Citizen Writers Fighting Censorship by Helping Americans Understand Issues Affecting the Republic.
David T. Cloft 
America: land of freedom, innovation, and baffling trailer ball sizes. We split the atom, landed on the moon, and built an internet where people argue about pineapple on pizza—but somehow, we still can’t agree on a standard trailer hitch ball.
After its AR-10 was passed over by the military, Armalite scaled it down to fire the .223 Remington / 5.56 NATO round. Colt bought the rights in 1959, and the military version became the M16 during the Vietnam War.
We are seeing a cultural epidemic of over-controlling parenting, especially among well-meaning mothers who want the best for their children but unintentionally smother their independence and identity.
Phone Calls: The Worst Kind of Ambush. Phone calls suck. There, I said it. They demand your full attention right now — as if you weren’t doing something important.
Fifth-Generation Warfare (5GW), a concept recognized in modern U.S. military doctrine. It mirrors, and in some ways overlaps, a Chinese military concept known as Unrestricted Warfare
In 1846, the United States invaded Mexico. The war was controversial then, and remains deeply significant now—not just because it added vast territory to the U.S., but because it revealed core truths about how political ideology, nationalism, and instability can lead to major conflict.
The opioid epidemic is a national tragedy. Despite decades of warnings, education campaigns, and rising death tolls, people continue to purchase and use substances they know could kill them.
In an era before risk assessments, blast gauges, and traumatic brain injury protocols, Tank Crew Evaluators (TCEs) rode into live-fire gunnery on top of the turret—exposed and often holding on for dear life. It was a different time, a different Army. Some would say it was when tankers were men of iron riding machines of steel.
Well, folks, we’re officially 100 years into quantum mechanics, one of the most exciting and intellectually demanding fields of human study. A century of mathematical wizardry, incomprehensible equations, and brain-melting theories. And what do we have to show for it?
Fly fishing isn’t just a way to catch fish—it’s a deliberate dance, a poetic pursuit, and, as Norman Maclean wrote, “a religion, with a rod as the medium of conversion.”
Being a Christian isn’t just believing Jesus existed—it’s living like He was right. Which means you might have to forgive your enemies, tell the truth, shut up sometimes, or put the cart back at the grocery store.
You’re watching your fly or popper drift across glassy water. The tension builds. Then — WHAM! — the surface explodes. Water erupts. Line goes taut. Heart rate spikes. You’re instantly wide awake.
The fish on the label looked like one I once tried to catch on the Two-Hearted River. I never caught it. I wrote about not catching it. They gave me a Pulitzer for that. Now it’s on a can. Fitting.
In an age where human rights are championed across international platforms and global governments declare their commitment to dignity and life, one of the most horrifying and well-documented atrocities continues with alarming silence from much of the world.
“Diversity is our strength” sounds nice on a poster—but slogans aren’t truths. Jonathan Pageau put it best:
“Diversity without unity is decomposition.”
Disney’s post-2013 films reflect a culture in transition—one increasingly skeptical of tradition, gender roles, and long-standing moral frameworks.
While the wounds of conquest, war, and forced assimilation run deep in Native American communities, the United States has, in more recent decades, taken measurable steps to reckon with its past.
As the guns of the Indian Wars fell silent, a new strategy took shape—no less destructive, but cloaked in the language of civilization and progress. The U.S. government’s next mission was not to eliminate Native Americans physically, but culturally.
When the smoke of the American Civil War cleared in 1865, the United States was a nation still armed, restless, and redefining its purpose.
When President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804, he launched not only a journey of discovery but a cultural collision.