Hi friends,
I just read The Linder Letter, This Election Is Different by former Congressman John Linder from Georgia. Oh my.
It is long, so I will share excerpts of some critical points below, but I do encourage you to read the article.
You can read the platforms for the Democrats and for the Democrat Socialists of America. It’s not about believing what anyone else tells you.
When they tell you who they are, believe them.
THIS ELECTION IS DIFFERENT
This election is not about President Trump. This election is about you.
Let me begin by saying something that may surprise you. This election isn’t about Donald Trump. This election is about you. I know a lot of you have made up your minds about President Trump and nothing I say here is going to change that. That’s fine. I’m not here to talk about him.
I’m here to ask you to look past him, at what’s been happening to the party that used to compete with him. Because whatever you think of the past, the ballot in front of you this year is, more than anything, about you and the future.
Thirty years ago, we fought Bill Clinton over welfare, healthcare, crime, the environment, taxes and abortion among other things.
The Democrats sincerely wanted to improve the lives of Americans and were also sincere in believing that the way to do so was through more government programs. Republicans were more inclined to punish wrong doers. We believed different things. But we debated them honestly.
Republicans also want to improve the lives of Americans but by creating businesses and increasing the number of jobs and increasing the size of the economy. We believe, as President Kennedy believed, that a rising tide lifts all boats.
Whatever happened to the party of John Kennedy?
I didn’t agree with [many]. But the debate was always inside a framework of a shared America. They believed in a strong military and a dangerous world. They believed work was better than a welfare check. They believed that Communism was an enemy, not a misunderstood alternative. We could fight about taxes and spending the way families fight about money, but inside the same house. And all of them – and all of us – were for secure borders.
This election is different.
Democratic Socialists of America candidates won the New York City mayor’s race and then, months later, Darializa Avila Chevalier defeated incumbent Adriano Espaillat. No one saw it coming. Chevalier had founded a group whose stated aim was “the total eradication of western civilization.” Won’t it be interesting to see her take the oath to defend the Constitution.
In Colorado, 29-year-old Democratic Socialist Melat Kiros defeated thirty-year incumbent Diana DeGette. The Mayor of Seattle is a Democratic Socialist as well as the likely winners in November in Washington DC and Los Angeles. The mayor of New York City went on national television and said that a democratic socialist can win any office in America. He may be right.
We now have a radical Islamist leading in the race for the United States Senate in Michigan. His principal advisor is a man who believes that the US deserved 9-11 and that the US is worse than al Qaida in the world.
Democrat Congressman Tom Suozzi from New York formed Promise to America to unite Democrats around four basic declarations.
We are capitalists not socialists. We want safety not lawlessness. We are mainstream not extreme. We are proud, not ashamed of America. Just 13 out of 212 members of the House signed on.
Ashik Siddique, co-chair of The Democratic Socialists of America appeared on The Will Cain Show. He said, “Our goal is Communism.” Over half of the Board of Directors of the Democratic Socialists of America self-identify as Communists.
I live by a simple rule – when someone tells you who they are – believe them.
[E]ight years ago Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated the Chairman of the Democratic Caucus for a seat in the US House of Representatives. She was the first recruit of the Democrat Socialists and was dismissed as a lightweight. Today she is in the top rank of Democrats for the presidential nomination in 2028. Other than bartending, this is her first job. She is 36 years old.
Ten years ago, abortion remained the central organizing principle of the Democrat Party. Today it has to get in line behind support for Gaza, hate against Jews, mutilating children, boys in girls’ bathrooms, men having babies and punishment of success – and, of course, Communism. Everyone in the Party must get on board or get left behind.
This election is different.
And this election will have a direct impact on your life. When Joe Biden was elected, his first actions were to stop the building of the Keystone Pipeline and end the sale of oil leases. Oil, being a futures market, quickly spiked because the future did not look good. Everything you buy is brought to you by oil and the cost of living spiked.
The trillion-dollar infrastructure bill that passed in 2021 was largely a bill to fund green energy projects. Increasing regulations to deal with the climate change myth increased the cost of everything you buy also, including the cost of housing.
The border was opened up completely, the UN and other NGOs situated themselves in Panama organizing foreigners to come to the US. [It cost] local and state governments billions of dollars and increasing the crimes against American citizens. A working paper from the Fed concluded that 30% of the increase in the cost of new housing was caused by those immigrants.
[TODAY] Our borders are no longer even a point of discussion. Contact with illegals at our borders is down about 97% and over 3 million have been removed.
Our tax bill is permanent and relief for middle class Americans regarding tips, overtime and Social Security is secure.
Iran, for all the debate over the war, is no longer the imminent threat it has been for 47 years. Their nuclear capability has been neutralized. Their offensive capabilities no longer exist and Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis are on their own. Seven presidents have watched while tens of thousands have been killed across the globe. That is over. They still, however, chant Death to America.
When someone tells you who they are – believe them.
And, most importantly, a world that has been moving inexorably toward a new world order for 70 years no longer is. The WTO is weak the WHO is neutered, the WEF is laughable, the UN is broke and the International Court has been told by Secretary Rubio that we just aren’t interested in playing, thank you very much. Nationhood is back.
[T]his didn’t take another Congressional law, it just took another president. We are once again respected – and a little bit feared – in the world.
This election is different.
If the Democrats win this election and re-take the Congress, expect every issue we have corrected – the world, the border, the economy, regulations, taxes, green energy scams as well as child mutilation, boys in girls’ sports and punishment of success and, who knows, perhaps even rampant corruption, to return – with a vengeance.
Expect to see congressional investigations into conservatives and every conservative idea. And, of course, another impeachment or two.
Expect their most desired change in 2021, HR1, to return. It is a total re-write of election laws across the country.
We have been engaged in a knock-down drag-out battle over whether one has to be a citizen to vote in our elections and to have a photo ID to prove you are who you claim to be.
We are told by the Democrats and their propaganda arm, the Legacy Media, that election law is a matter for state legislatures. However, their HR1 totally subsumes the states’ role and eliminates voter ID, even in states that have passed it. It expands mail-in voting and ballot harvesting. It also provides for federal funding of campaigns. Every dollar raised by a candidate in amounts below $200 will receive a 6 to 1 match by the taxpayer. Food stamps for politicians!
In the 2024 election AOC would have qualified for a gift from you of more than 120 million dollars. You can do a lot of damage with 120 million dollars. In 2016 Bernie Sanders would have qualified for just under an additional billion dollars.
That did not pass in 2021 because 2 Democrat Senators refused to vote to eliminate the filibuster. Those two Senators are no longer there. Today, if they win, the filibuster will be gone on opening day and HR 1 will pass. We will also have statehood for Washington DC, Puerto Rico and Guam giving the Democrats six more senators.
The Supreme Court will be expanded to at least 13 members giving the Left a 7 to 6 majority immediately. Let us welcome 4 more Ketanji Brown Jacksons to the Court.
I repeat: When someone tells you who they are and what they intend to do – believe them.
Which brings me back to why I didn’t want to make this about one man. Presidents come and go. Policies last forever.
EVERYONE is angry today about our healthcare system. It is too costly, too distant and too out of control. It is the direct result of a policy decision taken by the Democrat Party when they had a huge majority in the House and a filibuster-proof Senate. The government decides what you must insure and who will provide it. The government will decide. Not you.
And more is coming. For many years what starts in California ultimately finds its way to Washington DC. Fifty years ago, it was the tax revolt and proposition 13. Today it is a series of proposals that are just revolting.
California has given us five examples just this year.
A young independent journalist named Nick Shirley went to California and filmed taxpayer-funded hospice and daycare corruption — the same kind of corruption he found in Minnesota and New York. The response from Sacramento was to shut down investigations. The state will decide what is and is not corruption. Not you.
California now bars schools from requiring staff to tell a parent if their child asks to be treated as a different gender at school. The state will decide about your child’s needs. Not you.
California recently created the first state agency in America built to verify whether you descended from an enslaved person, as a qualifying test for state benefits in housing, education, and economic opportunity. The state will decide who was enslaved and who will benefit. Not you.
A new state law this year lets the state override local zoning and allow multi-story apartment buildings in neighborhoods zoned for single families. You may think that’s good housing policy. You may not. But the state will decide on your zoning. Not you.
The plan doesn’t just tax what you own — it presumes you own whatever you control. Google’s Sergey Brin owns about 5% of Alphabet stock, but his special shares give him voting control over a quarter of the company. Under the plan’s own language, that voting control — not his actual ownership — is what gets taxed. A quarter of a $4.2 trillion company, taxed at 5%, comes to $52.5 billion. To raise that in cash he’d have to sell over $80 billion in stock, about 60% of his holdings, pay tens of billions in federal and state capital gains tax on the sale itself, and crater the share price on the way out the door. Brin and his co-founder didn’t wait around to find out what might happen in the future. They left the state.
Today that line is drawn at a billion dollars. Nobody who has ever watched a tax threshold in this country believes it will stay there. And it’s coming. To a city near you.
Five examples. Five different subjects — journalism, your child, your history, your city, your money. One answer to all of them. They decide. Not you.
Having done so well with the American Indian we replicated the [government control] in every major city in America with the very same results. Teen age pregnancies, crime, violence, drugs. No fathers in those homes. Not because government did too little. Because government did too much.
In spite of the total collapse of communism and socialism around the world, the Democratic Socialists of America honestly believe that more government will fix the problems that government has created. They don’t trust your decisions. They trust theirs.
They do not know – as we know – that the human being dreams – not for one more government program – but for freedom. The Soviet Union learned that in just 69 years.
[T]his election is different.
If they win, the world will never be the same. And it won’t be just how or when you can get healthcare. This will be a new debate, not over how much or how little. This will be a debate over what. And they will decide what.
I began this by saying that this is not about Donald Trump. This is about you. The future will come down to you and your neighbors and your friends. Are you the little platoons in the cities, in the towns, in the neighborhoods, who dare to believe that the tokens of hope and truth are worth saving? I think that you are. I think you will look at the choices beyond the personalities. I think you will conclude that this election is different and rally to turn out the communists among us and choose instead freedom. And my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will say thank you. As will I. Thank you.
As always, do your own research and make up your own mind.
White paper on land and water rights: Property Rights and Freedom: A White Paper on America’s Disappearing Land (8/13/2025)
United we stand. Divided we fall. We must not let America fall.
VoteTexas.gov, https://www.votetexas.gov/get-involved/index.html
Disclaimer:
As always, do your own research and make up your own mind. This Substack is provided for informational and commentary purposes only. All claims or statements are based on publicly available sources and are presented as analysis and opinion, not legal conclusions.
No assertion is made of unlawful conduct by any individual, company, or government entity unless such claims are supported by formal public records or verified legal documents. The views expressed here reflect my personal perspective on property rights and land use issues.
While I strive for accuracy and transparency, readers are encouraged to verify all details using the official sources and references provided. Any references to third-party material are included solely for your consideration and do not necessarily reflect my views or imply endorsement.
If you share this content, please include this disclaimer to preserve context and clarity for all readers.
Until next time…
Please share your thoughts in the comments. Or email me, and let’s have a problem-solving conversation. I welcome ‘letters to the editor’ type emails and may publish yours. I hope we can create a caucus with positive, back-to-the-founders’-dream-for-America results. Have a topic you want to know more about?
Some housekeeping…
Going forward, you may need to check your spam folder. And please mark this address as ‘not spam.’ If the newsletter isn’t in your spam folder either, you should look in the Promotions tab.
You can always see everything on the website, RationalAmerican.org.
Thanks again for reading! I’m glad you’re here!


