Will any Republican in today’s House or Senate — the bodies the Founders created — find even a fraction of the courage of the men who founded this nation?
The signers were brave men indeed. The penalty for treason was to be hung by the neck, cut down while a live, drug to the place of execution, to be disemboweled, the private parts cut off, the intestines burned before their eyes while still alive, and finally after the victim had suffered enough and died cut into four parts, distributed throughout the land, and the head mounted on a pike on the bridge leading into the Tower of London, called Traitors gate.
There was a Regulator Movement in NC from 1766 to 1771, in response to the oppressive Lord T yron, governor. It was finally put down and its leaders,like Benjmin Merril, were hung, drawn and quartered so the signers of the Declaration knew what they were in for.
We are the bad guys now; our country run by noxious evil greedy heartless cartoon villains, Felon and Trumpler - and their crews of dark-hearted sycophantic minions.
The fact that our systems were allowed to be so corrupted, enabling this level of scorched earth, Congressional spinelessness and private sector self-interest to permeate all that seemingly held us together is enraging to me.
Let's face it. We are witnessing the purchase of a country. The republicans allowed the rich to get obscenely rich. They banded together and bought the USA; courts, congress and the executive branch. They are seemingly untouchable with unlimited money and resources. Can the little peon citizens fight this? I don't know but it seems that we have mounted a pretty pathetic response so far.
This is what unrestrained capitalism looks like. We’ve elevated the free market in our country to be equal with democracy. Capitalism is an economic theory, not a theory of government. America has turned into the face of greed and self interest.
The fact that congress people are cowed by the threat of heavy financial support of their opponents in primaries is appalling. Being in congress is not meant to be a permanent job but a means to represent their constituents. Part of the problem is that being in congress offers an opportunity for financial gain both through bribes and inside knowledge of stock market events.
Citizens United was the beginning of the corruption and control of congress by corporations. We need to fix it.
That’s changing. Musk and trump have severely overplayed their hand and people are rising up. We all need to keep up the pressure on our congress people.
Only two requirements to be a Republican--greed and cowardice. Meanwhile, we lurch toward being recolonized, now by Russia. The only Russian word I know is "nyet", but that's the only word I need.
Will any Republican in today’s House or Senate — the bodies the Founders created — find even a fraction of the courage of the men who founded this nation?
We need them, however corrupt or deluded, to object to TREASON. See my comments below.
Brilliant Thom I read your article with tears streaming down my face and have come away more defiant to fight against this evil.every way I can.fight and possibly die for something,or live for nothing.that’s what those founders believed.
I do not disagree with you sentiments. What you appear to not recognize, however, is that the train has already left the proverbial station. With the Senate having already confirmed Trump's lackeys, Trump now controls, in addition to the executive, the legislative, and the judicial branches, the entire administrative system. We've passed the tipping point.
Well, he doesn't control me. And he doesn't control millions of other Americans, who refuse to give in or give up. And you should maybe read some history, and then help us make history. Because the prudent don't make history, the defiant do.
That train that left the station will need to go over a bridge or two at some point. You ever read Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls"? Just saying...
I said the Trump now controls the various components of government; I did not say that he controls you. But now that you bring the subject up, I would argue that Trump indeed does control you.
He controls that you will pay more taxes to make up for the free rides being given to the morbidly rich. He controls that your very personal information is now laid before the eyes of his unvetted and unconfirmed cronies. He controls that medical and scientific research that might one day save your life is halted. He controls that when you fly, your chances of reaching your destination in one piece are compromised by the gutting of safety personnel. He controls that the food you will buy is no longer subject to the previous level of inspection. He controls that you will pay more in the supermarket for the deportation of needed agricultural workers. He controls that you will pay more for a wide variety of commodities on account of his tariff wars. He controls the news you will be allowed to see on account of his attacks on the media. And these, John, merely scratch the surface. So, yes, he does indeed control you, as well as the millions of other Americans, regardless of whether they give up. And the added tragedy is that you do not see it.
Yes, have you ever read his "Homage to Catalonia"? Trump is one of a coalition of bad actors who have now seized control of much of the federal government, which in turn controls much of my environment. He does not control me. I won't belabor the point. Be Winston if it suits you, I'll continue to be Robert.
We spend millions, indeed: billions, totaling trillions, on intelligence ops.
We have some of the best investigative reporters in the history of journalism.
Why has no one exposed this morbidly obese, forever-golfing, commie fraud-of-a-felon as the tinpot dictator who lives in Putin's hip pocket, that he really is?
BEFORE, that is, he and that cussed South African Nazi DOGE-Bag of a troll, destroy the nation.
77 million marks have turned the U.S. over to the con man. I hate to say this but I truly believe the American experiment in democracy is rapidly coming to an end. There are not enough people with power who are willing to stand up to the orange stain or to Putin. We are sinking very quickly and I don't see how anyone is going to be able to turn things around. Even if Trump were to drop dead of a heart attack today, Vance would take over and make things just as bad, if not worse. Our government is totally in the hands of fascists, authoritarians, and oligarchs. The courts are stacked against us. Even the military is being aligned against us. I wish I could be more optimistic but it sure looks like we are toast. God help us, because we know Trump and the republicans won't.
Thanks Vanessa, I agree with your thoughts. If we actually have midterms and the economy is a total mess - then maybe some of the 77 million will turn against the GOP. Oh, and maybe some of the 90 million who didn't vote will cast a ballot for a democrat. That's the only light I see at the end of the tunnel.
We're in end stage Citizens United. Giving the wealth class outsize control over elections brought us Musk and a complete oligarchic takeover. Time to get armed and get organized.
By my read of history, America has been a conniving bad guy since WWI when Ford and Standard Oil connived with British Petroleum to carve up the Middle East to exploit its oil so gas cars would dominate the marketplace and put elective cars and trollies out of business with a gas station on every mile of the highway.
Since then, the USA has meddled in the governments of foreign nations globally. Korea, Vietnam, Iran, Israel, Egypt, Lybia,... In nearly all cases our goal was exploitation, in the name of stopping an invented boogieman called "communism." Communism was another term for forcing the wealthy to pay a fair wage or face labor union strikes. All our wars on communism achieved was killing off a lot of drafted young American men to promote the wealth of what are now called the billionaires.
Rep. Ocassio-Cortez summed up our history nicely when she asserted that nobody EARNS a billion dollars - they TAKE a billion dollars.
Today, the pretense of America promoting righteous democracy and personal freedom is over. Today, the wealthy rule the same way Trump's hero Al Capone ruled - by extortion. Do what I say or you will feel the pain. We are even trying to extort wealth from Ukraine in exchange for protection from slaughter by fascist Russia, which until Trump, was THE personification of evil communism where people labored for subsistence.
As I have posted often, fascists want to RULE; not govern. Given the widespread incompetence of the Trump government, the US workforce might finally reject the capitalist myth that if you are wealthier than me you must be smarter than me. If you are wealthier than me, odds are you are just more ruthless than me.
Government, all governments, are essentially extortion rackets. But the societies governed, or ruled, if you prefer, keep coming up with real heroes, as this article delineates. The few can only rule the many if the many capitulate. So, what? You wanna live forever? Or never really live at all?
John, you seem to overlook the difference between RULING and GOVERNING (democracy). Leaders who rule control what matters to the welfare of the rulers; not the ruled. They enforce their whims by extortion. In contrast, Leaders who govern control what matters to the welfare of the governed (not ruler extortion). The governed in true democracies are free to replace leaders who fail in their roles.
Our fascist MAGA government is actively burning books and erasing history and facts.
As I write, MAGA rulers are limiting access to and even expunging knowledge. For example, you will not find the term "climate change" in any government document or school book in hurricane-prone Florida. Our fascist governor/ruler has demanded the term be purged because he thinks bad weather is a hoax. That thinking also enables his wealthy United Citizen real estate developer contributors to get rich building wood houses on reclaimed swampland that catch fire in wildfires and blow apart in storms. After all, building codes lower profits.
Trump is denying illnesses, cutting staff to identify health risks like epidemics, and cutting funds for medical research to find new cures and treatments for illness and injury. He is willy-nilly firing air traffic controllers while planes crash in his backyard. Reducing the federal workforce justifies cutting billionaire taxes. Who needs all those services and annoying regulations that keep proles safe at the expense of the ruler's profits?
You are right on target about capitulation. However, last November's vote was largely due to people believing lied to - and not bothering to check facts. Maybe the MAGA world will learn before it is too late that getting Woke might not be so bad after all.
I assert that the beneficent government, that you distinguish from rulers, has never actually existed within civilization. At the tribal level I think it sometimes does. But I accept your terms as opposing poles in the degree of control over citizens. And in that sense, I agree that being governed is preferable to being ruled. And that the best way to obtain that preference is through civic education, which I think we are both attempting here.
Two hundred and fifty years go we had the best Constitution in the world. While other governments have been continually updating their constitutions our constitutional house has developed bad plumbing, the electrical system (so to speak) keeps shorting out, the paint is peeling and several rooms are unventilated and smell of mold. We are all communal renters in this house and the owners keep changing hands. None of them seem really too interested in the renters but keep blaming the house’s problems on us.
The blue owners and the red owners of the house have always said they support democracy in other houses but have a long history of stopping these other houses from becoming properly developed. This happened in Iran (1953), Brazil (1964), Guatemala (1952,54), Greece (1940s), Syria (56/7), Iraq (59/63 etc), Congo (60s), Haiti (90s), Chile (70s), Bolivia(71), Laos (60s) etc etc. This is a short list of many more. This was usually under the guise of fighting communism but never under the guise of fighting right wing juntas. So, no the USA has not been a real champion of democracy for a long time, particularly when helping overthrow democratically elected governments. The new owners seem most interested in cutting back on the little upkeep that was being done and making sure the local laws are incapacitated so the can keep as much rent as possible and let the house rot from the inside. Meanwhile maybe they can take over a house or two nearby. When that fails take off to Mars.
My Congressperson, Thom Tillis, sent me an official email this morning extolling his meetings in Ukraine in sympathetic terms. Not a word about how he would vote. But as the lone Republican holdout he can't stop the Trumpers, so is he lying or not. No way to tell unless we actually see his vote on any relevant legislation. I've followed him for some time and he spins a lot, so I'm not impressed by this. Looks like a stunt to me to sooth the people like me who support Ukraine.
Too old and infirm to do anything but watch and comment and write letters, I see our nation as a huge powder keg with a fuse growing ever shorter. But still unlit. Whether we have enough people courageous and selfless and capable enough to light it I sadly doubt. If we have mid-term elections not hopelessly corrupted and manipulated by the MAGAtocracy, maybe we will see a course correction. But it won’t be enough, and may well come too late. So yes, by choice or indifference, we have become the bad guys, and look likely to remain so for a long time. I feel terrible for those of us who so bitterly opposed this, and for our allies and all the vulnerable people who are paying the price for our failure to stop it.
“Republicans could stop this, if they will just find their spine”. That’s at least as true of Democrats. Repugnicans, on the other hand, are universally devoid of integrity - all of them - and all should be loudly and repeatedly condemned for the traitors they are.
Thanks for the mini-bios on the fates of the signers. At 78 years of age I am embarrassed to be hearing this for a first time.
I too had never heard those stories at 81.
Same here, and I'm even older.
The signers were brave men indeed. The penalty for treason was to be hung by the neck, cut down while a live, drug to the place of execution, to be disemboweled, the private parts cut off, the intestines burned before their eyes while still alive, and finally after the victim had suffered enough and died cut into four parts, distributed throughout the land, and the head mounted on a pike on the bridge leading into the Tower of London, called Traitors gate.
There was a Regulator Movement in NC from 1766 to 1771, in response to the oppressive Lord T yron, governor. It was finally put down and its leaders,like Benjmin Merril, were hung, drawn and quartered so the signers of the Declaration knew what they were in for.
We lack such men today, Hakeem Jeffries whining that he has no leverage (he does it is called nay) But there are a few like Chris Kuwe https://www.mind-war.com/p/be-like-chris-kluwe
We are the bad guys now; our country run by noxious evil greedy heartless cartoon villains, Felon and Trumpler - and their crews of dark-hearted sycophantic minions.
The fact that our systems were allowed to be so corrupted, enabling this level of scorched earth, Congressional spinelessness and private sector self-interest to permeate all that seemingly held us together is enraging to me.
————-
****I’m just going to keep putting this truth out into the universe, hoping it spreads and the people wake up.
Curiously DOGE looking in the wrong place…
Net worth of top 1%, End of Year 2001 $ 4.3T, the year GOP irresponsibly began adding to America’s national debt.
Now, net worth of top 1%, End of Year 2024 $49.5T.
Current national debt = $36.5T
Our national debt (future spending money), currently costing Americans $80B/month to carry — it belongs to us.
DOGE looking for lost dollars. The top 1% has it. These monies lifted in decades-long corrupt pay-to-play legislative grift with Congress.
The debt accumulated has wrongly poured from American treasure into wealthiest 1% wallets.
DOGE should not look inside our bloated government infrastructure, though yes, damn it, Congress, spend within your means. Cut the waste and fraud!
And when the oligarchical kleptocrats pay America back, stop the corruption and overspending. Clean bills only. No pork. Term limits too.
Actually get out if you’ve served more than 4 senate terms or 8 congressional terms. Out.
Hey oligarchs. Pay us back now!
Let's face it. We are witnessing the purchase of a country. The republicans allowed the rich to get obscenely rich. They banded together and bought the USA; courts, congress and the executive branch. They are seemingly untouchable with unlimited money and resources. Can the little peon citizens fight this? I don't know but it seems that we have mounted a pretty pathetic response so far.
This is what unrestrained capitalism looks like. We’ve elevated the free market in our country to be equal with democracy. Capitalism is an economic theory, not a theory of government. America has turned into the face of greed and self interest.
Caused in part by Russain psy ops.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2024_United_States_elections#:~:text=Russia's%20efforts%20represented%20the%20most,society%20and%20foster%20anti%2DAmericanism.
The fact that congress people are cowed by the threat of heavy financial support of their opponents in primaries is appalling. Being in congress is not meant to be a permanent job but a means to represent their constituents. Part of the problem is that being in congress offers an opportunity for financial gain both through bribes and inside knowledge of stock market events.
Citizens United was the beginning of the corruption and control of congress by corporations. We need to fix it.
You can forget fixing Citizens United. It's not going to happen. republicans won't allow it.
Then we need to get rid of the republicans
Agreed. However, and unfortunately, that's really hard to do in this country. Too many people are in the GOP cult.
That’s changing. Musk and trump have severely overplayed their hand and people are rising up. We all need to keep up the pressure on our congress people.
Only two requirements to be a Republican--greed and cowardice. Meanwhile, we lurch toward being recolonized, now by Russia. The only Russian word I know is "nyet", but that's the only word I need.
Will any Republican in today’s House or Senate — the bodies the Founders created — find even a fraction of the courage of the men who founded this nation?
We need them, however corrupt or deluded, to object to TREASON. See my comments below.
Brilliant Thom I read your article with tears streaming down my face and have come away more defiant to fight against this evil.every way I can.fight and possibly die for something,or live for nothing.that’s what those founders believed.
Thom,
I do not disagree with you sentiments. What you appear to not recognize, however, is that the train has already left the proverbial station. With the Senate having already confirmed Trump's lackeys, Trump now controls, in addition to the executive, the legislative, and the judicial branches, the entire administrative system. We've passed the tipping point.
Well, he doesn't control me. And he doesn't control millions of other Americans, who refuse to give in or give up. And you should maybe read some history, and then help us make history. Because the prudent don't make history, the defiant do.
That train that left the station will need to go over a bridge or two at some point. You ever read Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls"? Just saying...
John,
I said the Trump now controls the various components of government; I did not say that he controls you. But now that you bring the subject up, I would argue that Trump indeed does control you.
He controls that you will pay more taxes to make up for the free rides being given to the morbidly rich. He controls that your very personal information is now laid before the eyes of his unvetted and unconfirmed cronies. He controls that medical and scientific research that might one day save your life is halted. He controls that when you fly, your chances of reaching your destination in one piece are compromised by the gutting of safety personnel. He controls that the food you will buy is no longer subject to the previous level of inspection. He controls that you will pay more in the supermarket for the deportation of needed agricultural workers. He controls that you will pay more for a wide variety of commodities on account of his tariff wars. He controls the news you will be allowed to see on account of his attacks on the media. And these, John, merely scratch the surface. So, yes, he does indeed control you, as well as the millions of other Americans, regardless of whether they give up. And the added tragedy is that you do not see it.
Ever read Orwell's "1984"? Just saying...
Yes, have you ever read his "Homage to Catalonia"? Trump is one of a coalition of bad actors who have now seized control of much of the federal government, which in turn controls much of my environment. He does not control me. I won't belabor the point. Be Winston if it suits you, I'll continue to be Robert.
We spend millions, indeed: billions, totaling trillions, on intelligence ops.
We have some of the best investigative reporters in the history of journalism.
Why has no one exposed this morbidly obese, forever-golfing, commie fraud-of-a-felon as the tinpot dictator who lives in Putin's hip pocket, that he really is?
BEFORE, that is, he and that cussed South African Nazi DOGE-Bag of a troll, destroy the nation.
77 million marks have turned the U.S. over to the con man. I hate to say this but I truly believe the American experiment in democracy is rapidly coming to an end. There are not enough people with power who are willing to stand up to the orange stain or to Putin. We are sinking very quickly and I don't see how anyone is going to be able to turn things around. Even if Trump were to drop dead of a heart attack today, Vance would take over and make things just as bad, if not worse. Our government is totally in the hands of fascists, authoritarians, and oligarchs. The courts are stacked against us. Even the military is being aligned against us. I wish I could be more optimistic but it sure looks like we are toast. God help us, because we know Trump and the republicans won't.
Thanks Vanessa, I agree with your thoughts. If we actually have midterms and the economy is a total mess - then maybe some of the 77 million will turn against the GOP. Oh, and maybe some of the 90 million who didn't vote will cast a ballot for a democrat. That's the only light I see at the end of the tunnel.
We're in end stage Citizens United. Giving the wealth class outsize control over elections brought us Musk and a complete oligarchic takeover. Time to get armed and get organized.
Dems have to win in 2026:
https://www.thepeoplesproject2028.org
If you get to vote. This is an emergency.
By my read of history, America has been a conniving bad guy since WWI when Ford and Standard Oil connived with British Petroleum to carve up the Middle East to exploit its oil so gas cars would dominate the marketplace and put elective cars and trollies out of business with a gas station on every mile of the highway.
Since then, the USA has meddled in the governments of foreign nations globally. Korea, Vietnam, Iran, Israel, Egypt, Lybia,... In nearly all cases our goal was exploitation, in the name of stopping an invented boogieman called "communism." Communism was another term for forcing the wealthy to pay a fair wage or face labor union strikes. All our wars on communism achieved was killing off a lot of drafted young American men to promote the wealth of what are now called the billionaires.
Rep. Ocassio-Cortez summed up our history nicely when she asserted that nobody EARNS a billion dollars - they TAKE a billion dollars.
Today, the pretense of America promoting righteous democracy and personal freedom is over. Today, the wealthy rule the same way Trump's hero Al Capone ruled - by extortion. Do what I say or you will feel the pain. We are even trying to extort wealth from Ukraine in exchange for protection from slaughter by fascist Russia, which until Trump, was THE personification of evil communism where people labored for subsistence.
As I have posted often, fascists want to RULE; not govern. Given the widespread incompetence of the Trump government, the US workforce might finally reject the capitalist myth that if you are wealthier than me you must be smarter than me. If you are wealthier than me, odds are you are just more ruthless than me.
Government, all governments, are essentially extortion rackets. But the societies governed, or ruled, if you prefer, keep coming up with real heroes, as this article delineates. The few can only rule the many if the many capitulate. So, what? You wanna live forever? Or never really live at all?
John, you seem to overlook the difference between RULING and GOVERNING (democracy). Leaders who rule control what matters to the welfare of the rulers; not the ruled. They enforce their whims by extortion. In contrast, Leaders who govern control what matters to the welfare of the governed (not ruler extortion). The governed in true democracies are free to replace leaders who fail in their roles.
Our fascist MAGA government is actively burning books and erasing history and facts.
As I write, MAGA rulers are limiting access to and even expunging knowledge. For example, you will not find the term "climate change" in any government document or school book in hurricane-prone Florida. Our fascist governor/ruler has demanded the term be purged because he thinks bad weather is a hoax. That thinking also enables his wealthy United Citizen real estate developer contributors to get rich building wood houses on reclaimed swampland that catch fire in wildfires and blow apart in storms. After all, building codes lower profits.
Trump is denying illnesses, cutting staff to identify health risks like epidemics, and cutting funds for medical research to find new cures and treatments for illness and injury. He is willy-nilly firing air traffic controllers while planes crash in his backyard. Reducing the federal workforce justifies cutting billionaire taxes. Who needs all those services and annoying regulations that keep proles safe at the expense of the ruler's profits?
You are right on target about capitulation. However, last November's vote was largely due to people believing lied to - and not bothering to check facts. Maybe the MAGA world will learn before it is too late that getting Woke might not be so bad after all.
I assert that the beneficent government, that you distinguish from rulers, has never actually existed within civilization. At the tribal level I think it sometimes does. But I accept your terms as opposing poles in the degree of control over citizens. And in that sense, I agree that being governed is preferable to being ruled. And that the best way to obtain that preference is through civic education, which I think we are both attempting here.
Two hundred and fifty years go we had the best Constitution in the world. While other governments have been continually updating their constitutions our constitutional house has developed bad plumbing, the electrical system (so to speak) keeps shorting out, the paint is peeling and several rooms are unventilated and smell of mold. We are all communal renters in this house and the owners keep changing hands. None of them seem really too interested in the renters but keep blaming the house’s problems on us.
The blue owners and the red owners of the house have always said they support democracy in other houses but have a long history of stopping these other houses from becoming properly developed. This happened in Iran (1953), Brazil (1964), Guatemala (1952,54), Greece (1940s), Syria (56/7), Iraq (59/63 etc), Congo (60s), Haiti (90s), Chile (70s), Bolivia(71), Laos (60s) etc etc. This is a short list of many more. This was usually under the guise of fighting communism but never under the guise of fighting right wing juntas. So, no the USA has not been a real champion of democracy for a long time, particularly when helping overthrow democratically elected governments. The new owners seem most interested in cutting back on the little upkeep that was being done and making sure the local laws are incapacitated so the can keep as much rent as possible and let the house rot from the inside. Meanwhile maybe they can take over a house or two nearby. When that fails take off to Mars.
So do something. Pressure Congressional Republicans.
My Congressperson, Thom Tillis, sent me an official email this morning extolling his meetings in Ukraine in sympathetic terms. Not a word about how he would vote. But as the lone Republican holdout he can't stop the Trumpers, so is he lying or not. No way to tell unless we actually see his vote on any relevant legislation. I've followed him for some time and he spins a lot, so I'm not impressed by this. Looks like a stunt to me to sooth the people like me who support Ukraine.
Need to pressure him. Picket. Sit in.
Too old and infirm to do anything but watch and comment and write letters, I see our nation as a huge powder keg with a fuse growing ever shorter. But still unlit. Whether we have enough people courageous and selfless and capable enough to light it I sadly doubt. If we have mid-term elections not hopelessly corrupted and manipulated by the MAGAtocracy, maybe we will see a course correction. But it won’t be enough, and may well come too late. So yes, by choice or indifference, we have become the bad guys, and look likely to remain so for a long time. I feel terrible for those of us who so bitterly opposed this, and for our allies and all the vulnerable people who are paying the price for our failure to stop it.
“Republicans could stop this, if they will just find their spine”. That’s at least as true of Democrats. Repugnicans, on the other hand, are universally devoid of integrity - all of them - and all should be loudly and repeatedly condemned for the traitors they are.