US Troops in 1941 | Photo on Unsplash
Part XII of “Proactive People Must Protect Own Neighborhood” Series
The columnist had a bad dream, nay, a nightmare in the wee hours yesterday. He dreamt that this year’s Advent turned into a combination of the Christmases of 1861 and 1941.
For young Americans who have not yet learned history, Advent in 1861 was the first Christmas of the American Civil War. It was marked by widespread anxiety, family separation, and the heavy shadow of a newly begun national conflict. It resulted in an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 deaths and more than 470,000 wounded soldiers. The number of casualties did not include collateral damage among non-combatant civilians.
The Yuletide Season in 1941 was worse. It was a poignant and sober time, celebrated just weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii plunged the nation into World War II.
During World War II, the U.S. military suffered approximately 407,000 deaths and 671,000 wounded. Not included were more than a million Filipino military and civilian deaths and missing. Filipinos were American nationals at that time, the Philippines being then a U.S. colony.
How did Christmas of 2026 turn into a season of sadness, overwhelming grief and violence in this columnist’s dream? It supposedly left millions of Americans and other people in the world dead or wounded. It began when the American president issued two proclamations. The first one was invalidating the results of the 2026 midterm elections due to his and his party’s claims of mass fraud orchestrated by the political opposition.
“Yes, to fight for democracy and the U.S. Constitution. Or to fight for fascism and the end of human and civil rights. It was like 1861 again, but this time the Civil War was being fought with modern armaments, including tanks and drones, between the now-called “Blue” and “Red” armies. The Red forces sought to protect and prolong the status quo.”
The second U.S. presidential proclamation was the declaration of martial law and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. And just like what happened in the declaration of martial law in the Philippines in September 1972, all the political opponents of the dictator-president were arrested or murdered if they tried to flee or fight back. Imprisoned, too, were some justices of the Philippine Supreme Court who were not the dictator’s court jesters (pun intended).
In his dream, there were bloody clashes in nearly all U.S. law-enforcement agencies, military bases, naval vessels, and even in American military outposts in foreign countries. Because all the men and women in uniform, as well as law-enforcement officers and even park rangers, had to choose which side they wanted to fight for. Yes, to fight for democracy and the U.S. Constitution. Or to fight for fascism and the end of human and civil rights. It was like 1861 again, but this time the Civil War was being fought with modern armaments, including tanks and drones, between the now-called “Blue” and “Red” armies. The Red forces sought to protect and prolong the status quo.
This columnist’s nightmare ended when, in his dream, the remaining television stations started to broadcast that country-adversaries of the United States started to invade Israel, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, other ASEAN countries, and some Western European nations. Yes, the adversaries took advantage of the second U.S. civil war…
