With all that is occurring in our Country from how we are living, to who and what is directing our lives, it got me questioning Who we are as a people and What have we become or are becoming as a Country.

I live by certain principles. I believe we all do. My principles, like probably most others’, are not written down. I don’t have them on a cheat sheet. But I know those principles are there and guide me on a daily basis.

I know when they are challenged.

I also have and live by a certain ideology, a faith, which is ingrained in me. This is also not written down, but then it doesn’t need to be as my personal ideology is pretty simple.

That, too, gets challenged on an almost daily basis, and at those times, I know it is there and what it is.

Principles and ideology, in my mind, are closely tied together.

My ideology, which is founded in faith, and which has helped develop my principles, was instilled in me from birth.

While I belong to a certain, religious organization, I do not need this organization, this formal religion, in order to live by my faith or to support my principles.

If my church disappeared tomorrow, my faith, my ideology, my beliefs, my principles, would not also disappear because those principles and that ideology are part of me. They are not part of the brick and mortar that make up the physical building or organization called a church, and they are not part of the people who guide that church and its members.

If I had to make a decision today to join a particular religion, I would join the same one I belong to right now. How do I know? I know because the foundation of that religion is the same as my foundation.

Ideology, while tied closely to religion, is also tied closely to beliefs in how the world should be run and people live and, in particular, how our Country should be run. Ideology is tied closely to political parties into which much of our Country is divided.

There is at least one major difference between having a faith based ideology and a political ideology. Politics, and its political parties, is not a religion, or at least, it should not be considered as such in my way of thinking.

While I support a certain type of political ideology, it is not my personal ideology. My political beliefs and ideology is not my religion. They are two, separate but related things.

Political Parties, for some, however, is their religion. Political Parties have, in many cases, it appears, replaced a church or religious affiliation. It is as if these people have reverted to the 13th Century when religion, as we know it today, did not exist. There was Universal Law and Common Law, with Universal Law becoming what we now refer to as “religion.”

The period of and around the 13th Century had “Holy Wars.” Many today, see the political wars as holy wars, whether they call it that or not.

It is interesting that the Founders of our Country, in particular James Madison, were fearful, right from the beginning, of the rise of “factions,” of political parties. They were fearful, especially, of one faction, which could be a political faction or Party, or it could be a faction which included a large State or faction of States, becoming so powerful it could seize control of the National government to the point it would never lose control; it would stamp out the opposition. The Federalist Papers, Federalist No. 10, dealt specifically with this concern. It is an interesting read which I would encourage everyone to take the time to absorb because it shows why we are neither solely a Democracy nor a Republic.

The Founding Fathers put in place checks and balances which they hoped would prevent one faction from becoming “too” powerful. The checks and balances were also there to balance the Country between the large, powerful States and their representation in Congress, and the smaller States which could be less powerful because of size and population. They put these checks and balance in to help ensure all the electorate and all States had equal voices; that we remained a Union of States and not a Country which contained States.

But, factions, regardless of the concern, did exist right from the beginning and eventually developed into political parties, which first came about in 1789 when the Federalists became the first political party. It was probably something which was inevitable, but also something which could be a problem, as James Madison stated in writing the Federalist No. 10, feared.

President James Monroe, in 1822 stated what others thought then and what many think now when he said, “Surely our government may go on and prosper without the existence of parties. I have always considered their existence as the curse of the country” (Hofstadter, 1969).

I first joined a political party in 1968. How I made my choice of which Party is a long story, but, I have been part of that Party since that time.

I recently went back and looked at the first Platform of that Party, when it was first formed in 1854 for the Presidential Election of that year, and also looked at the Platform for the next Presidential election of 1860 when Abraham Lincoln was elected as the first President from that Party. Both Platforms were similar and heavily filled with planks involving:

1. Preserving the Union, not dividing it;
2. Abolishment of slavery through the ‘maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Declaration of Independence, and embodied in the Federal Constitution, ‘That all men are created equal . . . .”‘;
3. Preserving the rights of the states, and “especially the right of each state, to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment,” without interference of the Federal Government unless otherwise stated in the Constitution;
4. Building and maintaining a strong economy which included strict oversight of the Federal Government spending to prevent, as it was called, the plundering of the public treasury;
5. Controlling imports in order to ensure a strong US industrial base and “liberal wages” for all people;
6. Strong adherence to “naturalization” laws on immigration, which in the case in the 1800’s included not allowing States to not recognize certain individuals as citizens because of their ethnic and geographic origins, as well as maintaining adherence to the Federal laws regarding what constituted citizenship and naturalization; and,
7. Ensuring the Federal Government provided “aid” in the development, not control, of a national infrastructure such as the transcontinental railroad.

Those Planks, over 150 years later, are also part of the 2016 and 2020 Platform of that Party (the 2020 Platform was exactly the same as the 2016, as the Party decided the 2016 Platform need not be replaced with something new).

The 2016/2020 Platform is an interesting, although, long read. Should you wish to read it, which I would encourage one to do if one is inclined to know what the Representatives of one Party “say” they wish for our Country, you can find it by clicking here (2016/2020) Platform).

While the phrases slavery and transcontinental railroad are not specifically mentioned in the 2016/2020 Platform, the  essence is there and, in particular the wording from the 1854 and 1860 Platforms regarding the equality of all men which is exactly the same as written in the 1854 and 1860 Platforms, and taken from our Declaration of Independence (The self-evident truth that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” That truth rejects the dark view of the individual as human capital — a possession for the creation of another’s wealth.)

So, the Political Party of which I am a member, was, from the very beginning, supportive of equal rights and equality for all people (I know, the 15th Amendment giving all men the right to vote did not come about until 1869, and the 19th Amendment, giving woman the right to vote didn’t come about until 1920, although women could vote in 1869 in Wyoming, which was the first State/Territory to pass a Woman Suffrage Bill).

Which brings me back to the Title of this piece, “Who Are We? What Are We?”

Currently, there is a “faction” on the Left, and particularly the far Left, which is trying to become that faction our Founding Fathers feared; that faction which becomes so powerful they take over the government and silence the minority voices which have other opinions of Who We Are and What We Are.

That faction on the Left also likes to say that if they are not in power, our Democracy will be lost to Authoritarianism. But, in reality, that far Left faction wants all the authority. They do not want debate. They do not want the voices of all to be heard. They do not want to keep the checks and balances from our founding in place.

So, in reality, what the Left says will happen if they are not in power, will actually be allowed to happen if they are.

And surprisingly, what they are in favor of instituting is a form of Fascism, which, also surprisingly is commonly referred to as a far Right doctrine. What they are pushing for is “political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader (or leaders), severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition (Definition of Fascism – Merriam-Webster).”

We are, as a Country, however, a Constitutional Democratic Republic. As such, the governmental power is defined, limited, and regulated by our Constitution and by the electorate.

We are, also, a Union of individual States, with each State having certain rights. In fact, if something isn’t specifically spelled out in the Constitution as being controlled by the Federal Government, it is up to the States to decide how to address that issue.

In all cases, it is up to the electorate to provide oversight to our governments on all levels through the election process, which is one thing which seems to have been minimized over the past few decades.

More and more, “laws” have been made by unelected government employees, by judges (elected and unelected), and by the Executive Branch of the Federal and State governments, none of which have been run past the electorate for their vote or oversight.

Our 45th President was, I believe, elected because enough of the electorate realized their voice, their vote, their concerns was not being heard. They realized a small, but vocal and powerful faction had taken over control of much of our governments, Federal, State, and Local, and decided it was time to relieve this small faction of its power.

The 45th President, because he was not afraid to speak out, as he was not a politician and beholding to powerful lobbies and financial backers, spoke out on the issues most bothering the large group in the middle who wanted to bring our Country back to that Constitutional Democratic Republic it was designed to be.

The 45th President gave a voice and courage to many who had relinquished control to a group which did not represent the majority because many in that majority had become afraid to voice opposition, for fear of being bullied into submission, or had just become lazy.

Whether the 45th President is the right person, now, to carry on the fight to regain Who and What we are, is questionable. And, it doesn’t need to be decided for another two years.

But, regardless, if we are to be Who and What we were designed to be, then we need someone with the same loud voice, the same daring, to buck the system which has taken over like a cancer, and lead the charge back to Who and What We Are; a Constitutional Democratic Republic which sees all people as equal, and all opinion to be heard and discussed.

According to historian Thomas Carlyle, in “Heroes and Hero-Worship in History,” British politician, Edmund Burke is one of the people credited with the term “the 4^th Estate” when he referred to the reporters who reported on the activities of Parliament in the 1700’s.

Burke said “. . . there were three Estates in Parliament, but in the Reporters’ Gallery yonder, there sat a fourth Estate more important by far than them all.”

The press, or as it is now called, the media, thanks to President Richard Nixon, has never been fully loved by those in the US government. This is especially true for Presidents, beginning with George Washington and on to at least President Donald Trump, although it now it appears even our current President, who had been treated for the majority of his limited time in office, with kid gloves, is beginning to have the same animosity towards the press.

Today, this animosity of the press has spilled over into the general public. And, for good reason.

But there was a time when the public, not those in government, did trust the media more than it is trusted today. The media may have been more trusted when newspapers arrived on ones doorstep early in the morning and maybe a second edition or a different paper arrived in the afternoon – when people were not obsessed with the news as they are today with our 24 hour news cycle.

Stories were read, radio or television had news programs which could be heard at specific times, but were not constantly bombarding the people all day and all night long.

Somewhere along the way, though, news became entertainment. And, like great entertainers, the act cannot stay the same, the act cannot get stale. The act has to keep changing to retain the audience’s interest. And, as more time became available for the media on TV and later the internet, the media had a financial obligation to keep the audience engaged. Otherwise, the audience would tune them out and move on to another source.

So, what was once considered news has now become scripted entertainment.

Today it is hard to find real news reporting.

There is an old movie, I don’t recall its name, where a corrupt land owner, who appears to be an upstanding citizen and admired by the townspeople, is secretly implementing a plan which will hurt all the townspeople while making him even richer and more powerful. The sheriff and town judge, those in authority, are involved in the land baron’s plan.

But, the owner of the local newspaper becomes suspicious and starts investigating the land baron and those controlling the law even though he receives veiled threats against him and his family if he doesn’t stop his meddling.

In the end, the newspaper owner exposes the plan and saves the town.

I don’t know if those days ever existed, those days where the newspapers and reporters looked for the truth, regardless of who it would impact, or if they were just fictions; movies and novels to entertain.

I do know that if those reporters and media owners do exist today, they are in the minority and hard to find.

The result is, the press, the media, is no longer seen as the investigators for truth. They are seen as the suppliers of information which supports thoughts which others already believe. And this can be seen on both sides of the political spectrum. Each side has its “news” sources which support perceived notions.

Where are those true journalists who seek to find the truth and not seek to find information to support their own biases and thoughts, and the biases and thoughts of their audience?

Another question which needs to be asked is, and maybe the more important one, what happened to those outside the media who once sought truth and used commonsense to figure out when the information being received no longer made sense?

In other words, what happened to the US public that allows it to be so easily swayed to the point it does not question what information is being received as long as it agrees with preconceived ideas?

My simple answer to both the question about the press and about the public is, we got lazy.

For all the greatness of technology, it has caused many to forget how to objectively think; how to use rational thought, and how to vigorously dig for the truth.

If we have an idea and want to find information which will support that idea, all we have to do is to go on the internet and search for information which supports our ideas or thoughts or beliefs.

If we find information which is contrary to our ideas or beliefs, we don’t have to stop and think whether or not that information is reasonable. We can just ignore it and search again until we find supporting information. It’s easy. We have become lazy.

For the most part, these searches for the “truth” are done in a vacuum. They are not done through meeting with others who may have a differing view which may cause us to discuss the other view and get a different perspective. We are no longer meeting with those who think differently.

I remember my first trip to Germany several decades ago, when I went to a restaurant one evening. What I noticed was that the people at the tables around me were talking with each other. I did not see waiters and waitresses scurrying about trying to get meals out as fast as possible so the table could be quickly turned for the next seating. The people seemed to have their table as long as they wanted, and while they sat at the table, the conversation continued.

When I returned home I was asked what impressed me about my trip. My answer was, conversation, in Germany, was not dead. That has probably changed today, but at the time that is what impressed me.

I had, subconsciously, realized conversation in the US was already on the decline.

Unfortunately, technology has exacerbated the decline. We no longer know how to talk, how to converse, how to debate with those who may have a different opinion than our own.

This has also exacerbated the divisions within our society. We no longer converse to bridge the divide.

The loss of an investigative, an inquiring press only cements the divisions and suppresses conversation.

One of the things, in my mind, which can heal the divisions, can stop much of the anger we see on both sides of the political spectrum, is an honest press. One that seeks truth and not financial gain.

I am not sure, however, an honest press is something we can ever bring back.

But, I would hope it can be because we need that watchdog to return.

I have heard for a few years, now, how that dastardly, Orange Man, Donald J. Trump, or more correctly and properly referred to as former President Donald J. Trump, changed the Republican Party, and he changed it for the worse.

And, what I now hear is that the Republican Party needs to be taken back from Donald Trump; it needs to be saved.

Funny thing is, I don’t believe Donald Trump changed the Republican Party or that he ruined it or it needs to be taken back from him, and I definitely don’t believe it needs saving. I believe that already happened.

As far as taking the Party back from Donald Trump, it is difficult to take something back from someone who does not have it.

I say this because I believe the majority members of the Republican Party realized in 2016 the Party had changed over the years, had gone astray, and those who were leading the Party were the reason it had changed course. And, this newly awakened majority of the Party decided to get back the Party they had joined, many of whom joined decades ago, and make a course correction.

What I also believe is that this majority of the Party saw in Donald Trump someone they could use to accomplish their goal. They may not have realized it at the time, but they basically used Donald Trump as a battering ram to break up the status quo and awaken those in the Party who had allowed it to get to where it had gotten. Most of those running in the 2016 Republican primaries were part of the status quo the majority was ready to reject.

What I now believe is, there is no current Leader of the Republican Party. We are  presently looking for someone to take the reins, someone who can support and advocate for the programs the former President supported while not backing down as he did not when challenged. This leader needs to be someone who can do it all with a bit more decorum, a little more elegance, and with a more modesty.

Trump served a purpose. He was a means to and end, but he is not the end. We thank him for his service.

When I hear people attacking the former President, I hear them attack me, which is their intent And, I hear them attack all those others who voted for him.

When we are called “deplorables,” mouth breathers, white nationalist, trash, backward, uneducated, non-elite, racist, stupid, religious zealots, and whatever new insult they think they are demeaning us with, I realize we are on the right track. We are winning at getting the Party back to where it should be. These insults at first angered me, but now, they make me smile.

Those same awakened Republicans, and many which are of another Party, were further awakened during the pandemic. They began to see what the insidious, far left  had infused into our school curriculums.  They saw how socialist-leaning (actually more communistic-leaning) teachers were teaching untruths and dividing our children and us further by race and creed.

Most importantly, this awakened crowd saw Constitutional Rights being stripped away and they decided they needed to take charge of the narrative in order to gain back Rights taken and to ensure these Rights were never threatened again.

And take charge of the narrative they have.

The other side continues to try to insult its way back in control of the narrative. It tries to use the race card which had won so many games for it in the past, but see it falling on deaf ears and becoming more and more a losing hand.

It tries to associate everything with Donald Trump but are realizing the word Trump only resonates within their own little silo, which is shrinking.

They are now trying to have us believe we are moving backward towards the 1800’s or at least the pre-60’s Civil Rights days where one race was inferior to another, when in actuality, they are the ones trying to make that happen by making those of fairer skin believe they are guilty of the sins of past generations and while, at the same time, inferior to other races, when most of us have moved beyond race as a reason to make decisions about people or programs.

And, the other side is fostering hatred instead of unity.

I mentioned many teachers as being communistic leaning. To help understand my comment, one needs to look at some of the definitions of communism, which is, according to Marx, the end to which socialism is merely a step towards.

First off, Communism is a Social, Economic and Political theory. So, it is all-encompassing.

One definition is, “a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.

Communism includes the management of the public property which is held in the hands of a few who decide who gets or doesn’t get access to that property, similar to how lockdowns where enacted during the pandemic. Certain public places could be kept open to the public while others couldn’t, with little explanation as to why one was allowed and another not.

Certain groups could congregate, while others couldn’t. The central government or heads of the social States got to choose which could or couldn’t happen.

Without going further off topic, and getting back to the Title, the point of all this is, the Republican Party is owned by the majority of that Party, not those who have been elected or those who think they know best for all.

It is this newly awakened group, and not Donald Trump who served a very valuable and much appreciated purpose, that owns the Party. It is this group who did not change the Party but who put the Party back on course.

So, when the former President is insulted, yes it may sting a bit, but it does not push the Party off the course it is now on, which is, the support of the Constitution, not its rewrite, and where all people are equal under the law as long as they uphold the law, and no one is more equal than another. 

The title says it all. These past Five, almost Six, years have been something our Democracy and citizens have needed for a long time.

Let me explain why.

Before Donald J. Trump descended the escalator, a good portion of the voting population had become Content with or perhaps Complacent about the direction of our Country and the efforts of their officials they had elected to represent them in Washington, DC over the past two decades.

With Trump in the race, he was only 2 of 3, out of the total of 17 Republican candidates who had no political experience. He, along with Dr. Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina, were outsiders. None of those three had held public office before, which made the Republican side of the ledger different. None of the three spoke like polished politicians.

Carson and Fiorina, however, never drew the attention or the press of Trump. Theirs were lost campaigns right from the beginning.

Trump, however, was different.

At the outset, I would guess Trump was not the first pick of most Republicans. In fact, he was probably not the second, third, forth or even the eleventh choice out of those original seventeen, But his presence, his showmanship and his attraction to and by the press, slowly moved him into contention and slowly built support.

A good portion of that support came from those Contented and Complacent voters who heard him say things they could relate to; things not said by current politicians.

They were awakened.

Whether one liked the 45^th President or not, he did things many thought needed to be done: for the economy; for minorities; for the military and veterans; for healthcare; for immigration; for security, especially from China; and, for Middle East peace. The list is long and if anyone wants to see it, I’ll gladly send it along.

And every day, he was in the news because the media hated him but couldn’t get enough of him. He used the media to his advantage, which I am not sure they ever caught on to.

He raised the awareness of China as an arch enemy of freedom, democracy and all that is good about America. While many, even now, try to convince others that China is not a threat to our wellbeing, most of those who held to the outdated belief that Russia poses the greatest threat to us, now are focusing on China.

Until Trump, corporations were content to move manufacturing across the water to China and other low paying countries for profits and to skirt US employee regulations. Trump said from the beginning he intended to move manufacturing back, first because it would help the economy and produce jobs for Americans, and then later for security reasons.

The pandemic exposed the vulnerability Trump talked about.

Then Trump lost to someone who had pined for the Presidency since his early days in law school, where it is said he told his first wife the Presidency was his goal. Trump lost to a man who spent 36 years in the Senate and another 8 years as Vice President, and to be honest, if one looks at the accomplishments, significant laws written and passed, had little to show for all those years. If you don’t think that true, go read the records.

Most importantly, though, along with President Biden, came a majority in the Senate and the House for one Party, the Democrat Party.

Trump’s loss and Biden’s win came during a pandemic, when life and the economy, formerly robust, hit the skids.

In any other time, a man in the twilight of his 70’s, who was willing to do whatever it took to reach his lifelong goal, who changed long-held positions in order to not offend a vocal minority of his Party, a minority the former powers of the Party are now afraid of, would not have been the candidate. Would not have won the election.

All the while, during that campaign year, parents and children were kept at home with children  going to school on their computers and ipads.

As detrimental to our economy and the mental health of those confined to home was, the lock-downs actually helped our Democracy because parents, who had in many cases turned over their children’s upbringing to teachers, had a chance to see what teachers were teaching.

That was a wakeup call for many parents, many of whom were in the Content and Complacent category.

Then what happened?

Moms and Dads started paying attention to what their children were being taught and found a lot of it had nothing to do with reading, writing or arithmetic. It had little to do to prepare them for life beyond school. They also learned history was either not being taught at all, or had been revised to tell a certain ideological story with little relationship to our history, and which is supposed to make about 70% of the children feel guilty and bad about the color of their skin.

What parents saw was something that had slowly and subtly been creeping into the education system for decades. What they saw was something that Senator Joseph McCarthy had imagined was happening in the early 50’s. As it turns out, maybe not so imagined after all. Maybe Senator McCarthy was ahead of his times and definitely misguided, but he feared what others never thought could happen.

Communism had entered the school system. Some refer to it as a more socialistic type of teaching, or as they refer to it as Socialism, but if one reads the definition of Communism, it defines exactly what many are teaching and hope to achieve.

On top of all of this awakening to what is going on in our schools, the new Presidential Administration started pushing a very far left package of spending under the guise of an infrastructure Bill, but included little about infrastructure, unless somewhere while we were sleeping, people and ideas became inanimate objects and part of the definition of infrastructure

Along with all of this, came mandates from the Federal Government saying face coverings had to be worn at all times or at least if someone was within breathing distance of them.

Then the vaccine President Trump had marshaled through with great speed to help protect and minimize the impact of the pandemic, all of a sudden became a weapon; a political weapon to divide the Country into the “clean” and “unclean,” much like the racial divide before the mid-60’s.

So we now reach the present when much of America has realized they have already lost many freedoms and will lose more if they do not act.

The Content and Complacent woke up. They realize the freedom, the America their forefathers fought and died for needed to be fought for again.

Democracy does not come naturally. It cannot be dreamed or wished into reality. It needs to be nurtured, to be safeguarded. It needs citizens to stand up against those who wish to tear it down or change it.

So, the battle, the war now being raged, is not one with guns and tanks or fighter jets. It is a war of wills. It is a Constitutional war.

The question to each of us is, do we want our Country to become one dependent on the Federal Government from cradle to grave, and of and for the few?

Do we want a Country where our Federal policing agencies, the FBI, CIA, DIA, DHS, IRS and other agencies usurp your freedom and undermine duly elected Presidents?

Or do we want a free Country where the Federal Government and its agencies work for us?

If we want the latter, then we have to get up off the sidelines and join in the battle, the new battle for Democracy.

I don’t understand hating. I really don’t. But, it appears to be out there, and, out there in full force.

Let me explain my confusion about hating.

I have lived longer than many will live, and I have met more people the world over on 6 of the 7 continents than many will ever meet, but I cannot think of one person over all my years and travels that I have ever hated.

Oh, there are some that I disliked more than others, and there are others I have liked more than others. And, there are some I would prefer not to be around, while there are others I wished I could be around more.

But, I can’t think of one I hated, or disliked enough that they would make me rant and rant and rant, and wish ill-will upon them, or make them the focus of my being.

I spent 4 years in the military under 2 Presidents, one from each major Party.  To me, both of these men were my Commander-in-Chief, and as such, they were the men whose orders I would follow and who’s office I respected.

Since before entering the military, and afterwards, I have been a citizen under the leadership of another 12 Presidents, so 14 in all, none of which I have hated or even disliked enough that I wished ill-will upon them.

In fact, while I may not have liked many or almost none of the policies some of these Presidents attempted to put into law, I always hoped that they would be successful when it came to the safety and protection of our citizenry and the Country, the economic growth which would benefit all, even if some benefited more than others,, and the health of our citizenry.

I hoped they would help maintain peace around the world so our Country was not drawn into unnecessary and endless wars.

And, I hoped more than anything, their policies and actions would help move our Country to that place our founding fathers set out to reach, to that more perfect Union.

To me, and maybe this is because of my military time, these men were the leader of our Country, and in my mind, based on my travels to so many other Countries, the greatest Country on earth, regardless of what some others may try to tell us.

Which brings me back to my opening statement, which is, I don’t understand hating.

What that means is, I also don’t understand a good portion of our population that has hated one or more of our Presidents.

What drives a person to hate someone else so much, especially a person they never met? The question becomes even more baffling when the hatred is directed at a President that is no longer in office and not causing any policies or laws being put into place. It makes me wonder about the hater’s sanity.

What makes a person almost seem to use every waking hour to try to find one more thing a particular President said or did, which makes them go berserk, and so much so, that they have to reach out to other, mostly like-minded individuals, to spend so much of their limited time on earth, to tell everyone why they hate a person?

Presidents, presently and in the past all men, woman sometime in the near future, are only people. They are not infallible. They are not perfect.

They have to have, however, some amount of 7 traits, according to “presidential expert,” Alan Schroeder, which makes them want to take that long journey to that place in history, and all the abuse that goes with it.

Those traits are: narcissist; pioneer; extrovert; celebrity; performer; married; and genius or intellect.

I would agree with that list, and add one more, an 8^th trait; visionary They have a vision which they believe will make this Country better. Their idea of better may not be mine, but they have to want whatever it is they see as “better” so much so that they want to make the journey

As I look back over all those 14 Presidents under which I have lived, they all had some amount of each of those traits; much stronger in some than others, and much weaker in some than others. And some of those traits which were more out front, or perhaps way in the background, are what made their public like them or dislike them more.

To hate a person, however, that has taken it upon themselves to lead this great Nation, this great, Exceptional Nation, and like it or not, lead the World, takes a certain amount of shallowness, in my mind.

It also tells me that the hater has a very limited world and mind, because there is so much more to the world than focusing on one person to the extent that that is your life.

My thoughts.

Something interesting happened on the way to today from the 80’s.  What had been the two major political Parties in the US disappeared. In fact, what now exists is one Party consisting of: those in our Federal Government (including elected officials); the rich who in many ways control those in Government; artists who most likely came from modest roots but are now part of the rich who believe that along with the riches they gained, they have also gained great intellect that allows them to see what is needed to make all others as enlightened as them; educators who because they are “teachers” or have some additional degree that allows them to flaunt the fact that they stayed in school to gain a “Masters” or “Doctorate,” that that somehow makes them gurus whose words must be followed because they are the truth and the way; and, those in the media who believe that their opinions are what people want to hear, as opposed to them reporting just the facts and news, and whose opinions are actually more relevant than all others and of such great importance that they need to express this in order to do exactly what their artist friends believe is also their duty – to make all others think and believe as they do.

So, what happens to all those who are not part of those shallow, out of touch segments that make up the one Main Party?

What happens to those that were part of the one Party that was considered more liberal and out for the individual, especially those who may have been held down in the past because of race, creed or lack of economic leverage, when they find out they are not really part of the Main Party and their liberal Party that no longer exists as it was, but has metamorphosed into this new Main Party?

What happens to those who were part of the group that had been held down because of race, creed or lack of economic leverage, who thought the more liberal Party was actually working to help them, when they find out it was all a sham?

What happens to those who may also have gained riches along the way but not of the massiveness of those at the top of industry, or in the arts, or on Wall Street, or in the tech industry, who are not in a position to use those riches to impose their beliefs and ideals on those in Government and, consequently, on all of America?

What happens to those who were part of the more conservative Party that believed that if one put in a hard, full day of work and followed the laws put in place by those they elected to those Government offices, that they would be able to live their lives with minimal control forced upon them by some outside force, like the ever-expanding Government when they watch those who flaunt breaking laws, and those from the Main Party, that stand by and allows those law breakers to walk freely, and many times dangerously throughout the neighborhoods threatening the safety and well-being of this more conservative segment?

What happens to those who supposedly believed in fiscal responsibility and a small Federal Government that had limited powers, and that States Rights were what made us a group that were referred to as the United States that constitutes this Country called America?

All those latter groups have been left behind to either comply and acquiesce to the Main Party, to quietly complain in small inner circles, or, to try to take control of what used to be one of the two major Parties.

Since what used to be the two major Parties is now the one Main Party that plays lip service to the Constitution and believes a bigger Federal Government should take control of the States and no longer allow those States to function as the majority of the population of those States think they should, which is closer to what used to be the major Party that was considered more liberal, the only option left to those on the outside of this new Main Party, other than to form a new Second or a Third Party, is to take control of what used to be the more conservative Party; to rise up and remove those from that Party leadership that have become part of that one Major Party, and underwrite a platform and elect leaders that believe in Free Speech, in Individual Rights, in Freedom to Protect Oneself, in minimizing the size and function of a Central Government, and in Freedom of Religion.

The “Reawakened” Republican Party will be what the real base always was: made up of individuals that believe in working for what one has and earns; helping those who need help to rise up from their depth of despair until that person shows they no longer need or deserve that help; treating everyone as an equal with equal rights but not with more rights than others; disregarding skin hue as a reason to like or dislike, or hire or promote an individual; treating life with respect; and, following the tenet of “love thy neighbor as thyself,” but not greater than thyself.

That new Republican Party, that base that was always there, was awakened over the past 5 years and its members saw more clearly who did and who did not support those planks in the platform for which they had stood for their entire voting lives. And, the new Republican Party, at least for the immediate, will see through those who do not  truly have the best for all mankind as their driving force, or the planks on which the new Republican Party stands, and cast them out of office if they are currently there, or never put them in a position to take control of the new Republican Party in the future.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton