TheWiseOldFart

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart Fact: There are no true Republicans in Washington today. In 1981, Ronald Reagan forced every Republican to take an oath of absolute loyalty. This was the beginning of the end of the once Grand Old Party, and the destruction of our Founding Fathers’ system of governance. Reagan’s three successors, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump, adopted the same failed policies initiated by Reagan: absolute loyalty without dissention and free thought, and the failed fiscal policy of “trickle-down economics.” When George W. Bush and his V.P. Dick Chendy ignored the warnings of our security agencies and went on vacation in 2001, refusing to take their admonitions seriously. The result was one of the darkest days in American history: September 11, 2001. It was George W. Bush who overreacted and in several situations, including his reelection campaign in 2004, used the outrage and fear of the American people to secure victories for his personal agenda. It was the ...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart Any action taken at the height of emotion will almost always be a mistake. On October 26, 2001, the signing of the Patriot Act was the first step by a Republican President to move our nation away from the rights guaranteed by the Constitution, and into a fascist regime. Fear remains the right-wing’s greatest weapon in efforts to control all three branches of our federal government. This is where it all began. After your government failed to prevent the attacks on September 11, 2001, they reacted to the disaster with fear tactics. Although the Bush Administration was revealed as a group of total incompetents and a great danger to the future of our nation’s people, they responded with actions which were both desperate and unconstitutional, claiming that terrorism remained the greatest danger to our nation’s people. Every speech “W” made contained multiple references to “9/11.” This is how they passed the Patriot Act. It requires only a cursory examination of the l...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart All members of Neo-Nazi groups are terrorists and must be arrested and charged under the guidelines contained in the Patriot Act. Their leader, Donald Trump, is no exception. He has proven by his own words and actions that he is a traitor to the American people. When Trump pardoned more than 1,500 men and women who committed treason on January 6, 2021, his purpose was clear but never reported by the media. These people are members of his fascist army and he may need them again. The second American Revolution is just beginning. No one seems to notice that those calling themselves “Republicans” establish laws and rules which either punish anyone who opposes their fascist beliefs, or benefits their owners; 902 oligarchs. Beginning in 1981, right-wing politicians began distanced themselves from their constituents on the left side of the aisle. By 2017, the democratic process of finding solutions for our nation’s problems, deliberation and compromise, no longer exist...

  There are two days in my life I will always remember. I was a senior in high school on November 22, 1963 when a truly great president, John F. Kennedy, was murdered in Dallas Texas. I was out for a morning run on September 11, 2001. As I was coming up the street on which I live, my wife was in the front yard waving at me. I thought it was because my mother, who was under hospice care, had passed. She led me inside to watch the television. What I was seeing seemed unreal. My emotions were immediately out of control. Sadly, the cowardly and tragic events of 9/11 produced changes in our country which continue to cause harm to the principles of our nation. The intentions of the First, Fourth, and 14 th Amendments to the Constitution were greatly damaged with the passing of the Patriot Act, and the creation of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE. 9/11, and the passing of these two unconstitutional actions happened under the watch of George W. Bush. The Patrio...

I reached the age of 21 in 1967. I was excited about the general election in 1968. I began my first year in high school in 1960, the year John Fitzgerald Kennedy became our 35 th president. Like most young men and women my age, I was excited, and disappointed that I was unable to vote for him. The man I admired was murdered on November 22, 1963. I had just begun my senior year. Like nearly everyone else in America, we mourned his loss for three days. I continue to believe that our government will never allow the people to know the truth about that fateful day in Dallas, Texas. President Kennedy’s brother, Bobby, was a candidate for the presidency in 1968. This was important to me. I admired Bobby Kennedy, and although I could not vote for his brother, I would be voting for the first time and he would receive my vote. Once again tragedy struck. In June of 1968, Bobby Kennedy was murdered in Los Angeles. I was devastated, and my life would change in a small but important way. I hadn’t g...

  Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart   The George W. Bush Administration forced the passage of several policies which remain and are in direct violation of the Bill of Rights. Eager to defend the failure of “W’s” administration to protect our nation from attacks which took the lives of nearly 3,000 innocent men, women, and children, they passed the Patriot Act less than two months after the cowardly attacks on 9/11. Among the other failures by the second worst president in history, was the creation of ICE. Over my 77 years as a patriot, 67 as an American interested in our political system, I have become greatly fearful as I watched our guarantees under the Bill of Rights removed by a corrupt government. The right-wing continues to move us further to the right and away from the democratic promises of our Founding Fathers. “Fascism has arrived in America and it’s waving a flag and wearing a cross.” After the passage of the Patriot Act, illegal searches became the norm, and seizure ...