As always, Heather captures the moment in the history of this nation’s birth with such vivid and human detail. I feel blessed to have found her voice. Thank you, Heather.
I hope the U.S. survives another decade. That is by no means a sure thing. A convicted felon, proven insurrectionist, convicted sex offender and deranged lunatic has nearly a 50 percent chance of winning the Presidency. If he does win it, he will no longer have any judicial checks on what he does, since the Supreme Court in its supreme wisdom has deemed presidents immune from prosecution for what they do in office--something that I'm sure would have been a deal-breaker had it been raised as part of the constitutional discussion originally. This presidential candidate's running-mate spins the most outrageous lies imaginable about immigrants, leading to violence in his home state and causing even the Republican governor and mayor to beg him to desist--a call he refuses to heed. On the foreign front, despite a defense budget of over $700 billion, a fascist dictator (Viktor Orban) feels free to walk into the country without a "By your leave" and openly plot a fascist takeover with this aforementioned presidential candidate. Why was Orban even allowed into the country? A Harris win would buy the U.S. some time, but make no mistake, it is in the grips of a Stage 4 political cancer; the best that can be hoped for now is a long enough period of remission to allow for the resumption of constitutional governance and the rule of law, both of which have been sadly and sorely trashed over the past few years. I tremble for the future of the U.S.
What astounds and appalls me is how far we have fallen short, and continue to fall short, of the ideals articulated in the U.S. Constitution, even leaving aside such matters as the fact that for over a century women were not regarded as persons, and black people not for nearly a century. "Protect the states against invasion. . ." Jan. 6, 2021 certainly puts an interesting spin on that. And then, of course, there is the "Divine Right of Presidents" decision of this past July. Maybe it is time to start all over again with a fresh conception of governance?
Voting. That's the biggest shortcoming in our Constitution. Ben Franklin wouldn't be aware of this due to his priviledge. His auidence looked like him. The uneducated didnt' couldn't vote. Women countn't. Black People couldn't, slavely was legal. We need to address and protect voting in our Constitution. I thik the Equal Rights Amendment addresses this, but I'm not sure? Does John Lewis Act address this in a Constituional way? But then there is a corrupt SCOTUS to deal with too.
All of this is true, but for all its flaws, the document did at least provide checks on arbitrary, absolute exercise of power. Had the Constitution been observed, Trump would not be running--as an insurrectionist, he would not be eligible--and there would have been no Supreme Court decision providing Presidents with absolute immunity from prosecution.
We need to protect voting access with a clear voting rights amendment. Then we will never have a tyranny of minority rule. End gerrymandering. End voter suppression. End extremism.
I wonder if, seeing what the U.S. has degenerated into lately, Franklin would have opted for independence at all, or would rather have suggested remaining with Britain and attempting to improve the colonies' lot within the empire. Within the here and now, your column, Heather, certainly illustrates the profound weakness of the states' rights position.
Now, after seeing how Commonwealth countries have fared in their freedom (with perhaps the exception of Hong Kong), maybe. But at that time, there was no such model in place. a strong colony could only do what the American colonists did. Few won that battle, but look what happens when you do! We survived even 46 and continue to thrive!
Do you really believe the U.S. is thriving? I find that unbelievably, almost hopelessly optimistic. I think the country is on life support, and if Trump wins, it will die as a democracy.
…. mr. Vance trashed various Republican positions, which just happened to be the positions that he and Trump are now trying to sell to American voters.
But what tickles me is this, did Vance tell Trump and his handlers about the essay before Trump announced Vance as his VP pick??
It is hard for me to imagine that Vance ever said to anyone of the Trump handlers, “hey, just want you to know that I wrote an essay one time In which I trashed everything that Trump and you guys are saying and want me to say, but, not to worry, I told my college professor to deep six it. I have not seen it in years, but I am assuming that no one will ever dig it up. God forbid that they do, I am sorry that I called Trump supporters idiots and racists. Me bad. Don’t tell Donald I ever said anything he would not like. Okay….okay?”
A German friend said that even if the people that attempted to assassinate Hitler had been successful, the same old elements of the government and backers of Hitler would have kept everything going. He felt Germany needed to be burnt to the ground, so they could understand how awful they were. Hope that's not us.
I think that many of us are so obsessed with Donald Trump that we are not at all focused on issues that are becoming more and more existential every day. We do need to get Donald Trump out of the way, but he is not an existential issue, He is a sociopathic narcissist, one of many.
His Project 2025 is an existential threat to the country. It would turn the U.S. into a fascist theocracy. He needs to be eliminated to keep this monstrous project from happening. Put another way, the man can't be separated from the issues.
Obviously, Donald Trump must be eliminated, BUT far too much energy is spent on Donald Trump. and it includes a lot a lot of childish stuff. We need to spend more time focusing on climate change, the ever-growing gap between the richest and the poorest, the disappearing middle class, immigration reform, the Middle East, Ukraine, gun control, the dramatic rise in suicide rates, controlling Artificial Intelligence, etc., etc., etc. When Donald Trump is defeated in November--he will be defeated, he has a fixed following--a host of issues remain. I have heard some people say that when Donald Trump is disappeared, everything will be fine. That is dangerous thinking. The world is in crisis and that crisis will not go away when Donald Trump is disappeared.
We can't do anything in terms of a progressive program until we eliminate Trump. It does appear, more and more, that the Republican bigwigs are focussing the lion's share of their attention on the down-ballot races, particularly for the Senate, hoping that even with a Democrat in the White House they can paralyze the Democrats by preventing any useful legislation from being enacted. So, no, it is not just Trump who must be defeated: it is the Republicans in the House and Senate and on the Supreme Court as well. A tall order, for sure.
We the people! The United States! A Republic form of government! Together we can do all things, and we have done a great deal. Mr. Franklin was a pragmatist, as we all need to be in these times of division. Looking to history for truths that we are doomed to repeat if we won’t learn. Thanks Heather
One of those truths is that we must not be soft on fascism. Germany was after Hitler's infamous "Beer Hall Putsch" in Munich--to its great cost. If Hitler had been shot right then and there, as many of his co-conspirators were, the entire course of history might have changed for the better. If Harris gets in, she will need to appoint a superhawk Attorney General, someone like Josh Shapiro or even Tish James, to go in and clean out the nests of fascists endangering the country once and for all. And foreign fascists like Orban who obviously wish the U.S. no good must be barred from entering the country. Period. And the same with Bibi the Nutty Yahoo. Jan. 6, 2021 was the U.S.'s Beer Hall Putsch. I am not sure we have learned the appropriate lessons from it, even now.
As always, Heather captures the moment in the history of this nation’s birth with such vivid and human detail. I feel blessed to have found her voice. Thank you, Heather.
I hope the U.S. survives another decade. That is by no means a sure thing. A convicted felon, proven insurrectionist, convicted sex offender and deranged lunatic has nearly a 50 percent chance of winning the Presidency. If he does win it, he will no longer have any judicial checks on what he does, since the Supreme Court in its supreme wisdom has deemed presidents immune from prosecution for what they do in office--something that I'm sure would have been a deal-breaker had it been raised as part of the constitutional discussion originally. This presidential candidate's running-mate spins the most outrageous lies imaginable about immigrants, leading to violence in his home state and causing even the Republican governor and mayor to beg him to desist--a call he refuses to heed. On the foreign front, despite a defense budget of over $700 billion, a fascist dictator (Viktor Orban) feels free to walk into the country without a "By your leave" and openly plot a fascist takeover with this aforementioned presidential candidate. Why was Orban even allowed into the country? A Harris win would buy the U.S. some time, but make no mistake, it is in the grips of a Stage 4 political cancer; the best that can be hoped for now is a long enough period of remission to allow for the resumption of constitutional governance and the rule of law, both of which have been sadly and sorely trashed over the past few years. I tremble for the future of the U.S.
What astounds and appalls me is how far we have fallen short, and continue to fall short, of the ideals articulated in the U.S. Constitution, even leaving aside such matters as the fact that for over a century women were not regarded as persons, and black people not for nearly a century. "Protect the states against invasion. . ." Jan. 6, 2021 certainly puts an interesting spin on that. And then, of course, there is the "Divine Right of Presidents" decision of this past July. Maybe it is time to start all over again with a fresh conception of governance?
Voting. That's the biggest shortcoming in our Constitution. Ben Franklin wouldn't be aware of this due to his priviledge. His auidence looked like him. The uneducated didnt' couldn't vote. Women countn't. Black People couldn't, slavely was legal. We need to address and protect voting in our Constitution. I thik the Equal Rights Amendment addresses this, but I'm not sure? Does John Lewis Act address this in a Constituional way? But then there is a corrupt SCOTUS to deal with too.
All of this is true, but for all its flaws, the document did at least provide checks on arbitrary, absolute exercise of power. Had the Constitution been observed, Trump would not be running--as an insurrectionist, he would not be eligible--and there would have been no Supreme Court decision providing Presidents with absolute immunity from prosecution.
We need to protect voting access with a clear voting rights amendment. Then we will never have a tyranny of minority rule. End gerrymandering. End voter suppression. End extremism.
I wonder if, seeing what the U.S. has degenerated into lately, Franklin would have opted for independence at all, or would rather have suggested remaining with Britain and attempting to improve the colonies' lot within the empire. Within the here and now, your column, Heather, certainly illustrates the profound weakness of the states' rights position.
As of now, I feel this country is the best in history. I am not sure I will be able to make the same statement.
That should have said in a year from now.
The best it has been, or the best any country has been? Your comment is ambiguous.
Now, after seeing how Commonwealth countries have fared in their freedom (with perhaps the exception of Hong Kong), maybe. But at that time, there was no such model in place. a strong colony could only do what the American colonists did. Few won that battle, but look what happens when you do! We survived even 46 and continue to thrive!
Do you really believe the U.S. is thriving? I find that unbelievably, almost hopelessly optimistic. I think the country is on life support, and if Trump wins, it will die as a democracy.
…. mr. Vance trashed various Republican positions, which just happened to be the positions that he and Trump are now trying to sell to American voters.
States versus Federal Government conflicts persist today, especially when politicians want to hold onto power.
You just cannot make this stuff up
But what tickles me is this, did Vance tell Trump and his handlers about the essay before Trump announced Vance as his VP pick??
It is hard for me to imagine that Vance ever said to anyone of the Trump handlers, “hey, just want you to know that I wrote an essay one time In which I trashed everything that Trump and you guys are saying and want me to say, but, not to worry, I told my college professor to deep six it. I have not seen it in years, but I am assuming that no one will ever dig it up. God forbid that they do, I am sorry that I called Trump supporters idiots and racists. Me bad. Don’t tell Donald I ever said anything he would not like. Okay….okay?”
Dear Professor
I am chuckling this evening over an essay discovered by CNN investigators and written by JD Vance. Apparently he wrote the essay in 2012.
As he entered Republican politics, he asked his own college professor to delete the essay
This was certainly a duplicitous request. In the essay.
A German friend said that even if the people that attempted to assassinate Hitler had been successful, the same old elements of the government and backers of Hitler would have kept everything going. He felt Germany needed to be burnt to the ground, so they could understand how awful they were. Hope that's not us.
I think that many of us are so obsessed with Donald Trump that we are not at all focused on issues that are becoming more and more existential every day. We do need to get Donald Trump out of the way, but he is not an existential issue, He is a sociopathic narcissist, one of many.
His Project 2025 is an existential threat to the country. It would turn the U.S. into a fascist theocracy. He needs to be eliminated to keep this monstrous project from happening. Put another way, the man can't be separated from the issues.
Obviously, Donald Trump must be eliminated, BUT far too much energy is spent on Donald Trump. and it includes a lot a lot of childish stuff. We need to spend more time focusing on climate change, the ever-growing gap between the richest and the poorest, the disappearing middle class, immigration reform, the Middle East, Ukraine, gun control, the dramatic rise in suicide rates, controlling Artificial Intelligence, etc., etc., etc. When Donald Trump is defeated in November--he will be defeated, he has a fixed following--a host of issues remain. I have heard some people say that when Donald Trump is disappeared, everything will be fine. That is dangerous thinking. The world is in crisis and that crisis will not go away when Donald Trump is disappeared.
We can't do anything in terms of a progressive program until we eliminate Trump. It does appear, more and more, that the Republican bigwigs are focussing the lion's share of their attention on the down-ballot races, particularly for the Senate, hoping that even with a Democrat in the White House they can paralyze the Democrats by preventing any useful legislation from being enacted. So, no, it is not just Trump who must be defeated: it is the Republicans in the House and Senate and on the Supreme Court as well. A tall order, for sure.
My understanding is that a primary purpose of the states and counties was to record surveys and deeds and transactions of land.
Along with that comes the responsibility to provide laws and courts to settle disputes.
And sometimes it happens that those upriver on their own land dam the river water from others downstream. What then do you do?
Thomas Paine spoke of our “ Divine Rights,”
not rights from a king but natural rights.
Water flows and combines for all to share.
The river is a natural right for all- God given.
This concept is integral to conservation today.
“ The waters of the United States” are given special status in the law.
Disputes over the God given waters are dealt with by the the people with the divine right to form a nation and decide, not a king.
And such disputes between citizens and between states are settled, by the people.
I believe that the final product recognized this need for nonviolent resolution
We were on our own..
So as the waters flow, among the states, so flows the nation.
We the people! The United States! A Republic form of government! Together we can do all things, and we have done a great deal. Mr. Franklin was a pragmatist, as we all need to be in these times of division. Looking to history for truths that we are doomed to repeat if we won’t learn. Thanks Heather
One of those truths is that we must not be soft on fascism. Germany was after Hitler's infamous "Beer Hall Putsch" in Munich--to its great cost. If Hitler had been shot right then and there, as many of his co-conspirators were, the entire course of history might have changed for the better. If Harris gets in, she will need to appoint a superhawk Attorney General, someone like Josh Shapiro or even Tish James, to go in and clean out the nests of fascists endangering the country once and for all. And foreign fascists like Orban who obviously wish the U.S. no good must be barred from entering the country. Period. And the same with Bibi the Nutty Yahoo. Jan. 6, 2021 was the U.S.'s Beer Hall Putsch. I am not sure we have learned the appropriate lessons from it, even now.