Those "Shit Hole" Countries, Farmers, a Response to my Letter, Heads of State and Two Really Good Columns

A friend approached me the other day saying, "You're a Democrat, aren't you!"  A follower of this blog, he sensed that it rarely included articles favorable to Republicans.  Certainly, if any intelligent pieces supporting Republican positions were sent to me, I would be glad to include them on the blog.  The trouble is that these positions are usually indefensible when looked at from a rational, objective, AND NOT NECESSARILY DEMOCRATIC perspective.   Today's posting includes columns by two journalists with impeccable conservative Republican credentials, and who probably voted for Republicans in 2006. 2008. 2010, 2012 and, 2014, but what they have written will not make today's Republicans happy.

Blockheads in the Farm Bloc

Farmers throughout the country supported Donald Trump in his Presidential race, although it was not in their interest to do so.  Maybe they liked the red baseball caps.  Be that as it may, polls show they still are strongly behind him.  It is very hard to figure out why this is the case when you look at Trump’s and the G.O.P.’s programs which include: 

(1) Withdrawal from NAFTA, which provides enormous markets for American agricultural products,

(2) Restrictions on immigrants upon whom farmers depend to harvest their crops, and

(3) Reduction of crop insurance payments when nature doesn’t do its job and crops fail.  

The nation’s biggest farm organization, the Farm Bureau, is against all of these Republican measures yet they, and most farmers, continue to support Donald Trump. Without using the overworked words “gullible” or “dumb,” can someone explain why this is?

Jack Lippman

What Can Happen When You Call a Country a "Shit Hole"

 (a fictional short story set in Port au Prince, Haiti)

“And whatever economic aid the Americans were giving to you, we will continue to do that.  In fact, two billion dollars was deposited just this morning into the Bank of Haiti at your branch in Rotterdam.  We will of course negotiate a monthly increase for humanitarian purposes in short order.  You’ve had more than your share of disasters.  Our people will be glad to share our foodstuffs with yours until a new agricultural plan is developed for you.  A battalion of our Republican Guard,” Masood continued, “will be arriving soon in Port au Prince to start training your military.  Soon it will be the most effective defense force in the Caribbean.  Look what we did for Hezbollah!  New weapons are on the way too, and they won’t be the out-of-date stuff the Americans were giving you.  Soon, there will be a new Haiti, and many of your people who left the island will be returning for the new opportunities here.”

The Haitian President took pen in hand and signed the document and Masood added his name to the declaration announcing the Iranian-Haitian Cooperation Pact.

“I do not want to be rude, Monsieur President,” Masood added as he rose and strode toward the door.  “But a car is waiting to take me to the airport where a plane awaits to fly me to Africa where I have a lot of similar business to transact.”

“Before you go,” the Haitian President inquired, “take a moment to tell me how this all came about so quickly.  I am still dumbfounded by how rapidly Iran sent you to see me.  And of course, we had every reason to be receptive to your offer.  But what brought it to fruition at this great moment, Masood?”

The Iranian paused and stroked his chin.  “Monsieur President,” he explained.  While most Iranians follow the Muslim faith, there still is some religious freedom in our country, so long as it doesn’t preach revolution nor love of Zionism.  We actually have a number of Iranian Jews in our country, some of whom had immigrated there from Eastern Europe, and they have, in their quaint language, the perfect phrase to explain why this Iranian-Haitian Cooperation Pact came to be today.”

“Tell me the phrase, please,” the President asked.

“We signed this treaty today,” Mamood said in almost a whisper, ”because America’s leader is 'a dumb schmuck.' He handed your country to us with his vile insult of your people.   Au revoir, Monsieur President.”

On the way out of the Presidential Palace, the Iranian diplomat spotted two North Korean military officers sitting on sofas in the hallway waiting to see the President.  He recognized them by the size of their hats.  “You’re too late, fellows,” he said to them.  “I already got his signature on the dotted line.”  

A few minutes later, the president of Haiti was on a conference call with the members of his cabinet.  “Don’t worry about our new relationship with Iran, friends," he said.  “If we choose to, we can tear up those papers in a second and disavow them. The Chinese and the Russians will be visiting next week I understand, and I’m sure their deals will be better than Iran’s.  That "schmuck" calling us a "shit hole" might be the best thing that the United States has done for Haiti in years!

JL

Are Republicans Finally Getting It?

A recent Washington Post column by conservative writer Michael Gerson carried the headline "Trump can’t lose a grasp on reality he never possessed.” 

His concluding paragraph read: “All this presents a particular problem for elected Republicans.  At the beginning, they could engage in wishful thinking about Trump’s fitness.  Now they must know he is not emotionally equipped to be president.  Yet they also know this can’t be admitted.  (Underlining is mine, not Gerson’s) So GOP leaders are engaged in an intentional deception, pretending the president is a normal and capable leader.  I empathize with their political dilemma.  But they will, eventually, be exposed.  And by then the country may not be in a forgiving mood.”

I’ve been saying this for quite a while on this blog (see the last week’s posting) and it’s good to see conservative Republicans beginning to see the light.  Read Gerson’s entire column by CLICKING RIGHT HERE  It will be worth your while.

                                                     And continuing in this vein, New York Times columnist

Ross Douthat (another conservative Republican) in a recent column asks “Can the people who surround Donald Trump work around his incapacity (underlining is mine, not Douthat’s) successfully enough to keep his unfitness from producing a historic calamity?  He points out that the nation has survived “incapacitated” presidents in the White House before such as James Garfield (unsuccessfully recovering from a bullet wound) and Woodrow Wilson after he suffered a severe stroke.  Read the full article by CLICKING RIGHT HERE .

Conservatives might object to my including columns by Gerson and Douthat as not being representative of Republican thinking.   Some may consider them to the left of what G.O.P. mainline thought is today.  I disagree.  Republicans must distinguish between true traditional conservative ideas and the philosophy of nut-job Republicans who seem to advocate as little government as possible, believing that things would be better in an unregulated Ayn Randish “almost-anarchy” where social and economic benefits would “trickle down” to the general population from a tax-favored “wealthy class” and a socially conscious business community.  Balderdash!  Never happened anywhere and wouldn’t happen here.

JL

My Messages Get Out There!

It does one good to see that their messages succeed in reaching people!  Here is the text of a letter of mine, published Dec. 27, 2017 in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel where it reached about 106,000 readers.  (Sound familiar?  It also had been posted on this blog.)

Democratic process must be kept whole:

When the democratic process malfunctions, that is, when the people make poor decisions, they may get more than they bargained for. The French Revolution in the final decade of the Eighteenth century, the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the rise of Hitler in Germany in 1932 illustrate this. None of these “popular” changes in government ended well.

Essential to the democratic process working as it should, ”in the interest of the people,” are a free press, a well-educated citizenry and respect for a legitimate opposition. Their absence can lead to a malfunction of the democratic process which is what occurred in these examples. This is what we are dealing with today in the United States. That is why I am proud to be a Democrat, recognizing the Democratic Party’s understanding of the democratic process, a concept which the President and the Republican Party fail to grasp.

Well, at least one of my neighbors must have read it because this morning, 

eighteen days after its publication, he dropped off a copy of my letter with me this morning.  Jotted down on it was:

“How sick to try to compare Pres Trump to what Hitler did.  Written by a proud Former Democrat M.A.G.A. Get over it you lost.”

I don’t know for what that cryptic signature (M.A.G.A.) stands, but I do compliment the neighbor who at least had the guts to personally hand it to me. Shows that at least he has some character! 

When I voice my opinions, I do not hesitate to sign my name to them. Those who disagree with me and who apparently prefer to remain anonymous manifest a pitiful indication of the depth of their commitment to their ideas. What are they ashamed of?

Also included with the above message was a five page copy of an unsigned (why are these people so ashamed to let the world know they support President Trump?) internet document from a “Former Democrat” entitled “Obama’s Eight Years - A Total Disaster.” This laid out about 20 criticisms of President Obama and the Clintons, all of which have been circulating on the internet for years, ranging from an increase in the number of Americans receiving “food stamps” to “Benghazi.” If someone wants to send me a copy of this online (my scanner doesn’t work), I would be glad to include it on the blog!  (But of course, their name will appear so I don’t expect to receive it.  It takes guts to sign your name to something. This lack of "guts" is something right wing internet posters share with many Republican members of Congress.  See the two columnists' ideas directly above. )

JL

Heads of Government vs. Heads of State

Theresa May, the British PM and the Queen of England

Everyone recognizes that the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Theresa May, is that nation's "head of  government" and leads that country… but that she is not the “head of state” of the UK.  England has its Queen, a highly respected and visible ceremonial position, but without very much power, as its "head of state."  Officially, the United States has no such “ceremonial” head of state.  That role is filled by the President who is in charge of the Executive Branch of our government.  

But hold on, doesn’t our Constitution make that Executive Branch co-equal with the Legislative and Judicial Branches of our government?  That’s what its structure of checks and balances is all about.  Then why, one might ask, is the head of one Branch, the Executive Branch, filing the role closest to what passes as the “head of state” (not to be confused with a “head of government”) in our country?  Shouldn’t the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, at the pinnacle of the other two co-equal branches of our government, have equal claim to that ephemeral position?  

Virginia Postrel, in an interesting piece published on line on Bloomberg View last week, touches on this subject, focusing on Oprah Winfrey, who while no more qualified to be President than Donald Trump despite her oration at the Golden Globes awards last week, might make a fine “ceremonial” head of state.  Check out what she writes by CLICKING RIGHT HERE.

JL

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