“The inference to which we are brought, is, that the causes of faction cannot be removed; and that relief is only to be sought in the means of controlling its effects.”
Thanks HR. I thoroughly enjoy your contributions on the Goodfellows panel. Your articles are equally profound and entertaining. Please accept my sincere wishes for a great 2026, for you, your loved ones and your country.
Beautiful words, but if you ignore the wannabe despot and the party he owns, which is committed to autocracy, and controls Congress, The Supreme Court, and most statehouses, then they end up throwing you in a gulag for saying them. I'm sure there are many Russians who say soaring words like these, but their country has been subjugated by a tyrant Trump admires and emulates. When you won't even come close to acknowledging the historic and grave danger we face, is this really the best way to fight for these ideals, and to fulfill your oath to defend The Constitution?
A very thought provoking article, General, need to read it a second time. This afternoon, I was sitting outside drinking a cup of coffee while reading James H. Toner's book "True Faith and Allegiance, The Burden of Military Ethics" (published 1995) once again and stumbled across a passage that I find highly relevant. On page 18, Toner writes: "If the American eagle is to be resurrected and if America is to experience a moral wake-up call, our reasoning must be logical and our choices wise. The sound teaching of good leadership is essential to restoring a national sense of purpose and of rebuilding the American ethical compass. The difference between faithful leaders and fraudulent ones rests in their character, defined by Lewis Worley as "the commitment to an admirable set of values and the courage to manifest those values in one's life, no matter the cost in terms of personal success or popularity." I was first introduced to Toner during my graduate studies and found his writings well worth reading. Just my humble opinion but the vulgarity that is part of our political leaders personalities is discouraging and not worthy of high office. (Even this old retired chief petty officer, knew what type of language was appropriate for the audience I was addressing. Hope I haven't upset anyone. )
Michael, we are so far removed from the values of which you write (or quote) that if the earth were flat we’ve already fallen off and into the abyss. Please read this entire NYT article. It won’t make your day. Sorry.
Here’s the real reason we’re about to go to war with Venezuela:
“How Oil, Drugs and Immigration Fueled Trump’s Venezuela Campaign -
New details of deliberations show how aides with overlapping agendas drove the United States toward a militarized confrontation with Venezuela.”
The short version: Trump wants the oil; Rubio wants to overthrow Maduro and Cuba; Miller wants a full out war so he can invoke the Alien Enemies Act and deport more people to Venezuela. And Hegseth is an incompetent doofus.
No other duty entrusted to the General Government is as essential as the control of domestic factions. Should it fail in this fundamental task, the government’s primary value proposition collapses, calling into question its necessity over the states and the people. Any other task the people look to the government to execute or dole out is secondary to that of faction control.
In the past, the managing of factions was possible through deliberate, economic, scientific, and political redundancy in a System that embraced legal/regulatory variability and policy variability not just across states but, albeit at a lesser extent, even down to the local level; and the federal level was the least of the three tiers of resource takers. This also made the country much more dynamic and prosperous.
We now have deeply standardized system that allows for very little variability, seeks very little redundancy, and is deeply centralized with a center that sucks up most all non essential (so the parts you actually do things with) resources. Such a system is very aggressively a winner take all system
Hope that if there is a big enough shock that cant be “printed” out of and there is a big enough squeeze on too many people and too many interests groups, public and private, in too many places; enough people know enough about the past to re-open politics, re-decentralize, and have the wherewithal to not land in an explicit national dictatorship or an alliance of fifty oligarchies
But absent that, like, if you had a magic wand, well, just tracing what was done across the 50s/60s/ and more importantly 70s/80s and just undoing several seemingly mundane things would prob do it
Well thought through but division has become an industry worth billions to the dividers and civic education is so poorly funded that voter apathy is insured!! If citizens really communicate with each other, we may discover how much we have in common!!
They achieved those things through deliberate, economic, scientific, and political redundancy in a System that embraced legal/regulatory variability and policy variability not just across states but, albeit at a lesser extent, even down to the local level; and the federal level was the least of the three tiers of resource takers.
We now have deeply standardized system that allows for very little variability, seeks very little redundancy, and is deeply centralized with a center that sucks up most all non essential (so the parts you actually do things with) resources. Such a system is very aggressively a winner take all system
I am not so sanguine about the prospects for comity. The reactionary right has realized that a tyranny of the minority is possible with our system, and they want to be the minority doing the tyrannizing.
Thanks HR. I thoroughly enjoy your contributions on the Goodfellows panel. Your articles are equally profound and entertaining. Please accept my sincere wishes for a great 2026, for you, your loved ones and your country.
Excellent column. Thank you for writing it.
ICE must be arrested, incarcerated, tried and if convicted imprisoned… it’s what we do to people who shoot other people in the eye…
Beautiful words, but if you ignore the wannabe despot and the party he owns, which is committed to autocracy, and controls Congress, The Supreme Court, and most statehouses, then they end up throwing you in a gulag for saying them. I'm sure there are many Russians who say soaring words like these, but their country has been subjugated by a tyrant Trump admires and emulates. When you won't even come close to acknowledging the historic and grave danger we face, is this really the best way to fight for these ideals, and to fulfill your oath to defend The Constitution?
Battlegrounds; The Fight to Defend the Free World
Too bad you lost interest in that, bigly maga sycophant.
A very thought provoking article, General, need to read it a second time. This afternoon, I was sitting outside drinking a cup of coffee while reading James H. Toner's book "True Faith and Allegiance, The Burden of Military Ethics" (published 1995) once again and stumbled across a passage that I find highly relevant. On page 18, Toner writes: "If the American eagle is to be resurrected and if America is to experience a moral wake-up call, our reasoning must be logical and our choices wise. The sound teaching of good leadership is essential to restoring a national sense of purpose and of rebuilding the American ethical compass. The difference between faithful leaders and fraudulent ones rests in their character, defined by Lewis Worley as "the commitment to an admirable set of values and the courage to manifest those values in one's life, no matter the cost in terms of personal success or popularity." I was first introduced to Toner during my graduate studies and found his writings well worth reading. Just my humble opinion but the vulgarity that is part of our political leaders personalities is discouraging and not worthy of high office. (Even this old retired chief petty officer, knew what type of language was appropriate for the audience I was addressing. Hope I haven't upset anyone. )
Michael, we are so far removed from the values of which you write (or quote) that if the earth were flat we’ve already fallen off and into the abyss. Please read this entire NYT article. It won’t make your day. Sorry.
Here’s the real reason we’re about to go to war with Venezuela:
“How Oil, Drugs and Immigration Fueled Trump’s Venezuela Campaign -
New details of deliberations show how aides with overlapping agendas drove the United States toward a militarized confrontation with Venezuela.”
By Edward WongTyler PagerCharlie SavageJulian E. Barnes and Maria Abi-Habib, NYT, 12/27/25, gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/27/us/politics/venezuela-trump-maduro-oil-boat-strikes-immigration.html?unlocked_article_code=1._08.exhE.K4jpwlZhGboh&smid=nytcore-ios-share
The short version: Trump wants the oil; Rubio wants to overthrow Maduro and Cuba; Miller wants a full out war so he can invoke the Alien Enemies Act and deport more people to Venezuela. And Hegseth is an incompetent doofus.
Thank-you for sharing the link to the New York Times article. Very informative and in many ways depressing. Just my humble opinion.
No other duty entrusted to the General Government is as essential as the control of domestic factions. Should it fail in this fundamental task, the government’s primary value proposition collapses, calling into question its necessity over the states and the people. Any other task the people look to the government to execute or dole out is secondary to that of faction control.
In the past, the managing of factions was possible through deliberate, economic, scientific, and political redundancy in a System that embraced legal/regulatory variability and policy variability not just across states but, albeit at a lesser extent, even down to the local level; and the federal level was the least of the three tiers of resource takers. This also made the country much more dynamic and prosperous.
We now have deeply standardized system that allows for very little variability, seeks very little redundancy, and is deeply centralized with a center that sucks up most all non essential (so the parts you actually do things with) resources. Such a system is very aggressively a winner take all system
Agreed. What’s the solution?
Hope that if there is a big enough shock that cant be “printed” out of and there is a big enough squeeze on too many people and too many interests groups, public and private, in too many places; enough people know enough about the past to re-open politics, re-decentralize, and have the wherewithal to not land in an explicit national dictatorship or an alliance of fifty oligarchies
But absent that, like, if you had a magic wand, well, just tracing what was done across the 50s/60s/ and more importantly 70s/80s and just undoing several seemingly mundane things would prob do it
Well thought through but division has become an industry worth billions to the dividers and civic education is so poorly funded that voter apathy is insured!! If citizens really communicate with each other, we may discover how much we have in common!!
Woderful statement. Particilarly so to cite three documents basic. to our foundation. But find it telling that at no time do we read the word
DEMOCRACY in this age of words such as Authoritarianism.
Thank you for writing this. It’s so informative and gives us a lens into our past and also into our future.
Just another trinket. What does this hollow thing value in life?
They achieved those things through deliberate, economic, scientific, and political redundancy in a System that embraced legal/regulatory variability and policy variability not just across states but, albeit at a lesser extent, even down to the local level; and the federal level was the least of the three tiers of resource takers.
We now have deeply standardized system that allows for very little variability, seeks very little redundancy, and is deeply centralized with a center that sucks up most all non essential (so the parts you actually do things with) resources. Such a system is very aggressively a winner take all system
I am not so sanguine about the prospects for comity. The reactionary right has realized that a tyranny of the minority is possible with our system, and they want to be the minority doing the tyrannizing.
Braver Angels (www.braverangels.org) is a great (and free) way for citizens to engage across our differences in this way.
It was a good run……