Modern horrors

High school students are often told to read such classics as “Animal Farm” and “1984,” which deal with totalitarianism. Now we are able to do more than just read about it; we can actually bear witness to its actualization in Florida, where Gov.

Ron DeSantis and the legislature have restricted abortion access to only the first six weeks of pregnancy. DeSantis fired a well-functioning state-level official who was elected to her office. He tolerates the carrying of weapons on the streets.

Even worse, former President Donald Trump, leading Republican candidate for president, evidently intends to deploy our military against protesters, and plans to weaponize the Department of Justice to prosecute his critics. His main reason for wanting the presidency seems to be not to serve the American people, but instead to settle scores. He has recently achieved a new low in oratory by referring to his political opponents as “vermin,” redolent of both Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

“When rulers insist the law should be driven by a particular religious viewpoint, they are systematizing their beliefs and imposing a theocracy. We have thousands of religious sects in the U.S. and there is no religious majority, but we now have a politically fervent conservative religious movement of Christian nationalists intent on shaping policy to match their understanding of God and theirs alone,” writes Marci A. Hamilton for The Guardian.

Oddly, while I was being raised as a Christian, I had no conception that Christ could be so intolerant of liberty, or so devoid of an unconditional love for all of humanity.