Do you know the net worth of Disney? Per Stock Analysis, “Disney has a market cap or net worth of $205.99 billion as of September 29, 2025.” $205.99 billion – which is why I was completely taken aback by their swift capitulation to President Trump.
I have no doubt there would have been repercussions for not falling in line. However, if a company worth $205.99 billion can’t weather the storm, what hope is there for our country?
History – the subject we worry about repeating itself yet debate its relevance. Still, I see history repeating itself and our blinders are firmly in place.
For this moment in history, I turn to Senator Margaret Chase Smith. She was a junior Republican senator from Maine during McCarthyism. At first, she was on board with the effort to root out “communist subversion.” It didn’t take long, though, for her to become alarmed. She eventually drafted “A Declaration of Conscience” and delivered the Declaration on the senate floor prefaced by a speech castigating her fellow Republicans for their trampling of free speech rights.
(I will note she castigates the Democrats, too, but she derides their policies which is fair.)
She was very nervous about both the declaration and speech. First, she was a junior senator at a time when they, like children, were expected “to be seen not heard.” In addition, she was the only female senator at the time. She had hoped senior members of her party in the Senate would step up, but none did. With encouragement from friends in the media, she decided to go ahead.
Here is some of her what she espoused:
· “. . . I do not want to see the Republican party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny – Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear.”
· “It is a national feeling of fear and frustration that could result in national suicide and the end of everything that we American’s hold dear.”
· “I speak as briefly as possible because too much harm has already been done with irresponsible words and selfish political opportunism.”
There is so much more but I can’t include it all here. However, this provides a good summary:
“Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism-
The right to criticize.
The right to hold unpopular beliefs.
The right to protest.
The right of independent thought.
The exercise of these rights should not cost one single American citizen his reputation or his right to a livelihood . . .”
Where did I find this information? From the United States Senate website (Classic Senate Speeches, A Declaration of Conscience, Have You No Sense of Decency, Declaration. Reading her words, Senator Chase Smith could have been speaking to us today.
True, we aren’t fighting communism. What we have, though, is a President who wields authoritarian power (the White House Deputy Chief of Staff noted the President’s “plenary authority”) and a Congress who has become complicit through their abdication of their role in government. Today, we are witnessing “the end of everything that we American’s hold dear,” the vilifying of people through the use of “fear, ignorance, bigotry, and smear,” and the destruction of lives through the loss of reputation and livelihood.
Senator Chase Smith wasn’t successful at stopping McCarthy and she faced uncustomary retaliation in the senate for her remarks. However, she started the ball rolling. It would take another 4 years after Chase Smith’s speech for Senator Joe McCarthy to be brought to his knees.
McCarthy had gone after a lawyer in a law firm that employed Joseph Welch, the attorney representing the U.S. Army against accusations made by McCarthy. A fed-up Welch railed at McCarthy: “Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You have done enough.” In an infamous moment, he added, “Have you no sense of decency?”
A pivotal point in history when the Senate and public were confronted with their inhumanity.
I wonder if anyone asked this administration, “Have you no sense of decency?” what the answer would be. Unfortunately, from all that we are seeing today, I think I know the answer.