About Me

My photo
Jack is a graduate of Rutgers University where he majored in history. His career in the life and health insurance industry involved medical risk selection and brokerage management. Retired in Florida for over two decades after many years in NJ and NY, he occasionally writes, paints, plays poker, participates in play readings and is catching up on Shakespeare, Melville and Joyce, etc.

Tuesday, May 3, 2022

05-3-2022 - Roe vs. Wade, Five Pillars of Freedom, Dirty Hands and Three Pundits

 

Roe vs. Wade to be Overturned!
Blame it on Democracy!

Supreme Court Building in Washington,
contaminated by Republicans

The leaked draft of the Supreme Court’s decision on a pending abortion rights case indicates that the SCOTUS will rule to reverse Roe vs. Wade, enabling States to ban abortions 

This is the direct result of the defeated former president appointing three ‘pro-life’ Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States and enough ‘pro-life’ Republicans being elected to the Senate, where they were confirmed, after lying under oath at their confirmation hearings regarding respecting existing decisions.  Bear in mind two undeniable truths:

(1) Republicans will lie to get what they want and (2) the defeated former president and the Republicans in the Senate all were properly elected through our flawed democratic process.

Pushing for the reversal of Roe vs. Wade has been a marvelous tool for Republicans, all of them, to use to secure a margin of victory in elections, which without it, they would have been losers, and this includes, besides presidential elections, congressional, governorship and State legislature contests as well. 

Now the shoe is on the other foot.  While we will be stuck with a ‘pro-life’ SCOTUS for many years because of those who voted for the defeated former president in 2016 and other Republicans, all of the many offices which are filled by voters are still up for grabs.  And the overturning of Roe vs. Wade will present a magnificent opportunity to drive the Republicans out of office, nationwide!  Permanently, I hope, or at least until that party has regained its integrity and sanity and reject its present leadership. 

Bottom Line:  Because people should vote for what is in their interests, it is now clear that any woman who votes for any Republican for any office whatsoever, at any level, is a traitor to her sex 

It is time for a tsunami of women voters to speak at the ballot box in November to drive the Republicans out of State legislatures, governorships, and both Houses of Congress In 2024, they must be kept out of the White House, as well.  

For years, Republicans have used opposition to Roe vs. Wade to get voters to support Republican positions which were not in their best interests.  They must now pay the price for that.  It is time for the ‘pro-life’ movement, a minority of Americans, to be overwhelmed by those who respect the right of women to make their own decisions concerning their bodies, a view that a majority of Americans unquestionably hold. 

Democracy still permits good people to be elected as well as scoundrels.  There are too many of the latter in Washington and in our State capitals. 

But remember, right now, any woman who votes for any Republican for any office whatsoever, at any level, is a traitor to her sex.  Republicans must pay the price and be driven out of office. 

Unfortunately, nothing can be done about the SCOTUS at this point, short of the unlikely expansion of the number its justices.  The Supreme Court’s imminent reversal of Roe vs. Wade should be taken. however, as proof that the greatest flaw in American democracy is that far too many voters (74 million in 2020) can easily be convinced to vote against their own interests and wellbeing.

 

JL

                                           *   *   *   *

 

IF YOU LIKE THIS BLOG, PLEASE FORWARD IT TO AT LEAST ONE OR MORE FRIENDS OR FAMILY MEMBERS WHOM YOU FEEL MIGHT ENJOY READING IT.

There’s a little envelope at the bottom left corner of each posting enabling you to easily do that.  It looks like this:   .   Just click on it and follow the instructions.  It will forward the full text of the blog posting (but not any illustrations or images, like that little envelope with the arrow) to whomever you want.

JL

                                                     *   *   *   *

 

The Five Pillars of Freedom

 

Recently, after visiting the restroom at the Living Room Theatre on the campus of Florida Atlantic University, I exited the building by the wrong door and ended up in a courtyard where I had never been before.  In it I found a magnificent wall installation dedicated to the First Amendment installed on the corner of a wall that I had never seen before. When I ‘googled’ it to learn more about it, all I could find was an announcement regarding its unveiling nine years ago.  It is worth checking out by CLICKING HERE or visiting  https://www.fau.edu/artsandletters/jackmillerforum/pdf/constitution-day-2013-final-rev.pdf

The monument is called ‘The Five Pillars of Freedom” and includes the words of the First Amendment, its five pillars being freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble and freedom to petition.  Find the time to visit it behind the Living Room Theatre on the Culture and Society Building (CU) Promenade if you can manage to find that on FAU’s campus in Boca Raton.

It was important in 1789 when it was written.  It was important when this monument was created in 2013.  It is important today!

 JL

                                     *   *   *   *

 Another Letter Published

The  Palm Beach Post published (on Sunday, May 1) another of my letters, that read as follows:

 “One of the letters from readers in Wednesday's (4/27) Post was headlined 'Floridians need a wake-up call.’  If the almost daily actions of Florida's governor and his compliant legislators haven't provided that call, I do not know what can. History is filled with tragedies inflicted upon those who ignore hurricane warnings and air raid sirens.”

 

JL

                                     *   *   *   *

 

Are Your Hands Dirty?

How many who are reading this get their hands dirty doing whatever they do when they're not sitting at their keyboards, watching TV or on their cell phones? That is the audience the Democrats must reach. Right-wing liars successfully do it daily!  

 Democrats’ messaging must reach beyond CNN and MSNBC, beyond the late-night TV hosts, and beyond the NYT and the WAPO, and magazines (New Yorker, Atlantic, etc.) that their progressive and liberal cohort already access. Let's see some well-targeted commercials on TV outlets besides those mentioned above featuring veterans, country singers, rap and hip-hop stars, chefs (!) and athletes. There must be an organized effort to do this. It won't just happen on its own.

 

JL

                                     *   *   *   *


Three Pundits:  Heather Cox Richardson, Sun Tzu, and Pogo

Continuing the excerpts of my postings on Professor Heather Cox Richardson’s daily “Letters from an American,” here is what I wrote after reading her April 28 analysis of the history of anti-democratic movements in the United States.  I urge you to read it by visiting https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/  or by SIMPLY CLICKING HERE.

Anyhow, here is what I wrote:

“When history professor HCR confesses that up until now, "It has been hard for me to see the historical outlines of the present-day attack on American democracy clearly," the sentence with which she begins her posting today, imagine where that leaves those of us who have far less expertise than she has. If we, and it is up to us, are to succeed in defeating this attack on American democracy, we must recognize Sun Tzu's admonition in "The Art of War" that we must "know the enemy and know yourself." HCR has clearly identified the enemy for us.  It is up to us to know ourselves.”

 My concluding eight words raise the question of whether we actually “know ourselves.”  What are we really like?

 

1.   Remember that 74 million American voters cast ballots for the defeated former president in 2020, and that American voters have elected many governors and State legislative majorities agreeing with his autocratic methods. Almost half of Congress does too. 

2.   Remember that Tucker Carlson, a racist, is the most viewed program on cable television.

3.   But we are a country where many, probably a majority, believe that our government should provide a safety net for the elderly and those at the bottom of our economic ladder, including guaranteed health care.

4.   Most of us believe that there should be some regulation of the business and financial communities as well. 

5.   Remember that we also are a country where many believe such measures (those in 3. and 4. above) impinge upon their guaranteed freedoms and the government should not do such things.

6.   Remember that while we preach ‘loving one’s neighbor’ in our houses of worship, elsewhere we also still allow discrimination based on skin color, gender, and ethnic background, either openly or covertly.

 

No one can deny that Americans are divided on many issues.

Here is Sun Tzu’s entire quotation from “The Art of War”:

 “Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.  If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.  If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”  (From Section III, ‘Attack by Stratagem’ - Paragraph 18)

At this moment, it is clear to me that we Americans have considerable disagreement as to our nature.  Sun Tzu might conclude that we do not know ourselvesBut Sun Tzu does not mention the specific condition of one’s knowing the enemy (which Professor Richardson and others make sure that we do) while not knowing ourselves, which seems to be our condition.

In reality, we indeed may ‘know ourselves.’  Professor Richardson’s analysis defining our ‘enemy’ may also define us! The negative attributes included in the listing above are part of who we are.  They cannot be ignored.  Another sage, Pogo, once said (parodying Commodore Perry’s famous words in 1812) thatWe have met the enemy and he is us.’ That is not good.

 

JL

 

                                    *   *   *   *

 

No comments: