Whatever It Is Called Be Prepared to Fight!
by Lorenzo Canizares
2/17/2025
The American people are going through difficult times that many hope is just a short-lived nightmare even though I don’t know of anyone that believes most Americans will come out unscathed from this experience. Not many believe that we could survive what it appears to be so much just “crazy stuff.” Some political analysts are calling it a Constitutional Crisis, others like Pulitzer Prize award winner Chris Hedges, are calling it a Mafia State. Hedges shares his opinion, in an article properly titled “The Mafia State,” where he considers America to be a full blown kleptocracy. Hedges says “The demolition of the social and political structure, begun long before Trump, makes a few very, very rich and immiserates everyone else. Mafia capitalism always leads to a mafia state. The two ruling parties gave us the first. Now we get the second. It is not only our wealth that is being taken from us, but our liberty.”
In the other hand, legal expert and former DOJ official, Harry Litman, in an article in the digital magazine Readers Supported News points out that if the Trump administration makes good on its hints at ignoring the mandates of the courts, then we will already be in Constitutional Crisis grounds and in the epicenter of that territory. Litman says “Indeed, while it’s a longer story, Trump and his acolytes, including in particular Elon Musk, are flirting with disregard of judicial commands by a president for the first time in the country’s history.” We could safely add that it is a Constitutional Crisis when the Executive branch appropriates to itself what is constitutionally assigned to another branch of the government like shutting down federal agencies that are funded by the legislature.
But there are others that take a different angle coming from a different starting point. New York Times columnist Ezra Klein, in an op-ed in the 2/16/25 edition, in article titled “The Republican Party’s NPC Problem – and Ours” states that the Democrats became champion of a government that didn’t work and that when the government isn’t working, the party promising change beats the party rallying in defense. Klein concludes his point by stating that when Musk says that Republicans have a mandate for governmental reform, he doesn’t think that he is totally wrong.
I have stated in previous articles that I believe Kamala Harris lost the election when she repeated several times, especially when she did it in the very popular TV program The View, that she wouldn’t change none of the things that Biden was doing. Her lack of touch with what the American people were going through and her inability to understand the outrage that many Americans have been feeling about Biden enabling the genocide happening in Gaza including his total disregard for human life.
Back to Litman, in spite of his concern for possible future disregard by the Trump/Vance administration, Litman also points out “Federal courts granting relief also became par for the course for the various unconstitutional power grabs by Donald Trump in the last three weeks. No fewer than six district courts and counting have ordered the administration to put a halt on its plans until the plans’ lawfulness could be determined. In one of them, challenging the Office of Management and Budget spending freeze, the district court already has taken the administration to task for failing to comply with its “clear and unambiguous” injunction. Elsewhere, the executive order ending birthright citizenship—frozen. Transferring transgender female prisoners to male-only prisons—frozen. The buyout of federal workers—frozen. The destruction of USAID—frozen. And, DOGE’s access to the Treasury payments system—frozen.”
But we can’t just rely on the Courts. First, most of its composition is philosophically agreeable to the Trump administration. Second, experience hasn’t ruled out yet Hedges’ definition of where we are as a nation. To play it safe we have to rely on our own abilities. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro recently said, “Fascism has to be squashed with the force provided to us by our own love of humanity, of democracy, of the truth.” Many people in the progressive movement believe that we can win over many on the other side if we take their concerns seriously. That’s where the love of humanity comes in towards our class brethren. We have to be at the forefront of telling the truth and not being afraid of saying it. During the Tulsi Gabbard Confirmation Hearing, Sen. Mark Kelly was implying that Col. Gabbard was utilizing “Russian talking points”, and it all came down to Col. Gabbard being scolded for saying the truth about what was happening in Syria. Think about it, telling the truth is a Russian talking point!
There are other definitions out there about what’s happening in the country. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader says we are already living in a dictatorship. I don’t know about that. But what I know and should be obvious to all that are paying attention is that we are in a major class war. That those in the top of the income pyramid have gone haywire and are squeezing the American people to such a degree that an explosion will surely be happening sooner rather than later.
There is no excuse not to find your place on the team fighting towards the systemic change that we need in this country. As Chris Hedges said at the beginning of this article “The demolition of our political structure began before Trump made its appearance in the political stage.” We need to change the system to make it more Democratic and more responsive to the needs of the American people.
To conclude, get organized if you are not already. Attend as many rallies as you can. And participate in the Economic Blackout Day of Friday, February 28,2025, a simple act of not shopping on that particular date and if necessary to shop do it in a local small business. For those who are at the top of the economic pyramid their bottom line is making money. If only 10% of the American people participate in this action it will be a major success. We can change the course of what’s happening in the nation if we act collectively to do so.
Whatever It Is Called Be Prepared to Fight!
Posted in Pulse Line 1.