31

Weapons are the tools of violence;
all decent men detest them.

Weapons are the tools of fear;
a decent man will avoid them
except in the direst necessity
and, if compelled, will use them
only with the utmost restraint.
Peace is his highest value.
If the peace has been shattered,
how can he be content?
His enemies are not demons,
but human beings like himself.
He doesn’t wish them personal harm.
Nor does he rejoice in victory.
How could he rejoice in victory
and delight in the slaughter of men?

He enters a battle gravely,
with sorrow and with great compassion,
as if he were attending a funeral.

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu, trans. by Stephen Mitchell

A parade of military equipment with marching troops commemorated the birthday of America’s chief executive on the streets of Washington. The day also marked the 250th anniversary of the founding of the US Army.

The last time such an event was held in DC was June 8, 1991 to celebrate the victory of Operation Desert Storm. George W. Bush’s Gulf War was yet another one of our military turkey-shoots. The “war” was a muscle flexing exercise to send a message. Iraq remains a wrecked and unstable country.

When the President’s mood becomes acutely sour on his political opponents, or upon the poor, or upon those non-white, those of other than European origin, he rants about lawlessness, crime, expresses his loathing of the unclean. He then orders the military occupation of a city in a Democratic state, and threatens a take-over of the police,…

Washington DC is the latest example. The President promises more to come. Citizens under military occupation feel trauma, correctly feeling a threat of deadly violence. That is fact. Guns turned against our own people.

This is nothing other than what it appears to be: intimidation by fear mongering. The New York Times reports this morning:

In Washington, the authorities are clearing homeless people from the streets as part of Trump’s crackdown. That has made some people’s already strained lives more unstable.

Yet all has not gone without protest.