Our series of blogs on why “Christian” nationalist claims that the USA was founded as a “Christian” nation are wrong, will resume after the following.
In the late 1960s, TV viewers hated coverage of U.S. military actions in Vietnam. [FN1] 1/17

Prices for draft deferments [FN2] skyrocketed. Protesters often were told, “Love it or leave it” & was, last week, the gist of a reply to my repost of a meme. [FN3]
First & obvious: both Federal [FN4] & State constitutions [FN5] protect free speech. 2/17

Second, that does not go far enough. People who wear red baseball caps and want to imprison in horrid conditions “illegals,” before deporting those “illegals,” do not know, or have chosen to ignore, our history. Our history shows great strides we made toward greatness. 3/17

From 1789 to 1865, chattel slavery was legal AND PROTECTED by the Constitution. [FN6] In 1863 [FN7] & 1865 [FN8] slavery was abolished. Reconstruction worked, but ended w/a GOP deal in 1876 to keep get the White House. [FN9] In 1954, SCOTUS issued 4/17

Brown v Bd of Education I [FN10] & greatness appeared possible. Women had few rights, until 1920 when they gained the right to vote, [FN11] women had few rights. They still are not treated equally in pay or promotion, but being able to vote is crucial. In ignorance, 5/17

Europeans explorers trying to find India called the indigenous peoples living here “indians.” They were decimated by policies of genocide as they stood in the way of an America in pursuit of its “manifest destiny.” In the 1970s, past treaties began to be recognized. 6/17

There were advances in public education and in cleaning up our air and water. We stopped an idiotic military action in Vietnam. Illegal actions by a GOP occupant of the Oval Office brought his resignation. We were on a road to greatness, but things changed. 7/17

Native-born Americans had a hand in it. Few took notice of a push for corporate rights that was in a 1971 memo. [FN12] In 1980, Ronald Reagan fed everyone a line of bull. Polling was close until the October “surprise.” Reagan intermediaries interfered w/negotiations for 8/17

release of U.S. embassy personnel held hostage by Iran. [FN13] Today we have problems with immigration. One: masked thugs here who are attacking & even killing people who came here for jobs and a better future. There’s another, far more significant problem. 9/17

Several notable immigrants of great wealth, one claiming to be a trillionaire. are assisting in the destruction of this country. They came here to take, without regard for the rights of anyone but themselves. It would appear that some purchased citizenship. 10/17

We have a right to speak. Theodore Roosevelt said there’s a duty to criticize a president. Those who threaten to stifle criticism do not understand that progressives are responsible for progress in this country. I’m not going to watch as a burglar breaks in & trashes our house. 11/17

Footnotes:
FN1. Although many refer to it as the “Vietnam war,” we have not followed Article 1, sec 8, of the Constitution in dispatching military forces since WW2 ended on 9/2/45 w/Japanese signing “complete and total surrender” on the deck of the USS Missouri. 12/17

FN2. Medical deferments could be had, but only with expert witnesses (doctors) to counter the doctors of the gov’t. Experts cost money.
FN3. The text of the meme: “Time zones are so crazy. In Denmark it’s noon. In Canada it’s 6 am. In the USA it’s the late 1930s Germany.” 13/17

FN4. “Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech...” Const., Amend. I.
FN5. “All persons may speak, write and publish freely ...” Ill. Const. Art I, sec 4. 14/17

FN6. “The Migration or Importation of such Persons ... shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight...” Const. Art. I §9; fugitive slave provision, Art. IV, §2, cl 3; “3/5" clause, Const. Art. I, §2, cl 3.
FN7. Emancipation Proclamation. 15/17

FN8. Const., Amend. XIII.
FN9. The GOP agreed to withdraw federal troops from the South in exchange for Rutherford B Hayes being handed the WH in 1876. See, Morris, “Fraud of the Century,” (2003), pp. 246-50.)
FN10. Brown v Bd of Education of Topeka Kansas, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). 16/17

FN11. Const. Amend XIX.
FN12. Robert Reich, “How the Corporate Takeover of American Politics Began,” Inequality Media, 12/13/22. accessed 8/30/26.
FN13. Jason E. Klein, “How Iran Toppled a U.S. President,” The Times of Israel, 3/8/26, accessed 8/30/26. 17/17