Yes. Our family’s ancestors survived the holocaust and slavery. We must resist! The fascists are starving us into submission. My partner and I were fired from our civil service careers. We had to line up at a food bank again, use the same Halloween costumes as last year for our kids, and recycle their candy to give to trick or treaters.
Shortcuts have byproducts... DON'T DEFINE DEMOCRACY AS VOTING .... TO THE EXCLUSION OF CANDIDATE DEBATES... AND THE ESSENTIAL STING OF REJECTION CANDIDATES GO THROUGH AS SOON AS THEY ANNOUNCE
Moving my social life onto Social Media... LONELINESS
After the History of Life on Earth resulting in organisms response to threats, e.g., fight or flight, the invention of the HUMAN BRAIN with its capacity to EXAGGERATE THREATS AND EXAGGERATE POWER...e.g., Up to 60% of anxious people are cured by placebo... ie, IMAGINARY THREATS ARE CURED BY IMAGINARY POWER (e.g., MAGAs believe Trump will rescue them from gardeners and farm workers)
I know that I as a white woman have taken freedom for granted. At no time in my 60+ years have I ever though that it was in peril until now. I realize this is partly white privilege and perhaps a naive idea that no one would be able to take away something so profoundly central to American democracy. It's a hard lesson to face now!
My parents were Dutch and lived under the Nazis for about four years. I’m getting off easy by comparison: I’m living under Trump. But the underlying philosophies feel the same in many ways.
It feels the same because we have a regime in the WH that is reviving nazism; invoking their language & images; supporting it abroad. Others in the GOP were allowed to get away with it for yrs but considered fringie. Now it’s becoming normalized. We must stop it.
Yes I suppose I have. Howe er I am clear that it is my moral responsibility to fight against this tyranny for the benefit of those who may not be able to do so themselves. FREEDOM FROM FEAR is what we are watching erode daily.
Fear is all this man seems to want to put into our society. A disgrace if I have ever seen one.
Good point Kevin, and the trump regime is intentionally and quickly eroding the Freedom from Fear in order to facilitate taking away our other freedoms. A populace afraid is a populace that can be silenced. If we become afraid of their illegal and unconstitutional authority, afraid of anyone who doesn't look like us or think like us, they've won.
As an older woman who 'suffers' from white privilege, I can afford to be fearless. But we must uphold and support those who are more vulnerable and fight for their freedoms as hard as we do for our own.
None of us is free if we are not all free, and speaking as a female, I’ve never felt that my rights were/are valued. Seeing us return to a time when the few have more rights than the majority is disturbing. But this horribly inept administration and gross inhumanity seem necessary for Americans to face the consequences of our country’s past, but to also realize the importance of fighting for our rights is ever present.
Imagine FDR praising Mussolini, being buddies with Hitler, and writing love letters to Hirohito. Then he knocks down the Oval Office to build a Square Office, just because.
That's our current reality, unimaginable by thinking people of the past who fought and died to defeat fascists.
Our current president has declared war on half the country, destroying the concept of United States. How do we defeat this Unamerican form of fascism?
Unfortunately, this is not the America of 1941 whose young generation had a “date with destiny”. A sizable minority in this country would not mind a white supremacist theocracy. They rightly feel that they would do just fine under that kind of system. In fact, many red states already, de facto, have this system in place. The rest of us want to maintain a pluralistic constitutional democracy. Compromise between these two factions is not possible. What would it even look like. There can be no soft landing. The resulting conflict between these sides will not end well. The best we can hope for is an eventual split into two new nations. One that carries on the founding principles of this country so well enunciated by Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address and later FDR his “Four Freedoms”. The other devolving into the kind of country that’s yours and mine worst nightmare.
A sizable minority have always believed the rights afforded by the this country only pertained to them. They are periodically emboldened & this is one of those times.
I think we are already beginning to see this type of selective migration where people are now considering what manner of civil society they want to live in when making decisions regarding work, retirement etc.
As someone who spent much of their 20's living on the fringe of society, the notion of freedom has always been something of a mixed bag. Freedom in the US is very much conditional on your socio-economic status -- and your ethnicity. Take, for example, billionaires like Donald Trump, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, et al. They seem entirely above the law. They literally commit crimes in broad daylight -- and on video -- and what is their accountability? Bupkis.
From there it is a sliding scale detailing the loss of your "freedoms" as your bank account drains -- or becomes non-existent. On the other end of that freedom scale is homeless people. Now, you might think the homeless have "the most" freedom. No job, no mortgage, just the Great Outdoors in all its raging glory. Here's the rub though: While it might seem that a homeless person has more freedom, they actually have little to none. They're subject to constant harassment by government officials and law enforcement. Further, in the US, there isn't anywhere for them to go and just be "free," effectively.
"It's a crime to be broke in America"
-- Michael Franti and the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy
From my perspective, this quote sums it up in a nutshell. The amount of "freedom" you have in the US is directly related to the amount of money you have in your bank account.
Donald Trump attempts to overthrow the government resulted in much sound and fury signifying nothing. If I incorrectly fill out a government form? Punishment. That is "freedom" in the United States.
Important perspective and well said. Sad, but true. I too have experienced food insecurity and the risk of homelessness in my lifetime. I thankfully was able to overcome those risks and achieve comfort and security in my life. But having been so close to the precipice, I’ve never forgotten what’s it’s like to look over the edge and know what the fall would bring. Perhaps a lack of empathy is our greatest loss in this country today. I find it hard to imagine how anyone with a shred of it could support what Trump and his slavish followers are doing to people every day.
Indeed. I was also able to come back from that ledge and now in my 60's have more security in my life. My concern is that you and I and others like us are exceptions to the rule. Most people don't make it out. They continue to slide down that ledge to the bottom.
Apply this to our current political situation then it is clear why the WH and GOP pushes economic strategies that harm most people in the US.
I’ll also add that people who feel severe distress narrow their focus to immediate concerns such as surviving day to day or hour to hour. Therefore “the price of eggs” resonates while “democracy” does not.
Great points shared here Steven. The celebration of lying, cheating, stealing and killing need not be perpetual policy else a nation self erodes in time. We have had centuries to mature and develop integrity but it seems too much for the narcissistic nature of our majority to morally select and hold accountable our ‘leadership.’ History repeats itself only this time the privileged scoundrel sees no reason to do anything except what he/she has been taught and that is selfishness is more valuable than integrity.
I take every waking moment to continue to understand what’s going on in our country and write my opinions of as much of it as I can. I hold no punches. But, alas. I am but one tiny voice among the din, the onslaught of lies and bad deeds that have been foisted upon us. MLK said “I have a dream” and went on to eloquently outline his vision. I also have a dream, one in which a leader steps forward to bring us back to reality and support our Constitution and our rights which are now under attack. Who that might be I do not know. But I do know that what Trump and his cronies and acolytes are wrong for our country and we must convince voters there is a better way to govern that is loving and inclusive. The latter cannot come soon enough.
I admit I have had enough privilege to take our freedoms for granted & it’s a real wake up call now to see that we must work hard to keep those freedoms. I worry about losing our right to protest - certainly the administration would love to make us too fearful to do so. But I am absolutely unwilling to let my grandkids grow up in a country that is no longer free so I will ignore the fear & do all I can.
I believe the majority of Americans have been asleep at the wheel for forty years. "I don't do politics" had become a mantra for far too many who can't be bothered to even mail in their ballot. That said, they may be waking up, now that Puppy Killer Noem is tear gassing Halloween parades in Chicago while the head of Border Patrol dresses up like Reinhard Heydrich stomping through Prague (ignoring the history of what happened next), while millions see their food aid cut off, their health insurance premiums rocket, and tens of thousands of jobs being remade for AI.
As a Latina, I have been strident and loud about our freedoms. I probably won't stop even after I'm dead. I'll become La Llorona and haunt the hell out of MAGAts.
My ancestors were enslaved. I was taught to never take freedom for granted🙏🏽
Yes. Our family’s ancestors survived the holocaust and slavery. We must resist! The fascists are starving us into submission. My partner and I were fired from our civil service careers. We had to line up at a food bank again, use the same Halloween costumes as last year for our kids, and recycle their candy to give to trick or treaters.
So many of us are struggling with DOGE and the MAGA shutdowns - any support makes a big difference: https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/emergency-furlough-maga-shutdown
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁
⛓️💥⛓️💥⛓️💥⛓️💥⛓️💥⛓️💥⛓️💥⛓️💥⛓️💥
"In a genuinely free society, we would never have to think about freedom."..
NEVER HAVE TO THINK?🤔
..."We could take freedom for granted. ... free not to reflect.."
FREE TO CHOOSE BDSM?🤔
"...What freedom are you most worried about losing?"
Satirizing our Creator:😂🤣😜🤪
As God I blindfold all Halloween participants if possible.
The brand name label on all my blindfolds is "BLINDFOLDS BY EGO"...
... the subtitle is "DESIGNED BY YOU KNOW WHO"...😁😁😁
WE ARE BLIND TO OUR FAULTS ... until we debate!🕵️
Shortcuts have byproducts... DON'T DEFINE DEMOCRACY AS VOTING .... TO THE EXCLUSION OF CANDIDATE DEBATES... AND THE ESSENTIAL STING OF REJECTION CANDIDATES GO THROUGH AS SOON AS THEY ANNOUNCE
Byproducts of the invention of a shortcut:
Calculator watch ⌚... I can't add
Spell check... I can't spell
Valium... I cant FACE MY FEAR AS SCIENCE REQUIRES
Moving my social life onto Social Media... LONELINESS
After the History of Life on Earth resulting in organisms response to threats, e.g., fight or flight, the invention of the HUMAN BRAIN with its capacity to EXAGGERATE THREATS AND EXAGGERATE POWER...e.g., Up to 60% of anxious people are cured by placebo... ie, IMAGINARY THREATS ARE CURED BY IMAGINARY POWER (e.g., MAGAs believe Trump will rescue them from gardeners and farm workers)
etc
I know that I as a white woman have taken freedom for granted. At no time in my 60+ years have I ever though that it was in peril until now. I realize this is partly white privilege and perhaps a naive idea that no one would be able to take away something so profoundly central to American democracy. It's a hard lesson to face now!
My parents were Dutch and lived under the Nazis for about four years. I’m getting off easy by comparison: I’m living under Trump. But the underlying philosophies feel the same in many ways.
The terrible truth is the Nazis learned from us. They studied Jim Crow and how to suppress populations while appearing to be a ‘free society.’ https://www.history.com/articles/how-the-nazis-were-inspired-by-jim-crow
It feels the same because we have a regime in the WH that is reviving nazism; invoking their language & images; supporting it abroad. Others in the GOP were allowed to get away with it for yrs but considered fringie. Now it’s becoming normalized. We must stop it.
https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-jd-vance-is-wrong-about-afd-nazis/a-71212825
Yes I suppose I have. Howe er I am clear that it is my moral responsibility to fight against this tyranny for the benefit of those who may not be able to do so themselves. FREEDOM FROM FEAR is what we are watching erode daily.
Fear is all this man seems to want to put into our society. A disgrace if I have ever seen one.
Good point Kevin, and the trump regime is intentionally and quickly eroding the Freedom from Fear in order to facilitate taking away our other freedoms. A populace afraid is a populace that can be silenced. If we become afraid of their illegal and unconstitutional authority, afraid of anyone who doesn't look like us or think like us, they've won.
As an older woman who 'suffers' from white privilege, I can afford to be fearless. But we must uphold and support those who are more vulnerable and fight for their freedoms as hard as we do for our own.
Exactly. Fear is their biggest weapon. We each must do what we can.
They breed fear.
None of us is free if we are not all free, and speaking as a female, I’ve never felt that my rights were/are valued. Seeing us return to a time when the few have more rights than the majority is disturbing. But this horribly inept administration and gross inhumanity seem necessary for Americans to face the consequences of our country’s past, but to also realize the importance of fighting for our rights is ever present.
So grateful for Mr. Beschloss’ beautifully penned reflection and prompt this early Saturday morning.
Very kind.
Imagine FDR praising Mussolini, being buddies with Hitler, and writing love letters to Hirohito. Then he knocks down the Oval Office to build a Square Office, just because.
That's our current reality, unimaginable by thinking people of the past who fought and died to defeat fascists.
Our current president has declared war on half the country, destroying the concept of United States. How do we defeat this Unamerican form of fascism?
Unfortunately, this is not the America of 1941 whose young generation had a “date with destiny”. A sizable minority in this country would not mind a white supremacist theocracy. They rightly feel that they would do just fine under that kind of system. In fact, many red states already, de facto, have this system in place. The rest of us want to maintain a pluralistic constitutional democracy. Compromise between these two factions is not possible. What would it even look like. There can be no soft landing. The resulting conflict between these sides will not end well. The best we can hope for is an eventual split into two new nations. One that carries on the founding principles of this country so well enunciated by Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address and later FDR his “Four Freedoms”. The other devolving into the kind of country that’s yours and mine worst nightmare.
A sizable minority have always believed the rights afforded by the this country only pertained to them. They are periodically emboldened & this is one of those times.
Your thoughts have also crossed my mind. If means relocating to live in a country based freedom, equality and a Constitutional Democracy, I'd do it!
I think we are already beginning to see this type of selective migration where people are now considering what manner of civil society they want to live in when making decisions regarding work, retirement etc.
As someone who spent much of their 20's living on the fringe of society, the notion of freedom has always been something of a mixed bag. Freedom in the US is very much conditional on your socio-economic status -- and your ethnicity. Take, for example, billionaires like Donald Trump, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, et al. They seem entirely above the law. They literally commit crimes in broad daylight -- and on video -- and what is their accountability? Bupkis.
From there it is a sliding scale detailing the loss of your "freedoms" as your bank account drains -- or becomes non-existent. On the other end of that freedom scale is homeless people. Now, you might think the homeless have "the most" freedom. No job, no mortgage, just the Great Outdoors in all its raging glory. Here's the rub though: While it might seem that a homeless person has more freedom, they actually have little to none. They're subject to constant harassment by government officials and law enforcement. Further, in the US, there isn't anywhere for them to go and just be "free," effectively.
"It's a crime to be broke in America"
-- Michael Franti and the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy
From my perspective, this quote sums it up in a nutshell. The amount of "freedom" you have in the US is directly related to the amount of money you have in your bank account.
Donald Trump attempts to overthrow the government resulted in much sound and fury signifying nothing. If I incorrectly fill out a government form? Punishment. That is "freedom" in the United States.
Important perspective and well said. Sad, but true. I too have experienced food insecurity and the risk of homelessness in my lifetime. I thankfully was able to overcome those risks and achieve comfort and security in my life. But having been so close to the precipice, I’ve never forgotten what’s it’s like to look over the edge and know what the fall would bring. Perhaps a lack of empathy is our greatest loss in this country today. I find it hard to imagine how anyone with a shred of it could support what Trump and his slavish followers are doing to people every day.
Indeed. I was also able to come back from that ledge and now in my 60's have more security in my life. My concern is that you and I and others like us are exceptions to the rule. Most people don't make it out. They continue to slide down that ledge to the bottom.
Apply this to our current political situation then it is clear why the WH and GOP pushes economic strategies that harm most people in the US.
I’ll also add that people who feel severe distress narrow their focus to immediate concerns such as surviving day to day or hour to hour. Therefore “the price of eggs” resonates while “democracy” does not.
Great points shared here Steven. The celebration of lying, cheating, stealing and killing need not be perpetual policy else a nation self erodes in time. We have had centuries to mature and develop integrity but it seems too much for the narcissistic nature of our majority to morally select and hold accountable our ‘leadership.’ History repeats itself only this time the privileged scoundrel sees no reason to do anything except what he/she has been taught and that is selfishness is more valuable than integrity.
Freedom's Plow (1943) Langston Hughes https://tinyurl.com/5n76uatc (abridged)
America!
Land created in common,
Dream nourished in common,
The plan and the pattern is here,
Woven from the beginning
Into the warp and woof of America:
ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL.
NO MAN IS GOOD ENOUGH
TO GOVERN ANOTHER MAN
WITHOUT HIS CONSENT.
Who said those things? Americans!
Who owns those words? America!
Who is America? You, me!
We are America!
To the enemy who would conquer us from without,
We say, NO!
To the enemy who would divide
And conquer us from within,
We say, NO!
FREEDOM!
BROTHERHOOD!
DEMOCRACY!
To all the enemies of these great words:
We say, NO!
I take every waking moment to continue to understand what’s going on in our country and write my opinions of as much of it as I can. I hold no punches. But, alas. I am but one tiny voice among the din, the onslaught of lies and bad deeds that have been foisted upon us. MLK said “I have a dream” and went on to eloquently outline his vision. I also have a dream, one in which a leader steps forward to bring us back to reality and support our Constitution and our rights which are now under attack. Who that might be I do not know. But I do know that what Trump and his cronies and acolytes are wrong for our country and we must convince voters there is a better way to govern that is loving and inclusive. The latter cannot come soon enough.
I admit I have had enough privilege to take our freedoms for granted & it’s a real wake up call now to see that we must work hard to keep those freedoms. I worry about losing our right to protest - certainly the administration would love to make us too fearful to do so. But I am absolutely unwilling to let my grandkids grow up in a country that is no longer free so I will ignore the fear & do all I can.
No. I believe I think about it most every day and always to try to act in its support.
I believe the majority of Americans have been asleep at the wheel for forty years. "I don't do politics" had become a mantra for far too many who can't be bothered to even mail in their ballot. That said, they may be waking up, now that Puppy Killer Noem is tear gassing Halloween parades in Chicago while the head of Border Patrol dresses up like Reinhard Heydrich stomping through Prague (ignoring the history of what happened next), while millions see their food aid cut off, their health insurance premiums rocket, and tens of thousands of jobs being remade for AI.
As a Latina, I have been strident and loud about our freedoms. I probably won't stop even after I'm dead. I'll become La Llorona and haunt the hell out of MAGAts.