Image: Dave Granlund
Tag Archives: freedom
Back Strokes
“The normal cycle in the life and death of great nations has been first a powerful tyranny broken by revolt, the enjoyment of liberty, the abuse of liberty – and back to tyranny again. As I see it, in this country – a land of the most persistent idealism and the blandest cynicism – the race is on between its decadence and its vitality.”
Now that 2025 has ended, we must realize that we’re officially more than a quarter of the way into the 21st century. And, in the United States, we have a totalitarian despot as our President. I never would have thought we’d be in this position – the self-proclaimed “Beacon of Democracy” has a self-righteous moron as its leader.
Reminder: we’re in the 21st century – C.E.!
Last November marked the 50th anniversary of the death of Francisco Franco, who came to power during Spain’s Civil War and ruled for more than three decades. Western Europe’s last true dictator, Franco persecuted his political opponents, suppressed certain cultural aspects, manipulated the media, and just generally wielded absolute control over the country. His death brought democratic relief to Spain.
It’s a familiar pattern that’s occurred across the globe and throughout human history. Certain individuals promise – and initially bring – freedom to the people and then mutate into a brutal autocrat. The masses get sucked into the chasm of false promises and righteous dreams…then are horrified when the truth comes out.
Sometimes it appears humanity will never learn. I feel that way now about the United States. In 2000 we all stood on the precipice of a new century and a new millennium. The future was ours. Then, here in the U.S., we regressed and inadvertently chose a leader who turned out to be ill-equipped for the role of “Leader of the Free World”. And the first decade of the 21st century – C.E. – became lost to war and the morass of class divisions. We should have been preparing to build a colony on the moon and sending humans to Mars. Instead Americans were trying to figure out whether to pay for utilities or buy groceries.
And we’ve reached that point again.
In June of 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion in this country. It accompanied ongoing attacks on our literary culture, as book bans rampaged across the land. Looking at all of it, I wondered how and why we were moving backwards. Societies, in general theory, are supposed to move forward – much like time. Conservatism may sound like a grand ideology, but it can be detrimental.
In November of 1979, I was a high school student and in San Antonio, Texas for a speech and drama contest, when we heard news that a band of rebels had stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran. Some of my fellow students had no idea where Iran was, much less why it had become a target for protesters. But we’d soon learn exactly why. From then until January of 1981, a number of Americans were held hostage in Tehran as retribution for the U.S. support of their former national leader, Reza Shah Pahlavi. Pahlavi had been forced from power earlier in 1979 by a populace who had grown weary of his tortuous rule. Now Iran is in the grips of social unrest once more, and ironically, Pahlavi’s son is seeking to return to his homeland and lead his people into a new universe.
Again, the world has seen this happen before: Russia, China, France…the list is almost endless. The citizenry gets tired of how their universe is functioning and decides to take action. The result is often violent.
This year, 2026, officially marks the semiquincentennial of the United States – our 250th anniversary of existence. I was twelve years old in the summer of 1976, when we marked our bicentennial, and I felt an extraordinary sense of pride and excitement. The nation was still recovering from the brutal cultural upheaval of the 1960s, but at that moment, we all seemed to bond and become – as our founders intended – a truly united people. I’m certain I’ll never live to see our tricenntenial, but it’s a pleasant dream.
It’s even more inspirational to know our nation will move beyond the likes of our current leaders who have no real sense of a future. We’ll never be a utopia. No community can ever achieve that.
Denounce me as naïve, if you want – I’ve often called myself cynical at this point in my life. but I still hope for the best.
Filed under Essays
Home Somewhat Free
This is my father’s recollection of returning home from military service in Korea.
I had thought of joining the military when I got older. My older brother, Jesse, did. He was 17 and failing out of school when he enlisted in the U.S. Army in the summer of 1942. They shipped him out to the Pacific region. He was stationed on some remote island, when he killed his first person. He said it was at night, and Jesse and his commanding officer were hidden in some thick foliage – looking for…whatever. Then they spotted a Japanese solider approaching. Jesse’s CO ordered him to kill the guy…“or I’ll kill you first and then him.” He was still 17 and had no choice. Jesse saw other casualties – adults and children; soldiers and civilians – in the wicked and bloody chaos of World War II’s Pacific theatre. He caught malaria, before returning home.
Jesse received a slew of awards, including a Purple Heart by Gen. Douglas MacArthur himself. He got an honorable discharge and quickly came back to Dallas. One Saturday morning me and Jesse, our younger brother, and some other friends visited a local barbershop. As sat conversing in Spanish and English, the shop’s owner approached and – in his heavy Scottish brogue – ordered us to leave. “We don’t cut Mexicans’ hair.”
Here we all were – born and raised in the Dallas area, not causing any ruckus – and a foreign-born man tells us to leave. At some point over the next couple of days, a massive rock found its way through the large glass window of that shop. I swear I don’t know how that happened!
That experience kind of left me bitter about this great country and the freedom it was supposed to have. I no longer had any desire to join the military.
Then came Korea – and I had no choice.
I had just turned 21 in January 1954, when my father drove me to the Greyhound bus station in downtown Dallas – just like he’d done with Jesse more than a decade earlier. I had rarely been outside of Dallas and never outside of Texas. I arrived at Fort Bliss in El Paso, a little scared and not knowing what to think. After basic training, they put me on another bus to Los Angeles, then a train to Seattle, and finally a ship to Korea.
From what I understood later, Korea wasn’t nearly as bad as World War II, but when is there ever a pleasant war? More importantly I understood why Jesse never wanted to talk about his own experiences.
By then the U.S. armed forces had been (forcibly) integrated, so men of all shapes, sizes and colors served together. I developed close friendships with many of my Black comrades. I could envision these connections lasting a lifetime.
It was only two years, but it felt like decades. We left Korea on a ship for Seattle. Once there we had to take a train down to Los Angeles. I stood with my Black buddies on the platform, before we had to board. My friends started walking away from me.
“Hey, guys, where are you going?” I asked, still innocent – naïve actually.
“We have to go to the rear of the train,” one of them called back to me.
The rear of the train – where the Negroes had to go.
Oh yeah, I told myself. We’re back in America – the land of the free.
Filed under Wolf Tales
Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2025
Good Morning
Oh God, help us
To be generous in our opinions of others,
To be considerate of all we meet,
To be patient with those with whom we work,
To be faithful to every trust,
To be courageous in the face of danger,
To be humble in all our living,
To be prayerful every hour of the day,
To be joyous in all life’s experiences,
And to be dependent upon me,
For strength in facing life’s uncertainties.
Filed under News
Happy Fourth of July 2025!
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like me, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.”
Filed under News
The Magna Carta at 810
Around this time in 1215 C.E., England’s King John placed his royal seal on the “Great Charter”, more commonly known as the Magna Carta. The signing came after a revolt by English nobility against John’s rule. The document guaranteed the king would respect the rights of individuals and uphold the freedom of the Church – among other things.
The charter was a key element in the establishment of democracy in England and ultimately across Europe. It also became critical in the creation of the United States more than 500 years later. The framers of the U.S. Constitution highlighted the essence of the Magna Carta in their discussions.
The anniversary of King John’s signing is notable here in the U.S. since last weekend the indefatigable Donald Trump staged a parade in Washington, D.C., to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the establishment of the U.S. Army and his 79th birthday. The festivities were more for him and his overbearing ego than to celebrate the Army. But it was also important in that thousands of “No Kings” protests occurred across the nation – a direct response to Trump’s totalitarian attitude.
Fortunately, the Magna Carta – and the U.S. Constitution – will outlast any political ideology.
Filed under History
Juneteenth 2025
“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
Filed under News
Memorial Day 2025
Filed under News
Words
Several years ago actress turned animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot found herself in legal trouble with French authorities. The former screen siren openly condemned the Islamic practice of animal slaughter during the Aid al-Kabir holiday. She’d been in such a predicament before – several times. French law doesn’t actually forbid disparaging religious ideology, but it looks down sharply upon it, as it can be considered slander or worse, a conduit to hate-obsessed violence.
It’s surprising, considering France fought hard against Nazi occupation during World War II. One tenet of Nazism is that anyone who speaks out against the government is deemed a traitor. But, short of slander or threats of violence, criticism of governing bodies and religion is free speech. Imprisoning anyone, or even threatening to levy a monetary penalty for such views, runs counter to that.
All of it strikes hard for me – and other writers and artists – here in the U.S., as we witness ongoing assaults on various forms of free speech. Book bans remain a primary source of concern. And with Republicans in charge of the White House and both houses of Congress, the attacks continue. Social extremists have always been opposed to any viewpoint that doesn’t conform to their standards – whether it’s coming from the left or the right. The voices of moderates seem to get lost in the chaos.
Recently the U.S. government – under pressure from the Trump administration – compiled and presented a list of words that are forbidden on federal web sites and other documentation. They include such terms as “biologically male”, “clean energy”, “inequality”, and “woman”. This is real! I have a tendency towards creating outrageous stories, but I’m not intoxicated or deranged. Well…not yet.
Regardless, the list definitely isn’t a manifestation of liberal outrage at the most right-wing president in decades. It’s a result of years of conservative ideology designed to put people and institutions in categories and re-enshrine bigotry and hatred into the American conscience. The leftward shift in culture and politics in the U.S. beginning in the late 1950s eventually met the hostility of Reaganesque antipathy towards anything viewed as different or the other. The Trump era is the culmination of it all.
Those in formerly marginalized groups who also voted for Trump and his ilk shouldn’t be surprised – but they are. For example, Cuban-Americans voted overwhelmingly for Trump, as they often have for the Republican Party. As Cuba has been under communist rule since 1959, those fleeing the country have been given special protection from American law. The same luxury hasn’t been granted to people fleeing war and violence in other Latin American nations, such as El Salvador and Guatemala. However, the Trump Administration’s efforts to reform immigration law have started to impact thousands of Cuban immigrants. Now, Cuban-Americans have the audacity to be horrified at the betrayal. Remember the adage: be careful what you wish for; you might just get it.
We also need to recall the words of Martin Niemöller:
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.”
Trump and his cronies appear to be going after anyone who doesn’t fit the narrow definition of who he is. His hypocrisy is glaring. He never outwardly espoused any religious fervor until he first ran for president, but now says Christian ideology should be taught in schools. If he believes in true biblical content, then consider the Christian Bible’s 7th commandment: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Exodus 20:14.
There are others.
“I am a stranger and an alien residing among you; give me property among you for a burying place, so that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” Genesis 23:4
“The sinless one among you, go first. Throw the stone.” John 8:6-11
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31
I’m sure this would be too much for him to handle. It’s too much even for some devout Christians to handle!
Whatever words someone wants to use, they shouldn’t be frightened into compliance. Russia, Iran and North Korea do that. No truly democratic society wants to echo such autocratic leadership.
Filed under Essays
Antarctica tells Trump what to do with his tariffs
From Munguin’s New Republic, the truth must be spoken!
Filed under News
Chief Writing Wolf 