The Political Trio of Mayhem and Chaos

We should never turn our backs on the free world. I want our flag to remain an honorable and patriotic symbol for freedom and liberty. I want George Washington, Ronald Reagan to remain important. We should not accept venerating foreign autocrats. This great country must remain a democratic society, in step with the rule of law.

This trio is, “No Bueno!”

Dear reader, who am I? I am 89 years old, a grandfather, a small business retiree, a writer, and an army veteran with two older brothers buried in Arlington National cemetery. I love God, I love my country, and I love our flag and the U.S. Constitution. Those 55 authors of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia in 1787 were extraordinarily special. At my age I have lost all guile and cannot keep quiet when I see truth being violated. Too many politicians continually put truth on the scaffold. Dear reader, this is the place and this is the time to speak truth to power. Let’s do it!

Who are the trio? Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, and Benjamin Netanyahu are politically driven to seek more power, more wealth and more territory belonging to others. Along the way they seek domestic retribution against any and all who are considered political adversaries. They are autocrats and they want absolute power. No judicial oversight or legislative branches should interfere. The free press is diminished and replaced often by false information that every citizen in the autocracy must accept, and everything else is labeled a “hoax”. So, suppressing the opposition and a free press is a continuous unending program for an autocrat. Deception and untruths are standard tools, to be used to enforce acceptance of their lies, and only their political stance, is the norm to be practiced.

Ninety-five percent of all autocrats are cruel and unusual in their behavior. They as a matter of course, let everyone know that there will be guaranteed retribution for those who have the temerity to question their authority. “Divide and conquer” is a standard operating procedure, where you pit group against group, find citizens to hate, and constantly remind your subjects who they are, and who to ridicule.

Control of the country's wealth is also an important factor. Most autocrats end up extremely wealthy having fed off of the country’s trough of riches. Then, invariably autocrats end up practicing mayhem and chaos as a method of control, often seeking political outcomes using distraction and confusion. They all consider civility as a sign of weakness. Their stance continues to be power, money, and retribution. Be a loyal follower or there will be repercussions.

Autocrats when in full stride frequently want more territory to be added to their country. The neighboring countries are often threatened and often absorbed by force.

Laws and rules, including international laws, never apply to them. They even consider religion to be theirs to control, and theirs to despise if they so wish. Some consider religion to be a competitor in the political arena. Some autocrats really do believe God chose them to rule, because of their “special” political qualities. The Old and New Testament Bible suggests, “There shall be no other God before me”, yet autocrats never acknowledge that demand from the Bible. (When Joseph Stalin after WWII was told that the Catholic Pope was criticizing him, he responded. “Oh yea? How many divisions does he have!”)

So along the way they spend their lives free of outside influences because plenty of wealth, plenty of power, and plenty of retribution is always on the table to be used, sometimes even impulsively. Checks and balance and accountability, are considered a nonexistent political event. Many autocrats, of course live by deception guaranteed to keep them in power. Some end up however like Viktor Orban of Hungary, as bravery and hostility drove “his people” (75% of them) to seek freedom and to stop the grand theft of their country. 

HOW TO OVERCOME AN AUTOCRAT?

How do you defeat an autocrat short of war? For those of a religious bent, it should be to always pray and find a way to protest legally. Not with arms or weapons. For those who are non-religious, there is a need to have a personal moral code that will confront autocratic behavior. In all cases, it is love of your children, your flag and your country. Freedom and liberty should take on new and important meanings when an autocrat is in control. You must remember, political autocrats, never cry, never blush and never admit they made a mistake, and they never lose sleep over hurting people.

The recent overthrow in Hungary of Viktor Orban was a case of the citizenry standing up for their rights. The country had a leader who caused the judicial, the legislative, the education facilities and the freedom of the press to become powerless. Once Viktor Orban gained all that power of course, he quickly shared the wealth with his family and oligarch friends. The citizens of Hungary had a great victory for one simple reason, 75% of them stood up and decided to take their country back. This is despite the intervention of Vladimir Putin, with his underground Russian operatives in Hungary. This is despite President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Marco Rubio actively campaigning for Orban and suggesting to the Hungarian people that their leader was a good one. The sad part of the American interference in that election is that they not only supported Viktor Orban, but they criticized NATO and EU countries. But now Hungary will have a chance for a stable free society. Now freedom and liberty will give them the ability to treat fairly the entire Hungarian population. 

UKRAINE IS THE STORY OF THE DECADE!

Ukraine was invaded over three years ago by Russia under Vladmir Putin. Everyone thought it would be a war of short duration, even some predicted that they would lose in two weeks to two months. However, under a great leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and a great patriotic citizenry, they all decided to fight back. NATO and the EU countries and then President Joe Biden did what they could to help the Ukrainian cause. But unfortunately, now, President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Marco Rubio have withdrawn American support per Vladimir Putin’s desires. Putin has shown no sign of giving up his quest to bring eastern Europe back into the Russian sphere. Time will tell who has the most dedication, Ukraine, NATO, or Russia for dominance. Freedom-loving people of the world must not remain silent. We must give Ukraine assistance and hope, despite being abandoned by the president and vice president of the United States. All freedom loving countries should stand behind Ukraine, because now that the United States is out of the picture troubles could abound, even though over half of the American voters favor this brave country. Its beyond sadness that the Trump Administration has forsaken 85 years of America leading the free world. All freedom loving countries in the world should lend their prayers and support for Ukraine.

CAN THE U.S. KEEP OUR DREAM ALIVE?

How? We can start as soon as possible by having a 90-minute television show chaired by past presidents, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden. The theme of this 90-minute show should focus on the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It should be educational in its direction of political philosophy. There should be a friendly, intellectual discussion over the spirituality and temperament of those 55 men who gave us the U.S. Constitution in 1787. It remains hard to describe why and how these colonists fought English King George III, claimed a major victory and then after the failure of the Articles of Confederation, decided to start a new government of the people, by the people and for the people. Furthermore, George Washington could have easily been an autocrat, a dictator or a king, but he vehemently chose not to do so. Freedom and liberty are protected in the U.S. Constitution by checks and balances, the Legislative, the Executive and the Judicial, all with equal rights to protect the checks and balances. The American people must now continually be informed where they came from politically and how we can maintain this exceptional country. Especially because we are celebrating the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. That story must be seen for what it really is; a very special political event that all young voters must be aware of. President George W. Bush recently did a political piece on George Washington's political life. We all need to recognize where we came from and to make sure that we can protect and continually seek the freedom and liberty given to us so many years ago. This is the moment; this is the time for a rebirth of that freedom and liberty. There is no reason we cannot find the dedication and the decency to save one of the world’s great political experiments (not perfect but much better than any of those that have no freedom and liberty!)

We are losing our freedom and liberty as I write. Many Americans seem content to wait until next November’s election cycle, to solve some of our problems over inflation, the budget and wars. Not me! We must get back the power of the purse from the Executive branch and oversight. In fiscal year 2025 we spent $2.3 trillion over budget. That is after laying off 200,000 federal employees. That’s after Project 2025 and DOGE decided through Elon Musk, Vice President JD Vance, and Russ Vought to rearrange the deck chairs in all American departments by purging "waste, fraud and abuse". Was it a success? Well, the chainsaws and bulldozers they used were not indeed successful. They fudged and they exaggerated their success. They overdid the layoffs of federal employees, who were called “weeds” by Elon Musk. So to fill the openings, they answered their problem by hiring outsiders using no-bid contracts. Expensive and nutty stuff? You betcha!

The USAID dismantling will go down in history as one of the greatest misdeeds of political operatives in the history of our country. Why? In 1962 President John F. Kennedy wanted to expand American soft power so he created USAID to help feed and assist hungry people throughout the world. When Elon Musk took over DOGE, he and others stopped all activities of USAID. That meant that food stuffs in transit, in warehouses, on wharfs, were not delivered to hungry children in Africa. This cruel behavior cost the lives of over 550,000 children who starved to death within two months. Remember we also had medical operations in many countries that were also shut down leading to adult deaths. Fact check this carefully. This was the result of cancelling 90% of the USAID agenda. Remember in 1962 the United States gave 3% of its budget for foreign aid activities. Now that figure is less than 1%. Remember it was the American farmer who provided the foodstuffs for hungry children throughout the world.

Remember, the cruelty that took place could have been prevented. The starvation of so many children was done casually and absent mindedly. Now we are cruelly treating immigrants with excessive cruelty through DHS. They are being picked up off the streets by masked men armed with tear gas, clubs and assault weapons. The rule of law is loosely, and often not applied. So many of these immigrants, especially in Minnesota, were treated with so much hostility and distain that people hit the streets to protest. Ninety-two Protestant ministers went to the Minneapolis Airport to protest the forced departure of the recently picked up immigrants who were not given due process. Pope Leo XIV also objected to this treatment. President Donald Trump recently said that those 92 ministers and Pope Leo were “soft on crime”. That statement made by Donald Trump lacked any merit. Immigrants in detention centers are frequently now dying due to sickness, lack of blankets, lack of water and food, and worse conditions than any established American prisons. The situation is so bad the president of Mexico recently demanded the United States stop killing Mexican migrants in these American detention centers.

Now Vice President JD Vance has questioned the Pope’s interpretation of theology. The Vice President recently become a converted Catholic (6 years ago) yet he feels he can tell Protestant ministers and Popes how to practice their theology. President Donald Trump now uses images of himself as Christ to suggest that he is very religious. He did not put his hand on the Bible that his wife was holding when he took the oath office to become president in 2025. Unfortunately, he does not recognize that treating children indifferently is disgraceful. He treats immigrants with distain, with little decency and zero humanity, this is un-Christian, un-American and anti-American. The Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth often quotes the Bible and his love of prayer, however in his last recent quote he stated falsely, something supposedly out the bible, but it was actually taken from a movie called Pulp Fiction. We must all pray for those who are incapable of seeing value in all human beings including immigrants, and sometimes enemies. And to suggest God may want many people abused or dead is theologically absurd.

Vladimir Putin also has a peculiar view of children. When he invaded Ukraine, he captured thousands of Ukrainian children and took them back to Russia. There is no accounting for what he has done. He bombs schools, churches, apartment complexes, and hospitals without regard to decency or humanity. His desire to expand territory for Russia is relentless. International law is not in his notebook. Meanwhile he controls all natural resources in Russia; natural gas, oil, minerals, etc. He even controls prices and customers on all natural resources.

Benjamin Netanyahu, after the Hamas attack against Israel in which 1,300 Jews were killed and 500 kidnapped on October 7^th 2023, for some reason waited eight hours until responding to that horrible event. However, he got his revenge shortly thereafter by destroying Gaza, by killing over 60,000 Palestinians, and by flattening 80% of the buildings in Gaza. Now he is fighting Lebanon and has displaced 1.5 million Lebanese by destroying their habitat even though those inhabitants were not connected to Hezbollah in any way. Sadly, the American taxpayer is picking up more than 75% of the military armament bills used by Israel. My point to the reader is simple. Russia, the United States and Israel are frequently violating international law in their activities. Does anyone care? Is American in danger of losing it’s soul? Are we in danger of abandoning our valued U.S. Constitution? Remember, the trio in question has no fear of a just God or an eternity of suffering after death.

WHAT NOW?

The United States budget and national debt is out of control. Last fiscal year 2025, the Trump Administration paid $980 billion in interest on the national debt. Now that debt is even more out of control being $2.3 trillion over budget under the current Trump Administration. And the president recently asked for $1.5 trillion for the October budget (for all of his waring ventures in Venezuela and Iran). Meanwhile, the American people suffer from inflation and high prices at the gasoline pump. Promises are constantly made that these gas prices will be reduced as well as inflation and food prices. The American voter must recognize and acknowledge the chaos and mayhem we are all now suffering with little chance of improving because the powers that be are relentless in their spending, even giving access to the U.S. Treasury to some of the President's autocratic buddies. Meanwhile the Executive branch is emptying that U.S. Treasury, handing out bushels of no-bid contracts and giving department heads free reign on new contracts. There seems to be no fear of Inspectors General. There is no accountability and no oversight while MAGA House members and Senate members turn their heads away from this scandal.

Now, I want my Canadian friends back, I want to keep our friendship with the European Union and all countries of the free world. We should never turn our backs on the free world. I want our flag to remain an honorable and patriotic symbol for freedom and liberty. I want George Washington, Ronald Reagan and so many other honorable past Presidents, who helped us maintain our freedom and liberty to remain important. We should not accept venerating foreign autocrats by now wanting to follow some of their political tactics. This great country must remain a democratic society, in step with the rule of law. Why are so many political factions in the DOJ and FBI allowed to practice the business of the Executive branch primarily instead of defending the American people? Its an insult to all decent fair minded people.

Let us stand up right now for the U.S. Constitution and that rule of law. Freedom and liberty are worth fighting for. The entire object of our political being right now should be protecting our freedom for our children and grandchildren. It is our duty and our commandment to keep this country one to be proud of under the U.S. Constitution.

THE FOREIGN POLICY OF RONALD REAGAN

I think it is altogether proper to dedicate this missive to the memory of President Ronald Reagan. His foreign policy that helped take down the Soviet Union, the Berlin Wall, and to free the eastern bloc of European nations is commendable. And remember, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to protect the communist members in Kabul, President Ronald Reagan, five years later sent Stinger missiles to be used by the Afghan freedom fighters. Did this help end the war in Afghanistan? Well, the Russians lost 16,000 troops before pulling out in 1989. Remember, Ronald Reagan fought after seven predecessor presidents from 1945 onward and kept the Soviet Union at bay. Were the United States and our president Ronald Reagan the primary reason for the crumbling of the Soviet Union? History will say yes. In that tearing down of the Soviet Union, Ukraine chose to separate from Russia and be a free country.

Now Vladimir Putin wants to reestablish the Soviet Union! And he wants Ukraine back in the Russian fold. When he declared war on Ukraine it was predicted the war would only last two or three weeks, when in fact Volodymyr Zelenskyy the president and his fellow citizens decided they weren't going to allow it. NATO countries, EU countries and the United States under Joe Biden lent much support. A majority of the American citizens to this day want Ukraine to win. However, we have a president who for 10 years has had “Putin envy”. You can search and search and not find anything but a neutrality between Ukraine and Russia by President Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, and Vice President JD Vance. Why? Ukraine needs all the help it can get from counties of the free world. Meanwhile our president demands Greenland from Denmark. Dear reader, this is goofy stuff!

Victor Orban was recently defeated and defeated with an exclamation point by 75% of the Hungarian voters. This dissolved an administration that had taken over the universities, the corporations, the Free Press and was making his family and several corporations extremely wealthy. Remember, the Trump Administration, CPAC, and many Fox News pundits wanted Viktor Orban to win. Is this what we've come to in America, supporting autocrats? Is the pledge of allegiance to our American flag now ok to be rejected?

We must find our way back! We should want Canada, our number one trading partner to be our friend, we should not irritate the president of Mexico by killing migrant workers in our detention centers. We should want to belong to NATO. We should want to have European Union countries as our friends. We should not be declaring wars out of the blue. We should not be saying that the loyal opposition in America is the enemy of the people. Trust me, Ronald Reagan would have never called the Speaker of the House, a Democrat during his Administration, the “enemy of the people”. Reagan, time and again expressed affirmatively the respect for the opposition as well as the rights of immigrants in America.

President Donald Trump's favorite U.S. President is Andrew Jackson, not George Washington, Jefferson Lincoln, Ronald Reagan and other past good servants. The reason? Well, consider this. Andrew Jackson upon being elected president rolled over and got rid of all past federal employees. He gathered the six Indian tribes from the southeast United States, equaling 18,000 in population, forcing them to walk the “trail of tears” to Oklahoma, where many died along the way. Trust me that is not a thing to be proud of in our American heritage.

Now we have to question the MAGA Republican Senators and the MAGA Speaker of the House and the MAGA House members who have lost their way and do not have a conscience when it comes to Article one of the U.S. Constitution. They have forsaken their oaths and pledges to the U.S. Constitution. They have surrendered oversight, subpoena power, and the purse strings to the American president. Meanwhile our citizens are suffering through inflation, expensive gas and diesel fuel, expensive food, and discomfort over knowing we're going into another expensive war. The American public is not in any way, shape or form ready to give up freedom and liberty. July 4th is a day of peace, freedom and liberty given to us by our forefathers who had a unique and positive spirituality which they wanted the people to have. I say down with the cynics and those who want to “divide and conquer”, rather than unite us all to the good causes of liberty and freedom in America. Our goal should be to replace cynical and hostile ideologies and then embrace reason and the rule of law.

So, let's keep our freedom alive. What say you? We must become one together in unity, not dividing off between parties and hostile beliefs that hurt innocent people. Let us take care of our children by providing a safe political environment for them to grow up in and get rid of wars and mayhem. We need a national purpose, one that honors our valuable national traditions and institutions.

We cannot lose our way, we must re-up for another 250 years of our existence under the U.S. Constitution. This gift to us, right now is being threatened, we all have to stand firm, stand up and say “no, not on my watch”!

Every American of any and all religious faith or even no faiths must now choose whether they want to affirm the rule of law and justice for all in America. We must unify with decency and honor or suffer the consequences. We cannot give up on that great unique gift of liberty that started in 1776.

Opening Image: CatTailNPineTrails, Wikimedia Commons, U.S. Government Book Store