Liberty, But Not for All

The Extreme Right’s Thirst for Authoritarian Control Must Be Denied—Or We All Lose

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. ~ The Declaration of Independence

Those words were forged in fire, declared at a moment of grave danger by a group of revolutionaries who knew full well they could be hanged for treason and their families could suffer in poverty. Yet they dared to imagine something bold and new: a government rooted in liberty, where rights were not handed down by kings but endowed by our Creator and derived from our shared humanity.

But even in that daring vision, there was a lie hiding in plain sight. “All men” did not mean all people. It didn’t include Black Americans. Or women. Or Indigenous people. The Declaration spoke of equality, but it was a qualified promise granted selectively. That rift between our ideals and our reality has defined American history ever since. Every generation has had to struggle, sometimes to expand liberty, sometimes to preserve it from being stripped away.

In the 1860s, the nation tore itself apart in a brutal Civil War, followed by the hard-won Reconstruction Amendments—13th, 14th, and 15th—that sought to guarantee freedom and equal protection under the law. But within a decade, that progress was crushed by the forces of white supremacy. Jim Crow was both a retreat from progress and a calculated attack on liberty. A similar pattern emerged in the mid-20th century: a civil rights movement rooted in moral courage and democratic values, followed by coded rhetoric, racial resentment, and a political betrayal that began in the 1970s and accelerated under Reagan in the 1980s.

Now, in the 21st century, we are witnessing a new attack on liberty, but this one is more organized, more strategic, and more dangerous. A slow-motion coup is underway, not just against civil rights, but against the very idea of liberty itself. Leading this assault is a cabal of faux-Christian white men who have hijacked our language, our institutions, and even our faith to consolidate power and preserve their dominance in a nation whose demographics grow more diverse.

Make no mistake: the men in this cabal are not disciples of Jesus. They have taken the language of Christianity and twisted it beyond recognition. In their hands, religion is no longer about compassion and grace; it’s about power and control. Through evangelical mega-churches, dark-money think tanks, and billionaire donors, they have reinvented a theology of dominance. And with it, they have declared war on anything that threatens their power, including the foundational promise that liberty belongs to everyone.

One of their most effective weapons is deception. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) has become one of their primary targets, not because it’s dangerous, but because it’s effective. DEI seeks to expand opportunity, remove systemic barriers, and build workplaces, schools, and communities where everyone can belong. But to the cabal, that’s a threat to their power structure. So they lie. They equate DEI with hiring quotas. They call it reverse racism. They stoke fears of decline and resentment. And in doing so, they trick millions into opposing the very foundational ideals of fairness, freedom, and liberty.

The cabal’s campaign of manipulation runs deep. They’ve rebranded “liberal” as a slur. They’ve taught an entire generation to believe that “democracy” is dangerous, that “woke” is evil, and that “freedom” should not be universal. Their version of liberty is selective. It’s liberty to discriminate, to exclude, to silence dissent, to control bodies, books, and beliefs. It is not liberty at all; it is tyranny wrapped in the American flag.

In their thirst for raw power, the cabal has gained political power by exploiting structural weaknesses in the U.S. Constitution. The founders, wary of mob rule, built in safeguards to protect minority voices. Equal Senate representation for every state. The Electoral College. Lifetime judicial appointments. These were checks on the tyranny of the majority. But today, they have become the tools of the tyranny of the minority. Gerrymandering ensures a shrinking minority can lock in control. The Electoral College gives a voter in Wyoming nearly four times the influence of a voter in California. And federal judges, many appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote, now rule for decades, frozen in time, immune to the will of the people.

It’s a strategy. And it’s working.

To sustain it, the cabal is going after one of their most dangerous enemies: education. Because an educated public doesn’t fall for lies, it sees through fearmongering. It values truth and empathy. That’s why public schools are under attack by being defunded, discredited, and undermined. That’s why school voucher programs are expanding, redirecting public money into private schools where curricula can be tightly controlled, where history can be rewritten, and where DEI can be banned outright.

But education isn’t the only target. The cabal bans books because they know that knowledge is a threat. And likewise, they ban people, starting with the LGBTQ community. That wasn’t accidental. It was a calculated first strike, picking on a vulnerable minority to build political momentum. Next came the immigrants, rounded up by ICE and treated as subhuman. But that, too, is only a rehearsal. Their vision is clear: a future where anyone who doesn’t fit their mold of white, male, and faux-Christian is silenced, surveilled, shoved aside, or worse.

We must not allow that future to take root. The demographics tell the truth; the cabal is a shrinking minority, and they know it. But like a cornered rat, they will lash out aggressively at any hint of a threat. They seek an increasing amount of power to secure their position in a tightly controlled hierarchy, even as they shrink to a minority.

Will the demographics eventually catch up with them? If history is any guide, no. Well-positioned minorities can maintain their power indefinitely. So, numbers alone are not enough. We must organize. We must speak. We must confront every lie, every slander, every law designed to strip away our liberties. We must call out every attempt to rig the system. We must confront ICE wherever and whenever they show up to terrorize our community. And we must defend DEI, not as a buzzword, but as a continuation of the revolution this country began with those daring words in 1776: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

If liberty is to mean anything at all, it must belong to everyone.

Not just the wealthy.

Not just the white.

Not just the faux-Christians.

Not just the men.

Everyone.

Originally published on the Frontline Progressive, June 30, 2025