THE JOHN ADAMS SOCIETY
Melvin R. Welch Leopold X. Keiser Christopher T. Wolff Marina Wolff
Chairman Secretary Chief Whip Chancellor
February 21, 2024
Location: Burger Moe’s, St. Paul
“There never was a Democracy Yet, that did not commit suicide.”
― John Adams, Letter to John Taylor #18, December 17, 1814
“NONE OF THESE CANDIDATES,” cried the people of Nevada when presented with the Republican primary ballot. Although Donald Trump’s absence from that particular ballot was not the consequence of any political subterfuge, the result of the Nevada primary rings as grimly ominous for the 2024 presidential election. The State of Colorado has attempted to preemptively exclude the leading Republican candidate from the general election ballot, with many more leftleaning state governments poised to follow suit. One is reminded of the fateful presidential election of 1860, where most citizens of the Southern states had no means at all with which to vote for the Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln and he nevertheless won the presidency. That election, as we know, triggered a catastrophic civil war.
But that infamous failure of democracy is over a century and a half old, and more contemporary examples may be more relevant to current conditions. The 2000s saw the governments of Ukraine, Serbia, Georgia, and many other nations overthrown after their corrupt leaders won reelections through dubious proceedings. Each of these countries experienced its own “Color Revolution” in which the common people rose up in mass protest and forced the resignations of their government. The 2020 election results in the United States led to many protests and even American blood spilled. Now, with the nation even more divided against itself than in it was in that terrible year, do the 2024 election results stand a chance of being accepted by both the red and the blue? If not, then what does the future have in store for Washington, D.C.?
ON THE OTHER HAND, the Color Revolutions were not fully organic phenomena, having been tainted by outside influence both open and covert. Americans by and large are also more comfortable and complacent than citizens of the second-world countries where those aforementioned uprisings took place. The weakened and corrupted American military may even choose to support the government and fire upon American citizens, where other nations’ soldiers laid down their arms. Will U.S. citizens again meekly submit to the yoke, as in 2021?
THE CHAIRMAN, though he is still undecided on whether the correct spelling is “color” or “colour”, has nevertheless called a Caucus of the Society to debate the following proposition:
RESOLVED: The Color Revolution has come to America.
The Debate will be held on Wednesday, February 21, 2024, at Burger Moe’s, 242 West 7th Street, St. Paul, MN 55102.
The Chancellor and Chairman encourage people to arrive prior to 7 o'clock p.m. and to thank our host venue by spending money while partaking of food and drink. The debate will begin at half past seven. There is no dress code; however, gentlemen who wish to speak must wear a tie, and ladies are encouraged to adhere to a similar sartorial standard. For those gentlemen arriving sans tie yet wishing to discourse on the resolution, the Purveyor of Ties will keep on hand several remarkable selections.
Questions regarding debate caucus procedures or about the John Adams Society itself may be directed to the Chairman at (612) 741-3272 or the Secretary at (281)-229-3671.