The Origins of Our Nation. I have deep respect for our Founding Fathers. My respect has a personal side.
If Ancestry.com is correct, then on my father’s side of my family, I have a direct line through his dad to Captain John Williams. On his mother’s side, I have a direct line to Major William Thornhill. On my mother’s side I have a direct line through her dad to Private James Barnes. Through her mother’s side, I have a direct line to Private Johan Jacob Shook. All four men served in the Revolutionary War.
My understanding of why they fought is based on my history, political science and government classes. I believe they preferred a constitution, laws, and three branches of government that provide checks and balances against a single person making the rules. They fought against one-person rule. In their case it was against King George III.
I have consistently believed the adoption of those principles was a pillar of conservative policies. Even though I am center-left, I have no trouble adopting it as my view. My differences with conservatives fall into other categories.
As a result of my support for our Founding Fathers, the recent mocking of the No Kings rallies deeply concerns me. A primary basis of the Revolutionary War was to be free of one-person rule. Many people have their reasons for believing President Trump is by-passing the constitution and the congress. They believe he is seeking to exercise one-person rule.
Protesting one-person rule seems to me to be a legitimate Conservative concern. The mocking that I read and hear shows a lack of understanding of the principles on which our nation was founded. Someone can disagree that President Trump is performing one-person rule, but mocking the principle of objecting to one-person rule is wrong to me.
Cautions. After reading and listening to a variety of comments, I would argue many MAGA people want a charismatic leader who is doing what they favor rather than the conservative principles of our Founding Fathers. That approach is dangerous in at least two ways.
First, I am not saying Trump is a dictator, but clearly the more we move toward one-person rule, the easier it becomes for a dictator to gain power in some future date. Especially if the person establishes complete acquiescence of the military, rules by intimidation, destroys freedom of the press, and builds a personal security force larger than the military forces in most other countries.
Second, if opposing forces gain power then the changes will be at the whim of the new person. To grasp the severity of the second issue, imagine the following:
Assume Obama announced the White House needed some upkeep, namely repainting. He promises the color would remain white (much like Trump promising the East wing would remain intact when his ballroom was built.) Then assume we wake up one day and the White House is painted black. Further assume that the Press Secretary gets up and says we need to understand that sometimes change orders are necessary.
If you can imagine my scenario, then you should have no trouble imagining the uproar that would erupt about one-person rule by MAGA followers.
Washington’s Farewell Address. Continuing the emphasis on Founding Fathers, the following is a paragraph from George Washington’s farewell address. I believe it is worth reading and contemplating.
“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.”
He warned us and I am watching and listening.
This and That
Joe Biden congratulated President Trump on the Israel-Hamas peace accord.
I have no problem with criticisms of Joe Biden and his policies. But the lack of recognition for him getting over 100 hostages released in the beginning of the Israel-Hamas negotiations is classless — especially when you compare it to his class act of congratulationing President Trump.
https://www.axios.com/2025/10/14/trump-israel-gaza-peace-deal-biden-clinton-praise
Concerned Insiders
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Good News
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Peace
Jerry
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