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Democracy Ain't What You Always Thought It Was
Let’s get it straight. For years, there have been believers in the idea our democracy is intended for only the limited number of those who control the nation’s wealth and resources, and that expanding that number will only dilute democracy with populism and cause it to fail by expending its resources for the benefit of those who do not contribute to their existence.
Assuring that more people are encouraged to vote, and to have their social and economic security the concern of the government was seen as causing the downfall of democracy. Actually, this was the backdrop for the democracy that the ‘founding fathers,’ many of whom were slaveowners, proposed. It excluded women, slaves, many immigrants, and often landless Americans from those who were among those ‘who were created equal’ back in 1776.
Things have changed since then, but there are still many who want to go back to those days of limited democracy. Most are Republicans.
Today, their ideas are included in ‘Christian Democracy,’ the program of Hungary’s Viktor Orban, admired by some Americans and the Heritage Foundation’s ‘Project 2025.’ Even Donald Trump recently told an evangelical group that once they voted him into office again, he would fix everything permanently so they never would never have to vote again to accomplish their goals. So long, democracy!
Only today, I've read that the director of ‘Project 2025’ stepped down for publicizing what would better, in the eyes of some on the right, have remained their ‘inside’ ideas.
For more on this subject, check out Heather Cox Richardson’s ‘Letter from an American,’ dated July 30 by visiting https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/. It is a real eye-opener. Or just CLICK HERE.
JL
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Some who were disenchanted by Kamala Harris’ unsuccessful run in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries have given her a second look now that she is the Party’s candidate and are enthusiastically getting on board!
In 2020 there was a ‘disconnect’ between her
role in the legal system as a tough prosecutor and eventually a ‘law and order’
State Attorney General, and her otherwise progressive leanings. It was
difficult to be both at the same time.
Prominent in this reawakening of support for Kamala
Harris is the ‘coconut tree’ story now widely circulating. For those of you who missed it, here’s its
origin. Back in May of 2023, Harris
spoke at the White House about advancing opportunities for Hispanic individuals
and investing in the broader community. After pointing out that ‘because none
of us just live in a silo … everything is in context,’ she then
added, with a chuckle, how her mother occasionally berated the family’s kids,
saying. ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?’ Harris
then continued to her White House audience, ‘You
exist in the context of all in which you live, and what came before you.’
Those remarks of fourteen months ago make it
clear to many today that the Democratic presidential candidate, a seasoned and competent pro, fresh from the 'learning experience' of almost four years as Joe Biden's vice-president, recognizes the nation’s
past and its present challenges, and is NOT someone who just happened ‘to
fall out of a coconut tree,’ innocent of social, economic, and political
realities, and is deserving of the votes of all Americans. That ‘coconut tree’ has become
somewhat of a symbol of Harris’ campaign.
It is catching on. Brian Schatz, senator from Hawaii recently posted a photo
of himself climbing a coconut tree and captioned it, ‘Madam Vice President, we
are ready to help,’ and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who is rumored to be
a potential running mate for vice president, responded to a question about his
political future by writing, ‘You think I just fell out of a coconut tree?’ Not
to be outdone, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis didn't hold back and shared a post on
X on July 21, that included the coconut and palm tree emoji, along with an
American flag icon.
JL
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Cap and Gown Department
Occasionally, those in government are cited as graduates of Yale or Harvard Universities as a sign of their educational achievement. Sometimes, however, this often just refers to Yale or Harvard Law Schools where they pursue a specialized course of study, the law.
While being accepted into either of these two law schools is in itself an achievement, equally important is where they received their undergraduate degrees, their broader college education. Let me try to clear this up with a bit of information.
·
President Biden has a law degree from Syracuse University
and an undergraduate degree from the University of Delaware.
·
Kamala Harris’ has a law degree from the Univ. of
California Law School at San Francisco.
Her undergraduate degree is from Howard University.
·
Donald Trump has an undergraduate degree from the
University of Pennsylvania.
·
DJ Vance’s law degree is from Yale University and his
undergraduate degree is from Ohio State University.
·
Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Jackson
have both undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University.
·
Justice Gorsuch has a law degree from Harvard University and
an undergraduate degree from Columbia University.
·
Justice Kagan has a law degree from Harvard University and
an undergraduate degree from Princeton University.
·
Justices Alito and Sotomayor have law degrees from Yale
University and undergraduate degrees from Princeton University.
·
Justice Kavanaugh has undergraduate and law degrees from
Yale University.
·
Justice Thomas has a law degree from Yale University and an
undergraduate degree from the College of the Holy Cross.
·
Justice Barrett has a law degree from Notre Dame University
and an undergraduate degree from Rhodes College.
·
House Speaker Johnson has undergraduate and law degrees
from Louisiana State University.
·
Senate Majority Leader Shumer has undergraduate and law
degrees from Harvard University.
I think there is a need for greater diversity in where our government’s leaders are educated, especially our Supreme Court Justices. The undergraduate colleges and law schools attended by those in government mentioned above are heavily weighted toward ‘Ivy League’ schools, which although they are trying to rid themselves of the image, are still ‘elitist’ institutions.
I am sure that excellent undergraduate and legal educations are available outside of this select group of schools. They might even provide for a more democratic mix of students. In fact, the Constitution does not require that Supreme Court Justices have prior experience as judges, have attended law school, or even be lawyers.
Of interest is the fact that Princeton is the only Ivy League school with neither a law school nor a medical school. Brown and Dartmouth also do not have law schools.
This reminds me of what graduates at the very bottom, the tail end, of their graduation classes from any medical school whatsoever, are called for the rest of their lives: ‘Doctor.’
JL
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The Florida Homeowners’ Insurance Crisis Won't Go Away on its Own
There are solutions that probably will never happen, but which must be considered. Here are some suggestions that have come to mind lately.
· First, any insurance company that sells automobile insurance in Florida, but also sells homeowners insurance itself or through a subsidiary, must offer homeowners insurance as well, not only to their auto insurance customers, but to the general public as well in Florida, and not at a cost so prohibitive that it amounts to not offering it. They can't feast on the choice cuts and ignore the rest.
· Damage from tornados, hurricanes or windstorms above a certain level should be excluded from coverage in all homeowners’ policies and be replaced by entirely separate policies from these companies, fully reinsured by the State (in effect by its taxpayers). This would be similar to the existence of federally backed flood insurance, usually excluded from homeowners’ policies. This is an area of insurance where no insurer is guaranteed a profit without charging exorbitant rates, and where the 'profit' motivation must be removed.
· Citizens Insurance Company, a quasi-State-owned homeowners’ insurer ‘of last resort’ in Florida should be eliminated, its policyholders distributed among existing homeowners’ insurers. Refusal to accept them should result in such insurance companies being barred from selling any insurance products in the State of Florida.
·
Any member of either house of the Florida legislature who
is or was in any way connected with the insurance business would be
automatically excluded from voting on any measures involving insurance that require
legislative approval.
If reasonably priced homeowners’ insurance is not made available, homeowners will start a reverse migration out of Florida. The State can avoid this by managing homeowners’ insurance as a very strictly regulated public utility, either doing it themselves or farming it out to the low bidder among major insurance companies like Metropolitan, Prudential, Aetna, or Travelers, etc. Treating homeowners’ insurance, at least the parts covering tornados, hurricanes, or windstorms above a certain level, the way we provide water, sewers, fire departments, public schools, roadways, etc. might work. As I wrote earlier, this is an area of insurance where the 'profit' motivation must be removed.
JL
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Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri
Strange “Hits’! The large number of
those accessing Jackspotpouri from Singapore has suddenly ceased. In their
place, however, there have appeared large numbers of ‘hits’ on each posting in
the hundreds, and as was the case with those from Singapore, but this time
from Hong Kong! I suspect that the Chinese are playing around with
internet transmissions, possibly to try to identify who is reading
them.
Email Alerts: If you are NOT
receiving emails from me alerting you each time there is a new posting on
Jackspotpourri, just send me your email address and we’ll see that you
do. And if you are forwarding a posting to someone, you might
suggest that they do the same, so they will be similarly alerted. You can
pass those email addresses to me by email at jacklippman18@gmail.com.
Forwarding Postings: Please forward this posting to anyone
you think might benefit from reading it. Friends, relatives, enemies, etc.
If you want to send someone the blog, you can just tell
them to check it out by visiting https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com or you can
provide a link to that address in your email to them.
There’s another, perhaps easier, method of forwarding it
though! Google Blogspot, the platform on which Jackspotpourri
is prepared, makes that possible. If you click on the tiny envelope with
the arrow at the bottom of every posting, you will have the opportunity to
list up to ten email addresses to which that blog posting will be forwarded,
along with a brief comment from you. Each will receive a link
to click on that will directly connect them to the blog.
Either way will work, sending them the link to https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com, or clicking on
the envelope at the bottom of this posting.
Again, I urge you to forward this posting to anyone
you think might benefit from reading it, particularly if they are a registered
voter. This is an election year. Spread the word.
JL
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