Youth Advocacy
Youth Advocacy
08.07.2026-14.07.2026
The Week in Review:
Unmasking the Rulers Who Refuse to Lead
By Dr. Jerry Goebel
Good day, truth-seekers and advocates. This week, our deep dive into the political landscape exposes a recurring theme: an autocratic, corporate, and right-wing apparatus using fear, historical revisionism, and legal manipulation to hold our democracy hostage. From the weaponization of the judicial system to the scapegoating of progressive economic models, the "barbarians are inside the gates"—and they are driving the rise of authoritarianism in both government and corporate AI oversight.
Here is what we analyzed this week on the frontline of youth advocacy and systemic reform:
The Red Scare Redux (13.07.2026): We dissected how Trump, Mike Johnson, and their allies are reviving McCarthy-era tactics, painting Democratic Socialists as "godless communists." As Eduardo Cuevas clarified in USA Today, Democratic Socialism is simply about a public-benefit economy, fair taxation, and basic human rights—not authoritarianism.
The War on Individual Rights (11.07.2026): Drawing insight from Heather Cox Richardson, we looked at the structural threat to the 14th Amendment posed by a right-wing SCOTUS supermajority. Originalism is being wielded as a tool to strip away equal protection under the law, echoing the dangerous dark ages of Robert Bork’s vision for America.
A Failure of Leadership (11.07.2026): Analyzing Tom Nichols’ insights in The Atlantic, we exposed Trump’s war of choice with Iran. Trapped in a cycle of wartime grief and transactional ego, this administration is depleting resources while leaving Congress to pick up the pieces of an incoherent foreign policy.
Theology vs. Transaction (10.07.2026): We contrasted the transactional, white nationalist "religion" of Donald Trump with the genuine gospel scholarship of Pope Leo XIV, who starkly reminded the nation that a flourishing society must protect the marginalized and reject the "globalization of indifference."
The True Villains of Society (09.07.2026):Data for Progress polling via Common Dreams revealed that voters rank billionaires, corporate landlords, and unchecked AI companies as the true bad actors destroying our economic fabric. We must demand that candidates present actual strategies to dismantle this corporate-monarchy alliance.
The History of Christian Nationalism (08.07.2026): David Mislin’s piece in Salon reminded us that evangelical drives to claim the state always peak during times of public fear and confusion. Today's Republican platform relies on this exact playbook: gerrymandering, name-calling, and manufactured terror.
✊ The Call to Action: Rulers, Not Leaders
When leaders run out of ideas, they turn to fear-mongering and authoritarian control. This is the exact cultural landscape that inspired my song, "Rulers, Not Leaders." It serves as an auditory anthem against the very autocracy we are fighting today. Listen to the track, absorb the message, and let it fuel your determination as we march toward the midterms.
Watch the Presentation on YouTube: "Rulers, Not Leaders" Video Essay
Support the Movement & Purchase the Track: Communities of Trust Music Store
Join the Daily Fight: Connect on Bluesky at @docjerr.bsky.social, Substack at @drjerrygoebel, and Facebook at Doc Jerr Profile. Find all access points on my Linktree.
For inquiries regarding youth advocacy workshops, juvenile justice consultations, or keynote speaking arrangements, reach out directly at goebeljerry@me.com.
Weekly Blogs
13.07.2026 | USA Today
GOP calls them 'communists.' Here's what democratic socialists believe
Eduardo Cuevas assists in clearing the air for those who do not understand what defines Democratic Socialism. Here’s his brief description: “Democratic socialists and academic experts say the ideology isn't communism, but rather a belief that the economy should be run for the public’s benefit through democratic decision-making. The government should have an active role in expanding public services to address certain basic needs such as housing or health care, they say.”
Trump, Mike Johnson and their Republican friends are trying to paint Democratic Socialists as communists. With Trump saying, ““These are hardcore, godless communists. This is the most serious threat to our country since its existence.” And Johnson expounding, “Now the barbarians are inside the gate. So this election is for all the marbles."
Yes, the barbarians are inside the gate, the traitors are within, but they don’t look like AOC, Bernie Sanders, or Zohran Mamdani. They look like Donald Trump, John Roberts, and Mike Johnson. As typical for this administration, they are accusing others of the very tactics of which they are guilty. If this smells suspiciously of McCarthyism, that’s because it is. As Joseph Welch, chief legal counsel for the U.S. Army, said to McCarthy in 1954, “Have you no shame?” But isn’t that the point, haven’t these people already proved that “no,” they have no shame…”
Like McCarthy, these political hacks have to use fear to retain their power and there will be those who take the bait. There will be those who walk into the voting booth with enough doubt, to vote again for the people now holding our government hostage. And that is what makes Cuevas’ article all the more imperative. We need to get the word out. We need to help people understand the truth behind the lies that Trump and his minions are attempting to spread. Democratic Socialism is about giving tax payers the economy that they are paying for. Making the wealthiest of the wealthy pay their fair share. Providing health care to Americans, lowering the price of housing and groceries. Taking back the reins of government so demented megalomaniacs can’t wage war on anyone that happens to irk them at any particular moment or use U.S. funding and troops to attack (and kill) our own citizens.
11.07.2026 | Letters from An American, Heather Cox Richardson
July 9, 2026
Let me begin with what Ms. Cox Richardson ends her Substack with this morning: “And yet in 2026, here we are.”
If ever you are looking for articles that reveal the inner back story of some of the United States’ most important decisions, Heather Cox Richardson is the person you want to follow. In this segment, she looks at the back story of the 14th Amendment, contrasting it with the Dred Scott decision.
It is this very decision that Supreme Court jurists barely upheld recently, with Justices Alito and Thomas arguing against it. This is the amendment that the Trump administration is so keen to undermine. Originalists (Ms. Cox Richardson explains that term in her column) want to restrict the application of the 14th Amendment, and six of the current SCOTUS are originalists. Project 2025, Stephen Miller, and Donald Trump just want the 14th Amendment to be removed from the Constitution.
This brings us to the final phrase of this morning’s Substack review. When Reagan appointed Originalist Robert Bork to the court in 1987, Cox Richardson points out that then Senator Ted Kennedy made the following pronouncement: “Robert Bork’s America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, Blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens’ doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens for whom the judiciary is—and is often the only—protector of the individual rights that are the heart of our democracy….”
So, as Ms. Cox Richardson says, “And yet, here we are…”
What can you do? Make sure to turn out for the vote at midterms and make sure that those you elect have a platform for realigning the racist Supreme Court of John Roberts and the other Originalists.
11.07.2026 | Source: The Atlantic
Tom Nichols is a staff writer at The Atlantic, but he was also an instructor at the Naval War College. He has unique and time-tested insights into international military matters, which is why it is so important when he shares his reflections on Trump, Netanyahu, and Hegseth’s war with Iran. Nichols tells us that it is Iran, not Trump, who is dictating the terms of this war. To quote Nichols, “The Iranians have made clear that they don’t care about the MOU or, for that matter, what Trump thinks or wants. They are willing to inflict more damage on the Gulf states, and they’re willing to accept damage in return. These are signs of a state directing a war rather than reacting to one.”
This is Trump’s war of choice, but it is being fought with U.S. funds, U.S. lives, and global resources (as in access to fuel and fertilizer). This president has no clue how to end it. He has no power to end it. It is time for Congress to end it, because Trump won’t.
This president is perfectly content depleting all of the military’s weaponry, then giving out personal contracts to have them rebuilt.
Currently, this president is battling dementia and is gobsmacked by the situation in Iran; his comments become more incoherent daily. Here is how Nichols closes his commentary:
“Trump is now going through something like the stages of wartime grief: Denial that America failed; anger, which has led to renewed attacks; and then bargaining, as if the Iranians could somehow be bought off like a gang of recalcitrant construction workers in New York. None of it has worked.
Depression and acceptance await.”
10.07.2026 | Source: The Atlantic
Pope Leo’s July 4 Message to America Was Unmistakable
Francis S. Rocca is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and the Vatican editor at EWTN News. Rocca juxtaposes two distinct theologies from two “sons of the U.S.” President Donald J. Trump and Pope Leo XIV. They couldn’t be more dissimilar. Trump is a convicted felon and rapist who has used his position to graft the United States out of more money than any president in history. His theology is one of transactional convenience; he wears his religion like the game show host that he is, it’s a veneer, a show, used only to capture votes and—even then—it is steeped in white racist nationalism. Pope Leo is a gospel scholar steeped in the Augustinian tradition, an order that crafted the Just War Doctrine that this administration so often quotes and then ignores. Leo builds on the insights of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who accused the world of the “globalization of indifference” regarding immigration. Leo goes a step further, saying, “…dead migrants were victims of economic inequality, political corruption, an ‘indifference to the common good,’ and the failure by countries in the region to coordinate their immigration policies.”
Pope Leo also tells people, “In order for a nation to flourish, it must be truly united; united not by goals bound to momentary endeavors, but by ideals that do not fade with the passing of time.”
I don’t think that anyone could find the “ideals that do not fade with the passing of time” in the murky communiques of this administration. If there is a goal, it is rarely beyond the enrichment of one man, Donald J. Trump. He operates on a whim, whatever feeds his narcissistic ego at the moment. He is a moral vacuum. If we want to know how Trump will act (based upon his belief), we need simply ask the question, “What’s in it for Donald?”
09.07.2026 | Source: Common Dreams
Voters Rank Billionaires, Then Corporate Landlords as Top Villains to US Society and Economy
https://www.commondreams.org/news/billionaires-in-the-us?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=other
This article by Jessica Corbett of Common Dreams looks at data from “Data for Progress” that specifically examines the primary dislikes of voters in the United States. This polling company says that those identified in this poll are named by voters as the “Bad Actors,” who are “most responsible for the country’s concerning conditions.” Here is a summary of the list laid out in Corbett’s article: “The top villains, according to respondents, are the nation’s nearly 1,000 billionaires, then corporate landlords. Rounding out the top 10 were sports gambling marketplaces, artificial intelligence companies, cryptocurrency firms, payday lenders, the Republican Party, social media giants, the Democratic Party, and for-profit universities.”
Common Dreams uses their research to also inform us as to whom voters are applauding as we enter the last few months before the midterms occur. The executive director of Common Dreams, Ryan O’Donnell, identifies AI Companies and Tech Billionaires as the next big villains on the U.S. voting landscape, and Corbett warns us with recent important events, saying: ‘Earlier this week, as the US Supreme Court’s right-wing supermajority “gave their blessing for billionaires to buy even more influence over the politicians who represent us,” the watchdog Public Citizen released a report about soaring corporate political spending since the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling, including $517 million in this cycle so far.”
What is important for us is the voting trends that this information is likely to produce and how we can garner it in preventing an autocracy from further destroying our democracy. It is important to see that the Democratic Party doesn’t get a pass in this polling. We need to demand that those asking for our votes not only tell us what they are against, but also their strategies for addressing the growing powers of the “Bad Actors” named in the US Supreme Court’s right-wing supermajority’s infatuation with a monarchy.
08.07.2026 | Source: Salon
This isn’t the first time Christians have tried to claim the United States as their own
This article by David Mislin reminds us of the many times that Evangelical Christians have stepped forward to undermine the “Establishment Clause” of the First Amendment. Mislin takes us on a historic journey of when this has occurred in the country’s past. He seems able to link this drive to when citizens feel weakest and most afraid. Here are a couple of Mislin’s examples:
“As the U.S. plunged into Civil War in 1861, both the Union and Confederacy sought to link their side to God. The preamble of the Confederate constitution noted a desire for “the favor and guidance of Almighty God” for their new government.
“In the North, the Pennsylvania clergyman M.R. Watkinson successfully lobbied for a reference to God to be added to coins. Watkinson believed the nation was guilty of “disowning God” and urged the treasury secretary to make declarations of religiosity. This would “place us openly under the divine protection,” he noted.”
It is interesting to note that fear and confusion are the ideal state of citizens for today’s Republicans, such as Mike Johnson. All of whom ply deeply in social media, along with Donald Trump, to purposefully try to concretize distrust and instill fear in the public in order to garner support and votes. It should come as no surprise that this is coming to the fore just prior to what could be a catastrophic mid-term for the Republican party. Rather than standing on a platform (which has largely been, “Do whatever Donald Trump tells us…”) they are demonizing those who don’t believe the same way they do. We looked, in yesterday’s blog, at how Trump is trying to call Democratic Socialism candidates, like Zohran Mamdani, “Commies.” As we move closer to this November’s mid-terms, we can expect more name-calling and fear-mongering. Sadly, many will fall for it, as they did in both of Trump’s previous elections and during Biden’s mid-terms. When you run out of feasible ideas for true political leadership, what do you turn to? Gerrymandering and fear-mongering. That is the true platform of the Republican party right now. Be aware of it and don’t fall for it. Expect it and talk about it.
