Interesting that this was written a long time ago. History repeats itself...

"The spirit of 1776 is not dead. It has only been slumbering. The body of the American people is substantially republican. But their virtuous feelings have been played on by some fact with more fiction; they have been the dupes of artful manoeuvres, and made for a moment to be willing instruments in forging chains for themselves. But time and truth have dissipated the delusion, and opened their eyes." – Thomas Jefferson, letter to Thomas Lomax, Monticello, March 12, 1799; ME 10:123
https://chumly.com/n/15e0606