Seeing the documentary Our Disappeared shook my sense of being able to survive anything our government can dish out.
In Argentina in the years 1976 through 1983, secret military squads rounded up troublemakers of all kinds, tortured them, and killed perhaps 30,000 people. Yes, some of them were staging violent acts against the military junta, but others were working to change their government peacefully.
Could such a thing happen in the USA?
Our military is already rounding up anyone suspicious in Afghanistan and Iraq, torturing them, and holding them without trial in Afghanistan, Guantanamo, and elsewhere.
We aren't that far from what happened in Argentina.
In the film I learned that when Juan Peron was trying to return to Argentina and take power, many on the left supported him. He persuaded both socialist and fascist organizations that he would support their goals.
Only after he gained power did his true colors show. Fascist elements in his government took control and systematically killed those who opposed them.
After the extreme anti-liberal, anti-community-organizer rhetoric of the Republican Convention, it's eerie to see McCain now asking for bipartisan support, trying to get the votes of independents and middle-of-the-road Democrats, especially women.
Like Peron, he could use the middle and then turn to the right.
I could live on if my side lost political power and if I lost my comfortable economic status.
But if I were unable to have political views and work for justice without endangering my life... yes, I would be toast.
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