Running Against the Winds of Fascism and Hypocrisy with Jesse Ventura

"Die First Then Quit"

On March 8, 2023, I became a paid subscriber of Governor Jesse Ventura’s great website on Substack.com., Die First Then Quit. When I noticed that Chris Hedges, a journalist I hold in the highest esteem, recommended Ventura’s work, I immediately checked him out and I urge my readers to do the same. To put it in plain English, Ventura is a straight shooter, a man of integrity and a warrior for Truth and Justice who gets right down to the business of accurately describing the nature of the enemies of democracy and liberty we now face in America in his welcoming message to subscribers: “With the planet and humanity on the brink. With the War Hawks and Wall Street Barbarians at our gates. With the two party dictatorship that runs the U.S. government codifying the corporate greed of the Democrats and the Republican cult of oppression. I’ve spent my life running against these winds of fascism and hypocrisy.”

Ventura brings to the battle lots of practical life experience that makes him eminently qualified to speak out against the injustices of our corrupt, corporatized political system and offer viable alternatives more in keeping with the intentions of the Constitution in its prescriptions to promote the common welfare, instead of the bottom lines of Wall Street banks and arms manufacturers. He accomplishes his mission with the fighting spirit of the former Navy Seal and Vietnam combat veteran that he is in a series of great essays, many written with his son Tyrel, as well as via a collection of short videos that are a joy to watch, and by themselves are worth the price of a subscription. Ventura also had a long career as a professional wrestler and served a term as Governor of Minnesota, so he knows a lot about human nature and the wily ways of politicians, experiences that give his essays that unmistakable ring of truth that only writers of integrity can consistently deliver. Ventura is what is known as “The Real Deal,” a refreshing alternative to the phonies, sycophants and liars in the mainstream media and the criminal gaslighters at Fox News and Newsmax. His commanding gestures, manly bearing and direct manner of speaking add to his authority as a man of honor and a reliable source of truth, the highest accolade one can grant a journalist.

Following is a quote from the August 13, 2022 post entitled A Lack of Education: A Truly Dangerous Supply Chain Issue That Everyone is Ignoring in which Jesse and Tyrel explore “a major crisis in the American education system…that has manifested itself into a staggering lack of school teachers and staff.” Citing low pay and political pressures, the piece documents the “biggest threat of all to our sovereignty. Our education.” America’s current educational system isn’t interested in producing men like Jesse Ventura; the corporate masters of the two-party political system are working diligently to prevent that at all costs. Our supermarket universities and exclusive charter schools for the rich are focused on a curriculum designed to turn out obedient slaves to the capitalist money machine without regard to the broader issues of human existence that affect the quality and sustainability of that experience.

History tells us that, without a doubt, the most important weapon against fascism is not a gun, it’s an education. Ask any dictator or oppressive government and they will tell you that the greatest threat to the unchecked power of the state is an educated and informed populace. In the last few years both the Democratic and Republican parties have turned school policies and curriculum into a political football, with each side fighting over not only proper pandemic procedures, but also what can and cannot be taught in the classroom. This political pissing contest has had the effect of pitting parents against teachers, teachers against school boards, school boards against both right and left political activists and operatives, essentially making our classrooms ground zero in a political culture war. So is it any wonder why so many teachers would rather jump ship or choose a different career path than be caught up in that hellish crossfire.?”

The crisis in education is just one of the important issues that Governor Ventura and his son Tyrel explore in the “unique brand of politics, philosophy, and personal experiences” the team brings to the “fantastic free speech platform that is Substack,” as Ventura describes their quest in his opening essay welcoming new subscribers. “Here you will find all my thoughts, opinions, and personal life stories from more than five decades of living the many adventures that have made up my life. From my younger days as a UDT/SEAL to the wild world of professional wrestling and then on to when I shocked the world and became the 38th Governor of the great state of Minnesota.”

As a new subscriber I’m enjoying my experience on the Governor’s Substack platform immensely, especially the short video rants that have a beautiful way of succinctly framing the issue at hand, and as Lyndon Baines Johnson called upon his troops to do back in the days when Ventura was a young SEAL in Vietnam, “nailing the coonskin to the wall.” In his mission as a journalist to report the truth about what matters in the world today, Ventura is a man readers can count on to get the job done.

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