We Are Crossing A Line I Have Seen Us Cross Before--60 Years Ago--Over the War In Vietnam

It took hundreds of thousands of lives. Unrelenting domestic protests, first led by students and then by people everywhere. But finally it became unmistakenably clear in 1965-66 to President Johnson and Defense Secretary, McNmamara. This war which we had entered so reluctantly and had waged, despite the strong outspoken judgement of leaders such as George Ball,and the grave doubts of the President and McNamra themselves--it was NOT winnable. But still..the killing continued. We know it is very difficult for people to admit they are wrong, especially if they have convinced themselves that they are fighting for a just cause. Have we crossed the line now? I cannot be sure. But I am reading a book right now on this tragic Vietnam war and the flawed reasoning which led to its escalation. Back then, there was the fear that failing to WIN in Vietnam would give license to communists to take over southeast Asia. Today, Trump and his supporters argue that the actions ICE is taking are needed to overcome the years of open borders. Yet..yet in a matter of about 10 days, TWO US CITIZENS have been shot dead by ICE agents-- most of whom are utterly unprepared to deal with the situations they face. (Again, striking similarity to the unfamiliar situation our troops faced in Vietnam). Today we witness a traumatized five-year old boy being ushered to a police car in the bitter cold. And we see an old man of perhaps my age being led out of his home in his pajamas. Back then, in 1965, a man protesting immolates himself outside McNamara's home. McNamara's children privately tell their father his is doing the wrong thing). This morningm I am inspired by the men and women who are still standing out in the freezing cold, day after day,to protest this enactment of a police state,to support their neighbors and to signal unmistakenably and bravely how they want their community to live and how they want it NOT to live. I have seen this scene before. Sometimes--too often-- the protests have peetered out. But sometimes they haven't.They did not in Vietnam.I believe this is a time that they won't peeter out. I hope I am right. Will Republican leaders in substantial numbers stand up for what they know is right. They have been unwilling to do that so far.I hope and pray they will today, recognizing our nation's very future is at stake. We have crossed a line, there is no doubt about that. There should be no looking back. I hope there will not be, I further hope that the mid-term elections, nine months from now, will serve as a vivid rebuke to the many self-crippling policies and the all too prevalent immoral character of the Trump Administration. This will be the opportunity for all the voters of our Nation to declare the future they want to experience for themselves and their families.