Category: Ideology

A Return To Religious Coercion

The rise of christian nationalism is turning this country onto its head.

Donny and his band of religious cutthroats are doing all they can to force America into some form of MAGA christianity.

I have a huge problem with this.

I for one do not think that christianity is has anything to do with governing…..on a personal level I have no problem with people and their religious beliefs….just not forcing me and others into believing in something that we chose not to follow.

I mean what happened to freedom of choice?

That is just like everything else in the Constitution….being stripped away by the thugs in the government.

This is not something new….it has happened several times in this country (and yes a history lesson is involved)

American revival movements have always contained two competing impulses: the belief that all people possess equal moral worth before God, and the belief that society must be disciplined into righteousness whether it wants to be or not. That tension runs throughout the history of American Christianity. It shaped the First and Second Great Awakenings, fueled both abolitionism and moral policing, and inspired democratic reform movements—all while simultaneously justifying social hierarchy and coercion. If you’re wondering how the MAGA movement can speak constantly in the language of Christianity while bearing intense hostility to many traditional Christian virtues themselves, we can look to this history, which is now repeating itself.

There has been a great deal of discussion on the right in recent years about whether the United States is experiencing some kind of new religious revival. Church attendance remains historically low by many measures, most notably in the mainline churches that have historically fostered religious moderation and created communities of believers from across the political spectrum. That said, religious identity is also increasingly central to American political conflict. Christianity, particularly conservative Christianity, often functions as a marker of political and cultural belonging on the American right. The result is a society that may be becoming less religious overall while simultaneously becoming more religiously polarized. To understand this moment, it helps to revisit the Great Awakenings in U.S. history, when Americans renegotiated the meaning of freedom, morality, and identity on a national scale.

The First Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s challenged older religious hierarchies by emphasizing direct spiritual experience and personal conversion. Revivalist preachers like George Whitefield insisted that ordinary people could experience God directly without relying on established church authority. These ideas also intensified preachers’ use of emotionalism and encouraged suspicion toward institutional authority that would echo throughout American history. The emphasis on inward spiritual experience eventually fed into later forms of American individualism, including nineteenth-century Transcendentalism and the broader tendency to treat authenticity and inner conviction as sources of moral authority.

But it was the Second Great Awakening, stretching roughly from the 1790s through the 1830s, that most profoundly shaped American political culture. Massive revival meetings swept across the early republic, with Evangelical Protestantism rapidly expanding on the frontier and in growing northern cities. Preachers such as Charles Grandison Finney taught that both individuals and society itself could be morally transformed.

https://newrepublic.com/article/214330/maga-christianity-return-religious-coercion

This coercion is unacceptable to me and I shall fight it as best I can.

What say you?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Political Parties, Why?

This is a sore spot for me….I do not see what good they have done for this country.

From the very beginning of this nation’s new government the need for political parties became inevitable….during the debate on the new Constitution there were the Federalist and the anti-Federalist….and so it began…..political camps that morphed into what we now have the political parties.

Let’s be honest there are some advantages….a quick look at thgose advantages….

Increase voter turnout…maybe in the beginning but today all is being done to limit the turnout.

Political Parties Improve the quality of candidates….have you seen this quality lately?

Encourage more candidates to run for office….but only if you are a member of a the two parties….all others are discouraged.

Political Parties encourage party loyalty….and that is where the biggest problem lies….no opposition is allowed.

There you have what I think of those so-called advantages.

Now let’s look at the disadvantages….

Disenfranchisement

One of the major drawbacks of political parties is Disenfranchisement, which indicates that some people feel like their vote doesn’t count. This can be because they aren’t inquisitive about any of the candidates or platforms suggested by the various parties and therefore determine not to participate.

Decreased voter turnout

Decreased voter turnout is even among the problematic weaknesses of political parties. Fewer individuals want to get concerned with the procedure or participate; even if they do, their votes separate us more and more parties are made.

Corruption

It is one of the common drawbacks of Political Parties not every political group follows transparency while operating governments. The former US president’s involvement with the Watergate scandal left individuals asking how corruption can seep into the greatest Political systems.

Encourage Disunity and divisiveness within the governing body

Political Parties can also guide to Disunity and Divisiveness, particularly when it comes to succeeding or losing an election. When someone from one party fails out to a candidate from another, there exists often some degree of personal animosity concerned because they feel like their opponent defrauded or made the race unfair in some way.

Encourage negative campaigning and mudslinging

Negative Campaigning and Mudslinging exist another issue of political parties as they promote the worst types of behavior and characters to come out during an election. The issues set an excellent example for politicians as crabs inside a bucket.

I cannot disagree with anything there….we are witnessing most of the disadvantages today and have been witness to the total collapse of the system.

But there is so much more that has turned this system into an ugly POS….

Parties may prioritize their own interests and agendas over the welfare of the nation, sometimes neglecting important issues that do not align with their platform.  (and they do)

Members of political parties may feel pressured to conform to party policies and decisions, restricting their ability to express independent opinions or vote according to personal beliefs.

Rivalry between parties can lead to gridlock in government, making it difficult to pass laws or implement policies, which can hinder effective governance and development.

It has been ten years since I ranted about political parties and in that time my views have not changed….but read it for yourself….

Why Political Parties Are Unnecessary

As you can see I am an opinionated SOB and I do not change with the times….

I would appreciate your thoughts.

Educate, Agitate

cogito ergo agito

The American Revolution Isn’t Over!

WE hear daily from both sides of the political spectrum that America is now past the revolution part and on to claiming it’s spot in history…..and from the Left the revolution is still going on until we have equality, rights that are not transient, etc,,,,,,but  what is the down and the low?

This is an article from Reason…..to me it sounds like a libertarian site…..(but you decide)….

What was the American Revolution actually about?

We all remember the broad strokes we learned in school: Independence from the British crown. Taxes on tea. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

But on a deeper level, the American Revolution was—and is—a revolution in political theory, reimagining what a legitimate government is and what its relationship to its citizens should be.

Washington’s troops won the ground war 245 years ago at Yorktown, but the ideological battle continues against forces on both the left and the right who are pursuing a ruthless assault on America’s core values. The American Revolution isn’t over.

Inscribed inside the dome of the Jefferson Memorial are the words: “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” Thomas Jefferson wrote that in an 1800 letter, but that feeling of hostility toward the tyranny of a distant monarch is what drove him and his fellow revolutionaries in 1776.

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch summarized the Declaration’s core ideas in an interview with Reason: “The Declaration of Independence had three great ideas in it. That all of us are equal. That each of us has inalienable rights given to us by God, not government. And that we have the right to rule ourselves.”

That’s why Jefferson declared that a legitimate government requires the “consent of the governed.” Thomas Paine put it more scathingly in his 1776 pamphlet Common Sense, writing that “government by kings was first introduced into the world by the Heathens.” Monarchy was the Devil’s most effective and enduring form of “idolatry.”

We don’t fret over tyrannical kings in today’s America. Only ceremonial vestiges of hereditary monarchy remain in the modern world. The Revolution achieved a complete victory in that sense.

Yet a counterrevolution is underway, one that views the American Revolution and the republic it birthed as a failed liberal regime that has outlived its usefulness. And these counterrevolutionaries sit remarkably close to the levers of power.

https://reason.com/video/2026/06/29/the-american-revolution-isnt-over

Is this a continuing revolution to guarantee the rights of Americans or just something written to try and calm the rhetoric down?

I Read, I Write, You Know

Educate, Agitate

“lego ergo scribo”

cogito ergo agito

The Global Antifa

I am antifa!

That does not mean I am a member of some group but it does mean I hate f**king fascists ergo antifascist ergo antifa.

I have written many times about the myth of some nefarious organization whose members are organized and a threat….this concept is a constructed myth.

A quick history lesson…..

The word stands for anti-fascist, and it appears to have originated in Germany in the 1930s and then resurfaced again in the 1970s. With the election of President Donald Trump in 2016, small organizations with that name have cropped up in a few American cities. But, for the most part, labelling protesters as members of “antifa” — or, as Trump likes to say, “professional anarchists” — is often either a red herring or a false flag operation used to frighten gullible citizens.

In early June, for example, a fake Twitter account pretending to be from “antifa” called for violence. It turned out to be a scam orchestrated by white nationalists.

“Antifa,” as a code word used to rile up fear and paranoia, has been lobbed especially at Black Lives Matter activists. Trump and Attorney General William Barr have repeatedly said that demonstrators leading the protests for racial justice are antifa, even though independent analyses by National Public Radio and the The New York Times of federal arrests of protesters don’t actually show anyone with these connections.

Trump and Fox News are tireless promoters of such scare tactics. On August 31, when the President was interviewed by Fox host Laura Ingraham, he suggested that Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s campaign was being run by a secret cabal of “people you’ve never heard about, people that are in the dark shadows.” These menacing insinuations mirror the way the term antifa is used in right-wing media — not with precision or even sincerity, but as an incantation or curse. And they are obsessed with it.

(progressive.org)

Now for the Global antifa myth…..

In September 2025, Donald Trump designated “antifa” a domestic terror organization. Last month, his administration went one step further by declaring that the “extreme left” had developed the antifa network into a global threat. Marco Rubio announced at a press conference on July 16 that

Antifa militants and their comrades travel from across Europe and to the Americas to participate in each other’s attacks, to funnel propaganda and training, materials, and target information through shared encrypted channels — moving through underground networks of safe houses, and finance and sustain their operations through transnational funds.

This description sounds eerily like what global far-right networks have been doing for years. The “antidem” network, crisscrossing the Atlantic and ranging up and down the Americas, has helped far-right politicians take over parties, those parties take power, and those resulting governments coordinate anti-immigrant, anti-climate, anti-LGBT, and fundamentally anti-democratic policies. This effort is well-funded by right-wing sugar daddies like Elon Musk and Robert Shillman.

In the United States, even more extreme right-wing militants have been responsible for 152 attacks and 112 deaths between 2016 and 2025, compared to 35 attacks and 13 deaths by the extreme left (according to the right-leaning Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Fascism, not anti-fascism, is the threat, both domestically and internationally.

It’s a common Trumpian tactic: to blame adversaries for that which the accuser has perfected. Thus, according to Trump, his enemies are always lying; they’re completely corrupt; they are anti-democratic. This from the most mendacious, corrupt, and anti-democratic force in modern politics. Remember the canard that it was actually “antifa” that caused all the havoc during the obviously right-wing insurrection on January 6? What better way to throw people off the scent of a vast right-wing conspiracy than to assert that something much more sinister is percolating on the left.

In practice, the administration is engaged in a category error. It assumes that organized opposition presupposes an organization. But, as Gertrude Stein once said rather cruelly of her hometown of Oakland, there’s no “there” there. Fascism has experienced a successful rebrand in the age of Trump. Lots of people and institutions are organizing against this fascism. But what the Trump administration calls “antifa” just doesn’t exist.

The Myth of a Global Antifa

This beast called antifa does not exist….it consist of anyone who hates fascism as much as I do.

Hell antifa was even blamed for Donny’s pool ‘sabotage’……we are not the scapegoat for Donny and the thugz he travels with….

Now you know.

Educate, Agitate

I Read, I Write, You Know

cogito ergo agito

Is It An Illusion Of Liberty?

I have been thinking about some people that cherish our liberties but in the past few years those so-called liberties have been eroding away and a special thanks to the Supreme Court for helping the demise.

Below are some thoughts from an author, Stuart Delony, on what we are losing, piece by piece….

It’s that time when we celebrate our freedoms while cooking meat, blowing things up, and conveniently ignoring the erosion of the very liberties we’re celebrating. So between the hotdogs and fireworks, let’s explore if we’re as free as our forefathers intended… or living in blissful ignorance.

Remember back in history class? When we all learned that the founding fathers risked everything to declare independence from British tyranny? They gave us the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and seemingly endless bumper sticker quotes. 

Fast forward to now, and I’m left wondering if those sacrifices were in vain and freedom a relic of the past. Think I’m wrong? Let’s look down a list for fun:

A Surveillance Nation

Our civil liberties are on life support. Mass surveillance has become the norm. Big Brother watches our every move. Sure, we’ve still got the right to protest, but only if you’re okay with being pepper-sprayed, tasered, and/or hauled off to jail. It really doesn’t seem much of an upgrade to tar and feathering.

The Voting Games

Voting is supposed to be the cornerstone of democracy, right? Except it’s not as simple as showing up and casting a ballot. Gerrymandering ensures that politicians pick their voters and not the other way around. Then we’ve got voter ID laws, polling place closures, and purges of voter rolls. Those are just a few of the tricks used to suppress the vote. And don’t even get me started on the Electoral College.

The Rich Get Richer

You’re free to pursue the American Dream – if you can afford it. The top 1% hoard their wealth while the rest of us are stuck in a cycle of debt, stagnating wages, and skyrocketing living costs. The richest 1% of Americans own more than 40% of the country’s wealth. Meanwhile, the bottom 50% collectively own just 1%. A level playing field is never an option when corporate greed reigns supreme. The system is rigged whether we want to acknowledge it or not.

A Selective Kind of Liberty

Personal freedom used to mean being able to make choices about your own body and life. Today, reproductive rights are under constant assault, with politicians horny to control what women’s bodies. Doesn’t sound creepy at all. Then there’s LGBTQ+ rights. While progress has been made, there’s always a new push to strip away the hard-won gains.

The Changing Narrative

Is truth truth anymore? Media companies now control what we see, hear, and read, shaping public opinion to suit their agendas and profits. The problem is that independent journalism is on the decline and dissenting voices are drowned out by the din of manufactured consent.

Our liberties are being strip away slowly but slowly and we the people spend our time worrying about bathrooms while you focus on silliness you are losing your rights and liberties.

Don’t blame Trump completely for the Dems have done little to change the direction of this downward spiral…..they promise but their actions are far from proof.

This vote will be a joke told by our great-grand kids and you spend your time worrying about bathrooms.

I hope you get what is coming to you for cultivating ignorance.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“cognito ergo me agitare”

What To Do? Economically That Is!

There are about as many opinions as a/holes in Washington on how to solve the economic crisis in the US.  There are the Keynesians, the Austrians, are the most talked about in these days of turmoil.

Keynes argued that the solution to depression was to stimulate the economy (“inducement to invest”) through some combination of two approaches: a reduction in interest rates, and government investment in infrastructure. Investment by government injects income, which results in more spending in the general economy, which in turn stimulates more production and investment involving still more income and spending and so forth. The initial stimulation starts a cascade of events, whose total increase in economic activity is a multiple of the original investment.

And then there is the Austrian school of economics.

Austrian Economics is a school of economics that emphasizes the spontaneous organizing power of the price mechanism, holds that the complexity of subjective human choices makes mathematical modelling of the evolving market extremely difficult (or impossible) and therefore advocates a laissez faire approach to the economy. Austrian School economists advocate the enforcement of voluntary contractual agreements between economic agents, but otherwise the smallest imposition of coercive force (especially government-imposed) on commercial transactions.

There are the two approaches that are being considered in the nation’s capital.  There are many adherents to these schools, but which will be the savior of the nation’s economy?

To me the Austrian school sounds like more deregulation and that is one of the main causes that let the economy get so out of control.  I will agree that the government cannot spend its way into a sound economy, but having no control over the beast of greed will not do it either.

Tax Cuts? Tax Cuts!

Oh crap…..we are still singing that tired old song?  Repubs have been rattling this piece of crap since 2001…it promises jobs and growth and …and….and….well just about anything you want it to; but what does it really bring with it?

Not much that it promises.
What did the Bush tax cuts really bring forth?

unemployment was up

opportunity was down

poverty went up

income went down

anxiety went up

prosperity was down

And yet with all that, the Repubs just keep throwing the failed policies of the past into the fray of any stimulus plan..  Why?  That is an easy question to answer.  They have NO plan B to offer the people or to save the economy.  And yet again they keep winning elections with no plans for the future other than to cut taxes.

Why?  Another easy one to answer.  The American people are so damn gullible that they believe the tax cuts that are promised will somehow benefit them and make their lives all the much better.  HA HA HA!  Dream on fools!  It only helps those who do not need the help.  Just like the newest stim plan.  The average middle class worker will make an extra $13.oo per pay check–guess that means the vacation to Cancun is out of the question, huh?

The American people are ALWAYS foolish when they hear the word TAX CUT…that somehow they will benefit…they seldom do.  Please Stop Lying To The American People!

Do you remember the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act?  That is the recent stimulus plan that was passed by Congress with little support from the Party of “NO”, the GOP.  Why no support?  They wanted more tax relief.  But the largest part of the plan is $288 billion is for tax relief, and is not that what the Repubs kept screaming about?

They, the GOP, got their way, they got their way on tax relief but yet they still would support the bill.  Reality dictates that they would have supported the Act regardless what was put into it.  It was never about the bill but rather the positioning for the next election in 2010.

Are You Listening?

To the flap trap BS of the GOP, RNC  and conservatives…..you guys have an internal battle royale going on….right now between Steele and Rush…I guess these guys are the voice of conservatism right now…..if so then the GOP is in lots of trouble.

Steele is characterizing Rush as..an entertainer and ugly…Rush fires back and basically calls Steele a joke…..who will apologize first?  My guess is it will be Steele.

All this name calling and capitalism promotion is doing NOTHING to help the GOP to find its way that it has lost during the Bush years.  Oh yeah, they are all “fiscal conservatives”, but where was this concern on spending for the last 8 years.  These guys are not concerned with the ailing economy…they trying to set up themselves for electoral victories in 201o.

The Repubs have NO idea how to fix the economy…they just know that they cannot agree with Obama and his plan.  The only plan they can offer is a tax cuts…HAHAHA…what a plan…we had those for the last 8 years and look where we are now….a new plan needs to be found.

The GOP is not showing any leadership on the repair of the economy…they are showing that elections are more important than the lives of the people they should be representing.