Our country is in turmoil. trump exacts revenge against those who displease him. When Nixon tried to do the same thing, he had to quit before he could be impeached and convicted. Next weekend, millions will protest on “No Kings.” Our military leaders are quiet. 1/24

This weekend, we could see events in this country similar to the Berlin Wall falling. This essay attempts to answer three questions:
I. How the hell did we get here?
II. Where the hell is “here”?
III. How the hell do we get out of “here”? [FN1] 2/24

I. How the hell did we get here?
them: We “lost” the Vietnam war. Black people and women became “uppity.” Black kids were bussed into our schools. Boys started looking like girls, girls turned into sluts and queers weren’t ashamed of who they were. 3/24

them: Sure, CIA helped overthrow elected governments, but you gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet. Prices skyrocketed & factories laid off. People hate us because we’re free. Carter didn’t have the balls to stand up to Iran, but Pres Reagan got the hostages back. 4/24

In 2015, trump, banking on this anger, vowed to make America great again. Here, “great” means “markedly superior in character, quality or skill.” [FN2] trump’s vow implies we were great at some point. Three time lines show how we came up short. 5/24

1) 1789-1865: chattel slavery not only was legal, but protected by the Constitution. After 1865, former slaves & their descendants were denied equal education, blocked from voting & treated brutally. In 1954, Brown I was handed down [FN3] & we glimpsed greatness. 6/24

2) Until Amendment XIX was ratified in 1920, women, who make up over half of this country’s population, had few rights. Their struggles were at best an afterthought, at worst a joke. [FN4] By most measures women still are not treated equally in pay or promotion. 7/24

The ERA fell short of ratification, despite popular support. With the advent of birth control and no-fault divorce, women were treated less as near-chattel. With the issuance of Roe v Wade [FN5] women gained more control over their reproductive rights. 8/24

3) The “military-industrial complex” about which Pres Eisenhower, a West Point graduate and five-star general, warned in his farewell address, disregarded the need to declare wars, had run the table and opposition it faced was discredited as un-American. 9/24

In Vietnam, a pointless invasion saw nearly 60,000 U.S. military personnel die. [FN6] While U.S. officials estimated Vietnamese killed at between 200,000 and 250,000, this total is disputed by Vietnam and does not include civilian losses. 10/24

II. Where the hell is “here”?
From 1954 to January 1981, the things maga are drilled to bitch about - greater economic equality, protecting the right to vote, a well-educated populace, integration, diversity - gave us glimpses of greatness. We face dictatorship. 11/24

III. What the hell can we do to get out of “here”?
Sports analogies, thought trite by some, can be convenient. Budgets for public education get slashed, but athletic dept budgets get spared & sometimes increased. 12/24

That means students, and people long since gone from high school, are less likely to understand an example from (say) constitutional history, but relate to sports metaphors. With a lot of public school teachers hired first to coach jocks, a way of thought is enshrined. 13/24

When your maga neighbor explains how trump “took” the Oval Office, “the electoral college” is frequently cited. But there is no “electoral college.” [FN7] Electors were created as an emergency measure [FN8], not as some sort of “trick play.” [FN9] For a “trick play” in football 14/24

to work, there must be “deception” that “fool[s] an opponent.” Our government is US. Each of us has a right to vote. We celebrate open debate & must be well-informed. Deception has no place. Football is a game. Government affects many lives and is based on majority rule. 15/24

"It is a fundamental idea in all republican forms of government that no one can be declared elected and no measure can be declared carried, unless he or it receives a majority or a plurality of the legal votes cast in the election." [FN10] Except for one ticket. 16/24

Whoever receives the most popular votes for Pres/VP, unlike any other elective offices, does not automatically win. [FN11] What was not foreseen by the Framers was when all three branches of the federal government are corrupted. That’s why this weekend could be like Berlin 17/24

when the Wall toppled, millions will demonstrate across the country. We must be non-violent, because violence is counterproductive. You have every reason to be concerned about safety. But fear of “brown shirts” is what makes resistance all the more important. Be safe! 18/24

Footnotes:
FN1. . The POV denoted as “them” is subjective & of a right-of-center male. “POV” = point of view. Readers 18 years of age or older who are unfamiliar w/the initialization should be aware that “adult” websites or topics might pop up in an online search. 19/24

FN2. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, pocket ed (1974), pp. 313-14.
FN3. 347 U.S. 483 (1954), in which a unanimous Court held that separate facilities are inherently unequal.
FN4. E.g., “The Great Race,” Warner Bros (1965).
FN5. 410 U.S. 113 (1973) 20/24

FN6. Britannica, “Vietnam War, 1954–1975,” accessed 10/16/25.
FN7. The phrase “electoral college” appears neither in Article II of the Constitution nor in Amend XII. 21/24

FN8. Electors were created to ensure a person corrupt, incompetent or under the influence of a hostile foreign power was not elected POTUS. (See The Federalist (No 68, Hamilton). 22/24

FN9. “A play in American football that uses deception and unorthodox strategies to fool the opposing team,” Wiktionary, accessed 10/15/25.
FN10. 29 C.J.S., Elections, § 243, p. 353. Oviatt v. Behme, 238 Ind. 69, 78 (1958). 23/24

FN11, Finkelman, “The Proslavery Origins of the Electoral College,” 23 Cardozo L Rev 1145, 1146 (2002). 24/24