manis
But the Baron’s machine gun went silent. Instead, he forced Snoopy to land behind enemy lines. When the Red Baron landed, again Snoopy “was certain that this was the end.” Instead, the Baron called out, “Merry Christmas, mein friend.” The “enemies” drank a toast and flew off to fight another day.
And why? The Red Baron apparently heard the chorus:
Christmas bells, those Christmas bells
Ringing through the land
Bringing peace to all the world
And good will to man.
And the little transistor radio boy felt tears on his cheeks and goosebumps on his arms.
That little boy has now lived through 13 presidents and worries about shooting wars in Ukraine and Israel and the almost as deadly culture wars in the United States. But nobody is bringing peace to these three points on the globe.
Nothing I do or say or write is likely to change anything among the Russians, Ukrainians, Israelis or with Hamas. But here in America, who knows. So I’ll cast my bread upon the waters, and as Mr. Trump frequently says, “We’ll see what happens.”
Our culture wars first will be fought in the courts determining whether 45 will go to jail, gets bounced from ballots in states in addition to Colorado or becomes 47.
Then it will be fought among the voters. If he wins, he’s already promised to be a dictator on the first day. If he can do it on Day One, what’s to stop him from doing it on Day 2 or 100 or 1,000 (2.7 years) or 10,000 (27.4 years)? And what will this “God-anointed” dictator do in a fascist Amerikan Reich?
No prophets (fore-tellers) needed here. But of prophets who tell forth the truth to power we have great need. Indeed, our life as a Democratic Republic depends upon it.
Somebody must tell our 45ers, especially the evangelicals who make up his base, and Baptists who are the largest piece of the demographic pie, that King Donald I will bring retribution to millions of us who oppose him or throw his political opponents in jail.
Somebody must tell them he will slam the gates against immigrants, separate children from their parents and put them in cages. He will do it despite the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the U.S. signed in 1948 and which states:
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin. … Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. … No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
More importantly, somebody must tell them the Lord God instructed the Israelites, “When a foreigner resides among you …, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were once foreigners in Egypt.”
Somebody must tell 45 that no president should pardon convicted “patriots” who participated in an insurrection against the United States and endangered members of Congress and the vice president of their own party.
“We must stop this Reign of Error.”
Somebody must tell them that a president of the United States must have at least enough ethics not to taunt the disabled or disrespect citizens who reject his anti-democratic echoes of the worst dictator in the history of the world. Or not to speak of the Jews as “vermin” who were “poisoning the blood of our country” — language straight out of Mein Kampf, that led to the murder of 6 million Jews in Nazi concentration camps.
Someone must tell them that we should not elect a convicted rapist or someone who thinks grabbing women by their genitalia is acceptable. One could go on and on.
But we may finally be forced literally to fight a culture war on American streets and sooner than you think. Forty-five must not only be stopped from becoming 47, but he must also be stopped from becoming the Republican nominee. Because he’s proved he won’t play by the rules set up by the Constitution that he has suggested suspending.
If he is the nominee again, once again he will refuse to accept the results of any election he does not win. Once again, he will try to steal the general election by force. He will call his violent supporters again to Washington to fight the true patriots who honor the plain meaning of the Constitution.
Friends, we stand to lose the greatest democracy in the history of the world. We must stop this Reign of Error. American evangelicals, who are the bulk of his base and who put him in the White House, must come to their senses and reject him. And Baptists, who make up a large part of his evangelical base, must go back and read the Bible. Because any way you read it, whether errant or inerrant, the plain, literal meaning of the Bible demands that we reject this nihilist in Christian clothing who is morally unworthy of the office.
May American Snoopies reconcile with our own Red Barons. Maybe then those Christmas bells will ring in a hopeful new year and bring peace and goodwill back to our corner of the world.
Andrew M. Manis is emeritus professor of history at Middle Georgia State University and author of A Fire You Can’t Put Out: The Civil Rights Life of Birmingham’s Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth. He is currently working with Mark V. Puroshotham, producer and director of Mercy Pictures, on a documentary based on the book. Learn more about that project by emailing [email protected].
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