For those who miss the point...we are involved in yet another fight against tyranny.

[lees1975]

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2025/04/for-those-who-miss-point.html

I have yet to meet and engage in discussion with a Trump supporter who can factually articulate exactly what it is that Trump has done for this country, and specifically for themselves, that merits their support. Maybe there is someone out there who can say, truthfully, "He cut my taxes, he made the economy better, he made the nation safer, both from foreign threats and from crime, and insofar as it was his responsibility to do the things the Constitution demands of its government, he did so."

But that would be a rare individual, indeed. That's because Trump did none of those things.

There are plenty of people who believe this, but what they might believe and what is actually true are two different things. That's been part of the problem with Trump all along, his political success rest on falsehoods, invented statistics and outright lies. For one thing, people are generally not educated enough to understand the way government is supposed to work. They've bought into this "winner take all" mentality, not understanding that this is a democracy, and its government is a republic. That does not mean that a candidate who wins an election by a razor thin plurality does not have any mandate to claim that their agenda is "what the American people voted for."

Those who put the emphasis on the "Republic" part of American democracy don't understand that in a Republic, the rights of the minority are equally protected under the law. So to simply start "cutting" government budgets, under the false pretense that there is massive fraud and that spending is "out of control," both very nebulous and undefined arguments, is in direct conflict with the rule of law.

What's happening is not just partisan political battling over how much or how little government should do for its people. That ended when the GOP decided they were going to adopt the Rush Limbaugh methods of "our way or the highway" and started their attempt to turn the United States from a constitutional democracy into a white, Christian nationalist oligarchy. Resistance and opposition only work when all three branches of government are committed to democracy, which guarantees the protection of the rights of the minority. What's happening now is that people's guaranteed rights are being taken away from them.

That's tyranny. And the American people have, in their history, demonstrated an ability not only to recognize it when they see it, but they know how to fight it and defeat it. And that must happen, once again, in order for American Democracy to prevail and survive the tyranny that is attacking the United States now.

[lees1975]

1. Is all of this enough?

People are finally waking up to this nightmare, taking steps to protest and resist it, and poking their moribund legislators to some kind of action. They are, finally, taking to the streets. Those in position to do so are using the courts, filing lawsuits and getting injunctions to stop the worst abuses. Now that everyone as caught their breath, some of the worst abuses are at least being slowed down by the judicial branch. And it's not an impossible leap, at this point, from GOP control of the legislative branch to putting enough pressure on a few members of the House and Senate to prevent a complete collapse into Christian Nationalist oligarchy.