Criticizing Democracy, The Hand We've Been Dealt, Another Pandemic? Patriotic Songs

Criticizing Democracy

I want to make a distinction regarding how ‘Democracy’ is subject to criticism. 

Donald J. Trump was elected to the presidency in 2016 in an entirely legal manner, following the rules laid out in the Constitution.  That the crucial electoral college votes which gave him the victory came from states with many gullible and ignorant voters doesn’t matter.  That is an educational problem, not a political one.  In 2016, Trump won ‘fair and square,’ or pretty close to that standard, even though he may have had ‘a little help from his friends.’  (In the early days of the Republic, the French and the British tried to be ‘helpful’ to candidates they favored in our elections.) Some may not like it but that’s the way democracy works.  It is up to us to fix it, rather than dwelling on it as evidence that ‘democracy is dead,’ as strong as that evidence may be.  It’s a taut tightrope to walk, but we must try to walk across it.

Opponents of democracy in other countries, non-democratic ones, feel an autocratic, if not a dictatorial, government is a better solution.  They take pleasure in criticizing the failures of our ‘democracy’ as evidence of this.  While they are happy with the autocratic tendencies of the president our ‘democracy’ elected in 2016, they take his election despite a majority of Americans opposing him and his programs, as evidence that ‘democracy is dead’ here.  How else could that have happened.  What the people got wasn't quite what they thought they had voted for.

We should distinguish our thoughts concerning the demise of democracy in the United States between (1) those endeavoring to fix, or resuscitate, it and (2) those following the idea that its flaws, as shown by Trump’s election, and possible re-election, prove it to be an inherently failed system of government.  That latter idea is what the Russians would like Americans to believe and are spending big bucks to promulgate through social media, playing both sides of the street, sowing dissent wherever the field seems fertile.

As I said, it’s a taut tightrope we walk. 

 JL

The Hand We've Been Dealt

But getting back to where we are today, just a few short weeks before we elect a president, a full House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate, let’s look at what’s on the table.

As I see it, the only way Trump can be kept out of office for four more years would be for an enormous repudiation of him and all he stands for to take place in the election.  Ideally, it would be very helpful if Biden won the popular and the electoral vote on Election Day, even before those states which will accept mailed in ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within a stipulated (varying by State) number of days after Election Day are tabulated.  That would give him a strong argument for claiming victory.  (There are fifteen such States plus D.C. but all but three are either solidly Republican or Democratic to the extent where mailed in votes received after Election Day are unlikely to change anything.  They might, however, make a difference in Texas, North Carolina and Virginia.)

 

If such a Biden victory (or one dependent on the delayed tabulation in one of those three States) occurs, the Republicans will contest the election results with litigation, ultimately before a politicized Supreme Court and/or the turning over of the electoral college to State Legislatures after a specified deadline passes.  By then, Trump’s nominee to replace Justice Ginsberg on the Supreme Court will have been approved by the spineless Senate, and Trump will be declared the winner. 

 

Remember that whomever is ultimately chosen to be president, or even the continuance of Trump in office without a resolution of the election results, millions of those who disagree will be out there demonstrating in Washington and  throughout the nation, and I don’t think it will be entirely non-violent, on either side. At this moment, it doesn’t appear that this will end well.

That’s the hand we’ve been dealt.  Now play it … and always expect the unexpected to happen.

 

 

 

Another Pandemic

The other day, someone asked me about how the Covid19 pandemic would end.  I replied that eventually, its spread would be stopped by our finally and seriously following the rules (social distancing, masks, handwashing, avoiding crowded venues and crowds, etc.).  And then, I added, we will have to deal with the other pandemic threatening our country.  “What disease is that?” I was asked.  I smiled and responded, “Monumental ignorance, my friend, monumental ignorance.  Were it not for that, Covid19 would be history by now.”

  

 

Patriotic Songs 

Think of all the patriotic songs you know so well.  “My country, t’is of thee,” “Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light,” “Glory, glory, halleyulah,” “You’re a grand old flag,” and finally, these less frequently sung verses from "America the Beautiful."

“Oh beautiful for pilgrim feet whose stern impassioned stress, a thoroughfare for freedom beat across the wilderness! America! America! God mend thine every flaw, confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law! …

“Oh beautiful for patriots’ dreams that see beyond the years, thine alabaster cities gleam, Undimmed by human tears! America! America! God shed His grace on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea! 

                                                    *   *   *

And this man doesn't understand any of these words and wants to destroy them!

JL

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