"Flags" a science fiction novelette published by Lillibridge Press and now available on Amazon.com - paints a grim picture of a future in which the human race is one step away from destroying itself over racial, religious and ideological divisions. In real life, how far are we from this, here in the land of the free, where all men are created equal?The growing hysteria over immigration in this country is becoming truly frightening. Gone is the America embodied in Lady Liberty standing tall and proud with her torch upraised, a shining beacon of hope and opportunity to all the world's peoples who hungered to breath free, unshackled by the tyrannies of the past. The America we seem to be degenerating into is one retreating behind a wall of fear and intolerance. Our growing chorus of reactionary activists envision a ridiculously huge fence sealing our immense border with Mexico, stretching out like the Great Wall of China. Impossible to build or maintain effectively, of course, but conservative politicians and demagogues continue to advocate it to appease the terrified masses. What next? A vast army sent to guard our Great Wall of Texas? Machine gun turrets? Mine fields? High voltage wires? How far are our conservative elements from advocating extermination camps for illegal aliens?
Sound far-fetched? Think about it. Some conservatives today are advocating deportation for anyone born in this country to a parent who was an illegal alien. One has to wonder how many generations back they would ultimately take this. Are any of us safe? And, of course, they would require everyone to produce identity papers. We seem to be slipping closer and closer to something resembling Nazi Germany. And, have you seen the political platform of the Texas Republican Party? It includes "Opposing all criminal or civil penalties against anti-gay activists and any actions they may take to oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction, or belief in traditional values." If taken literally, that essentially means it would be legal to kill gay people at will. And, of course, the Texas GOP wants to get us the heck out of the U.N. Their platform can best be summed up as: "Attention foreign devils and anybody different from us, get out or we'll kill you." This platform is nothing new, of course; The Texas GOP has maintained it for years. What's scary is that the National GOP will not condemn or oppose it.
America is fast becoming a nation of xenophobes who want to close our doors to the outside world and reject all races, cultures and lifestyles that differ from our safe, comfortably familiar norm. The Islamic civilization took a similar turn back in the middle ages. Like us, they were once an open, enlightened, progressive society. Once they turned to xenophobia, their once vibrant culture stagnated, and they've been stuck ever since in the 10th century. That may well happen to us if present trends continue.
