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The progressive liberal Democratic-Republican hero was supposed to be handed the presidency in 1800, and instead there was a tie.

Somebody was going to have to pay. And the proper payment would be a charge of treason.

We know that Thomas Jefferson was a progressive liberal because he said really nice things. He also enslaved and whipped and raped. He invented claims of white racist superiority to prove that all men were not created equal — claims that inspire fascist visitors to Charlottesville to this day. He invented the right of slave states to “nullify” federal law, not to mention being the principal creator of our beloved two-party system.

It was Jefferson’s presidency. He had waited for it. It was his turn now. And that blasted Aaron Burr had exactly as many votes as he had. First this would have to be fixed. Then Burr would have to be punished.

Back before Donald Trump was inaugurated, I wrote an

Despite enormous ongoing effort over more than a thousand years, during and since the formation and shaping of the modern world, and as the number of issues being contested has steadily increased, activists of many types have made insufficient progress on key issues, particularly in relation to ending violence and war (and the threat of nuclear war), stopping the exploitation of many peoples and halting the endless assaults on Earth’s biosphere.
 

Of course, in order for those of us who identify as activists to have any prospect of success in these and other endeavors, we need to understand how the world works and to develop an interrelated set of nonviolent strategies that are being effectively implemented to address each of the key aspects of this crisis.
 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

If you live among the Other 96% — that portion of humanity that the U.S. government does not claim to represent, but where the U.S. military maintains some 1,000 major military bases, here are some helpful tips and past examples of success.

First of all, do everything you can to let people in the United States know how much they are paying financially for the bases in your country. While some of us in the United States primarily object to bases because of their use in creating and conducting campaigns of mass murder, many, including some who control U.S. media outlets, find the topic of financial cost far more acceptable.

I sent the New York Times this letter on March 20, 2019:

To the Editor,

Peter Navarro’s op-ed “Why America Needs a Stronger Defense Industry” argues that “Investing in the sector means more jobs at home and improved security abroad.” He praises the construction of tanks used in wars in Iraq.

Rev Martin Niemoller was a prominent anti-fascist Lutheran pastor during the first decade of Hitler’s Thousand -Year Fascist Reich (now into its 86th year). He was a co-founder of the Pastor’s Emergency League that resisted the Nazi Party’s assault on the Protestant churches. For his resistance to German fascism, he was imprisoned in a concentration camp. The poem acknowledges the fact that Niemoller and his group had failed to speak out when they could have been assisting other oppressed groups that he didn’t belong to and therefore wound up in the camps or gas chambers.

“There are two governments in the United States today. One is visible. The other is invisible.

“The first is the government that citizens read about in their newspapers and children study about in their civics books. The second is the interlocking, hidden machinery that carries out the policies of the United States in the Cold War.

“This second, invisible government gathers intelligence, conducts espionage and plans and executes secret operations all over the globe.

To understand Beto O’Rourke as a candidate, it’s vital to go beneath the surface of his political backstory. News watchers are already well aware of the former Texas congressman’s good looks, charisma, youthful energy and fundraising prowess. But most remain unaware of an inconvenient truth that could undermine the O’Rourke campaign among the people who matter most -- the ones who’ll be voting to choose the Democratic presidential nominee next year.

O’Rourke is hardly eager for those upcoming voters to realize that the growth of his political career is rooted in an alliance with powerful Republicans that began 15 years ago. Or that he supported raising the minimum age for Social Security in 2012. Or that -- during six years in Congress, through the end of 2018 -- he often aligned himself with Republican positions.

If facts matter, such weighty facts could sink the “Beto for America” presidential campaign. Since his announcement, information gaining traction nationwide runs directly counter to the Beto brand.

OK, I admit it - I’m a cinematic scaredy-cat. Ever since small kid days, horror movies have frightened the hell out of me. The last one I went to see was a 2018 LA Film Festival screening of Spell, which I saw because it was set and shot on location in Iceland, a country I’ve only seen from the sky and am interested in. To tell you the truth, I did manage to get through it sans any nightmares, night terrors and the like - but I still wasn’t prepared for what writer/director/producer Jordan Peele had in store for us in the terrifying Us.

To tell you the truth, I would never have bought a ticket to see this horror-fest, but because I was invited to a private critics’ screening I screwed up my courage, bit the bullet, went to see it - and boy am I glad I did. Us may be creepy, but man, is it GRRREAT!

Nationalists — white or otherwise — need “invasions” on a regular basis in order to stay revved up and equal to the cause. Thus:

“We are experiencing an invasion on a level never seen before in history,” the New Zealand killer (whose name I will not mention, honoring the precedent set by the country’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern) said in his gonzo manifesto. “Millions of people are pouring across our borders, legally, invited by the state and corporate entities to replace the white people who have failed to reproduce, failed to create cheap labor, new consumers and tax base that the corporations and states needs to thrive.”

This is so ironic, considering . . . uh, history.