The world we live in now

Dear Editor,

I was born after VE Day – Victory in Europe, and before VJ Day – Victory in Japan, and I still have some ration coupons for baby Bill. I grew up in Seneca surrounded by veterans of World War II, where these Seneca men had defeated fascism in Europe and imperialism in Japan. The good people of Seneca have built a fitting monument to them and those who didn't return right where my dad's filling station once stood.

Today we see foreshadowing of facism and imperialism in our own country.

Stephen Miller, a Trump adviser, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Jan. 5, “.. you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power...”

This world view has overtaken President Trump's administration. They rule by power, from bombings in Iran, to kidnapping Venezuela's president, to justifying the killing of a Minnesota mom for disrespecting ICE officers.

In 1775 the King of England, his family and the royal court were in charge and used their armed forces to force the colonists to act as he wished. Now we have “King” Trump, his family, and his billionaire court acting similarly. Most of the Declaration of Independence lists abuses that caused colonists to separate themselves from the king. Trump is engaged in many of these same abuses.

Two hundred and fifty years ago Americans united behind the truths that all people are created equal, all have the same rights, and we are responsible to rule ourselves. As an American citizen, you must take up that responsibility and work and vote for candidates that support these American ideas.

Bill Dagnon, 

Baraboo, WI