A lecture and question and answer session at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Greater Naples, Fla., Feb. 5, 2025.
The author speaking at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Greater Naples, Fla. (Image: UUCGN)
This was the 2025 kickoff of the Progressive Voices lecture series.
The speech begins at mark 13:00 and goes to mark 43:00 followed by the Q&A. Total time is 1 hour, 18 minutes.
As prepared for delivery
Feb. 5, 2025
I know that I’m speaking on a secular topic. But since we’re in a house of worship, I thought that it would be appropriate to begin with a story from the Old Testament.
I take as my text Genesis 25, from verses 23 to 29.
It tells the story of Esau and Jacob, both sons of Isaac. Esau was the older son, a hunter-gatherer and due to inherit all his father’s flocks and wealth. Jacob was “a man of the tents,” a pastoralist and a homebody.
One day Esau came in from hunting in the fields, he was tired and hungry and Jacob was at a fire cooking what the King James version calls “pottage,” or in Hebrew, “adamshim.” It was a stew or soup and the Bible is very specific: it consisted of lentils, or beans, and bread and it was colored red. It sounds like a chili.
Esau was famished and demanded a portion – the King James version calls it “a mess”—of the stew. Jacob said he could have it, but he would have to trade his birthright—his inheritance—for it. Esau, according to the story, said he couldn’t see any use for his birthright and he just wanted to eat so he agreed.
So based on this conversation, Jacob became the inheritor of all his father’s wealth, with the ultimate result that he became the father of the nation of Israel and Esau was left to live off roaming and hunting.
So why is this story relevant today?
On November 4, 2024, Americans had a birthright—a birthright—to inalienable rights, among them democracy, freedom of thought, expression, worship, health, freedom from want and freedom from fear. They had a right to determine how they were governed and a right to assemble and protest when they didn’t like it. They had a right to American citizenship at birth—a literal birthright.
The next day, on November 5, 2024, when the votes were counted, a narrow majority had chosen to sell that birthright for a stew of lies, illusions, hatreds, empty promises and a mirage of lower grocery prices. Talk about a literal “mess of pottage.” Talk about selling your birthright!
So here find ourselves today. And I’m sure you’re wondering, as I am, what to do and how to respond and most of all, how to protect what we hold dear, our freedom, our rights and out Constitution.
Now, we can go over all the awfulness that has happened so far. But given our limited time, I think that’s unproductive. We all have our lists of outrages. We can get into what I call a “spiral of hate.” I think it’s more essential to figure out how we’re going to preserve our freedoms, our democracy and ultimately—our sanity.
And that brings to mind another Biblical reference: The Book of Ecclesiastes. “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to sow and a time to reap,” and it goes on to enumerate the different actions.
Well I would add: There’s a time to progress and a time to protect.
I think it’s pretty clear that now is the time to protect and defend.
In our system we have our say in an election and then we give the levers of power to those we elect, trusting they’ll act responsibly on our behalf.
But this time, this is not a mere change of administrations. It’s a revolution from the top starting with Donald Trump and it’s from the right from his cultists, enablers and his sycophants. It aims to affect every aspect of our lives.
Those of us who are so inclined are not going to break any new ground. We’re not going to right newly found wrongs. We have to protect and defend the essentials: our birthright, which means our inalienable rights to life, liberty and happiness, our democracy and our Constitution—because they’re all under attack.
Trump aims to reverse not merely the past four years of the Biden administration, Trump wants to reverse the past 80 years of social progress since Fascism’ s defeat in 1945.
Think of it: they say “make America great again.” When was it great, in their view? How far back do they want to go?
Well, in their attack on birthright citizenship, Trump and his minions are seeking to turn the national clock back to the Dred Scott decision of 1857, when the Supreme Court declared that black people could not be United States citizens.
You have to conclude: Donald Trump sees the time when America was “great” as the time before the Civil War when there were masters and slaves, when black people were considered three-fifths of a human being and when women did not have the vote. He even wants to go back to the days of the Know Nothing Party of the 1850s when there was a movement to cut off immigration and suppress Catholicism.
Everyone who vowed last year that “we won’t go back,” had it right—we shouldn’t. But that’s where this is all going.
Actually, you can make the argument that Trump wants to turn the clock back to before there was a Constitution and a Bill of Rights, to a time when America was ruled by a single ruler, a monarchy. Remember, the word “monarchy” is derived from the Greek words for one, “mono” and power or authority, “archy.” It just means that power flows from a single source, not necessarily someone with the title “king.”
I would also argue with people who say this is an “oligarchy,” which means rule by a small group. It’ s also been called a “kakistocracy,” rule by the worst people, or a “kleptocracy,” rule by compulsive thieves.
Whatever it is, it’s not democracy, rule by the people.
I wish I could say that we can change this with the push of a button but right now but frankly, I can’t do that.
But today all the levers of power, from the White House to the Capitol, and here in Florida, to the governorship and the statehouse and even down to the Collier County Board of Commissioners are in Trumpist hands. We can’t count on the judiciary or those who implement judicial rulings. As we saw in the special session of this state’s legislature, Republicans in charge are competing with each other to be as extreme as possible in their submission to Trump’s will.
It’s already an awful year and it’s going to get worse. What’s more, it’s going to do permanent damage to the country and its standing in the world.
When I think about it, I’d compare it to a hurricane and as Floridians we all know what to do when those come around: get lots of bottled water, check your batteries, and prepare for a siege.
One other thing that’s a good idea in the runup to a hurricane is to take stock and make an inventory. That means going around the house, maybe taking pictures of each room and all your possessions.
But in this storm it means taking stock of ourselves. I’m not going to offer specific actions or global prescriptions. Right letters to the editor? Yes. Phone banking? Yes. Demonstrating? Yes. Most of all, of course, I’m sure all of us here voted, which is the most important thing although we don’t get another chance until 2026—I hope.
A resistance is coalescing. Democrats, with both a capital D and a small d are regrouping and reorganizing. People who may have been indifferent are now paying attention. People who thought they knew what they were getting with their vote are now waking up to what they really elected.
But that’ s going to take time and in this storm each of has to ask: How can I personally resist the crimes and these injustices I see happening? What can I personally do to protect my freedom and my country’s freedom? How can I personally preserve my rights and the rights of all my friends, family, neighbors, and fellow citizens? How can I personally defend the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the democracy I believe in?
And we have to ask ourselves these questions each and every day because they’ll all be under assault each and every day.
I would point out some dangers where extra attention is necessary and these are potential changes that would permanently institutionalize a dictatorship.
One is any change to the Constitution or Bill of Rights. Whether it’s eliminating birthright citizenship, or ending presidential term limits—in other words, making Trump president for life. Changing the Constitution is, to use a political phrase, a “hill to die on.”
Another is declaration of a state of emergency. This is a classic dictatorial tactic. It’s what Adolf Hitler used after the Reichstag fire. It gives an executive additional, nearly unrestricted powers. It usually means crushing democracy in the name of facing the emergency. Trump has already declared two emergencies—one on the border and one on energy, giving himself power to deploy the military and take on other powers. Another one on the economy has been rumored. But where this will really be dangerous is when it comes to elections. Remember, in 2020, he was considering having the military seize voting machines and he tried to overthrow the results.
That brings us to another threat to watch: any attempt to postpone, suspend or cancel elections. All elections must be conducted on time, as scheduled. That means insisting on a free, fair and open election in two years.
We also have to defend a free press. There’s a lot of turmoil in media right now and some very disappointing kowtowing to Trump in major media—and in local media. We’re already being inundated by a tsunami of lies and propaganda. But we have to determine how we can each seek truth and to the degree that we can, make sure that our media fulfills its fundamental mission.
We can only hope that our judiciary and law enforcement remain true to the law and its impartial application. The early signs are not promising. But to the degree that any of us have any influence we need to do what we can to keep our justice system just.
Like a hurricane, this is all scary and intimidating and seems overwhelming. But also like a hurricane, there’s a point when the storm passes. Even Trump’s storm will eventually run out of energy. The historical pattern is that the regime and the MAGA movement will probably devolve into factionalism and squabbling, especially once Trump himself passes from the scene in some form or fashion.
Also, as I said, resistance to the most extreme measures is already congealing. But that still has a long way to go to be effective.
Now, I’ve been purposefully vague in these remarks because I wanted to provide an overview. I’d like to get into the specifics you have on your minds in the question and answer period, which I hope will be vigorous and lively. Please, challenge everything I’ve said. I truly hope that the bad predictions I’ve made are wrong. I’ve never wanted to be proven wrong so badly.
I want to leave you with two quotes that I think are very relevant to our moment.
I actually heard one when I was working as a journalist in Washington and it came from, of all people, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Bandar bin Sultan. He was a very elegant and accomplished man, spoke perfect English and he was addressing an audience of diplomats and high officials at the Cosmopolitan Club. He said something then that has stayed with me ever since.
He said, “We in positions of great responsibility have a duty to be optimists.” Now, he was talking to diplomats and a diplomat can never just throw up his or her hands and just say, “It’s hopeless, I give up.” No matter what the problem, there’s always a solution, you just haven’t found it yet. So you’ve got to keep working at it, sometimes it takes years, even decades but there’s no giving up—it’s not an option.
Well, I would argue that all of us are in positions of great responsibility—we’re American citizens. We the people have to make sure the fate of the country remains in our hands. We can’t just throw up our hands and walk away. We will solve these problems, we just haven’t found a way yet. We have an absolute duty to be optimists.
The other quote is this: “America is great because it is good. When it ceases to be good, it will cease to be great.”
This quote has been attributed to Alexis de Toqueville, the French political scientist and traveler who visited the United States in the 1830s and recorded his observations.
Now, President Ronald Reagan’s speechwriters went looking for this quote in de Toqueville and couldn’t find it anywhere.
But it really doesn’t matter. If de Toqueville didn’t say it, he should have, because it’s true.
Right now, America isn’t good, so it’s not going to be great, no matter how much Trump and his clones bray to the contrary.
I think it’s up to us, we the people, to do whatever we can, whenever we can, wherever we can, to try to make America good again.
I’m actually confident we’ll succeed. But only when we do that, will we REALLY make America great again.
Liberty lives in light
© 2025 by David Silverberg