American Democracy

A Great Day For Democracy: Conviction Of Seditionists, And Marriage Equality Protected!

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Yesterday, November 29, 2022, was a great day for democracy!

The Oath Keepers involved in conspiracy on January 6, 2021, including its leader, Stewart Rhodes, were convicted of sedition and will face long prison terms.

It is a warning to Donald Trump and the multitude of conspirators around the former President, that they will be held accountable for the bloody, violent insurrection at the US Capitol.

It also is an assertion to domestic terrorists, including anti Semites, white supremacists and neo Nazis, that if their violent rhetoric goes over the limits toward promoting bloodshed and violence, then they will face prosecution and incarceration as well.

This is a alerting to Nick Fuentes, Kanye West, Michelle Malkin, Charlie Kirk, and others who promote and incite others to action, that there are limits to their free speech rights if it leads to action!

Also, yesterday, a bipartisan group of US Senators have insured the rights of same sex marriage and interracial marriage to be protected, although 37 Republicans were against such action, which will mark them in history in a negative way!

Happy 80th Birthday, President Biden, A True Treasure To American Democracy!

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Happy 80th Birthday to President Biden, who has been a true treasure to American democracy!

When history is written of these times, the years after Fascist authoritarian Donald Trump attempted to destroy American democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law, it will be recorded that Joe Biden came along as the savior of our heritage of freedom, joining with Abraham Lincoln in the Civil War in the early 1860s, and Franklin D. Roosevelt in the World War II era in the early 1940s!

Now, another 80 years after 1860 and 1940, Joe Biden committed himself to defy the dictatorial nature of Donald Trump, and restore faith in America and its heritage of freedom and democracy!

Like Lincoln and FDR, Biden has been subjected to relentless character assassination and ridicule, but like Lincoln and FDR, he has stood tall and proud and brave, and has committed his later years to his country!

Do not forget that Biden is finishing 50 years of public service, since he was elected to the US Senate a few weeks short of the minimum age of 30 in 1972!

And he has been a public servant in office for all of that half century, except for the four years after leaving the Vice Presidency, having chosen not to try to run for the Presidency in 2016, due to his deep mourning for his son Beau, who died in 2015!

Just as Biden suffered through the loss of his first wife and young daughter in a traffic accident weeks after his Senate election and before he took the oath, so he suffered again in 2015 with the loss of his older son!

But he rose from a low moment to serve his nation and the world, and save it from not just foreign terrorism, but the ever greater threat of domestic terrorism!

His record in office has been superb for his first two years, and was good enough to promote the least loss of power and influence in the past 90 years in a first term midterm election!

His decision whether to run or retire should be respected, and while reaching the age of 80 is a daunting number to have so much responsibility for the nation and the world, Joe Biden, despite some shortcomings at times, runs rings around Donald Trump in knowledge, ability, intelligence, and most importantly, compassion, empathy, and common decency!

May God bless him to a long life, and commitment to his nation and the world, as history records the greatness of this man!

A Clear And Present Danger To Democracy: Kari Lake, Doug Mastriano And Other Republicans!

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With four days to go to the Midterm Elections of 2022, there is great concern about intimidation being used to prevent people from voting in various states, but even more disturbing is the declaration by many MAGA Republicans that they will not accept and acknowledge defeat if the voting totals show they have lost.

Gubernatorial nominees, including Kari Lake in Arizona, Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania, Tim Michels in Wisconsin, Tudor Dixon in Michigan, along with candidates for Secretary of State or Attorney General in many states, have declared war on truth, and are a clear and present danger to American democracy!

There is also concern about possible violence erupting, as it is understood that this is a testing moment, the first national vote since the January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrection.

America is endangered by these right wing extremists who seem to be ready to declare elections over, with automatic assertions of control now and into the future as their mission.

Law enforcement and the Department of Justice must make clear such assertions will be dealt with in an appropriate manner, and bullyism will not be tolerated!

Kevin McCarthy Would Be A Disaster As Speaker Of The House!

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Trepidation is growing at the looming possibility that Kevin McCarthy could become the Speaker of the House of Representatives in January 2023, two heartbeats away from the Presidency!

While John Boehner and Paul Ryan had their major shortcomings, either of them would be far superior to McCarthy, who has demonstrated his total lack of morals, ethics, and principles in his years working his way up leadership to the potential Speakership!

McCarthy was totally freaked out on January 6, 2021, and momentarily said and did the right thing in condemning Donald Trump, but his ambition took over, and he made up with Trump at Mar A Lago, and denied reality of the criminal activities of that day, including ignoring the suffering of US Capitol police officers!

McCarthy was willing to ditch Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, and work with Elise Stefanik, Jim Jordan, and the 147 House Republicans who refused to accept that Joe Biden won the Presidency!

He is willing to work with the most extremist members of his caucus, including Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, and he has made it clear that the goal of the Republicans is to destroy ObamaCare (The Affordable Care Act), as well as phase out Medicare and Social Security, and move to impeach President Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and other cabinet officers, even though none would be removed from office by such action!

The lunatic fringe of the Republican Party would hold the reins of power, and promote chaos, including trying to adopt a national abortion ban! As conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post and MSNBC host Chris Hayes have stated, the Republican Party would “wreak havoc”, including threatening not to raise the debt limit, and stopping aid to Ukraine, a gift to Vladimir Putin!

So the Republicans would do what Donald Trump was doing in his Presidential term—cozy up to Putin, and undermine NATO, a horrifying scenario, which would undermine both American democracy and efforts to maintain democracy in Europe and elsewhere!

Adam Kinzinger Goes Bipartisan, Endorsing Democrats Up For Election, To Save Democracy!

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Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, one of only two Republicans on the January 6 Committee investigating the US Capitol Insurrection, will be leaving Congress at the end of the year, as his Congressional seat was eliminated in reapportionment, and he chose not to run in another district.

But Adam Kinzinger is a man of courage and principle, and he, along with Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming, is fighting against the Fascist takeover of their party by Donald Trump and his “Election Deniers” crowd!

So Kinzinger has endorsed Democrats running in the Midterm Elections next month, including:

Pennsylvania Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro, against the very dangerous Doug Mastriano

Arizona Democratic gubernatorial nominee Katie Hobbs, against the lunatic Kari Lake

Four Democratic Secretary of State candidates in Minnesota, Michigan, Arizona, and Nevada, crucial states for certifying election results, making them safe from “Election Deniers”.

Also, Kinzinger is backing Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, and Independent Evan McMullin for the Senate seat in Utah, held by Republican Senator Mike Lee.

Kinzinger is someone who should be paid attention to, as he is seen as likely to announce a Presidential campaign, if for nothing else, to work against the MAGA Republicans, who are a danger to American democracy!

A Growing Sense Of Overwhelming Challenges Facing America As Midterm Elections Arrive In Six Weeks!

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This author and blogger has a growing sense of overwhelming challenges facing America as the nation faces the Midterm Elections of 2022 less than six weeks from now.

The horror of the massive damage of Hurricane Ian, after all the other natural disasters that Climate Change have brought to the nation and the world in the last few years, is multipled by the threat to American democracy and democracies elsewhere.

More than any other midterm election cycle, the present one is a challenge to the stability of the American nation.

America is a divided nation with at least a third of the nation living in delusion and fantasy, and with the worst elements of human nature displaying themselves on a regular basis. This includes, in no special order, misogyny, nativism, racism, homophobia, theocracy, and the promotion of Fascist ideologies.

Promotion of conspiracy theories and incessant lying and deceit by Donald Trump and a vast number of Republicans undermine the American nation and the world!

We are on the brink of not only disarray increasing in America, but the possibility of a World War III, promoted by an unstable, evil tyrant, Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation, as he continues the assault on Ukraine!

The challenges reminds us of the 1930s and early 1940s, demonstrating that the battle for democracy and social unity is a never ending struggle!

Growing Migrant Crisis In America And Worldwide

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With the growing climate change crisis worldwide, and the mistreatment of migrants, based on religion, race, and ethnicity, the world faces a massive crisis.

Not only in America with the Republican party do we have nativism rearing its ugly head, but also all over the globe, as migrants wish to escape horrendous economic and climate conditions and persecution in their homelands.

Men, women, and children are being rejected at borders after dangerous migrations, and also at sea, and the crisis will only grow in future years.

The idea that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott are showing disrespect toward migrants from left wing dictatorships, including Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and using them as political props is shocking and reprehensible!

This is a spiritual and moral crisis of massive proportions in Europe and worldwide, and reminds us of the crisis of Jews in Europe and antisemitism in World War II. The conflicts going on today in many nations, with politicians exploiting hatred and division, is very disturbing!

And now, the rise of Giorgia Meloni as the first woman Prime Minister in Italy, promoting the Fascism of former dictator Benito Mussolini, is yet another sign of the dangers facing migrants. The idea that exactly a hundred years after the rise of Mussolini and the Fascist Movement, we are seeing Fascism come to power again, is shocking.

And the fact that the Republican Party and Donald Trump are clearly Fascist oriented, and wish to promote authoritarian government, is a sign that much of the history of the first half of the 20th century may be repeating itself.

American democracy and worldwide democracy is in crisis, and basic decency and humanity is under attack!

Liz Cheney Vows To Do What Has To Be Done To Keep Donald Trump Out Of White House!

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Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming was interviewed at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, Texas, on Sunday.

Vice Chair of the January 6 House Committee investigating the US Capitol Insurrection, but defeated for renomination in her home state, Cheney has vowed that she will do what has to be done to keep Donald Trump out of the White House in the Presidential Election of 2024.

She has hinted at running for President, to stop Trump, and willing to support Democrats, even though she does not believe in many of their ideas, but sees Trump as a “clear and present danger” to American democracy.

She plans to campaign for Democrats in states where Republicans are election deniers, including for Katie Hobbs in Arizona and against Kari Lake, one of the wackiest Republicans running for Governor in the midterm elections. Also, she will campaign against Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania, running against Democrat Josh Shapiro for Governor.

And Cheney has said that if Donald Trump is nominated for President in 2024, she will no longer be a Republican!

Trump Now Adopting QAnon Conspiracy Theories And Symbols: A Growing Threat To American Democracy!

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Donald Trump is becoming crazier by the day, and has now adopted QAnon Conspiracy theories and symbols!

At his Youngstown, Ohio rally over last weekend, his MAGA supporters were treating Donald Trump like a King, or as Liz Cheney reported, a fellow Republican who was willing to bend to Trump’s will on January 6, 2021, called Trump an “Orange Jesus”!

A Nazi type salute was employed by many in that Ohio crowd, and it is clear that Donald Trump becomes more dangerous by the day, as his MAGA followers, estimated to be one third of the nation, seem to be, in many cases, mentally ill, crazy lunatics, who are ready to provoke violence on a whim!

And Trump is advocating violence if any action is taken against him by the US Government!

Somehow, action must be taken to neutralize Trump, and as he comes closer to likely indictment in many venues, including Georgia, New York State, Washington DC, and by the Justice Department, the fear of a full scale uprising worse then Janury 6, 2021 is a growing threat that must be dealt with firmly by the Defense Department and legal authorities in states and cities all over the nation!

Constitution Day: 235 Years And Counting, But Question About Its Survival In Future!

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Today is Constitution Day, the day in 1787 when the Founding Fathers signed the Constitution.

No one in their right mind would think that those who signed the Constitution believed there should be no changes ever made, or that what was in the Constitution was cement that could not be altered.

And yet, today, we have a majority Supreme Court which thinks we should go back to 1787, what is called “Originalism”.

This is pure insanity, and undermines the ability of government to adapt to changing times.

Most of what is considered “normal” today in constitutional terms is far from just the original document, and reflects the changing times.

And we are faced with a threat, greater than the Civil War or the Great Depression and World War II, to our ability to maintain a constitutional government based on the rule of law, as Donald Trump and his minions are a dire threat to America’s democratic future!