Fatherland

Ira and I went to see Fatherland at NYC Center, the true story of an 19-year old son who turned his father in to the FBI after the Dad's active partcipation in the January 6th storming of the capital. It uses actual transcripts of court testimony: The United States vs. Wesley Feffitt, the jury trial held before the US District Court in Washington, DC. This was a son who had a very loving relationshop with his Dad in his younger days, but when Trump challenges the result of the 2020 election and sends out a call to rally at the capital building, urging his fans to "fight like hell or you are not going to have a country anymore" things change. The proudly reactionary father arms himself for battle and drives from Texas to DC by car, (with weapons), while the son contacts the FBI and records his Dad on a cell phone, so the young man's testimony will be believed. The Dad had become a changed "Maga-man" drinking heavily and physically and verbally threatening his wife and child. He totally bought into the incendiary extremist ideology of the Far-Right Three Percenters Militia Group. But the son's decision ends up, ultimately, splitting up the family, so right now no one talks to the young man, who is on his own in college, while his Mom left with her two girls and his Dad is in jail. The Dad admits, at the end of the play, that he would do it all over again, since it was his patriotic duty, but so would the son do it, even though he feels guilty and anxious every day. This is a heart-wrenching decision based on morality and conscience. Everyone's life has been changed forever.

But I have to say, I have nothing but admiration for this son. The Dad's decision to storm the capital, the "insurrection" was dangerous, and the rhetoric of today's politics is ugly, divisive and threatening. How brave it had to be, but also scary, for this young man to face the truth of having a Dad whose belief system was immoral: the killing ("Hang Mike Pence") and desecration of the U.S, capital, all in the name of a HUGE LIE that the election was stolen, though all data had proven otherwise. The moral courage to turn a parent in is astounding, since no one wants to act in a way that would send a beloved family member to jail. Yet, this boy knew the ugly war his father was raging was corrupt and morally reprehensible.

To have raised a child who is willing to sacrifice all of his family anchors in the name of justice is an act of bravery. I would be proud to have a child like this, who puts RIGHT OVER MIGHT, and moves forward with his or her conscience. But even as I say this and feel he did the right thing, it is a lonely road he now walks on, yet a road paved with decency and integrity and morality. It is the final act of courage.  Still, he is only nineteen, and now he walks alone. 

This is a story that would make you weep!

Morality and Character

 

                                "If you stand for nothing, you will fall for everything"

                                            Carl Laskin, 1964

                                "My Pammy, be a good person. Nothing else matters."

                                            Solomon Laskin, 1964

I grew up with two very moral men with impeccable values, a father and grandfather who told me my signature meant everything. By signature, I mean values--the way you live your life. Their values were grounded  in being a morally outstanding citizen. If that was lacking, you could not be a person with character. That meant, for example, my grandfather, as a pharmacist, gave away medicines to neighborhood folks who had no money. In modern day political rhetoric this would define him as a socialist, a word the Republican party has co-opted to equate with evil. To care for those who have less then you, to react with kindness to the elderly, to be good and humane and generous to poulations who have suffered, to care for the disabled, to be honest and decent and not lie (to be truthful most often), to not speak in a degrading way about fellow human beings--all  this and more was part of character, and I have put in my best effort, not always with success, to be a morally outstanding citizen. I step into the shoes of other people, and think about the world and the future world I want my children and grandchildren to grow up in. 

Which is why I can't wrap my brain around candidates Donald Trump and J.D. Vance.  And why I also can't understand how people who are decent and moral and dream of a future would either not vote, not discuss voting or vote for Maga values--and they are immoral values. Since this party has no real policy, aside from deporting immigrants, tariffs, cozying up to dictators and getting rid of many laws and norms we have grown accustomed to living with, what is the justification? I know THEY  know he has lied, is demeaning, hateful, set on punishing his enemies. They know and understand January 6th was not an abberation, and violence is encouraged today. They know he lost the last election, he was not assasinated by Democrats and Hurricane Helene was not a Democratic conspiracy. I know, in my heart of hearts, that half the country couldn't possibly be immoral or lacking in character.

Kamala Harris may not be perfect (no one is); she may still be enigmatic to you, but what you do know is she has characer and morality and has shared a vision of our future, beyond hate and division. She has the respect of foreign leaders and will not upend every institution that stands in her way, since that is not what presidents do. She would never question election results, since she has respect for the rule of law, and does not think she can get her way with feckless law suits and bullying. She regards the Constitution. But her highest regard is for humanity: not to dimish, but to elevate every human being, so there is more of a level of equality, decency, even patriotism.

As my father and grandfather taught me, I will forge ahead with empathy, courage, decency, restraint, morality and stand tall for everything that is as right as it could possibly be. I could never stand for violence and guns and evil, degrading language. Character and morality mean everything at the end of the day, and something everyone should expect from a president. Don't fall; simply RISE!

Bad Faith, Ugly Politics and Wishes for the New Year

 I just finished watching the documentary on Prime, BAD FAITH, and I find myself filled with dread and terror. It is a must see! It traces the rise of Christian White Nationalism, and how far these folks will go to make this nation White and Christian. Indeed this means no Jews, Muslims, Hindus --any religion aside from Christianity. However, this is not the Christianity of goodness, kindness, compassion, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This is a vision of an apocalypse, where perhaps, as one gentleman interviewed suggests,  there will have to be another Civil War, so the nation can return to what it once was. "Start storing your guns," he shouts to the congregation, and they respond, "Amen." They feel the world has been taken over by non-White, non-Christian people and the world is binary: THEM and US, where God and Satan are engaged in battle, and the messiah can rise once again in  Donald Trump returning to the White House, a man who will help bring their vision to fruition.

I am not saying all the Trump base are engaged in this verbal assault and warfare, but if January 6th is any indication of what his core base is willing to do, you, too, should be terrified. Trump has already said the country should engage in a Day Of Bloodbath if the fails to unseat Biden--now Kamala (he is proud of his angry rhetoric, so my guess is Fox News people have heard this, too).  He spews hateful rumors about immigrants, when FACTS have proven that crimes are most often the result of  people who are American citizens. He elevates violence in his speech, so that his base feels entitled to violent speech and actions; this, as Tim Snyder says, is so reminiscent of Nazi Germany.

But that's not the biggest threat, but what is are all the under-handed ways the party is playing in order to help Trump win. The G.O.P. is filing a deluge of suits over elections. My guess is he could not win the popular vote, but with the Supreme Court on his side and the lower courts and state courts already in place, we are in a heap of trouble. There is an onslaught of litigation for an election that has not yet occurred. He is poised to turn to these law suits if he does not win, like in 2020 (disproven coast to coast), he will go to the state courts to engage in recounts and establish cases to prove he is the annoited king. Right now there are states where the electorates may make the final decisions, since they are in Republican hands. People are being thrown off the voting rosters in these states, since states with Republican electorates have the ability to make their own decisions. This past Sunday, I went out with a few friends where I heard of such a threat. One woman explained she got a letter from the Florida board explaining, WE NEED TO RE-CERTIFY ABSENTEE BALLOTS, SINCE IT IS TIME FOR THEM TO RE-DO THEIR ROSTERS. This letter was sent to seniors, most of whom are Democrats, so they will, perhaps, not vote, since it is too much of a hassle. Voter intimidation, fraud, hassles--all this and more to get their man elected. My friend is astute and saw through this charade. But what about those who are not? What then?

Which brings me to the Jewish New Year. I am not religious. I no longer go to shul, but I feel throughly Jewish, which to me means I live giving tzedakah, good deeds, and believe in decency, integrity, humanity and compassion, the way many righteous people of other religions live. I live with GOOD FAITH, not BAD FAITH, where people will do the right thing, not vote for a dictator who spews hate and venom, not look at the world through his prism--destruction, deportation, jailing your enemies. My wish for the world this New Years is to discard your sins in the water, in the spirit of goodness and redemption, and help to build a better world, one of goodness and joy. And when you vote in November, rely on the humanity with which you have raised your family, with which you regard your neighbors and friends. You may not know her (Kamala has shown herself to you, so I don't buy this), but you know him!

Happy new year. Search in your heart for all that is kind and generous. Amen, with health and happiness. And, in good faith, Shana Tovah!