Tag: #CivilWar

When Americans are divided and fight one another, who wins?  It is not America for sure, but rather a lot of regimes who want to set a divergent world standard.

 

Are we running towards a new American Civil War?

If you have been familiar with the pages of world history – to include American history, then you would not be surprised to realize that indicators leading to a civil war tend to be very consistent.  I cannot begin to explain how disturbing and dangerous this situation is at this very moment (as I type these words) for American history – and by extension the world.

There is a lot to say and praise about American exceptionalism.  Agree or disagree, like it or not, the United States of America is still the most influential country in the world.  Why is that?  The answer is complex, but it can be summarized in the fact that we are a conglomeration of every culture and heritage spanning the entire world.  There are American citizens who were literally born, or have ancestry linked to every corner on this planet.

Our diversity is our strength as a Nation.  Of course, being an influential nation that sets the standard for equal treatment to all people is inconvenient to a large slew of regimes.  In fact, it is a lot more insidious than that, but we’ll talk more about it in in a little bit – let’s put this thought in context first.  When you have a lot of diversity, it is a lot harder for “group-thinking” and “bubble mentality” to blind people from reality.  In other words, the dialog (or sometimes disagreements) will pose a different point of view – and spark a larger [actual] conversation.  That does not imply that an agreement might be reached, but it will show empirical evidence that there is more than one way of thinking.  That is inconvenient to regimes who require unilateral obedience.

In a civil war there are many factors that play crucial roles in the process leading to conflict.  I call them factors because they are multipliers.  Unrest does not tend to start suddenly, it tends to brew for a long time, and once there is enough dehumanization from one another, the new perceived foe becomes a target, while also forgetting their own humanity.  It is this group thinking that keeps adding to this “us against them” mentality.  Once the communication breakdown is inevitable, then being reasonable becomes a moot point.  The anger and visceral response take full control of each individual person, and it just goes downhill from there.

This is happening in America right now.  And I cannot begin to tell you how painful it is to realize it.  And what makes it even more dangerous – is that there are plenty of people who are blissfully unaware of this danger, and likely won’t realize it until it is too late.  That is unless we can wake up people and diffuse this whole catastrophe from occurring in the first place.  But even if this gets diffused, the less informed segment of the population would remain unaware or even annoyed about “what was the fuzz all about,” or “what people were talking about.”  Sometimes being lucky is not a blessing, it can be a curse of apathy and ignorance.

The lack of dialog in the political discourse, the current cult of personalities for particular people in office is a very disturbing trend many people ignore.  However, for a segment of the population, what was one a solemn institution – regardless of whether you disagree about policy – has become a circus where there is a non-insignificant number of “elected officials” who are constantly spewing divisive points which also happen to be propaganda points from other regimes, specifically designed to divide Americans.  This is a problem, because we are instigated and therefore getting attacked from the inside out.

The difference between the catalyst for this potential new American Civil War and the last is that those who are been enticed to start fighting are not even aware of what they are fighting for.  For the American Civil war in the 1800s it was fought because many people were perfectly ok with slavery.  Many states severed themselves from the United States in order for these “states’ rights” to have people keep other human beings as property.  The mere thought of condoning owning other human beings as property is despicable, and it was a terrible part in world-history, to include American history.  We can’t change the past, but we [collectively] can certainly be responsible for our futures.

And hence, that is what the crux of the matter gets muddied up.  There are countless people who are perfectly fine with trying to destroy other people’s lives – Americans killing other Americans.  Some have not even realized it yet.  But the divisive rhetoric is making it more and more incendiary with every passing day.  I’ve been seeing this situation deteriorate more and more in real time.  And while some are speaking up about it, the solution seems ever so elusive.  Talking with no viable action can perpetuate a problem.  And no, the action I’m speaking about does not imply getting violent against the dissenting group.

 

 

What are the actions needed to diffuse a civil war?

Let’s start with some context.  Civil wars have something in common.  Somebody wants to keep or raise to power.  They achieve this by dividing people under the specific regime, and have them kill each other to keep only loyalists alive so they can pander towards the dear leader for as long as it is convenient to this dear leader.

Did that happen during the American Civil war?  Yes, it did.  There were many poor Southerners who were convinced that anybody with a darker skin tone was inferior to them, and should remain subservient to those with a non-dark complexion.  However, there were very rich plantation owners and other people who actually owned human beings – not every southerner was a slave owner.  In fact, the great majority didn’t.  But those who did own slaves derived their incredible wealth out of the literal exploitation of human beings, who were originally captured overseas and sold as property in the United States.

Slavery, unfortunately, was not only relegated to the South, there were many people in other states who were perfectly ok about owning slaves too.  The American Civil War started because when slavery was to be abolished, many states – who happened to be in the South, wanted to keep human beings as property, then created the Confederacy and severed themselves from the United States.  Which is technically treason, and brought four years of bitter fighting among Americans.  The Union defeated the Confederacy, but this division among Americans has never really healed up.

Link to Buy the book “WOKE & PROUD The Charlatans’ Inconvenience” by J. Marcelo Baqueroalvarez

The reason is because many of them have been lied to, and even though most non-wealthy Southerners fought, they were lied too as well.  I’m not sure they would have been super wired up to fight if they would have been told the truth – which would be akin to the following: “hey you’re fighting and likely dying for these very rich people who want to keep slaves to get richer, and by the way are not fighting themselves in the front lines against the USA, they will mostly be giving orders to you – but YOU, will be doing the fighting and likely dying, while their wealth is being protected by YOU.”

Some southerners did figure that out in the middle of the battle, and the Confederacy had a lot of attrition and desertion.  They realized that the rich folks wanted to have the poor-white folks fighting on behalf of keeping their wealth.  For example, owning slaves was also expensive.  Therefore, there was no shortage of white people who made a meager living doing manual labor.  And because slaves were giving housing and food – however squalid the conditions, the non-wealthy southerners probably perceived that the slaves had it “easy” – which is of course cognitive dissidence.

Considering this, several scholars have come to the agreement that only ~1% of southerners actually owned slaves.  And it was THIS 1% who set America on a bloody four-years’ war – which they ended up losing anyway.  How where they able to make the 99% additional group of people to fight to the death for this 1% of super rich folks’ economic interests?  Sadly, lies and racism.  They convince them that folks with dark skin were inferior.  By dehumanizing a group, and dehumanizing those who accurately considered people with darker skin human beings.  And of course, feed a narrative that the union was being aggressive.  Hence, still many southerners call the civil war, a “war of northern aggression” – despite the fact that most of the Confederate soldiers were fighting against their own best interests.

In any battle mobilizing people on lies, there has to be a foe.  This foe has to be formidable – yet inferior (in any way they can consider it as such – even the despicable ways).  Once it becomes an “us against them” issue – it is very easy to fall in the trap of cognitive dissidence.  People tend to galvanize against what they consider a common threat.  And those who want to manipulate people vulnerable to exploitable biases are very much aware that those obedient fools are disposable, but that they would break their backs or fight and gladly die for a cause that was manufactured.  However, those fighting and dying are very much convinced it was for a worthwhile cause.  That is why it is so dangerous.

We’ve seen this happen in other countries.  For example, suicide bombers, they are lied about heavenly rewards and other perks. This narrative is indoctrinated for a long time… it is not like they tell today to join a group and tomorrow they will be asked to be a martyr.  The ones in the higher echelons never do the suicide-bombing themselves, bizarre, huh?  However, these martyrs are very much enamored with the idea that they are doing something bigger than themselves – despite the fact they are just disposable fools who are convinced that ending their lives and the lives of others is an honorable cause.  Well, when it comes to civil war rhetoric, although a bit different in semantics, has very similar mechanics – and produces similar results.

What are those mechanics?  Let me summarize them this way:

1. Find a foe, whatever or whoever it might be.

2. Disparage this foe until they become dehumanized (if people)

3. Ramp up violent ways to eliminate said foe, and convince that eliminating this foe (even through violence) is not only the right thing to do – but it is an honorable cause.

4. Send the most disposable fool to the front line to do the hard work (even if it is a suicide mission), by promising them some sort of reward for them or anybody they leave behind.  It is not like they can come from the afterlife if the reward never indeed happens.

5. Repeat the process until there are no more disposable fools to send to do errands for them.  Which might happen sooner or later – that is why authoritarian regimes tend to end at some point.  Or are big in indoctrinating new generations, so they can be those next disposable fools.

This process, as despicable as it sounds – it is all too real, and it happens around the world.  It has certainly occurred in America.  There are larger geopolitical intricacies.  Why? Because although the American Civil War in the 1800’s was very much domestic in the sense that some rich American folks wanted to get richer.  This new [potential] Civil War is a lot more complex.  This time is about entities outside our borders who want to destroy the USA from the inside out.  And they have been achieving this with spectacular results.

Even people with good intentions are falling victims of this sick game.  And yes, it is designed to be that way.  Therefore, for any reader who has a realization they have been lied to, don’t worry – DO something about it!  DOING means stop perpetuating the falsehoods of those who lied to you, and use this new found knowledge to tell the [actual] truth to others who were also lied to.  Just remember that you might find pushback – just like you were pushing back before the epiphany.  Again, this was designed to be that way.

It is very easy for lies to gain traction because they are designed to be easily digestible – and have just enough “accurate” information in order to pass a shallow fact-checking level of scrutiny.  But of course, this is not going to last if a higher level of scrutiny is ensued to seek the truth.  A lot of people who are not inside the bubble when this information is being pushed onto unsuspected victims won’t fall for this trick.  However, for those inside this bubble, the actual reality of being bamboozled will seem counterintuitive.  As I keep saying it, it is designed to be that way.  And it has been working for a long time.

Case in point.  Social media – especially Tweeter (X) in the last several months.  At some point there was some fact checking or at least some sort of deterrent from cyberbullying, hate speech, and other types of harassment to users.  Nowadays, it is a lot harder to report to a person than to endure the extremely offensive and divisive things many anonymous keyboard warriors spew all over the platform.  We see something similar in other platforms, but they tend to be regulated in a different manner, not only by the actual people running the platform, but by the users themselves.

A good example of accountability as described is Threads, the vibe is a lot better than Tweeter, according to the consensus of most Threads users.  I happen to agree with the Thread users.  But of course, even social media sites are being used as a polarization of who is subscribing to what world view.  Particularly, people on Tweeter (X) tend to be a lot more aggressive.  And that includes people from either side of the political spectrum, and religion.

Surprisingly (and heartbreaking enough), I’ve also seen many people who claim (claim being the key word) to be atheists who also happen to be extreme right-wing, LGBT, Ultra MAGAs, but also tend to spew all kinds of hate speech against LGBT, and repeat ultra-conservative talking points.  Of course, anybody who has been familiar with and studying sociological factors would also find it surprising as I did, because that is very much out of character for those groups.  And of course, unsurprisingly, most of these accounts spewing divisive rhetoric have avatars that are not an actual person – and there are no links to any actual social presence.  In other words, they are cowards hiding anonymous accounts, giving them the opportunity to harass others while hiding in the obscurity of the internet.  I’ll be writing additional articles about that, and I have talked about that in my blog as well.

I’ve challenged many of those, with this very line.  I point to them that it is cowardice to attack people online.  And further, they would not be doing the same thing if this was face to face with them showing their real name and identity.  They claim that those who they harass would go after them -claiming the other [users] to be somebody like the gestapo during Hitler’s times.  Which is interesting because these anonymous accounts cowards are doing the same level of harassment, only in a virtual scenario – yet in their sophomoric minds they feel justified; it seems they are lost in the irony.

Trying to reason with many of these minds who are clearly compromised can not only be challenging but incredibly frustrating.  I have to admit that although it can be tragically amusing and entertaining, it is also exceedingly sad.  And by sad, I mean it is sad to see how deep propaganda has made it almost impossible for them to see how deluded their arguments really are.  And of course, there is a non-zero chance that many of these trolls are perhaps high as a kite when they are spewing nonsense in social media.

But the most important point I want to put across with this article is that good people (not just in the USA but around the world) fortunately are the majority.  I keep seeing more and more people talking about a potential civil war in the United States – although I’ve been talking about these indicators for a lot longer than they have.  But the point remains, what are we going to do to stop this from happening?  The simple – yet complex answer is: EDUCATION!  And by that I don’t’ mean schools – I mean turning propaganda on its head.  The same tools being utilized to divide us can be reversed engineered.

I will be writing a series of articles in the coming weeks about this particular topic, because it is complex.  Meanwhile, I have been talking about that in any platform I can get a hold of.  For example, in the Festival of Story Tellers, I spoke about propaganda and how to defeat it.  You can view that video at the following link

Link to Video About Turning Propaganda on Its Head.

But the fact is that I may be idealistic all I want – but I cannot do this alone.  I’ll keep doing my part to spread awareness and provide solutions through my writing – and any other platform I can find.  I just hope that my message won’t resonate when it is too late.  HLC

 

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Link to Buy the book “AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools” by J. Marcelo Baqueroalvarez

 

 

America’s polarization is accelerating, the early drumming of a potential civil war is being played – and I don’t like it.  This is what we can do about it!

Politics are still irrelevant – yes really…

It has been a while since the last time I got a chance to write a “Today in America” article – my favorite series on this blog-site.  But that has not stopped my predictions from becoming true.  What I find most disturbing of all right now is that the early drumming marching set-up for a potential Civil War – these indicators are ongoing.  Is that parabolic?  I wish it was, but the reality is a lot more complex and dynamic.

Politics are not as relevant as some people might think, because this visceral response is not about actual policy or doctrine.  Those attributes are incidental at best.  They only serve as a way to pick a “team” to “root for” or to “feel” part of.  Never mind that the actual platform policies have been already conflicting with their own narratives for years.  It is important to highlight that not everybody feeling compelled to “fight” this civil war is actually a “bad person” – many are just confused.  Especially some who are aggressors who think they are in fact defenders.

And in this confusion, they can feel vindication for their nefarious actions – THAT is why I find this situation most disturbing in these early states of the potentially-looming horrific divide. I’ve written before – several times, that for example, it is futile to label so called “MAGA” Republicans in any derogatory epithet and expect that is enough to reach a solution.  Communication breakdown is a key component of division.  It is intended to be that way.  In simpler words it’s a trap. I interact with people who have become victims of propaganda pretty much every day.

Many of them are honest-to-goodness good people, or at the very least their heart is in the right place.  However, their decisions are factored with faulty data.  Then the correct answer to them becomes counterintuitive, and arguing with them tends to becomes frustrating or even futile.  Especially if they realized they are wrong.  Some of them then just really want to piss you off.  For others it actually becomes a traumatic event.  Facts, and rationally be damned at that point.

But it is this lack of rationality that is so enticing to those demagogs who want to push a divisive narrative into an action.  Whatever this action might be, so long it is self-serving.  If does not matter if you are for or against it. It only matters if the conversation breaks down to the point that we stop listening to each other, and forgo any actual substance in the argument’s merit.  Especially if we happen to agree on key points.  Again, this is by design, and I’ve been talking about it for years, and I am quite frankly starting to get desperate, because we’re quickly approaching the point of no return.

What IS happening to America?

The latest incendiary issue to affect us all spans from the verdict ruled by the Supreme Court in the State of Colorado.  On December, 19 2023 – the Colorado Supreme Court voted to remove Donald J. Trump from the primary ballot.  Sure, there are a bunch of other things going on, but this is a catalyst for a lot more than what meets the eye.

Read the full 2013-page document here.
23SA300 Supreme Court Colorado Removing Trump Full Document

 

The grounds for the removal were put in effect because of a provision on the 14th Amendment of the United Sates Constitution that prohibits a person involved in an insurrection to run for office.  This a provision that dates back to the times after the Civil War.  In essence politicians who were pro-Confederacy were (and former Confederate themselves) sent to Congress by those same states who wanted to separate themselves from America.

Unsurprisingly, they were not very cordial to anybody who was not pro-Confederacy – yes even after the American Civil War. Fast forward to December 2023, love or hate Trump is not the issue here.  Nobody, and I mean NOBODY would have been able to run for office with his legal rap in a realistic Presidential-race.  In fact, with all his 90+ criminal charges and other civil charges he would most likely not been able to apply for even a low-level government job anywhere.  Not as a civilian, not as a military… he would have not been accepted.  I know that for a fact, because I am quite familiar with the process, having been working with the government for over 20 years.

And of course, it was recently broadcasted that more criminal charges might be added in connection with election interference.  This time in the State of Michigan.  So even if this pattern of misbehavior was a coincidence, at some point we have to face the reality that the probably for coincidences have long been exhausted.  It behooves to see the facts very pragmatically – especially for MAGA supporters.  Because if he is actually guilty, they are defending the indefensible.  And it also becomes their legacy.  Not unlike knowing that you’ve gotten swindled by somebody and giving them your sustained undeterred devotion.

To put this in context, every U.S. Government worker – being civilian or military must have at a minimum impeccable trustworthiness, loyalty, and character.  If any of those are impacted negatively in any way, then the person would not be selected for that job, and other candidates who do meet that minimal threshold would be considered for that (or any position) available. Hence it is only logical that for the most exulted office in the land, this minimum threshold should not be an exception.  In fact, a lot more is needed of the incumbent or aspirant for that job.  Sure, that Trump is innocent until proven guilty, but likewise when there are open cases (especially criminal cases) people applying for a government job do not get hired until it gets sorted out.  Why should a candidate be different?  Because he’s popular?  There are other candidates who could represent the ticket who do not have the same list of charges.

Let’s do a quick case study example.  Let’s say that a person who is seeking a job in a junior position which requires a security clearance has gotten into some legal trouble.  The case is still pending.  For example, let us say that the job deals with the maintenance of a particular weapons system.  The person might or might not be innocent of the charges, but how do we know for sure? So, the question is: Should this person be hired regardless?  Spoiler alert, the answer is NO.

And that is exactly what does happen in government – and it has for years.  Even contractors have a lot of limitations based on placement and access.  That being the case, what should we expect for the highest office on the land, the office with the greatest placement and access of all?  The answer is obvious. And we would have to be very naïve to think that accruing 90+ criminal charges, being twice impeached, and a plethora of other civil cases (which he has not won, or is losing) it is actually a very hard list of trouble to amass for any person.

Are ALL those charges frivolous?  Are they?  Are the prosecutors going to risk their career risking a mistrial?  Also, worth mentioning, why are most of Trump’s lawyers and co-defendants jumping ship and testifying against him?  At some point, the “benefit of the doubt” becomes more dubious than simple apathy for this man. However, his base will happily listen and believe anything that comes out of his mouth, and his acolytes.  However, they will disavow and even go on the offensive against those very acolytes, should they start speaking out of turn against Trump.

Some of those acolytes were themselves on the offensive of others beforehand – until it was their turn to be under the Trump train wheels.  For many of us, we are not surprised to see this happening.  Being Trump or anybody else, the actions are more important than who is enacting them.  If Biden was doing the same things, I would be writing about him too. But I digress.  However, there is no shortage of GOP members, to include presidential-hopefuls who are galvanizing in favor of Trump. I was actually surprised that many of them would actually take themselves off the ballot in Colorado to support him.  And that of course might have been naïve of me to think that they had some principles on the actual merits.

The promoter for that was Presidential Hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy.  He essentially dared the other candidates to do so.  I let Ramaswamy know every now and the of them via twitter my opinion when he pops on my feed and his words are dangerous to national security– not that I will ever get a response.  But I want to do my part, even if he does not understand why.  I always ask him to have his staff contact me for him to understand the unintended consequences for his often-misguided policies.   In either case I was hoping deep inside that the GOP hopefuls would take the hint that this is not a battle they want to fight.  Maybe a tactical advantage -because of Trump’s base, but the pages of history will state the truth – they are right now advocating for supporting a person who has been guilty of several crimes, insurrection in particular – and punishing their own campaigns in the process.

I was specially disappointed at Chris Christie who tends to be a very vocal dissenter of Trump – nowadays.  He has of course been humiliated by Trump before multiple times, and despite this Christie was also one of his most fervent supporters.  I don’t know if he realizes that cameras do record what he was saying.  But his flip flopping and excuses for his actions might be bought by a few people, but most people don’t trust him.  Hence the polls show it on the numbers for support among the GOP themselves.  The blue side would be goose eggs.

But I realize that to an extent that is irrelevant.  Just now I’ve been speaking with somebody on social media who is very much convinced of narratives that have been fed to him for years – and parrots propaganda points with a lot of confidence.  Even though his arguments have the water integrity of a hair net.  Facts be damned.  But the problem is a lot deeper than what we are seeing now, this propagandistic narrative has been building up for years, and it is accelerating.  And it needs to stop.  The only way to do so is by educating people who are perhaps blissfully unaware of all this chaos happening around them – to wake up!

 

The drumming of a Neo-American Civil War needs to be stopped.

Yes, it might seem like my articles turn into a shameless plug for my books, but I wrote them because of what is happening right now.  Everybody is “talking” about the symptoms of authoritarianism and some of the rhetoric, but missing the point by a factor of galactic proportions.  This goes for mainstream media, pundits, and a bunch of other – perhaps well intentioned locutors.  They are falling into the trap too.  My books, just like my writing pertaining to these articles, are not a vanity affair.  I am very disturbed by the events in the world, and I will use my platform, however (relatively) small at this time to do my part.

AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools – get it here

We have to understand that propaganda is designed to be subtle in execution – even if the reactions it incites are very much on the nose.  I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but I is not.  You see, a propagandist plants some seeds, and these ideas are churning on people’s minds.  They become repeated from different angles, validated by other people repeating them, and suddenly they become normalized.  It does not matter if you are in the favoring or dissenting side of the [chosen] issue.  That is not important as much as how willing are you to be divisive against “the others.”

If you are on the side that is divisive – but on rooting for the home team, good news!  They got you – or you will become a token figure to be made an illustrious example to the larger audience.  A picture-perfect speaker.

If you’re rooting for the visitors’ team, stand by. They will either discredit you or try to quiet you down any way possible.  This is what I realize more and more is happening to the rest of the world who has an important message to share.  It won’t be surprising for you to see that some of the people with the most short-sighted and off-the-wall ideas are getting a lot of attention – AND followers!  And so are those who are distracting people from the real situation that is affecting their very lives.  Meanwhile, trying to get your foot through the door to speak your voice will feel like screaming into a void.  I know I’ve felt that way more often than I wish, though things are turning the tide – but perhaps not fast enough, given the urgency of the situation.

I’ve been pondering on that instance – though I am grateful that we have reached readers in 79+ countries, and there is a grass-roots audience who is receptive to the message we are conveying.  But there are millions out there who will prefer to be disengaged, but who will affect all our lives, like it or not.  I’ll continue doing my part to help the “algorithms” (which is the larger audience) find my content and spread my message.

I do get offers from many people who claim to be able to do so, but they haven’t read a word I’ve written.  I prefer not to give them my business if they haven’t taken that crucial first step.

But in the meantime, this “junior clout” makes it very difficult to get across to others who need to hear this message.  Because of the inheriting emergency for this topic.  For that reason, I’ve decided not to be subtle at all, and I am going to be engaging with people who have large platforms until they get sick of me.  Or finally re-engage.  I am not rude, but I am going to be appearing more and more on their feeds until those who review the” engagement” finally get the epiphany I’m trying to transmit.

The truth is that I cannot keep waiting until maybe one day those with a larger platform figure out who I am and what I was trying to say.  I do this project (Half Life Crisis) on my own (my daughter is my team mate, but she is only 12) while trying to retire from Active Duty Navy – so this is incumbent on me to put this together in the most effective manner.  That is why I keep asking for help to spread my message.  This is no different, but the reason why I say that is because I see a neo-American Civil War approaching, and by the time I finally reach some clout it might be a moot point.

Nothing that has happened in the last several years has surprised me, and so far, I’ve been spot on in every prediction.  The only way to stop it is if people understand what is REALLY at stake and how to reverse these bad trends.  It is disturbing to me that most people I speak to have no idea about the insurrection on January 6, 2021.  Some are even in denial that for the first time in our lifetimes the former and current Presidents of the United States were not present together for the peaceful transfer of power.

Those controversial moments are wonderful news for other nations who are suppressing their people under authoritarian regimes.  “If it happens in the United States, then it is very easy to let it happen in any other country around the world.”  This new trend should be a very disturbing situation to anybody.  It most definitely is very disturbing to me.  That is why I keep writing about it.

I realize that the tenor of my article is a bit darker.  I don’t wish it to be that way.  But the fact is that we have to adapt to the environment, and the environment is dangerously chaotic.  There have been a lot of instances where violence and dehumanizing rhetoric continues to normalize.  In fact, some people even seem to welcome it.  When people such as Trump call their opposition “vermin” or “poisoning the blood” of our country.  Those were words used by Hitler himself.

When Trump says point blank that he would be a dictator “only on day one” – that should not be tongue in cheek.  Most disturbing is the fact that his base actually cheers and applauds, yet they don’t realize that this divisive rhetoric is eerily similar to what others have communicated before some of the worst chapters in our history.

The solution is ensuring that people go out and vote understanding what they are really voting for.  Understand the policies, and understand the urgency of the situation.  There is a much larger world than the United States alone.  And some of those authoritarians have already galvanized their power over there.  It is going to happen here sooner than we know – but we still have time to work together.

If you haven’t yet, please read and share my books with everyone you know, so we can continue this important conversation.  Time is running out, and anything else we try to do will become a moot point.  I’m doing my part, the best I can – but I am only one man.  Thank you for being part of this solution!  HLC