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Mob Rule -- Mob Fools

By John Freivalds

Growing up in Washington, DC I always thought that the United States was that wonderful village Camelot high on a hill where the words “don’t ask what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country” always rang true.

Local View: Wasting political control would be just as ‘deplorable

From the column: "Anybody who has studied civics knows that rule by the majority party is partisanship and that it can be reversed by winning an election — not by storming the Capitol and killing people."

Published 2/24/2021

By John Freivalds

Duluth News Tribune

On Sept. 9, 2016, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said this at a fundraising event about half of candidate Donald Trump’s supporters: “They are racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic.“ The next day she expressed regret for saying “half” while insisting that Trump had deplorably amplified hateful views and voices.

Local View: In war against COVID-19, turn to patriotism for victory

Many Americans were reluctant to take seriously blackout orders during World War II just like many scoff at face masks now.

Written By: John Freivalds

Published: Dec 16th, 2020 – Duluth News Tribune

While we bemoan that many people still are not wearing face masks — some saying, “They impinge on my individual freedom!” — we seem to have long forgotten the similar issues during the worst of the blackouts during World War II.

The Donald, the Dictator, Left Us Quite a Mess

Published 1/20/2021

Roanoke Times, Roanoke, Virginia

By John Freivalds

It’s no longer just pejorative or outrageous to call Donald Trump a dictator or someone with dictatorial tendencies; he is one. And this shakes many of us to our self-serving core. How did this person appear in our political system? Aren’t we better than that? This is a banana republic on steroids. TV shows, pundits, social media, snobbery of the elite, all led to a false illusion, if not delusion, of who Americans really are. All men are created equal? Here’s the dictionary definition of a dictator: ”A person who orders others about domineeringly, or one whose pronouncements on some subject are meant to be taken as the final word.”