Washington DC is in lockdown with a Baghdad-style ‘Green Zone’ perimeter set up days out from Joe Biden’s inauguration as more than 20,000 armed National Guard troops are mobilized, razor wire is installed on fences and road blocks are put in place amid ‘major security threats’ in the capital.
As security intensifies in Washington, the Secret Service, who is in charge of all inauguration security, has released its restricted access plan, which includes what the agency is calling a ‘Green Zone’ in the heart of DC.
The term ‘Green Zone’ was the same name given to the heavily-fortified area in Baghdad during the Iraq War. Most of downtown DC is now off-limits to traffic and has already drawn comparisons to Baghdad’s high-security zone.
(The Daily Mail, January 15, 2021)
Except, am I the only one who thinks this makes about as much sense as putting up a “No Peeing” sign at the shallow end of a public swimming pool, but none at the deep end? After all, the rest of America remains as vulnerable to these pro-Trump domestic terrorists as proverbial sitting ducks.
But boy, who would ever have thought this could happen in America? Oh, right, the following is an excerpt from “Tribalism and Dysfunction in American Politics,” June 24, 2018:
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I’ve been lamenting this descent into tribalism and dysfunction for years. In fact, party orthodoxy had already become so toxic six years ago that even the notion of compromise among Republicans was tantamount to political heresy. … It’s arguable that this tribalism and dysfunction led inexorably to the election of Donald J. Trump. And there’s certainly no gainsaying that he exacerbates both every time he opens his potty mouth. …
Political tribalism is tearing America apart. And Trump’s presidency smacks of a demonic force designed to have Republicans and Democrats ape the Sunnis and Shias who have been fighting for the soul of Islam for over 1000 years.
(“Trump’s Insulting Tweet about Doug Jones, the Alabama Democratic Nominee, Reveals More about Trump,” The iPINIONS Journal, November 26, 2017)
[F]rom the Civil War of the 1860s to the race riots of the 1960s – history teaches that, sometimes, this center cannot hold. In fact, I fear the divisions that gave rise to those conflicts will pale in comparison to looming divisions, which the browning and Islamising of America portend.
This is why the proverb of the Tower of Babel might serve as a more instructive precedent. Here is how staff at the Bible Study Tool explained it on their site on February 11, 2016:
The Babylonians wanted a tower that would ‘reach to the heavens’ so that they could be like God and that they would not need Him. …
God did not like the pride and arrogance in the hearts of the people. God caused the people to suddenly speak different languages so they could not communicate and work together to build the tower.
And here is my takeaway:
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- Everyone agrees that the tribalism of American politics is leading to increasingly combustible animus and dysfunction. This is no different from the tribalism of Babylonian languages that blew that ancient kingdom asunder
- Pride and prejudice are motivating Trump and his supporters to execute their America First policies. This is no different from the pride and arrogance that motivated the Babylonians to build their tower.
- Trump declares that he alone can fix all that is wrong (not just with America but the entire world) and boasts about never asking God for anything, let alone forgiveness. This is no different from the Babylonians thinking they no longer needed Him.
In the meantime, Trump and the enabling members of his tribe are normalizing all kinds of uncivil and unseemly behavior in American politics. … As Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, famously warned:
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
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Good luck, Joe.
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tribalism and dysfunction…
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