Citizen Writers Fighting Censorship by Helping Americans Understand Issues Affecting the Republic.
When Schools Teach Young People What to Think Instead of How to Think
My fellow West Point graduate John Dube, Class of 1983, recently shared a lengthy Facebook post written by Mike Rowe. Most people know Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs and from the work he has done promoting skilled labor, personal responsibility, and common sense. After reading what John shared, I decided I probably ought to follow Mike on Facebook myself.
For too long, we’ve argued over the wrong question. The Second Amendment was never just about a rifle—it was about preserving the balance of power between a free people and their government. As technology reshapes our world, the real debate isn’t simply who owns firearms, but whether citizens will retain meaningful access to the technologies that define power in the 21st century. Rights written on paper are only as strong as a free people’s ability to exercise and defend them. When the government alone possesses tomorrow’s technology, liberty risks becoming a privilege instead of a birthright.
The primaries aren’t even done in 40% of our states, but all our minds are on the general election. Let’s look at three separate issues affecting the way we campaign, vote and think, this election year…
We love to celebrate the Greatest Generation—but would we recognize the world that forged them? As global tensions rise and America’s factories quietly prepare for contingencies once thought impossible, one question looms: if Detroit ever trades pickup trucks for artillery shells again, are we ready for what comes next? Buckle up, buttercup. History has a habit of collecting unpaid debts.
We like to believe America is immune—that we’re somehow different from every civilization that came before us. History laughs at that kind of arrogance.
Yugoslavia wasn’t supposed to collapse. Rwanda wasn’t supposed to collapse. Their citizens woke up one morning convinced civilization was permanent, until they discovered it wasn’t. The most dangerous moment for any nation isn’t when people disagree. It’s when they stop believing the rules matter and begin believing only their side is legitimate.
The Constitution isn’t self-executing. Freedom isn’t self-sustaining. Civilization isn’t guaranteed.
It’s a veneer—thinner than most of us would ever dare admit.
“Today we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between communistic atheism and Christianity.”
Sen. Joseph McCarthy
For those younger people who didn’t get a well-rounded education, and that is probably the majority of people under 50 years of age, Joseph McCarthy was a Republican senator from Wisconsin from 1947 to 1957.
Thomas Jefferson said the Liberty Tree needed to be watered with the blood of patriots every 20 years. Pass on that, even though the Bolsheviks push towards violence. We should fight only when there’s no other way to stay free of Human Secularist Totalitarianism or Islamist Totalitarianism. A “color” revolution is non-violent change of government which captures the culture as well.
If constitutional rights ever begin to depend on the race of the speaker rather than the content of the law, America will have crossed a dangerous line. The First Amendment was written to protect individuals—not identities. Justice must remain blind, because the moment she peeks beneath the blindfold to see who is standing before her, equal justice under law becomes little more than a slogan.
The Civilian Marksmanship Program is more than a shooting organization. It is a self-funded national-security asset that preserves firearms safety, competitive marksmanship, and a reserve of civilian expertise. During the Iraq War, CMP volunteers even traveled to military installations such as Fort Campbell to help the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit train deploying soldiers as Squad Designated Marksmen. What looks like recreation on Saturday can become battlefield capability when the nation needs it.
Democrats have a poison called DSA—Democrat Socialists of America—a communist organization that made Mamdani mayor of New York, New York. If communism can make it there, it will make it anywhere, right?
But Democrat officials know voters are rejecting it—for now.
Democracy: Voters decide directly (by referendum) which laws to pass. Though no true democracy of a sovereign nation exists today; it works well for small groups such as clubs or committees.
Republic: Voters elect representatives to decide which laws to pass. USA.
Upon exiting the Constitutional Convention, a lady of some renown (Elizabeth Powel) asked Dr. Franklin, ‘Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” 9/18/1787
Can America’s newest graduates explain the difference between a two-stroke and a four-stroke engine? Probably not—and that’s the point. Somewhere along the way, we traded shop class for screen time and mechanical know-how for digital convenience. This isn’t really about lawn mowers or chainsaws. It’s about what happens when a society can build apps but struggles to understand the machines that keep the lights on, the food growing, and the country moving. Maybe it’s time to ask whether practical knowledge still deserves a place in a modern education.
On July 12, 1804, former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton died from injuries sustained in a duel against Aaron Burr. Burr had challenged Hamilton following a long string of overheard political attacks over the years. But who was right, and who was wrong?
The culmination of the Left’s gender bending, death cult brainwashing was evident in last week’s assassination of Charlie Kirk, whose only “crime” was speaking freely about his Faith, Family and Country, and his only weapon, a microphone.
The real problem isn’t that America has two political parties—it’s that we’ve rediscovered tribalism. I remember growing up in the 1980s when your “tribe” was mostly your family, your neighborhood, your church, or the people your parents spent time with. Democrats and Republicans certainly disagreed, but most Americans weren’t immersed in the other side’s outrage 24 hours a day. Social media changed that. Today we’re constantly exposed to the loudest, angriest voices from the “other tribe,” and algorithms profit by keeping us divided, suspicious, and emotionally invested in conflict. Every insult, every viral clip, and every political flashpoint reinforces the idea that our fellow Americans are enemies rather than neighbors. When political hatred escalates into threats or acts of violence—including attacks targeting public figures—it should remind us that tribalism, left unchecked, stops being politics and starts becoming something far more dangerous. A constitutional republic cannot survive if our highest loyalty is to the tribe instead of to the principles that bind us together.
The First Amendment was ratified in 1791. Just seven years later, Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, making it a crime to criticize the federal government. Since then, nearly every generation has been told that “this” crisis—war, communism, terrorism, or COVID—justifies limiting speech “for the greater good.” The slogans change. The excuses evolve. But one lesson has remained remarkably consistent for 250 years: governments don’t usually attack free speech head-on—they simply find a reason why yours should be the exception.
If you’ve ever wondered why some people seem allergic to national healing, follow the incentives. Misery has an economy. Outrage has a payroll.
A few Brits on Twitter congratulated us on our 250th birthday as a nation by reminding us that this Sunday they will celebrate the 1,099th anniversary of their nationhood.
Well, cheers to them as well.
The Graham Platner race for Maine’s U.S. Senate seat raises questions, not just for Maine voters, but for the entire country. What can we learn from this peculiar campaign, and what does it tell us about today’s Democrat party voters?