Last Monday was Memorial Day. We honored the fallen of all U.S. wars.

Today is June 6. Seventy-seven years ago on this date, D-Day, the Allied invasion on the beaches in Normandy, France began. It was a battle that eventually took back the European continent from Hitler’s army. A year later, WWII was all but over. The Third Reich and its hideous objectives were finished. Japan was hanging on but after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Hirohito surrendered. The Allied forces had saved the world from fascism.

Those who died to defeat that massive evil should always be gratefully remembered every June 6th. June 6 should be its own Memorial Day, Any living U.S. military survivors of D-Day are now at least in their mid-90s. They likely have not wanted to indulge much in recalling what that war was like. Altogether, up to 60,000,000 people died. It staggers the mind.

On this June 6, unfortunately, the United States is once again fighting the dark forces of fascism. But the battlefield is not in Europe. It is not in the South Pacific.

It is right here, on our mainland.

The fascists have infiltrated the halls of our congress. Up until January 20th of this year, it occupied the Oval Office. And although the recent 2020 election gave the “opposition party” a very slim majority in both Houses and has the White House, the fascists are still wreaking havoc. Vicious, racist voter-suppression laws are being passed in many states. A woman’s right to to a legal and safe abortion is possibly going to be struck down. The minority party still runs this country. The majority party can’t unify to fight back. A few of its own members are more concerned about some absurd fantasy of “bi-partisanship” when it is clear the minority has ZERO interest in working with those to whom they lost that election.

While June 6, 1944 is a date that needs never to be forgotten, so too is January 6, 2021. That was the day of the insurrectionists. Has its white supremacist, misogynistic, xenophobic, sexual-assaulting former “leader” been held to account? Has anyone involved in that insurrection been held to account, including dozens of members of the GOP who endorsed the Big Lie of a stolen election that propelled the barbarians who smashed their way into the Capitol building?

We defeated fascism in WWII only to have it now become an infestation into our national and local governments. If the party that actually has more power than their opponent won’t fight back, then this country is doomed. If some reading thinks I’m an alarmist, then some aren’t paying any attention to what is right in front of their faces. That is, those that don’t agree with January 6. Or those who believe the Big Lie. They are out there. If not you, your neighbor. Your brother or sister. Your boss. They are a minority but their elected representatives are giving them the nasty red meat they want.

For the majority that helped get rid of Fascist One, it is now a slow-motion nightmare, only one doesn’t need be asleep for its presence to be felt. The monsters are on both sides of the isle. The new majority party is peopled with those very much asleep, and apparently, it is not a troubled sleep.

For the sake of those who defeated fascism eight decades ago, it is time to WAKE UP!