A Letter and a Course for Democrats
Here’s a letter I wrote to the Palm Beach Post last week that I doubt they will print. It commented from a historical viewpoint on
what Times columnist Ross Douthat
suggested in a recent column (highlighted below in my letter). I now see that Tom Friedman, in a column
last week in the Times, is following
the same route. Read Friedman's thoughts by CLICKING RIGHT HERE.
Two Times columnists: Friedman and Douthat
The message is clear. In 2018 and 2020, issues must take a backseat to instituting damage control against the harm being done to our country by the terrible individual currently occupying the White House.
The message is clear. In 2018 and 2020, issues must take a backseat to instituting damage control against the harm being done to our country by the terrible individual currently occupying the White House.
My Letter to the Post: Ross Douthat’s
column on the course Democrats should follow in 2020, and initiate in this
year’s mid-term elections, reminds me of the way the Whig Party defeated the
Democrats in 1840, replacing incumbent President Martin Van Buren with General
William Henry Harrison (who died shortly after being inaugurated). They just
attacked Van Buren at rallies where they screamed out “Van, Van, is a Used-up
Man” and which featured a politically inspired hit song of the day, “Tippecanoe
(Harrison’s nickname) and Tyler Too.”
And that’s the way they responded when the Democrats vainly attempted to
discuss the real issues of the day of which there were many, including a
nationwide economic ‘panic’ caused by a collapse of credit in 1838 and the
insidious spreading of slavery westward.
The 1840 Whig campaign was almost as shallow as today’s “Make America
Great Again” mantra of Trump supporters, but both succeeded in putting their party’s
candidate into the White House. Douthat suggests the Democrats
avoid issues now and simply focus on “Trumpian corruption, the sleazy, sordid,
self-dealing side of his administration and the obvious reluctance of
congressional Republicans to execute more than a cursory oversight.” This is a sad commentary on American voters
today, as well as those who elected Harrison back in 1840, but he is correct.
Sure,
health care, the environment, the economy, trade, China, Russia and North
Korea, the Middle East, women's rights, jobs, racism, etc. are all important,
but they are far overshadowed by the need to put a leash on Trump until 2020
when, as Tom Friedman puts it, "our next presidential
election gives us a chance to end this cancer." I believe (please read the article - Click Right Here ) Friedman even goes so far as to say that "voting for the worst Democrat is preferable to voting for the best Republican." Obviously that party's reluctance to denounce the President deserves such treatment.
As I have said on this blog innumerable times,
Democratic candidates at all levels must challenge their Republican opponents
with the question, "Do you support the President or not?" If
they answer in the affirmative, they will lose the votes of many independent
voters and Republicans who cannot stomach the President's mishandling of his
office. If they answer in the negative, they will lose the votes of the
Trump base. Either way, the Democratic candidate will benefit.
Nationwide, along with a massive voter registration drive, this is the pathway
to Democratic victories in 2018 and 2020. Douthat and Friedman get
it. Do the Democrats?
Jack Lippman
WhileThomas
Jefferson believed that the nation should follow the leadership of their democratically
elected leader, the winner of the majority of votes (in the Electoral College,
that is), he also believed that
there should be rights reserved to the minority, so that they might be
protected from autocratic rule by the majority. The Bill
of Rights spells out some of these rights. There are others. The problem is that they are individual rights
and a member of the losing side in an election, a member of the losing
minority, could achieve little by exercising these rights.
Some however, believed that when these individual rights were combined into a collective mass reflecting a large group with common interests who wanted to exercise them against the democratically elected majority, they could be more effective. And the logical instrument to use to combine these individual rights turned out to be the individual States. This is where the idea of “States' Rights” comes in.
After the Democratic hand-wringing and recriminations resulting from their defeat in 1840, such ideas, frequently voiced by Senator and former Vice President
John C. Calhoun, became quite prevalent, and ultimately led to a belief that an
individual State had the right to secede from the Union if they were dissatisfied with majority rule. This resulted in the Civil War. True, it ended slavery ... which would not have survived very much longer ... but it also resulted in 630,000 American deaths.
Jack Lippman
From Monticello to Guantanamo
Some however, believed that when these individual rights were combined into a collective mass reflecting a large group with common interests who wanted to exercise them against the democratically elected majority, they could be more effective. And the logical instrument to use to combine these individual rights turned out to be the individual States. This is where the idea of “States' Rights” comes in.
After the Democratic hand-wringing and recriminations resulting from their defeat in 1840, such ideas, frequently voiced by Senator and former Vice President
John C. Calhoun, became quite prevalent, and ultimately led to a belief that an
individual State had the right to secede from the Union if they were dissatisfied with majority rule. This resulted in the Civil War. True, it ended slavery ... which would not have survived very much longer ... but it also resulted in 630,000 American deaths.
So when you
look at the present situation, and wonder how the hallowed democratic process in this great country of ours actually
voted to put an unqualified real estate wheeler-dealer in the White House, be
careful what you wish for. The remedy
might be worse than the malady, as it was in the middle of the nineteenth century.
Okay …
That’s enough History for now.
But Trump gets worse and worse with each passing day. His use of the power to pardon for political reasons, bypassing the usual Department of Justice guidelines for pardons, is horrendous. In his imbecilic mind, he is not compassionately pardoning guilty people CONVICTED of crimes by our legal system. Rather, he is pardoning those who were convicted by a court, judge and jury with which he DISAGREES!
He is granting pardons based on his illusion that he is above laws and court actions with which he disagrees. And most Republicans, including those who went to law school, sit by doing nothing.
There are those who believe Trump will be impeached. I don't think that will happen. There are those who think that sooner or later, the Republicans, whose party he stole from under them, will wise up and desert him and that will force his resignation. That may happen because all Republicans are not gullible and stupid. But I think he will leave as the result of the 2020 election which the Democrats will win. Once he is out of office, however that may come about, he will have to pay a price for his dishonesty.
He doesn't understand that getting away with what the law allows by any means, however unscrupulous and acceptable in the darker parts of the business world, is not the way it is in govenment. While not totally unaware of the checks and balances naturally established between the Legislative, the Executive and the Judicial Branches of our Government by our Constitution, he is willing, like the unscrupulous businessman he was up until his election, to stretch them to the breaking point! Look at all of the politicians (Illinois governors for example) who failed to understand the wrongness of such a position and ended up in jail. That is possibly what is going to happen to ex-President Trump. Also, it is not inconceivable that his future might end up similar to that of Bill Cosby. Who knows how much Michael Cohen will reveal?
Rather than incarcerate him, I think the option of "exile" will be offered to him, and when I suggested, a few postings ago, that Guantanamo might be an ideal site for such an exile, I was joking. I am no longer joking. Unless he is "evil incarnate," Donald J. Trump is just too dumb to understand what he is doing. Tillerson, Masterson and occasionally even Kelly, who is still around, got it right ... and said so. ("Idiot, Moron," etc.). "Anything to Make a Sale" may work in real estate, but not in government. That says a lot for New York Military Academy, Fordham University and the University of Pennsylvania where he supposedly was educated. I am sure his father made generous donations to get him through these otherwise creditable institutions.
Convicted Arizona Sheriff Joe Arapaio committed crimes of which the President approved ... and was pardoned for that reason, leaving the impression that the Courts were wrong and he was right.
But Trump gets worse and worse with each passing day. His use of the power to pardon for political reasons, bypassing the usual Department of Justice guidelines for pardons, is horrendous. In his imbecilic mind, he is not compassionately pardoning guilty people CONVICTED of crimes by our legal system. Rather, he is pardoning those who were convicted by a court, judge and jury with which he DISAGREES!
He doesn't understand that getting away with what the law allows by any means, however unscrupulous and acceptable in the darker parts of the business world, is not the way it is in govenment. While not totally unaware of the checks and balances naturally established between the Legislative, the Executive and the Judicial Branches of our Government by our Constitution, he is willing, like the unscrupulous businessman he was up until his election, to stretch them to the breaking point! Look at all of the politicians (Illinois governors for example) who failed to understand the wrongness of such a position and ended up in jail. That is possibly what is going to happen to ex-President Trump. Also, it is not inconceivable that his future might end up similar to that of Bill Cosby. Who knows how much Michael Cohen will reveal?
Rather than incarcerate him, I think the option of "exile" will be offered to him, and when I suggested, a few postings ago, that Guantanamo might be an ideal site for such an exile, I was joking. I am no longer joking. Unless he is "evil incarnate," Donald J. Trump is just too dumb to understand what he is doing. Tillerson, Masterson and occasionally even Kelly, who is still around, got it right ... and said so. ("Idiot, Moron," etc.). "Anything to Make a Sale" may work in real estate, but not in government. That says a lot for New York Military Academy, Fordham University and the University of Pennsylvania where he supposedly was educated. I am sure his father made generous donations to get him through these otherwise creditable institutions.
Guantanamo Beach Scene
Were it not for such a possible boost to get him some educational credentials and a million bucks to get him started in business, Donald Trump probably would be sitting in a boiler room somewhere today, making blind phone calls to innocent old ladies threatening that the IRS was about to come knocking on their door unless they immediatey provided him with their credit card and social security numbers. And he would be very, very good at it.
JL
In a recent Washington Post column, E. J. Dionne quoted Samuel Johnson's famous description of patriotism as "the last refuge of a scoundrel." Dionne qualified that by adding that "an honest love of country is a virtue, not a vice." He went on to say (and this was but a small part of his Memorial Day column) that "Johnson was on to something because patriotism often is manipulated in the name of power, advantage and, in the case of the National Football League's wealthy overseers, money."
Good point. Why do all those Washinton people, in Congress and in the Administration, wear those American Flag pins on their jackets? Why do some college and pro football teams have the American flag on their helmets? Why do our local garbage trucks have an American flag emblazoned on them?
In a marina, one can identify the home port of many of the yachts there by the flag they are flying. Gee, that one is from the Bahamas, that one is from Jamaica, and so forth. Why does a Congressman or a quarterback or a garbage truck have to show the flag? Is the Congressman worried that he might be mistaken for a non-citizen? Is the quarterback worried that he might be a ringer brought in from overseas (like many of the Russians on our pro hockey teams)? And is our garbage company worried about their trucks being used for nefarious un-American purposes once they drop their loads?
I have an American flag pin that I wear on my lapel when I am wearing a suit or sport jacket. I started wearing it in 2016 and people ask me why I wear the flag "upside down." I explain why and tell them that after 2020, hopefully, I won't be wearing it that way, if I continue to wear it at all. I am an American and I do not have to wear a flag to attest to it. Wearing one does not make me more patriotic. In fact, those who find it necessary to wear one may be doing so because their real patriotism may not be all that it is cracked up to be.
A word to my critics, and I have a few: True, there is an American flag displayed in the garden in front of my home. It is, however,
the Betsy Ross flag, which George Washington fought under, and I display it as being of historic interest, although any version of the American flag (and "Old Glory" has undergone many modifications over the years) is acceptable as our national emblem.
(One of the residents of the community, mostly retirees, where I live once asked me why I have a Confederate flag in front of my house. What can I say? It is difficult to talk politics to these people.)
JL
Were it not for such a possible boost to get him some educational credentials and a million bucks to get him started in business, Donald Trump probably would be sitting in a boiler room somewhere today, making blind phone calls to innocent old ladies threatening that the IRS was about to come knocking on their door unless they immediatey provided him with their credit card and social security numbers. And he would be very, very good at it.
JL
Patriotism and Old Glory
In a recent Washington Post column, E. J. Dionne quoted Samuel Johnson's famous description of patriotism as "the last refuge of a scoundrel." Dionne qualified that by adding that "an honest love of country is a virtue, not a vice." He went on to say (and this was but a small part of his Memorial Day column) that "Johnson was on to something because patriotism often is manipulated in the name of power, advantage and, in the case of the National Football League's wealthy overseers, money."Good point. Why do all those Washinton people, in Congress and in the Administration, wear those American Flag pins on their jackets? Why do some college and pro football teams have the American flag on their helmets? Why do our local garbage trucks have an American flag emblazoned on them?
In a marina, one can identify the home port of many of the yachts there by the flag they are flying. Gee, that one is from the Bahamas, that one is from Jamaica, and so forth. Why does a Congressman or a quarterback or a garbage truck have to show the flag? Is the Congressman worried that he might be mistaken for a non-citizen? Is the quarterback worried that he might be a ringer brought in from overseas (like many of the Russians on our pro hockey teams)? And is our garbage company worried about their trucks being used for nefarious un-American purposes once they drop their loads?
I have an American flag pin that I wear on my lapel when I am wearing a suit or sport jacket. I started wearing it in 2016 and people ask me why I wear the flag "upside down." I explain why and tell them that after 2020, hopefully, I won't be wearing it that way, if I continue to wear it at all. I am an American and I do not have to wear a flag to attest to it. Wearing one does not make me more patriotic. In fact, those who find it necessary to wear one may be doing so because their real patriotism may not be all that it is cracked up to be.
A word to my critics, and I have a few: True, there is an American flag displayed in the garden in front of my home. It is, however,
the Betsy Ross flag, which George Washington fought under, and I display it as being of historic interest, although any version of the American flag (and "Old Glory" has undergone many modifications over the years) is acceptable as our national emblem.
(One of the residents of the community, mostly retirees, where I live once asked me why I have a Confederate flag in front of my house. What can I say? It is difficult to talk politics to these people.)
JL
In Homage to our "Prevaricator-in-Chief"
Unlikely to happen to Donald Trump in the near future because his trousers (and underwear as well) include an asbestos fibre carefully woven into their fabric by his Republican tailors in the Senate and the House.
The day they no longer provide him with such garments ought to be the day he bursts into flame, for he lies every day. But that day is not yet on the horizon. The limit of the blind gullibility of the Republicans was reached by former Speaker Boehner who said "bye, bye" and by current Speaker Paul Ryan who is also leaving.
Many more will follow, recognizing that whatever accomplishments Trump has enabled the G.O.P to chalk up are far, far, outweighed by his dishonesty, his disrespect for the rule of law and the damage he is doing to our country at home and abroad.
But this will leave the Republican Party in the hands of the "asbestos weavers" on the far right. That is why Democratic Congressional victories in 2018 are so, so, important for the salvation of American democracy.
JL
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