When I moved here not so long ago, I was struck by the natural beauty of the area; the expansive rivers, the holly-studded hills, the beaches by the bay and sea. However, I soon realized that beneath that bucolic facade, the area is a safe haven for far-Right extremists and their enablers in the GOP. And they are running things here, badly.
That situation can be seen in the Covid protocols recently enacted by a majority on the Middletown Board of Education. While I recognize that the pandemic has negatively impacted the educational and social development of some children, there are serious medical issues that some on the far-Right want to ignore or deny. Throughout history, vaccines have saved the lives of millions. Masking, quarantining, and testing have proven to mitigate the spread of a virus that has killed over 800 thousand Americans, and we are now enduring yet another wave of Covid. In spite of those facts, the Board’s protocols make quarantining and/or testing of those who have had close contact with Covid voluntary. They are free to stay in school, untested, and spread the virus.
How is this possible? It’s possible because the GOP provides cover for extremists on the far-Right, which it sees as part of its base. When a mayor publicly criticizes a health official for tweeting that a school board’s Covid protocols are a “recipe for disaster”, but apparently doesn’t criticize the deeply flawed protocols themselves, that’s a signal that further extremist activity is welcome and will be defended. That emboldens out-of-town extremist organizations to operate within the township, unchallenged by criticism from the mainstream GOP. They take the opportunity to radicalize home-grown extremists with misinformation on social media, bolster protests, and provide organizing expertise for demonstrations. The raucous protest near the governor’s home in November of 2020, attended by various far-Right groups, and the recent shoe protest in Middletown on the first night of Hanukkah, aided by a state-wide network of anti-vaxxer extremists, are two examples.
Opposing them is a small, vocal group of folks that believe in the not-so-radical notions of science, reason, and democracy. But those that speak truth to power here, or demand that Covid restrictions be enforced, have been targeted for harassment by the Right. It forces some to take measures for the safety of their families like security cameras, aliases on social media, silence, or in my case, embracing the first two Amendments.
And yet, across the nation, there are those on the Right, particularly anti-vaxxers, that like to portray themselves as victims, even going to the disturbing extreme of comparing themselves to the victims of the Holocaust. In fact, the opposite is the truth. Anti-vaxxer extremists and their enablers are perpetrators, not victims, and they are holding all of us hostage to seemingly never-ending waves of Covid because they block efforts to fight the pandemic.
During the pandemic, the anti-vaxxers cross-pollinated with others on the far-Right, like the militias and other conspiracy theorists. Individuals and groups adapted, swapped, and blended ideas into a Right-wing world view that is opposed to facts, science, government, and democracy. A look at those already charged for their actions at the January 6th Insurrection will reveal a mix of motives, from anti-vaccine to QAnon zealotry. Our republic faces a movement, much like Covid, that is deadly and mutates readily. It multiplies within its GOP host, transfiguring that party into something grotesque and unrecognizable from its conservative past.
I don’t know how all this will end. But I do know I see this place differently now. It is still beautiful, but I now understand there is also a sinister presence that stalks its sylvan hills and shores. ~ Mark Grieco
Mark Grieco is a retired educator. He has served in the Regular Army and the NJ National Guard, and has been an emergency responder for twenty years.
