THE REDEMPTION SERIES
Dear Fellow Citizens of America,
I'm Rick Stiller and you’re reading this because something has been bothering me about what’s happening to our country, and I’d like to tell you about it.
That concern led me to write a series of novels (yes, a series) that not only describes the problem but acts as a realistic handbook on what must be done to stop the conspiracy before a cult of radical white nationalist MAGA Republicans manages to overturn the next election, install an autocratic dictator, and destroy our democracy.
I call it The Redemption Series.
The Forge
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Full disclosure: The books are pure fiction and a reflection of the very real conspiracy to dismantle our government and destroy our democracy.
That said, they belong to a category called “Plausible Fiction,” which means they paint a vivid yet daunting picture of something that is happening in our society.
What I’m writing to you about is like the Apollo 13 message to NASA from astronaut Jim Lovell, “Houston, we have a problem.”
Actually, instead of repeating myself, let me tell you a story that might shine a light on what’s been going on under the surface – and trust me, it’s been going on for so long that even the current Republican leadership and their financial sponsors have twisted themselves into knots to avoid exposing the truth about their embrace of the hypocrisy, lies, bigotry, and hate that fueled the MAGA craze.
My father was a world-renowned biochemist. He spent the years between 1928-1932 working on his doctorate at St. Andrews in Scotland.
During that period, he made repeated trips to Germany, where he witnessed Hitler’s rise to power, the country's embrace of fascism, and the brutal suppression of every minority.
When I was twelve, I was fascinated by how Hitler had managed to convince millions of Germans to fall in line with his insanity.
To clear up my naivete, for lack of a better word, my father handed me copies of two very well-known books: Mein Kampf and the Communist Manifesto.
After I read them, my father asked me the difference. I responded that the messages were aimed at pretty much the same group of citizens:
Desperate unemployed "Aryan" workers were looking for hope and someone to blame for their misery, even though they came from opposite extremes along the political spectrum.
In my mind, Hitler’s motto was basically “I’ll put a chicken in every pot and restore your dignity - but we can’t succeed unless we agree that 'non-Aryan minorities’ are responsible for everything that’s wrong with our society.
When I shared my version of Hitler’s pitch to my father, he pulled out yet another famous history book: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, and instructed me to read the speeches between 1928-1932, when Hitler and the Nazis corrupted the political system and seized power.
The reason I’m telling you this is that, as I recall the contents of those speeches, I’m amazed but not surprised at the similarity of methods perpetrated by the modern-day autocrats who attempted to destroy our democracy in our most recent elections and will do so again in the next.
These power-hungry anti-democratic billionaires harnessed white nationalism festering in our society to unite right-wing extremists into a massive violent grass-roots movement and hijacked the Republican Party in the process.
Let’s pause and discuss the subject of loss for a moment.
All of us lose something at some time or the other. In fact, you could argue that loss is a human condition. It’s inevitable. Most are small and commonplace, like a bet with a friend on a ball game. You lose, you smile, you pay. Life goes on.
Other times, the losses aren’t so lighthearted. Those take more time (and energy) to deal with, like losing at love, which many of us have undergone. But you get over it.
Then there are worse things in the “loss hierarchy” than young love, like the loss of a loved one. A husband, a wife, a parent, or (God forbid) a child. That’s something I've endured because my wife, Sheridan, died after a long illness not long ago. It’s a loss I’ll mourn forever but it taught me to accept the rest of life as a gift to be nourished and treasured.
But it’s the highest category of loss that’s the most dangerous – harder to prevent. It’s CONSPIRACY. While conspiracies can be small (like a shop-lifting flash mob), they all have one thing in common: a plan.
Just like the conspiracy we see unfolding in the media every day. Today’s conspiracy is massive, well-financed, and highly structured. It makes organized crime look like child’s play and it’s been maturing for decades to consume and radicalize the “conservative” vote.
And it’s grounded in two issues:
Greed-driven hunger for power
Fake-Christian White-Supremacy
Today’s conspiracy has used these issues to corrupt the current MAGA Republican Party to create the worst, most destructive, widespread, and evil kind of loss for America.
And that’s what The Redemption Series is all about.
We’re dealing with a real conspiracy. One that’s happening now, every day. We've watched it evolving on television and in the media, as they built this political machine over decades and unleashed their storm-troopers to attack our Capitol.
No, it’s not the one right-wing crackpots talk about liberals trading, stealing, and then eating babies, that's just a distraction. It’s a tad more serious and these conspirators won’t stop until they succeed.
Here it is in a nutshell:
We’re in the midst of a campaign to install the tyranny of minority rule.
A conspiracy that intends to replace our democracy with an autocracy of plutocrats.
They are funded by right-wing billionaires and major corporate back-channel donations.
And they don't give a damn about governing.
What they really want is to rule over the rest of us in a two class society, the rich dominating the rest of us.
The Klan-of-Twenty who control the Republican mini-majority in the House of Representatives are laying the foundations for the nightmarish dominance of this right-wing cabal:
Replacing the current tax code and defunding the IRS, which would end the threat of requiring the rich and their corporations to pay their share, with a national sales tax that would place the burden on middle and lower-income earners. If you think our current battle with inflation is national problem, just wait.
Cutting environmental regulations. Especially fossil fuels, where corporate profits are the only incentive. Enjoy clean air, drinkable water, and our national parks? They don't care.
Exclusive long-term control (by any means necessary) of all three branches of government. The elimination of regulations imposed by federal authority would facilitate the zealous accumulation of vast wealth by an exclusive group of titans, who have invested billions over decades to wrest control of the nation by sponsoring white-nationalist candidates who are willing to dismantle the government and demolish our democracy.
The radical agenda of the current MAGA Republican majority in the House of Representatives pays homage to their billionaire sponsors who expect extravagant returns on their investments. the chances of the rough and tumble rivalries within the caucus suggest little change of any meaningful legislation being passed before the next election offers an opportunity to replace the laggards with folks who actually want to work for the people.
The previous administration installed hundreds of unqualified jurists to the federal bench and transformed the Supreme Court into a radical majority with the sole intention of Rescinding all rights and benefits passed over the last century to return our nation to pre-Civil War norms, where a white male could own and brutalize his women and his slaves with no fear of government interference.
That is the definition of the worst kind of loss and right-wing media is cheering their real, honest-to-God, greed-driven, power-hungry, White-Supremacy powered conspiracy to dismantle our democracy and rescind our most basic rights by claiming that their criminal candidate for president is the second coming of Christ!
Sounds like a great plot for a dystopian novel. Unfortunately, the facts that inspired my fiction are true. It seems the best way to discuss the real plot and expose the real villains is to allow my characters to express their opinions about all of this through quotes from the series:
“Did we learn nothing at the expense of the hundreds of thousands of American troops, who fought and died to put an end to fascism in Europe, or are we destined to repeat one of the darkest chapters in history, here, on our own soil?”
“Our society is rapidly moving towards dividing itself into two classes – the rich and the rest…”
“Mankind has evolved into the most prolific parasite this planet has ever known. The population is exploding, resources are overtaxed and dwindling, and the environment is telling us to clean up our mess, before we all face catastrophe.”
“Unless we can paint a believable and all-encompassing mural of the path back to the American dream. Unless we can persuade the opposition to join our crusade to reclaim truth, hope, and honor. Unless we can join together to restore the profound moral principles that are the very bedrock of our nation, we will surely fail…”
“I don’t know about you but I’m not ready to hand all of this over to the richest few to raid and pillage, until our Constitution and the Bill of Rights have no meaning, no value, and no purpose. I don’t believe we should return to the barbarity of feudalism or bow to the cruelty of fascism and neither do you.”
“Today, I find too many people willing to believe absolute poppycock without proof or hesitation and they’re far too quick to spread unfounded rumors as absolute truth, to divide the population into us and them, to demonize anyone who looks or talks or believes differently than they do. Folks, I have to tell you, if we don’t put an end to this, it will be the death of our democracy and the working poor will suffer most…”
“There’s a huge group of voters who are going to have to learn the difference between propaganda and real verifiable facts and make a choice between democracy for everyone or fascism benefitting the few, if this is going to work.”
“Win, lose, or draw, this won’t be over until everyone involved in the conspiracy to destroy this country has been brought to justice.”
Also, check my blog for my very plausible and factual thoughts on what’s really happening today in the USA…
And read the novels in The Redemption Series to discover how my characters suggest we stop it.
RICK STILLER
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