RE: reclaiming our Republic....
One glimmer of hope I have is that common people casually expect freedom and independence even if they vote Dem. They don’t like it being taken away.
During the 1967 Detroit Riots a friend of my mother was used to crossing from the suburbs onto the Detroit side of the boulevard Eight Mile Road to go to a liquor store and then turn around to go back. Cops stopped him. He said “I’m just going here and then going back to the other side after I buy some stuff at this store.” They harshly told him to get out now. “Hey, fellas, I’m not a rioter. I’m just a regular guy.” He smiled. Two more police came over and pointed weapons in his face and didn’t return his smile. He left, shaking.
“They knew I’m not a threat to anybody. I’m just a normal person, not a rioter.”
After that he was resentful of police authority.
Another conservative is born...
1968 Detroit Riot had a more widespread effect, probably as a panic reaction to 1967. Parents and schools, in an area within a radius of forty miles from the center of Detroit, clamped down on the freedom to roam - kids and students. Also, curfews. Limited recess. Monitored playing fields.