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As we contemplate the spectacle of MAGA’s non-stop war on democracy, it’s worth remembering Michigan Senator Arthur Vandenburg, a great Republican, patriot, isolationist, and flipper. In the thirties he embraced America First, vehemently opposed involvement in Europe’s war, and just months before Pearl Harbor voted against the Lend Lease Act that helped Britain survive.
But December 7, 1941, was Vandenburg’s conversion day. Between Pearl Harbor and his death in 1951 he was transformed from ardent isolationist into dedicated internationalist, exhibiting what one historian called a “monument to bipartisanship.” He supported the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, NATO, and the UN, coining the now-ignored council, “Politics ends at the water’s edge.”
I wish today’s elected officials showed that ability to adapt when confronted with new facts. Some do, but mostly out of fear they act to preserve their jobs instead of the Constitution they swore to defend. Sadly Donald Trump has led the MAGA team into a fact-resistant, angry, whining and dangerous mob. To “save” the United States they would destroy the very institutions that have made us great, to burn the village in order to save it, as one Colonel famously said in Vietnam.
Join the Union was formed to support our democracy. At the Action Center we help concerned citizens find local, statewide, and national volunteer opportunities to register and turn out voters and save us from this cruel, lawless ex-President and his wayward followers, also known as our neighbors.
