Donald E. Brown

Why would anyone who supports the rule of law and the Constitution attend trump’s clown show.

Everything is inverted in Dostoevsky’s Demons: freedom ends in despotism, care turns to hatred, clarity increases blindness.
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AOC: "Extreme level of wealth inequality leads to social instability and drives authoritarianism, right-wing populism, and really dangerous domestic internal politics. That is a direct outcome of the failure of democracies over decades to deliver."

“A mind not agitated by hard questions cannot appreciate the significance of the best answers.” (Mortimer Adler)

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Certain gifted individuals have shown a proclivity for living alone and apart. I so share that sentiment.

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“All struggles Are essentially power struggles, …essentially power struggles…are no more intellectual than two rams knocking their heads together.”

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Donald E. Brown (@debrown25) Healthcare Dominance It began with a shared secret at a recent Davos Summit. Five executives, bonded by paranoia over looming antitrust hearings, found common ground in a different vulnerability: the...

Short Story
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Valentine gift for _____(fill in the blank); pistol and a cyanide capsule.

“One of the pleasantest things in the world,” wrote William Hazlitt, “is going on a journey, but I like to go by myself. I can enjoy society in a room; but out of doors, nature is company enough for me. I am then never less alone than when alone”
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Donald E. Brown (@debrown25) Bowing To Evil The questionable victory was celebrated with bonfires that smelled, faintly, of sulfur. He stood on the stage, his smile revealing a gash of yellowish-white teeth in the spotlights. He...

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“I shall wait on Faustus whilst he lives, So he will buy my service with his soul.”

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“We shall proclaim destruction..we’ll break everything..The world will weep…it will see that it’s perishing…The our man will come forth.. take the reins….the stronger will seize power”

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While reading the works of Cicero, it dawned on me that in a society envisioned by the “make America great again” crowd Cicero would probably have his tongue cut out.

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Donald E. Brown (@debrown25) Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn “..night arrest is a favorite..Everyone… is thrown into a state of terror by the first knock at the door. The arrested person is torn from the warmth of his bed…in a daze, hal...

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The Enlightenment(1680-1790) was the foundation-head of religious tolerance, freedom of thought, speech, and press. Look at us now!

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Writers and artists are the first line of defense against a tyrant. We all must do our part.

Raymond Aron, a French contemporary and schoolmate of Jean-Paul Sartre, opined, there would always be men tempted to overthrow or undermine a free society.

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Donald E. Brown (@debrown25) “One November afternoon, in the calm at the end of a rain-storm of several days’ duration, when the sky was still completely overcast and the air was full of mist,..the pond was remarkably smooth,….th...

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Why did Rome fall: Overextension of military commitments? Centralization of decision-making? Pursue of luxury and blatant corruption? Check out Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

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Donald E. Brown (@debrown25) The People Wrote The Ending The tyrant ruled by fear, his mask of power unchecked, unchallenged. But in shadows, individual resisters gathered the truth: ledgers of stolen wealth, recordings of whisp...

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The ability of the Iroquois to live in harmony with nature and create a democratic decision-making process, refined Paine’s thinking on how to organize a society.

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Donald E. Brown (@debrown25) On October 9, 1888, Anton Chekhov wrote a letter to a friend stating: “I have not yet acquired a political, religious, or philosophical worldview; I change my views every day and consequently have to ...

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“Live Not By Lies”
-Solzhenitsyn-

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Donald E. Brown (@debrown25) Promise versus Reality He promised he’d watch my recital. Looking direct in my eyes, he said with a warm smile and soft voice, “I’ll be in the front row.” From the stage, I scanned the crowd. My smil...

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"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."

— Albert Einstein

“..the air is impregnated with the flesh bitter-sweet fragrance of wormwood,…”

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An independent thinker doesn’t accept societal norms, propaganda, or trends.

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“Philosophers from Socrates onwards,” noted John Gray, “have never tired asking why anyone should be moral. A more interesting question is why anyone should be prudent.”

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An intellectual who won’t challenge authority when it is wrong has already chosen a side.