by Dale R. Botten

“We hold these truths…”. So begins a sentence of the Declaration of Independence. A “truth” can be defined as:
(1) facts.
(2) being the case.
“to be self-evident…”.
(1) requiring no further verification
That Donald Trump is Vladimir Putin’s number one B-boy (NOT Bat-boy) is self-evident truth (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urW-LzeTpS8 ).
That Putin’s plan is to destroy NATO and re-animate the old Soviet Bloc, beginning with Ukraine is self evident truth
(https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/russia-ukraine-world-war-three-vladimir-putin-b1136411.html ). That Trump’s plan to become America’s first dictator includes using the military is self-evident truth ( https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-military-fears-rcna129159 ).

That there are Republican members of Congress and state houses who support and are eager to participate in the selling out of our democracy (and the democracies of Europe) that Americans shed their blood to help establish and protect is the most egregious, deplorable and heinous self-evident truth of all
(https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/donald-trump-republicans-vladimir-putin-puppets.html ). The reason why is a discussion for another day.

These Republican puppets are beyond redemption. They have chosen to throw their lot in with Russia, via Donald Trump (the reasons for which we can only speculate and are for another discussion). Then there are those Republicans whose sense of loyalty and devotion to the Constitution compel them to stand up and fight back; precious few Republicans like Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney.

However, there are others also; others whose sense of right and wrong and their duty to protect and defend the Constitution keep them awake at night…but they just can’t seem to bring themselves to stand tall against the orange menace that is hell-bent on destroying democracy not only in America, but across the globe. Why? Fear. Fear is a great motivator, but also a great inhibitor. They are deathly afraid of the orange menace, Donald Trump and his Russian puppeteer. They’re terrified of two things: ending up in the unemployment line, or ending up in the morgue…or both.

If their primary concern is the former, then they can no longer claim that they are defending the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic; for it is under attack by both. Their status as patriot is strongly called into question.
Hitler had his Brown Shirts and Mussolini had his Black Shirts. Trumpputin (as I have heard him called) has his MAGA Shirts. Violence is their stock and trade…all of them. There are those that practice it and those that condone it. The practitioners are those who dwell one step beyond the lunatic fringe that now controls the Republican Party.
If these are who the moderate Republicans in Congress fear the most, that is understandable. As was said before, fear is both a great motivator and inhibitor. But remember, our Constitution, our Union and our very freedom are at stake here, every bit as much as they were during WW2 and even the Civil War. Being scared is natural; happens to everybody.

You know who else was scared? That 19-year-old soldier whose footprint is forever enshrined into the bloody sand of beaches like Anzio, Utah, Omaha, Point du Hoc…and in countless towns, villages and fields thereafter. There were others, too: Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Iwo Jima…and more too numerous to mention. We can add to this this those who shed their blood here at home to save our Union and democracy (as imperfect as it is) at Shiloh, Gettysburg, Antietam…just for starters. Every one of those young men (and women) were scared as hell; but they knew their country’s very survival was in jeopardy and they knew what they had to do…and they did it. The sweat, the tears and the blood of each one of them have irrigated the fertile soil not only in America, but around the world, so that freedom and the dignity of all human life may have at least a chance to grow and thrive. These are the same young men and women Donald Trump has credibly called, “losers and suckers.”
( https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/trump-americans-who-died-at-war-are-losers and-suckers/615997/ ).

What about you, Mr./Ms. Moderate Republican legislator? These men and women throughout our brief history have answered the call to preserve democracy at home and around the world, so that “government of the PEOPLE, by the PEOPLE and for the PEOPLE shall not perish from the earth.” Are you willing to do the same?