Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party. The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them. Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.

A sudden uprising of communists or Nazis?  Muslims declaring that they want America to practice Sharia law?  

Or could it be more subtle….a chipping away…...a slow erosion…...a slippery slope?  

Right wing extremists reject any kind of redistribution or safety net as a  "Nanny State" but lecture us like an angry father who thinks we need moral and spiritual guidance from the government.  The new Republican attack on a free and open media as biased against their “line” and on voting access along with the old attacks on organized labor and minority enfranchisement are a net of subtle infringements that most don’t feel but that tighten as inexorably as a waterfall moves backwards.  

With the Patriot Act came suspension of some of our rights as a citizen.  Trump has delegitimized the American intelligence community as well as all media (objective or not) as easily as he delegitimized the first African-American POTUS — with a sweep of scornful tweets and public rabble-rousing — thinly brushed over by crude, avaristic charm and the ability to flatter crowds by playing to their prejudices.  In this environment how far are we really from a scenario where a journalist could be declared an enemy combatant by agencies within the Executive Branch and disappeared in a van with a hood over his head to Guantanamo or some crazy International Waters prison ship?  

How   far   are   we   really?

I find living in this hypocrisy and assault on my freedom utterly nauseating.  Our democracy and our rights are in danger and everyone is keeping their fingers crossed!!!"  

Here are some actual Patrick Henry Quotes  (lol being “Tom Paines Ghost” I knew him well!!):

The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.

Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.

It's time for all true Patriots to protect our Constitution from "Enemies Within."  The moral question is…  if the powers that wish to infringe on our rights are playing dirty can we only win by getting down and dirty ourselves?  Maintaining the high road and hoping that people will have the time and critical thinking skills to see that the Democratic platform is their only vehicle to making their country work for them has not come to be — a combination of poor education and the thick fog of propaganda.

Another Patrick Henry quote might help:

We are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of Nature has placed in our power... the battle, sir, is not to the strong alone it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.

If the Republican congress can push rules and decorum to their frayed ends for political gain we must utilize the same as a political minority and fight back with every tactic available to us — precedent be damned.  There is no middle ground we will move to the left or yield as the stone to the waterfall — slowly, slowly.  This begins with Joe Biden exercising his option to appoint Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court during the Congressional turnover and continues with taking to the streets if or when the Affordable Care Act is repealed and going to war on social media.   The Right has become entitled to it’s own facts and we need to scream the truth out loud and smackdown the hypocrisy of a Republican moral high ground.