From Jim Carter

Blanchardville

To the Editor:

Some items on TV over the past several years seem to represent the personal and professional philosophy of the current president. The events of his first four years are not only being repeated, but enlarged and expanded. To some, these things are very familiar and disturbing.

A country can’t conduct its ordinary business affairs if several organizations can use violence as a method of its operation. Some divisions of our governmental society are already privatized. Our federal government hires mercenaries to fight in some of its wars; all of the states hire businesses to operate parts of their prison systems. 

The difficulties with the privatization of security forces arise when the individual in power incorporates this philosophy into his personal and professional life. For example, at his presidential campaign rallies dissenters were escorted out by employees of a private security firm. People might remember the candidate shout “get them the hell out of here.”

Now we see this gangster mentality expanded. ICE originated as an organization looking only for criminals to be deported. That changed dramatically when a quota of people to be arrested and deported each day was set. In their enthusiasm to reach these quotas, people are being beaten physically, and a man and woman have been murdered. Unbelievably, the shooters are not being prosecuted.

All of us are fortunate that the courts are standing up; making decisions. Also, many individual organizations are suing the administration and winning many of the cases; organizations such as ACLU, Mother Jones, Earth Justice and others. The city police and state police are not cooperating with ICE or in some cases the border police; in spite of the vice-president’s suggestion that cooperation “would end the violence.” 

“For violence to transform not just the atmosphere but also the system, the emotions of rallies and the ideology of exclusion have to be incorporated into the training of armed guards. These first challenge the police and military, then penetrate the police and military and finally transform the police and military.” — On Tyranny, by Timothy Snyder

Consider what happened to the Germans beginning in 1933, then the Austrians, Czechs, and Poles, when all of them cooperated with the Nazis. 

Europe 1933-45 had millions of Jewish folks who said “this can’t be happening to us.”

So why don’t all of us, you and me, in our own individual way, “standup” to this government inspired violence and gangsterism!