In 1761, 55-year-old Benjamin Franklin attended the coronation of King George III and later wrote that he expected the young monarch’s reign would “be happy and truly glorious.” Fifteen years later, in 1776, he helped to draft and then signed the Declaration of Independence.
And some 250 years later, Moscow Mitch McConnell, the weasel with the rat face, came along and almost singlehandedly destroyed this beautiful idea. I really wonder how that man can sleep at night, knowing that he was instrumental in abolishing democracy and everything the founding fathers and the framers stood for…
Senator McConnell may be all the awful things mentioned here, but that is not important. What remains imperative is that we band together as often quarrelling siblings to vote him and his craven quislings out of power.
Kamala Harris is working round the clock to save America from tyranical Trump. Voting against dictatorship is now the #1 priority to save democracy.
It would be so helpful for Heather reseach and tell us how traitors were treated 250 years ago. We need all the guidance from the past possible in these trying times.
Tim Walz taught social studies. He would be a great surrogate in terms of telling the "elegant" and highly relevant story Heather tells here. America needs a civics lesson, a reminder of who we are and why it matters that we sustain the best of the US Constitution. "States rights" fail to support all Americans, when it comes to issues affecting every human life (healthcare, environment, guns, civil rights, reproductive rights, infrastructure...an urge for peace, security, and community).
Yes, America needs a civic lesson and history lessons. Unfortunately, many people no longer read and do not seem interested in learning. Many people believe what they are told or refuse to believe what they are told, depending on the subject. When I phone bank I am astounded at the number of people who do not think Trump is guilty of sexual assault or even adultery. They believe what Trump and the MAGA tell them and disbelieve what is being found in the courts and/or reported in the news. JD said he "created" the story about pet-eating in Springfield and that he lied to gain "attention to an issue." He has hurt countless people. But people are discounting that and still voting for their ticket. If people do not embrace and process the facts, what is to be done? We are in a very real mess.
Anita, the hard core MAGAs are unreachable. They love death star in part because he gives them carte blanche to be hateful and let all their prejudices rage while they are in the face of everyone who disagrees with them. I do have trouble dealing with people who think it is OK to make up a terrible story and turn a town upside down. Our job is to get people registered, to make sure people are actually registered, and to get out the vote. The fact is that JD will actually be running things because death star is getting more feeble. He wants only the glory, the power, money, and to play golf.
Anger releases dopamine, which is pleasurable and addictive. A dopamine rush makes us feel strong and powerful - the perfect antidote to the daily struggles to survive. I do believe that many, even most, of the trumpists are addicted to the hits of outrage and violence trump’s campaign stokes. I’m not sure that all of them were always hateful naturally, but if they feel powerless in their daily lives, the sugar-like high of anger and violence would reinforce their attachments to their dopamine dealer.
After we Democrats win this election and Kris Krebs sanctifies it, we get to work continuing to destroy trickle down economics and the harm it has done to the millions who are the victims of the billionaires who own US. It is time to embrace some version of Tony Judt’s Social Democracy (some will call it “socialism” and shriek). I have seen how an organized country without massive greed works. It is refreshingly different from gold toilets.
The ONLY reason tfg is running is so he can wipe out all of this legal cases which SCOTUS just gave him immunity for. He could absolutely care less about running the government, he just wants to round up every immigrant in the country and every single person who has ever said anything against him (that's a VERY long list).
America also needs lessons in critical thinking and recognizing propaganda in the media. We need laws that severely punish those who create and spread misinformation for the purpose of deception.
AGree on importance of critical thinking AND civics. But, when you mention laws that include PURPOSE, then you have to prove that the information was INTENDED to deceive. I'm not a lawyer, but it does seem to be a challenge to strike the balance between deception and misguided thinking and free speech. Not that it can't be done, ie, the false "Fire" in a movie theater example. Just that, as noted above, some of these folks REALLY BELIEVE these things, eg, Trump really did win the election.
This is exactly the horror of this moment in time and the thing that I fear the most. My mother (oddly, a consumer of Right-wing talk radio and would have been a big Combover Caligula supporter) used to say when I was a kid "There are none so blind as will not see.". She missed the irony then and these people miss it now.
B.L.U.F.: think of America as down by two touch-downs at half-time. ¿Who better to rally us inside the locker room than Knute Rockne and 'fighting Kamalat?" Beautiful thought there, ¡Lasley!
My Dad once told me that President Kennedy's secret sauce was that he sold America back to the Americans in the sense of renewing self-confidence. These times are different. We are no longer at our zenith, but remain important to the advancement of mankind.
We are hurting; things are "broken' as many M.A.G.A.s claim. Well, there is some truth to what the M.A.G.A.s are saying. I worked in Pittsburgh's steel mills for three summer during college. I met mainly men, mainly good men, They had aspirations like the rest of us, more for their progeny.
All that collapsed when Reaganism smashed the unions and the Clinton Admin. sold out the economy to China. These events may have been inevitable, but when changes come and innovations occur, somebody loses. Many M.A.G.A.s, I would venture to say, feel abandoned by the rest of us.
Others are simply vile. The latter we have to contain. For the former, we have at least to try to make things better for them -- to give them a shot.
So, instead of selling America back to the Americans, Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are rallying Americans back to making up an improving America to which we aspire, with our different ideas civilly debated.
And a condition that members of Congress can't miss more than 25% of votes, and a high % of measures introduced must be passed through with bipartisan support each session or Congress members will forfeit their seat. If they don't work they don't keep their jobs. Pretty basic.
PROBLEM: A whole heck of a lot of people have either tremendous difficulty and/or no ability and/or desire to process the activity of or chore of distinguishing fact from fiction! It’s easy to create or accept something that is illogical, that is not true nor supported by facts, logic, reasoned logic and/or evidence and reality — but it is hard to and takes time and work to verify the truth and reliability of what one needs to rely upon and have faith in!
Anita Coryell is correct, “If people do not embrace and process the facts, what is to be done?” What’s to be done is to work at trying to educate and motivate that almost one-third of the American registered — but non-voting electoral — to participate in their most important citizenship duty and process … cast educated votes!
Agree 111%. Yes, it is hard work. I taught college courses briefly in Tunis, though I had absolutely no business doing so. I made that plain to the students. What I did say was that I expected students to lay out a thesis, adduce evidence to support it, and to advocate a resolution.
These Tunisian students were fantastic kids for the most part. They had been educated in a French system of wham-cram-thank-you-man on the premise, I would surmise, that students needed facts and would have the rest of their lives to think.
Since I was frequently a toe-nail ahead of my charges in domain knowledge, my class agenda / notes were thorough (more to keep me in line). That worked out because students did not need to amass them and could spend more time thinking.
The students thrived. But they were also better educated than many or most American high schoolers. One student was a case in point. He had an almost photographic memory. So he could recite facts -- usually getting him an 'A'. But he kept getting a 'B' from me.
He was upset and I nudged him to use his BIG mind for critical thinking. Gradually, he exited his comfort zone and built his skills. Years later, he wrote me a note of gratitude for teaching him how to think. Of course, I did not teach him how to think. I merely encouraged him to acquire a new skill he values deeply today.
Politics Girl Leigh McGowan just released her book, “A Return Sense”. It has civics lessons wrapped up with what we can do to build a better country. It sounds perfect for all the people we know who say “I’m just not political” when you try to engage them in what’s happening to our country.
Here is a book blurb from Rachel Bitecofer:
"Being able to make complex things simple is an exceedingly rare talent that Leigh McGowan has in spades. I’m excited to see McGowan’s “common sense” civics lessons get out of the kitchen and into the hands of average Americans on the front lines of the fight to save American democracy."
—Rachel Bitecofer, Ph.D., author of Hit 'Em Where It Hurts
“America needs a civic lesson….” While true, I have to wonder whether it is too late for the civics lesson to do what you state-be reminded of who we are and why it matters…?”
We’ll know the answer to that question in November or the weeks after as justice holds us together or men (yes MEN) tears us apart to retain power, hold on the their greedy wealth and/or let religious/cultural incivility rip away the foundations of a country that has long provided us with peace, justice, and opportunity for all to advance to a better life.
Here is one person who clearly has too much money, power, and Catholic traditional dogma and is eager to tear our nearly 250 years asunder.
Treason as a criminal offense in very narrowly defined and seem not to have relevance here. Treason in the sense of betrayal is what the modern GOP is all about.
Yes, I recently read that Laura Loomer is suggesting death for her treasonous enemies (any Dem) because that is what history demands for traitors. More of the accusing others of what they do.
With The Donald's history and his relationships with women, this would not at all surprise me. However, I would need some proof before going down that road. And for that matter, what would that say about Loomer? She's gas lighted herself already to almost the nth degree. What the hell is wrong with that lady? 🤦🤦🤦
My thoughts exactly. Where there is smoke, there is usually fire. It's just too convenient that a woman like Loomer is around just because of her political views (which are absolutely egregious and can stand on their own as another important reason to reject Trump). Anyone with a lick of reason can see what a liability she is, but the love/lust of an affair can overwhelm logical thinking. I am no fan of opposition research into personal lives of candidates, but a verifiable discovery of such an affair would be pertinent enough to this election. Personal integrity should be on the ballot, and his past transgressions seem to have been largely forgotten. Time to wake up to the full array of awfulness that is Trump.
tRump wants to occupy our minds in any way he possible can. He may be succeeding! Forget the looser loomr & orange blob. Let’s look up & fwd as Harris & Tim Waitz talk sense. 😁
JD, one of the things Rs do on a regular basis is projection witness the current accusations about D rhetoric causing assassination attempts when it is the R's own talk which brings violence into the equation. Both attempts were by people who were or are mentally challenged.
Shays' Rebellion was not a traitorous act to try to overthrow the government. It basically just wanted the plight of the unpaid Revolutionary War Veterans addressed that was part of what John Adams observed were the new levies that "were heavier than the People could bear." (I believe his taxes went up 80 fold.)
The western Massachusetts farmers had been far more self-sustaining in making land productive , building and maintaining roads through common efforts, and doing the kind of land and watershed stewardship that helped the entire region. They didn’t get the hard currency that the advantaged elites on the east side thought they should pay in taxes.
Sam Adams considered Shaysists as traitors and wanted them all hanged while his 2nd cousin John Adams seemed to favor amnesty for 4,000 or so participants and eventual pardons for leaders, some 18 of whom had death sentences that were not carried out (though 2 were hanged). John Hancock regained the Governorship in May 1787, after a 2 year plus break during which the rebellion took place and helped reduce the actual executions to just the 2 (who were convicted for also committing common-law crimes).
The Jan 6 crimes were much more aimed at overthrowing the existing government. Their ultimate leaders and supporters are not looking for fair deals for the masses trying to make a living without the advantages of the richest but least tax burdened who are perfectly happy to increase the inequalities of opportunity and inability to keep the same percentage of the fruits of their labor as we did in our best decades.
The Trump supporters that do know how to make a more productive economy are not aiming at making it rewarding for all, and are actually making us suffer more from the lack of adequate new and sustained infrastructure, affordable health care on par with the rest of the developed world, and affordable quality education for so many of the best and brightest of the diversity of potential we have.
A recent post by one of my Trump aligned old Vietnam heroes brought up his economic advisor Kevin Hassett, whom I knew nothing about. In looking for what his motives and inclinations were (no matter how smart he is), I found Margaret Hoover's interview on Firing Line at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODX-0t3t3K4
Hassett sure seems smart enough as you can see through almost the whole interview but the end had me thinking about Albert Speer when it would have been more appropriate to compare him to Hjalmar Schacht, the German economic advisor capable of creating an economic "miracle" but a little less blind to his leader's faults than Hassett seems. The theories seem solid but the details and whims of Trump destroy the arguments he tries to make when it comes to what he would actually do.
Exposure by Hoover to his willingness to turn a blind eye to January 6th that came at the end was as perfect as I could ask for.
Knowing how things work doesn't mean they will make them work for the benefit of all of us and reciprocally engaged by our allies and even competitors.
Last night I heard a moron say that chump would be so much better for the country. Guess he was in a coma for those horrible years. Nah, just watching Rupert's efforts to cut and paste.
I believe it does, and should, have relevance here. As President. the former was the #1 officer in our armed forces, the Commander in Chief. and his betrayal and order to those who attacked the Capitol on 1/6 was clearly an act of treason for which he has still not been held accountable. The fact that the GOP (not the grand old party anymore) is all about the continuance of that act is just gas on the fire, and must be viewed as further evidence of treason.
The most important guidance we need from Heather is how to identify people heading in the wrong direction long before they get so far from the political center that they become traitors, and then we need to make it clear that the time has come for them to grow up. And that guidance is in today's newsletter. People who "have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise" are heading in the right direction. People who are provided with, but refuse to be influenced by, better information on important subjects are heading in the wrong direction.
If you have the legal right to vote in November, then finding a good reason to vote D up and down the ballot is like finding dirt. It's everywhere. There are no good reasons to vote R, or to not vote, only bad excuses.
In my humble opinion, this quote from Franklin is perhaps one of the most important I've read in a long time. Life's experiences, observations, scientific advances, cultural changes all contribute to "better information, or fuller consideration" and the opportunity for one "to change opinions even on important subjects...." Those Originalists on the Supreme Court should take Ben Franklin's statement to heart. And someone should get this quote to Kamala Harris as it forms a much better response than "my values haven't changed" to those who raise questions about something she said 5 years ago that is contrary to her stance today. That said, this does not apply to someone who changes their opinion on important subjects based upon the political winds.
Well said Bill. Changing one's opinion based upon the political winds is an important distinction. It's like a tug of war. The center is not where the flag is tied to the rope. The center is halfway between the two lines on the ground. Likewise, the political center is not halfway between Democrats and Republicans. The center is halfway between being too openminded (progressive) versus being too skeptical (conservative) about proposed changes.
None of the Republican-appointed SCOTUS justices are originalists, but some are ORINOs (originalists in name only). Real originalists treat others they way they would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot. ORINOs do unto others before others do unto them.
Agreed. Center works for linear measurements but gets complicated fast. You want bathwater not too hot or cold, but where is the center of an ecosystem? Or even the Universe? Repeatedly I have encountered Joe Manchin labeled "Moderate" or "Centrist" by the MSM, and AOC labeled "extreme left", but in a larger context, is that sensible? Is it misleading?
What is essential to functioning complexity and stability in nature is balance , but that tends to be a multilevel, interactive balance that defies complete accounting. The "Butterfly Effect" gets oversimplified in popular culture, but the part that is real still males precise weather prediction a challenge even with supercomputers.
We want politicians to have simple answers, but some things are not so simple, and our purchase on reality as our understanding becomes more nuanced, such as when germ theory replaced evil spirits or night air as the cause of infectious disease. Balance is often a matter of as much as it takes. Halfway measures are not likely to retard global heating enough to avoid tipping points.
I disagree on least one count. I believe that Justice Coney Barrett is a sincere originalist. Perhaps, Justice Gorsuch as well. Otherwise it is an ideological cover story. Like a fart in the elevator. Unpleasant but no one willing to identify it.
There is a division between people who look to a particular ostensibly "all knowing" person as the ultimate authority on reality and conduct, and those who trust logic, evidence, and collaborative empathy. The first are authoritarians and the second curious observers. The European Scholastic Middle Ages pretty much models the first mode of thinking and the Renaissance and Enlightenment a shifts, toward the second, although both have always been with us. The Constitution was in many ways a product of Enlightenment inquiry, and the practical and moral utility of it's formulation of principles, including ongoing yet cautious revisions have kept it functional and relevant though the evolution of modern society. So called "Originalists" shift the authority of the constitution to the personalities who wrote it not the principles they articulated. And harking to the authority of those log dead who cannot now object makes it far easier to twist their words into any interpretation the authoritarians care to lay on it, such as claiming it's not illegal if the president does it; that "The King Can Do No Wrong"; allegedly what the Framers aimed for all along.
Heather is doing the job of helping to point out people "heading in the wrong direction." She uses history to make sure that "history only repeats itself" can be altered and we can learn from the mistakes of the past.
Yes, that quote seems to sum it all up. "When I was a child, I thought as a child. Now I am a man and I think as a man... " The sentiment that we must critically evaluate our experiences and realize that this is what makes us grow and expand our insight about the world. That is the key to a successful life...and country. We definitely need the mindset of a Benjamin Franklin now. Both sides would benefit from his thoughts.
I'm reminded of too simple minded Grover Norquist who as a preteen child (12 years old) came up with the No New Taxes (no matter what war was felt necessary, as in the GWOT). He has stuck to his 12 year old's (1968) mantra ever since, never seeming to graduate to thinking like an adult.
Why rely solely on Dr. Richardson? There are a lot of competently researched and written history books available in your local library. BTW, traitors, upon conviction, were usually hung.
Out of respect for Dr. Richardsons work is where my request came from.
These days she is one of my most favorite authors. She gets right to the point and stays focused.I would go to a library and look for her book on the subject. It is and would be worth the wait. Thank You
Our most infamous 18th C. traitors, Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr, were both great patriots first. Arnold was a brilliant military commander without whom we might not have won the pivotal battle of Saratoga. Burr was at the center of our founding generation playing multiple roles. Each grew over-ambitious when their hopes went unrealized, and took actions for which they are remembered in infamy. The current crop of Republicans are small men (and women) striving to ride the coat tails of a demagogue to establish tyranny. I doubt any will face justice for what they have done, assuming the election spares us from their victory. Only the demagogue himself and a few in his inner circle will be prosecuted. To go further would appear too partisan…like “weaponization of the DoJ”.
True, although there are some Congress critters who truly deserve it. However, we can hope their constituents will vote them out of power. GOTV indeed!
Unlike Shays' Rebellion (which wasn't trying to overthrow the government, just get a fairer tax policy for the bedrock of society, especially those owed pay in hard currency they needed to pay their incredibly raised tax rates, the January 6th participants and elected accomplices were, whether knowingly or not closer to trying to overthrow legitimate government.
4,000 Shaysists were charged but most received amnesty while higher placed ones applied for pardons (I believe both of the previous had to take loyalty oaths), and 18 received death sentences that were not carried out (pardoned or commuted). In the end, only 2 were hanged and that seems not for rebellion but for common-law crimes they committed.
I would see some benefit from prosecuting almost all if not all of the legislators that assisted them but with the most common consequences not being jail time if they request pardons and most pardons be applied that they can be barred from office and/or running for office for some period up to the rest of their lives. Something not too different from after the Civil War, but always with some conditions such as being able to request reduced pardon restrictions after 4 years of good behavior/community service.
Just GOTV EVERYWHERE!! Even Florida, North Carolina, and Texas are close enough to put in the work. Sadly, the founders didn’t anticipate how the Electoral College could distort the election, or that the Supreme Court would make such a power grab. But here we are and we have to win BIG to drive MAGA back into their basements and take away their AK-47s.
Obviously our problems go back to the beginning...just as with some relationships we can see from the beginning how it's going to go. The question is how to get these authoritarian types on board with democracy. The only way I can see is through education. And of course that's one of the first thing dictators destroy.
Ya... I agree lin. Visceral thoughts in one's own mind may be temporarily satisfying, but best kept to themselves. I never met Trump or Vance and so, I cannot say that I hate them. I certainly disdain their policies that I know would only further erode this nation in which MAGA republicans, I believe, wrought havoc. After this episode in our political life, let the chips fall where they may with tRump. As for Vance, all I want from him is to go away; if he wishes to have a corner office in some miniscule law firm so that he may make an honest living, then so be it. Just get him the hell away from the political arena.
You're very kind to allow Vance a future in which to make an honest living. I had suggested tying him to a chair with no mic, no phone, and no computer. He really should not be allowed to roam free.
Bill, you should have thought that notion through before writing it. If you had, you'd realize the grave consequences that would have resulted -- ripples becoming a tsunami.
We (except on rare occasions) don't kill our political opponents in this country. Those who have done so are synonymous with treachery and exist in infamy. Anyone who endorses such an action -- even in jest (which I doubt this is) -- is espousing anti-American principles and should be sanctioned. If only I could "block" or "unfollow".
NO! I WANT that man to live, so that he may be beaten the Democratic way in November, and know only courtrooms and confinement for the rest of his miserable life.
Republicans asserting that the original meaning of 'a well regulated militia' means a well supplied militia and that the Founders' intent was to permit each American fire power equivalent to the state military.
…or a police force to keep the towns/counties civil order stabile …because there are people who want to steal, get too drugged /drunk altering their common sense or morality which then takes over from perceived fears/inadequacies/lacks of security. They are seldom any of these people at the town meetings, at the school board meetings, low voter participation, had difficultly in school, lower levels of education . They are often victims of abuse, lacked a nurturing environment,are bullies/liars/cons/or spoiled selfish brats with no sense of responsibility other than to blame others ( deflection techniques), have a list of gripes,are or can be radicalized first, are users, derogatory speech, and degrading opinions.
When I’m ‘out’ in the world I notice the greeters, happy, smiling, a Goodmorning now and then, hold doors for elders, give the right of way, show respect, say thank you. They are the majority, in fact.
They might express concern, but usually follow the remark with some semblance of a solution. They have plans to improve, goals , donate to causes, are helpers.
For these people we worry not.
All we can really do is listen…the good people by their speech or actions are the safe set, good leaders, trust them and please…
I wonder/hope that Kamala’s powerful love campaign is also resulting in a dopamine rush that can counteract some of trump’s violence/hate dopamine rush!
I wonder too that half of this stuff is hyped by the media…same as repeats of a couple episodes of bad actors..I still have trouble thinking so many can be hating, causing havoc, raising cane. We knew infiltrators went into the peace protests and escalated havoc then quietly disappeared . Crowd mentality can be very easily swayed by a rotten apple in the barrel, figuratively , huh?
I know quite a few who are influenced by Fox , bad press.
I encourage the happy factors.
Sayings like the WWIII mention several weeks ago…TFG’s doom & gloom, planting fear….how many remember that talk back in ‘our day’…it’s a contagious form of incitement/anarchy…very effective.
Let’s promote happiness like the joy and hope Kamala and Tim display…on a collective basis …who is with us?
A “well regulated militia “ has been hijacked by the Republican Party, with the help of the dark money NRA, to arm anyone and everyone who wants to walk around with a weapon. And we wonder why we are not feeling safe???
Kind of nonsensical, that meant something in rural 18th century America, its equivalent today is the modern America military. Maybe common citizens should be entitled to their own aircraft carriers, something that Elon might want to have. Imagine one of those vigilante paramilitaries out there taking on a rapid reaction army group, backed up with Apache air power etc.
And yet, that almost happened with Clive Bundy and his militia people who faced off against the feds in Nevada. Imagine if a couple of Apache helicopters were dispatched with all the relevant armament on each. I shudder to think of the consequences Bundy's men would have received. "Nonsensical" is a pretty good word for this; I would further describe it as a no brainer.
Frank, sadly not just apocalyptic movies but also in real-life misguided efforts by people like Rouche trying to solve national and international problems with their personal actions. Guys usually want to be heroes or be seen as heroes but when they veer this far off course they are generally adjudicated mentally compromised.
The original text reads to me that "people" refers to the collective noun of the people of a particular state and not to the plural of the singular noun person. The latter is used in the Constitution instead of people.
The word people appears to be a collective noun throughout the Constitution. So the amendment says, to me at least, that a the people of Maryland, for example, can store arms for the purposes of defending Maryland.
Back then, this provision was important since Britain might invade at any time; perhaps Spain, as Dr Cox Richardson suggested.
It is probably some of each. Defense would be military (which was used against the Indigenous peopled as settlers moved west), and law enforcement would be more local militias, later morphed into police, and what were essentially posses called up by a sheriff to address a specific problem, such as a gang, or an attack by native Americans or to capture run-away slaves.
I doubt the founders ever intended that the militia would look like the Proud Boys.
And of course the reasons for people to have weapons would be defense of household, feeding family, and being ready to be called up by law enforcement or the governor to address a common threat in a "well-regulated" (by the government) though usually ad hoc militia.
The militia groups we see today could conceivably have been seen as potential threats against the general welfare.
They themselves see themselves as ensuring the government does not overreach into private lives, and to be ready to defend themselves against government tyranny.
And yet the party they align with wants to "overreach into private lives" in a fascist manner. Reproductive rights, religious freedom, freedom from religion, sexual preferences, book banning. The analogy for me is: Proud Boys = the Taliban.
And I can understand the feelings of those folks - up to a point. The visceral feeling may be there, but the actionable state is no longer relevant as not only the balance of power has grossly and realistically changed in favor of government, but reason and intellect have advanced to such a state, that present expectations are that disagreements are expected to be settled in courts. We have become a nation of laws (even if some are clearly unjust - however, can still be addressed in some way): MAGA republicans (even if one wishes to call them republicans, it is in my view a wrongly used label as the republican party no longer really exists - it's more the MAGA party now) it seems, have yet to catch up with this long settled notion. And that's part of the problem: many of these MAGA folks have been born out of their era. Their era was in the 19th century. They are at least 125 years in a time warp that is grossly out of sync with the rest of us.
For me, that's too far back. In addition, it would insult those who founded and helped found this nation to call them MAGA. They really don't deserve that. :)
Isn’t this something like what Florida man did, establishing a personal militia..I recall some saber rattling, no? It’s fear tactics.
My brother actually cautioned/warned me about too much FB stuff as we have a ‘complex’ not far from us (not even 2 miles) reportedly Oath Keepers and switched their names to 2nd AMMENDMENT Rifle Club after the insurrection and arrest of several head figures. Stay to themselves, well armed , haven’t made waves, no trouble.There’s a lot of G.O.Boys around here boasters, talk tough, make a point of bravado.
I suspected quite sometime ago a lot of this was imaging…portrayal of tough guy… but it,is contagious..how many are actually worried for their safety and under what circumstances?
Oh, there is no question about that! But I'm really hoping it's not to late. It may well be that McConnell and his cronies have finished the long game already.
ThankYou for continuing to tell us about FieldTeam6.
They are a fine group to be working with. Thanks to you, I added them to my list and have already done hundreds of cards - to PA, NC, GA, WI, OH. They make it easy and it is so satisfying.
Bill, I disagree. Our diversity is our strength. Our progressives are dragging us into the future with regards to climate and social justice. Our moderates are working the room including the opposition party to get things done.
And now, we have a leadership team that reflects that diversity. Harris and Walz are mirrors of America both in heritage and vision.
A party that just marches to the beat of one drum is generally not interested in democracy - just fealty and fascism.
Diversity is not so strong if the diverse group keeps the blame game going and in politics, this is the only game in town which is, to blame. First in the morning and last before slumber, blame everyone for alleged guilt. And if we don’t stop blaming every damn thing and if we continue to cow tow to what our masters of Ideological Think tell us, we are doomed, my friend. And the darnest thing happens in our group. We blame (remember blame game) the other side for being what they are now, traitors, facists, you name it. And we allow them to pick apart our extraordinary defects and since I refuse to be wiped into hopeful submission, I won’t explain. Rather it should be for you to reflect upon.
Interesting word Bill with an interesting story behind it's meaning. I was not alive until nearly 30yrs after WWII, so a little before my time but my dad was a fighter pilot in WWII and Korea. I never heard him use the that word though.
Vidkun Quisling was a Norwegian army officer who in 1933 founded Norway's fascist party. In December 1939, he met with Adolf Hitler and urged him to occupy Norway. Following the German invasion of April 1940, Quisling served as a figurehead in the puppet government set up by the German occupation forces, and his linguistic fate was sealed. Before the end of 1940, quisling was being used generically in English to refer to any traitor. Winston Churchill, George Orwell, and H. G. Wells used it in their wartime writings. Quisling lived to see his name thus immortalized, but not much longer. He was executed for treason soon after the liberation of Norway in 1945.
Mitch McConnell and his fellow Republican power-mongers do not have their sleep disturbed by worries for democracy and the Framers of the Constitution. McConnell also joined Senate Republicans to sign their joint statement of 6/12/2024 in support of IVF, while today (9/17/2024) having joined all but 2 Senate Republicans in voting against the Right to IVF Act. Republicans have no shame, no concern for hypocrisy, and no accountability to the voters they represent.
Yet another reason to Do Something and Get Out The Vote for Democrats!
I was thinking of Elaine Chao. She’s my age and gets to crawl into the rack with turtle boy every night. Nighty night Elaine. Sleep tight and don’t let the bedbugs bite.🤮
Elaine Chao was always a worthless eater. She accomplished virtually nothing as Secretary of Transportation. Compared to Pete Buttigieg who has overseen over 70,000 infrastructure projects as well as the clean-up of the collapsed bridge in Baltimore, she did little more than collect a paycheck.
Thank You. I think when our history is written, Mitch McConnell will not fare well. He has elevated power and partisanship above all decency. "Craven" is too kind. "Too Old" is the truth. Party over Country seems to be his mantra. He's twisted and warped the Republican Party beyond all recognition. He's the poster boy for adding term limits to Senators, Representatives, and Justices.
It depends on who ultimately "writes the history." If the oligarchs/Fascists prevail, McConnell most likely won't even be mentioned. Our schools will not promote the theory of democracy: one person, one vote, majority rule. Once in control of the military by the oligarchs, it is difficult to imagine an uprising among the people succeeding. That is why, IMO, this is the most important election in the history of the world. We are teetering on the precipice of destruction of democratic government.
And to think we've green-lighted unfettered commerce to the point where oligarchs like Musk, an immigrant to boot, control our satellite communications and space exploration is F***king mind boggling.
And not to forget that the so-called 'we' of SCOTUS infamy unfettered political money to make the We not so important, via Citizens United.Really tired of the personality take-aparts, including my own participation in them, which have served a purpose or two to help us think more clearly about how personality affects politics, what kind of person not to vote for, and if nothing else to observe the depths and deprivations of the personalities themselves and how anybody could ever have gone along with them. And boy is that a whole other explanation and story and discussion.
I think history will reveal that Citizens United was one of the most destructive rulings made by SCOTUS in terms of did it do long term harm or long term good for our republic.
What I need to reply to this is not a heart but an expression of tears. Senator McConnell has served the people reprehensively, taking the authority granted under the Constitution and using it not to advance the good of all the people but for the glorification of the few. What a disappointment.
Yes, DM, I am so curious as to his beliefs and thought processes that produced such actions. They seem so very antithetical to the whole idea of our country’s founding principles. Astounding!
Mitch McConnell has an old-fashioned sense of decorum that is stripped away in the new generation of Republicans, but I've come to believe that, like DT and JDV, he holds one guiding principle: power at any cost.
I suspect it's only his old-fashioned sensibilities (along with perhaps a better gift for strategy) and not any principle whatsoever, causing him to resent the new face of the party.
As for overturning RvW, that become evangelical dna a couple generations back. They have fought it tooth and nail, including murderous instances when clinics were bombed or docs were murdered in the 80s etc, remember Mitch is a staunch Baptist. He was determined to load SCOTUS with reactionary patriots, to great success, and bent or changed whatever rules he needed.
I wonder how his wife can sleep in the same house with him given that he allowed Trump to insult her. Elaine Chow WOKE up and realized that she was in the midst of a racist administration in a racist party, and her husband did not defend her. She should have divorced him.
mcconnell sleeps well living on his wife’s income from her chinese business connections. He will go down in history as the polar opposite of Benjamin Franklin. mitch will be remembered as the murderer of democracy. When push came to shove he stood behind djt and supported him.
Abolish? McConnell abolished nothing but his own moral compass. Our Republic with its Democratic form of Government still stands.
Many, many Americans have been fighting for 9 long years against a slow-moving coup. We are determined to win. I firmly believe our Republic is stronger. We lost our complacency. We lost our innocence that we would be attacked from within.
I sure hope I'm wrong, but I'm still convinced that the Extreme Court, installed by the same Moscow Mitch, will simply declare the election results void and will rule that the presidency goes to Rump. They have done it before, they have all the incentive to do it again. If they do that, it will be the definitive end of democracy. And I know of no way to stop them - legally, that is.
My response remains. We are a still functioning Republic with a Democratic form of Government. It is always amazing to me that folks go around with doomsday scenarios composed of a lot if "ifs and maybes and could happen". "They have done it before," No they haven't. Which election did SCOTUS declare null?
Meanwhile let's continue to hard on electing the Harris/Walz ticket and the down ballot tickets. This is so much more productive than doomsday scenarios.
It was SCOTUS who made Bush president in favour of Al Gore, if I remember correctly. Why not do the same for Rump? It may be a doomsday scenario, but it's not unrealistic. As Heather herself said, the GOP have stacked the courts, not with judges and justices, but with loyalists, and thus try to have their ideologies written into law, regardless of the wishes of the people and how they vote.
But! Nonetheless, it's still important to have Kamala win the election! It's the only way to start recovering democracy. Plus: if Rump wins, we'll never hear the end of it, I'm afraid: he'll be posting that on Xitter in all-caps every 5 minutes for as long as he may live.
Yes, but the SCOTUS are the final arbiters as to whether this immunity is granted or not. It is unlikely - no, let me put it this way: there's no way in hell they're going to let Biden have this immunity. This was the red carpet that was rolled out for God-Emperor-Dictator Rump, it wasn't meant for Biden.
It is under assault. That is different from precarious.
We have withstood voter suppression, legal battles, a coup attempt, a compliant media and an enemy meddling in our elections and we still elected a transformative President in 2020. The Democrats are winning in significant races in 2018, 2020 and 2022. In 2022 we stopped the projected red tsunami. We are running a historically transformative campaign.
I simply fail to see the handwringing and fear. When did we become whiners?
McConnell and those like him are tools the wealthy wield to tip the scale of the democratic system in their favor. They’ve always existed and always will. Never be surprised. Always be vigilant. Fight with your vote and voice for Representatives of good ethics and values.
Definitely yes. I'm going to say it again: ironically, you are going to have to live by Rump's own words: "you're gonna have to fight like hell or you'r not gonna have country anymore!"
In some ways I could hold one man responsible for tearing apart a country that before, supported that Constitution and that would be Rupert Murdock, who with Fox "News" might be the greatest villain to bring down this short lived democracy. It also took a serious turn with Citizen's United- with Leonard Leo's court. Look up NPRs podcast on him if you don't know who he is. Scary business! Thanks as always Heather for your wonderful letters. They're a part of my every day.
Interestingly, Rupert Murdoch's son James Murdoch was one of 88 business leaders who recently endorsed Kamala Harris for President. Rupert Murdoch is currently contesting his irrevocable trust (by definition, not contestable) to have control of his empire go solely to his favored son Lachlan, the sole MAGA of his four oldest children who'd have equal votes under the terms of the current trust.
Great minds think alike, Ellie! Your post is more succinct than mine was about this news. It also reports that former Attorney General Bill Barr has accompanied Rupert into court last Monday...the plot thickens!
Apparently this probate judge in Reno has the power. Wonder how much he is being paid, and by whom. I remember Rupert and James in a British court being pilloried for their “journalistic” practices that were beyond the pale. May sanity rule.
Murdoch's Probate case will run for 10 Court days 9/17 through 9/28. The Probate Court has "barred" media. I would expect a "Mandamus Writ" from one or more the heavyweight news Corps flipping that unconstitutional Order.
Main issue: The Trustor, 93 year old Murdoch has made clear his specific intent to hand over "permanent & exclusive control" to rabid Lachlan
Jane Mayer provides a detailed list of helpers in all of this in her book Dark Money. Now Anne Applebaum provides an international list in Autocracy Inc.
Yes, we're looking at a reactionary conservative white male patriarchy based movement, born in reaction to the Civil Rights, secular, women's rights tendencies from that era. Roe v Wade, taking prayers out of the schools. what's happening now is a minority attempt to bring back that past. Ethnic and cultural minorities on the other hand have coalesced around the Dems.
"There is no particular thing that you can do alone. The 'I' in it is very small, after all." —Marian Anderson. She was, of course, referring to good deeds, but the same applies to bad acts. I don't know how to begin to count the number of people it took to leave Amber Nicole Thurman's six-year-old son without a mother.
Also, there is a court proceeding in Nevada where Rupert is trying to break his irrevocable trust. As it stands, "Upon Rupert Murdoch’s death, News Corp and Fox voting shares will be transferred to his four oldest children – Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan and James. Potentially, three of the heirs could out-vote a fourth, setting up a battle over the future of the companies, even as Lachlan Murdoch runs Fox and is sole chair of News Corp." "Rupert Murdoch’s proposed amendment would block any interference by three of Lachlan’s siblings, who are more politically moderate, the Times reported, citing a sealed court document."
What a role model the authors of the Constitution provide for us today! Franklin's acknowledgement that he didn't entirely agree with the document, but that it provided an astonishing mechanism for the disparate states to work together, should continue to be our guide. "In order to form a more perfect Union..." We're still not there yet, but, as the Harris/Walz team encourages us, we continue to move forward
Brilliant, timely work from Heather once again. History is repeating itself once again. Instead of France and Spain standing by as the USA is in crisis........Russia,China and their anti-democratic proxies are standing by.
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are the new dawn just breaking in the early morning........the people are slowly waking up........the call of "not going back" is on the rise from a whisper.
Good things are possible once people turn their backs on hate, tyranny and desolation.
We can do it. It is not about making America great again but making Americans great again . . . as citizens of the West and a key ally with democracies.
I think America was always great and not so great. It's a work in progress and progress adds to it's greatness. Progress empowers all the people; backsliding revives inequities the Declaration of Independence condemned.
Remember America has always had a strong religious social makeup, without those issues likely the Republicans would never have steered themselves to where they are today?
Exactly, and well thought out. Aspirations are more easily said than done, but for all the contradictions of colonial society, The "blueprint" was a work of art, not the least of which was a method for future improvements. Yet no aspirational system will work unless the preponderance of people are on board with the overall direction of the aspirations. This does not mean an absence of passionate controversy around how those principles are brought about; but that negotiations are bound in underlying solidarity of commitment to what Joseph Welch called "decency", as well as empathy and good faith. I think that might be the kind of thing that Franklin was asking for.
I love that: making Americans great again. Thank you for that phrase. After all of this cultish behavior, I wonder if that is even possible….? But I hope!
Thank you, J.L., Frank, Steve, Imogène, Jen, and Jim for your responses. Y'all refined my rough idea from the wee hours of the a.m. when my insomnia had kicked in. What I appreciate from y'all is that we are a work in progress.
We are Americans -- gifted with a society based upon ideals (i.e., aspirational ideas) -- as possibly great and always flawed like any other people. It is what we make of ourselves that count. Greatness is not perfection.
The perfectibility of (wo)man has led to over a hundred million deaths since 1789. Greatness comes in trying to be better, knowing that we falter and have to try again. Frank, that mutual reinforcement comes through social bonds like churches, like the Masons and the Rotaries et al., like neighbourhood watches, parents-teachers associations, local Party headquarters, and a thousand other things . . . even the bridge clubs and bowling leagues.
I think America has always been great, until Reagan who negotiated with hostage takers to hold them until he was elected, who invented trickle down economics, who turned vulnerable people into the enemy, then Newt Gingrich who taught Republicans dirty tricks and how to refuse to work with Democrats and make it look like they were causing the problem, then Mitch McConnell who only supported legislation that gave Republicans more power or the rich more money. Then Citizens United that gave corporations power to buy votes and personhood.
Our greatness has been buried beneath the haters and the corruption.
Evolution proves that errors are not always bad. Overall, human ideas are a good thing, but what we now think often blocks the way forward to improved concepts. We honor many who thought "outside the box", not in a jumbled lazy or psychotic way, but in the form of "what if?); and hitched to the (believed to be) known with logic and evidence; sometimes displacing what proved to be less supportable notions.
There are loose ends even in mathematics, such as Gödel's Proof. A math prof described math perfectibility as a blanket too small for the bed. Pull it to cover one section, and it uncovers another.
That said we can sometimes get very close to ideals, or at least closer than we were before, without creating more problems than we solved. It seems that rather than a former golden age, pervasive violence was much more common in earlier eras. Yet we now have means and risks of ending our own species. We are endowed with a brain and the capacity for empathy. Where do we really want to go from here?
...yes,...with the active word being "WAS"...as hot and exhausted as the signers were, leaving other trip-wires like the 2nd Amendment hanging out there so poorly defined and, at least in our time, seemingly contradictory to itself, ...so exhausted they just left it there...crawling home worried when they'd be hanged by the British, never imagining a group of Americans would or even could deliberately scheme to "trick" and dismantle that elegant system of self-regulating trip-wires by taking over all 3 branches of government. The ultimate hypocracy of today's MAGAt mob is the creation of a tyranical dictator intended to empower individual State's rights, in response to a claimed "Liberal" tyranny....
The Cognitive Disonance keeps Earth "awake at night" while it's despots like Putin giggle and fan the flames of the fall.
I've always hated the "State's Rights" argument. We're either one nation or 50. I prefer one. Even as a teenager,, it never made sense to me. Plus, every time the States Rights argument is trotted out, it ALWAYS denies a personal right or a personal decision. It takes the right of decision away from the individual (the People) and gives it to the State. Nowhere is this MORE evident than the Dobbs Debacle.
We need more polymaths! Benjamin Franklin would not have opposed amendments to the Constitution, we may assume. There are about two dozen by now. An Amendment about voting rights that is crystal clear would seem relevant. All votes are equal, counted for all the country in the same way, directly without electors coming in between. Fair, proportional counting for the people.
I don't have any knowledge on Franklin's views of what the electorate should be, so i wouldn't mind a reference. For example, only "Kentucky, New Hampshire, and Vermont" had universal male voting rights. Everywhere else it was either property qualifications, or tax payors. Something to learn more about.
And the woman looks back one more time and says, “Mr Franklin, one day a few hundred years from now, our future sister Afghanistan women and us will have something in common.”
I have been upset since I heard about the 28-year-old woman in Georgia with the six-year-old child who died for want of a dilatation and curettage, d&c. The doctors who failed to do the procedure until it was too late, resulting in her death, should face charges of criminal negligence. Doctors should have to choose whether they want to face a jury of their peers for giving the standard of care and saving a life or a jury of their peers for not providing or postponing life-saving care resulting in the patient's death. It's that simple.
Of course. Doctors shouldn't have to make that choice. Doctors also must choose to delay treatment while they wait for health insurance approval, although death is sometimes a consequence. I don't know why doctors don't unionize for their mutual protection. They could create a fund to pay for legal counsel and create a fund as a kind of malpractice insurance.
In this case it was Gov. Kemp in Georgia with at least 2 Georgia deaths on his hands. More will come as more data comes in. This women's death happened about 1 month after Dobbs allowed Kemp to impose his previously unconstitutional 6 week ban, upon which DeathSantis's ban was based. 6 Weekes is before many women know they are pregnant since at least 2 of those weeks she was not pregnant because dating still starts from the last period. WHY can't we at least change this "medical" methodology?
2. It's more expensive and they may not be able to.
3. All the available states are filled already with women who can afford it.
4. This particular mother did leave the state, got a rare post abortion complication, and later hemorrhaged in her homesite of Georgia. Caring for internal organs is not easy and requires full medical attention in every state. Half our population needs it.
I wish more of us also remembered that September 17th is also the anniversary of the bloodiest day in American history. And as a warning we should never ignore and which seems particularly relevant now in this new time of divisiveness and violent rhetoric, we did it to ourselves along Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland.
But Antietam also stands for one of the most important of our historical anniversaries for another reason. It was the military victory for which Lincoln was waiting before he issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which was a crucial step in finally completing the work done in Philadelphia by promising to make us all free men and women, capable of taking on in full the responsibilities of citizenship in the first nation in history to define itself at its inception as that nation.
Benjamin Franklin was a very honest and astute gentleman. He knew everything in the Constitution was not perfect nor did he agree with some of the written words. He did, however, realize that the 13 states needed guidance and rules to abide by. Always amazed me that he survived until his 80’s which was really unheard of at that time.
I live one street from Rue Franklin in Paris. One block from his statue at Trocadero. One mile from the home where (one of) his mistress(es) lived. Six blocks from the home where he lived.
I live in Lyon and the Rue de Franklin is the street behind my apartment. I visited Auray this past spring in Britanny - Franklin is everywhere there because that is where he would embark for the US, including a huge portrait mural that takes up the entire side of a building! Just curious, the OR/Paris tag - are you originally from Oregon? I grew up shuttling between Portland and Canon Beach.
Oh , Heather, what a great history lesson. So much integrity and best intentions for the newly forming country. You letters are a must read for me and I am so grateful for your wisdom and knowledge
So clear! We used to learn this stuff, at least some, in Civics or American History. The reasons for a strong centralized government with a balance of powers are at least as important today as they were when our country was founded. E pluribus unum is still our best way forward, without a monarch or despot. Thank you again, for reminding us what a glorious experiment the United States is.
We had a semester of government back in mid 50s when I was in public high school learning exactly what Heather just reminded us of. It was required. I don't know if history was required can't remember but I am certain we were not taught about Tulsa or redlining or how the GI bill favored my family but not black families. I owe PBS for that. And that part of my education only occurred recently.
As we saw that magnanimity at your Party's convention, which openly welcomed people with a divergent politics, like mine, but a common devotion to what these men did in 1787 and what we can do again today. Courage defined their time as it will have to define ours.
And, once again, our belovèd republic faces a challenging time with other great powers standing by and hoping for our down-fall. It will not happen. Those great leaders and their enduring legacy were men just like the people we are today. We can do it; we can muddle through to another era of being a shining example to an angry, hungry world.
The American Century is over and we may be well into the Chinese Century. That does not mean America is lost. The seeming adversity imposed by the fascists now in control of the Republican Party and the seeming vulnerability we feel toward China and Russia does not mean that horrid times lie ahead. What it does mean is a return to that all-American word: opportunity.
Opportunity for what? To rebuild the republic based upon an idea. To mend our alliances. To re-focus upon liberty and a republic of a plain virtue not imposed on all but attainable by all. To restore human dignity and participatory democracy as a double helix of the rule of law. These strengths, these American strengths, still make us that elusive city on the hill.
The difference going-forward will be a national pride leavened by a culture of humility not fire-power. That means treating all our citizens with respect. That means keeping human rights not surrendered to the Constitution safely with breasts of men and women. That means depending upon allies as they depend upon us. China, Russia, Iran et al. will never match that moral force.
First order of business? Elect President Harris and Vice President Walz as the new Vice President.
Then, elevate a wide open Democratic Party to a level of dominance in Congress so we can, liberal and conservative, argue and compromise our way forward. There will be no a golden millennium but there can be a just society in which the maximum number of Americans -- including immigrants -- attain their fully ordained statures in the eyes of a beneficent Providence.
Well said Ned. I like the idea of the Democratic Party being "wide open". In fact, it may need to split for us to re-establish a legitimate multi-party system. Because the Republican Party has become the party of fascism and fealty to a monster. It has an expiration date.
I'd like to see a "New Democrats" established with three major platforms. Climate Catastrophe mitigation, removal of big dark money from politics and voting rights reform (no political gerrymandering, automatic registration and absolute freedom to vote...maybe even a requirement).
In fact, we ought to encourage multiple parties. With Ranked Choice Voting, all manner of small but important ideas could get air time without wrecking an election (Gore, Hillary, etc.)
Very well thought out, Bill. Many thanks for two things:
> taking the time to read the forever comment by me; and,
> making the effort to answer it in a manner that improves the original thinking.
As you state, the Democratic Party may be a safe-harbour for moderate, often erstwhile, Republicans to incubate into a new conservatism through a reconquered G.O.P. out of respect for President Lincoln. That New Republican Party would serve us as a loyal opposition that complements the liberalism of the New Democratic Party.
For your New Democratic Party, I would humbly submit that reproductive freedom for women be added to recognize the moral agency of women denied by the Dobbs decision. As a conservative by temperament, I would advocate for aid to women who want to take their pregnancies to term but may not be ready economically.
Thank you again, Bill, for your gracious response.
Perfect letter after a day spent Twitter-spatting with people who were screaming "they sent it back to the states" vis-a-vis reproductive choice. The notion that the human right to self-determination depends on your zip code is utterly anathema to the very notion of a republic.
MisTBlu, I just did a FB post "I read recently that there was a meeting between 55 politicians that were discussing the need to get rid of "States Rights". Anyone else hear about this?"
Ally, please provide a citation. Sorry but for me saying, "I read..." isn't enough to go on when it's something that would require a Constitutional amendment to implement.
Heather, have you read,"Exemplar of Liberty" by Donald Grinde? (University of Colorado Press?) Was shown it back in 1996 by a (now deceased) Oneida-Dakota Native friend who explained to me that Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin put up several Iroquois 'sachems' (wise men) , for over two years, in hotels in Philadelphia, inviting the Indigenous wise men to teach them, and their peers, about the governing structure of the Six Nations of the Iroquois. Our eventual U.S. Senate ( two representatives for each state) and House of Representatives (proportional representation for number of people in each state) as created by the Constitution, were based opon the structure of the Six Nations of the Iroquois, set up after the great Law of Peace. according to Grinde. If have not read it, suggest you check it out!
And some 250 years later, Moscow Mitch McConnell, the weasel with the rat face, came along and almost singlehandedly destroyed this beautiful idea. I really wonder how that man can sleep at night, knowing that he was instrumental in abolishing democracy and everything the founding fathers and the framers stood for…
Senator McConnell may be all the awful things mentioned here, but that is not important. What remains imperative is that we band together as often quarrelling siblings to vote him and his craven quislings out of power.
Kamala Harris is working round the clock to save America from tyranical Trump. Voting against dictatorship is now the #1 priority to save democracy.
It would be so helpful for Heather reseach and tell us how traitors were treated 250 years ago. We need all the guidance from the past possible in these trying times.
Tim Walz taught social studies. He would be a great surrogate in terms of telling the "elegant" and highly relevant story Heather tells here. America needs a civics lesson, a reminder of who we are and why it matters that we sustain the best of the US Constitution. "States rights" fail to support all Americans, when it comes to issues affecting every human life (healthcare, environment, guns, civil rights, reproductive rights, infrastructure...an urge for peace, security, and community).
Yes, America needs a civic lesson and history lessons. Unfortunately, many people no longer read and do not seem interested in learning. Many people believe what they are told or refuse to believe what they are told, depending on the subject. When I phone bank I am astounded at the number of people who do not think Trump is guilty of sexual assault or even adultery. They believe what Trump and the MAGA tell them and disbelieve what is being found in the courts and/or reported in the news. JD said he "created" the story about pet-eating in Springfield and that he lied to gain "attention to an issue." He has hurt countless people. But people are discounting that and still voting for their ticket. If people do not embrace and process the facts, what is to be done? We are in a very real mess.
Anita, the hard core MAGAs are unreachable. They love death star in part because he gives them carte blanche to be hateful and let all their prejudices rage while they are in the face of everyone who disagrees with them. I do have trouble dealing with people who think it is OK to make up a terrible story and turn a town upside down. Our job is to get people registered, to make sure people are actually registered, and to get out the vote. The fact is that JD will actually be running things because death star is getting more feeble. He wants only the glory, the power, money, and to play golf.
Anger releases dopamine, which is pleasurable and addictive. A dopamine rush makes us feel strong and powerful - the perfect antidote to the daily struggles to survive. I do believe that many, even most, of the trumpists are addicted to the hits of outrage and violence trump’s campaign stokes. I’m not sure that all of them were always hateful naturally, but if they feel powerless in their daily lives, the sugar-like high of anger and violence would reinforce their attachments to their dopamine dealer.
Yes, Michele, our job is to keep our heads down and do the work until 8 pm Nov.5
Ignore the distractions and keep moving forward!
After we Democrats win this election and Kris Krebs sanctifies it, we get to work continuing to destroy trickle down economics and the harm it has done to the millions who are the victims of the billionaires who own US. It is time to embrace some version of Tony Judt’s Social Democracy (some will call it “socialism” and shriek). I have seen how an organized country without massive greed works. It is refreshingly different from gold toilets.
The ONLY reason tfg is running is so he can wipe out all of this legal cases which SCOTUS just gave him immunity for. He could absolutely care less about running the government, he just wants to round up every immigrant in the country and every single person who has ever said anything against him (that's a VERY long list).
The 'funny' thing is that the cats and dogs being eaten ran through San Francisco in the late 80s.
And to stay out of jail?
America also needs lessons in critical thinking and recognizing propaganda in the media. We need laws that severely punish those who create and spread misinformation for the purpose of deception.
Like Elon Musk and the Orange Clown and Vance.
AGree on importance of critical thinking AND civics. But, when you mention laws that include PURPOSE, then you have to prove that the information was INTENDED to deceive. I'm not a lawyer, but it does seem to be a challenge to strike the balance between deception and misguided thinking and free speech. Not that it can't be done, ie, the false "Fire" in a movie theater example. Just that, as noted above, some of these folks REALLY BELIEVE these things, eg, Trump really did win the election.
Those who spread lies for the purpose of gaining power and making money.
Regarding critical thinking, I wish everyone would study (and memorize) rhetorical and logical fallacies.
In order to promote PEACE, a good education topic would be 'Diplomacy as Strategy'.
This is exactly the horror of this moment in time and the thing that I fear the most. My mother (oddly, a consumer of Right-wing talk radio and would have been a big Combover Caligula supporter) used to say when I was a kid "There are none so blind as will not see.". She missed the irony then and these people miss it now.
Your mother and my mother must have been raised in the same nest! That was the most frequent phrase she quoted as she shook her finger at me!
Lasley, Anita, Michele, and Sandra,
B.L.U.F.: think of America as down by two touch-downs at half-time. ¿Who better to rally us inside the locker room than Knute Rockne and 'fighting Kamalat?" Beautiful thought there, ¡Lasley!
My Dad once told me that President Kennedy's secret sauce was that he sold America back to the Americans in the sense of renewing self-confidence. These times are different. We are no longer at our zenith, but remain important to the advancement of mankind.
We are hurting; things are "broken' as many M.A.G.A.s claim. Well, there is some truth to what the M.A.G.A.s are saying. I worked in Pittsburgh's steel mills for three summer during college. I met mainly men, mainly good men, They had aspirations like the rest of us, more for their progeny.
All that collapsed when Reaganism smashed the unions and the Clinton Admin. sold out the economy to China. These events may have been inevitable, but when changes come and innovations occur, somebody loses. Many M.A.G.A.s, I would venture to say, feel abandoned by the rest of us.
Others are simply vile. The latter we have to contain. For the former, we have at least to try to make things better for them -- to give them a shot.
So, instead of selling America back to the Americans, Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are rallying Americans back to making up an improving America to which we aspire, with our different ideas civilly debated.
[small voice] Adultery is not a crime. Let's try to stick to the many things he's done that are crimes, like sexual assault, bank fraud, perjury, etc.
Seems that this Old Document needs a 'Tune-Up'... Start with Abolishing the Electoral College, Term-Limits in the Supreme Court, and in the Senate...
Get rid of the filibuster
That is do-able.
And a condition that members of Congress can't miss more than 25% of votes, and a high % of measures introduced must be passed through with bipartisan support each session or Congress members will forfeit their seat. If they don't work they don't keep their jobs. Pretty basic.
PROBLEM: A whole heck of a lot of people have either tremendous difficulty and/or no ability and/or desire to process the activity of or chore of distinguishing fact from fiction! It’s easy to create or accept something that is illogical, that is not true nor supported by facts, logic, reasoned logic and/or evidence and reality — but it is hard to and takes time and work to verify the truth and reliability of what one needs to rely upon and have faith in!
Anita Coryell is correct, “If people do not embrace and process the facts, what is to be done?” What’s to be done is to work at trying to educate and motivate that almost one-third of the American registered — but non-voting electoral — to participate in their most important citizenship duty and process … cast educated votes!
Agree 111%. Yes, it is hard work. I taught college courses briefly in Tunis, though I had absolutely no business doing so. I made that plain to the students. What I did say was that I expected students to lay out a thesis, adduce evidence to support it, and to advocate a resolution.
These Tunisian students were fantastic kids for the most part. They had been educated in a French system of wham-cram-thank-you-man on the premise, I would surmise, that students needed facts and would have the rest of their lives to think.
Since I was frequently a toe-nail ahead of my charges in domain knowledge, my class agenda / notes were thorough (more to keep me in line). That worked out because students did not need to amass them and could spend more time thinking.
The students thrived. But they were also better educated than many or most American high schoolers. One student was a case in point. He had an almost photographic memory. So he could recite facts -- usually getting him an 'A'. But he kept getting a 'B' from me.
He was upset and I nudged him to use his BIG mind for critical thinking. Gradually, he exited his comfort zone and built his skills. Years later, he wrote me a note of gratitude for teaching him how to think. Of course, I did not teach him how to think. I merely encouraged him to acquire a new skill he values deeply today.
And this is why teachers are so important!
Politics Girl Leigh McGowan just released her book, “A Return Sense”. It has civics lessons wrapped up with what we can do to build a better country. It sounds perfect for all the people we know who say “I’m just not political” when you try to engage them in what’s happening to our country.
Here is a book blurb from Rachel Bitecofer:
"Being able to make complex things simple is an exceedingly rare talent that Leigh McGowan has in spades. I’m excited to see McGowan’s “common sense” civics lessons get out of the kitchen and into the hands of average Americans on the front lines of the fight to save American democracy."
—Rachel Bitecofer, Ph.D., author of Hit 'Em Where It Hurts
“America needs a civic lesson….” While true, I have to wonder whether it is too late for the civics lesson to do what you state-be reminded of who we are and why it matters…?”
We’ll know the answer to that question in November or the weeks after as justice holds us together or men (yes MEN) tears us apart to retain power, hold on the their greedy wealth and/or let religious/cultural incivility rip away the foundations of a country that has long provided us with peace, justice, and opportunity for all to advance to a better life.
Here is one person who clearly has too much money, power, and Catholic traditional dogma and is eager to tear our nearly 250 years asunder.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/18/opinion/leonard-leo-fundraising-supreme-court-irs.html?smid=url-share
Let’s hope we can Marshall the power of citizens across the country to stop the destruction of our near perfect democracy.
Get out the Vote.
Treason as a criminal offense in very narrowly defined and seem not to have relevance here. Treason in the sense of betrayal is what the modern GOP is all about.
Yes, I recently read that Laura Loomer is suggesting death for her treasonous enemies (any Dem) because that is what history demands for traitors. More of the accusing others of what they do.
And Laura Loomer and DonOLD are also having an affair according to Matt Drudge, Bill Maher and John Fugelseng to name a few.
Imagine all of this additional drama if he is elected.
Yuck!
Melania...stop the presses. You have a new chapter for your book. Oh, I see it is too late. Well, she has sequel material.
With The Donald's history and his relationships with women, this would not at all surprise me. However, I would need some proof before going down that road. And for that matter, what would that say about Loomer? She's gas lighted herself already to almost the nth degree. What the hell is wrong with that lady? 🤦🤦🤦
My thoughts exactly. Where there is smoke, there is usually fire. It's just too convenient that a woman like Loomer is around just because of her political views (which are absolutely egregious and can stand on their own as another important reason to reject Trump). Anyone with a lick of reason can see what a liability she is, but the love/lust of an affair can overwhelm logical thinking. I am no fan of opposition research into personal lives of candidates, but a verifiable discovery of such an affair would be pertinent enough to this election. Personal integrity should be on the ballot, and his past transgressions seem to have been largely forgotten. Time to wake up to the full array of awfulness that is Trump.
I live in fear, more drama sounds apoplectic
tRump wants to occupy our minds in any way he possible can. He may be succeeding! Forget the looser loomr & orange blob. Let’s look up & fwd as Harris & Tim Waitz talk sense. 😁
projection. It's all they do. That, and stoke hate.
Sadly, MAGAts don’t have a clue
JD, one of the things Rs do on a regular basis is projection witness the current accusations about D rhetoric causing assassination attempts when it is the R's own talk which brings violence into the equation. Both attempts were by people who were or are mentally challenged.
Tried and true Repub bullschitt. and MSM just ignores it.
Good point.
Shays' Rebellion was not a traitorous act to try to overthrow the government. It basically just wanted the plight of the unpaid Revolutionary War Veterans addressed that was part of what John Adams observed were the new levies that "were heavier than the People could bear." (I believe his taxes went up 80 fold.)
The western Massachusetts farmers had been far more self-sustaining in making land productive , building and maintaining roads through common efforts, and doing the kind of land and watershed stewardship that helped the entire region. They didn’t get the hard currency that the advantaged elites on the east side thought they should pay in taxes.
Sam Adams considered Shaysists as traitors and wanted them all hanged while his 2nd cousin John Adams seemed to favor amnesty for 4,000 or so participants and eventual pardons for leaders, some 18 of whom had death sentences that were not carried out (though 2 were hanged). John Hancock regained the Governorship in May 1787, after a 2 year plus break during which the rebellion took place and helped reduce the actual executions to just the 2 (who were convicted for also committing common-law crimes).
The Jan 6 crimes were much more aimed at overthrowing the existing government. Their ultimate leaders and supporters are not looking for fair deals for the masses trying to make a living without the advantages of the richest but least tax burdened who are perfectly happy to increase the inequalities of opportunity and inability to keep the same percentage of the fruits of their labor as we did in our best decades.
The Trump supporters that do know how to make a more productive economy are not aiming at making it rewarding for all, and are actually making us suffer more from the lack of adequate new and sustained infrastructure, affordable health care on par with the rest of the developed world, and affordable quality education for so many of the best and brightest of the diversity of potential we have.
A recent post by one of my Trump aligned old Vietnam heroes brought up his economic advisor Kevin Hassett, whom I knew nothing about. In looking for what his motives and inclinations were (no matter how smart he is), I found Margaret Hoover's interview on Firing Line at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODX-0t3t3K4
Hassett sure seems smart enough as you can see through almost the whole interview but the end had me thinking about Albert Speer when it would have been more appropriate to compare him to Hjalmar Schacht, the German economic advisor capable of creating an economic "miracle" but a little less blind to his leader's faults than Hassett seems. The theories seem solid but the details and whims of Trump destroy the arguments he tries to make when it comes to what he would actually do.
Exposure by Hoover to his willingness to turn a blind eye to January 6th that came at the end was as perfect as I could ask for.
Knowing how things work doesn't mean they will make them work for the benefit of all of us and reciprocally engaged by our allies and even competitors.
I trust my fellow citizens -- or a majority of them -- to dismiss that nut-case as a neurotic crank.
Last night I heard a moron say that chump would be so much better for the country. Guess he was in a coma for those horrible years. Nah, just watching Rupert's efforts to cut and paste.
I believe it does, and should, have relevance here. As President. the former was the #1 officer in our armed forces, the Commander in Chief. and his betrayal and order to those who attacked the Capitol on 1/6 was clearly an act of treason for which he has still not been held accountable. The fact that the GOP (not the grand old party anymore) is all about the continuance of that act is just gas on the fire, and must be viewed as further evidence of treason.
I have wondered about this idea, too.
I e-mailed the DOJ way back and shared the idea, prior to SC Jack Smith's appointment. I put a lot of faith in SC Smith to get the job done.
The most important guidance we need from Heather is how to identify people heading in the wrong direction long before they get so far from the political center that they become traitors, and then we need to make it clear that the time has come for them to grow up. And that guidance is in today's newsletter. People who "have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise" are heading in the right direction. People who are provided with, but refuse to be influenced by, better information on important subjects are heading in the wrong direction.
If you have the legal right to vote in November, then finding a good reason to vote D up and down the ballot is like finding dirt. It's everywhere. There are no good reasons to vote R, or to not vote, only bad excuses.
Well said James Carey!
In my humble opinion, this quote from Franklin is perhaps one of the most important I've read in a long time. Life's experiences, observations, scientific advances, cultural changes all contribute to "better information, or fuller consideration" and the opportunity for one "to change opinions even on important subjects...." Those Originalists on the Supreme Court should take Ben Franklin's statement to heart. And someone should get this quote to Kamala Harris as it forms a much better response than "my values haven't changed" to those who raise questions about something she said 5 years ago that is contrary to her stance today. That said, this does not apply to someone who changes their opinion on important subjects based upon the political winds.
Well said Bill. Changing one's opinion based upon the political winds is an important distinction. It's like a tug of war. The center is not where the flag is tied to the rope. The center is halfway between the two lines on the ground. Likewise, the political center is not halfway between Democrats and Republicans. The center is halfway between being too openminded (progressive) versus being too skeptical (conservative) about proposed changes.
None of the Republican-appointed SCOTUS justices are originalists, but some are ORINOs (originalists in name only). Real originalists treat others they way they would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot. ORINOs do unto others before others do unto them.
Agreed. Center works for linear measurements but gets complicated fast. You want bathwater not too hot or cold, but where is the center of an ecosystem? Or even the Universe? Repeatedly I have encountered Joe Manchin labeled "Moderate" or "Centrist" by the MSM, and AOC labeled "extreme left", but in a larger context, is that sensible? Is it misleading?
What is essential to functioning complexity and stability in nature is balance , but that tends to be a multilevel, interactive balance that defies complete accounting. The "Butterfly Effect" gets oversimplified in popular culture, but the part that is real still males precise weather prediction a challenge even with supercomputers.
We want politicians to have simple answers, but some things are not so simple, and our purchase on reality as our understanding becomes more nuanced, such as when germ theory replaced evil spirits or night air as the cause of infectious disease. Balance is often a matter of as much as it takes. Halfway measures are not likely to retard global heating enough to avoid tipping points.
I disagree on least one count. I believe that Justice Coney Barrett is a sincere originalist. Perhaps, Justice Gorsuch as well. Otherwise it is an ideological cover story. Like a fart in the elevator. Unpleasant but no one willing to identify it.
Bombast in public affairs is no virtue. Humility in public service is no vice.
"Remember that to change thy opinion and to follow him who corrects thy error is as consistent with freedom as it is to persist in thy error."
-- Marcus Aurelius.
There is a division between people who look to a particular ostensibly "all knowing" person as the ultimate authority on reality and conduct, and those who trust logic, evidence, and collaborative empathy. The first are authoritarians and the second curious observers. The European Scholastic Middle Ages pretty much models the first mode of thinking and the Renaissance and Enlightenment a shifts, toward the second, although both have always been with us. The Constitution was in many ways a product of Enlightenment inquiry, and the practical and moral utility of it's formulation of principles, including ongoing yet cautious revisions have kept it functional and relevant though the evolution of modern society. So called "Originalists" shift the authority of the constitution to the personalities who wrote it not the principles they articulated. And harking to the authority of those log dead who cannot now object makes it far easier to twist their words into any interpretation the authoritarians care to lay on it, such as claiming it's not illegal if the president does it; that "The King Can Do No Wrong"; allegedly what the Framers aimed for all along.
Heather is doing the job of helping to point out people "heading in the wrong direction." She uses history to make sure that "history only repeats itself" can be altered and we can learn from the mistakes of the past.
Yes, that quote seems to sum it all up. "When I was a child, I thought as a child. Now I am a man and I think as a man... " The sentiment that we must critically evaluate our experiences and realize that this is what makes us grow and expand our insight about the world. That is the key to a successful life...and country. We definitely need the mindset of a Benjamin Franklin now. Both sides would benefit from his thoughts.
I'm reminded of too simple minded Grover Norquist who as a preteen child (12 years old) came up with the No New Taxes (no matter what war was felt necessary, as in the GWOT). He has stuck to his 12 year old's (1968) mantra ever since, never seeming to graduate to thinking like an adult.
Why rely solely on Dr. Richardson? There are a lot of competently researched and written history books available in your local library. BTW, traitors, upon conviction, were usually hung.
Dave, that would be “hanged” as in “hanged by the neck until dead.” Clothes and paintings were hung, people were hanged.
Appreciate the distinction. Thanks, JohnM.
Thanks John.
Out of respect for Dr. Richardsons work is where my request came from.
These days she is one of my most favorite authors. She gets right to the point and stays focused.I would go to a library and look for her book on the subject. It is and would be worth the wait. Thank You
wouldn't it be great if HCR's daily letters were read by highschool students
They deserve the best and HCR is up there with the great historians of our time.
Our most infamous 18th C. traitors, Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr, were both great patriots first. Arnold was a brilliant military commander without whom we might not have won the pivotal battle of Saratoga. Burr was at the center of our founding generation playing multiple roles. Each grew over-ambitious when their hopes went unrealized, and took actions for which they are remembered in infamy. The current crop of Republicans are small men (and women) striving to ride the coat tails of a demagogue to establish tyranny. I doubt any will face justice for what they have done, assuming the election spares us from their victory. Only the demagogue himself and a few in his inner circle will be prosecuted. To go further would appear too partisan…like “weaponization of the DoJ”.
Well-said, Lewis. Thank you. Yes, to prosecute farther down the line from tfg would appear partisan.
True, although there are some Congress critters who truly deserve it. However, we can hope their constituents will vote them out of power. GOTV indeed!
Unlike Shays' Rebellion (which wasn't trying to overthrow the government, just get a fairer tax policy for the bedrock of society, especially those owed pay in hard currency they needed to pay their incredibly raised tax rates, the January 6th participants and elected accomplices were, whether knowingly or not closer to trying to overthrow legitimate government.
4,000 Shaysists were charged but most received amnesty while higher placed ones applied for pardons (I believe both of the previous had to take loyalty oaths), and 18 received death sentences that were not carried out (pardoned or commuted). In the end, only 2 were hanged and that seems not for rebellion but for common-law crimes they committed.
I would see some benefit from prosecuting almost all if not all of the legislators that assisted them but with the most common consequences not being jail time if they request pardons and most pardons be applied that they can be barred from office and/or running for office for some period up to the rest of their lives. Something not too different from after the Civil War, but always with some conditions such as being able to request reduced pardon restrictions after 4 years of good behavior/community service.
Just GOTV EVERYWHERE!! Even Florida, North Carolina, and Texas are close enough to put in the work. Sadly, the founders didn’t anticipate how the Electoral College could distort the election, or that the Supreme Court would make such a power grab. But here we are and we have to win BIG to drive MAGA back into their basements and take away their AK-47s.
Obviously our problems go back to the beginning...just as with some relationships we can see from the beginning how it's going to go. The question is how to get these authoritarian types on board with democracy. The only way I can see is through education. And of course that's one of the first thing dictators destroy.
Why? The Constitution lays out quite specifically what treason is. Is it really wise to replicate 250 years ago?
"Two would-be executioner heros came forward and failed."
Some thoughts are better kept to yourself. Your appalling comment glorifies political violence and vigilantism.
Ya... I agree lin. Visceral thoughts in one's own mind may be temporarily satisfying, but best kept to themselves. I never met Trump or Vance and so, I cannot say that I hate them. I certainly disdain their policies that I know would only further erode this nation in which MAGA republicans, I believe, wrought havoc. After this episode in our political life, let the chips fall where they may with tRump. As for Vance, all I want from him is to go away; if he wishes to have a corner office in some miniscule law firm so that he may make an honest living, then so be it. Just get him the hell away from the political arena.
You're very kind to allow Vance a future in which to make an honest living. I had suggested tying him to a chair with no mic, no phone, and no computer. He really should not be allowed to roam free.
Thank G-D. Assassinations will not save the republic but kill it.
Bill, you should have thought that notion through before writing it. If you had, you'd realize the grave consequences that would have resulted -- ripples becoming a tsunami.
We (except on rare occasions) don't kill our political opponents in this country. Those who have done so are synonymous with treachery and exist in infamy. Anyone who endorses such an action -- even in jest (which I doubt this is) -- is espousing anti-American principles and should be sanctioned. If only I could "block" or "unfollow".
NO! I WANT that man to live, so that he may be beaten the Democratic way in November, and know only courtrooms and confinement for the rest of his miserable life.
Thank you, Doug. My sentiments exactly!
Nicely stated, good and loyal savant!
Those "hero's" would have enabled JD to run for Pres.
One marker of where we are:
Republicans asserting that the original meaning of 'a well regulated militia' means a well supplied militia and that the Founders' intent was to permit each American fire power equivalent to the state military.
I have always thought in today's context 'a well regulated militia' was what the National Guard was all about.
…or a police force to keep the towns/counties civil order stabile …because there are people who want to steal, get too drugged /drunk altering their common sense or morality which then takes over from perceived fears/inadequacies/lacks of security. They are seldom any of these people at the town meetings, at the school board meetings, low voter participation, had difficultly in school, lower levels of education . They are often victims of abuse, lacked a nurturing environment,are bullies/liars/cons/or spoiled selfish brats with no sense of responsibility other than to blame others ( deflection techniques), have a list of gripes,are or can be radicalized first, are users, derogatory speech, and degrading opinions.
When I’m ‘out’ in the world I notice the greeters, happy, smiling, a Goodmorning now and then, hold doors for elders, give the right of way, show respect, say thank you. They are the majority, in fact.
They might express concern, but usually follow the remark with some semblance of a solution. They have plans to improve, goals , donate to causes, are helpers.
For these people we worry not.
All we can really do is listen…the good people by their speech or actions are the safe set, good leaders, trust them and please…
💙💙VOTE BLUE 💙💙
I wonder/hope that Kamala’s powerful love campaign is also resulting in a dopamine rush that can counteract some of trump’s violence/hate dopamine rush!
I wonder too that half of this stuff is hyped by the media…same as repeats of a couple episodes of bad actors..I still have trouble thinking so many can be hating, causing havoc, raising cane. We knew infiltrators went into the peace protests and escalated havoc then quietly disappeared . Crowd mentality can be very easily swayed by a rotten apple in the barrel, figuratively , huh?
I know quite a few who are influenced by Fox , bad press.
I encourage the happy factors.
Sayings like the WWIII mention several weeks ago…TFG’s doom & gloom, planting fear….how many remember that talk back in ‘our day’…it’s a contagious form of incitement/anarchy…very effective.
Let’s promote happiness like the joy and hope Kamala and Tim display…on a collective basis …who is with us?
👏🙌🫶👍
A “well regulated militia “ has been hijacked by the Republican Party, with the help of the dark money NRA, to arm anyone and everyone who wants to walk around with a weapon. And we wonder why we are not feeling safe???
Kind of nonsensical, that meant something in rural 18th century America, its equivalent today is the modern America military. Maybe common citizens should be entitled to their own aircraft carriers, something that Elon might want to have. Imagine one of those vigilante paramilitaries out there taking on a rapid reaction army group, backed up with Apache air power etc.
And yet, that almost happened with Clive Bundy and his militia people who faced off against the feds in Nevada. Imagine if a couple of Apache helicopters were dispatched with all the relevant armament on each. I shudder to think of the consequences Bundy's men would have received. "Nonsensical" is a pretty good word for this; I would further describe it as a no brainer.
paramilitaries are as much about male swagger as anything else. These guys figure malevolently in apocalyptic disaster/invasion movies.
Frank, sadly not just apocalyptic movies but also in real-life misguided efforts by people like Rouche trying to solve national and international problems with their personal actions. Guys usually want to be heroes or be seen as heroes but when they veer this far off course they are generally adjudicated mentally compromised.
Meal Team Six
💯💯💯
The original text reads to me that "people" refers to the collective noun of the people of a particular state and not to the plural of the singular noun person. The latter is used in the Constitution instead of people.
The word people appears to be a collective noun throughout the Constitution. So the amendment says, to me at least, that a the people of Maryland, for example, can store arms for the purposes of defending Maryland.
Back then, this provision was important since Britain might invade at any time; perhaps Spain, as Dr Cox Richardson suggested.
It is probably some of each. Defense would be military (which was used against the Indigenous peopled as settlers moved west), and law enforcement would be more local militias, later morphed into police, and what were essentially posses called up by a sheriff to address a specific problem, such as a gang, or an attack by native Americans or to capture run-away slaves.
I doubt the founders ever intended that the militia would look like the Proud Boys.
And of course the reasons for people to have weapons would be defense of household, feeding family, and being ready to be called up by law enforcement or the governor to address a common threat in a "well-regulated" (by the government) though usually ad hoc militia.
The militia groups we see today could conceivably have been seen as potential threats against the general welfare.
They themselves see themselves as ensuring the government does not overreach into private lives, and to be ready to defend themselves against government tyranny.
And yet the party they align with wants to "overreach into private lives" in a fascist manner. Reproductive rights, religious freedom, freedom from religion, sexual preferences, book banning. The analogy for me is: Proud Boys = the Taliban.
I would equate the rw evangelical zealots with the Taliban..
And I can understand the feelings of those folks - up to a point. The visceral feeling may be there, but the actionable state is no longer relevant as not only the balance of power has grossly and realistically changed in favor of government, but reason and intellect have advanced to such a state, that present expectations are that disagreements are expected to be settled in courts. We have become a nation of laws (even if some are clearly unjust - however, can still be addressed in some way): MAGA republicans (even if one wishes to call them republicans, it is in my view a wrongly used label as the republican party no longer really exists - it's more the MAGA party now) it seems, have yet to catch up with this long settled notion. And that's part of the problem: many of these MAGA folks have been born out of their era. Their era was in the 19th century. They are at least 125 years in a time warp that is grossly out of sync with the rest of us.
I'd hazard a guess they think their era is 1775, and we (non-Magas) are the Brits! That makes it 249 years out of synch.
For me, that's too far back. In addition, it would insult those who founded and helped found this nation to call them MAGA. They really don't deserve that. :)
"in a time warp that is grossly out of sync with the rest of us"
It is likely that a lot of the Make America White Again crowd would like a return to the days of Strange Fruit.
Sad…but likely true. Terrifying.
Isn’t this something like what Florida man did, establishing a personal militia..I recall some saber rattling, no? It’s fear tactics.
My brother actually cautioned/warned me about too much FB stuff as we have a ‘complex’ not far from us (not even 2 miles) reportedly Oath Keepers and switched their names to 2nd AMMENDMENT Rifle Club after the insurrection and arrest of several head figures. Stay to themselves, well armed , haven’t made waves, no trouble.There’s a lot of G.O.Boys around here boasters, talk tough, make a point of bravado.
I suspected quite sometime ago a lot of this was imaging…portrayal of tough guy… but it,is contagious..how many are actually worried for their safety and under what circumstances?
The general Republican definition of regulation in almost any context means they get a lot of what they want and have no responsibility thereafter.
They seem to excel at shapeshifting “Original Meaning”.
I've been thinking for a long time since Trump's statement about being a dictator for a day,
Tuesdays with all the talk of 2025 I'm pretty sure if that actually happens the 2nd amendment will be gone forever.
Then swap today's weapons for muskets, in keeping with the period qhwn the Constitution was ratified. I can live with that.
Oh, there is no question about that! But I'm really hoping it's not to late. It may well be that McConnell and his cronies have finished the long game already.
As HCR points out part of the purpose of the Constitution is to "establish a postal service, establish courts...."
Convicted felon Donald Trump has made a mockery of the courts and has made the postal service a totally dysfunctional entity.
And Mitch helped by putting in place religious zealots and unqualified personnel. Project 2025 is already in motion.
It sure is. And I sincerely hope it can be stopped...
Not to late for a blue tsunami.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/all-volunteer-ops/volunteer
ThankYou for continuing to tell us about FieldTeam6.
They are a fine group to be working with. Thanks to you, I added them to my list and have already done hundreds of cards - to PA, NC, GA, WI, OH. They make it easy and it is so satisfying.
We can’t. Because we are quisling democrats who beg to differ with each other like hungry pigs in a poke.
Bill, I disagree. Our diversity is our strength. Our progressives are dragging us into the future with regards to climate and social justice. Our moderates are working the room including the opposition party to get things done.
And now, we have a leadership team that reflects that diversity. Harris and Walz are mirrors of America both in heritage and vision.
A party that just marches to the beat of one drum is generally not interested in democracy - just fealty and fascism.
Diversity is not so strong if the diverse group keeps the blame game going and in politics, this is the only game in town which is, to blame. First in the morning and last before slumber, blame everyone for alleged guilt. And if we don’t stop blaming every damn thing and if we continue to cow tow to what our masters of Ideological Think tell us, we are doomed, my friend. And the darnest thing happens in our group. We blame (remember blame game) the other side for being what they are now, traitors, facists, you name it. And we allow them to pick apart our extraordinary defects and since I refuse to be wiped into hopeful submission, I won’t explain. Rather it should be for you to reflect upon.
Now let me get back to work.
A line in one of my songs:
What do you think if you think at all
Oh, I read it online that’s all
Wow.......Nobody is stopping you from going back to work and finishing your song there..........no worries about that.......so get to it.
Oh, yes we can. And we have done so in much darker times.
With the candles knocked to the ground, the constitution has been stolen and hidden in the Charter Oak Tree.
Which, sadly, died in a storm in 1856.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_Oak
lol.
Speak for yourself.
Interesting word Bill with an interesting story behind it's meaning. I was not alive until nearly 30yrs after WWII, so a little before my time but my dad was a fighter pilot in WWII and Korea. I never heard him use the that word though.
Quisling?..what kind of a word is this??..I will look it up as I am now curious as to what it means but why use a word that's so uncommon?
Vidkun Quisling was a Norwegian army officer who in 1933 founded Norway's fascist party. In December 1939, he met with Adolf Hitler and urged him to occupy Norway. Following the German invasion of April 1940, Quisling served as a figurehead in the puppet government set up by the German occupation forces, and his linguistic fate was sealed. Before the end of 1940, quisling was being used generically in English to refer to any traitor. Winston Churchill, George Orwell, and H. G. Wells used it in their wartime writings. Quisling lived to see his name thus immortalized, but not much longer. He was executed for treason soon after the liberation of Norway in 1945.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quisling
"Craven quislings" is almost alliteration, and I love it.
Yes, I am into frenetic phonetics. 😉 Thank you for catching that, Jen. 🤝
Well said, Ned!
Thank you, Sam.
Quislings indeed!
Touché
Mitch McConnell and his fellow Republican power-mongers do not have their sleep disturbed by worries for democracy and the Framers of the Constitution. McConnell also joined Senate Republicans to sign their joint statement of 6/12/2024 in support of IVF, while today (9/17/2024) having joined all but 2 Senate Republicans in voting against the Right to IVF Act. Republicans have no shame, no concern for hypocrisy, and no accountability to the voters they represent.
Yet another reason to Do Something and Get Out The Vote for Democrats!
Ambitious sociopaths with power rearguard "We the People" as objects, to be manipulated in order to serve their personal agendas.
And, I strongly believe, Mitch McConnell is afraid of and bullied by, Donald Trump…
McConnell is a crafty old survivor. He's playing his own long game. I think he's hoping to outlast Trump
I wonder if we will ever find out who is digging dirt for Donald so he can use blackmail to assure unanimity.
Yes, yes he did. A born conniver and a devil incarnate.
Since his wife resigned, the day after the insurrection, she has vanished from public view.
Do you blame her? Like Melania and Mrs. Vance, why would she want to appear in public with him?
I was thinking of Elaine Chao. She’s my age and gets to crawl into the rack with turtle boy every night. Nighty night Elaine. Sleep tight and don’t let the bedbugs bite.🤮
Elaine Chao was always a worthless eater. She accomplished virtually nothing as Secretary of Transportation. Compared to Pete Buttigieg who has overseen over 70,000 infrastructure projects as well as the clean-up of the collapsed bridge in Baltimore, she did little more than collect a paycheck.
(I wonder if she still does?) Funny to compare her with her successor in the Biden administration.
Don’t you wonder
He is a literal and metaphorical descendant of slavers. No shame, and will be unrepentant until his not soon enough end.
Thank You. I think when our history is written, Mitch McConnell will not fare well. He has elevated power and partisanship above all decency. "Craven" is too kind. "Too Old" is the truth. Party over Country seems to be his mantra. He's twisted and warped the Republican Party beyond all recognition. He's the poster boy for adding term limits to Senators, Representatives, and Justices.
It depends on who ultimately "writes the history." If the oligarchs/Fascists prevail, McConnell most likely won't even be mentioned. Our schools will not promote the theory of democracy: one person, one vote, majority rule. Once in control of the military by the oligarchs, it is difficult to imagine an uprising among the people succeeding. That is why, IMO, this is the most important election in the history of the world. We are teetering on the precipice of destruction of democratic government.
And to think we've green-lighted unfettered commerce to the point where oligarchs like Musk, an immigrant to boot, control our satellite communications and space exploration is F***king mind boggling.
And not to forget that the so-called 'we' of SCOTUS infamy unfettered political money to make the We not so important, via Citizens United.Really tired of the personality take-aparts, including my own participation in them, which have served a purpose or two to help us think more clearly about how personality affects politics, what kind of person not to vote for, and if nothing else to observe the depths and deprivations of the personalities themselves and how anybody could ever have gone along with them. And boy is that a whole other explanation and story and discussion.
I think history will reveal that Citizens United was one of the most destructive rulings made by SCOTUS in terms of did it do long term harm or long term good for our republic.
And let's not forget their idea that the former president is "Immune."
...and speaking of judges, Ailene Cannon has been discovered to fail to report attending a partisan conference and failed to report junkets to a MT luxury lodge and asked for reimbursement. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/judge-aileen-cannon-failed-to-disclose-a-right-wing-junket/ar-AA1qITKk
I feel the exact same way, Richard.
What I need to reply to this is not a heart but an expression of tears. Senator McConnell has served the people reprehensively, taking the authority granted under the Constitution and using it not to advance the good of all the people but for the glorification of the few. What a disappointment.
We're talking about the "Bible belt" here, right?
But the belt now reaches to Idaho.
Yes, DM, I am so curious as to his beliefs and thought processes that produced such actions. They seem so very antithetical to the whole idea of our country’s founding principles. Astounding!
The urge to unilaterally dominate is the very tyranny the framers, in their best moments, collaborated to prevent.
Those devoted to subjugation twist everything to justify their depredations.
Mitchell and evangelicals would call it their "righteous cause". Of course, there's more to the current Republican power brokers than just that!
Mitch McConnell has an old-fashioned sense of decorum that is stripped away in the new generation of Republicans, but I've come to believe that, like DT and JDV, he holds one guiding principle: power at any cost.
I suspect it's only his old-fashioned sensibilities (along with perhaps a better gift for strategy) and not any principle whatsoever, causing him to resent the new face of the party.
As for overturning RvW, that become evangelical dna a couple generations back. They have fought it tooth and nail, including murderous instances when clinics were bombed or docs were murdered in the 80s etc, remember Mitch is a staunch Baptist. He was determined to load SCOTUS with reactionary patriots, to great success, and bent or changed whatever rules he needed.
He rejected them long ago, Repub power is all there is for all these cretins. Liz and Adam notwithstanding
I wonder how his wife can sleep in the same house with him given that he allowed Trump to insult her. Elaine Chow WOKE up and realized that she was in the midst of a racist administration in a racist party, and her husband did not defend her. She should have divorced him.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/25/elaine-chao-donald-trump-racist-attacks-00079478
She and he have made their own children less safe in this world.
Politics over partner, huh...
mcconnell sleeps well living on his wife’s income from her chinese business connections. He will go down in history as the polar opposite of Benjamin Franklin. mitch will be remembered as the murderer of democracy. When push came to shove he stood behind djt and supported him.
He sleeps just fine, no conscience allows that
Moscow Mitch sleeps in the day, standing up.
I thought he slept in a coffin...
My God, Dutch Mike, you have given weasels such a defamatory name. This Perfect Union of Weasels demands an appropriate apology forthwith.
Oops. It seems I have offended the Sacred Order of Mustelidae?
Well he's had some help from the Supreme Court.
That he himself created, to the detriment of our democracy.
Abolish? McConnell abolished nothing but his own moral compass. Our Republic with its Democratic form of Government still stands.
Many, many Americans have been fighting for 9 long years against a slow-moving coup. We are determined to win. I firmly believe our Republic is stronger. We lost our complacency. We lost our innocence that we would be attacked from within.
Defeated and our Democracy abolished? Absolutely not. Please stop saying that.
The coup has been moving steadily since 22 Nov 63.
That is a lot of too conspiracy stuff for me. Let's deal with the situation at hand.
You’re right to stay focused. The hand I’ve been dealt might be a little different.
I sure hope I'm wrong, but I'm still convinced that the Extreme Court, installed by the same Moscow Mitch, will simply declare the election results void and will rule that the presidency goes to Rump. They have done it before, they have all the incentive to do it again. If they do that, it will be the definitive end of democracy. And I know of no way to stop them - legally, that is.
Here is what you said:
"he was instrumental in abolishing democracy..."
My response remains. We are a still functioning Republic with a Democratic form of Government. It is always amazing to me that folks go around with doomsday scenarios composed of a lot if "ifs and maybes and could happen". "They have done it before," No they haven't. Which election did SCOTUS declare null?
Meanwhile let's continue to hard on electing the Harris/Walz ticket and the down ballot tickets. This is so much more productive than doomsday scenarios.
It was SCOTUS who made Bush president in favour of Al Gore, if I remember correctly. Why not do the same for Rump? It may be a doomsday scenario, but it's not unrealistic. As Heather herself said, the GOP have stacked the courts, not with judges and justices, but with loyalists, and thus try to have their ideologies written into law, regardless of the wishes of the people and how they vote.
But! Nonetheless, it's still important to have Kamala win the election! It's the only way to start recovering democracy. Plus: if Rump wins, we'll never hear the end of it, I'm afraid: he'll be posting that on Xitter in all-caps every 5 minutes for as long as he may live.
And it was SCOTUS who gave Presidents immunity. Hence President Biden is the recipient of this immunity as well.
I am convinced a landslide election erases any chance of a SCOTUS decision.
Yes, but the SCOTUS are the final arbiters as to whether this immunity is granted or not. It is unlikely - no, let me put it this way: there's no way in hell they're going to let Biden have this immunity. This was the red carpet that was rolled out for God-Emperor-Dictator Rump, it wasn't meant for Biden.
The Republic’s still functioning, it’s just a little precarious.
It is under assault. That is different from precarious.
We have withstood voter suppression, legal battles, a coup attempt, a compliant media and an enemy meddling in our elections and we still elected a transformative President in 2020. The Democrats are winning in significant races in 2018, 2020 and 2022. In 2022 we stopped the projected red tsunami. We are running a historically transformative campaign.
I simply fail to see the handwringing and fear. When did we become whiners?
Totally!
McConnell and those like him are tools the wealthy wield to tip the scale of the democratic system in their favor. They’ve always existed and always will. Never be surprised. Always be vigilant. Fight with your vote and voice for Representatives of good ethics and values.
Definitely yes. I'm going to say it again: ironically, you are going to have to live by Rump's own words: "you're gonna have to fight like hell or you'r not gonna have country anymore!"
In some ways I could hold one man responsible for tearing apart a country that before, supported that Constitution and that would be Rupert Murdock, who with Fox "News" might be the greatest villain to bring down this short lived democracy. It also took a serious turn with Citizen's United- with Leonard Leo's court. Look up NPRs podcast on him if you don't know who he is. Scary business! Thanks as always Heather for your wonderful letters. They're a part of my every day.
Interestingly, Rupert Murdoch's son James Murdoch was one of 88 business leaders who recently endorsed Kamala Harris for President. Rupert Murdoch is currently contesting his irrevocable trust (by definition, not contestable) to have control of his empire go solely to his favored son Lachlan, the sole MAGA of his four oldest children who'd have equal votes under the terms of the current trust.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/17/media/murdoch-family-succession-fox-news-future/index.html
Great minds think alike, Ellie! Your post is more succinct than mine was about this news. It also reports that former Attorney General Bill Barr has accompanied Rupert into court last Monday...the plot thickens!
Apparently this probate judge in Reno has the power. Wonder how much he is being paid, and by whom. I remember Rupert and James in a British court being pilloried for their “journalistic” practices that were beyond the pale. May sanity rule.
We should indeed wonder about remuneration here, given this summer's SCOTUS ruling that bribes are only
"tips" if there's no written agreement and payment happens after-the-fact. (Snyder v. USA)
Judge shopping is de rigueur with repubs, who taught them better than Rupert
That's a Wow Helga. You stated the proper SCOTUS holding with the case citation!
However, [there's always a however] IRS: "All tips you receive are income" relying on IRS' Publication 531.
And Bill Barr is Rupert's consiglieri!
Better than a Hollywood movie.
Ellie, thank you for the CNN Link as the author , Brian Stelter is a capable professional.
I went to the Associated Press (AP) posted 9/16 8:52 PM PDT:
The AP reports that all 4 Rupert Murdoch progeny are involved in the NEVADA Court proceeding.
AP reminds their readers:
"Lachlan remains in charge of a cadre of newspapers [Australia too], television networks including the Wall Street Journal & Fox News Channel."
Later today, I will check the NV Probate Court docket on "Court Listener" and/or other NV probate sources. Thank you again.
Update as of 12:30 PM PDT:
Murdoch's Probate case will run for 10 Court days 9/17 through 9/28. The Probate Court has "barred" media. I would expect a "Mandamus Writ" from one or more the heavyweight news Corps flipping that unconstitutional Order.
Main issue: The Trustor, 93 year old Murdoch has made clear his specific intent to hand over "permanent & exclusive control" to rabid Lachlan
Thanks for posting this - I’ll look it up.
Jane Mayer provides a detailed list of helpers in all of this in her book Dark Money. Now Anne Applebaum provides an international list in Autocracy Inc.
There is a confederacy of creeps. As I recall, Reagan seemed to have a hand in bringing Bad News Murdock to our shores.
He did indeed. Had a dinner in honor of Murdoch and his “help” in Jan 1981.
Yes, we're looking at a reactionary conservative white male patriarchy based movement, born in reaction to the Civil Rights, secular, women's rights tendencies from that era. Roe v Wade, taking prayers out of the schools. what's happening now is a minority attempt to bring back that past. Ethnic and cultural minorities on the other hand have coalesced around the Dems.
"There is no particular thing that you can do alone. The 'I' in it is very small, after all." —Marian Anderson. She was, of course, referring to good deeds, but the same applies to bad acts. I don't know how to begin to count the number of people it took to leave Amber Nicole Thurman's six-year-old son without a mother.
Murdock - an Australian
Murdoch. Now, imo, that's one immigrant that should've been deported but, alas, Ronald Reagan had other things in mind:
https://johnmenadue.com/how-reagan-and-us-agencies-made-murdoch-a-king/
Also, there is a court proceeding in Nevada where Rupert is trying to break his irrevocable trust. As it stands, "Upon Rupert Murdoch’s death, News Corp and Fox voting shares will be transferred to his four oldest children – Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan and James. Potentially, three of the heirs could out-vote a fourth, setting up a battle over the future of the companies, even as Lachlan Murdoch runs Fox and is sole chair of News Corp." "Rupert Murdoch’s proposed amendment would block any interference by three of Lachlan’s siblings, who are more politically moderate, the Times reported, citing a sealed court document."
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/murdoch-succession-drama-plays-out-closed-court-2024-09-16/
Did they judge shop???
Great question, JD!
I feel sure that lots of effort put into that one question
alrighty, then!
So? Sarah's point remains valid.
Or was. Now citizen of the US.
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/we-dont-talk-about-leonard-episode-1-part-1-on-the-media
Thank you for sharing that important podcast Dan!
All part of the conservative oligarchy that runs the world. There are more of us so why do we let it happen?
The seeds were planted way back when they did away with "Truth in Advertising."
What a role model the authors of the Constitution provide for us today! Franklin's acknowledgement that he didn't entirely agree with the document, but that it provided an astonishing mechanism for the disparate states to work together, should continue to be our guide. "In order to form a more perfect Union..." We're still not there yet, but, as the Harris/Walz team encourages us, we continue to move forward
Brilliant, timely work from Heather once again. History is repeating itself once again. Instead of France and Spain standing by as the USA is in crisis........Russia,China and their anti-democratic proxies are standing by.
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are the new dawn just breaking in the early morning........the people are slowly waking up........the call of "not going back" is on the rise from a whisper.
Good things are possible once people turn their backs on hate, tyranny and desolation.
"Good things are possible once people turn their backs on hate, tyranny and desolation."
And yet it always seems to be something of a tough sell.
Work harder, worry less. Every vote counts.
We can do it. It is not about making America great again but making Americans great again . . . as citizens of the West and a key ally with democracies.
I think America was always great and not so great. It's a work in progress and progress adds to it's greatness. Progress empowers all the people; backsliding revives inequities the Declaration of Independence condemned.
Remember America has always had a strong religious social makeup, without those issues likely the Republicans would never have steered themselves to where they are today?
It is why our founding documents are declared aspirational -we have not secured our better angels - our democracy truly is an argument.
Exactly, and well thought out. Aspirations are more easily said than done, but for all the contradictions of colonial society, The "blueprint" was a work of art, not the least of which was a method for future improvements. Yet no aspirational system will work unless the preponderance of people are on board with the overall direction of the aspirations. This does not mean an absence of passionate controversy around how those principles are brought about; but that negotiations are bound in underlying solidarity of commitment to what Joseph Welch called "decency", as well as empathy and good faith. I think that might be the kind of thing that Franklin was asking for.
"making American's great again." 🎯
I love that: making Americans great again. Thank you for that phrase. After all of this cultish behavior, I wonder if that is even possible….? But I hope!
And, trump took the words from Reagan! Always a thief.
Thank you, J.L., Frank, Steve, Imogène, Jen, and Jim for your responses. Y'all refined my rough idea from the wee hours of the a.m. when my insomnia had kicked in. What I appreciate from y'all is that we are a work in progress.
We are Americans -- gifted with a society based upon ideals (i.e., aspirational ideas) -- as possibly great and always flawed like any other people. It is what we make of ourselves that count. Greatness is not perfection.
The perfectibility of (wo)man has led to over a hundred million deaths since 1789. Greatness comes in trying to be better, knowing that we falter and have to try again. Frank, that mutual reinforcement comes through social bonds like churches, like the Masons and the Rotaries et al., like neighbourhood watches, parents-teachers associations, local Party headquarters, and a thousand other things . . . even the bridge clubs and bowling leagues.
Thanks again to y'all.
I think America has always been great, until Reagan who negotiated with hostage takers to hold them until he was elected, who invented trickle down economics, who turned vulnerable people into the enemy, then Newt Gingrich who taught Republicans dirty tricks and how to refuse to work with Democrats and make it look like they were causing the problem, then Mitch McConnell who only supported legislation that gave Republicans more power or the rich more money. Then Citizens United that gave corporations power to buy votes and personhood.
Our greatness has been buried beneath the haters and the corruption.
Perfection’s a concept, not a reality.
Salvador Dali told an aspiring young artist, “don’t worry about perfection. You’ll never achieve it.”
Evolution proves that errors are not always bad. Overall, human ideas are a good thing, but what we now think often blocks the way forward to improved concepts. We honor many who thought "outside the box", not in a jumbled lazy or psychotic way, but in the form of "what if?); and hitched to the (believed to be) known with logic and evidence; sometimes displacing what proved to be less supportable notions.
There are loose ends even in mathematics, such as Gödel's Proof. A math prof described math perfectibility as a blanket too small for the bed. Pull it to cover one section, and it uncovers another.
That said we can sometimes get very close to ideals, or at least closer than we were before, without creating more problems than we solved. It seems that rather than a former golden age, pervasive violence was much more common in earlier eras. Yet we now have means and risks of ending our own species. We are endowed with a brain and the capacity for empathy. Where do we really want to go from here?
“It was all quite an elegant system of paths and tripwires, really.” Love this description!
...yes,...with the active word being "WAS"...as hot and exhausted as the signers were, leaving other trip-wires like the 2nd Amendment hanging out there so poorly defined and, at least in our time, seemingly contradictory to itself, ...so exhausted they just left it there...crawling home worried when they'd be hanged by the British, never imagining a group of Americans would or even could deliberately scheme to "trick" and dismantle that elegant system of self-regulating trip-wires by taking over all 3 branches of government. The ultimate hypocracy of today's MAGAt mob is the creation of a tyranical dictator intended to empower individual State's rights, in response to a claimed "Liberal" tyranny....
The Cognitive Disonance keeps Earth "awake at night" while it's despots like Putin giggle and fan the flames of the fall.
I've always hated the "State's Rights" argument. We're either one nation or 50. I prefer one. Even as a teenager,, it never made sense to me. Plus, every time the States Rights argument is trotted out, it ALWAYS denies a personal right or a personal decision. It takes the right of decision away from the individual (the People) and gives it to the State. Nowhere is this MORE evident than the Dobbs Debacle.
....woops...left out an "s" and can't edit ! 🙂
The three dots/ellipsis on the right corner should give you an edit option.
We need more polymaths! Benjamin Franklin would not have opposed amendments to the Constitution, we may assume. There are about two dozen by now. An Amendment about voting rights that is crystal clear would seem relevant. All votes are equal, counted for all the country in the same way, directly without electors coming in between. Fair, proportional counting for the people.
Sure would like to see the Equal Rights Amendment re-opened; its window of approval extended; and, the damn thing finally ratified in my life-time.
And recall Franklin did advocate a broad voting electorate. No one did in those days.
I don't have any knowledge on Franklin's views of what the electorate should be, so i wouldn't mind a reference. For example, only "Kentucky, New Hampshire, and Vermont" had universal male voting rights. Everywhere else it was either property qualifications, or tax payors. Something to learn more about.
What have you given us, Mr. Franklin?
A republic - if you can keep it.
And the woman looks back one more time and says, “Mr Franklin, one day a few hundred years from now, our future sister Afghanistan women and us will have something in common.”
I have been upset since I heard about the 28-year-old woman in Georgia with the six-year-old child who died for want of a dilatation and curettage, d&c. The doctors who failed to do the procedure until it was too late, resulting in her death, should face charges of criminal negligence. Doctors should have to choose whether they want to face a jury of their peers for giving the standard of care and saving a life or a jury of their peers for not providing or postponing life-saving care resulting in the patient's death. It's that simple.
ideally, though, they should NOT have to make that choice.
Of course. Doctors shouldn't have to make that choice. Doctors also must choose to delay treatment while they wait for health insurance approval, although death is sometimes a consequence. I don't know why doctors don't unionize for their mutual protection. They could create a fund to pay for legal counsel and create a fund as a kind of malpractice insurance.
Thank you Gov DeathSantis.
In this case it was Gov. Kemp in Georgia with at least 2 Georgia deaths on his hands. More will come as more data comes in. This women's death happened about 1 month after Dobbs allowed Kemp to impose his previously unconstitutional 6 week ban, upon which DeathSantis's ban was based. 6 Weekes is before many women know they are pregnant since at least 2 of those weeks she was not pregnant because dating still starts from the last period. WHY can't we at least change this "medical" methodology?
They should leave the state
1. They shouldn't have to.
2. It's more expensive and they may not be able to.
3. All the available states are filled already with women who can afford it.
4. This particular mother did leave the state, got a rare post abortion complication, and later hemorrhaged in her homesite of Georgia. Caring for internal organs is not easy and requires full medical attention in every state. Half our population needs it.
I wish more of us also remembered that September 17th is also the anniversary of the bloodiest day in American history. And as a warning we should never ignore and which seems particularly relevant now in this new time of divisiveness and violent rhetoric, we did it to ourselves along Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland.
But Antietam also stands for one of the most important of our historical anniversaries for another reason. It was the military victory for which Lincoln was waiting before he issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which was a crucial step in finally completing the work done in Philadelphia by promising to make us all free men and women, capable of taking on in full the responsibilities of citizenship in the first nation in history to define itself at its inception as that nation.
Benjamin Franklin was a very honest and astute gentleman. He knew everything in the Constitution was not perfect nor did he agree with some of the written words. He did, however, realize that the 13 states needed guidance and rules to abide by. Always amazed me that he survived until his 80’s which was really unheard of at that time.
Especially as he was such a bon vivant, especially while in the courts of Europe....
I live one street from Rue Franklin in Paris. One block from his statue at Trocadero. One mile from the home where (one of) his mistress(es) lived. Six blocks from the home where he lived.
This man made his mark in Paris.
I live in Lyon and the Rue de Franklin is the street behind my apartment. I visited Auray this past spring in Britanny - Franklin is everywhere there because that is where he would embark for the US, including a huge portrait mural that takes up the entire side of a building! Just curious, the OR/Paris tag - are you originally from Oregon? I grew up shuttling between Portland and Canon Beach.
Oh , Heather, what a great history lesson. So much integrity and best intentions for the newly forming country. You letters are a must read for me and I am so grateful for your wisdom and knowledge
So clear! We used to learn this stuff, at least some, in Civics or American History. The reasons for a strong centralized government with a balance of powers are at least as important today as they were when our country was founded. E pluribus unum is still our best way forward, without a monarch or despot. Thank you again, for reminding us what a glorious experiment the United States is.
Some of it anyway. US history is sooo much more complicated than what I was taught.
We had a semester of government back in mid 50s when I was in public high school learning exactly what Heather just reminded us of. It was required. I don't know if history was required can't remember but I am certain we were not taught about Tulsa or redlining or how the GI bill favored my family but not black families. I owe PBS for that. And that part of my education only occurred recently.
In many there is one. We still have hope.
Thanks Heather!
As we saw that magnanimity at your Party's convention, which openly welcomed people with a divergent politics, like mine, but a common devotion to what these men did in 1787 and what we can do again today. Courage defined their time as it will have to define ours.
And, once again, our belovèd republic faces a challenging time with other great powers standing by and hoping for our down-fall. It will not happen. Those great leaders and their enduring legacy were men just like the people we are today. We can do it; we can muddle through to another era of being a shining example to an angry, hungry world.
The American Century is over and we may be well into the Chinese Century. That does not mean America is lost. The seeming adversity imposed by the fascists now in control of the Republican Party and the seeming vulnerability we feel toward China and Russia does not mean that horrid times lie ahead. What it does mean is a return to that all-American word: opportunity.
Opportunity for what? To rebuild the republic based upon an idea. To mend our alliances. To re-focus upon liberty and a republic of a plain virtue not imposed on all but attainable by all. To restore human dignity and participatory democracy as a double helix of the rule of law. These strengths, these American strengths, still make us that elusive city on the hill.
The difference going-forward will be a national pride leavened by a culture of humility not fire-power. That means treating all our citizens with respect. That means keeping human rights not surrendered to the Constitution safely with breasts of men and women. That means depending upon allies as they depend upon us. China, Russia, Iran et al. will never match that moral force.
First order of business? Elect President Harris and Vice President Walz as the new Vice President.
Then, elevate a wide open Democratic Party to a level of dominance in Congress so we can, liberal and conservative, argue and compromise our way forward. There will be no a golden millennium but there can be a just society in which the maximum number of Americans -- including immigrants -- attain their fully ordained statures in the eyes of a beneficent Providence.
Well said Ned. I like the idea of the Democratic Party being "wide open". In fact, it may need to split for us to re-establish a legitimate multi-party system. Because the Republican Party has become the party of fascism and fealty to a monster. It has an expiration date.
I'd like to see a "New Democrats" established with three major platforms. Climate Catastrophe mitigation, removal of big dark money from politics and voting rights reform (no political gerrymandering, automatic registration and absolute freedom to vote...maybe even a requirement).
In fact, we ought to encourage multiple parties. With Ranked Choice Voting, all manner of small but important ideas could get air time without wrecking an election (Gore, Hillary, etc.)
Very well thought out, Bill. Many thanks for two things:
> taking the time to read the forever comment by me; and,
> making the effort to answer it in a manner that improves the original thinking.
As you state, the Democratic Party may be a safe-harbour for moderate, often erstwhile, Republicans to incubate into a new conservatism through a reconquered G.O.P. out of respect for President Lincoln. That New Republican Party would serve us as a loyal opposition that complements the liberalism of the New Democratic Party.
For your New Democratic Party, I would humbly submit that reproductive freedom for women be added to recognize the moral agency of women denied by the Dobbs decision. As a conservative by temperament, I would advocate for aid to women who want to take their pregnancies to term but may not be ready economically.
Thank you again, Bill, for your gracious response.
Perfect letter after a day spent Twitter-spatting with people who were screaming "they sent it back to the states" vis-a-vis reproductive choice. The notion that the human right to self-determination depends on your zip code is utterly anathema to the very notion of a republic.
Really like your last sentence!
I had this same reaction and thought process after today's letter.
MisTBlu, I just did a FB post "I read recently that there was a meeting between 55 politicians that were discussing the need to get rid of "States Rights". Anyone else hear about this?"
I will report if/when I get any feedback on it.
Ally, please provide a citation. Sorry but for me saying, "I read..." isn't enough to go on when it's something that would require a Constitutional amendment to implement.
Heather, have you read,"Exemplar of Liberty" by Donald Grinde? (University of Colorado Press?) Was shown it back in 1996 by a (now deceased) Oneida-Dakota Native friend who explained to me that Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin put up several Iroquois 'sachems' (wise men) , for over two years, in hotels in Philadelphia, inviting the Indigenous wise men to teach them, and their peers, about the governing structure of the Six Nations of the Iroquois. Our eventual U.S. Senate ( two representatives for each state) and House of Representatives (proportional representation for number of people in each state) as created by the Constitution, were based opon the structure of the Six Nations of the Iroquois, set up after the great Law of Peace. according to Grinde. If have not read it, suggest you check it out!
Talk about suppressed history!!
That's astonishing - and moving.
- Pulled Quote -
“the United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion….”
From without and from within?
Vote.
A profound and beautiful remembrance of the day our democratic republic was officially formed. Thank you, Dr. Cox Richardson.