About Us

Are you ready for the truth? The REAL truth of who is REALLY running this country and the world. You may be shocked or shake your head in disbelief, but the truth is that everything you have learned or been told in your lifetime has been slanted or distorted to fit an agenda. It's the way they keep the populace under control. You have been programed to believe the lies. It's hard not to when the lies and half-truths are bombarding our brains daily. Do you want to continue to be controlled or are you ready to think for yourselves? We must restore a reverence for the principles of liberty underlying the U.S. Constitution in the minds of enough Americans to tip our country back toward limited constitutional government. Those who understand the importance of the Constitution to liberty will defend it. Those who don’t, won’t. - Editor: M. Richard Maxson - Contributors: George Sontag, Zeno Potas, and Phillip Todd.

Sunday, April 29, 2018

The Deep State Silences It's Greatest Foe - WikiLeaks

By

       George Sontag

       He has never been charged with a crime. The false Swedish case against him collapsed and was withdrawn, while the United States has stepped up efforts to prosecute him. His only “crime” is that of a true journalist — telling the world the truths that people have a right to know. Truths of the elite and their “deep state apparatus” that they want to stay in the shadows - unexposed.

       We attempt to shed some light on the crucial case of Julian Assange and why he should finally be freed from further prosecution so that he can continue unfettered the great work WikiLeaks has done as one of the most significant publishers of government whistle-blowers in modern history.

       Assange has been effectively imprisoned since he was first placed in isolation in Wandsworth prison in London in December 2010 on phony charges fabricated by the European elite to silence him. With unstoppable forces against him he fled to the only place in London that he could, the Ecuadorian embassy. From there he has continued to run his WikiLeaks organization much the dismay of many who actively “invent” events to further their agendas.

       There were a lot of actions in support of Julian prior to his going into the Ecuadorian embassy. Ecuador showed principles, ethics and courage in protecting Julian. But now with the change in leadership, the Ecuadorian government is coming under extreme pressure from the “deep state”and appears to be wavering.
    
       They have effectivly isolated Assange and cripled his organization. They have cut off Julian’s Internet, effectively his lifeline. He has been living in that small room for so many years, and now they are trying to make it a little smaller. They have done more than cut off the Internet, they have cut off the phone. Ecuadorian authorities have placed a blocker on all communications at the embassy. Perhaps worst of all, he is denied visitors despite two UN rulings describing his detention as unlawful and mandating his immediate release.
This shut down of crucial communication devices, obviously challenges Wikileaks publishing activities and undermines the crucial work of this incredibly important global news and publishing service.

       Under its previous president, the Ecuadorian government bravely stood against the bullying might of the United States and granted Assange political asylum
as a political refugee. International law and the morality of human rights was on its side. Today, under extreme pressure from Washington and its collaborators, another government in Ecuador justifies its gagging of Assange by stating that “Assange’s behavior, through his messages on social media, put at risk good relations which this country has with the UK, the rest of the EU and other nations.
 
      The US spent some $87 million to bring down the presidency of Rafael Correa, who gave Julian political asylum from US threats against his life and liberty. Meanwhile, the US military was moving into Ecuador with plans to increase the pressure to hand Julian over to the US. There is massive pressure on the new president which has caused the change in his status. By April of 2017, with the “deep state” now in control, they were firmly in the position to go after Julian. Mike Pompeo, who has now been promoted to Secretary of State, wants to arrest Julian once and for all. He threaten to arrest Assange, in violation of two UN rulings and their own laws, as soon as he walks out of the embassy. John Bolton has just been appointed National Security Advisor and has suggested that the US government should wage a cyber war against WikiLeaks for revealing Clinton emails and the CIA hacking scandal.

       WikiLeaks revelations on the increasing false flag events that are occurring around the word were unacceptable. The leaked emails of John Podesta that revealed the direct connection between the Clinton Foundation and organized jihadism in the Middle East, the WikiLeaks revelations of collateral murder that Chelsea Manning leaked that informed people all over the world of how wars are conducted by their own governments, and the apparent propaganda around this Sergei Skripal poisoning in the UK. That was been found not to be conclusively related to Russia. We are at a rather critical stage with Russia and Julian’s safety and freedom. The two situations are related. For example, the day before Julian’s communications with the outside world were cut off, one of the members in the UK parliament asked, “Isn’t it about time we took some action against the Ecuadorian embassy?” He wasn’t happy about Julian tweeting about the government response to the attack in Salisbury. Julian’s doubts have since proven justified, with the lab in Porton Down now stating categorically that there is no evidence to connect Russia with the attack.

       There is a particular cruelty being imposed on Julian Assange because he is the embodiment of dissent which is missing across the political spectrum in Western countries. He has become the enemy to the elite and their governments in the West. What we are seeing is the latest in a long campaign against WikiLeaks that seeks to criminalize investigative journalism. A document which WikiLeaks published from 2008 made it clear that an organization within the Pentagon laid down what the plan would be as far as WikiLeaks was concerned. The strategy was to destroy trust in WikiLeaks and destroy its editor. That was the plan ten years ago and that plan is now being carried out.

       London, Syria, Spain, Ukraine, reporting the truth has brought the hammer down. What is happening to Julian is part of a very aggressive campaign against democracy, against dissent. At the moment, that campaign is at a critical stage. We are witnessing a massive provocation of Russia. We have the biggest military build-up since World War II on the western borders of Russia. At the same time we have the biggest military build-up since World War II in the Pacific. The issue here is that the dominance of the United States and the Deep State is being challenged.

       "Three petitions have now been sent to the president of Ecuador, one from a group of former US intelligence officers supporting Julian, one from a group of world thinkers, and one from the Landless Workers Movement in Brazil. It is also important to get involved in actions, such as the internet vigil “Reconnect Julian,” where truthful journalist worldwide and ordinary people have joined together to pressure the US not to lean on Ecuador to silence Julian.” - Christine Assange

       "I have been a journalist for a long time and I always regarded journalism as involving a certain duty to find a way of telling the truth. Finding the facts out and giving them to the public. This was long before people were called investigative journalists, because all journalism should be investigative, with the object of finding out the
truth. Julian Assange is being mistreated in this way because he is doing what a true journalist should do. He is finding the truth about those who seek to manipulate and control our lives, and by telling that truth, calling them to account. For that, he is being subjected to a form of torture. Being denied all contact is a form of torture. Julian needs our support more urgently than ever.” - John Pilger

WORLD-WIDE PETITION TO RELEASE ASSANGE

      We ask that his basic human rights be respected as an Ecuadorian citizen and internationally protected person and that he not be silenced or expelled. If there is no freedom of speech for Julian Assange, there is no freedom of speech for any of us — regardless of the
disparate opinions we hold. We call on President Moreno to end the isolation of Julian Assange now.

Partial list of signatories (in alphabetic order):

  • Pamela Anderson, actress and activist
  • Jacob Appelbaum, freelance journalist
  • Renata Avila, International Human Rights Lawyer
  • Sally Burch, British/Ecuadorian journalist
  • Alicia Castro, Argentina’s ambassador to the United Kingdom 2012-16
  • Naomi Colvin, Courage Foundation
  • Noam Chomsky, linguist and political theorist
  • Brian Eno, musician
  • Joseph Farrell, WikiLeaks Ambassador and board member of The Centre for Investigative Journalism
  • Teresa Forcades, Benedictine nun, Montserrat Monastery
  • Charles Glass, American-British author, journalist, broadcaster
  • Chris Hedges, journalist
  • Srecko Horvat, philosopher, Democracy in Europe Movement (DiEM25)
  • Jean Michel Jarre, musician
  • John Kiriakou, former CIA counterterrorism officer and former senior investigator, U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
  • Lauri Love, computer scientist and activist
  • Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst, Presidential advisor
  • John Pilger, journalist and film-maker
  • Angela Richter, theater director, Germany
  • Saskia Sassen, sociologist, Columbia University
  • Oliver Stone, film-maker
  • Vaughan Smith, English journalist
  • Yanis Varoufakis, economist, former Greek finance minister
  • Natalia Viana, investigative journalist and co-director of Agencia publica, Brazil
  • Ai Weiwei, artist
  • Vivienne Westwood, fashion designer and activist
  • Slavoj Žižek, philosopher, Birkbeck Institute for Humanities

       "He has been effectively imprisoned in a very small space without sunlight for going on six years now,” a spokesman for WikiLeaks stated. “He is not even given right of passage to a hospital.”












Sunday, April 22, 2018

Truman Recognizes the Deep State's Treachery

By

    M. Richard Maxson

    This series of articles continues to examine what the shadow government and the deep state are and how they have gained so much control over the U.S. government and society in general.

      The clandestine agency initiated by President Harry Truman to aid the United States in information gathering quickly morphed into an entity that today is the main proprietor of 'The Deep State.” It began to take control of the nation in the 1950's and clamped down tightly after the assassination of President Kennedy. They now control the path of our country and our nation's fate. It's tentacles reach far and wide across all media and information in the western world. With a hail of smoke and mirrors everyday Americans have no idea what is really going on in the world today.

      The executive branch of our government are mere puppets of the Deep State. The current President has been like a monkey wrench that was thrown into the machinery that is the Deep State. He, like JFK had ideas on how to handle them. He was warned by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, “Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you.” As of this writing, it appears the President Trump has caved.

TRUMAN

      President Harry S. Truman, who spearheaded the establishment of the CIA right after World War II, to better coordinate U.S. intelligence gathering. But the spy agency had lurched off in what Truman thought were troubling directions. He stated years later, “the original reason why I thought it necessary to organize this Agency … and what I expected it to do would be charged with the collection of all intelligence reports from every available source, and to have those reports reach me as President without Department ‘treatment’ or interpretations.” He wrote “the most important thing was to guard against the chance of intelligence being used to influence or to lead the President into unwise decisions. I never had any thought that when I set up the CIA that it would be injected into peacetime cloak and dagger operations. … It has become an operational and at times a policy-making arm of the government. Not only shaping policy through its control of intelligence, but also “cloak and dagger” operations, presumably including assassinations.” Truman stated that the CIA had worked as he intended only “when I had control.” The Washington Post published the op-ed in its early edition on Dec. 22, 1963, but immediately excised it from later editions. Other media ignored it.

      Even so this was so important to Dulles that he invented a pretext to get himself invited to visit Truman in Independence, Missouri. On the afternoon of April 17, 1964, Dulles spent a half-hour one-on-one with the former president, trying to get him to retract what he had written in his op-ed. Hell No, said Harry.

      Not a problem, Dulles decided. Four days later, in a formal memorandum of conversation for his old buddy Lawrence Houston, CIA general counsel from 1947 to 1973, Dulles fabricated a private retraction for Truman, claiming that Truman told him the Washington Post article was “all wrong,” and that Truman “seemed quite astounded at it.”
In a June 10, 1964, letter to the managing editor of Look magazine Truman restated his critique of covert action, emphasizing that he never intended the CIA to get involved in “strange activities.”

      Retired Admiral Sidney Souers, whom Truman had appointed to lead his first central intelligence group, read the piece and sent a “Dear Boss” letter applauding Truman’s outspokenness and blaming Dulles for making the CIA “a different animal than the one I tried to set up for you.” He lamented the fact that the agency’s “principal effort” had evolved into causing “revolutions in smaller countries around the globe.”

      There is a massive shift in consciousness occurring. The veil that blinds the masses in so many ways is becoming transparent. Our thoughts and feelings about our world are changing. We are definitely living in a time where new information and evidence will conflict with long-held beliefs about our world and about what our country has become.

Sunday, April 15, 2018

The Deep State Ignites the Fuse of World War


By

       PhillipTodd



      The “Men in the Shadows” also known as “The Deep State and Shadow Government” are people that are complete strangers to you. Their only connection with you is (a) to profit from funds extracted from you by the government, and (b) to keep you ideologically befuddled and factually misinformed so that you will not cause any major difficulty for them in their conduct of perpetual war. But aside from these two connections, nothing connects the great majority of Americans with the warfare state. It runs on its own, answering to no one other than themselves and have a thriving pipeline to the county's and the taxpayers’ bank accounts. You pay for all of this endless death and destruction, average American, but you get less than nothing out of it. In short, you are a sap for evil and designing intriguers. If you are reflexively “supporting the troops,” you might want to reconsider playing the fool and having your intelligence insulted daily in the process.



If you are an American, have you asked yourself these questions?
  1. What purpose of mine is served by the U.S. government’s making war in Iraq?
  2. What purpose of mine is served by the U.S. government’s making war in Afghanistan?
  3. What purpose of mine is served by the U.S. government’s making war in Syria?
  4. What purpose of mine is served by the U.S. government’s making war in Yemen?
  5. What purpose of mine is served by the U.S. government’s making war in Africa?
  6. What purpose of mine would be served by the U.S. government’s making war in Iran?
   Unless you are an unusual American, and if you are honest, your answer in each case would be, No purpose of mine is served by such war making but the elite, the Deep State does have purpose. 
 
      It was the CIA Director, Mike Pompeo, soon to be Secretary of State, confirming that it was the CIA that concluded that the Syrian government was behind these attacks. Or should we simply just say the Deep State, which seems to now have completely taken a hold of Donald Trump‘s administration, as with most presidents before him. 
 
      We know that presidents don’t really call the shots, and this is exactly what they find out when they get into office. It seems their hands are tied, and they are forced to make moves for others and then claim the decisions as their own. This is why their rhetoric and promises drastically change once they get into office. Perhaps Trump underestimated the strength of the deep state and thought he could do more?
    
    History professor Richard Dolan explains that President Trump “comes in as an outsider to the entire system, and is vastly more disruptive than Hillary Clinton could ever possibly have been. Whether or not he’s actually going to be a disrupter anymore is looking less and less likely.,” as he succumbs to the Deep State. “I see Donald Trump as being checkmated already by the national security community.” Trump has now pretty much followed through on everything that Hillary Clinton would have been doing.”


                             SEEING THROUGH THE LIES

      When someones does get a chance to relay the truth they are either discredited or censured as happened to Jonathan Shaw, the former Commander of British Armed Forces in Iraq, who dares to go ‘off script’ while being interviewed by Sky News, when he is abruptly cut off…
General Shaw was saying before he was so rudely interrupted…
“…the debate that seems to be missing from all this – and this was mentioned by the [Russian] ambassador – is what possible motive might Syria have to launch a chemical attack at this time and in this place…
The Syrians are winning, don’t take my word for it, take the American military’s word for it. General Vogel, the head of CENTCOM, said to Congress the other day that ‘Assad has won this war and we need to face that’, and the tweet by Trump last week that ‘America had finished with ISIS and were going to pull out very soon’
and then suddenly you get these accusations of a chemical attack…”
      If you read news from outside the stranglehold of the western media you will find that the amount of evidence showing what is really happening with regards to the attacks in Syria is overwhelming. Various truth seeking politicians and academics are laying it out for people bluntly, these are fabricated events created by the western military alliance, the Deep State, in order to justify the infiltration and bombing that is currently taking place in Syria. Many fear that they are lighting the fuse for World War III. The actions of the United States confirm that they were preparing for an all out war or at the very least, trying to destroy the evidence before the facts could be verified. Here are headlines and comments from around the world that contradict the limited (even most NATO countries wash their hands of) western reports.


World Leaders Condemn Attack on Syria as US Threatens Additional Airstrikes


Trump Bombs Syria, Violating Domestic and International Law

US-led strikes in Syria without UNSC mandate a violation of international law


      US President Donald Trump's decision to rain missiles down on Damascus in the early hours of Saturday, along with the UK and France, was not sanctioned by the United Nations, and bypassed an on-the-ground fact-finding mission into the alleged April 7 gas attack in Eastern Ghouta. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was scheduled to begin its on-site investigation on Saturday.
Responding to the US-led airstrikes on Damascus, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that all countries are obliged to "act consistently" with the UN Charter. "There's an obligation, particularly when dealing with the matters of peace and security, to act consistently with the Charter of the United Nationals and with international law in general."


Numerous international bodies and governments are now convening to take stock of the situation.


Goal of Syria strikes was to prevent chemical watchdog's fact-finding mission in Douma



Syria airstrikes will not deter chemical weapons inspectors – OPC

A fact-finding mission by the UN’s chemical weapons watchdog will continue in Syria despite airstrikes carried out on the country hours earlier by the US, UK, and France.
Evidence put forward in the agency’s report revealed the gas was most likely released to the north of the settlement. However, it did not attribute blame to the April 2017 attack, which was carried out in an area not controlled by the government of the Syrian Arab Republic at the time.


UK's involvement in Air Strikes Did Not Get Parliamentary Approval

      UK opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn "Bombs won't save lives or bring about peace,” the Labour leader said in a withering statement about the strikes, which he labelled “legally questionable.”
"Britain should be playing a leadership role to bring about a ceasefire in the conflict, not taking instructions from Washington and putting British military personnel in harm’s way,” Corbyn continued.
"Theresa May should have sought parliamentary approval, not trailed after Donald Trump.”
The concerns come as the first poll carried out after yesterday's raids showed that the public believe Mrs May's action was wrong by a majority of almost two to one.


US nuclear 'Doomsday Plane' goes AIRBORNE amid fears of WAR with Russia


Thousands of US Troops and Marines Arrive in Jordan Near Syrian Border


Armada of US warships steaming toward Middle East

 

Russian Navy chief threatens US warship near Syria with TORPEDO ATTACK: 'We have no fear'

 

WW3 fears as US and Russia draw up attack options


War Fever Heats Up As Russians Burn Effigies of Trump

"When both Russia and America nuke each other, survivors in our country will suffer from the shortage of water, of food supplies, of gas, millions of refugees will crowd roads from all over the country, move to villages, just to find some shelter,”Russian Orthodox Poliakov said, describing the nuclear war between Russia and United States.


Trump supporters slam decision to launch strikes against Syria



  • The fact that the CIA has a center dedicated to “foreign subversion and instability” – as well as the CIA’s documented penchant for regime change confirms that the decades-long effort to destabilize Syria parallels the agency’s efforts to destabilize other regimes throughout the world in order to replace them with governments they believe to be more sympathetic to U.S. interests. . . .These destabilization efforts are often carried out with little, if any, regard to their impact on civilians who are often caught in the crossfire. As the 1986 report and the 2006 cable both note, the Assads brought periods of “unprecedented stability” to Syria. The CIA and U.S. government have nevertheless chosen to pursue an agenda of destabilization. Nearly seven years later, the death toll in the West’s efforts to oust Assad is set to top half a million and has helped to create the largest refugee crisis since World War II. - Whitney Webb

  • Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham both questioned Trump’s decision
  • Alex Jones broke down in tears while speaking out against the military action. “We’ve made so many sacrifices and now he’s crapping all over us. It makes me sick."  
  • Conservative commentator Ann Coulter also shared her opposition to the strike.



 
      The truth is that over a 100 cruise missiles were fired on Saturday morning local time at three mostly empty military installations, including one research and two storage facilities in airstrikes that last no more than 70 minutes. Citizens of the world react:




     










     We’re in the midst of something that’s never happened in human history. Since the birth of the industrial revolution, our planet is plagued by war. In the midst of it all, what has really transpired behind the scenes — and the true causes of these conflicts — has been hidden behind a screen of misinformation and secrecy.The "men in the shadows" are winning. The question is, how many of us will survive?



UPDATE

OAN Investigation Finds No Evidence of Chemical Weapon Attack in Syria

 

















Sunday, April 8, 2018

The Winds of War Are Blowing

By

       Phillip Todd

      Through an endless barrage of ugly propaganda, the
U.S. government and the mainstream American press have put the world on course for a potential nuclear showdown with Russia and China. Washington and it's most of it's allies have deployed a vast array of propaganda assets that are financed or otherwise encouraged to escalate the dis-information campaign so aggressively that non-western world is reading this onslaught of insults as the conditioning of the Western populations for a world war.

      The Deep State and it's elitist backers were on a path of conflict with Russia when the unexpected outcome of the US elections threw a wrench into their plans. To continue onward with their plans assassination was discussed. When the President-elect's staff became aware of this they protected the President by surrounding him with generals and other military leaders not specifically aligned with the cabal. Never in US history have so many generals been in the president's cabinet or been white house appointees. After the inauguration the military budget exploded as the president made sure his military received almost everything they desired.

      The Deep State, especially the CIA, fought back with an unprecedented barrage of leaks designed to undermine and perhaps even to unseat the President. The cabal controlled media with the use of phoney financed 'fake news” unleashed a 24/7 attack on his character and everything he attempted to accomplish. They did not get the desired results so they changed tactics preying on the Presidents patriotism.

      The forgone conclusion of the re-election of President Putin had enraged the elite. They felt that Russian government would collapse as soon as there is a change at the top making the job of neutering Russia easier, however having to wait another six years was unacceptable. Over time the generals began to leave and the deep state's loyalists took their positions. The leaks diminished as the process continued accumulating with the appointment of the head of the CIA as Secretary of State and the war-monger John Bolton as National Security Adviser, the man who “knew” Hussein had chemical weapons and publicly stated that we need to nuke Iran and North Korea. 
 
       The chilling winds of war are blowing as the western elite ramp up their propaganda to anger and prepare the population for a world war. Western aggression spans the globe.


US Sends Lethal Weapons to Ukraine, Angering Russia*
 
Why? There was no escalation

Syria Gas Attack Is Almost Certainly a “False Flag”**

The only ones known to have to gas are the US backed rebels. The amateurish use of gas in the UK is an attempt to link them to Russia.

UK’s Russia Narrative: A Verdict in Search of a Crime***

The west will not allow any examination of the “evidence” to be made available to the accused.



Beijing reminds US about ties between Russian & Chinese forces****

Continuing down this road may lead to war with both superpowers at the same time. 



The US response:

America vs. China in South China Sea: Aircraft Carrier Face-Off*****
 

      With the knowledge from the above how can we not say that the western elite have gone mad? Must we all suffer? Must a mistake in their actions lead to the possible end of civilization just for conquest and profit? These are chilling times and the winds of war are approaching tropical storm status. Someone, somewhere had better take a step back before we are all blown away. 





Sunday, April 1, 2018

Will We and America Survive?

By

        The Staff

      Here was our original post from our re-launched site on January of 2012.

      Welcome to our new blog. I hope that this informative example of free speech. Our last attempt mysteriously disappeared from the internet last summer after a three year run. Do we need anymore proof that outside forces are trying to keep our citizens from the truth? The truth of who is REALLY running this country and this world of ours. You may be shocked or shake your head in disbelief but the truth is that everything you have learned or been told in your lifetime has been slanted or distorted to fit an agenda. It's called control. From textbooks to newscasts you have been programed to believe the lies. Do you want to continue to be controlled or are you ready to think for yourselves?
                                                  Are you ready for the truth?

A brief history;

      In 2009 The American Constitutionalist was born. Our first article was on government surveillance. Long before Edward Snowden released the evidence of the illegal data gathering, there was The American Constitutionalist. Our reports were spot on and we gave you the truth that you needed to take steps to safeguard your privacy. We spoke of the Constitution, the Founding Fathers and their beliefs, and how this great country was being corrupted. This caught the “men in the shadows,” as we called them, by surprise.

      We were naive as we posted links to our site on social media such as Facebook. We did not understand that words like liberty, freedom, Constitution, and rule of law were words that triggered the Deep State. We were now the target. Our editor was put on the government watch list for subversives. One of our relatives lost their security clearance and was actually told by the secret service that it was because of his relative participation in our blog. Then, suddenly, after 2 ½ years The American Constituionalist disappeared from the internet. Inquiries were met with stony silence. For months we tried to find out what happened and why but the server, as Mr. Snowden's revelations confirmed, reports everything to those “men” and someone, somewhere had The American Constitutionalist vanish!

      The loss of our posts and articles was disheartening. In attempting to re- launch we were not allowed to have our original web address back. In a hasty move we added a second 'the” to the beginning of our address and on January 18, 2012 we re-launched thetheamericanconstituionalist@blogspot.com – and, so far, we have survived.

      We are telling you this because as we continue with our reports on the “Deep State” we fear this may happen again – or worse. It is now common knowledge that Americans who disclose information that the state doesn't want repeated in the public domain have been assassinated or just conveniently commit suicide. There are famous whistle blowers fearing for their safety hiding in foreign countries and foreign embassies just for this reason. Under the previous administration no Patriot was safe. Under this administration the events of the past few months confirm our message that WE no longer have control of our country and a Deep State instigated nuclear exchange is probable in the near future.

      Our series will resume soon. Our research has proven more chilling than we ever imagined as we see the enormity of corrupt, illegal, and anti-Constitutional hidden power that has engulfed our nation and all it's governmental agencies. We have not been the country our Founding Fathers envisioned for a long, long time. The question is, can we ever get it back?