Sherri Wilcoxon and her coterie have taken up the tools of totalitarianism in defining the Republican Party. The first and most obvious is that she believes that the Republican “Central Committee determines who is and who is not a Party member. In a free society, citizens choose their party affiliation, and their choice is unchallengeable. In communist regimes like China and the Soviet Union, the Party decides who can be a member and who cannot. Party members are granted privileges withheld from the rest of the population.
Even their usage of the name “Central Committee” leads us back to the Communist playbook. Catherine Noble’s response to Al Silverstein’s note is supremely revealing. She wrote that “It is the CENTRAL COMMITTEE [HER CAPS]” and that “everyone [in that committee] has a vote” in selecting candidates — implying that like in the Soviet Union and Red China, only votes of the Central Committee count, not those of benighted citizens.
It has long been a truism that totalitarianism on the left and the right become undistinguishable. Hannah Arendt (On Totalitarianism) argued that totalitarianism is a distinct form of governance that transcends traditional political categories. It employs ideology to justify its actions and creates a pervasive atmosphere of fear, which serves as a tool for maintaining control over the populace. She concluded that totalitarian regimes can arise from different ideological foundations yet share common methods of oppression and control.
The ideological purity sought by the Central Committee limits it choice of members to those equally rigid and the useful idiots that are carried along by needs fulfilled by their association with the insiders. Any deviation from Party rule — like voting with their declared enemies, as Lyn Mielke and I have done — merits expulsion and the most severe punishment imaginable. Even what most would see as legitimate differing views on science lead to condemnation, as happened to scientists in Communist China punished by “struggle sessions.” Thought control is the primary method of maintaining ideological purity among members and selected candidates.
Those sessions, like the social ostracism by the Talbot Central Committee, also identified scapegoats to cover up the obvious failure of the regime. The failures of the Central Committee in political organization are evident in the increasing number of Republicans defeated by Democrats or other persona non grata within the Central Committee.
I, for one, will not stop trying to keep the Republican Party the party of freedom. It is a further indictment of candidates favored by the central committee that all of them all spout their commitment to freedom while refusing to speak out against the totalitarian tactics used to support them.
David Montgomery
Easton
I am a Democrat. But I believe our great country needs a strong and vibrant two party system. The Republicans in Talbot County have been taken over by the MAGA extremists. My message to my friends on the other side. Get your house in order.
Easton is the real “totalitarian” in Talbot County. It determines Talbot’s economic future by demanding to be the central place for all economic growth, while discouraging new opportunity outside the town limits. The ideological purity of Easton Conservationists pervades all public outcomes, so that workers, independent women, and minorities are excluded from the countryside – by blocking affordable housing, entrepreneurship, and labor-intensive industries beyond Easton. It’s time for Talbot County to break away from Easton‘s central dominance and allow the free market economy to take care of its own people.
Oddly, Mary Smith strains to segue, between David Montgomery’s assertion that the Republican central committee is acting in a totalitarian fashion, to her point that Easton acts in a totalitarian fashion as to land-use planning in Talbot county. That, she asserts, constrains residential, commercial, and industrial development in Talbot county. Then she pivots to saying that the problem is the “ideological purity of Easton conservationists”. Actually, Talbot county is who created the comprehensive development plans over the last 50 years to preserve the agricultural and rural nature of the county. The county government, not necessarily Easton, is who wants to keep infrastructure for schools, roads, shopping, etc., centralized in the towns rather than displacing the agricultural and rural lands across the county with new infrastructure every time a new development occurs. (Easton does not control what happens in the County.) If there is a culprit for Mary Smith, perhaps it is the citizens of Talbot County who want to preserve the rural and agricultural nature of their neighborhoods.
Mr. Bruce’s reply perfectly exposes why we need younger progressive leadership in Talbot County – grounded in economic justice instead of politics. Mr. Bruce defends an exclusionary Reagan-era planning model that has devastated and displaced our working-class communities. Centralizing wealth and opportunity into a few expensive towns is exactly why we have exploding poverty and inequality here. “Preservation” is de-facto class segregation.
And no, ordinary citizens did not create these plans. Easton-based private organizations, corporations, boards, politicians, lobbyists, and elites have aligned to monopolize Talbot’s economy – to benefit themselves while excluding everyone else. Just look at who directs and benefits from this system, then notice who is missing.
Talbot’s economic system centralizes wealth through artificial scarcity – deliberately excluding workers, renters, minorities, entrepreneurs, and organized labor from most of the land. It is structurally oppressive and socially unsustainable, and is why the next generation of leaders must work hard to heal the social damage done by this old mindset.
As a recent transplant , and legal immigrant who moved to Talbot county , I can personally attest that the leadership and members of the Talbot county Republican committee are the nicest a most welcoming and most caring patriotic citizens and neighbors I have seen and encountered since I came to the USA. Unlike Mr Montgomery, I have personally attended their meetings and events . I find Mr Montgomerys characterization , nothing more than cheap scurrilous slander, I personally witnessed and was horrified by his disgusting behavior, lack of common decency and decorum at a public event , as he embarrassed himself with uncontrollable outburst in front of a packed and diverse audience . Pretzeling the English language to suggest or equate Talbot county Republican county committee members “ In having Soviet type “ leadership or behavior , is the last refuge of a dishonest political scoundrel .
You do seem to have adopted their practice of argument by personal insult. Try saying something questioning your new friends’ ideology and see how long they remain friendly and welcoming.
Liberal calumny and lies , deserve all the ridicule, we can muster in the public square . I personally witnessed your temper tantrum at their event . If the shoe fits , wear it
I know I’m a day late as everyone has moved on concerning this issue.
Mr. Montgomery’s letter to the editor sure raised an impressive level of vitriol. Ms. Smith uses the occasion to unload pure hatred on the entire town of Easton. I live in Easton but did not know she knows me and hates me and everyone who lives here. That’s impressive. And Mr. Duggan unloads on Mr. Montgomery with comments that would make President Trump blush. Somehow Mr. Duggan missed “Low IQ.”
Just goes to show that suggesting civility can be dangerous these days.
Ahhh Mr Davis , when you lose the debate you accuse your opponents of spewing vitriol. Back in the old country , we answered fire with fire . That’s exactly how we won our independence in 1922 . After seeing the democratsCods wallop , peddling and the use of Godwins law to incite their people to assassinate our president 3 times .
We Don’t Play with Marquess of Queensberry rules.
Get used to it . You are no match for a European Educated polyglot , who can debate the britches off a liberal with no sense of humor in 5 different languages. Lol
Maybe there is another way to look at this dispute between Mr. David Montgomery and Talbot Republican Central Committee:
The Maryland GOP has refrained from making endorsements before the primaries in order to maintain neutrality among candidates competing for the party’s nomination. This “tacit rule”/custom has also guided the local Central Committees in their efforts to ensure the fairness of the primary process.
It is rather unfortunate that some members of the Talbot central committee have decided to ignore the MDGOP tradition and endorse only some Republican candidates for the upcoming primaries. One can see the unintended consequences of such a decision made by the Talbot GOP.
Mr. Montgomery’s post suggests the Talbot County Republican Central Committee is acting like a totalitarian regime in demanding full obeisance of the party line from its candidates in order to receive party nomination and support. That sounds like a fairly accurate description of what is happening in the Talbot County Republican Party. That’s also what appears to be happening nationwide in the Republican Party starting from the top down.
Trump is actively “punishing” congressional officials in both houses of congress and at the state level (see Indiana) for any lack of “loyalty”. Trump is demanding complete loyalty and now, his totalitarian effort at control is being aped by local party officials (and candidates). And thus, the candidates themselves are nominated because they agree to be told how to vote and not how to be the best representatives of all the people in the County and elsewhere.
Yet Mr. Montgomery either willfully or out of ignorance, claimed his own Republican Party’s County Central Committee is acting like totalitarian communists. He knew he could get away with referring to them as “communists” and that he couldn’t get away with referring to them as “fascists”.
It certainly is totalitarian ideology that insists on complete control and loyalty. Yet the key element in Trump’s Republican Party base nationwide appears to be White Christian Nationalism. Its no mistake that Ms. Wilcoxon specified a criticism against Ms. Mielke was over her DEI vote which was unsupportive of the Republicans’ position against African-American political, military and business leaders. It also represents Republican efforts to cut away African-Americans’ voting rights everywhere they can gerrymander black voting districts. These are the ideologies that Trump employs to justify his unfounded fear campaigns against minorities like immigrants, all people of color and all those uppity women (like Marjory Taylor Green, high ranking female military officers, etc).
Those aren’t reflections of communism. They reflect fascism/Nazism pulling hard right toward resembling Aryan White Supremacy and targeting non-christian religions, including KKK elements chanting “We will not be replaced” (by Jews in American society).
Talbot County Republicans appear to be taking ownership of this degree of Trump’s clear directives toward authoritarianism. The people they have now nominated and support have apparently succumbed to this unamerican commitment to complete loyalty to the party, which is a clear indication they’ve bought into this tenet of totalitarianism.
By the way, if one reads further into Hannah Arendt, she reports Karl Marx wants communism to be a dictatorship of the proletariat, collective ownership of goods and services and a classless society.
This is what happens when idealogues blunder into complete authoritarian organizational situations and are afraid to call it what it is: the Republican Party’s drift into fascism.
Dave, have you investigated whether the ubiquitous “Mary Smith” is a real person?
TTA
Typical establishment behavior, trying to censor a persistent critic instead of addressing the social and economic harm they do. Yes I’m very real. Is TPA real? We know Tom is ubiquitous, but TPA seems like mostly a one man crusade. However, the poverty caused by preservation sure is real.
One thing upon which we can likely all agree: you are a persistent critic.
😳
This letter slanders us GOP committee members as being totalitarians. And I believe the word Communist is thrown around. For one thing, the name “Central Committee ” was coined long before any of us were members. Our Committee is made up of independent thinkers and we come to our decisions through much discussion. We are composed of those from all walks of life who sincerely love Talbot County and Maryland. I have written publicly against Communism and totalitarianism since I was a student delegate to the 1984 Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Conference and presented a paper on Upward Mobility in the Soviet Union. I never thought I would live to see the day when I was accused of being a Communist or a totalitarian when I have 35 years of published work to the contrary. It disgusts me how easily such slanders are published and believed.
Ms. Russell, Mr. Montgomery does make a telling point, that according to Ms. Wilcoxon, the Central Committee determines who is a member of the Republican Party in Talbot County Maryland. In free societies, individuals determine to which party they belong, if any. In the Democratic Party, we have various factions with differing views, sometimes fractious, but we are all Democrats. That’s why we are the Big Tent.
Since being taken over by Trump, your party has become even less openminded about its goals and fallen deeper into the rigid lockstep of singleminded authoritarian, top down control. Not leadership. Control. The only goals these days are whatever Trump says they are today and they may not resemble yesterday’s goals at all. Funny how authoritarianism works under a dictator. Yesterday, he preaches peace and the next day, he starts an unnecessary war and y’all just hush up. Y’all used to understand the US Constitution imposes limits of presidential authority, but now this president is allowed to act unilaterally. And y’all and your Republican congressional lemmings like Andy Harris just get institutional amnesia on the separation of powers to please your dictator.
Here in Talbot County, this Republican microcosm has become overtly authoritarian with Ms. Mielke getting shut out for stepping out of line and not passing virtually every lockstep litmus test on her votes.
Mr. Montgomery insulted y’all by referring to you as communists. He knows that’s a standard insult among your group of conservatives and arch-conservatives. But IMHO, he called you “communist” because he wouldn’t dare refer to his own party as fascists. He could never again ask for a vote from any Republican and besides, “communists” is always a word used to scare the uneducated and undereducated about Democrats and socialism.
It isn’t much of a push to grasp the significance of Trump and your party doing everything possible to roll back the voting rights of minorities, removing black leaders from military positions and gerrymandering predominantly black districts from state and national voting districts. This is how Trump and Christian White Nationalist Republicans repay the lower class “Republican Base” for their ongoing support despite the massive tax breaks for the wealthiest few, while ending their low cost health insurance, federal funding for rural health programs and hurting family farmers nationwide.
Its a fact that the Nazi movement was built around Aryan White Supremacy and Germanic Master Race as base tenets of that movement and being allowed into the party. With Trump, Vance, Bannon and Musk overtly supporting European fascist candidates, the Republican Party’s direction starts to look and smell rotten to patriotic Americans who happen to remember and appreciate all the good people who sacrificed dearly fighting nazism in our own lifetimes.
But at least perhaps there is solace in knowing you aren’t communists.
Mr. Terrone, if you notice we were also labeled “totalitarians” which I assume includes fascism, although you are correct in pointing out that Dr. Montgomery refrained from using that particular designation. I am glad you wrote what you did, because by calling Republicans “fascists” and white supremacists, or by hinting that we are somehow associated with such people, because of our support for President Trump, is proof why we cannot support someone like Ms. Mielke. We on the Committee are not bound to support a Republican who clearly has the support of a Democrat like yourself. The MD GOP, not being a totalitarian organization, leaves the final decision up to the county committees and their unique circumstances as to endorse or not endorse a particular candidate. We decided, based upon Ms. Mielke’s voting record, not to endorse her, which we have the right to do. There is no law that says we have to support a candidate just because they decide to portray themselves as a Republican. Actions speak louder than words, and Ms Mielke’s voting record tells us that she is a supporter of policies which Democrats like yourself uphold. As for the old fascist and supremacist accusations, I find them as equally slanderous as being called a Communist. My mother was born in the Phillipines and I have enough brown-skinned relatives to fill half of Talbot County. My grandfather was imprisoned and tortured by the fascist Japanese imperial army. My father, as a young man in Gaithersburg, took an active part in boycotts against racist businesses during the Civil Rights movement. In our family to be a racist was the lowest thing someone can be. But I realize, since we are not aquainted, that you do not know how ridiculous your allegations are.
“We on the Committee are not bound to support a Republican who clearly has the support of a Democrat like yourself.”
That seems odd to me. Would you NOT wish to bring a broader cross section of Talbot residents to your party? The tides are shifting…in the balance of political power in this county. It seems wise to me to keep those who can work in a bipartisan or non partisan way rather than jettison them for lack of purity to (false) ideals handed down from the White House. As a Democrat, if I were running in this county, I like to think I would be very pleased to pull some Republican votes. That is LEADERSHIP. And by failing to support one of your own who clearly demonstrates actual leadership potential…in favor of national party purity…seems to miss the mark on what either party’s role is in local government. That is, to serve the local interests. In addition, it seems that someone who looks at the whole picture and tries to work across the aisle to incorporate a diversity of ideas rather than some narrow version of the national platform which is by design less specific to our needs here at home, is exactly what we should WANT here. It is tiresome to hear in the nightly news about the divisions between parties for people who will never meet us. But to see us now tearing at our neighbors and friends in order to show fealty to the national party….is at best, backwards.
Ms. Russell, if Ms. Mielke read your post she’d be laughing out loud as I did. FYI, she and I don’t speak to each other after our very public debate over the Talbot Boys statue several years ago. She’s knows not to hold her breath waiting for my vote. That’s how far off your thinking is. As a member of the “Move the Monument” organization, I saw the statue as a gross misrepresentation of the true history of Talbot County in the Civil War and as a symbol of systemic racism. Ms. Mielke fought to keep the statue where it was. She was a Republican then and she still is today.
I don’t know the specifics about how the Maryland state Republican Party works. I was writing about your Talbot County Committee demanding complete adherence to the party line.
It isn’t my intention to declare any individual Republican a fascist. However, your full support of Trump with his horrendous racism, his deep involvement in the child molestation activities of his close friend Jeffrey Epstein (and Ghislane Maxwell), his 34 felony convictions, his limitless grift of taxpayer dollars, disregard for the constitutional rights of immigrants his daily litany of pathological lies, et al, suggest you are all in with that the Republican rank and file’s concurrence and/or complicity.
Are you not aware of Trump’s full support of fascism in Europe even as he undermines our great democratic allies in NATO? Maybe you can explain why Bannon, Vance and Musk overtly support fascists. Have you forgotten Musk giving the Heil Hitler salute at a fascist rally in Europe?
Your comment about the Talbot Republican Central Committee not being bound to support a candidate who clearly has the support of a Democrat (like me, which she doesn’t) is telling. Your Central Committee seems bound to nominate only people who wouldn’t or couldn’t have the support of any Democrat. That is utter radicalism. Booting an incumbent Republican for working with Democrats is now an apparent crime against Republican theology, punishable by banishment. Ms. Russell, you are helping elect Ms. Mielke by your Central Committee’s intransigence and extremism.
I trust that we will remain unacquainted because I have very little in common with extremist Republicans who rationalize strong support for a 34X felon, rapist, likely child molester with authoritarian aims and complete disregard for our constitutional liberties.
I hope your Filipino family members don’t live in Talbot County because they’d be liable to be picked up by ICE and shipped off without legal protection to some unknown prison as has happened many thousands of times across the US and far too numerous times right here in Talbot County – with the full support of you and your Republican Party leaders (with about 20% having any criminal record whatsoever). It must make you proud.
With respect to the suggestions of systemic fascism in the Republican Party, if the shoe fits…………
Mr. Terrone, first of all, why do you assume that all migrants are breaking the law? You are suggesting that my relatives would break the law in order to come to America and therefore be rounded up by ICE. Both of my parents and three of my grandparents are/were immigrants and all followed the legal process in order to become citizens. This was particularly difficult for my Filipina grandmother who had limited resources. But she followed the immigration laws, at great inconvenience to herself. Several of my Filipino relatives have lived here in the US either for college or to become citizens and they all obeyed the immigration laws. A few of them have even visited Talbot County but they came with legitimate travel documents.
Mr Terrone, I am glad you reminded me of Ms. Mielke’s support of the court house statue. That is the reason I originally voted for her. But since then she has voted in ways that I don’t agree with. Maybe our Committee’s lack of endorsement will help her get elected. We can’t help that. But it was our duty to speak out about her voting record. And there are many, many Democrats who vote for Republican candidates, and vice versa. I have voted for Democrats in the past. I have just never seen so many Democrats supporting a Republican as you are now fighting for Ms. Mielke. The Democrat Forum really should invite her to speak at their events.
We could argue all day about Trump but neither would convince the other. I certainly would not support him if there was the least bit of evidence for what you accuse him of. And Mr. Terrone, as a student of history, you should know what real fascist dictators are like. Trump does not come close. If Trump were a fascist dictator he would have had the journalists who oppose him rounded up and shot. But the main people getting assassinated lately are Republicans like Charlie Kirk. Your accusations of Musk, Vance, and Bannon being Fascist are scurrilous. Buy I know many Trump supporters who don’t like Bannon; he is a loose cannon and not part of the administration. Neither is Musk. He’s crazy and I personally wouldn’t have him around but he also in possession of some cutting edge technology. And you are aware that Vance is married to a woman of color? Not a very good Fascist/ white supremacist, if you ask me. As for NATO, we have been generous supporters for 80 years but the world has changed, those nations have changed. Such matters we could discuss all day and never convince the other since since we obviously have different news sources. And don’t tell me that I Iisten to Steve Bannon or FOX News because I don’t.
Ms. Russell, why do you assume your Filipino family members are safe anywhere in this country? Only Trump’s most devout cultists still believe ICE is rounding up criminal MS-13-type immigrants. 70-74% of the people they are rounding up have no criminal record whatsoever. Cultists like you don’t seem to care about other peoples’ families until it happens to your families. This is fascism. White Christian Nationalism is a tenet of fascism because it is based upon Aryan White Supremacy, which was a vital cog in Nazi propaganda that helped Hitler’s cult gain power through the base instinct of racial superiority. What kind of true Christian supports the blasphemy of White Christian Nationalism? What true followers of Christ ignore the teachings of Jesus himself toward their neighbors, the poor and the oppressed? Even Pope Leo XIV was called out by Trump for his opposing Trump’s war on Iran, Trump’s deportation campaign and being “weak on crime”.
The Republican Party is a cult. That is not only because of your blind support of a degenerate, vile child molester, 34X felon, rapist, etc., but because you have behaved like he is the ONLY Republican able to make America great (white) again. Isn‘t there someone else in the entire party who would be a better candidate?
Why am I not surprised you joined the Talbot County Republicans because of Ms. Mielke’s support of the Talbot Boys statue? You don’t seem to get that the Confederate flag remains the primary symbol of white supremacy in America. How could you not know that? Cultists blind themselves to reality.
Separating Trump’s support of European fascism by trying to divorce Bannon, Musk and Vance from Trump is a wild stretch, even for a cultist. Vance is his VP, regardless of whom he married. Have you forgotten that Vance once said Trump was unfit for America’s highest public office and that he could be America’s Hitler? Now he is #2 in the cult. Bannon was directing Trump’s War Room on January 6th, 2021 and Musk’s massive financial support bought himself DOGE-type influence with Trump. They are all in bed together – in Stephen Miller’s bedroom. America First is a fascist concept originating in the 1930’s by, wait for it, the American Nazi Party.
I doubt Ms. Mielke will be invited to speak at the Dem Forum, but Ms. Wilcoxon may as well serve as her campaign chairman for all the support she has received from your absolutist Central Committee’s extremism. I only hope many Republican voters will understand this extremism and not support a slate of idealogue Yes Men.
I suppose its true that we could argue all day about Trump. However, what seals things for me is your denial that there exists “the least bit of evidence for what you accuse him of”. For you to deny his 34 felony convictions is not sane. He was convicted in court of sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll. You now deny this. He is all over the Epstein Files and desperate to keep them from the public unredacted. He would be the first one to publicize the whole thing if he was innocent. He is as guilty as sin itself, and the many accusations of sexual assault by many other women attest to it, not to mention his bragging about grabbing women by their genitalia. And don’t forget that his foundation was closed down for self-dealing, his Trump University was closed down as a fraud. It is utterly humiliating for a national political party to claim Trump is the ONLY man able to make America great again.
Have you forgotten how the KKK protesters in Charlottesville chanted “We will not be replaced”? Are you unaware this meant white Christians being “replaced” by Jews”? People like you cannot be allowed to sweep this vile, racial hatred under the rug. You own it. You are part of it and you and your party Central Committee are virtually proclaiming it. The man who vowed to “root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin” within our country. He considers his January 6th right wing thugs as patriots. He is rooting out the fascists and now rewarding them with the $1.7 billions he awarded himself in his “settlement” with his Justice Department.
Your disdain for Democrats has grown into disdain for democracy. Your Trump Republican Party fully supports Putin, Orban, LePen and other autocrats while undermining the NATO democracies and allowing Ukraine’s democracy to die a slow death at the hands of Trump’s friend Putin. I’m sure you forgot.
But I thank you sincerely for publicly articulating the radicalism that controls the Republican Party apparatus. Hopefully, at least some Republicans will opt out of the cult before the November elections and help save America from this growing fascist threat.
Sweet mother of God , Mickey, you sound woefully uniformed, and a tad unhinged . Are you aware that a Democrat non profit the SPLC paid Nazi groups millions of dollars to foment strife in Charlottesville, NC to create a false narrative and collect donations ( a criminal offense and violating their non profit status ). As we continue to to peel back the vast layers of the democrats rotten onion ,; we are extremely grateful for the honest patriotic civil servants , who allowed the burn bags of treachery to be found at both the FBi and DOJ . You invoking and Proving Godwins law does not bode well for your cause built on quicksand .