WARNING: If you are tired of politics, or my opinions related to them, scroll down to the end for a movie recommendation.
Hello Again,
When last we met you allowed me to reminisce a bit about the 1960’s and my personal involvement with the anti-war movement. Thank you for indulging me.
The two NO KINGS demonstrations (June & October 2025) were some of the largest single day protests to occur in U.S. history: 5 million in June and around 7 million in October. Their main goals were to draw attention to Trump’s antidemocratic policies, questionable use of the National Guard and the administrations crackdown on immigration. Think ICE. I believe they have succeeded. Now what? Where do we go from here?
Like many of you I am distressed by events playing out across our political landscape. Count me among those that believe the current administration, although elected, must be removed from power. The Trump administration has demonstrated their disdain for our democratic system of government, it’s institutions and for the rule of law. Their eagerness to “burn it all down” should be an afront to all Americans and the memories of those who sacrificed, fought, and died for our right to live free. Their actions are nothing short of treasonous. To me this is clear, obvious, even righteous. The fact that half the country thinks differently is disappointing but not surprising.
Yet I am conflicted over what should or must be done. Well, I was anyway until last Friday. More on that in a moment. It is one thing to feel passionate about our state of affairs and bask in the anger, confusion, shock, and dismay associated with it. It is another to make rational decisions on how to respond, especially in the heat of the moment. As if my opinion matters. I am not a political scientist, a lawyer, news reporter, or any other profession that would give me credibility. Although if called upon, I could play any of them in a movie or play. Not on Broadway though, as I can’t sing. I am not an Ezra Klein, Heather Cox Richardson or even a Tim Miller. Thankfully not a Sean Hannity. But share I must.
Reasons to Defer Drastic or Aggressive Action
A Brief look at the Legislative Branch of Government ceding its powers to the President.
So, the concept of fully separate co-equal Legislative and Executive branches has been eroding for some time. There is a tendency to look the other way when it is “your” party that controls one or both houses of Congress. Yes, you may be able to get more done or advance your agenda but at what price?
Has Trump taken this concept to unprecedented and dangerous levels???
The failure to inform Congress about its attack on a Venezuelan boat this week, lawmakers said, was part of a pattern by the Trump administration of ignoring requirements to inform lawmakers and withholding information about national security matters that other presidents would have shared.
Until last Friday, as I mentioned above, I was conflicted. Undecided about the wisdom of taking big steps toward confronting, challenging, and changing the leadership in our Federal Government. On more than a few occasions I’ve wondered how the world in the 1920’s and 30’s slipped into insanity, forcing us into World War 2. One man for the most part was responsible. Adolf Hitler. I have watched videos of his pep rallies and the hundreds of thousands of adoring Germans absorbing his hateful rhetoric seemingly willing to die for his cause. How did this many people go crazy. How did the entire world allow this to happen? Why didn’t someone stop him in the early days before it was too late? By any means necessary. Well, it’s complicated. Then like now when we are in the middle of the turmoil the danger level is unclear. Inaction seems prudent. Things will surely change. We will all come to our senses and truth, justice and sanity will prevail. Won’t it? At some point it is too late. That “tipping point” unfortunately, is only clear in hindsight. Our destiny has been decided for us without having to lift a finger. I now understand a little better how s*it happens. How the social and cultural forces of the world are often beyond our control.
Note: I am not equating Trump with Hitler. The latter was obviously more adept. Nor am I suggesting Trump be removed by any means. Only the legal, constitutional means even if they eluded us twice before through impeachments and a failed prosecution for his January 6th crimes against the United State of America.
On Friday October 31st, 2025 the New York Times Editorial Board published its position on Donald Trump. It is titled: ARE WE LOSING OUR DEMOCRACY? You may have already read it. It begins: The clearest sign that a democracy has died is that a leader and his party make it impossible for their opponents to win an election and hold power. Once that stage is reached, however, the change is extremely difficult to reverse. And aspiring authoritarians use other excesses, like a cowed legislature and judiciary, to lock in their power. The United States is not an autocracy today. It still has a mostly free press and independent judiciary, and millions of Americans recently attended the “No Kings” protests. But it has started down an anti-democratic path, and many Americans — including people in positions of power — remain far too complacent about the threat.
Countries that slide from democracy toward autocracy tend to follow similar patterns. To measure what is happening in the United States, the Times editorial board has compiled a list of 12 markers of democratic erosion, with help from scholars who have studied this phenomenon. The sobering reality is that the United States has regressed, to different degrees, on all 12.
This article, my personal call to arms, provides a chilling account about what we as a nation are now facing.
If you subscribe to the NYT’s, you can read it here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/10/31/opinion/trump-autocracy-democracy-report.html
If you do not have a subscription, click READ MORE just below and have a look. I did not get their permission to reprint their article but I figure they will want as many people to read it as possible.
Are We Losing Our Democracy?
The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom.
Countries that slide from democracy toward autocracy tend to follow similar patterns. To measure what is happening in the United States, the Times editorial board has compiled a list of 12 markers of democratic erosion, with help from scholars who have studied this phenomenon. The sobering reality is that the United States has regressed, to different degrees, on all 12.
Our country is still not close to being a true autocracy, in the mold of Russia or China. But once countries begin taking steps away from democracy, the march often continues. We offer these 12 markers as a warning of how much Americans have already lost and how much more we still could lose.
Authoritarian takeovers in the modern era often do not start with a military coup. They instead involve an elected leader who uses the powers of the office to consolidate authority and make political opposition more difficult, if not impossible. Think of Vladimir Putin in Russia, Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and, to lesser degrees, Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey, Viktor Orban in Hungary and Narendra Modi in India. These leaders have repressed dissent and speech in heavy-handed ways.
Over the past year, President Trump and his allies have impinged on free speech to a degree that the federal government has not since perhaps the Red Scare of the 1940s and 1950s. His administration pressured television stations to stop airing Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show when Mr. Kimmel criticized Trump supporters after the murder of Charlie Kirk; revoked the visas of foreign students for their views on the war in Gaza; and ordered investigations of liberal nonprofit groups. Mr. Trump so harshly criticizes people who disagree with him, including federal judges, that they become targets of harassment from his supporters.
The Bottom Line
Many forms of speech and dissent remain vibrant in the United States. But the president has tried to dull them. His evident goal is to cause Americans to fear they will pay a price for criticizing him, his allies or his agenda.
In addition to restricting speech and dissent, autocrats use the immense power of law enforcement to investigate and imprison people who have fallen out of favor. Mr. Trump’s Justice Department has become an enforcer of his personal interests, targeting people for legally dubious reasons while creating a culture in which his allies can act with impunity.
Following the president’s demands, his appointees have secured indictments of a few critics (including Attorney General Letitia James of New York and the former F.B.I. director James Comey) and ordered investigations of others (including Senator Adam Schiff of California). Some of these appointees were once Mr. Trump’s personal lawyers. Mr. Trump has also used executive orders to go after perceived enemies, including law firms representing his critics. And he has systematically fired government employees who played roles in earlier investigations of him or his allies.
“We are all afraid,” Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a Republican, said this spring. “It’s quite a statement. But we are in a time and a place where I certainly have not been here before. I’ll tell you, I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice, because retaliation is real.”
Mr. Trump has simultaneously shielded his own supporters from legal consequences for their actions, including through his blanket pardon of the Jan. 6 rioters.
The Bottom Line
True authoritarians go much further than Mr. Trump has, but he has already targeted his opponents with legal persecution in shocking ways.
When a democracy slides toward autocracy, the leader often finds ways to neuter the legislature, turning it into a body that rubber stamps his decisions. Congress has started down this path. The Constitution makes clear, in Article I, that Congress alone has the power of the purse. Mr. Trump is undermining this system.
His administration has violated federal law at least six times by withholding funding authorized by Congress for libraries, preschools, scientific research and more, the Government Accountability Office found. He has gutted or dismantled congressionally authorized agencies like the Department of Education and U.S.A.I.D. He has also imposed new taxes — his tariffs — without congressional approval. Since the current government shutdown began, he has used donations from billionaires to pay troops and finance the construction of a ballroom at the White House.
Some of the blame lies with the Republican leaders of Congress, who have failed to fight his power grabs. Their complicity does not change the fact that these power grabs have been illegal.
The Bottom Line
Mr. Trump has defied the Constitution by trampling on Congress’s power of the purse. In full autocracies, legislatures often formally transfer some of their authority to the executive, and some congressional Republicans have proposed such changes.
Even democracies occasionally use their militaries on home soil. The military can keep order and protect citizens after a devastating storm. In extreme and rare circumstances, troops can enforce the law when local authorities refuse to do so, as happened in the segregated South in the 1950s and 1960s.
Authoritarians use the military much more frequently and performatively — to suppress dissent, instill fear and convey supreme power. Mr. Trump deployed the National Guard in Los Angeles to crack down on protests, despite local officials’ insistence that they had the situation under control. He attempted the same in Portland, Ore., and Chicago, before being restrained by federal courts. He has also begun to treat the military as an extension of himself, firing several high-ranking officials without good reason and summoning hundreds of leaders to Virginia to listen to overtly political speeches by him and his appointees.
The Bottom Line
Mr. Trump’s use of the military for domestic control has been limited. But his willingness to use it as he has — and his threats to expand that use, through the invocation of the Insurrection Act and with troops beyond the National Guard — is extremely worrisome.
Would-be authoritarians recognize that courts can keep them from consolidating power, and they often take steps to weaken or confront judges.
Mr. Trump has baldly defied federal judges on several occasions. In March, for instance, his administration ignored a federal judge’s order to turn around airplanes that were deporting migrants to El Salvador. More often, the Trump administration has engaged in gamesmanship, going around orders rather than directly disobeying them. One example: After a federal judge blocked his deployment of the Oregon National Guard, the administration moved to deploy National Guards from other states instead.
So far, Mr. Trump has defied no Supreme Court orders and has pledged not to. But the justices have too often played into his strategy by failing to stand up for lower courts.
The Bottom Line
It is a hopeful sign that he has not ignored the Supreme Court, and the court may yet block his most blatant power grabs. Still, the court’s reluctance to restrain him appears to have emboldened him to sidestep lower court orders he does not like.
Authoritarians often curtail democracy by declaring an emergency and arguing that the threat requires them to exercise unusual degrees of power.
Mr. Trump’s recent predecessors were not perfect on this issue. They sometimes declared questionable emergencies. He has gone to another level. He has used manufactured emergencies to sidestep Congress and impose tariffs, deregulate the energy industry, intensify immigration enforcement and send the National Guard into Washington. Chillingly, he has claimed that a Venezuelan gang invaded the United States to justify the killing of foreign civilians in international waters, in defiance of U.S. and international law.
The Bottom Line
Mr. Trump’s willingness to kill people without due process, through the blowing up of boats that American officials could instead stop and search, represents one of his most extreme abuses of power. It raises the prospect that he may expand the use of emergency power to other areas, including domestic law enforcement.
Authoritarians tend to demean minority groups, trying to turn them into a perceived threat that provides a justification for a leader to amass power. Mr. Trump has repeatedly suggested that marginalized groups are responsible for the nation’s problems.
Immigrants have topped his list. Mr. Trump has blamed them for destroying communities and his administration has tried to dehumanize them by posting mocking videos of shackled immigrants. In response, many Latinos have stopped speaking Spanish in public and started carrying their passports to prove citizenship.
He has vilified transgender Americans and barred them from military service. He has fired women and people of color from leadership posts and ended programs that promote workplace diversity. His administration has attempted to erase aspects of Black history, including by removing books on slavery and segregation from military libraries and pressuring Smithsonian museums to minimize those subjects. At the same time, he has suggested that white people and Christians are victims, which echoes the autocratic habit of claiming that majority groups are in fact oppressed.
The Bottom Line
Mr. Trump is borrowing from the autocrats’ playbook by suggesting that some citizens are legitimate and others are second-class.
Democratic governments prize accurate information as a guide to decision-making. Authoritarians seek to suppress inconvenient truths.
Mr. Trump has sought to manipulate government information in several ways. He fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after the agency reported disappointing job growth this summer. He shut down federal data collection efforts related to climate change, presumably because the information might encourage people to take action.
He has also taken steps to control the media, both traditional forms and new ones. He arranged for the sale of TikTok from a Chinese company to investors with ties to his political allies. He pushed Congress to end funding for public radio and television. He extracted multimillion-dollar payments from ABC, Paramount (which owns CBS), YouTube and Meta to settle baseless claims that he has been treated unfairly, and he is pursuing lawsuits against The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. All of these moves are meant to reduce coverage that does not parrot his views.
The Bottom Line
In place of an independent and free press, Mr. Trump evidently hopes to create a shadow ecosystem willing to promote his interests and talking points.
Authoritarians, recognizing that universities are hotbeds of independent thought and political dissent, often single them out for repression. Mr. Putin and Mr. Erdogan have closed universities. Mr. Modi’s government has arrested dissident scholars, while Mr. Orban has appointed loyalist foundations to run universities.
A signature policy of Mr. Trump’s second term has been his attack on higher education. He has cut millions of dollars of research funding, tried to dictate hiring and admissions policies and forced the resignation of the University of Virginia’s president. It is a sustained campaign to weaken an influential sector home to many political progressives who do not support him — and to many young people, who typically form the crux of anti-authoritarian protest movements.
The Bottom Line
Because the federal government finances so much academic research, it has considerable power over universities. Initially, some universities seemed as if they might simply submit to Mr. Trump’s demands. More recently, several showed more willingness to resist, rejecting a proposal that would have rewarded them financially for adopting Trump-friendly policies.
Emperors and kings often glorified themselves by displaying their portraits everywhere. The American tradition has rejected that kind of hagiography for living presidents. Our leaders haven’t needed to puff themselves up this way, until now.
Huge banners with Mr. Trump’s face hang from government buildings. He posts memes in which he wears a crown, including an A.I.-generated video that depicted him flying a jet that dropped fecal matter on protesters. He held a lavish military parade on his birthday. At televised meetings, members of his cabinet gush sycophantic praise. He announced the creation of a meme coin with his likeness. To celebrate the country’s 250th birthday next year, the Treasury Department plans to put his face on a physical coin.
The Bottom Line
The Trump cult of personality plays into his claims — common among autocrats — that he possesses a unique ability to solve the country’s problems. As he put it, “I alone can fix it.” He seeks to equate himself with the federal government, as if it does not exist without him.
Authoritarians often turn the government into a machine for enriching themselves, their families and their allies. Mr. Trump glories in his administration’s culture of corruption.
He openly uses the presidency as an opportunity to pad his bottom line, in ways that range from the comically petty (like charging the Secret Service up to $1,200 per night for rooms at his hotels) to the shamelessly greedy (like the $40 million that Amazon paid for the rights to a Melania Trump documentary or his recent demand that the government pay him $230 million because he was investigated for breaking the law). He solicits favors from foreign governments, including an airplane from Qatar. His children also profit from their father’s position, through real-estate deals, crypto, a private club in Washington and more. And he rewards those who enrich them, recently pardoning the head of a cryptocurrency firm who worked with the Trump family.
In the first six months of this year, the Trump Organization’s income soared to $864 million, up from just $51 million a year earlier, according to a recent Reuters analysis. It’s worth noting that recent Supreme Court decisions have made corruption harder to police.
The Bottom Line
Mr. Trump’s culture of corruption may resemble the behavior of foreign autocrats more closely than any other category on this list. He is using what rightly belongs to American citizens — the power and resources of our democratic government — to enrich himself, and he is not trying to hide it.
Authoritarians change election rules to help their party, and they rewrite laws — or violate their spirit — to ignore term limits.
Mr. Trump’s biggest attempt to follow this playbook failed, when he was unable to undo his election defeat to Joe Biden in 2020. But that effort showed Mr. Trump’s willingness to break the law to remain in power.
In his second term, he has shown worrisome signs of using his power to entrench the Republican Party’s hold on the government. He has pressed Republicans to take gerrymandering to a new extreme. He issued an executive order in March that seeks to interfere with how states run their elections. These moves increase the chances that Republicans will keep control of Congress even if most voters want to oust them.
Mr. Trump has not taken concrete steps to remain in power for a third term, which the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution was written to forbid. He has alternated between floating the idea and suggesting he understands that he must leave the presidency for good on Jan. 20, 2029.
The Bottom Line
Even if he backs away from any scheme to serve more than two presidential terms, Mr. Trump’s attempts to tilt the electoral field in favor of Republicans is anti-democratic and could pervert American elections for years.
The clearest sign that a democracy has died is that a leader and his party make it impossible for their opponents to win an election and hold power. Once that stage is reached, however, the change is extremely difficult to reverse. And aspiring authoritarians use other excesses, like a cowed legislature and judiciary, to lock in their power.
The United States is not an autocracy today. It still has a mostly free press and independent judiciary, and millions of Americans recently attended the “No Kings” protests. But it has started down an anti-democratic path, and many Americans — including people in positions of power — remain far too complacent about the threat.
The 12 benchmarks in this editorial offer a way to understand and measure how much further Mr. Trump goes in the months and years ahead. We plan to update this index in 2026.
Methodology: In the scales above, the points on the left indicate roughly where the United States, flawed though it was, had been before Mr. Trump took office. Moving even one notch toward autocracy on these scales is a worrisome sign.
NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD
It is now crystal clear to me that we must take action to secure the many blessings provided by liberty, freedom, and democracy. Years from now we will be judged by what we do in this, our moment in time.
Hunch: Although instrumental in building quite a following (MAGA), I am certain Trump is not calling the shots. He isn’t capable of strategic planning, implementing policy or anything else required of a president. Others in the background, including Stephen Miller, Russell Vaught, Gary Cohn, outsiders Steve Bannon, Marc Andreesen and God only know who else, are calling the shots. Trump is their frontman. They are like the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz.
My agonizing is over even as I continue to second guess myself. Here goes anyway. Desperate times call for desperate measures. No wait, Democratic candidates did well in a few off-year elections this past week. Surely, all will be well, soon. Nah.
A Word on Politicians
Before diving into what actions I recommend be taken in defense of our democracy let’s discuss politicians for a moment. That unique occupation we love to hate, yet entrust with running our country and therefore our lives to a great degree. Let’s begin with one multiple choice question:
Number of Politicians that are Dishonest or Corrupt?
____A. NONE
____B. A FEW
____C. MANY
____D. MOST
____E. ALL
I made it easier by eliminating the extremes. How we answer varies with time, the political climate, geographic proximity and of course our personal beliefs. I hover between C and D. Yikes TJ, such a skeptic. Why?
Here’s my take: Most members of congress (House and Senate) are by any reasonable definition, career politicians, often behaving as a self-serving club of political insiders, focused on protecting their careers, their power. Rather than serving the American public.
I was so fed up with the lot of them in 1972 I voted for Ross Perot. A “non-politician,” with a ton of charts, just to send a message. How naïve was I?
Then there’s…
I believe that with the dawning of television and the subsequent growth of mass media, elections and the process of governing changed drastically…not for the better. Politicians, their parties, and campaign managers learned to play to the camera. How to move, what to wear and what to say was now more important than the message. That is if you wanted to win. What was said publicly did not have to sync with one’s personal beliefs or their real-life values. They were now tv personalities, actors more or less. Good looks, including that million dollar smile, mattered. The voting public meanwhile were no match for the likes of Madison Avenue and Hollywood style campaigns. Our most basic right, the right to vote, has been reduced to the bells and whistles of a game show contest. The message continuously tweaked, adjusting for daily polling results that could require a selling of one’s soul to remain competitive. Significant cultural changes shaped to a great degree by the internet and social media have super charged everything. Not only the process but the ability to determine truth. Separating fact from fiction has never felt more elusive.Note: This past week I overheard one of my favorite podcasters discussing how the democrats need to determine “what message would resonate with voters in any district they recently lost, then craft a campaign promise around that issue in order to get elected.” Not offer up a better alternative, a great idea, or a better future, rather what we think the voter wants to hear. I have also heard other desperate sounding suggestions like “regardless of your personal beliefs, in order to succeed in a red state, take a pro-life stance on abortion.” Pragmatic perhaps, allowing for other issues in one’s agenda to advance. Not very inspirational I must say.
The recent rush to cancel out republican gains in several states through gerrymandering is an interesting spectacle. A race to the bottom in bi-partisan fashion. Not exactly “going high when others go low.” Yeah, yeah, I know why, but not something in which to take pride.
I sound jaded, don’t I? Why do I even care, let alone put forth ideas for change, beginning with ways to stop Trump? Fair question. The real answer may be… blowing in the wind.
I envision the creation of a movement of and by the people that will serve all the people. Grass roots of course but, because time is of the essence, expedited with some top-down organization and funding. Call it what you may, but for now how about We the People-United or WTP-United. No. Sounds too much like a British Soccer team. So it’s WTPU. Its goals should be ambitious; its mission designed for the long term. Short term, even immediate actions however, must take precedence as each new day brings additional concerns.
WTPU is dedicated to protecting, preserving, defending, and extending our uniquely American democracy. To accomplish this goal, it is essential to take steps that include but are not limited to the following: (Not a blue print with a high level of specificity).
The legislative branch of our government has ceded power to the president to a degree unseen in our history. Even taking into consideration what we know about the gradual erosion of the distancing between the two branches. The Trump family’s financial dealings, pretty much on public display, appear to be a violation of conflict-of-interest laws at the very least. Wheeling and dealing at levels once reserved for a Capo Mafioso. Lining the pockets of Trump allies, friends, and family. Based on the behavior of Congress the past 10 months, I will take a leap and assume they too may be complicit. Either colluding with the White House for financial gain or being bribed into cooperating. A stretch? Time will tell. To get to the truth I propose:
Investigate all 434 members of the House and Senate for possible illegal activity, bribery, corruption, and other crimes. Putting them on notice that all investigations leading to trials and convictions will be pursued even after they leave office. As a practical matter, it would be prudent, save time and maximize resources to focus initially on the 219 Republicans in the House and 53 in the Senate as they are the enablers of chaos and lawlessness. We’ll begin with their leadership then the next 25 or so most likely candidates. Perhaps to be fair, we would investigate on a 4:1 basis. 1 Democrat for every 4 Republicans. We would assemble a small army of:
– Investigating attorneys
– private investigators
– journalists
– forensic attorneys
– retired judges
To look at: bank accounts, stock transactions, off shore accounts and any other possible illegal activities.
Investigating congressman will not come cheap. Based on my assessments, the cost per congressman, depending upon the level of scrutiny, varies between $ 15-20K and $400K. Quite a spread. Hopefully, we can avoid having to come up with the maximum- $175 million, give or take. Even if we are lucky and succeed in turning congress around, we’ll need some serious dinero.
Note: I would include the entire administration’s Cabinet in the investigations but why bother? We know they are unqualified and inept yes-men and yes-women. All findings would without doubt, be ignored.
The Good News, under US law citizens can investigate congressmen. There are limiting caveats however, and we should not expect much cooperation. However, carefully revealing our findings and exposing wrong doing will have a chilling effect on those that need to be worried.
Include Corporations & Universities: Perhaps, we should extend our investigations to include, two or three large corporations and a few of capitulating Universities. Those that have demonstrated an odd behavior toward a threatening administration. It’s difficult to tell if they are legitimately afraid, have done something wrong or are genuine “boot licking” cowards. Watching all the tech industry oligarchs seated around a white house table lavishing the president with their highest praise was hard to watch. Sickening. Is it just about the money? Something’s fishy. Let’s find out.
I have never been a fan of boycotts, instituted for political reasons. They are mostly conducted by minority interest groups and rarely succeed in bringing about more than a few patronizing changes in language, not behavior. This different. The number of citizens, united in opposition to the president is significant and growing so I am more than willing to make an exception. To boycott those companies and Universities found to have crossed ethical lines, or engaged in illegal activities. Focused, sustained, highly advertised boycotts against, let’s say Amazon and Columbia University just might be what America needs at this time. Reclaiming a bit of moral high ground at the very least. Sending a strong message, to corporate America, and our institutions of higher learning.
At both the national and local levels. Conducted peacefully, in the mold of the MLK faction of the Civil Rights Movement.
Ratchet up pressure on congress during the investigations with continuous, ongoing daily protests at the homes, places of business and worship, country clubs and, I hesitantly add, schools of all congressmen being investigated. Other congressmen awaiting investigation (so, all of them) should be included as well, at least weekly. The NO KINGS marchers could be redirected to specific locations within each congressional district. Once again peaceably.
This is not harassment and is a constitutionally protected right. We are holding congressmen accountable to their oath of office.
There would also be weekly protests at our nation’s capital. I would love to see at least one march, hopefully more, of 50,000 to 100,000 citizens protesting at Mar-a- Lago.
Pressuring Congress through protests and investigations will go a long way toward bringing Congressmen and Senators to their senses. Reclaiming their Constitutional powers, some dignity, and voting once again to impeach Trump…yet again. Third times the charm.
I am not in the camp that believes that permanent, irreversible damage, has been done to our democracy. It is not too late to stop the erosion and reverse course. Retrieving what we can of what has been decimated. It may not look exactly the same, but then again it never does to succeeding generations. Wait too long and…well lets just not do that.
Simultaneously with our investigations and protests would be the creation of a new political party. Don’t call it a 3rd party as it carries negative connotations. “They never work,” blah, blah, blah. It also assumes we have two functioning political parties. We do not. Both major parties are broken. Eash one coopted by minority interests. Progressive on the left and MAGA NATION on the right. Moderates in both parties appear powerless, disenchanted and looking for alternatives. Perhaps as many as one-third to one-half of either party are ripe for the picking.
Ta-da! Introducing The KEYSTONE PARTY. Don’t worry, it’s only a working title unrelated to the Pennsylvania License Plate. By design it would establish itself as the party of reason. Balanced between liberalism and conservatism. At times practical, at times adventurous but un-dogmatic. Neither party seems able to be both and are continuously warring among themselves and with one another. It would espouse principles and establish an agenda, carefully avoiding the pitfalls of moving too far too fast. I propose no specific agenda or slate of candidates. Real political change must rise up from the masses. I am unable to predict who or how this will happen. Social forces in play around us will be the decider.
Economic, political, technological, and social change can be disruptive, disconcerting, perhaps destabilizing. We usually do not have a say or a vote in the matter. We must adjust and cope. The last 50 years has brought significant changes across the board. The next few years, depending on who you believe about AI will either bring us utopia or a dystopian hell.
A lot of what I just mentioned is the result of run amok capitalists. Attempts to initiate social change from the top down, through legislation, is misguided. Real change, meaningful change must emanate from the people, not…Whoa. Slow down pardner. I have said enough. I am sounding like an old fuddy-duddy. I just want to say slow down, think more and move cautiously. Can’t we just fix the roads. Then worry about changing everything that is wrong with the world. I promise all our challenges will still be here tomorrow. And now we will have Keystone to guide us along.
Thanks for listening,
TJ
Wait. There’s more. A few days after publishing this post I thought of good, high profile way to enhance our calling out of Congress. A Billboard Advertising Campaign. Paid-for advertising using billboards in state capitals and the home towns of all Congressmen. These ads would be coordinated with our congressional investigations, and protests. Targeted messages would remind friends, relatives and constituents about their representatives questionable behavior. We don’t have to limit this to Congressmen. In the moment I was thinking about members of the Trump Cabinet. A rare mix of ineptitude, corruption and boundless criminality. Marco Rubio is but one example. His USAID cuts are most likely…illegal, but I ran out of room. Sorry. I will add more soon. Can’t forget Trumps charming Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt.
I hope to share some of my our favorite movies in the near future. For now please check out…
Deborah and I watched it a few months ago and loved it. It is quirky in a good way and very endearing. Rent it on Amazon Prime.
TJ
I left my home in the small Western New York city of Batavia in March 1977 vowing never to shovel snow again. Never say never. Settling for 38 years in what was for me the "promised land" of Santa Barbara, California. I married, helped raise a family, started a business, traveled and live a wonderful life. We spent the last 10 years of our west coast journey in the small, quiet, picturesque town of Ojai. My oldest friends call me TJ.
My wife Deborah and I moved to Colorado in 2015 to be near our daughter, her husband and 2 growing grand-boys. Add 2 bulldogs (French & English) to the mix and our hands and hearts are full. We all reside in Niwot, a small quaint town 15 minutes north of Boulder. The mighty Rocky Mountains are at our doorstep.
I am a man, son, brother, cousin, friend, husband, father, uncle, grand father, in-law and mostly retired Coloradan. You can read more about me on the About Page. If you are curious about my professional life you can visit my Career at Venture Horizon.
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I do think it’s time to start talking about actions instead of continually talking about the endless litany of insults to our system and sensibilities, so thank you Paul! May I add to your suggestions, as part of a pressure campaign: work stoppages or strikes, a day here and there. And no-buy days from Amazon, Target, Apple, etc. We the people need to regularly display our displeasure and clout in ways that are meaningful to those holding the power.
I think it’s a great idea to send your thoughts to people like Ezra Klein, Heather Cox Richardson, Robert Hubbel (he seems to be action-oriented). It’s time we the people are heard from.
And The Life of Chuck is a great movie! Highly recommend!
Thanks Fran,
I would like nothing better than to see massive strikes, work stoppages etc. The people have always had the power to initiate change, stop tyranny etc. However, it rarely happens. Even with the greatest of leaders. People are either too distracted by their own living, need the money too much to strike, are afraid. Whatever. It took years to end the Viet Nam war after massive protests in the late 60’s. MLK and the Civil Rights movement played out over many years. Not to mention America dragging its feet while Hitler and Hirohito were doing nasty things in their respective hemispheres. It takes a hell of a lot to get us moving. It’s much easier to just wait and see what happens. Sigh. Where is that Knight in shinning armor or perhaps a Sheera…Princess of Power. With a message, a plan and dynamic charisma? Someone unconnected to either party, without baggage and probably for the best…not a baby boomer.
Paul
Paul
I appreciate you picking up the ball and running with it. I was squirming while reading it as I thought about my on again, off again desire to go internal, putting my head down and taking care of myself and my small circle of family and friends. I am encouraged and inspired by you stepping up.
Please continue to speak up and to reinforce to help me not backslide to my typical optimistic state and method of changing people one person at a time.
For now, if you will allow, I offer to be a trusted advisor to you, our de facto leader. I will walk (or run) beside you helping to define the story and the tools .
Bob
Why thank you Bob. That means a lot to me. Don’t worry I am unable to remain silent or shut up. Much to the dismay of many no doubt. Perhaps I should send a summary of the 3 part action plan to some of the heavy weights in publishing. Like the NYT’s, Ezra Klein, Heather Cox etc. They have the connections and clout. Never mind the perhaps. I will do so.
Safe travels,
Paul