July 4th 2026, After 250 Years America And American Democracy Are Under Attack From Within!

Today, July 4th, 2026, is the 250th anniversary of American Democracy and America and American Democracy are more endangered today than we have ever been. That danger is centered in the White House, being directed by Fascists inside the White House. Let's just look at a few recent headline stories from across the country. The American Civil Liberties Union has worked to defend and protect American Democracy every day since its founding in 1920, 106 years. Almost ten months ago,that organization posted this story on their website. While a headline which screams "How Trump's Attacks On Our Democracy Put America At Risk" should be shocking, rare, and terrifying, headlines and stories about the danger which TRAITOR Trump and the Criminal Syndicate which poses as a "cabinet" pose for us and our Democracy, they are so commonplace since June 16, 2015, that millions of Americans ignore them totally. This so-called "second administration" of TRAITOR Trump is doing a great deal of things which previous FASCISTS and would be dictators have been doing since atleast 250 years ago, and millions of Americans insist on claiming that all they do is in the best interest of the country. The ACLU story in particular is and should be chilling to any lover of this country and our Democracy. Early in the story it states "There is now a coordinated assault on the constitutional architecture that has sustained American democracy. This assault should alarm anyone who values constitutional governance and the personal freedoms we so often take for granted." That should terrify every citizen in this country and it does not. The formerly sacred institutions of American government are now being utilized to install FASCISM in the country and most people do not understand that fact. The article moves on to state that Federal agents have repeatedly detained or arrested public officials conducting legitimate oversight, including Newark, New Jersey Mayor Ras Baraka, Congresswoman LaMonica McIver, and Senator Alex Padilla, who was tackled and detained for asking Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem questions. Students, including green card holders, have been detained and threatened with deportation for writing op-eds or expressing views that deviate from what the administration deems acceptable.

In some ways, the facts in this previous quotation from the ACLU article are now old hat since the article is more than 8 months old. We have seen ICE agents murder two people who were peaceful protestors in Minnesota and little or no outrage has been seen in the general populace. We are now seeing several Americans charged with vandalism and other crimes for touching a $16million dollar disaster at the Reflecting Pool literally in sight of one of our nation's most hallowed shrines to Democracy, the Lincoln Memorial. An Olympian who once epitomized American values to the watching world has been charged in an overt act of domestic terrorism in order to silence opposition to TRAITOR Trump and his TREASONOUS enforcers who, after giving a multi-million dollar secret and unvetted contract to one of his supporters, to repair the reflecting pool did a damn fine job of gravely damaging that symbol of American Democracy. And nobody seems to care.

An active duty American Air Force Major was arrested on July 2, 2026, in his full uniform for using his constitutional right to free speech to openly criticize TRAITOR Trump's actions in Venezuela. That was a direct violation of the US Constitution for anyone, whether in uniform or not, to be arrested for utilizing free speech to question what are clearly two totally unjustified wars against two countries with the basic intent to steal their assets such as oil, gas, rare earth minerals, and other valuable possessions of two sovereign nations. Major Jason Watson knew full well that he had chosen to end his military career before he opened his mouth that day. It should be a shock to every living American of sound mind when such a career military officer finds it necessary to willingly give up a career in which he has volunteered to literally place his life on the line to defend this nation. But it has not been seen as a shock to most people in this country. Most people are either to uneducated, uncaring, or ignorant to understand that such a person would find it necessary to place his life on the line, as he swore to do when he was inducted into the US Air Force, in such a manner contrary to the publicly stated intent of the people who have disastrously found themselves in charge of this country's military. Major Jason Watson is much more an American Hero today than he has ever been before when he willing complying with orders to participate in war crimes and international terrorism against Venezuela and Iran. The former Olympian David Hearn is now much more an American Hero than he ever was as an Olympic canoeist. Both these men, both those murdered citizens in Minnesota, and every other American who has simpley stood up in a No Kings Day Protest is much more a loyal American patriot than any of the hired thugs who arrested or murdered them.

Today, July 4th, 2026, America and American Democracy are far more endangered than they ever were in any of our previous wars. Democracy is being attacked in ways it never was by Adolph Hitler, Pol Pot, or Emperor Hirohito of Japan. We are under attack from those who are allowed to walk freely every day into the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, the US Supreme Court and all of our government departments to pretend they are "making America great again". Those people, TRAITOR Trump and his many minions, are the most dangerous enemies America has ever faced. It is long past time for every American citizen to Stand Up, Speak Up, and Speak Out in defense of our Democracy or it will be lost forever long before November 2028.

Kentucky Hospitals Likely To Close And Counties Without A Hospital In That Event!

Over the last few weeks, we have all heard a lot in the news media about how TRAITOR Trump's "Big, Vicious, Ugly Bill" will do myriad kinds of harm to America, especially to rural America, the lower and middle classes, hospitals, education, health care in general, vaccines and vaccine production, Medicaid, Medicare, WIC, SNAP or Food Stamps, agriculture, food safety, airline safety, the arts and sciences, and several other critical aspects of life in America. It will also add about 4 TRILLION DOLLARS to the budget deficit, and all of this damage is being done to provide vast unnecessary tax cuts to the rich, super rich, and corporations. Every word you have heard about the upcoming damage is true! The damage is intentional, purposeful, and will cost thousands of lives across this country in addition to the vast economic damage it will do. But in this blog post, I just want to address one aspect of that damage, the damage to hospitals and health care in Kentucky. Every legitimate news agency and policy analysis corporation is telling us the same thing. If the proposed cuts to Medicaid are approved (and it appears they almost certainly will be approved) thousands of hospitals, especially rural hospitals will be forced to close due to lack of income. Hundreds of thousands of the poorest, and often sickest Americans will lose their access to health care, and thousands of those people will die along with the hospitals which have been serving them. According to the Kentucky Center For Economic Policy, there are 35 hospitals in Kentucky which are likely to close on that list of hospitals. Since I first heard that dire forecast, I have been studying the issue both on my own and in consulations with others who understand the issues and politics involved. Two of the people I have discussed this with in depth are a retired attorney who spent her career in Eastern Kentucky and comes from a very politically centered family, and a retired nurse who spent her career working in one of the poorest counties in the state which does not have a hospital at this time to lose. We all agree that there are a vast number of issues that would arise for Kentucky and the nation if this Big, Vicious, Ugly Bill" becomes law. My reading of the article which I supplied the link to above shows me that the majority of the 35 hospitals in Kentucky which can be expected to be starved out if Medicaid is cut are in Eastern Kentucky. Although I generally think of I-65 as being the border line between Eastern Kentucky and Western Kentucky, that is not absolutely accurate. We can also take the position that I-75 is the border between the two. But for the sake of somewhat original thinking on that issue, let's say that the border is an extension of the line created by the border between Ohio and Indiana. If we go to that point on the Kentucky border with Indiana and Ohio and draw a straight line from there due south to the Tennessee border, it is as good a candidate for the border between Eastern Kentucky and Western Kentucky as any other. The image below is of that map showing the locations of the endangered hospitals in Kentucky from the linked story by the Kentucky Center For Economic Policy. If you use that imaginary line from the KY/IN/OH intersection, you will find that only 12 of the endangered hospitals are west of that line. East of the line are the 23 remaining hospitals which are most likely to close due to the loss of Medicaid funding created by the "Big, Vicious, Ugly Bill". God Help Us In Eastern Kentucky If That Happens!

The counties in this list will all be without a hospital in the event Medicaid funding is cut as designed in the "Big Ugly, Vicious Bill" They are Letcher, Knott, Floyd, Martin, Lawrence, Elliott, Carter, Rowan, Greenup, Lewis, Breathitt, Jackson, Lee, Owsley, Rowan, Rockcastle, Montgomery, Powell, Clark, Clay Fleming, These counties are contiguous and constitute a vast block of real estate in Eastern Kentucky which would have no local hospital. Patients in these counties would have no readily available emergency rooms, ICU's, maternity wards, or other services which require a hospital setting. To illustrate just how bizarre this possibility is let's look at some geographic possibilities which would be created. It would be possible to travel by car from Jenkins on the Virginia border to Vanceburg on the Ohio border without ever driving through a county with a hospital. It would also be possible to drive by car from Mount Vernon in Rockcastle County to Greenup in Greenup County without passing through a county with a local hospital. In addition to the loss of these hospitals, the job losses would be catastrophic in a region which is already economically distressed. Nearly all the prescribing professionals (M.D.'s, APRN's, PA's) would be highly likely to leave the region, perhaps even the state. Additionally, thousands of licensed providers such as imaging professionals, Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, Certified Nursing Assistants, and a few other professions would be forced to leave the region in order to find work. There would also be hundreds to several thousand unemployed food service workers, housekeeping workers, maintenance workers, clerks, bookkeepers, and security professionals. Yes, there are a couple of hospitals which might survive such as those in Pike and Perry Counties but those two counties are on the Virginia and West Virginia borders and the drive for many patients would be just too far, too expensive, too time consuming, and thousands of low income patients would be likely to not receive regular ongoing health care. One hospital not on the list in Johnson County would suddenly be the primary source of care for Lawrence, Martin, Floyd, Magoffin, and Elliott counties due to the closure of the one hospital in Lawrence County and all three in Floyd County. In legitimate emergencies and accidents, the concept of The Golden Hour for transport to an emergency room would no longer exist. Distances would be too great in many cases for an ambulance crew to assess, transport, and facilitate admission to a hospital for many critical patients in a timely, life saving manner. EMT's and other emergency responders would suddenly be traveling far from their primary service area and their numbers would, at present levels, be too small to provide both the added transport and provide the current level of services in their primary area of responsibility.

The Big, Vicious, Ugly Bill is a disaster in the making for Kentucky and many other states where multiple hospitals will be lost. The damage of this bill is deliberately designed to minimize the poor of this region and several others, to deny them medical services as are customary in a real Democracy. It is intentional! It is criminal! It must not be allowed to take place. This bill must not be approved.

Scott Pelly Gave The Most Important Speech I Have Ever Seen

On May 19, 2025, at the 2025 Commencement of Wake Forest University, CBS 60 Minutes Correspondent Scott Pelley gave one of the most important speeches I have ever seen, read, or heard described in my entire life. I first heard about the speech when Pelley was inteviewed by Anderson Cooper on CNN after their live screening of "Good Night And Good Luck", the first Broadway play to ever be televised live in its entirety in the entire life of television. The full text of Pelley's speech is found at this link. My impressions of watching the play on CNN are found at this link. I will not append the full text of the speech here but I will discuss my impressions of the most important points in it below. Pelley began with the usual trite recognitions of the higher ranking persons in the audience, a comment about the weather, a small attempt at a joke, and then gave one of the finest speeches since Socrates first mesmerized a crowd of his peers. I have attended, read, or watched thousands of speeches in documentaries and on television. I have seen four presidents of the United States speak publicly plus numerous governors, senators, and lesser elected officials. I have never seen a speech in any form or format which affected me more or made me more proud of the speaker. As Pelley reached the outset of the meat of the speech he began this way:

You know, if we were in London, we might be walking past Portman Square on a beautiful spring day. We would encounter the headquarters of the British Broadcasting Corporation, a nearly 100-year-old building from which Edward R. Murrow, the original CBS News correspondent, stood on the roof and broadcast back to America word of the falling bombs of fascism that fell on that free city month after month. If we walk a little bit further past the BBC, we will encounter another hero in the fight against fascism, George Orwell. He’d be standing there, frozen in bronze with his words carved in the side of a building: “If liberty means anything at all, it means something worth saying that some people don’t want to hear.” I fear there are some people in the audience who don’t want to hear what I have to say today. But I appreciate your forbearance in this small act of liberty.

I am certain that as soon as the words "...the falling bombs of fascism that fell on that free city..." emerged from the speakers around them many in the audience realized they were in for a large dose of truth. For some of them, it was a dose of truth they did not want to hear. Hopefully, for others, actually most of the others, I hope they quickly realized that the dose of truth which was coming was not only needed by the entire audience but also needed by the world at large. Pelley then went on to begin the very necesssary truths he had come to deliver:

"...this morning – our sacred rule of law is under attack. Journalism is under attack. Universities are under attack. Freedom of speech is under attack. An insidious fear is reaching through our schools, our businesses, our homes and into our private thoughts. The fear to speak. In America? If our government is – in Lincoln’s words – “of the people, by the people and for the people” – then why are we afraid to speak? The Wake Forest Class of 1861 did not choose their time of calling. The Class of 1941 did not choose. The Class of 1968 did not choose. History chose them. And now history is calling you, the Class of 2025. You may not feel prepared, but you are. You are not descended of fearful people. You brought your values to school with you and now Wake Forest has trained you to seek the truth, to find the meaning of life."

When he clearly and most publicly stated that our rule of law, journalism, universities, and freedom of speech are under attack, Scott Pelley was saying exactly what needs to be said to the face and into the ears of every living American today. We are under attack by a committed Criminal Syndicate under the control of a committed TRAITOR and they all want to destroy everything about America which is good, noteworthy, vibrant, democratic, and worth preserving. That attack is headquarted at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and the attackers are all posing as legitimate officials of the federal government. They are all unqualifed to be in the positions in which they have found themselves. They are all unfit to lead a one car funeral. They are all committed to their cause, and many of them are agents of our worst enemies as a nation. Their ostensible leader, TRAITOR Trump, is, as are most of them, under the control and supervision of Vladimir Putin and Russia. Just as Scott Pelley told the Wake Forest University graduating class of 2025 that they have been chosen by history, the remainder of us loyal citizens of the United States have also been chosen by history. We are literally a nation of people who are being required, if we truly love our nation and our democracy, to become, both individually and collectively, the boy with his/our finger in the dyke in our joint effort to stem the flow of this TREASONUS effort by TRAITOR Trump and his Criminal Syndicate which poses as a "cabinet". Scott Pelley, after telling the crowd that they have been chosen by history just as others long before now were chosen by history that he has known three people, Volodomyr Zelensky, Dr. Samer Attar, and Nadia Marad who were also chosen by history to defend great things. He told the story of how a CBS 60 Minutes film crew found Nadia Marad in "a refugee camp and a few years later she won the Nobel Peace Prize". Yes, my fellow Americans, history works that way and often chooses those who appear to be "the least among us" to become the heroes and heroines of our times. History has chosen a Ukrainian comedian, a simple nun in Calcutta, a log splitting lawyer in 19the century Illinois, and others such as each of us today to Stand Up, Speak Up, and Speak Out, to do the work which our times and the evil operators around us require us to do. Each of us must take on the duty which history and the evil which history and democracy oppose has thrust upon us as our country and our democracy are under attack, as fascism posing as a legitimate government leads that attack, and as many of our peers seek to deny the truths before us about this attack. We must not bow down. We must not surrender. We must not retreat. We must fight to preserve American Democracy in the face of this attack from the worst TRAITOR in the history of the world, TRAITOR Trump.

Watching "Good Night And Good Luck" on CNN!

Last night, my wife and I watched the Broadway play "Good Night And Good Luck" which stars, and was written and produced by George Clooney. The play is about the impact the McCarthy Committee Hearings had on America as US Senator Joseph McCarthy ran amuck in the senate claiming America was being infiltrated by thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of commmunist party members and communist spies. I have writen on this blog in the past about a book by Lately Thomas, "When Even Angels Wept: A Story Without A Hero", which is about Senator McCarthy and terribly destructive impact he and his minions had on literally thousands of innocent victims of their effort to destroy anyone whose ideas they opposed. I have been blessed to know four people who were victims of Senator McCarthy who, to one degree or another, had their lives destroyed by the senator. None of the four people I knew ever wavered in their opposition to the senator, and all of them worked on a daily basis for the remainder of their lives to defend the US Constitution and Constitutional Rights. Clooney's play is now the only Broadway play ever to have a performance televised in its entirety. The play, and everything about the life and crimes of Joseph McCarthy, are a warning about just how fragile democracy is, even in what until January 29, 2025, was the most democratic country in the world. There is no difference in the morally degenerative nature of Senator McCarthy, his minions at the time, and TRAITOR Trump, and his minions today. America and American Democracy are under attack and that attack is directed, fomented, and led from the White House. That is why George Clooney, his business partners on Broadway, and the management team at CNN chose to take the unprecedented step of televising a full length Broadway play to America and the world wherever CNN is available. In today's world, nealry all of satellite based television is available worldwide except in a few of the most repressive countries. Without a doubt, it must have had an incredibly large viewership last night. In a stunning proof of just how dangerous TRAITOR Trump and his Criminal Syndicate are, just last night as the play was being televised and small demonstrations against his crimes were taking place in Los Angeles, he ordered 2,000 National Guard troops to go to California to quell the demonstrations over the public objections of California Governor Gavin Newome who stated that his administration and the police agencies in the areas of the demonstrations did not need the National Guard mobilization and that it would make matters worse. There can be no doubt that it did. This action by TRAITOR Trump is an escalation of the action he attempted to take in his previous illegal occupation of the White House against peacful demonstrators in Washington when he tried to order that those demonstrators be tear gassed despite their clearly peaceful intentions. These are the most dangerous times in America since at least the end of World War II, and they are dangerous solely because of TRAITOR Trump and his minions. Every American citizen should be standing up and voicing public opposition to TRAITOR Trump, his actions, his minions, and his continued occupation of the White House. But simply impeaching and removing him would not be the best answer since J. D. Vance, the Vice President of record, is just as criminal, just as evil, just as dangerous as TRAITOR Trump. If impeachment is to occur, it must be simultaneous impeachments of every person in the constitutional chain of command and succession until that chain of succession reaches a person who has not shown loyalty to TRAITOR Trump. The only person in the chain of succession at this time who can even be remotely believed to be capable of assuming leadership of the country without risk of further crimes is US Senator Chuck Grassley, the President Pro Tempore of the US Senate, who is second in line to the presidency. That means that only simultaneous impeachment of both TRAITOR Trump and J. D. Vance can hope to put an end to the ongoing attacks on democracy. It needs to happen today, might not be likely to happen until it is far too late, and the ultimate price could be the loss of Democracy in America if the other elected representatives in congress don't take the necessary actions as soon as possible. God Help Us All!

"How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them" by Jason Stanley and What You Can Do To Prevent Fascism In America!

 

 

 

 

 

 

On November 3, 2024, just two days before our recent disastrous national election, I wrote an earlier blog post about this book, "How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them" by Jason Stanley.  In the last few weeks preceding that election, I was posting as much as I could write on this blog about the imminent danger that TRAITOR Trump and his Criminal Syndicate present to America.  I was working on reading, and still am today, a large shelf of "To Be Read" books about Fascism, Threats To Democracy, and the current politics of the United States.  In most of those blog posts, I also stated that I was writing about a book or books which I had not fully read at that time.  I was skimming the books for quotes which were applicable to the danger we were in. I would search the indices of the those books for the appropriate words, read those brief sections, and, if they were worthy of repeating, I would write a blog post about that books brief sections which I had read.   While I might have hoped, or fantasized, that the American electorate would do the right thing and elect Kamala Harris as president, I was also aware that just as he had in 2021, TRAITOR Trump would wage a war against America and American Democracy if he was once again defeated as he always had been before.  I knew that if Kamala Harris was elected TRAITOR Trump would stage another insurrection just as he had on January 6.  In fact, one of my blog posts before the election was written on September 23, 2024, and entitled "The Upcoming Second Insurrection".  Sadly, that insurrection will now be conducted from the White House.  So, the most important question for all of us to answer in our heart of hearts is "What am I going to do to help prevent the death of American Democracy?  The first thing you can and should do is to educate yourself on a daily basis about the danger to America and American Democracy which TRAITOR Trump represents.  One of the best ways to begin that self-education is to read this book "How Fascism Works..." by Jason Stanley.  Learn how Fascism works, how Fascism creeps into a country and destroys its political soul.  Most importantly learn what you as one individual can do to help prevent Fascism, the Fascism of TRAITOR Trump can and should be resisted, defeated, and wiped out of the  blood stream of American Democracy.  Then, secondly, become involved on a personal, face to face level with other dedicated citizens who are involved in the fight against TRAITOR Trump and his Fascism.  Don't con yourself into believing that sitting at home reading the news on the internet and engaging in social media is enough.  Develop personal friendships with others who are involved in the fight. Join the politically focused organizations that are in the fight such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood  and others.  Don't just join them and read their literature.  Support their work to the degree that you can based on your income, free time, and personal commitments. Read every book you can find about the danger to America and how to prevent the loss of American Democracy.  So now let's get to the point of this blog post and discuss the book, "How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them" by Jason Stanley. 

Throughout the book, Stanley, who is a professor of philosophy at Yale University in an endowed chair, documents and discusses actions, speeches, and threats by TRAITOR Trump which are clearly Fascist in nature.  While this book was reissued in 2020, recent statements by several American generals who have worked closely with TRAITOR Trump about his fascist tendencies fully support what Stanley has to say about him and his danger to the country.  In Bob Woodward's new book, "War",which I will discuss fully as soon as I can finish it, he tells a story of meeting General Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at a party:

“We have got to stop him!” Milley said. “You have got to stop him!” By “you” he meant the press broadly. “He is the most dangerous person ever. I had suspicions when I talked to you about his mental decline and so forth, but now I realize he’s a total fascist. He is the most dangerous person to this country.” His eyes darted around the room filled with 200 guests of the Cohen Group, a global business consulting firm headed by former defense secretary William Cohen. Cohen and former defense secretary James Mattis spoke at the reception.  “A fascist to the core!” Milley repeated to me.  I will never forget the intensity of his worry."  (The Atlantic, October 16, 2024, "The General's Warning".  https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/10/the-generals-warning/680279/ ) 

In the book, Stanley writes in chapters which are descriptive of the key elements of fascist thinking and acts and labels those elements of Fascism as The Mythic Past, Propaganda, Anti-intellectual, Unreality, Hierarchy, Victimhood, Law and Order, Sexual Anxiety, Sodom and Gomorrah, and Arbeit Macht Frei which is translated as "Work Sets You Free" and was utilized by the Nazis in concentration camps to help them control the prisoners.  In the 2003 issue of "Free Inquiry Magazine, Lawrence Britt discussed key elements of fascism under slightly different titles and I have written about that examination of fascism at this link six years ago.  The fascism of TRAITOR Trump is not a new thing just because several American generals and other staff members who worked under him have suddenly begun to use the word "Fascist" about him in public. It has been existent many years and many of us who have been aware of it have also been making frequent studious attempts to educate the rest of the world about his fascism.  Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright actually published a book "Fascism A Warning" in 2018 and I wrote about her book that same year.   Television personality Rachel Maddow, who also happens to be Dr. Rachel Maddow since she holds  a Ph. D. in Political Science from the University of Oxford wrote a book in 2023 entitled "Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism" which I have written about at this link. It is also worthwhile to find Maddow's interview with Stormy Daniels on Youtube and watch the entiree interview. In that interview, the two women actually read Stormy Daniels' testimony in her civil trial against TRAITOR Trump with Daniels playing herself and Maddow reading the parts of the several attorneys.  It is an enlightening show and was the first opportunity the general public had to actually see the testimony from the "Hush Money Trial" since it was held without television cameras present.  Let me suggest that you watch that interview after you have learned at least the basics of fascism which will make TRAITOR Trump's actions toward Daniels much more clearly understood for what they are: Fascism In Action.  I have made reference to all these discussions of Fascism to help the reader understand that TRAITOR Trump's devotion to and practice of Fascism is nothing new. Jason Stanley and I are not the only people working diligently to make all of America aware of the problem it presents on a daily basis to the country and the world.   

In the epilogue to his book, Jason Stanley refers to the work of Yale professors Joshua Knobe and Adam Bear by saying that in a New York Times article they have found that "...Trump's continuing behavior-- actions and speech that used to be considered remarkable--have real and disturbing consequences:  "These actions are not simply coming to be regarded as more typical; they are coming to be seen as more normal.  As a result, they will come to be seen as less bad and hence less worthy of outrage."  (Jason Stanley, "How Fascism Works...", Page188.)

Read This Book!  Get Involved In The Fight!  Do Your Part To Help Save America And American Democracy! 

 

 

 

 

 

Key Quotes About Fascim For The Resistance Fighters Of America!

 

As we face the incredibly dangerous and uncertain future with the probability that TRAITOR Trump and the other TRAITORS who support him and his fascism, it is incumbent on all of us who understand that danger to do everything within our power to resist that fascism  and the immeasurably destructive potential outcomes which are sought by TRAITOR Trump and those other TRAITORS who support him. With all three branches of government in their hands, there is little that can be done to prevent that incredible potential damage to both America and American Democracy.  Political resistance is the only weapon we have which has been proven to be effective in such situations.   Patriotic and determined resistance groups have given us effective examples of how this resistance is accomplished.  Those groups in much of Western Europe during both World War II and World War I.  There are also excellent examples of effective resistance in countries  such as Turkey, Iran, Chile, and Syria.  Study those examples!  Emulate those examples!  Read recent books about political resistance!  Attend educational opportunities to learn about fascism and how to resist it!  Become an active resister!  It is the only effective option we have!

 

The quotations below are from several famous writers and politicians.  Study them and the brave souls who verbalized them and practiced political resistance on a daily basis in their lives.  The first five of those quotations were all used as part of my official e-mail signature from January 20, 2017, to January 20, 2021.  I will be using and posting them wherever it is appropriate in the coming four years.  So should you!  Learn what you can do as a political resister at this most dangerous time in America since the day Fort Sumter was fired on.  GOD HELP US ALL!       

 

“I have lived my life and I have fought my battles, not against the weak and poor—but against power, injustice, and oppression.”  Clarence Darrow  

“Why, this far into the twenty-first century, are we once again talking about Fascism?  One reason, frankly, is Donald Trump.  If we think of Fascism as a wound from the past that had almost healed, putting Trump in the White House was like ripping off the bandage and picking at the scab.”  Madeleine Albright, “Fascism A Warning”, p. 5-6.  

 

 

“Bigger misfits haven’t been seen inside a White House since William Taft got stuck in his bathtub.”  John McCain, “The Restless Wave”, p. 267

 

 

“I am asking you to hold fast to that faith written into our founding documents; that idea whispered by slaves and abolitionists; that spirit sung by immigrants and homesteaders and those who marched for justice; that creed reaffirmed by those who planted flags from foreign battlefields to the surface of the moon; a creed at the core of every American whose story is not yet written: Yes We Can. Yes We Did.  Yes We Can.”  President Barack Obama

 “These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." Thomas Paine 

 

"Fascism is capitalism plus murder."  Upton Sinclair

 

"A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such and intensity of intolerance toward  those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions, or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends."  Henry Wallace 

 

"There is one kind of prison where the man is behind bars, and everything that  he desires is outside; and there is another kind where the things are behind bars, and the man is outside." Upton Sinclair 

 

"Fascism is a lie told by bullies."  Ernest Hemingway

"But the devil is a subtle worm; he does not give up at one defeat, for he knows human nature, and the strength of the forces which battle for him." Upton Sinclair   

"I have often thought that if a rational Fascist dictatorship were to exist, then it would choose the American system." Noam Chomsky

"How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them" by Jason Stanley

 

The original edition of this book was published in 2018, The current edition of the book which I am discussing today was published in paperback format in 2020 due to the fact that it was a best seller and the upcoming election of 2020 made it both necessary and advantageous for the author and publisher to reissue the book in paperback due to the danger being presented to the country by TRAITOR Trump at that time.  Today, that danger still persists in even greater form than four years ago.  We now have major public figures who have worked closely with TRAITOR Trump actually using the words "Fascist" and "Facism" to describe him and his goals.  This version of the book was released with a new preface by Jason Stanley.  In the Preface on page IX, Stanley states that "I wrote this book as a warning against fascist politics, essentially the danger of rhetoric that encourages fear and anger as a means to foment ethnic and religious division, seeping into public discourse." (Jason Stanley, "How Fascism Works..." Page IX)    Later in the Preface on page XII, he writes: "A distinguishing mark of fascism is the targeting of ideological enemies and the freeing of all restraints in combating them."(Stanley, Ibid, Page XII). That is exactly what TRAITOR Trump has been doing in this 2024 election campaign when he has discussed jailing his political enemies if the tragedy of his actual election should occur. TRAITOR Trump has even exceeded his own previous levels of fascist speech this week by stating on multiple occasions that Liz Cheney, one of only two Republicans in the entire country fit to hold public office at any level, should be forced to face "nine rifles pointed at her face".  That kind of speech is not only fasicst, it is illegal in every state in the union and should be prosecuted to the highest level of the law. Even years before these kind of incredibly derogatory statements started coming regularly from TRAITOR Trump in 2024, Jason Stanley was seeing evidence of fascism in TRAITOR Trump's rhetoric: 

"In the United States, as Donald Trump's campaign against immigration intensifies, it is sweeping untold numbers of undocumented workers of all backgrounds into anonymously run private detention centers, where they are concealed form view and public concern." (Jason Stanley, "Ibid, Page XV.)

Throughout the book, Stanley, who is a professor of philosophy at Yale University in an endowed chair, documents and discusses actions, speeches, and threats by TRAITOR Trump which are clearly fascist in nature.  While this book was reissued in 2020, recent statements by several American generals who have worked closely with TRAITOR Trump about his fascist tendencies fully support what Stanley has to say about him and his danger to the country.  In Bob Woodward's new book, "War", he tells a story of meeting General Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at a party:

“We have got to stop him!” Milley said. “You have got to stop him!” By “you” he meant the press broadly. “He is the most dangerous person ever. I had suspicions when I talked to you about his mental decline and so forth, but now I realize he’s a total fascist. He is the most dangerous person to this country.” His eyes darted around the room filled with 200 guests of the Cohen Group, a global business consulting firm headed by former defense secretary William Cohen. Cohen and former defense secretary James Mattis spoke at the reception.  “A fascist to the core!” Milley repeated to me.  I will never forget the intensity of his worry."  (The Atlantic, October 16, 2024, "The General's Warning".  https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/10/the-generals-warning/680279/ ) 

 In the book, Stanley writes in chapters which are descriptive of the key elements of fascist thinking and acts including Propaganda, Anti-intellectual, Unreality, Hierarchy, Victimhood, Law and Order, Sexual Anxiety, and Sodom and Gomorrah.  In the 2003 issue of "Free Inquiry Magazine, Lawrence Britt discussed key elements of fascism under slightly different titles and I have written about that examination of fascism at this link six years ago.  The fascism of TRAITOR Trump is not a new thing just because several American generals and other staff members who worked under him have suddenly begun to use the word "Fascist" about him in public. It has been existent many years and many of us who have been aware of it have also been making frequent studious attempts to educate the rest of the world about his fascism.  Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright actually published a book "Fascism A Warning" in 2018 and I wrote about her book that same year.   Television personality Rachel Maddow, who also happens to be Dr. Rachel Maddow since she holds  a Ph. D. in Political Science from the University of Oxford wrote a book in 2023 entitled "Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism" which I have written about at this link.  In that interview, the two women actually read Stormy Daniels' testimony in her civil trial against TRAITOR Trump with Daniels playing herself and Maddow reading the parts of the several attorneys.  It is an enlightening show and was the first opportunity the general public had to actually see the testimony from the "Hush Money Trial" since it was held without television cameras present.  Let me suggest that you watch that interview after you have learned at least the basics of fascism which will make TRAITOR Trump's actions toward Daniels much more clearly understood for what they are: Fascism In Action.  I have made reference to all these discussions of fascism to help the reader understand that Donald Trump's devotion to and practice of fascism is nothing new and Jason Stanley and I are not the only people working diligently to make all of America aware of the problem it presents on a daily basis to the country and the world.  

 

In the epilogue to his book, Jason Stanley refers to the work of Yale professors Joshua Knobe and Adam Bear by saying that in a New York Times article they have found that "...Trump's continuing behavior-- actions and speech that used to be considered remarkable--have real and disturbing consequences:  "These actions are not simply coming to be regarded as more typical; they are coming to be seen as more normal.  As a result, they will come to be seen as less bad and hence less worthy of outrage."  (Jason Stanley, "How Fascism Works...", Page188.)

 

A case in point which perfectly illustrates what Stanley is saying about the change over time in the public perceptions of TRAITOR Traitor Trump's fascist statements and intentons is the famous statement he made in 2016 saying "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?"(CBS News, January 23, 2016, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-i-could-shoot-somebody-and-i-wouldnt-lose-any-voters/ )  has now morphed into this death threat against Liz Cheney which is being investigated as a crime by the Attorney General of Arizona: “Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, okay? Let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.” (Deseret News, November 2, 2024, https://www.deseret.com/politics/2024/11/02/donald-trump-liz-cheney-war-hawk/ ) That statement was not rhetorical, harmless, or "just politics".  It was intentional incitement of his most virulent and dangerous followers in the hope that one of them would do his bidding and assassinate Liz Cheney. It was  a crime and should be prosecuted to  the fullest extent of the law.  

Read Jason Stanley's book, GO VOTE if you have not already, and fight Donald Trump and his fascism until he can be convicted of at least part of his crimes, sentenced, and imprisoned as he should have been years ago.   

 

 

Appalachia Day Homecoming, AliceLloyd College, October 12, 2024

 

Yesterday, October 12, 2024, I attended Appalachia Day Homecoming at Alice Lloyd College with my wife Candice, our friend Eugenia "Genia" DeCoursey Hall, and her friend Sharon White who is the wife of John White with whom I worked nearly fifty years ago as cooks at Kentucky Fried Chicken in Prestonsburg, Kentucky.  Genia, Sharon, and I had all attended ALC many years ago and Genia and I have been friends for over fifty years.  My wife Candice is actually an alumnus of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, in Platteville, Wisconsin.  But over the last 32 years, she has become a lover of Appalachia and Appalachian Culture.  Candice and I left our home at about 8:30am in an attempt to arrive by no later than 10am since it is about a 70 mile drive from our house and somewhere near 30 miles of the trip is over two lane roads including US 460 from our house to Salyersville, Kentucky, Kentucky 7 from Garrett, Kentucky to the Floyd/Knott county line, and Kentucky 899 from there to Pippa Passes where the college is located.  Amazingly, we got there in time to get the last handicapped parking space on the highway on campus instead of having to park half a mile away.  Most of the various vendors were already set up selling a large variety of arts, crafts, food, and books.  The crowd was comfortably large but not overwhelming.  The main highway or street through campus was shut down totally and vendors were actually set up in parts of the road where visitors wandered around or stopped to listen to local musicians and the Alice Lloyd College Choir, The Voices of Appalachia.  

Candice and I had driven together, naturally, and Genia and Sharon had driven in Genia's car but arrived a couple of hours after us.  Candice and I had naturally worn our Kamala Harris shirts and, since it was a fairly cool early fall morning, we had chosen to wear Harris/Walz shirts on the outside and Harris/Walz tee shirts underneath so we could change our outer layer when the sun warmed up to about 75 or 80 degrees.  The photo above is of my Harris tee shirt which my regular readers have seen before.  I had not been on the property very long when I encountered a man who approached me and said he liked my shirt.  We had a fairly long conversation about politics on which we agreed fully, learned that we hadfew friends in common from the ALC days.  Then to my surprise, he asked me to take a selfie with me and actually used both our phones to get the photo below.  I told him of the death of a good friend of both of us a few years ago due primarily to a tragic accident in which our friend had been asleep in a recliner in the living room of  his ground level apartment and was hit when an impaired driver literally drove into his living room. Then we parted ways.  The photo below is of the two of us at Appalachia Day. 

 

Then Candice and I wandered around, sometimes together, sometimes separately, looking at the things which interested us, talking to a few people here and there, getting registered, etc.  Candice also decided she wanted to order a sweatshirt which ALC was selling which is Appalachian in nature.  The people who were selling the shirts for the college could only provide a few tee shirts on the spot, could not take credit or debit cards, and Candice had to pay in advance for the shirt with cash, fill out an order card, and wait some undetermined time to receive the shirt.  I am certain that more of the shirts would have been bought if all those issues had not been part of the deal. The photo below is of Candice's Harris/Walz tee shirt. 

I saw an older Mennonite woman selling books at a table next to some male author whom I did not immediately recognize.  Since I have numerous Mennonite friends in our home county and also have known a few members of the Mennonite congregation in Knott County where Alice Lloyd College is located, I moved over to her table and struck up a conversation with her.  It turned out that we did have a few friends in common and I bought a copy of one of her books, "Flooded...Yet Not Alone" by Miriam Moyer, which is an oral history type book about survivors of the 2022 Eastern Kentucky Flood in Knott County which is the county of my birth and childhood. 

 

While I was talking to Miriam Moyer, the man next to her approached us and said, "You are Roger Hicks aren't you?" At that point, I recognized him as Dr. Dennis Campbell, a psychiatrist from Campton, Kentucky, with whom I had worked for about three years in my other career as a mental health and substance abuse therapist.  We had a fairly long talk and I did not immediately buy any of his books, of which he has written about a half dozen since he retired a few years ago.  Eventually, I did return and buy two of his books after I was assured that Candice didn't want to buy anything else from other vendors.  I knew and told Dennis that since he lives not far from me that I could always get in touch with him and buy his books later.  The books I bought from Dennis are "Tales From The Red River Gorge" which was actually published under the pseudonym Maribeth Wagner, and "To Conquer Eternal Summer" which was published under the pseudonym B. Camp.  "Tales From The Red River Gorge" contains two fairly long stories, one of which is described as "A Romantic Suspense Thriller".  The other is described as "A Tale Of Wilderness Survival".  I always enjoyed working with Dennis and trusted his skills absolutely as a psychiatrist when we were working together in an environment where most of our clients were dually diagnosed and suffering from serious mental health issues in one of the poorest counties in Kentucky.  

 

 

I knew that my friend Genia had also been a nurse in the medical practice where Dennis worked for several years as a general practice medical doctor before returning to the University of Kentucky to complete training as a psychiatrist because, as he puts it, "I realized that a very high percentage of the clients I was treating as an M. D. were also suffering from mental health problems."  I can't wait to read his books. When Genia and Sharon arrived, Genia and I returned to Dennis' table to have another conversation with him together since he knew us both but had never known that we are nearly lifelong friends.  I also introduced him to Candice.  The second of his books, "To Conquer Eternal Summer",  is described as "A Cultivation Trilogy" which is within the field of Fantasy Literature.  Dennis' books are all available from Amazon. 

During the course of the day, I was approached at various times by two more couples who also gave me compliments about my shirt(s) and briefly talked politics with all of them.  One couple was a retired high school history teacher and his wife from Carter County Kentucky who described TRAITOR Trump as  "very dangerous".  I gave him the titles of a few books which also describe that same trait of TRAITOR Trump the same way in more lengthy and accurate words.  Another couple were ALC students, a male senior communications major and his girl friend who also felt  very strongly that America and American Democracy are in danger from TRAITOR Trump.  Another couple, perhaps in their thirties, were from Marion County Kentucky and approached about the shirt and expressed their fears about the upcoming election and the dire possibility that TRAITOR Trump could actually be elected for the first time in his life.  Candice and I ate lunch from a food trailer specializing in some Anglicized "Mexican food".  Candice didn't eat much there and I had a steak fajita which was bland but fairly good.  Then we checked in again with Genia who had somehow gotten separated from Sharon White, tried to help her locate her, and eventually gave up to leave in time to get back home at a reasonable hour.  It was good day and wonderful to spend time with friends, both old and new, and to receive some new reading material.  

"Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism" by Rachel Maddow, A Book Everyone Should Read

Over the past ten days, I have written two other blog posts which were prompted by a book which I have just completed this morning, August 23, 2023, "Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism" by Rachel Maddow, the popular television host.  The first post, entitled "Fascism In America, Yesterday And Today", was written and posted on August 13, 2023.  The second post, entitled "TRAITOR Trump, Adolph Hitler, And The Big Lie", was written and posted just yesterday, August 22, 2023.  In general, I rarely write more than one blog post about any book I have read.  The two examples of such books I have written about more than once recently are "The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey" by Candice Millard, and Bob Deans excellent book,  "The River Where America Began: A Journey Along The James".  

Each of those books is important in their own way as historical writing.  But neither of them is as important as Rachel Maddow's book about the history of early twentieth century attempts to bring Fascism to America. This is a book which is fully loaded with multiple warnings and historical accounts of those attempts to turn the United States into a Fascist stronghold and is an incredibly important book for every concerned American to read before they ever step into a voting booth again.  It is an incredibly well researched and documented book whose only flaw is that the writing itself is not the kind that wins literary prizes or leaves the reader consistently spellbound But Dr. Maddow has done a beautiful job of digging through vast piles of dusty, and often obscure, records to document an earlier time when Facism was gravely endangering America. Yes, she is Dr. Maddow, and holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Oxford University and her research proves she earned it honestly.  In this book, she also does a fine job of proving that Fascism still endangers America today, and is actually doing so in a far more terrifying  way than it did in the 1930's and 1940's.  Although she does not make that claim word for word in the book, any intelligent reader can easily decipher the intent of the book.  In my opinion, it is a precursor to a second upcoming book about the ongoing Fascist threat in America and a historically based warning about the imminence of that threat. 

I'd like to use a few choice excerpts from the book to prove the point I just made in the earlier sentence about the present danger to America which is posed by TRAITOR Trump and those who support him.  The first instance in which the book convinced me that Dr. Maddow was on the right track came in her discussion of the efforts of Senator Robert Rice Reynolds, a North Carolina Democrat who used immigrants as scapegoats for his efforts to support Facism just as TRAITOR Trump has been doing for the past 10 years or so.  Reynolds used these words: 

"...seeping into this country by the thousands every single month...to take the jobs which rightly belong" to Americans.  "I wish to say, and I say it without the slightest hesitation--that if I had my way about it at this hour, I would build a wall about the United States so high and so secure that not a single alien or foreign refugee from any country upon the face of the earth could possibly scale or ascend it." (Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism" by Rachel Maddow, page 220) 

As I said when I first wrote about this book, as soon as I read that quote the person who popped into my head was TRAITOR Trump.  Those words sound as if they probably came directly out of his mouth in some rambling rant in front of a crowd of a few thousand of his Fascist and TREASONOUS cult members. That moment is when I first began to realize just how important this book is as we face the most important election in the United States at least since 1860.  If we get this election wrong, this country and American Democracy will not survive the next four years.  On November 5, 2024, American voters are faced with the most clear cut choice in an election in the history of this country.  It is an election in which we are confronted with a choice between a Prosecutor and a Convicted Felon, a Patriot and a TRAITOR, a Skilled Supporter of Sexual Assault Victims and a Serial Rapist, Good and Evil, Right and Wrong, a Powerful Future and a Future Disaster which will not leave a single individual constitutional right intact.  It is purely a choice between Good and Evil.  As a nation and as individuals, we cannot get this choice wrong.  Our entire Democracy is at stake, nothing less!

The next quotation from Maddow's book which I have heard many times, but which struck me immediately in comparison to TRAITOR Trump was this one about Adolph Hitler's Big Lie and is a direct quote from his book, "Mein Kampf": 

 " The great masses, he wrote, "will more easily fall victims to a great lie than to a small one, since they themselves perhaps also lie in little things, but would certainly still be too much ashamed of too great lies.  Thus, such an untruth will not at all enter their heads, and therefore they will be unable to believe in the impossibility of the enormous impudence of the most infamous distortion in others."  (Rachel Maddow, quoting from "Mein Kampf", in "Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism", page 237. )

Let me also say, in clarification, that TRAITOR Trump's name is not even mentioned in this book.  But his grossly leering shadow is all through it.  His use of Adolph Hitler's Big Lie is the foundation on which his efforts to gain, abuse, misuse, misconstrue, misappropriate power, and destroy American is based.  He is first and foremost a pathological liar, and uses those lies to mislead, confuse, and control those members of his cult who are susceptible to them.  Just as Adolph Hitler did until the day of his death, TRAITOR Trump uses grandiose, unsupportable lies to gain power over people.  It is his favorite tool in his quest to destroy the world around him along with anyone who has sufficient courage to confront him.  While it is his favorite tool, it is not his only tool.  He also uses fear, intimidation, bribery, psychological manipulation, and a variety of other skills which he developed in his years as a juvenile delinquent son in the shadow of an enabling and destructive father.  If you doubt that statement, read his niece Mary Trump's Book, "Too Much And Never Enough: How My Family Created The World's Most Dangerous Man." You might also consider that 40 of 44 people who served him in his cabinet refuse to endorse him today.  And 40 lawyers who have all worked in the Department of Justice under Presidents Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush have all endorsed Kamala Harris.  One of those lawyers actually is previous Attorney General and numerous others were Deputy Attorneys General.  The people who know him and the danger he represents to America are trying desperately to tell the rest of the country the truth about his TREASON!

But as the book progresses in telling the story of early Fascist attempts in America, it becomes a genuine historical biography of one of the worst crime schemes ever perpetrated on an unsuspecting nation, its government, and its people.  Hitler's propaganda machine in America was under the charge of one George Sylvester Viereck who was able to engage the support of the great American flyer Charles Lindbergh and several members of the United States Congress.  They jointly established a scheme in which congress members who had the incredible power of "franking" which allowed them to mail nearly any written matter they chose to as many people as they chose in the country with the bill for the postage being paid by the United States government.  Maddow documents a top secret telegram from the German Charge' D'affaires in Washington to his superior in Berlin in which he said:

"These speeches, whose aim is to prevent America's entry into the war and to ward off all attacks from interventionist politicians, will be printed each time in the American parliamentary publication, the Congressional Record, by these Senators and Congressmen, and then an edition of 50,000 to 1 million copies will be sent by them to specially chosen persons.  In this manner, German influence is not visible to the outside, and, thanks to the privilege of free postage enjoyed by American Congressmen, the cost of this large scale propaganda can be kept disproportionately low..." ("Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism", by Rachel Maddow, page 242)

Later in the book, Maddow points out that the Justice Department official O. John Rogge was able to document at least 24 members of congress who willingly assisted Viereck in his scheme to use "franking" to distribute Nazi propaganda to the citizens of the country at taxpayer expense.  Ask yourself this question and answer it honestly: "If 24 members of congress were induced by Germany in the 1930's and 1940's to support the German propaganda effort, in today's world with much more technically advanced means of communication and concealment of the transfer of monetary funds worldwide, and with Right Wing Radical Repugnican people in congress such as Marjorie Taylor Green, George Santos, Ted Cruz,  James Comer, Josh Hawley, Jim Jordan, Thomas Massie, Louie Gomert, and Matt Gaetz, just how difficult would it be for Russia and Putin to construct just as destructive and treasonous operation in congress?" Be honest with yourself when you answer that question!

 

O. John Rogge, the Assistant Attorney General who had uncovered Viereck's scheme as well as the identities of his congressional coconspirators, went to the Attorney General as he was about to depart from the Department of Justice on a speaking tour about his findings, was denied that permission and, bravely stated that he intended to do so anyway, He began his speaking tour and, after his first night's speech was delivered the message by an FBI agent that he had been fired as he sat in a Washington State airport waiting out a weather delay to proceed to another city for another such speech.

In the conclusion of the book, Maddow talks about the fact that the subject(s) of this book, attempted Fascism and those who perpetrated and supported it are still being followed by others who are just as dangerous to democracy and America.  She says this in conclusion: 

"If we're willing to take the harder look at our American history with Fascism, the truth is that our own story in this wild, uncertain twenty-first century has not an echo in the past but a prequel.  For our turn in history--and for the next time this comes around too--we have the advantage of knowing what preceded us.  The story of what it took, inside and outside the government, to stop the violent American ultra-right in the run up to World War II--that's a gift from the smart, brave, determined, resourceful, self-sacrificing Americans who went before us.  If we learn it, and we choose it, we can inherit their work."  (Rachel Maddow, "Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism", Page 326) 

That concluding paragraph from the book tells us all we need to know in order to what we should have been doing all along, "If we learn it, and we choose it, we can inherit their work."  That should the goal and the daily effort of every patriotic American in today's world, to inherit the work of those same "...smart, brave determined, resourceful, self-sacrificing Americans who went before us."  in the perpetual fight against Fascism, Nazism, Communism, TREASON, Insurrection, Desertion, and the generalized abandonment of the values which motivated the Founding Fathers to build the greatest democracy on the face of the earth.