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The 2026 Election: Freedom or Despotism | Essentials: |
U.S. Senate should pass SAVE Act; Arizona's Alternative | |
Published by The Post Newspaper Published: June 13, 2026 | |||
| The past years brought major direction changes within the American culture. After suffering through four years of high inflation, we witnessed utter disdain for honest immigration and allowing tens-of-millions of random unvetted aliens to enter, the illegal crackdowns on free speech (the avenue for discovering truths), and offered once complacent citizens a window into the horrors of how close the policies being foster might reach toward a tyrannical world. Recent elections swept out many dangers offering hope for a long and productive period of freedom, a path based more on natural truths. God taught us, “If ye continue in my word... ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Freedom comes through the conformance to natural ever enduring truths regardless of the subjects. <em> It isn’t thinking choices can be made without accountability. </em> Some refer to this as “just plain common sense.” President Trump’s new direction involves bringing economic parity through rebalancing our consumption habits with manufacturing. Self-sufficiency, a natural truth, drives his ideology. Based on fairness through imposing foreign tariffs, lower income taxes targeted at lower and fixed incomes and business efficiencies; merit; and private investment, his new direction promotes a sustainable economic culture opening opportunities to those willing to make the effort (i.e., pay its price). Our founding fathers sought truth hoping to implement it with what was culturally possible. Individually, they weren’t perfect; collectively they got it! First and foremost, this unique group viewed themselves not as statesmen, but rather as farmers, scientists, lawyers, bankers, editors, absolute truth seekers. Their involvement in government was to seek righteousness and truth. The Constitution and Declaration were founded on this concept. It’s wasn’t built upon narrative interpretation fostered by popular whims. Unachieved truths could eventually be fostered through a difficult amendment process, not through unelected courts or bureaucrats. Our rich American history is filled with strange, improbable events including several in its beginning. Jamestown developed a culture of self-sufficiency from almost unendurable experiences. The Pilgrims gained understanding through personally experiencing the essentialness of self-accountability. Both learned the value of accountable self-government. The Puritans brought vision, a light set upon a hill. Perhaps the strangest essential came with the settlement of Manhattan. Both the Pilgrims and the English intended to settle the Hudson. Violent and timely storms drove them elsewhere, one south, one north. Dutch, possessing the world’s most successful business culture, ended at the Hudson with its uniquely natural business and trading attributes, a perfect marriage. By 1776, the American culture possessed all of the necessary attributes for a free society: business, accountability, self-reliance, self-government coupled with its vast natural resources. Delightful fruits came. It was then the world’s richest per-capita nation. President Trump is trying to return our nation to a similar culture. Here are three suggestions on how this might be accomplished: truthful and honest education, meritocracy, coupled with unencumbered freedoms to act, particularly within our businesses. Education must include an honest portrayal of our past with its structural faults and genuine powers derived from following natural truths. Studying Victor Belenko or other prominent defectors from the USSR, might be an influential start. The cultural blindness they came with illustrated from their struggles exposes the dangers. This defecting honored Russian pilot’s experience within the USSR outlined the utter drudgery results of tyranny. Unlike the empty promises of free stuff promoted by some today, nothing was free. Working and living conditions enforced by a long and continual diet of empty promises dominated the culture. Distressful existence defined their lives. It was the natural fruit of the ideology. Rather our approach must include building necessary competence in reading, writing, math, and known scientific truths. It must also include an honest and accurate portrayal of the American dream, the essentials that drove success. When balancing with long-held moral and religious compasses, generational success endures. The difference was drudgery under the USSR and hope under our system. What the left is offering today is drudgery. What Trump is offering is hope! Without enforcing accountability/meritocracy, societies lose their path. When bad behavior is rewarded or merit-based successes diluted, productive results dissipate. Rewarding bad behavior breeds more and more extreme bad behavior. An allowance for allowing failure at a balanced level must remain. It teaches invaluable and essential lessons. Finally, an organized and vigilant fight against abusive practices which can enhance tyrannical results, must continue. Understanding that when governments under abusive leaders control these three vital aspects -- energy/transportation, healthcare, and currency -- can result in enslaving people. We must always remain vigilant to this possibility. The American dream came not without adversity, rather because of it. Our ancestors learned deeply, through bitter experience and formal instruction, that timeless powers reward with adherence to natural truths. The natural state of man demands the same, each generation upon generation must also follow this pattern, else viable societies can vanish almost instantaneously. Americans in aggregate must ask their leaders to seriously consider these “requisite essentials.” | |||
About the Author/Columnist 2026 Mark has authored and/or coauthored over 300 guest columns and editorials over the last ten years for numerous publications across the country and he continue to do so. He ran for Congress in 2012 and comes from a petrochemical engineering background. He currently lives in Mountain Home, Idaho. | |||
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