The Patriot Double Standard: Don't Tell Me How Small Government Should Be
Dear cosplay patriots, you don't get it both ways. We know you're used to making everything about you and your fantasies of shoot em' up gunplay. The decline of white, middle-class America has brought the cockroaches into the light, and they're draped in (Made in China) "MAGA 2020" flags. The fragile, wounded bird mentality of an entire slice of the American population is mind-blowing.
When you stand by an emblematic phrase like "Don't Tread on Me”, you're aligning with old school value propositions the GOP has hung their stetson on for decades. "Small government" and "state's rights" – governors making choices on what's best for their people - that's straight from the Republican playbook since Ronnie Big Screen flashed that bullshit peddling million-dollar smile, fooling your parents into believing that black folks were going to sell crack into your suburban neighborhoods along with the grand lie that trickle-down economics works.
It will never matter that Trump is a failure. He's a symbol, a folk hero for assholes. There's a phonebook worth of lies, deceit, and inexperience. They’ll never care. The world sees and acknowledges it, but men with long guns in tactical vests who can't look a woman in the eye during conversation continue to stand by their edge lord hoping whatever gaffe comes next is his masterstroke. It's not about getting back to work – this is an excuse for the people who've felt trapped in an isolating system which is deteriorating in front of their eyes thanks to a diverse America waking up, to take up arms and to champion violence.
Trump's narcissism is boundless; he focuses on little beyond polling numbers. The psychopaths who worship him like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, stoke the fires of a culture war based on a victimhood complex. Nothing gets them hard like playing martyr against rampant liberalism. One of my parents' friends whom I'm connected to on Facebook shared a photo citing being kept indoors is an affront to freedom. The post showed Jews coming off the train in Auschwitz. Yes, Jessica, not being able to hit the local ice cream shop for a scoop of Rocky Road is akin to the greatest tragedy of the modern age. That's how insane this horror show has become.
The state of Michigan shut down its capital because fragile men with weapons were parading a doomsday scenario – one where violence was promised against the governor. They even called their protest "Judgment Day." This is not an applicable use of the second amendment, but yet, a lesson in pushing narrative through intimidation.
The very same bros wearing patches that say "Support the thin blue line" but protest against cops doing their jobs? Because it doesn't fit a clear vision of a darkened set of claws snatching children away in the middle of the night, it doesn't work so well, huh? Bending over backward to support the president, THE HEAD OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, the thing which you are supposed to be protecting yourselves against?
As states open back up, it's going to be an experiment. We're praying for herd immunity. No one is coming out a winner. People are going to die. If there's any truth to this whole circus, it's that under no circumstances are boys playing soldiers living in reality. These are American terrorists. If they weren't, then why the guns? They're daring you to make a move. That's where we've landed: who blinks first, but why are even allowing blinking at all?