September 9th, 2020
Only in America
By Marilyn M. Singleton, MD, JD
What a great country we are! Where else do we have immigrants from around the world who stood in line for years or risked their lives to be part of the U.S. and also mobs of people who want to overthrow the government that brought the world individual liberty, due process under the law, and the right to peacefully protest? These violent mobs are burning down Black-owned small businesses in the name of improving Black lives. The most liberal city in America, blessed with a socialist congressperson, boasts an angry horde chanting the Iranian mullahs’ favorite saying, “death to America” as they vandalized private property.
While Black lives are clearly as precious as anyone else’s, supporters should beware. Black Lives Matter’s co-founder describes herself as a “trained Marxist” and its manifesto rejects private ownership, individuality and the traditional family.
Only in America can we have an internationally acclaimed, Princeton and Harvard law school-educated, over-paid hospital administrator, wife of a former two-term Black president, who lives in a lily white neighborhood in a $12 million, 7,000 square foot, 29 acre beachfront estate, cast herself the poster child for aggrieved Black victims of evil white people? Obviously, Mrs. Obama has nothing in common with the hapless Black folks caught in the crabs-in-the-barrel, anti-education mentality that drives them to quit school, or worse, commit crimes and run from the police and wonder why things do not end well. This privileged person relishes in telling a story of someone who cut in front of her in line, concluding it was fueled by racism. No, it was a rude person who likely always cuts in line. This screed is a well-known tactic among radicals: create an enemy and demonize him at every opportunity.
It is vexing to see privileged people emphasizing their tribal identities (e.g., race, gender, sexual preference) and embracing critical race theory that preaches that American government and culture is racist (sexist, homophobic), that oppressed people can never overcome the racism (sexism, homophobia), and that even people who are not racist are racist because they like America. Thus, America must be reformed into a Marxist utopia. Fact alert: Thomas More’s Utopia, written in 1516, was political satire. “Utopia,” derived from the Greek, literally means “nowhere.”
In the march to a collectivist society, we’ve entered the phase of erasing history. Despots through the ages have airbrushed their enemies out of photographs and history books. Mobs and woke politicians initially toppled statues of offensive historical figures. Now, no historical figure is safe: the mayor of Washington DC wants to take down or “contextualize” the Washington monument and the Jefferson Memorial.
Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 presciently depicted an American society where books (representing history and culture) are outlawed and burned. First, our statues, next our books. As George Orwell wrote in 1984, “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered… History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” A submissive, compliant populace drugged by government largesse or simple apathy is a recipe for a massive societal shift. Censorship by the news media and taking down websites and social media posts are the polite 21st century version of exiling the enemies of the state.
Generally, 2020 was going well with high employment rates, rising salaries, and racial harmony. Along came coronavirus. Those who want to fundamentally change America knew fear was an effective tool to drive us to acquiesce to unreasonable government demands. Some governors confined us in our homes indefinitely, unable to attend funerals or religious services to have our moral principles reinforced. Wearing masks that prevent flashing a friendly smile to strangers of all colors while strolling down the street fosters distrust.
By the time more was known about the new virus’s low probability of death for the average person and about the uselessness of lockdowns, we were raw and susceptible to emotional manipulation. The drumbeat of social justice über alles is pounded into our psyches. In what sane world would anyone swallow the leftist swill that looting is justified as reparations for slavery?
How does labeling some Americans the “oppressors” and others the “oppressed” based on skin color advance societal harmony? How does having employers force Caucasians to take classes to learn that they are racists and how to repent for their “white privilege” engender warm feelings?
Instead of whining about the past, advocates for improving Black lives should march through the Black-on-Black violence-ravaged sections of Chicago and let people know that success – while not easy – is possible. And all liberty lovers must wake up from our fear-induced stupor and actively protect our freedoms and reject mob rule while treating our fellow man with respect.
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Bio: Dr. Singleton is a board-certified anesthesiologist. She is the immediate past President of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). She graduated from Stanford and earned her MD at UCSF Medical School. Dr. Singleton completed 2 years of Surgery residency at UCSF, then her Anesthesia residency at Harvard’s Beth Israel Hospital. While still working in the operating room, she attended UC Berkeley Law School, focusing on constitutional law and administrative law. She interned at the National Health Law Project and practiced insurance and health law. She teaches classes in the recognition of elder abuse and constitutional law for non-lawyers. She lives in Oakland, Ca.
