A Shallow Examination of "How Democracies Die" by Steven Livitsky & Daniel Ziblatt

 

This book was released on January 8, 2019, in a reprinted and edited version.  The authors are Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt.Both are professors at Harvard and have studied how democracies function, fail, and die for more than twenty years.  This book addresses the multiple questions of 1) how democracy is functioning in the United States, 2) is democracy endangered in the United States, 3) is Donald Trump a danger to American democracy, and, 4) what can be done to save American democracy.  As any intelligent, well read, politically aware American knows instinctively, this book would not have been written if TRAITOR Trump had never occupied the White House.  I have to admit that I have not read the entire book but have read the key chapters and independent, unbiased reviews of the book.  This has been necessary due to both the speed with which we are approaching the most important election in American History again, just as we have been in the two previous election cycles and, because I have far too many important books to read and write about before the date of the election on November 5, 2024.  

The authors of the book, in the early chapters, introduce their readers to several key actions which despots and would be despots take leading up to, and throughout, their attacks on democracy. They also describe , on page 2 of the book, ways in which American politicians and their actions worry them, "American politicians now treat their rivals as enemies, intimidate the free press, and threaten to reject the results of elections.  They try to weaken the institutional buffers of our democracy, including the courts, intelligence services, and ethics offices. Several individual American states such as Texas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama are in danger of becoming laboratories of authoritarianism as those in power rewrite electoral rules, redraw constituencies, and even rescind voting rights to ensure that they do not lose."   In one case, that of Kentucky, a Right Wing Radical Repugnican state legislature has attempted numerous ways to accomplish many of the same assaults on democracy which have occured in the other states mentioned. But in Kentucky, Andy Beshear, the best governor in America and a Democrat who was considered as a possible running mate for Kamala Harris, has managed to use the veto and other executive actions to stymie the highly destructive legislature. On page 2 of the book the authors also describe TRAITOR Trump as "...a man with no experience in public office, little observable commitment to constitutional rights, and clear authoritarian tendencies".  The authors were absolutely correct in that assessment of TRAITOR Trump in 2019 when this book was published.  They also published a second book together in 2023, "The Tyranny of the Minority", which I do not own at this point but will purchase, read and write about regardless of the outcome of this election.  That will be necessary even if Kamala Harris wins this election because TRAITOR Trump and his Right Wing Radical supporters have already made it abundantly clear that they will do anything within their power to prevent the peaceful change of power unless they are the TRAITORS in power.  

Chapter 8 of the book is entitled "Trump Against The Guardrails" and directly discusses the ways TRAITOR Trump and his allies had attempted to destroy democracy in America in the first year plus of his occupancy of the White House.  

"Donald Trump's first year in office followed a familiar script. He called the media "the enemy of the American people," questioned judges' legitimacy, and threatened to cut federal funding to major cities."  (Levitsky and Ziblatt, "How Democracies Die", page176.)

On the following page, 177, the authors go further: 

"President Trump exhibited clear authoritarian instincts during his first year in office. In Chapter 4, we presented three strategies by which elected authoritarians seek to consolidate power: capturing the referees, sidelining the key players, and rewriting the rules to tilt the playing field against opponents.  Trump attempted all three of these strategies." (Levitsky and Ziblatt, "How Democracies Die", page 177.)

In the intervening five years since this book was published, we have seen and heard numerous others agree with Levitsky and Ziblatt including General Mark Kelly, General James Mattis, and General Mark Milley have all endorsed Kamala Harris for president and called TRAITOR Trump  "fascist to the core" and "the most dangerous person to this country".  TRAITOR Trump has also been quoted by NPR as saying "I need the kind of generals Hitler had."   Obviously, no such would be despot, dictator, tyrant, or genocidal maniac needs to be anywhere near the seat of American government.  He needs to be tried, convicted of at least part of his thousands of crimes, sentenced, and incarcerated for life in the supermax prison in Colorado where the other enemies of the nation are incarcerated. 

The Upcoming Second Insurrection!

The attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, was an Insurrection, Domestic Terrorism, Sedition, and Treason.  It was fomented, led, and caused by TRAITOR Trump because, for the second time, he had lost an American election after having been installed in the White House by virtue of Russia having stolen enough votes in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania to tilt the electoral vote count in their favor.  They failed in their attempt to do that in 2020, and TRAITOR Trump incited the attack on the US Capitol in order to try to stop the constitutionally mandated count of electoral votes which is the final step in the certification of an election in the United States.  January 6, 2021, was an attack against the United States by enemies of the United States, and incited by the second worst living enemy of the United States, TRAITOR Trump, in support of the absolute worst living enemy of the United States, Vladimir Putin, who owns and controls TRAITOR  Trump.  When the 2024 presidential election is over, the votes are counted, and the electoral counts are referred to the congress for certification proving that TRAITOR Trump has actually lost his third consecutive election in America, he will already have done the work of inciting that Second Insurrection, and he is actually engaged in setting the stage for it on a daily basis today since he knows full well that he cannot legally win an election in the United States.  TRAITOR Trump has already stated on May 2, 2024, that he will not commit to accept the results of the upcoming presidential election unless he is declared the winner.  TRAITOR Trump has already worked with the Right Wing Radical Repugnican Election Board in Georgia to have them institute a set of new rules for counting the votes which will allow them to bring about the unlawful counting of votes, the manipulation of the vote count, and the illegal declaration that TRAITOR Trump has won the election in Georgia.  He will also attempt to commit other acts of election sabotage in swing states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada.  He is now faced with the likelihood that he will also lose North Carolina since his hand picked candidate for governor in that state has been caught on an internet pornography website describing himself as "a black Nazi".  Their little ship of dreams is sinking fast in North Carolina.  When the November 5th election is over, the votes are counted, and the truth is out, TRAITOR Trump will once again incite an Insurrection against the legally constituted government of the United States of America. 

So, the question becomes what do we do to avoid the theft of another US election by TRAITOR Trump and his allies, both Russian Hackers and American Fascists?  First and foremost, every American must go to the polls and vote for Kamala Harris for president of the United States.  Secondly, between now and the election, we must confront the ignorance and TREASON of TRAITOR Trump and all his supporters every time we hear it no matter whom we hear it from or where we hear it.  We must get others registered as Democrats until the last day to register in the state in which these unregistered voters live.  We must then get those newly registered voters to the polls and be certain that they are voting for Kamala Harris for President.  And, when TRAITOR Trump begins his Second Insurrection, we must work with the legally  constituted government of the United States to hold TRAITOR Trump and every one of his supporters responsible for their crimes in any such Second Insurrection.  We must not allow any questionable acts in support of his Second Insurrection by TRAITOR Trump or any of his supporters to go unconfronted by the legal authorities of the United States of America.  When this Second Insurrection begins, we must demand that President Biden immediately order the arrest of TRAITOR Trump and any of his allies who engage in this Second Insurrection.  We must demand that they receive a constitutionally mandated and protected SPEEDY TRIAL, conviction, sentencing, and imprisonment for their crimes.  When such a Second Insurrection has been dealt with in this manner, it will be clearly understood for many years in America that such an insurrection by TRAITORS, Insurrectionists, Domestic Terrorists, and Enemies of The United States will not be tolerated, minimized, or swept under the rug.  IT WILL BE GREAT! 

Watching "Judgment At Nuremberg" In Very Similar Times In America

 

My wife and I have just watched the incredibly well made movie "Judgment At Nuremberg" which was made in 1961 by Director Stanley Kramer.  The movie is about the trial of several Nazi judges at Nuremberg in 1947.  The movie was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and actually won three, including Maximilian Schell for Best Actor, who won out over his costar Spencer Tracy.  The movie was loaded with one of the greatest casts ever assembled in Hollywood history with Maximilian Schell, Spencer Tracy, Judy Garland, Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich, and a young William Shatner.  But this blog post is not about a movie for a movie's sake.  This blog post is about the movie's depiction of a small part of the aftermath of World War II and its lasting effects on the world and how it is possible that the events which led to the trials at Nuremberg could be about to be repeated in America today.  

The movie portrays several of the Nazi judges and their trial for the crimes against humanity they committed for Adolph Hitler and the Nazis before and during World War II.  It discusses how these judges and, in particular, the judge played by Burt Lancaster could have been led to believe that their abuses of human rights could have been committed by men who had previously in their lives been relatively normal members of the German judicial system.  One of the most persistent questions which is still not fully answered about Adolph Hitler, the Nazis, and the ordinary German people who assisted them throughout World War II and the Holocaust involves the question of how the German people have been able to commit the atrocities they did, to murder more than 6 million innocent men, women, and children, to sterilize thousands of others, and to have driven hundreds of thousands of others out of the country.  The 16 judges who were actually tried at Nuremberg are represented in the movie by four characters played by Burt Lancaster and three other actors.  These judges held fake trials for hundreds of thousands of innocent German citizens who were sentenced to the concentration camps, and eventual death for most of them, or for compulsory sexual sterilization simply because they were different from the Nazis in some way due to their religions, racial or ethnic identities, political beliefs, or physical handicaps and disabilities. These people's fates were decided before they ever entered the courtrooms at the time someone in the Nazi chain of command had them arrested, sent to the court system, tried in sham trials with little or no evidence, and given sentences which were predetermined by the Nazi system and the judges involved.  After they were found guilty, the concentration camp system completed the work of the Nazi regime whether it be eventual death or a brutal life of starvation and slave labor until the Allied forces could win the war and liberate the camps.  

So the greater question, still unresolved, is this: could such a series of murderous, corrupt, and evil events take place in a country like the United States of America.  The common knee jerk response to that question is almost always "it couldn't happen here".  That knee jerk response was satirically portrayed in the song "It Can't Happen Here" by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention.  It was also tested under laboratory conditions by Yale psychologist Stanley Milgram in one of the most famous psychological experiments ever completed.  Milgram's work is still a mandatory topic of discussion in nearly every college level class in group psychology or the clinical term social psychology. Stanley Milgram wanted to investigate whether Germans were particularly prone to obey orders from their superiors since this was the most common explanation for the Nazi killings in World War II. Milgram obtained volunteers for his experiment by advertising for people to take part in a study of learning at Yale University. The method of the experiment required that each participant was paired with another person and they drew lots to find out who would be the ‘learner’ and who would be the ‘teacher.’  The draw was fixed so that the volunteer was always the teacher, and the learner was one of Milgram’s associates at Yale who was "in on the scam" so to speak. The so-called "learners" were placed in a room and had electrodes attached to their arms, and the teacher and researcher went into a room next door that contained an electric shock generator and a row of switches marked Slight Shock, Moderate Shock, and Severe Shock. The shocks in Stanley Milgram’s obedience experiments were not real. The “learners” were actors who were part of the experimental staff did not actually receive any shocks.  But the study volunteers were never told this and fully believed that the shocks they were told to administer were real.  The main goal of the experiment was to learn if the volunteers would continue to administer shocks to the "learners" which the volunteers believed would be capable of delivering serious injury or even death. The results of the experiment were that the great majority of the volunteers would continue to obey an authority figure to the point of administering a "shock" which they believed was capable of killing the other person.  The gist of the experiment was that American were no different than the Germans who had been those convicted judges, concentration camp guards, and other members of the general population of Germany who had assisted the Nazi regime in the murder of more than 6 million innocent victims.  

So the question now becomes what is the difference between normal American citizens today and normal German citizens of the 1930's and 1940's.  The answer derived from Doctor Milgram's experiment is that there was not in 1961, and is not today, one iota of difference between American citizens and German citizens when it comes to obeying people whom they believe to be legitimate authority figures.  And that is where we momentarily return to the movie "Judgment At Nuremberg".  It portrayed German judges, and discussed ordinary German citizens, who prior to the rise of the Nazi party had been simply ordinary members of society who later, at the direction of Nazi authority figures, murdered more than 6 million innocent victims, sterilized thousands of others, and were capable of committing any crime under the orders of their leaders.  And Americans today are no different.  And we are in a time, politically in America, when just such similar events could be possible if the American voters make a tragic mistake in the 2024 Presidential Election.  On January 6, 2021, we saw a few thousand "ordinary American citizens" commit both a mass insurrection and thousands of individual crimes against the government of the United States at the direction and incitement of what they perceived to be an appropriate authority figure, TRAITOR Trump, who had called upon them to "come to Washington on January 6.  It will be big."  The US Capitol was breached, seriously damaged, and five people died because TRAITOR Trump, a person those criminals believed to be a legitimate authority figure, told them it was the right thing to do to subvert the will of the American voters, prevent the congressional approval of that electoral process, and stop the US Congress from carrying out its constitutional duty by certifying the election of President Biden on November 3, 2020.  Today, we are faced with the fact that once again the Right Wing Radical Repugnican party has nominated TRAITOR  Trump as their presidential candidate, and he has chosen the equally reprehensible J. D. Vance to be his running mate. Both these men are malignant narcissists at the very least and are willing to commit any crime at any time against anyone in order to achieve their personal objectives.  And, at this point, on July 22, 2024, we do not absolutely know who the Democratic nominee for president will be which is temporarily clouding the issues involved in this most important election in American History.  We can assume the Democratic nominee will be Vice President Kamala Harris who was also a target of TRAITOR Trump's TREASON and his minions on January 6.  There is absolutely no doubt that both TRAITOR Trump and J. D. Vance would be willing in January 2025 to incite an even worse insurrection against the United States of America.  And, based on Stanley Milgram's experiment and the actions of the German people in World War II, there can be no doubt that many of the very same people who supported the insurrection of January 6, 2021, will be willing and ready to stage an even worse insurrection, kill even more people, and destroy the legally constituted government of the United States of America.  We also now have a House of Representatives under the control of the very same people who have never admitted to the fact that TRAITOR Trump and the actual participants of the Januarey 6 insurrection are criminals.  We also have a 6 vote Right Wing Radical majority on the United States Supreme Court which has already minimized the nature of the previous TREASON of TRAITOR Trump and given him, quite literally, a license to kill.  

 These times in America are just as dangerous as the times were in Germany in the 1930's and 1940's.  TRAITOR Trump is just as dangerous, just as demented, just as evil as Adolph Hitler was.  He is also just as maliciously and malevolently ambitious as Adolph Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Idi Amin,, Pol Pot, or any other malevolent dictator ever were.  He is also still under the control of Vladimir Putin and Russia.  We as American citizens must prevent America from becoming what Germany was in World War II.  We must go to the polls in the highest numbers ever recorded in an American election and we must elect the Democratic nominee no matter who that person is.  And, I can hear a few of you muttering "but what if the nominee isn't somebody I like or somebody who is qualified".  I can assure you that in America today we have roughly 45 million registered Democrats, and anyone of those 45 million people is a far more qualified candidate for president than either TRAITOR Trump or J. D. Vance.  We must, as a nation, do what we should have been doing in every election in recent times, vote Straight Democratic and prevent another insurrection by TRAITOR Trump and his Right Wing Radical Repugican followers.  We must not do as the German people did in the 1930's and allow evil in one of its most dangerous and virulent forms to win either at the ballot box, the streets of Washington, or the court system of America.

"Enough" by Cassidy Hutchinsion, An 'Almost Mea Culpa'

 

 "I had started my job with the belief that my colleagues and I were doing something important for the country. But when the "president" I had served wholeheartedly persuaded his supporters to reject the legitimacy of a free and fair election, I knew he was leading a dangerous assault on our political ideals and governing institutions for no other purpose than to soothe his injured pride." (Cassidy Hutchinson, "Enough" pages 353-354)

When this book was initially released, I decided that I wouldn't bother to read it.  But after I read Liz Cheney's fine book, I changed my mind and ordered the book based on the numerous compliments Cheney gave to Hutchinson based on their multiple contacts during the work of the January 6 Committee. In another relatively minor "three degrees of separation" connection, I have a cousin who is an employee of Christopher Newport University where Hutchinson received her degree.  They say they never actually had any contact with her on campus but did remember her from her time there without any particular opinion of her, either good or bad.  As I read the book, I found myself disgusted pretty thoroughly during the first half or so of the book due to her persistent use of the adjective "President" in reference to TRAITOR Trump.  It is a word which I never have and never will use to refer to TRAITOR Trump who is the ultimate recipient of the self-centered largess of Vladimir Putin and Russia in the form of his hackers having helped steal the 2016 election from Hillary Clinton  with a total margin of just a little over 80,000 votes in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan combined.  He is a TRAITOR, a Russian Agent, and a clear cut threat to democracy so long as he is alive and able to further incite his cult members.  It will take at least fifty years of good, honest, democratic government to undo the moral and ethical damage he and his supporters have done to America, American Democracy, and democracy worldwide.  

Finally, as I read further between several necessary breaks from the misled praise of TRAITOR Trump, I found that Hutchinson did gradually come to her senses while working in the White House and struggled in her soul with the necessary psychic shift which was required for her to finally realize just how much damage he and his cult were doing to the country.  The first occasion I remember when I began to believe that Hutchinson was actually in the process of making that psychic shift was when she says in the book that TRAITOR Trump "...lacked the empathy to deal with the Covid epidemic".  But, over the course of her time inside the White House, she reached a point in that shift to enable her to initially testify in camera to the committee and then to agree to the public testimony which has now made her famous.  She developed what seems to be a meaningful and mutually respectful relationship with Liz Cheney which gave her the courage to eventually take the big step and cut her ties to the attorney which what she calls "Trump World" had provided for her after the insurrection and domestic terrorism of January 6, and search until she found other high level attorneys who have guided her through her final testimony sessions with the committee, the isolation she suffered afterward from the people inside the White House and the Right Wing Radical Repugnican party who made her a pariah in the circles in which she had previously moved.  She is obviously an intelligent, hard working, loyal woman who found herself in a position where her heartfelt version of patriotism could not be reconciled with a group of TRAITORS, domestic terrorists, and insurrectionists who were willing to overthrow the US government and murder Mike Pence in order to satisfy their TREASONOUS leader, TRAITOR Trump.  She also developed a relationship with Alexander Butterfield, the elderly former Richard Nixon aide who had disclosed to investigators that a White House recording system existed which eventually led to the downfall of Nixon.  She describes reading Bob Woodward's book, "The Last of The President's Mean", which tells Butterfield's story, and being deeply affected by Butterfield's morals which led to his being able to take a step in 1973 which was very similar to the one she had to take in 2021to testify against the occupant of the White House in order for each of them to be able to face themselves in the mirror.  

In my title to this blog post, I used the phrase"An Almost Mea Culpa", and I believe that Hutchinson came up a bit short of actually admitting that while she worked in the White House she was also partially culpable with TRAITOR Trump and those who perpetrated the January 6 insurrection and domestic terrorism for the outcomes of that crime including the deaths of five people.  That is a long step which I doubt that she will ever take.  This is a book which is worth reading but only after the prospective reader has read Liz Cheney's fine book, reread the US Constitution, and carefully studied a high school civics book.  

Will This Be Our Last Real Independence Day?

 

Today is July 3, 2024, and the United States is  facing the most grave danger of being destroyed as a nation at least since Pearl Harbor.  What is even worse about this impending disaster is that the grave danger is within our own borders, centered in the 6 justices on the US Supreme Court who voted to give a convicted felon, Russian Agent, TRAITOR, serial sex offender, tax cheat, career criminal, pathological liar, and idiot a free pass on having incited the greatest insurrection in the history of our nation, having stolen and attempted to retain hundreds of classified documents which are clearly the property of the US government and no one else.  It is also centered in and led by that very same convicted felon, Russian Agent, TRAITOR, serial sex offender, tax cheat, career criminal, pathological liar, and idiot.  We are living the prediction of Nikita Kruschev when he said " We do not have to invade the United States, we will destroy you from within."  That dire prediction from the former Russian leader is being personified in the Russian Agent this country allowed to live illegally in the White House for 4 years after having committed TREASON with Vladimir Putin and Russia.  Just a few days ago one of this country's greatest historians and writers, Timothy Snyder posted a list of "50 Reasons..." why TRAITOR Trump owes a debt to Putin and Russia.  And, according to Snyder, every one of those fifty acts is documented in the public record.  That list of events which Snyder has provided includes occasions on both sides when money has changed hands between TRAITOR Trump and Russian people, probable intelligence agents, and entities, occasions when TRAITOR Trump has done political favors for Russia including the time shortly after he was allowed to enter the White House that he turned and brought the Russian Ambassador and a Russian (Translation: FSB, Russian Intelligence Agents) into the Oval Office. Those Russian agents were the only videographers and sound technicians in the Oval Office during that visit.  What do you think they were doing?  It also includes the deal for useless real estate in Florida for which a Russian paid nearly $100Million dollars, an amount vastly greater than the land's worth. There is also a great deal of credible intelligence that TRAITOR Trump has laundered an untold amount of Russian money through his companies.  Many Russian citizens also have bought units in the many condominium buildings he has built.  Timothy Snyder has been warning the US and our citizens about TRAITOR Trump for several years and his excellent little book, "On Tyranny", is one of the best examples of his many warnings.  But that book and read it closely!  It is small but it is a very important book in today's world.

Over the years since that horrible day in June 2015, when TRAITOR Trump came riding down that gold elevator at Trump Tower spouting the outrageous idea that he was fit to be the leader of the free world, I have written extensively on this blog about the grave danger he and those around him present to the country.  I know that a few people have listened to me and, hopefully, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of others have listened to the American heroes and heroines like Timothy Snyder, President Biden, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and all the other members of the January 6th Select Committee.  But we are still faced with the horrible possibility  that the same TRAITOR who has constantly exposed himself to be exactly what all of us have been saying he is, was, always has been, and always will be might actually manage with the help of Russia and other enemies of America to once again occupy the White House even after the Supreme Court has proven they are owned by the same enemies of the country which own him and that they will never make an effort to stop him, hold him responsible for his thousands of crimes, and will actually assist him in his efforts to destroy America for his Russian owners.  We cannot allow that tragedy to occur to the greatest country in the world. He must be stopped both at the ballot box and in the courts of the nation. He must be held responsible for his crimes.  He must be convicted, sentenced, and imprisoned or the nation will not survive.  The greatest democracy in the world will have fulfilled the prediction of Nikita Kruschev that they will destroy us without firing a shot, that they will take us from within.  We must vote, we must educate other voters, we must take them to the polls if they cannot drive, we must carry our lap tops to their homes and help them register and vote if they cannot leave home.  We must hold him responsible for every destructive action he and his followers have taken to destroy this nation.  We must ensure that democracy is restored to and never again endangered by traitors and agents of other countries.

"Oath and Honor: A Memoir and A Warning" by Liz Cheney, The One Book Every American Should Be Required To Read

 

  In the era of Trump, certain members of Congress and other Trump enablers...have preyed on the patriotism of millions of Americans.  They are working to return to office the man responsible for January 6.  We the people must stop them.  We are the only thing that can stop them.  This is more important than partisan politics.  Every one of us--Republican, Democrat, Independent--must work and vote together to ensure that Donald Trump and those who have appeased, enabled, and collaborated with him are defeated.  This is the cause of our time.  (Liz Cheney, "Oath and Honor" p. 368)

Liz Cheney used the words above to end her important and honest book "Oath and Honor: A Memoir and A Warning" and she is absolutely correct.  Donald Trump and every one of his thousands of enablers, co-conspirators, and cult members must be stopped in their efforts to return him to his illegal and illegitimate occupation of the White House.  They managed to nearly subvert the certification of an honest American presidential election on January 6, 2021, and they would not hesitate to commit any crime on the face of the earth to achieve that treasonous goal.  Liz Cheney has written the most important book in this 2024 election cycle.  No other book published before hers and none which will come after hers can more succinctly or more accurately can tell the tale of the political treason, insurrection, and domestic terrorism which they perpetrated against the United States of America on January 6, 2021, and which was rooted in the actions of Donald Trump and his co-conspirators in the White House in the weeks between the 2020 election and January 6.  Liz Cheney has honestly and forthrightly told the tale of that insurrection and was fully willing to sacrifice her political career in order to see that this virulent and treasonous conspiracy did not succeed.  She has also stepped forward to teach every citizen of the United States about the danger which this group of insurrectionists, domestic terrorists, and traitors present to America and American Democracy.  Her book is truly the one book every citizen of this country should read in this incredibly important election year.  Despite the fact that nearly a thousand of these criminals have been indicted for their crimes and several hundred have already been convicted and sentenced to federal prison, the conspiracy is still alive.  The would be dictator and his cult are still working every day to keep the treason alive, to return the traitor to the scene of his treason.  If you do not read another book for the rest of your life, read this one.  It is written in a simple, direct, easy to read prose which allows a fast read but you should read it slowly, thoughtfully, and with an open mind.  This is a book written by an American patriot who literally sacrificed a wonderful political future in order to confront these traitors and their treason, in particular to confront and hold the worst traitor in world history responsible for his treason.  Give it an honest, open minded read and then fully and without reservations of any kind commit yourself to do everything in your power to assist America and American Democracy in this fight for survival.  This is truly the cause of our time.   

Somebody Is Murdering Democracy

 

Somebody Is Murdering Democracy

Nobody sees their crimes on Pennsylvania Avenue

We don’t have fingerprints or the weapons Putin used

But they’re murdering democracy, cutting out its heart and soul

They’re getting away with murder on Embassy Row

 

The almighty dollar and the lust for worldwide fame

Are killing democracy and for that someone should hang

They all say not guilty but the evidence will show

That murder was committed on Embassy Row

 

Unfed children cry and the Puerto Ricans pray

Treason and Russian hackers are right up in our face

Hillary didn’t have a chance against criminal politics

Trump has murdered democracy and it makes me mighty sick

 

Trump thought no one would miss it once it was dead and gone

Putin told him no one will ever  know Just keep up the treason and sing a pretty song

Well there ain't no justice in it and the hard facts are cold

Murder's been committed down on Embassy row.

 

Unfed children cry and the Puerto Ricans pray

Treason and Russian hackers are right up in our face

Thomas Paine wouldn’t have a chance in today’s politics

Trump has murdered democracy and it makes me mighty sick

They’d even tell George Washington to pack up and go back home

Since Trump murdered democracy on Embassy Row.

Copyright 2018 by Roger D. Hicks with consideration to Larry Cordle

 

A Wonderful, Early, Unintended Political Birthday Present!

 

Yesterday, July 19, 2023, we spent most of the day in the general area of Morehead, Kentucky, and got home late, about 5pm after I had hiked for an hour and ten minutes at the Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery which sits just below the spillway of Cave Run Lake; then we went to Wal Mart and Kroger to stock up on groceries, etc. I had already had a good day for several reasons.  I had spent time with my wife, Candice, and I had hiked to the hatchery from the spillway area in the company of the man who supervises the transportation of the fish they raise there to about half the state of Kentucky.  We had a good talk and hike on his way to work and my way to hike.  He answered several of my perpetual questions about the operations of the hatchery including telling me that they raise a lot of gold fish to feed the muskellunge they breed for stocking lakes.  I had previously seen goldfish in some concrete holding tanks on the property but had never understood exactly why they had them there.  I had thought that since they are a form of carp they might have been keeping them to help keep tanks clean.  But actually, they are just another version of the fattening hog for the muskellunge.  Then I hiked on around several of the 84 growing ponds the hatchery uses to finish the fish they produce.  I saw a lot of bird during that time which I don't always see there because I am hiking constantly and not paying attention to the tree lines and sometimes flush birds before I can clearly identify them.   I saw a flock of about 24 Canada Geese, about 18 American Crows, 6 Killdeer which are actually one of my favorite birds, and I was able to identify my first Green Heron.  

Then when I got home, I found a small envelope in my mail box with the return address of Betty Lynn on it which I had known was coming in some form or other since Betty had told me on Facebook that she was sending me something she had found in her large collection of memorabilia from a long career at Berea College where she worked as a secretary for many years.  I opened the envelope and quickly realized that Betty knows me well and had chosen to give me a perfect birthday gift. It was a single sheet of aged, yellowed, frazzled paper with a poem written on it in blue mimeograph ink and the letterhead of Berea College on the other side.  It is a rhyming poem of 7 stanza each composed of 2 rhyming couplets by an unknown author who was most likely an employee of Berea College in the 1950's when it was written.  I will include it at the bottom of this blog post but let me say in advance it if funny and well located at this time in American History because it puts our current political problems in a good perspective and shows us that while the Republican party never had the best intentions in mind for the majority of our citizens they were surely not the absolute criminals in 1952 that they are today.  The man who is the primary topic of this poem was definitely not anywhere near the level of pond scum that TRAITOR Trump is and always has been.  

 

 

Here is the poem in its entirety: 

THE REPUBLICANS

The Republican's seed sprouted and grew, 

In the simple minds of quite a few.

Some are nuts about whom they like

And made up their minds to vote for Ike. 

They've promised a lot and they'll promise more

Let's look and see what they did before.

Twenty years have passed, and yet,

Those Hoover Days I'll  never forget.

When Hoover was in I lived on the farm.

A dollar bill looked as long as my arm.

I never saw a ten dollar bill, 

And, if Ike is elected, I doubt if I will.

When Hoover was in, things were really tight. 

The rabbits were scarce and the fish wouldn't bite.

The men too ragged to go anywhere,

And the women wore flour sack underwear.

Remember me when you cast your vote.

If you vote for Ike, you'll cut your throat.

Would you rather have a life of ease

Or water gravy and black-eyed peas?

Since nineteen hundred and thirty-two

The Republican party has been in a stew.

They've called the Democrats nasty names, 

But the banks stay open just the same.

If Ike is elected, I'll move to the farm.

I'll plant some taters behind the barn; 

I'll steal my neighbor's roasting ears, 

I'll try to get by for four more years.

Author Unknown, Berea College, 1952

While this might not be great poetry, it is above average political doggerel and it points out the very clear differences between the Republican Party of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Right Wing Radical Repugnican Party of TREASON, hatred, criminality, and disgust it has become since 1952.  While Eisenhower was not anywhere near the best, or even one of the best, presidents we ever had, he was a patriot, was a major player in winning World War II and was elected twice.  His most important achievement was beginning what became the interstate highway system which he envisioned while fighting across Europe against Adolf Hitler.  No, Eisenhower was not perfect.  But he was also not perfectly imperfect as TRAITOR Trump proves on a daily basis that he is.  While the country did not prosper as it should have during the administration of Eisenhower, it was never in mortal peril as it has been every day since TRAITOR Trump listened to his Russian master Vladimir Putin and consented to be the TREASONOUS beneficiary of as stolen US election.  While Eisenhower accomplished little in the White House other than the interstate highway system's birth, he never engaged in the kind of crime spree his vice president Richard Nixon did you just a few short years later. Dwight D. Eisenhower was a man of honor, a general of great military achievements, a man who could have been trusted to be in a room alone with a teenage girl.  TRAITOR Trump can not point to any actual achievements other than having become the greatest TRAITOR in the history of the world. America must realize that there is some truth in the little poem above.  But the most valuable thing in that poem is a chance to compare the last decent Republican in America to the worst TRAITOR in the history of the world, TRAITOR Trump.  We must learn from the comparison and we must send that TRAITOR to federal prison for his crimes against America, the American people, and the world.  

"On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From The Twentieth Century" by Timothy Snyder--Reflections On A Book And Current Events

This little masterpiece is a book every American should read as soon as possible and take everything it says seriously to heart.  Timothy Snyder is one of the best non-fiction authors, researchers, and history professors working in America today.  He is the Levin Professor of History at Yale University, one of the most prolific authors of non-fiction in the country, and, arguably, the most important expert on the Holocaust alive today.  I have previously written about Snyder's masterpiece "Black Earth: The Holocaust As History and Warning" which I consider to be the best book I have ever read about the Holocaust.  I had read the book in discussion today several months ago and never got around to writing about it on this blog when I have actually always intended to try to write about each of the twenty chapters.  Each of those chapters is a lesson which every American should strive to learn and to live by.  

Although this book never mentions the TRAITOR Donald Trump by name, he and his many crimes are the primary motivation for the book.  The fact that it doesn't mention him by name is my primary beef with the book.   I believe we should always call a spade a spade, a shovel a shovel, and a TRAITOR just that, a TRAITOR.  And that is what brings us to current events. As I said in a brief post last night, I firmly believe that history will prove that March 30, 2023, will come to be remembered as one of the most important days in American History, the day when the process began to hold TRAITOR Trump legally responsible for his many crimes against the people and the government of the United States.  The New York indictments are only the beginning of that legal process.  The New York case and each of the other state and federal indictments into the the crimes of TRAITOR Trump must be carried out to their full logical and legal culminations and those culminations must result in his conviction, sentencing, and imprisonment for the many crimes he has committed at least since June 16, 2015, the day he made the asinine assumption  that he was fit to be the leader of the free world.  

This little book by Timothy Snyder provides a perfectly rational and logical blueprint for the country and each of its citizens to work diligently for all time to prevent the possibility that such a criminal and TRAITOR can ever again manage to be placed in a TREASONOUSLY obtained position of power in this country.  Chapter One, entitled "Do Not Obey In Advance" carries a warning rooted both in the Holocaust and rise of the Nazi party in Germany and in the proliferation of TRAITOR TRUMP and his cult.  The two movements are nearly identical in their lust for undeserved power and their willingness to destroy the countries in which they arose. The willingness of his cult of followers to "obey in advance" led to the insurrection and domestic terrorism of January 6th. The opening sentence in the book states that "Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given."  That sentence is absolutely true and also absolutely true of how Adolph Hitler rose to power and was nearly able to destroy the world. It is also true in a slightly less universal way of how the TRAITOR  Trump rose to power. His cult of followers freely followed him and his lies.  The US justice system initially ignored the many obvious signs that foreign meddling in the 2016 election led to the razor thin leads the votes showed in Michigan, Illinois, and Pennsylvania and that system freely allowed him to be installed in the White House despite those signs of vast criminal activity in the electoral process.  The Right Wing Radical Repugnicans nationwide freely allowed him to escape not one but two clearly justified impeachments.  And for eight years, a majority of the people of the United States have freely allowed him to escape criminal prosecution.  Those times ended on the day TRAITOR Trump was indicted in New York. Further indictments will come in the other cases. No longer must the people of the United States "freely" allow this TRAITOR to escape punishment. However, in America a majority of those who voted in both the 2016 and 2020 elections knew him for what he was, voted against him, fought him and his TREASONOUS ambitions diligently and tirelessly during the entire time he was able to live illegally in the White House based on his TREASON with Russia and Vladimir Putin's ability to steal an American election in the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.  Without that diligent and tireless resistance, this country would have become another example of just how easy it is for a would be despot to seize power, overcome a resistant populace, and destroy a country.  

Timothy Snyder's little masterpiece of a book contains 19 other statements on which each chapter is based which are just as accurate about the rise of tyranny in susceptible populaces and destroy the nations in which they arise.  Buy "On Tyranny..." by Timothy Snyder!  Read and memorize all of its 126 incredibly important pages!  Live by the truths contained in those pages!  Do not stop fighting tirelessly to demand and ensure that TRAITOR Trump is held responsible for all his crimes against this country and its people!  Do not relax about the danger he presents until he dies in the federal prison cell which he has so richly deserved for his entire adult life!