OSTRICHES, TURTLES AND CROWS January 9, 2026

Opponents of America’s direction on both the internal and international fronts consist roughly of three basic species. 

Much has impacted these Americans: The Trump regime—a more fitting word for an autocracy than administration—seizing Venezuelan oil after kidnapping its president (not a good guy to be clear) and leaving turmoil in its wake. Threatening Colombia. Threatening Greenland. Homeland Security flooding Minneapolis with ICE agents, one of whom shot and killed a woman on Wednesday. And holding back $10 billion from five Democratic states for needed social programs. 

So, who makes up the loyal—to the Constitution—opposition?

Ostriches do, but tune out. They don’t watch, read or listen to the news. I get that. Ronald Reagan’s “shining light on a hill” has gone almost dark.

Turtles do, but withdraw into a shell. They follow events but keep a low profile. They’re wary about who they talk to and what they say. They fear FBI agents listening to their phone calls, seeing their emails. Maybe knocking on their door. Many turtles can’t help thinking of Germany in the 1930s. Some plan escape routes to other countries. Others have left.

Crows squawk back. Caw is a more apt word. They follow the news and speak out. The believe that the First Amendment lives—for now. They see it as their duty to stand up and be counted.

Given that I’m writing this post—and all the others I’ve written—I count myself as a crow. And for good reason.

Last Monday, Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, told CNN’s Jake Tapper, “We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power.”

The Trump regime’s philosophy in a nutshell: Might makes right.

In the book of Zechariah (4:6), an angel tells the prophet, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel [Jewish governor of Judea following the Jews’ return from Babylonian exile]: Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit—said the Lord of Hosts.”

A regime that prides itself on Christian piety (Miller is Jewish and evidently ignorant of Torah), turns the the Hebrew and Christian bibles on their heads. Yet many Americans go along, exhibiting unquestioning “patriotism.” This isn’t new.

In 1816, Commodore Stephen Decatur is said to have toasted, “Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong!” 

In 1872, Carl Schurz, the journalist and former Union general, offered needed perspective: “My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.”

Ostriches, turtles and crows all have a job to do. We need not be heroes. But we will do well to heed the words of the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, former chief rabbi of Great Britain: 

“There is no life without a task, no person without a talent, no situation without its possibility of sanctification. When God calls, He whispers our name – and the greatest reply is simply Hineni, “Here I am,” ready to heed Your call, to mend a fragment of Your all-too-broken world.”

Caw! Caw! Caw! 

To understand the background of today’s far-right, authoritarian descent, read my new novel RIDE THE TYGER. Order from Amazon, barnesandnoble.com, iuniverse.com, or your favorite bookstore.