*** “You can easily judge the character of others by how thy treat those who can do nothing for them or to them.”
[Malcolm Forbes]

I. The Powell Memorandum. – 1971
1] Michael Graetz & Linda Greenhouse: “The Burger Court and the Rise of the Judicial Right””. Powell’s memorandum said Ralph Nader and others were seeking the destruction of the “American economic system…The most disquieting voices..come from perfectly respectable elements of society:..college campuses..pulpit..media..intellectual and literary journals..arts and sciences..politicians.” He criticized media for referring to business tax incentives “as tax breaks,” “loopholes,” or “Tax benefits.”..He called for a massive business response to these attacks.
“He outlined a multi-faceted proposal for a response by the Chamber, including such actions..as recruiting a “staff of highly qualified scholars who believed in the system” to “evaluate social science textbooks..”..advocated aggressive business actions in secondary education, television and other media, legislatures, and the courts.”
“The judiciary may be the most important instrument for social, economic, and political change.” The left are extremely active in the judicial area. Their success, often at businesses’ expense, has not been inconsequential.” Participation in litigation was “a vast opportunity for the Chamber, if it is willing to undertake the role of spokesman for American business and…if business is willing to provide the funds.”
“..the importance of Powell’s memorandum is unmistakable. Within six years, the Chamber established a litigation arm..the Chamber now routinely files friend-of-the-court briefs..and it enjoys great influence over which cases the Court decides to hear and how the cases the Court takes should be decided. Bloomberg News says..the Chamber now “may be second only to the Solicitor General’s office in its influence at the Supreme Court.”

*** “The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy, that is the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” [ John Kenneth Galbraith ]

2] Kurt Andersen: “Evil Geniuses”: “..Evil Geniuses chronicles the quite deliberate reengineering of our economy and society since the 1960s by a highly rational confederacy of the rich, the right, and big business…The specific policy changes in the 1980s were profound in the aggregate..most ..were complicated and esoteric and seemed small, so they had a stealth quality. It didn’t feel like a paradigm shift because it was mainly carried out by means of a thousand wonky adjustments to government rules and laws, and obscure financial inventions, and big corporations one by one changing how they operated and getting away with it – all of it with impacts that emerged gradually, over decades..the 1980s were the 1930s but in reverse: instead of a fast-acting New Deal, a time-release Raw Deal.” [THE RAW DEAL]
3] Research Andersen”s “The Decade When Everything Changed and Our Present Was Created: 57 Data Points – the changes that were “good” for Big Business & the Financial Industry; and – the 28 changes that were BAD for people like YOU.

***”The most odious of all oppressions are those which mask as justice.” [ Justice Robert Jackson ]

4] “Thrown Out of Court” [Lina Khan; Wash. Monthly; June-July-August, 2014]: “Two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings- AT&T-Concepcion and American Express-Italian Colors – have deeply undercut..centuries-old public rights, by empowering businesses to avoid any threat of private lawsuits or class actions. These decisions culminate a thirty-year trend..
“..many sound antitrust cases are no longer heard, by a judge or arbitrator..”It takes away citizen’s rights.”…The greatest damage..isn’t to us as individuals. “Mandatory arbitration is a basic threat to our democracy, says Deepak Gupta..”It’s about laws..Congress passes being unenforceable. The Supreme Court is allowing corporations to overturn laws made by people we elect.” [A BASIC THREAT TO OUR DEMOCRACY]

*** “corruption is like a ball of snow, once set rolling it must increase.” [ C.C. Colton ]

II. CRUELTY. One of the HALLMARKS of recent Republican dominated courts is CRUELTY:
A. “Deshaney”[1989] – the father caused severe brain damage by beating Joshua, who’ll spend his life confined to an institution. Father convicted of child abuse. Mom sued Department of Social Services for doing nothing about two years of complaints. Rehnquist rules against Mom and Joshua: government has “no duty” to protect Joshua: nothing in “Due Process” requires the State to protect life, liberty, and property of citizens against private actors.
[ E. Chemerinsky: “The Conservative Assault on the Constitution’ ]
B. “A wrongfully convicted man must die..to preserve procedure?” {Bryan Clarke; Idaho Statesman; 6/12/22]: “..another opinion, both cruel and absurd, issued by the Republican Supermajority deserves attention..a decision released last month, Shinn v. Martinez Ramierez..likely to result in the execution of an innocent man..not because the court..weighed the evidence..The court is pushing to execute him because it says the evidence showing he is innocent should not be considered at all..the evidence against Jones is so poor..a federal judge found no judge or jury would likely convict him of any crime..a more sane U.S. Supreme Court found..Arizona’s appeal had a gaping procedural deficiency..But the court decided to exercise its discretion to set that procedural hurdle aside..The necessary boxes have been checked, and so it’s time to kill a man. It is as inhumane as it sounds.” [re-read this slowly, think about the CRUELTY]
C. “When Miscarriages Collide With Abortion Laws” [Pam Belluck; New York Times; 7/18/22]: “In this post-Roe world, women with miscarriages may die..” A Texas hospital sent a woman doubled over in pain and screaming as she passed a large blood clot” home; she and her husband sat in a bathtub red with blood “for 48 hours..” A Wisconsin woman “showed up bleeding at a hospital, which determined she had miscarried” , but they couldn’t help her “because of the laws.” [see 5/3/23 “HHS: Abortion denials broke law”; Amanda Seitz; Assoc. Press – more stories]
D. “Ledbetter”[2007]: Workers bringing Title Vii pay discrimination claims must file a complaint within 180 days..even if THEY WERE UNAWARE [!!!!!!!] of the discrimination at that time or the effects continued to the present. Anger over this egregious injustice led to a 2009 law overriding the “court.” [M. Coyle: “The Roberts Court”]
E.”When Your Rapist Demands Custody” [Michaela Maas; Mother Jones; Sept/Oct., 2019]: Tiffany was raped at age 12; her rapist got a less than a year sentence; she dropped out of school and did odd jobs. When she applied for state assistance – the male judge granted her rapist joint custody and ordered her to live within 100 miles of him, ordered her rapist’s name be added to her son’s birth certificate, disclosed her address to her rapist.
F. “Bowles v. Russell[2007]: A judge’s error on the time for filing an appeal by a criminal defendant does NOT [!!!!!!!!!!] excuse the late filing of the appeal.!!!!!!!!! [Coyle]
G. “Abortion laws spark profound changes in other care” [Lindsey Tanner; Assoc. Press; 7/17/22]: “With the fall of Roe..”The art of medicine is lost and actually has been replaced by fear, [Dr. Jessain] Munoz said…”We physically watched her get sicker and sicker..” A Virginia woman can’t take her medicine for lupus because it could be used “theoretically” to induce abortion.
H.Wal-Mart v. Dukes”[2011]: A nationwide group of 1.5 million female employees suing WalMart for discrimination in pay and promotions failed to have common questions of law or fact in order to qualify as a class action under federal rules. [Coyle]. REAL meaning: the women were to stupid. Court also said they didn’t have enough “in common”; the “court” ignored expert testimony on company policy itself as a factorI.
I. “I’m Terrified for My Patients” [Dr. David Hackney; New York Times; 7/10/22]: “Ohio’s new law is unimaginably cruel.” He knows he will meet a woman with a child who will die after delivery; with no ability to leave Ohio; and “she is going to have to carry a pregnancy TO TERM AGAINST HER WILL.. The risks of term delivery are far greater than the risk of abortion.”
J. “Glucksberg”[1997]: The right to privacy doesn’t include the right of terminally ill patients to assisted death. Rehnquist “court” would protect rights not in the Constitution only if were “objectively, ‘deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition.'” There was no tradition protecting assisted death – therefore no constitutional right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[Chemerinsky: Assault on the Constitution”]
K. “Data on rape cases is elusive” [Adrianna Rodriguez; USA Today; 7/17/22]: “Until the Roe ruling, I had never had a colleague tell me about a pregnancy..being forced to continue because of rape. In the last three weeks, I’ve heard of three.” Dr. Erika Werner, Tufts Medical Center obstetrics and gynecology chair.
L. “Garrett”[2001]: A nurse lost her job at a state hospital when she took time off for BREAST CANCER TREATMENT was not allowed to sue under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act. [Chemerinsky: “Assault on Constitution”]
M. Iqbal [2009]: the “court” ruled the complaint should be denied because he failed to allege sufficient facts for a court to conclude it was “plausible” he might win, “no longer did courts have to accept the allegations of the complaint as true, conclusory allegations of fact should be ignored by federal courts, a “radical decision, every example of complaint in Federal Rules of Civili Procedure would have to be dismissed!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [Chemerinsky: Consrv. Assault on Const.]

*** “If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.” [Justice Louis Brandeis]

III. USING CASES. Recent Republican dominated “courts,” especially the Roberts “court” like to USE a cherry-picked case – NOT for justice, but to CHANGE the law – the way THEY WANT IT TO BE. Ideology and pure reactionary power over law and what American used to think of as “justice.”
A. “The city repealed the ordinance, rendering the case moot..but Justices Thomas..Alito..Gorsuch did not want to let the case go. It was simply too inviting a vehicle..”[Greenhouse; Justice on the Brink’]
B. “Constitutionally Out of Bounds” [Liz Hayes; Church & State; February, 2022]: “In 2019, the Supreme Court declined to hear Kennedy’s case. But Justice Samuel A. Alito, joined by three other conservative justices, wrote a statement laying the groundwork for the coach’s lawyers to get his case before the court. The lawyers followed Alito’s playbook, and on January 14, the court agreed to hear the case..” [collusion?]
C. “The Court’s Third Great Crisis” [Garrett Epps; Washington Monthly; November/December, 2022]: “The other major decisions..were written in terms so broad as to seem an open invitation for conservative advocacy groups seeking to roll back existing precedent in a wide variety of areas.” [collusion among FRIENDS???}
D. “Pliva-Mensing” [20110: Justice Sotomayor’s dissent: “[The Court] invent[ed] new principles of pre-emption out of thin air..” {Chemerinsky: “The Case Against the Supreme Court”]
E. “..on June 29, 2009, the Court on its own, asked for a new briefing..None of the parties to the case had asked the Court to consider this constitutional issue..” [Chemerinsky: “Case Against the Supreme Court’]
F. “There was no obvious reason for the grants of review..no clear conflict in the lower circuit courts..two appellate courts in the Seattle and Louisville litigation had approved the school plans..The school boards were acting voluntarily..with broad community support.” [Coyle: The Roberts Court. The Struggle for the Constitution”]
G. “..the justices rewrote the question they would decide {!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]..but there was no burning conflict among federal appellate courts..no burning controversy within the District..the appellate court had said the individual right like other rights, was not absolute. With a Supreme Court precedent..for nearly 70 years..settling the question in favor of a militia-collective rights interpretation..it was an aggressive conservative Court taking on. a long-sought objective on the conservative political agenda.” [Coyle: Roberts Court”] [A LONG-SOUGHT CONSERVATIVE OBJECTIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
H. “Iqbal changed the rule, and no party in the case had asked the Court to make that change.” [Coyle: Roberts Court”]
I. “Gross” [2009]: “..even though no party in the case had raised the issue or sought Thomas’ outcome, the majority aggressively moved to impose a higher burden of proof..” [Coyle: “The Roberts Court”]
J. Alito and Kavanaugh “seeking to use” Fulton” and get “Lukumi” to obliterate “Smith” – and MANUFACTURE “hostility”
[L. Greenhouse: “Justice On The Brink”]
K. “..Davis’s petition did not meet the criteria for Supreme Court review..her petition offered Thomas and Alito something they had spent five years waiting for..an “Obergefell” “victim”.. The Thomas-Alito statement was an invitation to anyone with a religious objection to same-sex marriage to bring the court a better case.”
[L. Greenhouse: “Justice On The Brink”

SO – go back over the above cases. Is this PATTERN what You expect for an American “court’????????? Sitting there like a nest of spiders waiting for the prey to come by. – or. – putting out the “sugar” to make sure you get the case “you have been waiting five years for”?????????? TELL us – why would a legitimate “court” be waiting five years for a particular case?????? Is not a REAL “court” dealing with cases as they come – rather than MANUFACTURING them – so it can check off another “conservative objective”???????? How is this “justice”? “Justice for the rich and poor alike”??????????? What country are we in?

*** “In a time of deceit, telling truth is a revolutionary act.” [George Orwell]

This will not be easy reading, nor joyful. The evidence – a small sampling of such – presented herein shows a DELIBERATE campaign to not just change American law, but to CORRUPT it, to PERVERT it, by sharply shifting “law” to the radical, often fringe, “conservative” and libertarian view. Much violates 1789-1968 law and legal precedents. Much violates foundational ideas of American democracy as stated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and Amendments. Research judicial oaths of office American judges and “justices” are required to observe.
The Preamble of the U.S. Constitution REQUIRES “a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility.
…promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and ur Posterity. Do the “conservative” dominated 1969-2023 do ANY of this?????
The stance of these multiple posts on “Corruption of Law”: because of a DELIBERATE and WELL-FINANCED campaign, the political-economic-religious-social FAR RIGHT has made upholding the basic premise of American government increasingly impossible for ordinary Americans – like YOU – impossible.
For those privileged citizens in the top 1%, in fundamentalist religions, and other favored groups – the SUPER CITIZENS class – created by 1969-2023 “court” rulings, a PLUTOCRATIC THEOCRACY is within reach

These charges will NOT be just “opinion” by people who “hate America.” HARD evidence in NUMBERS, PATTERNS, “court” decisions by TRACK RECORDS, CONTEXT, RESULTS will be supplied. Indeed, there is so much that even this small sample will take five postings!!!!
What has happened to America, 1969-2023, is NOT an “accident.” It”s the result of a deliberate PLOT to remake America – to create that PLUTOCRATIC THEOCRACY. The campaign began in 1933 with a plot to overthrow the American government [McCormack-Dickstein Committee report, February 15, 1935]. This campaign has NOT ended with the infamous January 6, 2021 trashing of the U.S. Capitol, assault on police, attempt to find and execute members of Congress and the Vice President [the effort to deny this, to portray it as a “bunch of tourists” is part of the plot]. A HUGE network of the FAR RIGHT still exists [“Dark Money,” “The Shadow Network,” “Democracy in Chains,” “American Fascists”……]

*** “The ship of Democracy, which has weathered all storms, may sink through the mutiny of those on board.”
President Grover Cleveland }

1] Adam Cohen: “Supreme Inequality The Supreme Court’s Fifty-Year Battle For A More Unjust America”
– “The past fifty years of conservative rulings from the Supreme Court have coincided almost exactly with a period in which economic inequality in the United States has soared to near-historic levels.
“..”the era of shared prosperity” in the United states “ended in the 1970s”..since then there has been a sharp divergence between the wealthy and everyone else. By 2014, the top 1% earned more than 20% of all income..while the bottom 50% earned just 12.5%. the wealth gap..even larger. The richest 1% of families – just 160,000 families – owned about as much as the bottom 90% of Americans.”
“..income inequality..is largely due to two factors: “massive educational inequalities” and “a tax system that grew less progressive.” The post-1969 Court has been a major contributor to each of these problems..The Court has made many other choices that have increased economic inequality..weakening labor unions..making it harder to sue corporations..contributed to the dismantling of the social safety net..Life expectancy ..declined between 2014 and 2017..one in eight Americans is “food insecure.”….
“Extreme inequality puts democracy at risk: the concentration of wealth in the top 1%..is pushing the nation toward plutocracy..a healthy middle class is critical to warding off tyranny..Legal scholars have observed..America’s foundational document was drafted for a society with a strong middle class. “To function properly, the Constitution requires equality and solidarity..Once those are gone, it contains no mechanism to restore them.”

*** “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” [Lord Acton]

2]. Sarah Chayes: “On Corruption in America”
– “Dismissing Corruption”. June 27, 2016
– A momentous ruling was handed down that day..McDonnell v. United States..concerned the conduct of those who hold public office..the heart of how a democracy should be run…On September 4, 2014, a jury in federal district court convicted McDonnell on four counts of honest service wire fraud, and conspiracy..seven counts of extortion property..and conspiracy..He appealed. On July l0, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled he had been “duly convicted by a jury..It affirmed the decision..UNANIMOUSLY..McDonnell appealed to the Supreme Court, which overturned, 8-0.
“..the unanimous Supreme Court transform[d[ a broad, commonsense definition of bribery into something narrow and technical”…also excused how we do politics. “If the McDonnell decision stood, the justices fretted, “officials might wonder whether they could respond to even the most commonplace requests for assistance, and citizens with legitimate concerns might shrink from participating in democratic discourse.”
“Never mind the false equivalency..that most “citizens with legitimate concerns” do not dispose of tens of thousands of dollars or Ferraris they can loan..Never mind that it is hard to describe ramming through an obviously questionable deal through clinical trials as a “legitimate concern.” Letting the McDonnell conviction stand, opined the justices, would mean criminalizing politics..politics as currently practiced.” [as CORRUPTLY PRACTICED!!!!!!!!]
The result? “McDonnell was changing the law..Prosecutors scrambled to amend indictments.” A U.S. Senator escaped conviction on “multiple counts of bribery.” Prosecutors dropped corruption charges.
“They’ve made it so only bad criminals can get convicted..I mean people who are just really bd at being corrupt.” Bribery convictions fell by 1/3 between 2014 and 2018. Powerful New York state politicians convictions got overturned.
The “most damaging effect of decisions like McDonnell: the implicit blessing they bestow on a whole range of practices..In the United states, serious and damaging public corruption is not getting punished..by default..we dem it to be just fine.”
Roberts opinion: “There is no doubt this case is distasteful..But our concern is..with the broader implications of the broader implications of the Government’s boundless interpretation of the federal bribery statute.”
“This is how corruption gets overlooked in the United states..how wealthier and better educated Americans downplay it..an embarrassing aberration..Corruption is not an isolated scandal..”
“For Justice Roberts and his seven colleagues..manifestations of this phenomenon in the United states are beneath their concern. In their view, the American system is threatened not by corruption but – incredibly – by efforts to FIGHT corruption.”
[ NOW – re-read this section again. Think on what she said; a jury and two courts said. “guilty” – of MULTIPLE
counts, the Appeals Court UNANIMOUSLY – the “supreme court” excused corruption – fearing a government
– several levels of it – too eager to punish OBVIOUS corruption is worse than corruption itself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

*** “Power does not corrupt men, fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.” [George B. Shaw]

3] “Supreme Court refuses to address gerrymandering” [Adam Liptak; New York Times; 6/28/19]: “The Supreme Court..federal courts are powerless to hear challenges to partisan gerrymandering..In dissent, Kagan said the court had abdicated one of its most crucial responsibilities ..”In the face of grievous harm to democratic governance and flagrant infringements on individual’s rights – in the face of escalating partisan manipulation whose compatibility with this nation’s values and law no one defends..the majority declines to provide any remedy. For the first time in this nation’s history, the majority declares it can do nothing.”

*** “That’s all we’re asking for: an end to the antidemocratic and un-American practice of gerrymandering congressional districts.” [Ronald Reagan]

4] “Political spending by billionaires soared.” [Bloomberg; 7/2/20]: ‘Billionaires gave 37 times as much in political contributions in the last election as they did 10 years earlier..They are also playing a much bigger role. In 2008, donations from billionaires were less than 1% of all political contributions, but in 2018 they made up nearly 10%..The report cites the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in “Citizens United..”

*** “Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce.”
[President James Garfield]

5] “GOP amps up efforts to limit voter participation” [Josh Dawsey, Amy Gardner; Wash. Post; 4/23/23]: “A top Republican legal strategist told a roomful of GOP donors..conservatives must band together to limit voting on college campuses, same-day voter registration and automatic mailing of ballots to registered voters.”
6] “..Amy Barrett..asked what the Arizona Republican Party’s motivation was “in keeping, say, the out-of-precinct voter ballot disqualification rules on the books,”…[Michael] Carvin: “Because it puts us at a competitive disadvantage to Democrats.”…this might have been the most revealing moment, an acknowledgement that keeping some people’s votes from being counted actually had a purpose, and the purpose was to help Republicans.” [Linda Greenhouse: “Justice on the Brink”]. [!!!!!!!!!! re-read these two!!! – any doubt at intent?]

***”It’s not the people who vote that count. It’s the people who count the votes.” [Stalin]

II. NUMBERS
The FAR RIGHT has often LIED about their intent, the rationale, the results, of their various “theories,” policies, court decisions, laws, using laws differently than intended, who they are, twisting the Constitution, what American history was…… Some facts:
1] Adam Winkler: “We The Corporations”: “..the justices soon after embraced Conkling’s argument that corporations had rights protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. In the years that followed, thenSupreme Court would invoke those corporate rights to invalidate numerous laws governing how businesses were to be run, supervised, and taxed. Between 1868, when the Amendment was ratified, and 1912..the justices decided 28 cases dealing with the rights of African-Americans – and an astonishing 312 cases dealing with the rights of corporations.” [312 – to – 28 !!!!!]
2] David Shipley: “Rights At Risk”: “The question of the justice’s Catholicism has been addressed by Geoffrey R. Stone in compiling data showing huge disparities in abortion cases. Among ten justices appointed since Roe v. Wade in 1973, he notes, the non-Catholics have “cast twenty-one votes in support of abortion rights [75%, and seven votes to constrict those rights [25%],” while the Catholics have “cast only one vote in support of abortion rights [6%], and sixteen votes to contract abortion rights [94%].”
3] Andrew Seidel: “American Crusaders”: in 4 years, the Trump Administration won 28 of 41 requests to the shadow docket of the Supreme Court. Only 8 such requests were filed in the 16 previous years of the George W. Bush and Obama administrations – they won only 4. “By the end of Trump’s term, the shadow docket looked like collusion between Trump justices and the Trump Administration to advance the Crusade.” [41 to 8!!!!; winning 28 to 4!!!!!]
4] Giffords PAC: “Americans are 25 times more likely to be killed by a gun than people in other developed nations.” “Gun violence costs more than $700 per American every year and half..borne by U.S. taxpayers.”
5}. “The Hightower Lowdown”; March, 2013: “Corporate kangaroo court…2000 Washington Post survey cases involving First USA Bank, arbitrators ruled for the bank 99.5%; 2007 Public Citizen report: National Arbitration Forum heard 34,000 customer-versus-bank cases in California over 4 years – banks won 95%; City of San Francisco 2008 lawsuit about 18,045 cases of banks-versus-people, NAF’s gave banks 100% wins.

***”The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspaper and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism.”
Henry Wallace]

***”I don’t want to see religious bigotry in any form. It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it.”
[ Billy Graham, 1981 ]

VI. WEAPONIZING RELIGION: From the 1930s through 2023, Right-Wing elements have WEAPONIZED RELIGION. Right wingers have confessed they see, ARE conducting a “religious war” against America. One political party has been taken over by right-wing religions, insisting THEIR religious dogma be made law – an absolute and total violation of Amendment One, but almost everything the Founding Generations said and wrote, 1770-1800. NO other activity in ALL American history, 1600s forward is more un-Constitutional and un-American than the effort by the “Religious Right” to impose THEIR beliefs on America. The results have been cruelty, corruption, and chaos visible throughout America.

***”I’m frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in “A,” “B,””C,” and “D.” Just who do they think they are? and from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me?” [ Senator Barry Goldwater ]

1] Robert Boston: “Taking Liberties”: “Somewhere along the way, religious liberty has become twisted. Suddenly, it’s not about what you can do but what others are doing. Somehow the actions of others are seen as a threat to someone else’s religious liberty. thus, an employee’s decision to use birth control becomes a threat to her boss”s religious freedom……..
young children [learning] about evolution in a public school endangers the religious freedom of an evolution-denying family…A woman who shows up at a pharmacy and expects the pharmacist to do his job by giving her the medication her doctor has prescribed is threatening the pharmacist’s religious freedom.
“What we’re seeing is a deliberate attempt to redefine religious freedom. That concept is being shifted from an individually exercised right to something much different – to something threatened by the independent actions of others..”

*** U.S. Supreme Court, “Reynolds”, [1879]: on giving special privileges to one religion: “..to permit this would be to make the professed doctrine of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect permit every citizen to become a law unto himself. Government could only exist in name under such circumstances.”

2] Edwin Gaustad: “Faith of the Founders”: 1776 North Carolina constitution, Articles XXXIV: “..there shall be no establishment of anyone religious church..in preference to any other; neither shall any person, on any pretense whatsoever, be compelled to attend any place of worship contrary to his own faith..nor be obliged to pay, for the purchase of..the building of any house of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes right..” ***THIS is what the First Amendment means***

***”Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost. As vice regents for God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arena, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors..over every aspect and institution of human society.”
[ Dr. James Kennedy ]

3] Randall Balmer: “Thy Kingdom Come”: “The evangelical faith..has been hijacked by right-wing zealots who have distorted the Gospel of Jesus christ..failed to appreciate the genius of the First Amendment..When they to quote the bible, they wrench passages out of context and offer pinched, literalist interpretations..The effect of this right-wing takeover has been a poisoning of public discourse and a distortion of the faith.”

***”As religion must always be a matter between God and individuals, no man can be made a member of a truly religious society by force or without his own consent, neither can any corporation that is not a religious society have a just right to govern in religious affairs.” [ Isaac Backus, 1781 ]

4]. Chris Hedges: “American Fascists. The Christian Right and the War on America”: “..values, democratic and Christian, are being dismantled, often by stealth, by a radical Christian movement. known as dominionism, which seeks to cloak itself in the mantle of the Christian faith and American patriotism..Dominionists now control at least six national television networks..virtually all of the nation’s more than 2,000 religious stations, as well as denominations such as the Southern Baptist Conference Dominionism seeks to redefine traditional democratic and Christian terms and concepts to fit an ideology that calls on the radical church to take political power It shares many prominent features with classical fascist movements,
“Dominionism seeks to politicize faith..The dominionist ,movement..seeks to appropriate not only our religious and patriotic language, but also our stories..to deny that there are other acceptable ways of living and being. There becomes only one way to be a Christian and only one way to bean American….
“The movement has sanctified a ruthless unfettered capitalism..the gospel of prosperity..has formulated a belief system that delights corporate America. Corporations such as Tyson. Foods..along with Perdue, Wal-Mart, and Sam’s Wholesale..are huge financial backers of the movement.”

*** “Is it not strange that the descendants of those Pilgrim Fathers who crossed the Atlantic to preserve their own freedom of opinion have always proved themselves intolerant of the spiritual liberty of others?” [Robert E. Lee]

5] Kevin Kruse: “One Nation Under God How Corporate America Invented Christian America”: “..in..the 1930s and early 1940s..corporate titans enlisted conservative clergymen in an effort to promote new political arguments..this new ideology was designed to defeat the state power its architects feared most…Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal..With ample funding from major corporations ..these new evangelists for free enterprise promoted..”Christian libertarianism”..
large business organizations bankrolled major efforts to promote the role of religion in public life….
“In December, 1939, the minister [Fifield] placed a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times decrying the New Deal as antithetical to the designs of the founding fathers..The New Deal..posed a dire threat to the American way of life, and it was the duty of clergymen to save the nation’s soul….
“On “Independence Sunday” [7/1/51]..”tens of thousands of clergymen offered sermons on the topic of “Freedom Under God,”..”The effect to establish socialism in our country has probably progressed further than most of us fully realize,” asserted a Lutheran minister in Kansas.”

***”Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a biblical duty..are called by God to conquer this country. We don’t want equal time..don’t want pluralism.” [ Randall Terry ]

6]. “When the director-general of the colony, Pieter Stuyvesant, sought to quash religious expressions other than the Dutch Reformed Church..the citizens of Flushing responded on December 27, 1657, with the Flushing Remonstrance, one of the earliest statements of religious liberty in the American colonies..”..let every man stand or fall to his own Master,’ they wrote, pleading for freedom of “conscience betwixt God and our own souls..” {Randall Balmer: “Solemn Reverence The Separation of church and State in American Life”}

***”I have often expressed my sentiments, that every man..being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience.”
[ George Washington ]

7] Katherine Stewart: “The Power Worshippers”: “Christian nationalism is not a social or cultural movement. It is a political movement, and its ultimate goal is power..to replace our foundational democratic principles and institutions with a state grounded on a particular version of Christianity..also happens to serve the interests of its plutocratic funders and allied political leaders.
“Church United’s raison d’etre is to politicize pastors in the “right ” direction.
“Prior to the presidential election of 2016, Garlow warned..Christians..were close..would be compelled to “participate in very active civil disobedience” against..”un-godly government.”…do not follow violations of the word of God.”
“By networking with Russians, the HSLDA – now America’s largest right-wing homeschooling association – has provided the Kremlin with a new avenue of influence over some of the most conservative organizations in the United States.
“Russian oligarchs, having effectively deployed religious nationalism to gain control over their own population, readily grasped..it could be used to shape events in other countries..Russian leaders see America’s Christian right as a tremendously useful vehicle for influencing American politics and government..
“The christian nationalists affection for Mr. Putin..goes much deeper..At the core of the attraction lies a shared political vision..They love Russia, it seems, because they hate America and its form of secular, constitutional democracy.
“The Alliance Defending Freedom joins with other right-wing groups in weaponizing the idea of “free speech.”

***”..Madison..reminded the House that some state conventions had expressed the fear..Congress might establish a national religion..In his great speech of June 8, 1789..People feared Congress would establish a national religion..Madison mentioned..some people feared the dominance of one sect or the possibility..two might combine to establish a religion to which others might have to conform.” [ Levy: “The Establishment Clause”}

8] “Engel v. Vitale”[1962], quoting James Madison, “Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments” [1785]: “[The} first and most immediate purpose [of the Establishment Clause] rested on the belief that a union of government and religion tends to destroy government and degrade religion. The history of governmentally established religion..showed..whenever government allied itself with one particular form of religion, the inevitable result had been that it had incurred hatred, disrespect and even contempt of those who wielded contrary beliefs..” The Establishment Clause thus stands as an expression of principle [by] the Founders of our Constitution that religion is too personal, too sacred, too holy to permit its “unhallowed perversion” by civil magistrates.” { Andrew Koppelman: “Defending America’s Religious Neutrality” ]

*** Ohio Supreme Court { 1872 }: “Let the state not only keep its own hands off, but let it see that religious sects keep their hands off each other.”

9] “Escape From Christian Nationalism”: “Over the next few days and weeks, it would become clear that busloads of White evangelicals were indeed among the rioters..friends from my old church informed me that dozens of people from churches in our home region had been there..I realized that the Capitol insurrection was the logical outcome of a half century of patriotic Christians preparing for combat..In the 1970s, the Religious Right – an explicitly political coalition of evangelicals and Catholics set on restoring old-time religion and family values – joined forces with the New Right.
“Together they form the New Religious Right..their Christian nationalist mission has been to take America back for God and the people they deem worthy of holding power in his name..two things become evident. First, religious symbols were everywhere..Second, White Christian nationalism was a major unifying phenomenon among the insurrectionists.” [ Bradley Onishi; Church & State; March, 2023 }

*** “..it is war. It is a war of ideology..a war of ideas..a war of our way of life..to be fought with the same intensity and dedication as..a shooting war.” { Paul Weyrich, “conservative” political activist ]

10] Charles Kimball: “When Religion Becomes Evil” – “The Five Warning Signs of Corruption in Religion: absolute truth claims; blind obedience; establishing the ‘Ideal’ time; the end justifies any means; declaring holy war.”
[ It should be OBVIOUS to any serious observer of 1970-2023 America, at least four of those “corruption of
religion” signs have been utilized here. As theFounding Generations feared, post-1980 America has been
torn apart by Far Right religious zealots – who obviously have used ANY means in their crusade ]

***”There is a religious war going on in this country. It is a cultural war..for the soul of America.” [ Pat Buchanan,
1992 Republican National convention speech ]

11] “How Debate Over Transgender Issues Became A New Rallying Cry for the Right”[ Adam Nagourney & Jeremy Peters; New York Times; 4/16/23]: “When the Supreme Court declared a constitutional right to same-sex marriage nearly eight years ago, social conservatives were set adrift. The ruling stripped them of an issue they had used to galvanize rank-and-file supporters and big donors..left them searching for a cause that..would rally the base and raise the movement’s profile on the national stage..the effort to restrict transgender rights has supplanted same-sex marriage as an animating issue for social conservatives.
“..it was also the result of careful planning by national conservative organizations to harness the emotion and gender politics..”Once they opened that parent’s rights frame, they began to use it everywhere.”..For several years, conservative Christian legal groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Liberty Counsel have been shifting their resources.”

*** “Our job is to evangelize..schools are the battleground. The goal of 500,000 born-again Christians working inside the ‘system’ is to bring public education back under..control of the Christian community.” [ Robert Simonds, president “Citizens for Excellence in Education and National Association of Christian Educators”; 1991 ]

12] “With God On their Side. How Christian Fundamentalists Are Controlling the Bush White House – And Interfering With American Lives” [ Church & State; January, 2006 ]: “A Conservation With Author Esther Kaplan”: Q. What do you believe is the Religious Right’s long-term goal for America? A. “The movement’s vision..is to bring God’s law into civic and political life, that is the Christian Right’s conservative evangelical version of God’s law..a theocratic vision.
“In their America, churches, rather than government will provide social services, and so tax dollars will flow to churches. Conservative Christian faith will be considered an important qualification for public office. [!!!eliminate Article VI prohibition!!!] ..Policy in everything from media to medicine will be guided by conservative evangelical moralism…
“The right’s strategy for stacking the courts with conservatives..On the Supreme Court, the combination of Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, and Alito has the potential to be a right-wing juggernaut, which could swing the door open to a thoroughgoing infiltration of Christianity into government..turn the clock back on women’s rights, gay rights and civil rights. We will likely face a situation where the federal courts will simply cease to be a force in the expansion – or even protection – of our democratic rights.”

*** “You say you’re supposed to be nice to Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense. I don’t have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist..” [Pat Robertson; 700 cub]

13]. “All The President’s Men And Women Members of President Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Board Are Hard At Work Changing Public Policy – But They’d Rather You Not Know About It” [Rob Boston; church & State; October, 2018]: “Advisory Board members crow about their influence in Washington, D.C. “There is a long list of progress we have made with this administration..We’ve provided consequential feedback on policy and personnel decisions particularly affecting religious liberty, judges, the right to life and foreign policy. We are also actively at work on issues like criminal justice reform..The Advisory Board, Moore said, has a “pretty significant” hand in “directing or affecting” administration policy.”
“..the advisory board is not in compliance with federal law..the Federal Advisory Commission Act..a 1972 law Congress enacted to “ensure that advice by the various advisory committees formed over the years is objective and accessible to the public.”

***Robert Jeffress, pastor, First Baptist Church of Dallas – has called gays “miserable,” “filthy,” and “degrading.” “What a lot of people miss is, America is not a church where everyone should be welcome regardless of race and background.”
“Islam is wrong. It is a heresy from the pit of hell. Judaism – you can’t be saved being a Jew.” In a 2011 sermon, he called the Catholic Church a corrupt version of Christianity that sprang from ancient Babylonian cults.

14] “Medical Emergency. The Church-State Wall Has Collapsed When it Comes to End-of-Life Care” [ Kim Callinan; Church & State; March, 2021]: “..four out of five Americans still lack explicit legal right to medical aid in dying – largely because religion is dictating our public policy. In most, if not all states, the largest, most organized and well-funded obstacle to the authorization of medical aid in dying is the Catholic Church..only one example of how a religion’s health care system’s values could interfere with your end-of-life care.”

***”Two main ethical concerns are advanced against legalization of physician-assisted suicide. The first is that it is not our place to decide the time of our death; only God decides..It rests firmly on a foundation of religious belief, which is not a sound basis for public policy. Worse, it runs roughshod over the right to individual self-determination.” [ Arthur Caplan; Free Inquiry; February/March, 2014]

15]. Mary Ziegler; “Dollars For Life”: “the influence ..of anti-abortion movement..has everything to do with money in U.S. politics.” Changes in campaign finance rules came at a terrible price for the GOP establishment and had important consequences for the functioning of American democracy.
“Citizen United” changes harmed democracy – empowered those against compromise, fueled partisan gridlock – made it hard to govern…….
“By 1993..[Bopp] concluded that almost all campaign finance restrictions harmed anti-abortion groups.”….
With “Citizens United” the Court overhauled the understanding of corruption in elections: no corruption beyond quid pro quo; the fact “speakers” have influence and access doesn’t mean corruption….no loss of citizen’s faith
Bopp wanted the Supreme Court to define corruption narrowly – only quid pro quo!!!!!!!!
The 2014 election “proved the importance of..”McCutcheon” and “Citizens United” – a flood of money occurred.
“Hobby Lobby” – what is the meaning of “religious liberty”?
“..there would have been no “Citizens United” if pro-lifers had not redirected the fight to undo campaign finance restrictions, litigating cases and reframing limits..”
Anti-abortion leaders argued more spending on political speech would be better for democracy “but intertwined campaigns to reverse Roe, deregulate campaign finance, and pack..federal courts with conservatives not only wreaked havoc on political parties but altered American politics – gridlock, negative partisanship, growing support for political violence… the pro-life link made the coalition work.

*** “Ecclesiastical Establishments tend to great ignorance and Corruption, all of which facilitate the Execution of mischievous Projects.” [ James Madison, 1774 letter ]

The above is a VERY small sample of the MOUNTAINS of evidence the Far Right has WEAPONIZED RELIGION in America – and in so doing, has damaged this country severely. Legal jokes like “Dobbs,” – yes, but most is the damage done to ordinary people like YOU, caught up in THEIR Holy War.
The cruelty, chaos, turmoil is everywhere: trying to control YOUR sex life and YOUR reproductive choices; censorship of library books and school curriculums; trying to prevent people around the world from accessing basic medical knowledge about their own bodies – contributing to the near, if not, unsustainable population explosion; trying to rewrite American history and science – to support their LIES; sabotaging American democracy by demanding 100% free “electoral free speech” [ buying elections, bribing office holders].

*** “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute..where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference..where no no public official either requests or accept instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of churches, or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials..”
[ John Fitzgerald Kennedy; 9/12/60 speech; Houston, Texas ]

The following is from Catherine Crier’s “Contempt How The Right Is Wronging American Justice.”

“The Bill of The Right”
Amendments I
Congress shall make any law encouraging the establishment of the Christian religion, and shall make no law inconveniencing the free exercise thereof; or promoting the freedom of Christian speech; or the right of Christians peaceably or otherwise to protest.
Amendments II
A heavily armed population, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to buy and own arms of any kind and number, shall not be infringed.
Amendments III
In times of undeclared war, the government shall reserve the right to defend the country against its enemies by any means necessary.
Amendments IV
The power of the government to search persons, houses, papers, and effects shall not be restricted, and no warrants shall issue, but upon cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and generally describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendments V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of undeclared war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be put twice in jeopardy of life or limb, nor be deprived of property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken.
Amendments VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a trial, a jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor.
Amendments VII
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed one million dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Amendments VIII
Excessive bail shall be required and punitive damages shall not be imposed
Amendments IX
Is deleted!!! Under “originalism,” “original intent,” “textualism,” etc. – this Amendment is no longer necessary!!!
Amendments X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states.

The above is Catherine Crier’s take on what the FAR RIGHT would do if they could, or, perhaps have already begun to do.

THE question, as always: what WAS said in The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution”s Preamble, the 27 Amendments, by Lincoln, by events of 1901-1980?
How does the CONDUCT, rhetoric, legal and legislative actions of the FAR RIGHT honor, or, dishonor, those intentions, documented words, documented acts?
Has the FAR RIGHT honored “all Men are created equal”?; the “unalienable rights” of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”? In the FAR RIGHT’s plan – WHO gets to decide what YOUR “Pursuit of Happiness” is? – YOU or the FAR RIGHT???
Does the FAR RIGHT really want YOU to have 100% religious liberty, on YOUR terms – or theirs?; real freedom of speech?; real freedom to read books YOU want?; real freedom to protest against them?; to be safe without getting shot?; to have full constitutional legal rights; to vote?
Is Catherine Crier a mindless crank, who has no evidence for her book – or – has something[s] happened in the past 40 years which has led her [and others] to protest, to warn YOU, that the FAR RIGHT plan for America is RADICALLY reactionary; is radically anti-democratic; is radically different from 1787-1980 American history; is a direct threat to YOU and YOUR children’s future????????????????

Do some real research, not just on the internet! Read what the Founding Generations REALLY said, 1770-1800. Research the state Constitution ratifying conventions 1787-89; Research the 1776-1800 state constitutions [for religion, see Edwin Gaustad’s “Faith of the Founders”, pages 134-145]; Research the 1792 Militia Acts [May 3 & 8]; Research WHY the Founders had 4 major fears” corruption, slavery, religion, mobs – and, how they tried to control those forces.
Research WHY there IS a “Bill of Rights” – and – WHY the Constitution would NOT have been approved without promises for a “Bill of Rights. Research WHY there was a “Progressive Era.”
Now, for perspective – look up “the 14 characteristics of fascism.” How many do YOU see now threatening America? How many have been the result of FAR RIGHT activities, 1980-2023?
Now – YOU can begin to see why Catherine Crier wrote her book. Now YOU can see why she made up the “Bill of The Right.” Now, you can begin to see why members of the Defense Department in past years wrote an open letter waning against another January 6th coup attempt. Now YOU can see why much criticism of the Roberts “supreme court” exists, especially after their June, 2022 decisions.
Now – YOU can see why democracy is fragile – and exists only as long as people like YOU wish that it will continue. YOU do, don’t YOU?

“Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?”

V. That question was asked of thousands of INNOCENT Americans during the second “Red Scare” of 1945 – early 1960s. Fear stalked America. Who would the American Inquisition next single out? Who. would be guilty by association; of reading the “wrong” books?
THE story of Far Right NEED for, searches for, “enemies” – has roiled America. 1620 – 2023. In that search, persecuted innocents, demand others live by THEIR standards, rules that continually violated the Constitution became the norm.

***”Such pipsqueaks as Nixon and McCarthy are trying to get us so frightened of Communism that we’ll be afraid to turn out the lights at night.” [Helen Gahagen Douglas]

1]. Griffin Fariello: “The Red Scare”: “The Red Scare was Truman’s Cold War come home..Archibald MacLeish..: “American foreign policy was a mirror image of Russian foreign policy: whatever the Russians did, we did it in reverse. American domestic policies were conducted under a kind of upside-down Russian veto: no man could be elected to public office unless he was on record detesting the Russians, and no proposal could be enacted from a peace plan at one end to a military budget at the other, unless it could be demonstrated that the Russians wouldn’t like it.
“Led by a reactionary Congress, and with considerable aid from Harry Truman, the media trumpeted the alarm: encircled by the Soviets and betrayed from within, our nation was endangered. This fear dominated national life; steps were taken to discipline the citizenry. Loyalty oaths became the order of the day. First it was government employees..then teachers; soon Americans of all varieties were mumbling oaths of fealty. Even Las Vegas got into the act, swearing a troupe of strippers to a solemn oath..
“State and federal investigators grilled suspected citizens on their reading habits, voting patterns, and church attendance. Support for racial equality became evidence of subversive leanings. Heretical literature was banned..some communities even held book burnings..Neighbors informed on neighbors, students on their teachers..Seven war-era concentration camps were dusted off, and lists prepared of radicals to fill them.
“..the Inquisition demanded a public accounting. Witnesses before the investigating committees were expected not only to repent..but name their former comrades. The pressure to collaborate was enormous. the full weight of government and society..All one had to do was cooperate and life would be restored.”

*** “As an organized political group, the Communists have done nothing to damage our society a fraction as much as what their enemies have done in the name of defending us against subversion.” [Murray Kempton]

2] David Caute: “The Great Fear”: the House Un-American Activities “working principle..was repentance, confession, betrayal. Only he who named names could truly be said to have purged himself. What the Committee wanted..was public denunciation, public purgation, a purification of the convert by means of his public humiliation as he betrayed his old friends and comrades.
“..HCUS’s mission and highest delight was to hound radicals out of their jobs..Frequently witnesses were fired as soon as they were subpoenaed..Even those who were self-employed, or owners of small businesses, could be ruined..
“To fight subversion, McCarthy practiced it. In various executive departments he set up what he called the “loyal American underground,” a network of spies..Justice Department and FBI men sympathetic to his crusade kept him supplied with pickings from confidential files..
Columnist Drew Pearson “reported in July, 1957, that the FBI had “a complete rundown on every Congressman, his private life and his family..no Congressman, if defeated or desirous of another government job, can become a judge or hold government office without clearance from the FBI.”
“The most important factor in enabling and consolidating the purge, the great cleansing of American working life, was the performance of the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Fred Vinson..a compliant instrument of administrative persecution and Congressional inquisition.”

*** “here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionaries and rebels – men and women who dared to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.”
[President Dwight D. Eisenhower}

3] David Halberstam: “The Fifties”: HUAC “included a large number of the most unattractive men in American public life – bigots, racists, reactionaries, and sheer buffoons..
“McCarthy’s carnival-like four-yer spree of accusations, charges, and threats touched something deep in the American body politic, something that had lasted long after his own recklessness, carelessness, and boozing..McCarthyism crystallized and politicized the anxieties of a nation living in a dangerous new era. He took people who were at worst guilty of political naivete and accused them of treason. He set out to do the unthinkable, and it turned out to be surprisingly thinkable.
“[Hoover] liked to judge people by what he defined as their Americanism – i.e. the more conventional they were, the more they thought like him and shared his prejudices, the better Americans they were..Oppenheimer offended Hoover professionally and personally..
“[Hoover] ..struck fear in the hearts of the most powerful politicians..he was the most successful of entrenched bureaucrats at a time of mounting fear, and he used fear with great skill to expand his power. He had longevity, and he had secrets..his files..concerned the moral failings of his fellow Americans, particularly those in power.”

***”If you make a pitch on a nationwide radio network for a square deal for the underdog, will they call you a Commie?…Are they going to scare us into silence?” [Frank Sinatra]

4]. David Caute: “The Great Fear”: the Truman loyalty program; 3/25/47 – a new loyalty program with Executive Order 9835. “It contained the most sinister and destructive departure in postwar domestic politics, one which was to ramify far beyond the federal service and poison wide areas of American working, educational and cultural life..”Sympathetic association” with “totalitarian, Fascist, Communist, or subversive” groups almost automatically meant trouble.
The Security Risk Concept. “A security risk is not necessarily a disloyal person; he or she may be a loyal person whose character, habits and associations make him or her vulnerable to blackmail..”The great jeopardy of the average employee stems from..enormous flexibility of the measuring rod applied by the government..lack of specificity in ultimate charges..star-chamber hearing including non-confrontation and deprivation of cross-examination..wide discretion of the security boards..absence of findings and..utter hopelessness of review, because even the reviewing courts..may not see..basic material if the government feels that it s not in the national interest to reveal it..
“Guilt By Association and Thought Control: a young civil servant charged with being “unduly critical of the United States Government; federal employee charged with having library books on Communism, Socialism, and Marxism; surgical secretary accused of having criticized monopolies and big business;..a Pentagon bootblack charged with having given $10 BEFORE he was born [needed 70 FBI interviews to clear him to shine shoes of Army officers!!!]….”

*** “The best way to take control over people and control them utterly is to take a little of their freedom at a time, to erode rights by a thousand tiny and almost imperceptible reductions. In this way, the people will not see those rights and freedoms being removed until past the point at which these changes cannot be reversed.” [ Adolf Hitler}

5] David Caute: “The Great Fear” – big business USES the “Great Fear” to attack labor
– The National Association of Manufacturers spent “several million dollars each tear” on the Wagner Act, the union shop and repeal of ‘right to work’ laws, that “were all products of Moscow’s machinations.”
– GE wanted to weaken the union. “The Communist issue provided the ideal pretext in terms of public and political relations..patriotism could be reconciled with the pursuit of profit.”
– “Without doubt the Magnavox Company..exploited the loyalty-security program in an attempt to break union solidarity.”
– The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, December, 1945, report “The menace of Socialism to Europe and its effect upon this country”: 1946 booklet “Communist Infiltration of the United States”: 1947 booklet “Communists Within the Labor Movement.”

*** “We hear about constitutional rights, free speech and the free press. Every time I hear those words I say to myself, “That man is a Red, that man is a Communist.” You never hear a real American talk in that manner.” [Frank Hague]

6] David Caute: “The Great Fear” – attacks on America’s Intellectual Institutions
“The pressures on the professions to conform were now immense. The Post Office and The Customs Bureau embarked on a massive – and largely illegal – program of censorship..a full-scale of interception and opening mail from certain countries.” Some professions re-introduced loyalty oaths.
The American teaching profession has almost invariably stood exposed as a target of suspicion and aggression at times of superpatriotic sensitivity..HCUA’s letter of June, 1949, to 81 colleges and high schools, demanding lists of textbooks used in.. literature, economics, government, history, political science and geography..
“..intimidation of librarians across the nation, by Legionaires, by Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution, by Minutemen..School textbooks become objects of hysterical debate. “That book is communistic. It advocates medical aid and hot-lunch programs..”Why show pictures of city slums? That’s what makes Communists out of people.”
“..by the middle fifties about 1,000 scientists had encountered security difficulties..in any single year, between 20,000 and 50,000 technicians, engineers, and scientists were not working. The results..inevitably made America less, not more, secure from attack.” Young scientists avoided working for the government.

*** “A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.” [John F. Kennedy]

7]. Herbert Mitgang: “Dangerous Dossiers”
A partial list of creative people in FBI and other government files:
– Nobel Laureates: Sinclair Lewis, Pearl Buck, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Thomas Mann
– major authors: Carl Sandburg, Theodore Dreiser, John Dos Passos, Thomas Wolfe, Dorothy Parker, John O”Hara
– troublesome playwrights: Thornton Wilder, Robert Sherwood, Elmer Rice, Maxwell Anderson, William Saroyan,
Lillian Hellman, Tennessee Williams
– poets and essayists: Archibald MacLeish [prematurely anti-Fascist!!!], Robert Lowell, Robert Frost, W.H. Auden,
H.L. Mencken, Edmund Wilson

*** “The junior Senator from Wisconsin, by his reckless charges, has so preyed upon the fears and hatred of uniformed and credulous people that he has started a prairie fire, which neither he nor anyone else may be able to control.”
[Senator J. William Fulbright]

8] Blacklisted people – see if YOU think any of these were likely Communist agents:
– Lucille Ball, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Dolores del Rio, Albert Einstein, Ruth Gordon, Lee Grant, Lena Horne, Danny Kaye, Gypsy Rose Lee, Burges Meredith, Jessica Mitford, Zero Mostel, Linus Pauling, Edward G. Robinson, Pete Seeger, Artie Shaw, William L. Shirer, Sam Wanamaker

*** “We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men.” [Edward R. Murrow; 3/9/54 “See It Now” broadcast]

9] McCarthyism is NOT over – look no further than current 2023 activities by members of the Far Right – in the media, in the state politicians who are REENACTING similar McCarthy era laws of censorship and other fear-driven works pandering to ‘”their base,” in Congress Critters holding “hearings” to whip up more fears – and 2024 votes

*** “Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters.”
[Justice Robert Jackson]

DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH!!! Start with historical examples of FAR RIGHT cruelty and corruption”
– Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson…Salem Witch Trials…”the only good Indian is a dead Indian”…”Barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen”…300 Whites lynched in the South, 1830-1860…”Know Nothings”…”Dred Scott”…KKK…Gilded Age Robber Barons…”Plessy”… 1919-1920 Red Scare…Scopes Monkey Trial… Harding Administration…1929 crash…l933 Plot to overthrow the U.S. government… Silver Shirts & German-American Bund…Father Coughlin & Charles Lindbergh…120,000 innocent Japanese-Americans in WW II concentration camps & “Korematsu”…John Birch Society…attacking Rachel Carson…”tobacco defense…Watergate…”glass ceiling”…”pro-life”…rigging tax codes…Reaganism & Iran-Contra…1980s S 7L bailouts…”culture wars”…”White power”…stacking courts with reactionaries…outsourcing jobs…global warming crisis denial…2008 Crash…”Heller” & “McDonald”…”Citizens United”…”Shelby County”…”Janus”…Make America Great Again…”Dobbs & “West Virginia” & praying on the 50-yard line & private school tuition paid by tax payers…outlawing birth control…private militias…organized hate groups…January 6, 2021

*** “The philosophical conservative is someone willing to pay the price of other people’s suffering for his principles.”
[E.L. Doctorow]

*** “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness…Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, Sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?” [ Joseph Welch – Army-McCarthy hearings]

“Have you no sense of decency, Sir, at long last?” – THIS question can be asked, right now, April, 2023e – again – of numerous FAR RIGHT groups and “personalities” contaminating public discussion, “throwing out red meat,” making millions by “telling people what they want to hear,” DELIBERATELY repeatedly pushing known LIES

THE 14 CHARACTERISTICS OF FASCISM – look them up. then. Ask YOURSELF – honestly – how many of them exist –
RIGHT NOW, April, 2023 in America.
Look up the founding Fathers’ 4 major fears – corruption, slavery, religion, mobs – ask YOURSELF , honestly – how
many have been obviously, RIGHT NOW, April, 2023, in America.

*** “WE, here in America, hold in our hands the hope of the world, the fate of the coming years;
and shame and disgrace will be ours if in our eyes the light of high resolve is dimmed, if
we trail in the dust the golden hopes of men.” [Theodore Roosevelt; Mount Rushmore]

2010-202x America is in major danger of repeating many/most 1930s errors and STUPIDITY. Most obvious is “America First” mentality – selfish isolationism to let other democracies suffocate and die, or be overrun by fascist dictatorships. Counterparts to 1930s Far Right talking heads spew disinformation.
Several elements of “14 characteristics of fascism” are obvious in 2023 America: identify enemies and scapegoats; rampant sexism; religion and government intertwined; corporate power protected; labor power suppressed; disdain for intellectuals and art; rampant cronyism; fraudulent elections [ which HAVEN’T occurred yet – but the Far Right is working on this: smear campaigns to manipulate; legislation to control voters & gerrymandering; use judiciaries to manipulate/control elections – see 2000 presidential “election.”]
THE most obvious test of democracies is Russia’s Ukraine invasion. If this ends with Russian control of ANY Ukrainian territory, the world will be headed for a repeat of the 1938 Austrian Anschluss and 1938-39 Nazi assimilation of Czechoslovakia. Dictators don’t stop until they’re defeated. Putin has gotten away with atrocities in 3 nations.
As the following will show, Hitler had considerable support in America – even DURING World War II. “American” companies actively aided Hitler, profited from it – and GOT AWAY WITH IT – during a war. Is that the definition of “treason”???

***”We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
[Winston Churchill]

1]. James Pool and Susan Pool: “Who Financed Hitler”
– “If “The International Jew was the Bible, then to the Nazis Henry Ford must have seemed a God. His anti-Semitic publications led many Germans to become Nazis. Baldur von Schirach..stated at the..Nuremberg War crimes Trial: “You have no idea what a great influence this book [The International Jew] had on the thinking of German youth..”..After 1933, it became a stock item of Nazi propaganda..
Not only did Hitler specifically praise Henry Ford in “Mein Kampf,” but many of Hitler’s ideas were a direct reflection of Ford’s racist philosophy..some passages are so identical it has been said Hitler copied directly from Ford’s publication.
“In the minds of Ford and Hitler, Communism was a completely Jewish creation>”. Ford’s condemning democracy influenced German businessmen – America wouldn’t object to Germany becoming an authoritarian state. Later American protests about German treatment of Jews. disregarded, felt Ford secretly approved it.
“That Henry ford..gave money to the National Socialists directly or indirectly has never been disputed, said Konrad Heiden [Hitler] biographer.” July, 1938, Ford awarded “the Grand Cross of the Supreme Order of the German Eagle,” the highest medal that could be given to a non-German. Hitler had Ford’s picture in his office.

*** “The scapegoat is necessary as a symbol of evil which it is convenient to cast out of the social order and, which, through its very being, confirms the remaining members of the community as good.” [Thomas Szasz]

2]. James Pool: “Hitler and His Secret Partners”
– “Opinions expressed publicly and privately to Nazi emissaries by Kennedy, Lindbergh, and the Windsors led Hitler to believe..there was a large body of opinion in America and Britain that was sympathetic to nazism and had no objection to anti-Semitism. The effect of this on Hitler turned out to be disastrous..lead him to believe he could get away with military aggression and persecution of the Jews but it also helped him convince his German partners..that a powerful segment of opinion in the United states and Britain had no objection to Nazi goals..The political goals of Kennedy and Lindbergh were much alike. Both favored appeasement for Britain and isolationism for the United States…Lindbergh’s report was..useful to Chamberlain to help him frighten the French into abandoning the Czechs at Munich.”

*** “Frogs will permit themselves to be boiled to death. If the temperature of the water in which the frog is sitting is slowly raised, the frog does not become aware of the danger until it is too late to do anything about it.”
[Robert Theobald]

3] Bradley Hart: “Hitler’s American Friends”
– “Nazism had tentacles that touched every American community..Thousands..joined groups like the German American Bund and the Silver Legion..Supporters of celebrity radio host Father Coughlin’s Christian Front roughed up Jews..and discouraged Americans from shopping at Jewish-owned stores..close to a million prepared to vote for a long-shot third party presidential candidate espousing a pro-Hitler platform, and over ten million we could classify as “Hitler’s American friends in waiting” in one form or another.
“The culminating moment of Hitler’s American friends came in the 1940-1941 period, when anti-intervention sentiment reached its peak simultaneously with power of the far right.”

*** “An infallible method of conciliating a tiger is to allow oneself to be swallowed,” [Konrad Adenauer]

4]. Charles Higham: “Trading With the Enemy”
– “The tycoons were linked by an ideology: the ideology of Business as Usual. Bound by reactionary ideas, the members sought a common future in fascist domination, regardless of which world leader might further that ambition.
“In 1942 Standard Oil of New Jersey mangers shipped the enemy’s fuel to neutral Switzerland..the Chase Bank in Nazi-occupied Paris after Pearl Harbor was doing millions of dollars’ worth of business with the enemy with full knowledge of the head office..Ford trucks were being built for German occupation troops in France..Colonel Sosthenes Behn, head of the international American telephone conglomerate ITT, flew from New York to Madrid to Berne during the war to help Hitler’s communications systems..ITT built the Focke-Wulfs that dropped bombs on British and American troops..crucial ball bearings were shipped to Nazi-associated customers in Latin America with the collusion of the vice-chairman of the U.S. Production Board in partnership with Goring’s cousin in Philadelphia..such arrangements were known about in Washington..”

*** “Wealthy men are insolent and arrogant; their possession of wealth affects their understanding; they feel as if they had every good thing that exists; wealth becomes a sort of standard of value for everything else; and therefore they imagine there is nothing it can’t buy.” [Aristotle]

5] Edwin Black: “IBM And The Holocaust”
– “As the third Reich embarked on its plan of conquest and genocide, IBM and its subsidiaries helped create enabling technologies, step-by-step, from the identification and cataloging programs of the 1930s to the selections of the 1940s.
“Aided by the company’s custom-designed and constantly updated Hollerith systems, Hitler was able to automate his persecution of the Jews..IBM technology was used to organize nearly everything in Germany and then Nazi Europe, from the runnings of railroads and organizing of concentration camp labor.
“IBM and its German subsidiary custom-designed complex solutions, one-by-one, anticipating the Reich’s needs. They did not merely sell the machines and walk away. Instead IBM leased these machines for high fees and became the sole source of the billions of punch cards Hitler needed.”
IBM transferred U.S. jobs to Germany and dodged U.S. taxes. IBM sabotaged international boycott of Germany’s economy. IBM got crucial help from some in government – gets immunized after the war!!!!!

*** “Men with power have an extraordinary capacity to convince themselves that what they want to do coincides with what society need done for its [own] good.” [Raymond Vernon]
*** “Not only does money speak; it also imposes silence.” [Aldous Huxley]

6] Democracy and rule of law are being tested by autocratic dictatorships. In a repeat of 1930s corporate greed – sanctions against and criticism of – anti-democratic regimes is. AGAIN being sabotaged by “American” corporations.
At least one “American” company has been alleged “trading with the enemy” of democracy – Putin. There are likely others..
China broke a 50 year treaty on Hong Kong in less than 25 years. They’ve virtually stamped out real democracy in the imprisoned city. They claim an island 100 miles off their shore, populated originally by people other than mainland Chinese, to be part of China. Corporate response to all this: DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
Corporations, for decades, screamed about “intellectual property’ rights, have manipulated international treaties to protect those “rights.’ These same corporations GAVE AWAY. those business secrets to China todo business there.
In response to Chinese aggression – “American” corporations HAVE. DONE. NOTHING. They COULD have made a statement when China broke the Hong Kong treaty. – THEY DID NOT. Making money was and IS more important. What will these “American” corporations do when/if China aids Russia’s Ukraine invasion???
China is a threat to world democracy – part of their plan dominating the world. China’s power comes from “American” corporations’ plants there – moving 5 million American manufacturing jobs and several million other jobs to China. this wealth greatly aids the FAR RIGHT THREAT TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY – and obviously aids Chinese power and aggression.

The lessons of the 1930s are obvious. Democracies almost waited until it was too late to stop what – to this point – was and is, THE single most evil regime in world history. THE question now, in 2023: do we have the will to do what is NOW , again, required to prevent a new anti-democratic coalition from accomplishing what the Nazis almost succeeded in doing????????????

*** “When it comes time to hang the capitalists, they will vie with each other for the rope contract.” [Lenin]

III. Destroying democracy for ordinary people – YOU! – Here we provide historical perspective. So YOU can realize how far WE, together, advanced to a true “democracy” – thus, YOU have historical evidence when the FAR RIGHT tries to take it away from YOU – as they have since 1980.
America only became a “democracy” post-1901. The “Progressive Era” was a popular revolt against the 1865-190l GREEDFEST of corruption of the top 1% and corporations [note: the Founders distrusted corporations, which is why they ARE NOT in the Constitution]. More reforms occurred 1933-1965. Virtually ALL post-1901 reforms have been attacked by the FAR Right – they do NOT like the freedoms and rights YOU gained.

1]. Brief historical perspective, 1619-1901. Conditions of life for average people. YOU want to go back to this?
A]. Jerry Fresia: “Toward An American Revolution”; 1650-1750, the rich got richer, the poor poorer. 1687 Boston: top 1% owned 25% of wealth; 1770 Boston, top 1% owned 44%. The rich enacted property qualifications to vote: 1750 Pennsylvania – 8% of rural and 2% of Philadelphia can vote.

B] Michael Parent: “Democracy for the Few”: in 12 of 13 states, only property-owning White males voted or held office. Excluded: all Native Americans, persons of African descent, women, indentured servants and White males without sufficient property. Property qualifications for holding office excluded most White males who could vote.
“..the common people..the great bulk of whom lived at a subsistence level. Most of the agrarian population consisted of poor freeholders, tenants, and indentured hands. Small farmers were burdened by heavy rents, ruinous taxes, and low income..economic prisoners crowded jails..”

C] “The Underside of American History,” Vol. 1, edited by Thomas Frazier: In the first 150 years of settlement, indentured servants were a major labor force. Another, more profitable labor force: African slavery.
In the colonial period, harsh penalties and traditional deference kept the poor “in their place.” After the Revolution, the poor took revolutionary ideology seriously [how impertinent of them!!!] – new methods of social control were enacted.
Post-1840, massive immigration of Irish and German Catholics led to much social conflict, especially in religion, jobs, hosing, and education; which “contributed to the rise of a nativist movement that stretched almost across a century.”
By the mid-19th century, the Industrial Revolution “had become so efficient..for the first time..there was a surplus of unskilled labor.” Factory owners stretched hours and cut wages; women and children had to go to work. “The struggle of the unskilled worker and urban factory operative..is one of the major motifs of 19th-20th century American life.” Workers only improved their lot by forming labor unions – fiercely resisted by the top 1%.
“..women were schooled only in the domestic arts and social graces..deprived of the right to vote, denied participation in politics and public life..expected to find fulfillment by living in the shadow of a successful male…Since many theories of male dominance were based on..traditional religion..many women felt it was in their interest to attack traditional religion.”

D]. “The Underside of American History,” Vol. 2, edited by Thomas Frazier: “..federal legislation in the decade after 1865 held out considerable promise for the future of democracy..federal concern for..civil rights of..freedmen soon gave way to growing public sentiment for ..conciliation of the South..National unity restored..at the cost of forcing freed Blacks back into positions of political and economic dependence.”
1875-1900, “The moral fiber of the nation appeared to disintegrate completely..The nation..embarked [into] unabashed materialism..”the Gilded Age…”Laissez faire” became the watchword..with disastrous results for..traditionally oppressed groups..freedmen, Indians, laborers, immigrants..cities..the land itself, which was heedlessly exploited.”
Social Darwinism supplied “scientific” reasoning for white supremacy..prejudice against ..Irish, Central and Southern Europeans, East Asians, all other groups not easily assimilated into the dominant White Protestant culture.
Protestantism and capital fought to maintain status quo. First “populism,” then “progressivism,” led demands for reforms. The goal was to break up political machines corrupting government; breaking up trusts controlling the economy and who “virtually owned the Senate.”
Anti-democratic forces” 1915 KKK revival, 1919 race riots, 1919-1920 “Red Scare.” “Prohibition” enacted for moralistic reasons. The 19th Amendment giving women the vote one of few reforms. The “Roaring Twenties” was a step back into huge economic inequality. Government favored big business; gains of labor virtually erased.
The result?: the 1930s “Great Depression” – which caused much, widespread, suffering.
World War II unity [offset by imprisoning 120,000 innocent Japanese-Americans] followed by great middle class golden age of 1947-1973. Blacks made slow gains of civil rights supposedly already theirs. “the decade of the 1960s was marked by the revolt of the victims of American history..”

The “Progressive Era” and the 1933-65 New Deal era CREATED mass democracy. Controls on top 1% and corporate greed; a progressive income tax; Social Security; recognition of labor rights; G.I. Bill; Medicare; civil rights for women and minorities. The peak of American middle class prosperity was achieved by governmental and court decisions [by a unique Supreme Court – one that actually supported ordinary people – like YOU!!!]. America actually began honoring the ideals of the Declaration and the Constitution’s Preamble

BUT – those 190l-1965 rights, the philosophy of the Founders -ALL under sustained FAR RIGHT attack – with, unfortunately, too much reactionary and cruel success>
WHO. gets to decide YOUR. “Pursuit of Happiness”??? The FAR RIGHT says THEY do; THEY have the “right” to dictate to YOU – because THEY are “moral” and wise – and YOU are not!!!!! Only THEY “know” what the Founders “reallY meant [ ignoring the DOCUMENTATION of what the Founders did say and create – another BIG LIE].
The result: cruelty, corruption, chaos. Compared to other “advanced’ nations, America regressed. The happiest people live in Scandinavia. Increasingly, Americans can’t afford “middle class’ life without credit card debt – guess WHO benefits fromYOUR usurious credit card penalties????!!!!????!!!!
As in other authoritarian regimes, reactionary American FAR RIGHT has used as cover for its cruelty and corruption the force of law [more on HIS in section 7 of this series]. The legal BIG LIE is the bogus “originalism” theory. this preposterous 20th century creation claims 2023 American life should be run on 1787 circumstances and thinking – even as the Founders explicitly said THEY didn’t support this fraud!!!

*** Benjamin Rush, Pennsylvania Convention, ll/30/1787: “Our rights are not yet all known, how then could they be properly enumerated?”

E]. “A Constitution of Our Own Making” [Caroline Fredrickson; Washington Monthly; Sept.-Oct., 2021]: “..the contemporary document is defined far more by its various amendments, enacted over the course of 200 years, than it is defined by what happened in 1787..the Constitution has been shaped by the millions of Americans who have voted for, organized for, and at times literally fought for change..[Constitutional Amendments] “have moved it almost entirely in one direction: left.”

*** “The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.” [Justice Brandeis]

The FAR RIGHT revolted against the American people in every sphere of public [and private]. life: politically, economically, religiously, socially. THEY want to control YOUR life!!!!! They often work in concert, often funded by similar “Dark Money” [Jane Mayer – read it!!!], often represented by similar law firms, most are now visible in one political party – claiming they are helping you, when they are really hurting YOU.

YOU dare learn the FACTUAL TRUTH? Begin with double Pulitzer Prize winners Barlett & Steele’s “The Betrayal of the American Dream” and Pulitzer Prize winner Hedrick Smith’s “Who Stole the American Dream?” – both written in 2012. A review of Smith: “the ways the rich have been sticking it to the middle class since the late 1970s..”
For more facts, go to pre & post-1980 UNSPUN official iRS income and tax info. Mother Jones, March-April, 2011, article: YOU are getting ROBBED up to $10,000 EVERY year by the top 1%.

***”people of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” [Adam Smith, “The Wealth of Nations”]

F]. Kurt Andersen: “Evil Geniuses”: “..chronicles the quite deliberate reengineering of our economy and society..by a confederation of the rich, the right, and big business..the 1980s Reagan changes had a stealth quality..the 1980s were the 1930s in reverse..a time-release Raw Deal.”
The Reagan administration enacted 775/1000 Heritage Foundation wish list proposals. FAR RIGHT ideologues from Heritage, the American Enterprise Institution, Hoover Institute served in the R-W Reagan administration
******* MUST READ: pages 118-120: 20 Key Changes “good” for Big Business, Financial Industry, Rich. and – the 28 Key Changes that were “BAD” for Americans in general.

Summary of DAMAGE to America during Reagan administration in Andersen’s chapter titles: “The Rule of Law;” “Deregulation Generation;’ “The Culture of Greed is Good;” “How Wall Street Ate America;” “Workers of the New World, You Lose;” ‘Insecurity is a Feature, Not a Bug;” “Ruthless Beats Reasonable.”

***”Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few.” [Wendell Phillips]

G] Nicholas Lemann: “Transaction Man”: “..the last quarter of the 20th century..Once agin, as in early days of industrial capitalism, big winners were spectacularly rewarded, economic power..concentrated, inequality and risk arose..local institutions weakened..the old picture of a country that could offer a better life to each succeeding generation seemed not to apply any longer..
“Today the Transaction Man mentality..is..deeply rooted..When a challenge presents itself..any proposed solution..characterized as relying on bureaucracy, organizations, government agencies, or established interest groups is doomed..In the manner of someone who thinks the cure for a hangover is another drink, the country keeps reacting to troubles produced by the deterioration of its institutional life by embracing further deterioration.
“We want politics and government to be taken away from career professionals, charter schools to replace traditional public schools, higher education to take place online at home, journalism to be turned over to citizens…
“Deregulation produced the greatest concentration of financial power in American history, in 6 big companies. The advent of the supposedly power-distributing Internet produced the five big companies that now dominate technology..
“The economy we now have is not doing a good job of generating social trust, political calm, or widely shared prosperity. Instead, it has produced a series of terrifying economic shocks..”

***”Concentrations of power always wind up harming people, no matter how benign the holders of power believe themselves to be.” [Nicholas Lemann]

EVERY factual analysis acceptable world-wide as truth shows this: life for “average” Americans has grown less secure, more financially difficult since 1980. Health care more difficult to access and more expensive. Education underfunded and money diverted to private, usually fundamental religious schools. Divisive disinformation and BALD LIES rife – courtesy of Reagan deregulation. Income siphoned off to the top 1%>

NONE of this is “natural”. or. “accidental”. Nearly 100% of lost American freedoms, rights, wealth –
DELIBERATELY ORCHESTRATED. This DOCUMENTED, by among numerical proof – CONFESSION of some of
the GUILTY. FAR. RIGHT groups and people. who did the crimes

The slow upward 1620-1901 upward climb, and the 190l-1965 reforms. – ALL attempted to be reversed by DELIBERATE FAR RIGHT actions. Their. BIG. LIE. is what I just told YOU , and what is DOCUMENTED – is not true. – just like global climate crisis is not true [because THEY profit from it]

*** “Of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of plutocracy.” [Theodore Roosevelt]

II PLOTS AGAINST AMERICA. The January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and Congress was NOT the first such plot. Given developing evidence, it, unfortunately, will likely NOT be the last.
It’s imperative that YOU think in terms of MULTIPLE plots by the radical, reactionary, FAR RIGHT. Since the 1980s there is an ON-GOING Far Right economic plot to totally subvert ANY and ALL restraints on corporate power. YOU can easily see visible elements: attacks on unions of ANY kind; moving jobs to non-union states and then anywhere in the world – including to totalitarian state that threaten America’s very existence; fierce “lobbying” and rhetoric against ANY and ALL regulations [that might safeguard health, lessen global warming, benefit their own workers, benefit customers]; fierce “lobbying” and rhetoric against ANY and ALL taxes.
The second plot, control of the American judicial system, has now [perhaps] reached near final success. Between Senator Mitch McConnell and willing other Senators, and the highly successful campaign orchestrated by Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society network – the judicial system has been filled with as many reactionary “conservative” federal judges as McConnell could appoint. 6 Far Right “justices” sit on the “supreme court,” passing a FAR RIGHT wish list rewarding various elements in the FAR RIGHT coalition. The June, 2022, “supreme court” session illustrates the damage inflicted on America. Absurd, counter-factual decisions continue to be issued in federal courts to this very day.
The third plot is revealed by the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and Congress. It was NOT the first, it just progressed further. The first plot is discussed in Jules Archer’s “The Plot to Seize The White House” – the July-November, 1933, plot to overthrow the U.S. government and “establish an American Fascist dictatorship.”
The fourth plot is that of the fundamentalist “Religious Right” to create an American theocracy. They’ve working, with great success, to undermine the First Amendment. With much help from recent “supreme courts,” they’ve succeeded in FORCING other Americans to pay tuition and other expenses at THEIR private schools, to repair church facilities, and worst of all, to FORCE other Americans to live by THEIR RELIGIOUS DOGMA – something the First Amendment, prior to 2000, absolutely forbid. See also 1776-1800 state constitutions for strict language prohibiting FORCED support.
The fifth plot is spreading DISINFORMATION, create “alternative facts,” rewrite American history and science, create new ABSURD legal “theories” out of thin air justifying all that they’ve done to sabotage America. They’ve created an alternative universe of propaganda media stations, think tanks, writers, influencing university and school curriculums. They’ve succeeded in dividing a confused American public, one made vulnerable by their own economic activities. One recent scandal involving a prominent TV station illustrates, partially, extreme they’re willing to resort.

***”At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if ever it reach us, it must spring up amongst us…If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.” [Abraham Lincoln]

1] The July-November, 1933, “Plot to Seize The White House” was meant to install a fascist dictatorship. The head of their private army was to be retired Marine Major General Smedley Butler. Instead, Butler revealed the coup plot.
Details are in the McCormack-Dickstein Committee hearings, begun in New York City on November, 1934. “On February 15, 1935, the Committee submitted to the House of Representatives its final report, verifying completely ther testimony of General Butler.”
Author Jules Archer: “There is strong evidence to suggest that the conspirators may have been too important politically, socially, and economically to be brought to justice after their scheme had been exposed..The largely anti-Roosevelt press of the New Deal era scotched the story as expeditiously as possible by outright suppression, distortion and attempts to ridicule General Butler’s testimony as capricious fantasy.” Butler later NAMED NAMES – people and organizations. The gold standard was involved. One man told Butler he had $3 million in working capital, could access $300 million “if it were needed>” [1934 dollars] The American Liberty League is mentioned, as are contributors [page 31].
Roosevelt and his ‘New Deal’ were “damned as socialist or communist..” Archer: “In the eyes of America’s industrialists and bankers, the President, if not an actual secret Communist, was dedicated to destroying the nation’s capitalist economy by the New Deal, which they labeled as “creeping socialism.”” They envisioned FDR turning the USA into another Soviet Russia.
Archer: “Some business leaders envied their counterparts in Italy, who had financed Mussolini’s rise to power. Il Duce’s efficiency in “making the trains run on time” was highly lauded, along with the dictatorial control of labor unions by his corporate state.”

*** “People may start out with an initial prejudice against tyrants, but when tyrants or would-be tyrants treat them to adrenaline-releasing propaganda about the wickedness of their enemies – particularly of enemies weak enough to be persecuted – they are ready to follow [the tyrants] with enthusiasm.” [Aldous Huxley]

2] “U. S. military chiefs assert American values – and a warning” [Martin Schram; Tribune News Service; 9/11/22]: “Eight former defense secretaries and five former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff issued an open letter to the nation Tuesday..these former military leaders..warned us: “Politically, military professionals confront an extremely adverse environment characterized by the divisiveness of affective polarization that culminated in the first election in over a century when a peaceful transition of political power was disputed and in doubt. Lookin ahead, all of these factors could well get worse before they get better.”
[Former Defense Secretary Leon} Panetta said he believes this is America’s fork-in-the-road moment. “I honestly believe that America can be an America in renaissance in the 21st century..But..if we allow our fears, hates, frustrations to divide us – and turn against one one another – I think there’s a very good chance that we can follow the paths of past empires. And we can lose our democracy.”

*** “This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; When he first appears, he is a protector.” [Plato]

3]. POLITICAL VIOLENCE.
– “Guns Everywhere Mean Democracy Nowhere” [Jamelle Bouie; New York Times; 1/15/23]: “..democracy rests on a measure of trust and respect among citizens..Guns, when carried as totems through public space, make this impossible..”
– “Will guns become a tool of political intimidation?” [Paul Waldman; Washington Post Weekly; 11/28/21]: “Carrying guns openly is, perhaps more than anything else, a kind of speech. It’s meant to communicate a clear message: I may decide to kill you. The intimidation is the point.”
– “Menace As Political Tool” [Lisa Lerer & Astead Herdon; New York Times; 11/19/21]: “When you start dehumanizing political opponents, or really anybody, it becomes a lot easier to inflict violence on them..”
– “Political Violence Is threatening Our Democracy” [New York Times editorial; 11/6/22]: “..the threat of violence has begun to have a corrosive effect on many aspects of public life: the hounding of election workers until they are forced into hiding; harassment of school board officials; threats to judges; armed demonstrators at multiple state houses..assaults on flight attendants..armed intimidation of librarians over books and the ideas they choose to share.”

*** “The most popular man under democracy is not the most democratic man, but the most despotic man. The common folk delight in the exactions of such a man. They like him to boss them. Their natural gait is the goose step.”
[H.L. Mencken]

4] The most frightening piece I’ve read in years: “ANARCHY’
– “The New Anarchy” [Adrienne LaFrance; The Atlantic; April, 2023]: “We face a new phase of domestic terror; one characterized by radicalized individuals with shape-shifting ideologies willing to kill their political enemies..
“The conditions that make a society vulnerable to political violence are complex but well established: highly visible wealth disparity, declining trust in democratic institutions, a perceived sense of victimhood, intense partisan estrangement based on identity, rapid demographic change, flourishing conspiracy theories, violent and dehumanizing rhetoric against the “other,” a sharply divided electorate, and a belief among those who flirt with violence that they can get away with it.
“The path out of bloodshed is measured not in years but in generations,: Rachel Kleinfeld writes in “A Savage Order,” her 2018 study of extreme violence, it is always more vulnerable to ore backsliding.” Cultural patterns, once set, are durable. [witness the violence of one U.S. geographic region]
“Three realities mark the current era of political violence in America as different from what has come before, and making dealing with it much harder.. the universal access to weaponry, including military grade weapons….today’s information environment….people refusing to accept the outcome of elections.”

***”Nothing stands between the people’s miserable present and its glorious future, except a minority, perhaps a majority, of perverse or merely ignorant individuals. All that is necessary is to liquidate a few thousands, or maybe a few millions, of these living obstacles to progress, and then †o coerce and propagandize the rest into acquiescence. When these unpleasant but necessary preliminaries are over, the golden age will begin.” [Aldous Huxley]

The above is but a partial examination of this post’s main thesis, DOCUMENTED by historical and current near-daily FAR RIGHT actions and rhetoric.Today’s paper alone carries several stories: two shootings,, a reactionary judge’s edict throwing medical care into chaos, a “Right wing rally further inflames” piece, a bogus right-wing “hearing,” legislators being reinstated after eviction, a politician under indictment trying to eliminate testimony of his anti-democratic activities from being heard, secret perks for a “conservative” judge “undermine trust” in a court. This on ONE day!!!

AGAIN. – do YOUR own research – for the entire 1945-2023 period. WHO. are the individuals and groups, the hidden money & power, involved in anti-democratic activities and rhetoric, again and again??? Which political faction, backed by hidden wealth of rich people and corporations is behind consistent attacks to curtail government power to control their greed? WHO wants to restrict government power to reverse global warming??? Who has reversed the 1947-73 golden middle class golden age????? Who backed the two major plots against the U.S. political system??? WHO attacks efforts by ordinary people???? WHICH religions are attempting to create a theocracy????????

***. “If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.” [Abraham Lincoln]
BUT – exactly. WHO are the “authors and finishers”. of America’s suicide???????? WHO since 1945, has made every effort to sabotage what the Founders. said and did, the rights they deliberately created??? WHO. has tried to sabotage the modern, post-1901, democracy. created by the American public’s DEMANDS?????
None other than elements of the FAR. RIGHT. o

Why can we say such a thing? Start with an average 53 American children being shot EVERY day. What “civilized” nation allows that??? Poverty, hunger, homelessness – of children. What “advanced” nation allows this??? A children’s mental health crisis. What “rich” nation allows this??? Tobacco being deliberately marketed to young people. What “caring” nation allows corporations to market death to its children??? Children being deliberately addicted to social media, for hours a day. What “moral” nation allows this addiction to continue – when it KNOWS this is occurring??? Government spending on older adults plus other budget items FAR exceeds that spent on its future – its children. What “rational” nation allows its own future to be short changed??? Occupations that primarily care for and educate children have long been under paid. What message does a society send when those who care for and educate its future adults are under paid???

*** “Don’t tell me what your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I’ll tell you what they are.” [James W. Frick]

1]. Gun Violence – and Individual and Community Trauma
– “A Generation Torn by Trauma..School shooting survivors can’t escape echoes of the gunfire” [John Woodrow Cox; Wash. Post; 5/29/22]: “..hundreds of thousands of children’s lives have been profoundly changed by school shootings..children who suffer no physical wounds at all, but are still haunted for years..The nightmares..”
– “After witnessing a parent’s death, a life of trauma” [John W. Cox; Wash. Post Weekly; 8/28/22]: “..thinks about the man she watched shoot her father..feared for years that he would find her family again..made her so paranoid..”

*** “So long as little children are allowed to suffer, there is no true love in the world.” [Isadora Duncan]

2] “Why does America hate its children?” [Paul Krugman; New York Times; 1/20/20]: “..the grim exceptionalism of America’s child-oriented policies, which are Dickensian compared with those of every other advanced country..every advanced country mandates some form of paid leave for new mothers..except the United States..”

*** “A youth is to be regarded with respect.” [Confucius].

3] Addicting Children to Social Media – and Depression, Hospitalization, Suicide
– “Curb kid’s tech addiction, investors tell Apple” [Assoc.Press; 1/9/17]: “Two major Apple investors have urged the iPhone maker to help curb smartphone addiction among children..letter cited various studies on negative effects of smartphones and social media on children’s mental and physical health..”
– “Suicide spike in girls raises concerns over social media” {Cynthia Koons; Bloomberg News; 5/18/19]: “The fact..social media has become the primary forum for interpersonal engagement in adolescence.. Increasing rates of suicide may be the ‘canary in the coal mine’..”
– “Seattle schools sue social media” [Gene Johnson; Assoc Press; 1/9/23]: “..complaint says the social media companies have created a public nuisance by targeting their products to children..Internal studies revealed..in 2021 showed the company knew that Instagram negatively affected teenagers..”

*** “No social problem is as universal as the oppression of the child.” [Maria Montessori]

4] DELIBERATELY Under Funding Education – Damage Done To Children, America
– “The uneducated American” [Paul Krugman; New York Times; 10/12/09]: “America, which used to take the lead in educating its young, had been gradually falling behind other advanced countries..education is on the chopping block..laid-off teachers are only part of the story. Even more important is the way that we’re shutting off opportunities.”
– “The Cost Of Education Funding Cuts”. [NEA Today; 2018]: “..mice in their classrooms, they have to buy their own glue traps..antiquated plumbing that regularly floods a..hallway…some schools restrict..use of air conditioners…a teacher who sells his blood..teachers who work into the night as Uber drivers..[17 states divert $1 billion to private schools]

*** “The free school is the promoter of that intelligence which is to preserve us as a free nation; therefore, the state or the nation, or both combined, should support the free institutions of a good common school education.”
1888 Republican Party national platform plank]

5]. Respecting Children By Telling Them The TRUTH
– There are political campaigns built around “protecting” children from “divisive” topics: the Holocaust; slavery, Civil War causes, segregation, racism; American Indians; women; Asian-Americans. Some states passing laws making it illegal to go “too far” on other things – like anything to do with [SEX!!!] and sexuality, most especially gays and trans youth.
The central lessons of WW II: the Holocaust, dangers of fascism [now occurring in the U.S.A.], dangers of “America First” isolationism [now occurring in the U.S.A.]. From 1619 forward, the South defended racial slavery and segregation. It’s DOCUMENTED southern states refused to join a “United States” unless slavery was protected – several Constitutional provisions haunt us to this day. From 1492 forward, GENOCIDE against “Indians” was conducted in North and South America. Asian-Americans were imported as labor to build railroads – then laws restricted their immigration. Women were second class citizens without political power, 1789-1920; subject to discrimination, quotas in schools, the “glass ceiling,” 1920 – .

*** “History is the torch that is meant to illustrate the past, to guard against the repetition of our mistakes of other days. We cannot join in rewriting of history to make it conform to our comfort and convenience.” [Claude Bowers]

“School Shouldn’t Be A Battlefield” [George Packer; The Atlantic; April, 2022]: “Public education is meant not to mirror the unexamined values of a particular family or community, but to expose children to ways that other people, some of them long daed, think..A functioning democracy needs citizens who know how to make decisions together.”

*** “It’s not so much what folks don’t know that causes problems, it’s what they do know that ain’t so.” [Artemus Ward]

“In Schools, Talk about Racism Can Reduce Bias” [Camilla M. Griffiths & Nicky Sullivan; Scientific American; Nov.,2022]:”In Iowa..a law prohibits any teaching that suggests the U.S. is “fundamentally or systematically racist or sexist”..also specifies that teachers must ensure that no student feels “discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of the individual’s race or sex.”..[this seems to be] protective of children. But the effect is quite the opposite.”

*** “There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth, not going all the way, and not starting.” [Buddha]

Perhaps with refusing to allow our children to hear and discuss truth – it isn’t so much hating children, in this case, but – that America FEARS. it’s own children. the fear if they hear the truth, adults will lose control over them; the fear children knowing truth will disown parents; the fear knowing truth children will [GASP] want to change America to reflect truth [how absolutely UNPATRIOTIC of them!!!]

*** “The true test of civilization is not the census, nor the size of cities, nor the crops – no, but the kind of man the country turns out.” [Ralph Waldo Emerson]

6] Homeless and Hungry in America. – Children
– “New report says U.S. child homelessness at all-time high” [David Crary & Lisa Leff; Assoc.Press; 11/17/14]: “..the report issued Monday by the National Center on Family Homelessness calculates that nearly 2.5 million American children were homeless at some point in 2013..”
– “A quarter of children being raised by grandparents face hunger” [Michelle Singletary; Wash. Post; 11/21/22]: “In 2021, about 34 million people lived in food-insecure households..”
– “It’s the law: Free school meals for all” [Eder Campuzano; Star Tribune; 3/18/23]: “Minnesota becomes the third state to require no-cost breakfast and lunch for all students..”
– “Lost In Ohio” [Samantha Shapiro; New York times Magazine; 10/2/22]: “Fo homeless kids in rural America, staying in school can seem next to impossible – but often it’s their only source of help…failing to graduate from high school is the single greatest risk factor for future homelessness.”

*** “The children who go to bed hungry in a Harlem slum or a West Virginia mining town are not being deprived because no food can be found ..; they are going to bed hungry because ..we have not yet found a way to make the necessities of life available to all of our citizens – including those whose failure is ..only an unwise choice of parents.” [ senator J. William Fulbright]

7] Book Burnings – And – Beyond
-“Why book bans and voter suppression go hand in hand” [Kimberle W. Crenshaw; L.A. Times; 11/13/22]: “..between July, 2021 and June, 2022, nearly 1,700 book titles have been banned..The magnitude of this assault on our children’s right to learn cannot be overstated..When honest discussions and examination of racism are made unspeakable, then a truly inclusive democracy in unattainable.”
– “Bible Among Books Withheld From Schools” [Amanda Holpuch; New York Times; 8/19/22]: “..It is virtually impossible to run a school or a library that purges books in response to any complaint from any corner ..”
– “The old censorship argument has a new goal” [David Levithan; Wash. Post Weekly; 10/2/22]: “..the attacks are less about the books. We’re targets in a much larger proxy war with the goal of eviscerating the country’s public education system.”
– GOP pushes curriculum transparency across U.S.” [Julie C. Smith & Casey Smith; Assoc. Press; 2/13/22]: “Tissot [Cincy Mom] also supports policing teachers’ behavior more closely, including requiring them to wear body cameras..the legislation gives local parent committees with no expertise power over which curriculum teachers use, and parents could file complaints and lawsuits if they believe teachers have violated a ban on certain “divisive concepts.”

*** “Don’t join the book burners. Do not think you are going to conceal thoughts by concealing evidence that they ever existed.” [President Dwight D. Eisenhower]

8] Erasing Sub Humans
– “Trans People Testifying To Legislatures Facer Disrespect’ [Andrew Demillo; Assoc Press; 2/28/23]: “The idea of protecting children by withholding medical care is undermined by health experts, who have said minors with gender dysphoria who do not receive appropriate care face dramatically increased risk of suicide and serious depression.”
– “No Dignity In this Kind OfAmerica” [Jamelle Bouie; New York Times]: “To deny equal respect and dignity to any part of the citizenry is to place the entire country on the road to tiered citizenship and limited rights, to liberty for some and hierarchy for the rest..There is no world in which their freedom is suppressed and yours is sustained.”
– “GOP pushing anti-LGBTQ bills at record pace” [Kelsey Butler; Bloomberg News; 4/10/22]: “It”s not just about health care. It’s not just about bathrooms or curriculum or any of the other areas where these transgender youth are being targeted. It is about a well-coordinated national political campaign to write them out of existence.”

*** “It is easy to substitute our will for that of the child by means of suggestion or coercion; but when w have done this we have robbed him of his greatest right, the right to construct his own personality.” [Maria Montessori]

9] So – DOES America Hate Children?
– What are the basic needs of ANY human being, birth to death? Health care, food, housing, clothing, education. safety and protection, treated with respect and dignity at a MINIMUM. Has America provided all of this, in required quantities for its children? NO. Have other similar nations provided for these needs? YES. America’s DOCUMENTED failure to nurture its own children, as others do is THE reason we can say: “America Hates Children”

*** “Society is indeed a contract…It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue, and in all perfection. As the ends of such partnership cannot be obtained except in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.” [Edmund Burke]

The failure to nurture its own children means America has broken Burke’s sacred contract. America has broken the partnership with generations 175-2023. America has broken the partnership with generations 2023 forward.
If one sees Americans as part of a society, part of a large family, then the American family has failed in its most basic duty: to nurture and protect its children. this is a betrayal of cosmic proportions. By rights, America should be taken to court, and prosecuted for child neglect.

*** “The security and elevation of the family and of family life are the prime objects of civilization, and the ultimate ends of all industry.” [Charles W. Eliot]

It gets worse. Not only neglect – but actual hostility, cruelty, and persecution. – of CHILDREN. Biological science says 3 to 10% of humans are “gay.” They have no choice. They are born this way. Some are tall, some shirt. Some have blue eyes, some brown. Some have tried to resist [even getting married to opposite sex]. Some committed suicide.
CHILDREN – coming to “adults” for help – denied, and worse.

*** “The most effective way to silence our guilty conscience is convince ourselves and others that those we have sinned against are indeed depraved creatures, deserving every punishment, even extermination. We cannot pity those we have wronged, nor can we be indifferent toward them. We must hate and persecute them or else leave the door open to self-contempt.” [Eric Hoffer]

A country that loves its own children does NOT make life more difficult for them. It does NOT allow children to become victims of addictions. It does NOT allow them to be exploited. It does NOT allow thousands to be hungry and homeless.
BUT. – a country that DOES. hate its children just might see thousands of them now being treated and hospitalized for mental health crises.

*** “I’m not sure how many “sins” I would recognize in the world..But I can imagine none that is more irredeemably sinful than the betrayal, the exploitation, of the young by those who should care for them.” [Elizabeth Janeway}o

We are almost all gone now. By our 50th grad reunion, nearly 25% were gone. We were born between the late 1930s and the late 1940s. Our parents, their friends, our neighbors, our teachers, our bosses – were almost all “Greatest Generation” members. THAT was our first stroke of luck. The second was growing up during the 1947-1973 great middle class prosperity era. We graduated high school in the 1950s-1960s – were often married, buying homes, having children before the “Age of Innocence” ended – our third stroke of luck.

Early TV “performers” were often former radio people – which meant they looked like normal people. Ed Murrow switched from London bombings to interview shows. Walter Cronkite and Huntley-Brinkley told us the news. Cronkite’s eyes watered on air on 11/22/63.
Featured kid’s shows were “Crusader Rabbit” and “Howdy Doody>”. “Father Knows Best,” “Ozzie and Harriet,” and “Leave It To Beaver” joined “Westerns.” Early “Rock ‘n Roll” had Elvis and Chuck Berry – it was mostly about innocent things like teen love and happiness. Minnie Pearl was on air. Movies featured people like Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day. Westerns had big John Wayne. Drive-In movies were a big staple – rumor had it a few kids were conceived in their parking lots.

Baseball was far and away THE #1 team sport. Cobb and Wagner replaced by Ruth and Gehrig, replaced by Greenberg, Feller, DiMaggio and Williams, later Musial, Spahn, Robinson, Berra, Campy, Mantle, Mays, and Aaron. Unlike future pros. Feller and Spahn in WW II, and Williams in Korea – were actually in combat. Hearing of Pearl Harbor, Greenberg re-enlisted.
1920s era sports stadiums predominated, especially for college football. Many were called “Memorial” in honor of WW I soldiers. NFL games were played in baseball stadiums. There were “box seats” but no “private boxes.” The famous 1957 NFL championship game was played in Yankee Stadium, often called the game that “made” the NFL.

Pro hockey was played in 6 Canadian and northern American cities. The NBA was largely a minor sport, some teams having multiple “home” arenas. Pro basketball at one time had the NBL, the ABL, and the BAA. Home games were played in Sheboygan, Oshkosh, Fort Wayne, Providence, Anderson, and Syracuse. At one time, Chicago had two pro teams: Stags and Gears.


All this was before high school and college sports were professionalized. Alumni ego and money [naturally – what else in America???] did that. At one time, the “Big Ten” actually had 10 teams, all in the upper Midwest; the SEC was only in the old South; the Pac 8 was only on the Pacific coast. Before pro sports expanded, local high school and college players were the heroes young kids aspired to be – part of the “Age of Innocence”. – which we, in our innocence, thought was “normal,” not the fleeting thing it turned out to be>

Then. – things began to change.

The “Age of Innocence” ended during the “Decade of Shocks” [Shachtman]. Assassinations: Medgar Evers, JFK, Malcolm X, Martin, Bobby. Then Vietnam [based much on the “Domino Theory” and ignorance of Vietnam]. Then – 1965-66-67-68. Then, in May, 1970 – Kent State and Jacksonville State. Then Watergate.
There were brief bursts of innocence: “the summer of love;” Woodstock [“An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace and Music”], a concert for 400,000 held on an upstate New York dairy farm; hippies; communes. Eventually the Beatles broke up.

But – this “Age of Innocence” was flawed. Not all people were treated equally – especially African-Americans, who had to fight to access rights guaranteed by the l3th-14th-15th Amendments. Women were second class citizens. Feminism considered by some a “deep illness,’ electric shock for neurotic behavior and seeking abortions {Coontz}, the sexual double standard and glass ceilings. Poverty rates increased. Conservative religious values imposed. Indians were shuttled off to “reservations” [never mind broken treaties]. Mexicans were supposed to be happy picking our fruits and vegetables.

Then – the empire struck back.

First attacks on labor: hostility to unions and moving jobs south to non-union states, then anywhere, including democracy’s #1 enemy, China. Corporate “lobbying” [legal machinations] escalated, its goals: reduced taxes [achieved], eliminate regulations [much achieved], eliminate living wage jobs [largely achieved]. The top 1% and corporations now have THE. #1. “business-friendly” Supreme “court” handing them major victories [“Citizens United,” “Janus,” “EPA-W.VA,” mandatory arbitration, etc.}

For perspective and reference: “The Betrayal of the American Dream” [Barlett & Steele] and “Who Stole the American Dream?” [Hedrick Smith] – from a Bloomberg book review: “..all the ways the rich have been sticking it to the middle class since the late 1970s read like a Times investigative report from hell.”
David Cay Johnston’s “Perfectly Legal..The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich – And Cheat Everybody Else” and. “Free Lunch..How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense [ And Stick You With The Bill]” Mother Jones, May-June, 2022: “Looted.. How Private Equity is stripping America for parts”. is the tip of the iceberg on how various legal pirate firms are looting America, piece by piece, affecting YOUR food, YOUR housing, YOUR medical care.

Then – the. “culture war.”

The top 1% and corporations couldn’t get what they wanted without people voting for the “right” politicians. The “religious right” declared war on America in the middle 1970s. Read Chris Hedges”. “American Fascists..the Christian Right And The War on America” or Katherine Stewart’s. “The Power Worshippers..Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalists.” Each side – the rich and the “religious” – get what they want: a plutocratic theocracy.

Don’t just believe this! Do your own [serious] research! Start with pre & post-1980 income tables and tax tables – UNPUN!!!!! – from the IRS official figures. Mother Jones, March-April, 2011, has an interesting story on this, including a table on “How much income have you given up for the top 1 percent?” Be sure to read “Plutonomics” on same page!!!

Those of us in the “Luckiest Generation” have not escaped this deliberate, planned. CORRUPTION, we just had that head start, so we were economically more secure when all the post-1980 damage began to occur.
Think of this as an indicator of how much things have changed: many in our generation paid for 4-year college educations by working at a grocery store, weekends and summer.
Some/many of us had retired when the Wall street-inspired 2008 crash occurred, so we escaped much of that corruption [but not the increased taxes for the crook’s bailouts.
And – when COVID hit, most of us did not have to go to work.

***** All this is NOT said in somer form of bragging. The motive”. for YOU. to place what has happened in the last 40 years in perspective. For YOU. to realize that once – 1947-1973 – America achieved, for the great bulk of the middle class – the real “American Dream.”
For YOU to understand that – all we enjoyed. – HAS. BEEN STOLEN. from subsequent generations. STOLEN. by people who are in most cases, already. OBSCENELY. RICH, but are so GREEDY. they want it all. As that 2011 Mother Jones article shows YOU – some were making, on average $27,342,212 EVERY YEAR. In 2023, they’ll be making even more.

*****”The society that loses its grip on the past is in danger, for it produces men who know nothing but the present, and who are not aware that life had been, and could be, different from what it is.” [Aristotle]

Things will NOT get better unless YOU do something!!! YOU and everybody YOU know need to tell politicians who refuse to vote higher taxes on millionaires/billionaires that YOU will not vote for them until they do; to tell them that the Social Security and Medicare “crises” can be solved by one simple thing: remove the stupid, ARTIFICIAL cap on income taxed for Social Security and Medicare. – so 100% of it is taxed [not just the first $160,000 that YOU pay]. – and YOU won’t vote for them until they do.

The 1947-1973 golden middle class age was NOT given to them. It was the result of people DEMANDING it, and only voting for politicians who promised to do it. YOU will have to do the same thing – and. NOT. get sidelined by other issues, most especially the “culture war” issues – because that allows the politicians working for the top 1% to escape. YOUR living standard has gone done because Americans fell into that trap. THE #1. factor behind the destruction of the 1947-73 golden age was: voters got stuck in voting on issues other than economics issues.
Go back to those pre and post-1980 income and tax tables: THAT is where the truth lies. It happened because rich and powerful people WANTED it to happen – and greased the skids with “campaign contributions” [legally laundered money].

*** “We can either have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentration in the hands of a few. But we can’t have both.” [Justice Brandeis]