- Credits:
- Photo, Shutterstock.Helen’s Place LLC remembers John Lewis at the March for Our Lives Protest on March 24, 2018 against gun violence in America.
Helen’s Place LLC July 31, 2025 Update: August 4, 2025
The Subject of Bravery
The fact that some people will speak up and do the right thing no matter what it cost them is eye opening and enlightening. In the most extreme cases – telling the truth could cost a person their life. In other cases it could mean being ostracized from a family or group.
Brave people tend to take whatever terrible things happens to them in life and turn them into doing good in the world.
This is what distinguishes brave people from those who are unwilling to do much for anyone. It all gets down to strength of character.
Ironically, doing the wrong thing which hurts people, has a worse outcome on a person’s life – whether by a judge, politician or anyone. It subjects them to the core universal law: you reap what you sew.
It doesn’t matter whether justice will be done immediately because it could be lifetimes before the consequences are known. The bottom line is that it will be done; there’s just not always a direct line between cause and effect.
Eroding of Character
Once a sense of decency is compromised, it’s easier to engage in legal but immoral behavior again.
Sometimes the erosion of character starts in childhood – when a child gets away with doing something wrong like lying or getting someone in trouble.
Sometimes it occurs when a person abandons their personal ethics to be accepted back into a group after being severely criticized for showing independence.
This appears to be what happened to Supreme Court justice Amy Coney Barrett after she was criticized by the Trump Administration for showing independent judgement.
After being chastised, she doubled her efforts to join conservative justices in the final rulings of the Supreme Court 2025 session. It may be years before the effect of these rulings on the American people are known.
Doing the Right Thing – The Rarity the GOP Echo System
After what happened to Liz Cheney who was ostracized from the Republican party for speaking out against Trump in 2021, Republicans in Congress have for the most part stayed in line.
The Republican Congress continues to erode character and reached a new low in 2025 with the passage of the “Big” budget bill. This was a milestone where the rubber meets the road and there’s nowhere to hide from the American people about the damage they are causing.
All of the Democrats but only five Republicans voted against the bill: Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina in the Senate; Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa in the House.
Only one Republican showed signs of bravery – Senator Tillis who announced his retirement rather than vote for Trump’s budget bill.
Voting against the “Big Beautiful Bill” gave Tillis a chance to regain his dignity, and served as a reminder that sometimes it’s within our power to correct our mistakes.
Lisa Murkowski, on the other hand, who after a night of arm twisting by Republican colleagues in the Senate, got carveouts for Alaska and then voted for the bill, which she said was wrong.
Now she will have to live with her legacy of being the Republican senator who could have stopped the bill and been a hero like John McCain who saved Obamacare. But she along with most of her colleagues, didn’t have the strength of character to follow in his footsteps.
Jumping off the Ethical Diving Board into the Abyss
It took many years of plotting and planning for Trump 2.0 to be ready for implementation on day 1 (January 21, 2025) – and to find people willing to do it.
Trump 2.0 took diabolical talent to design involving legalese twisted in the wind to mean the opposite of the original meaning.
The deliberate misinterpretation of laws has given rational scholars and historians a headache to say the least, but architects like Steven Miller are proud of it.
The Republican Congress and the Supreme Court appear to be going along. When the Supremes, for example, ruled on June 23, 2025, that the Trump Administration could continue shipping non-immigrants to detention facilities in foreign countries that they weren’t from – they crossed the line from legality to immorality.
When ICE picked up a nursing mother and separated her from her baby – and put her in a detention facility – they crossed the line.
When Trump was on the White House lawn and made a crude erection joke when installing flagpoles – he crossed the line even further from immorality to indecency. It revealed that he had no sense of how a President should act and no sense of respect for the Office of the Presidency he holds.
Outside of Washington D.C., the decline of moral character in the GOP has filtered down to many state governments.
For example in Texas, it still remains to be seen which Republican politician(s) take responsibility and admit fault for the missing alarm system on the Guadalupe River which caused the lives of so many people including children.
Governor Abbott went out of his way to say that assessing blame was “loser talk.” Following in Trump’s footsteps, the GOP practice to blame others and never take responsibility for any mistakes is the norm.
Reflecting on these examples of the erosion of character – people could have stopped Trumpism a long ago, but now more dominoes fall every day. It appears to be easier to recognize whenever the line is crossed than to stop the wrong thing from occurring in the first place, or to stop bad action once it starts.
Remembering the Heroes That Hold the Line
But even in these times, it’s possible to know where the line is and not cross it.
That’s one reason on July 17, 2025 we remembered hero John Lewis more than ever who said, “Never give up, never give in, never give out.” He didn’t cross the line or cave to tyranny – even when it was hard. He went to jail 40 times from 1960-1966 rather than cross it.
We should all be so stubborn and resolve to tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may. This includes having the courage to admit fault and take responsibility for our actions or failure to act that causes harm.
Being An Unsung Hero In Your Own Life
It’s clear that Trump will stop at nothing to crucify his enemies. There’s no “agree to disagree” with this guy – he will disparage you, ridicule you, launch the MAGA mob against you, and in some cases disappear you.
It’s understandable to be afraid – based on the truism about authoritarians – that if he’s going after other people, he’s coming for you next.
Therefore, this is the moment when every American must stand up and fight for what they believe in and protect themselves, families, friends, and neighbors, the best way they can.
Perhaps it’s too risky to speak out publicly because of MAGA thuggery, but many will quietly be the unsung hero in their own sphere of influence to forge coalitions with people ready to stand firm and find resourceful ways to resist oppression and survive it. There’s a lot at stake.
Yes, this is an era when the true strength of character reveals itself in the actions taken by the American people. The hope is that there’s strength in numbers, and a groundswell of Americans will throw out the authoritarian bullies in the present government, during the 2026 and 2028 election cycles.
Fortunately, there’s still a place at the ballot box where American citizens can quietly cast their vote safely. Here all that’s needed is to show up and be willing to choose a wiser path for America based on lessons learned from the experiment with authoritarianism.
We can only hope that Americans make better choices in the future.
Related audio/video recording:
John Lewis speech to encourage students to never give up to create a better world:
YouTube, The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Conference 2016:
Other related articles you may be interested in:
This article is about the only five Republicans to vote against Trump’s, “Big Beautiful Bill.” It exemplifies that it’s possible to find bravery in the Republican party; but it’s rare:
AL.com, July 3, 2025, “These are the 5 Republicans who voted against Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’”
Article discusses a blue state governor’s position on the effects of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” from the perspective of a governor showing bravery to stand up, speak out, and fight against the Trump regime:
Governor Gavin Newsome, July 3, 2025 Governor Newsom statement on passage of Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Betrayal.”
Article discusses Liz Cheney and the bravery and personal cost of going against the GOP:
Helen’s Place LLC, August 31, 2022, “Thrown Out of a Tribe and Forced to Go it Alone.”
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