Patrick Henry said in 1775, “give me liberty or give me death”. Over seven thousand colonialists died for freedom and liberty. They defeated George III and the British Army, the most powerful military in the world at that time. When those 55 Founding Fathers, after their victory, met in Philadelphia in 1787 to replace the Articles of Confederation with the U.S. Constitution, Ben Franklin was asked, "what kind of government have you given us"? And Franklin replied, "a Republic if you can keep it”. Now our test has arrived again. Do we want to protect our freedom and liberty? Or do we want to move on to a different form of government? The answer is in the hands of the voter. They must realize truth is not just another political opinion.
I am 87, a retired small business owner, a grandfather, a writer by avocation, an owner of three copies of the U.S. Constitution, and an army veteran with two older brothers buried in Arlington Cemetery, (the oldest was decorated for valor in World War II).
I write because our democracy is under a lot of stress. The Republican National Convention show, lasting 4 days in Milwaukee, portrayed a very peculiar political spin. You would think the American economy was very close to a depression. Meanwhile, the stock market is breaking records, the unemployment rate in the United States is lower than it's been in 50 years, and crime is way down, not way up as suggested by the Republicans. Almost 16,000,000 new jobs in the past three years have been created in our country. Is inflation a negative? Yes, but it’s not a run away situation. It is up and being offset by increased wages and thoughtful government attempts at remedies to lower it even more.
Plato said democracies pass into despotism. Do I worry that Project 2025 is ready as a new Republican platform for candidate ex-President Donald Trump? You betcha! That 900-page project suggests, laying off 50,000 or more federal employees and replacing them with loyalists to wannabe authoritarian candidate Donald Trump. They suggest deporting over a million immigrants from our country. And of course, the harping for revenge and retribution always seems to be nearby, disguised as D.O.J. reform. Well to me it looks and smells like despotism with those kinds of activities on the agenda. Now Ukraine seems to be a target on the chopping block, especially by new Vice President candidate J.D. Vance who seems to be speaking for his boss the Presidential candidate Trump. When Viktor Orban is held in higher esteem than our Founding Fathers by Fox “News”, CPAC, and ex-President Donald Trump, it is cause for alarm. Why imitate an authoritarian from a small country who is proud to have diminished the value of the press and courts in his country? Also, our ex-President envies the power of Vladimir Putin, which is even more disturbing. One must consider that in the Mueller report it was revealed that 100 Russian operatives were engaged in helping Donald Trump's candidacy in the 2016 election. Now J.D. Vance, a former officer in the military, wants to turn his back on Ukraine and our treaties with NATO. If that isn't bad enough, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, a former naval officer, is also soft on Putin and indifferent to the plight of Ukraine. I think our obligation to treaties and our 75-year-old relationship with NATO should not be suddenly curtailed. The successful international politics of ex-President Ronald Reagan suffers when we are indifferent to NATO and when we patronize Vladimir Putin as a respected leader. It also concerns me that despotism might be knocking at our door. The rule of law and the U.S. constitution must remain the soul of our legal system. Why the constant abuse from MAGA Republicans of the F.B.I. and the D.O.J. which is verging on the absurd? The respect of our jury system is too easily ignored, especially by ex-President and convicted felon Donald Trump.
Vice president candidate J.D. Vance has a history of opportunistic behavior and being a political plastic pretzel. He received from one donor, a business friend, an $18 million donation for his campaign for Senator in Ohio, and he won. Was that an illegal gift? No, but are there strings attached to that much money? We must never forget Abraham Lincoln told his political operatives at the Presidential convention in Chicago in 1860, “bind me to no one”. Candidate J.D. Vance in Milwaukee in his acceptance speech promised virtually every economic category of employees, preferred treatment from a new Trump Administration, with one big exception, Wall Street. This remark dear reader is a total crock because earlier in the month, ex-President Donald Trump already told Wall Street (the Oil Industry) that if they would give him $1,000,000,000 toward his campaign, he would give them a preferential tax cut. So, we have a little problem here with honesty, it seems to me.
We have over 1000 billionaires in the United States. Way over half of them see the U.S. Government as a nuisance, only good at regulating their companies and making them pay taxes, even though their tax rate is below 10% (and many don’t pay any federal income tax). It's as if they think they deserve special treatment because of their financial position in society. Meanwhile did they get their billions in a vacuum, or did the American business environment help them to succeed and accumulate their wealth? I think it did. All they see is regulation and taxes coming from the government. These poor little rich guys, they can never get enough! But they better think long and hard about leaving a stable business environment and gambling on that special treatment they have been promised by an ambitious political authoritarian that may not keep his promises.
Candidate J.D. Vance made very few comments about our American past political history at the convention. He never touched upon the uniqueness of those 55 Founding Fathers (the billionaire class of that era), in Philadelphia in 1787, who decided to reject more power and more money in seeking a more perfect union after the collapse of the Articles of Confederation. So they created the U.S. Constitution and put it into the hands of the people as a balanced method of governing, outlined in that document. George Washington did not want to be a king or a dictator. He had everything, and he turned down having more. Six members of SCOTUS overlook that fact about George Washington, as they seem to be caught up in a new approach to give increased powers to the Executive Branch. Somehow, they have embraced legally, an ideological view instead of using reason. Did they overstep their authority? In my opinion, you betcha! President Biden turned down the offer of more power in the Executive Branch immediately following the SCOTUS decision being made public.
Meanwhile, we should point out that U.S. President Joe Biden has been in politics for 50 years. Is he a wealthy man from all this governmental service? No, he is not. Most of his wealth came from the book he wrote about his deceased son. I bring it up because we should all demand tax returns from those candidates running for President and Vice President. We must be on guard for questions of how their money was obtained. We should always be wary of too much ambition, and false gods emerging out of the political arena.
We must also note that 100 American historians suggested that ex-President Donald Trump ranked dead last as a successful President. We cannot forget that he set a first term record as President for deficit spending. Dear reader, check it out so you will be informed. And then note President Joe Biden was ranked 14th out of the 45 presidents.
A question that every American must answer is, do we want to abandon George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, the Roosevelts and Ronald Reagan, and many others now, and replace those idols with Viktor Orban and Vladimir Putin types? CPAC, Fox "News", and candidate Donald Trump admires many of these authoritarians more than American past Presidents. What is the deal here and why is this going on? We voters deserve an explanation! Are we about to abandon our past and move on to some goofy foreign political system that should have little appeal to our successful Republic? Are we going to put the safety of our children and grandchildren at risk by destabilizing our politics? Why would we consider damaging our U.S. Constitution and the rule of law to experiment with alternative forms of government? Staying the course as the world's most successful democracy and defender of liberty, while embracing our legal system, seems to be a much better choice. The free world wants America to remain America, and to avoid authoritarian considerations especially those favored by Fox "News", CPAC, and candidate Donald Trump.
Dear reader fact check, fact check! The more the issues are known by the voter, the better off we all are. The big lie over January 6th, 2021, remains a big lie, a scam. Ask courageous former Vice President Mike Pence, who lost his standing in his political party, simply because he honored his oath to the U.S. Constitution when he certified the election of President Joe Biden. Meanwhile J.D. Vance, a graduate of Yale law school, said he would not have done what V.P. Pence did. Does this mean that Senator J.D. Vance has evidence he will not share with the American public, to back up his statements? A Yale graduate who does not believe in the need for facts and evidence, is that what we have here? If President Joe Biden did not win the Presidency legitimately, then where is the proof that he lose it? Mob opinions, and politicians simply yelling “fraud”, doesn’t work. Sixty two court cases said Joe Biden won. Kris Krebs, Trump’s Director of Cyber Security and William Barr, Trump’s Attorney General, both said the 2020 election was proper in every regard. Why should those of us who believe in our legal system, instead of loud demanding voices, go along with the big lie? Most of us know that the big lie is nothing but a big scam, entirely fabricated.
Patrick Henry said in 1775, “give me liberty or give me death”. Over seven thousand colonialists died for freedom and liberty. They defeated George III and the British Army, the most powerful military in the world at that time. When those 55 Founding Fathers, after their victory, met in Philadelphia in 1787 to replace the Articles of Confederation with the U.S. Constitution, Ben Franklin was asked, "what kind of government have you given us"? And Franklin replied, "a Republic if you can keep it”. Seven decades later, Abraham Lincoln provided a victory that made our U.S. Constitution “endure”. In 1941 the United States of America led the way with the Allies, in victory over Germany and Japan. Those GIs that died, and there were many, were never considered “suckers and losers”, as ex-President Donald Trump remarked at a D-Day celebration.
Now our test has arrived again. Do we want to protect our freedom and liberty? Or do we want to move on to a different form of government? The answer is in the hands of the voter. They must realize truth is not just another political opinion as claimed by so many who refuse to accept facts and evidence in the marketplace. Those of us who cherish our current form of government must step forward right now to protect our children and grandchildren from falsehoods, mayhem and chaos.
We have a wonderful Republic. Let’s keep it and defend it for another 248 years.
Opening Image: Axios/Joe Raedle/Getty Images, Bloomberg/Pablo Blazquez Dominguez, The White House
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