IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE by SINCLAIR LEWIS (1935)

This dystopian novel, which was written in 1935 by a Nobel Prize-winning author, tells the story of an American president who turns the U.S. into a Fascist dictatorship. Every American should read it. It should scare the pants off you. It should scare you bigly.

Here are just some of the things this president does, under the advisement of his more intelligent and crafty principle advisor:

*Even before the election, the future president's conniving advisor organizes "marching clubs" composed of "super-patriotic" young men, including members of the KKK. He calls them the Minute Men (MM), recalling America's glorious past.

*During his campaign for president this demagogue promises that he will bring the have-nots and the unemployed back to prosperity. This is why most people vote for him. (Remember, this was written just as the U.S. was trying to recover from its greatest depression.) After his election, his solution turns out to be the formation of government work camps which pay the workers a barely livable wage and require them to buy their provisions at the "company store." In turn, he leases them to corporations for less than they pay their current employees, so the companies fire the regular employees and use workers from the camps. This forces the fired employees, in desperation, to go to the work camps, where they are often sent to do their previous jobs for much less pay. The corporations are the big winners.

*Immediately after inauguration, he asks Congress to pass a law limiting their role to an advisory capacity only and prohibiting the Supreme Court from ruling on any Presidential edict. When they refuse and people take to the streets in protest, he has dissenting Congressman taken into "protective custody" and orders the now-armed Minute Men to fire into the "mob" of protestors. He then declares a state of emergency and initiates martial law, which includes permission for the MM to torture prisoners. He replaces dissenting judges with his own cronies.

*He goes to war against members of the press, at first denigrating them when they criticize his actions, later threatening them, and ultimately declaring dissenting journalists and editors to be treasonous against the government and putting them in concentration camps, where they are "re-educated." All news then comes from approved outlets and from the president himself over the radio.

*He loses the respect and support of Canada and Mexico and almost all European nations, with the notable exceptions of Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany, who praise his actions.

*He blames Negroes for all the crime and Jews for the economic troubles of the depression and has their properties seized. All suspected Communists are imprisoned or executed.

*He punishes colleges and their presidents if they do not fire all professors suspected of not supporting him.

*Late in the novel, the president's ruthless advisor overthrows the president and takes over the office. Because of supposed border troubles, he declares war on Mexico.

The "hero" of the plot is Doremus Jessup, a small town newspaper owner and editor who distrusts the demagogue from the beginning but who decides to just "wait and see what happens." As it becomes obvious that the president is trying to steer the nation toward Fascism, Doremus and his liberal friends say, "It can't happen here." When his son-in-law is summarily executed and he is imprisoned, he has to admit, "But it has happened." He and his like-minded citizens were too trusting in the ability of the American system of government to withstand tyrany and they waited too long to act. When they do respond, it is perhaps too late.

As with almost all novels with an overt political message, this one is not very successful on purely literary merits, but as a warning of what could happen if we don't stay alert, it is chilling, We should not just watch, but take action by contacting our Congressmen to let them know the will of their constituents. Marching in peaceful protest and even constant whining can help. A bunch of snowflakes can become powerful if they get together to form an avalanche.

Do any of the above actions sound suggestive of current happenings? Are you content to just sit back and "wait and see"? If I see ""marching clubs" being organized I'm going to sneak into Canada, as many do in this novel. The only thing scarier to me than a President Trump is the man behind the curtain, Steve Bannon.