Liberty (definition): “the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposedby authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views.”
This was the keystone of the structure that this country was built on.
Historically, oligarchical empires eventually fizzled out or were overthrown. They created great hardship for their citizens.
Our founding fathers lived through this in Europe. They saw the importance of universal liberty for all and they believed it would enable a society to thrive.
Patriot (definition): “a person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors.”
Our founding fathers are viewed as patriots for defending their liberty and the newborn country they were creating.
Trump followers believe themselves to be true patriots, defending “core American values,” attempting to defend against the enemies and detractors of these values.
Traitor (definition): a person who betrays a friend, country or principle.
Sounds like a good thing to do. Maybe they are right. Maybe this is what America needs. After all, they are just exercising their liberty as Americans. We should accept their views and embrace them as true Americans, defending core American values.
Maybe everyone that doesn’t is a traitor.
Or maybe we just need one more definition.
Facism (definition): is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultra-nationalism characterized by dictatorial power and forcible suppression of opposition.
Hmmm?
So if the Trump movement is composed of true patriots defending core American values then why are they ignoring the keystone value: The liberty of all the other Americans that do not believe in Donald Trump.
To the Trump followers, if you don’t believe in Donald Trump then you are perceived as a traitor, or their euphemism for that “a liberal.”
The Republican leadership has supported Trump without fail for the last four years. They’ve done this with the intent of keeping their party strong. Unfortunately, in doing so, they hav eempowered a regime that had no intent of making America great again. The regime wants nothing more than to be the most powerful leader of the most powerful country in the world using core Facist values.
Now that misguided support has dug the Republicans into a very deep hole. They now face a powerful and dangerous force against them. Their careers, their livelihood and even their personal safety are at stake.
They are frightened but this is when they need to dig deep and find their courage to fight against the power they have created. It’s time for them to join forces as true patriots to defend this country’s true values against an ideology tha thas been so vigorously defended against so many times before.
It’s sad that America has lost countless lives defending our world against Facist regimes. It now is within us and some of our leadership has supported it and plan to continue their support for the sake of their own gain.
This is a time to be brave and do what’s right for the core American value we hold so dear: liberty.
They should ask themselves, “Who are the true patriots?”
”With liberty and justice for all.”
Bob Linguanti
Warwick