The post of 6/17/18 entitled Tyranny and Diplomacy is the second commentary on the threat of tyranny today in America in a month—different facts but similar arguments and largely the same Founders comments are included. In the author’s view tyranny is at this time the central threat of the Trump presidency to the Republic. If it should succeed all else would be lost. It cannot be mentioned enough and the message that the Founders regarded tyranny as the greatest danger for the new Republic needs to repeated frequently. The words of Sam Adams in 1780 are relevant here. “If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our Country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.” Early, determined and permanent resistance when tyranny threatens is the best, likely the only way of defeating it. And as Sam Adams said in 1771, “The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks.” These are dangerous times and eternal vigilance should be the rule. Sam Adams, as the leader of the Boston Tea Party, Co-founder of the Sons of Liberty and signer of the Declaration of Independence, also faced difficult times but he knew what he was talking about; we should listen to him. And in terms of one man rule, very relevant to today is Samuel Adams’ comment in 1748, long before the Revolution: “It is a very great mistake to imagine that the object of loyalty is the authority and interest of one individual man, however dignified by the applause or enriched by the success of popular actions.”
Our great Senator, John McCain, sounded the warning in February, 2017. In a speech in Munich he warned against a turning away from universal values in favor of sectarianism and nationalism; he cautioned against a “hardening resentment” toward minority groups; he denounced what seems to be an expanding post truth society reflected in “the growing inability, and even unwillingness to separate truth from lies”; he rejected what he saw as the growing romanticism of authoritarianism as “our moral equivalent” and expressed alarm over what appeared to be a “giving up” on Western values. Senator McCain has established a role model for us all in the evolving struggle. Not to heed his advice would greatly increase the risk of tyranny succeeding in this country. It is the duty of all who believe in American principles to resist, now and permanently.
John Jay