Thank you for your post.


Americans still mostly respect Americans and the lives of our countrymen. I'm so glad the police did not open fire with lethal force until the inner perimeter of where our Representatives were, the bombs placed around town did not go off and the guns across the river remained across the river. I am thankful for the restraint. I am even more thankful that Mark Esper told the President **no**, twice, when Donald Trump ordered the 82cnd Airborne, our first line combat troops, to engage Black Lives Matters protesters. Demonstrators, even protesters, have every right to do so, as long as they aren't breaking, burning, stealing or killing.


This fall will be a referendum. Americans are very understandably concerned about their economic fall as "taming inflation" means taking money away from the middle class until they just can not afford to spend it anymore. That hurts. The Republicans have not offered any plan for a soft landing. Much of this is out of the control of either party. I doubt Putin is going to give up and go home.


So I really think the best answer is the rise of a "rule of law" conservative who will revitalize the Reagan-minded side (pro immigration, pro democracy here and around the world). I do not agree with Liz Cheney on much, but damn if she hasn't shown herself to be a fine American. The Committee's use of almost entirely **Republican** witnesses have demonstrated that there are people who respect the law, capable of thinking through policy, in the party. Without them, Trump would have remained in power and democracy would be over. It was close. That was the beginning of a tumultuous period that probably will not be resolved one way or another until 2028 or 2030. At that point I think the odds favor us being a democracy in name only. As Putin says, quoting Stalin, "He who counts the votes is all that matters."