Today's MOZEN: Will You Stand?

F LoBuono

Until this moment, Senator, I think I have never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Fred Fisher is a young man who went to the Harvard Law School and came into my firm and is starting what looks to be a brilliant career with us. Little did I dream you could be so reckless and so cruel as to do an injury to that lad. It is true he is still with Hale and Dorr. It is true that he will continue to be with Hale and Dorr. It is, I regret to say, equally true that I fear he shall always bear a scar needlessly inflicted by you. If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty I would do so. I like to think I am a gentle man, but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me.

You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?

Joseph Welch uttered these immortal words a little more than 64 years ago (June 9, 1954) to Senator Joseph McCarthy and his notorious lawyer, Roy Cohn, during McCarthy's infamous hearings into corruption and Communism in the US Army. McCarthy used his bellicose, bilious, bullying tactics to not only intimidate witnesses, but to ruin countless careers and lives. As the Senate's proponent of the House Committee on un-American Activities, McCarthy relentless and brutally attacked homosexuals, anarchists, and just about anyone suspected of being un-patriotic. McCarthysim, named after his brand of politics, is now synonymous with betrayal and greed.

Now, we have a new Joe McCarthy - only this one is even bigger and badder. And, he just happens to be President of the United States. Donald J. Trump, in fact, is SO much more belligerent that he makes ol' Joe look like a pussey!

The President rages on foes and friend alike. He is legendary for dressing down his staff in public (see Kirstjen Nielsen), insulting trusted allies (see Justin Trudeau), abusing the press (take your choice of network except Fox), disrespecting the disabled (see Serge Kovaleski), assaulting women (see grab them by the pussey), and, selling his so-called friends down the river (see Michael Cohen).

Despite these FACTS and the matter that he lacks support from more than half the Country, his base remains unshaken. In fact, with every slight, every blunder, they just seem to gravitate to him more and more. His bullying tactics seem to have secured him enough loyalty with the Republicans who control both the House and Senate that the very sight of his bulbous figure seems to send them trembling. They have sold him their souls.

So, what can we do to stop this cascading descent into near anarchy? Who will rise as OUR Joe Welch? Remember, after Welch's stinging rebuke, the Country had it's fill of Messrs McCarthy and Cohn. Both were eventually marginalized and died in obscurity.

Well, perhaps, we won't find another Joe Welch? Perhaps, no one, single person will emerge as The Voice of the opposition. Maybe it will be millions who will stand in the face of his wanton bigotry, insolence, ignorance, belligerence, pomposity, arrogance, sexism, xenophobia, megalomania, and, racism. I know I will be one of those millions. Will you stand?