I haven’t written politically for quite a while. This, I am sure, was appreciated by some of my readers and abhorred by others. I guess if I am going to be honest with myself, I need to mention a few things that concern me and others and that downright scares me about the present state of my country.

I am of that age that what happens in my country of birth will not affect me as much as it will the younger generations who will have to live with this new America. We have swung back and forth with different leaders and politicians, but with the exception of our own Civil War, when the differences could not be settled, the various swings eventually have come back to democracy and more fairness to all.

Think about what has been achieved since WWII. We have had ex-military people, intellectuals, segregationists, liberals, and conservatives guide our country for a chosen period of years. And yet we survived all those differing opinions.

But the present picture shows some huge social and political reversals. Those include changes on immigration, providing medical care for the needy, the use of federally formed police units to patrol the streets of our states, and the attacks directed at states whose leaders’ beliefs do not coincide with the politics of the President.

Let’s be even a bit more frank. The situation of immigration has never been as brutal. We all have family roots from other countries. Immigrants came to this country for years seeking freedom from tyrannical abuse, unfair chances of earning enough to support a family, or for freedom of religion. The new Americans came to our country for a better life and were willing to work. The recent immigrants did overwhelm our borders and broke the rules. Some controls are often necessary, but not the way of ICE. Many times, these workers filled the jobs none of us wanted to do.

The well-trained U.S. armed forces and police do not make up ICE. These are volunteers who have minimal training and even less experience in the situations that they are facing. And look at the results. Despite the government trying to hide the truth about these multiple attacks on protesters, we are shown that their rhetoric is in direct opposition to what the multiple videos clearly illustrate. And then the federal government tries to take over the investigations, denying local and legitimate authorities from doing their job.

Then we have the government response to the protesters. I remember the anti-war protests against the war in Vietnam. I actually attended the largest protest in D.C. in 1967, mostly out of curiosity, as I was living there before enlisting in the service. There were no arrests and no injuries. With the exception perhaps of Kent State, no leader turned a complete military force on our own citizens who were expressing their right to free speech. Not exactly what we have today. Yet the President praises and encourages the protesters in Iran while he condemns those in Minneapolis. Don’t they both have the rights?

So, what can we compare today to the past of history? If you look back at Germany in the 1930s, the country was desperate. The financial devastation in WWI peace accords (which the United States refused to sign) ruined the chance of Germany coming back to being a livable country. And in their desperation, the Germans voted in Adolf Hitler. They begged for someone to relieve their pain. But then his leadership turned to a dictatorship, and the people were stuck. One of his next moves was to create an enforcement group quite different from the army but who answered only to him. It became known as the Gestapo. Soon, certain parts of the communities were removed from the scene by force and placed in concentration camps by this new group. It took most of the rest of the world to stop the German country with Hitler as its leader. And a lot of decent Germans had voted for him.

We have a constitution that has survived for 250 years. Sure, it has been amended from time to time, but usually to make the country stronger and hopefully better. Added were the right to have legal counsel if detained, the addition of certain rights to states and not the federal government as stated in the Tenth Amendment, the right of women to vote as in the Nineteenth Amendment, and the limitation of one person to hold the office of the President for no more than two terms as stated in the Twenty-Second Amendment, just to name a few.

Congress is getting the message. The Supreme Court, while a majority of justices were appointed by this President, have been backing his decisions less and less. But the Supreme Court has no army. Can its rulings be ignored with no consequences? Congress has the right to declare war. But exactly who has this right seems to be debated currently.

It would appear that there is a slide away from the present policies be it the outspoken politicians who are trying to be or stay elected, the press, or the protesters. And it isn’t just Democrats who are waving the red flag. But can Congress straighten out the times and guide our country back to the path of democracy and the American way of life? Well, it does come down to our right to vote, and we can see if that works, or are we already too late? I sure hope not.