January 25, 2026

By Arthur H. Gunther III

thecolumnrule.com

We are in the wrong, the American people.

You and me, all of us – the principled but also the racist, the ignorant as well as the forgiving, those with halos and those with venom, the ordinary person just trying to live. Though there are those who light a candle in the growing darkness – peaceful protestors, public officials, clergy, neighbors – collectively we are failing in this moment to know right from wrong. This is how:

* When even one of us does not challenge the strongly visible and dangerously increasing lack of knowledge about and lack of respect for our founding principles, for the Constitution, for the rule of law and for basic morality, right from wrong – the bedrock requirement of our society – is lost on us.

* When we accept rough arrest, physical harm against men, women and children who commit civil, not criminal violations; when we accept the death by federal agents of Renee Nicole Good and now, today, Jan. 24, 2026, that of nurse Alex Pretti, as well as the deaths of people in ICE detention and investigation is thwarted; when we accept immigration round-ups that include masked, unidentified bullies who use battering rams, who break car windows; when we accept White House attacks and threats on other countries and political opponents, we do not know right from wrong.

* When we ignore attacks on the very tenets of the Declaration of Independence (“Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”), we are in deliberate rejection of the American Experiment. We do not know right from wrong.

The hallowed ground our young people fought for in so many wars is turning into quicksand, swallowing our principles. We are beyond “1984.” The United States is becoming an authoritarian nation, and we do not know that is wrong.

All this in our 250th year. Will there be a 251st season of the American Experiment?

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

* That illegal immigrants are human beings with families, working in low-paying jobs which many of us would avoid. Some have fled dictatorships boosted by U.S. business interests and by our government. Illegals are in our nation because both political parties have for decades failed to develop a proper entry system for those who want to benefit from – but also contribute to – our experiment, as did our own immigrant forebears.

* That the administration’s excuse in rounding up all illegals is based on deliberate falsehood. Illegals do not commit as many crimes as the general population, percentage-wise. According to the Cato Institute, which in 2023 analyzed more than a decade of data from the U.S. Census, and the American Community Survey, native-born Americans were incarcerated by federal authorities at a rate of 1,221 per 100,000; illegal immigrants, 613 per 100,000. Most illegals are law-abiding, not gang members, not rapists, not murderers.

These migrants are not criminals but in civil violation. They should be summoned and present their arguments before Immigration Court judges, not hauled in handcuffs from cars, factories, the streets, their homes hit with battering rams, children just 5 years old taken away. That is Nazi Germany under the Third Reich. These immigrants and their U.S.-born children should not be sent to distant, concentration-like camps with horrible conditions and deported without due process.

* That there are no warrants. The arrests are unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment no matter what logic the administration twists.

* That Congress, with some Democratic Party exception, has abandoned the republic’s constitutional protection of checks and balances. It could pass laws over veto to end the madness. We allow our representatives to do nothing. They must show spine and oppose the illegality, denying funds since Congress has the “power of the purse.”

* That the high court is slow to react to illegality. The conservative Supreme Court has given the administration a free ride by long-delaying decisions on excessive presidential power and overreach. It is pulling the dark curtain over democracy.

* That our foreign alliances are threatened, creating even more world instability, chancing a third global war that would benefit the military/industrial complex and tyrants.

* That Americans are pitted against one another, and that is the plan; it is the scheme of those pulling the puppet strings. Grow hatred. Neglect the poor, the jobless and blame the opposition. Promise that fascism will fix everything if you give the powerful your rights. Whatever must be “fixed” should happen only through the rules of the American Experiment: By elected members of Congress, the elected president and the courts – the legislative, executive and judicial branches of our democratic republic, our checks and balances security system.

* That the powers of the courts, Congress, the election process are threatened by this steam-roller of authoritarianism.

These truths are self-evident. They are the wrongs that we should know are not right. We must all look in the mirror, find our conscience and join in raised voice to reset the nation. No longer can there be silence from good people who do nothing but wait on time, to paraphrase the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Speak up, write, vote in 2026, make sure you are well-informed by reputable news sources. Know the truth. Know right from wrong. We owe it to those who sacrificed, 1775-1785, in beginning the tenuous but promising American Experiment, and to those over the centuries who have maintained and improved it through its darkest moments. That job is far from done, but inequality, racism, prejudice cannot be properly addressed when government incites to inhumanity.

The writer is a retired newspaperman.

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