Last month, I returned to the state capital of Frankfort yet again, this time to attend a House Committee hearing. Kentucky is following in Florida’s footsteps in embracing total autocracy. There has been an array of authoritarian Christian nationalist inspired legislation being pushed by the now mostly openly fascist GOP; laws that pave the way for book banning and control of information by dogmatic zealots, laws that criminalize the existence of trans folks, and laws that destroy the separation of church and state enshrined explicitly in the 1st Amendment of the Bill of Rights. Although some of these devastating bills were vetoed by Governor Andy Beshear, his actions were overridden by the reich wing Kentucky supermajority.

The situation we find ourselves in is a living nightmare, reminiscent of Weimar Republic leading up to the rise of Hitler and the 3rd Reich. Today, the reactionary right wing is marching us into an Americanized version of the 4th Reich. A malicious and rabid cult of fundamentalist Christian theocrats have taken over the republican party and are ceaselessly assaulting our democracy from the local to national levels. They manufacture hysteria through the weaponization of conspiracy theory and identity politics just like the Nazis did, and they are trying to finalize their overthrow by scapegoating, demonizing and dehumanizing LGBTQ+ peoples, immigrants, marxists, and anyone else they deem heretics-jews, muslims, polytheists, and atheists, just like the nazis did!

Helping spearhead this lunacy is the local chapter of the Mom’s for Liberty, which would be more aptly titled Mom’s for Tyranny, since their dominionist agenda is the implementation of a dystopian Christian theocratic police state, and they sent their worst to attend and testify before the committee. This included the bestiality obsessed Mirna Eads (she can’t stop bringing it up everywhere she goes) and accused domestic abuser and harasser of women, Jerry Gearding. It’s ironic Eads likes to hand out pocket constitutions with Mom’s for Liberty logos as a recruiting tool at schools while accusing everyone else of being groomers and trying to take away people’s rights. Jerry ran for Kentucky House of Representatives and was defeated by Democrat Rachel Roberts.

Gearding has repeatedly tweeted neo-Nazi propaganda including antisemitic conspiracy theories claiming the Jewish people are involved in a plot to push an LGBTQ+ program to subvert society. This is merely recycled Nazi blood libel, Satanic Panic 2.0.

Gearding and Eads are both self-described “America First” “ultra Patriots.” It must be emphasized, that the “America First” movement has its origins directly within the US Nazi Party and the KKK.

It’s been said that when fascism fully grips the U.S. it will arrive wrapped up in the American flag and heralded as a plea for liberty and preservation of the constitution and Christian values, and this reality is materializing. Pointing out this to these people is futile, as they are completely divorced from all logic and reason. They keep rolling out the tired debunked tropes that “the Nazis were socialists” (blatantly false, they were crony capitalists) and the “Klan and Confederacy were Democrats” disregarding over a century of continuous political realignments in the USA, or the fact that their ideologies are overtly rightist, regardless of what party they belonged to at the time. By that same logic they should have no qualms accepting DPRK is a “democratic republic” because the title says so. They fail to grasp that fascism always hijacks revolutionary rhetoric and distorts it with nationalism, chauvinism and a whipped-up fervor of fear to target the “others” instead of the genuine elite; the 1% capitalist ruling elite.

This contrived weaponized outrage by extremist reactionary opportunist propagandists has recently been in overdrive, this time targeting the trans community, after yet another familiar atrocity of a mass school shooting occurred in Nashville, TN. In this rare instance of a trans person committing a mass shooting, the same fascist talking heads who usually deflect and apologize for the common white CisHet mass shooter and feign outrage over the politicization mass shootings, which have now really become a symbol of Americana, quickly jumped at the opportunity to falsely blame and further dehumanize an entire marginalized minority group, going as far as to call for the banning of gun ownership by transgender people while simultaneously pushing the false narrative of a threat of nonexistent left wing terrorism.

There have only been three or possibly four known documented transgender identified people involved in mass shootings out of thousands of white male perpetrated mass shootings. Yet now according to the right, trans people are an existential threat to western civilization. The facts are, domestic terrorism is almost entirely right wing in origin, as are mass shootings:

Instead of following the teachings of their fictional god and helping the poor and downtrodden, they must attack the civil liberties of anyone who disagrees with them. Their irrational worldview justifies the oppression of women and they feel entitled to dominion over the earth because of their faith in the antiquated illogical scriptures they twist and distort to fit their fear mongering narrative. None of this is about protecting children. It’s about control. The book burnings have already evolved into book bans and we are rapidly backsliding down the slippery slope of censorship. These tyrants always come in the name of preserving purity and resisting degeneracy, and their finger pointing is the ultimate projection of their own repressed insecurities. In fact, the law enforcement, military and churches they so adore are far more guilty of any type of “grooming” than drag queens or gay teachers. This is explored in further detail here:

https://kypp.org/2023/04/09/groomer-cops-and-clergy/

They are infatuated with protecting children and the public from what they deem subversive smut, while at the same time pushing for the Bible to be taught in schools or plastering the Ten Commandments all over courthouses. The Bible is quite literally jam packed with pornographic and extremely violent content. It condones mass murder, slavery, incest, rape and subjugation, and millions have died or been torture in its name. Religion and the state do not mix, and in my opinion, religion is destructive and mostly based in superstition and madness.

Kentucky is one of the poorest states in the nation, and Appalachia is suffering, ravaged from natural disasters and poverty. Instead of trying to enact legislation that would improve material conditions for the working class and poor, these extremists are incapable of doing anything proactive to help their fellow citizens have better lives. They must keep us distracted and divided from the failure of our collapsing capitalist empire with their contrived culture war circus so they can incrementally push their radical and blood-thristy Christian nationalist fantasizes into law.

The churches leading this outrage campaign should take a look in the mirror. They are the original ultimate groomers who have been abusing children for centuries. This same fascistic ideology supports lowering the age of consent, arranged marriage and child labor. That’s today’s GOP. And the failures of the spineless impotent Democrats to stand up to them and their selling out to corporations and abandonment of rural America and the working class has also lead to this situation by failing to reverse anti-labor right to work laws, by strike-breaking, and failing to codify Roe vs Wade or gay marriage. Now even interracial marriage is under threat by these whackos. Although I do not advocate abandoning electoral politics, “voting them out” seems too late. The time is at hand for a united leftist front, one of mutual aid, self-defense and survivalism. We are facing an enemy who wants to exterminate us.

The knee jerk reactionary civil war this death cult ruthlessly lusts for would destroy us all. An international socialist revolution is the remedy to the austerity of the capitalist ruling class oligarchy and their resort to fascism to defend their decaying capitalist system. Our diversity of identity must be united in working class solidarity to dethrone the parasitic 1% bourgeoisie elite before they destroy civilization and the planet!