Month: September 2018

by

America: Then, Now, in the Future


I look at America today and I am saddened. I am also torn because I am a conservative Democrat who shares a lot of Republican views but is more in line with Democrats. But what does it matter when this men and women whom we have elected are in the business of getting re-elected and kowtowing to their PACs. I really liked Bernie Sanders because he took no PAC money but felt Hillary was the better candidate. Bernie is close to be a socialist which my conservative side cannot tolerate except in a few small doses.
I think back to the 1960s and 70s when men with vision had the commitment to follow through on ideas that help all Americans and not just the well-monied and the well-placed. John F. Kennedy was a very flawed man, but he promised us early in his presidency that he would put an American on the moon, something most people of the day could not happen. And even though he was killed in 1963, President Johnson took the lead and in 1969 it happened. And Richard Nixon, probably one of the most flawed presidents ever, understood the mood of Americans with regard to Vietnam and quickly made a plan to remove American soldiers. That happened in 1975.

 
In 1973 the U.S. Supreme Court had the courage to rule in favor of Roe v. Wade in a 7 – 2 vote. Up until that time people were put in jail just for speaking out about contraception. All the justices on that court were brought on the philosophy of the sanctity of life. Six of those justices were nominated by Eisenhower and Nixon. But they did not allow their political beliefs to interfere with their interpretation of the Constitution relative to the case at hand. That took a lot of courage in those days.

 
President Lyndon Johnson, a conservative Texas Democrat, spearheaded the Civil Rights Act of 1965. Had Johnson been a little younger and lived to see the 1980s, he would likely have changed parties as did most southern Democrats of the 1960s. But both parties seemed to recognize the wrong that was being dealt to people of color.

 
All the good that that generation of Republicans and Democrats did is under siege by today’s Republican party for reasons I cannot understand and believe are based in ignorance and pettiness by the divisive minds of a few men who have abandoned the ideal of working for the greater good in favor of working the agenda of a well-monied powerful few.

 
But I do still believe in the basic goodness of the overwhelming majority of Americans. When disasters befall us, these Americans are not checking party affiliation before they give aid. They just do it because it is the right thing to do.

 
The Right Thing to Do. Americans support or don’t support things politicians want based on the information given them. But today’s politicians are wont for giving their constituency all the relevant facts regarding a particular issue and instead feed the only those facts which support their agenda. This applies equally to both parties.

 
It is time for those members of Congress who are in the 70s and 80s to retire and give way the a new generation of politicians. People in their 70s and 80s are not nearly so concerned with the future, in spite of what they may say, as are people in their 30s and 40s. And it is that group who must be given the reins of government if America is to move forward in the best interest of all Americans.

by

The Crisis Called Trump


Donald Trump loves to announce himself as one of the greatest presidents ever. The reality is, I believe history will portray him as one of the worst ever. He will join Warren Harding, probably the most corrupt, Andrew Johnson, probably the most ineffective, and Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan and a few others who are at the bottom. We all know that Andrew Johnson was brought before the senate for removal and was saved by a single vote. Warren Harding was so corrupt that he faced the possibility of being charge with a federal crime and was facing removal by his own party had he not suddenly died.
Donald Trump is probably one of the most divisive presidents ever. Even before he was elected, he was using an “us against them” strategy which he has continued, if changed in flavor, during his presidency. But he has done so at his own peril and has either fired or had quit more of his senior staff than any president in history during his first two years. And swirling around all that is his likely collusion with the Russian government prior to the election which, if proven, would put him directly in the cross-hairs of the, as the Constitution names it, most “high crimes” of probably any president; something approaching treason.

 
One of the things you find inquiries, such as what are going on now with the FBI investigation, is that there is ultimately a degree of truth with the focus of the investigation. For example, the Clinton-Lewinsky affair and investigation. Clinton steadfastly denied any wrong doing but when the Starr investigation was completed it was clear that Pres. Clinton was guilty of “abuse of power.” That very same abuse of power is happening today although in a form yet to be spelled out.
The recent NY York Times anonymous Op-Ed article illustrates an administration in crisis. People have wasted their time arguing over whether the article should have been printed, it should have, or that the writer should have identified himself, irrelevant. Instead, discussion should center around how much truth is contained in the article. The writer presents a very reasonable description of what dedicated, and highly intelligent people will do to prevent a president from erring so egregiously as to cause serious damage to the country.

 
What Trump has failed to realize, and I doubt will ever, is that his job is to do the will of the people, and not whatever suits him from one moment to the next as he has done. In truth, all politically elected and appointed official, from the president on down, are public employees who, when they take their oath of office promise to uphold the Constitution of the United States. And it is quite clear in the Constitution that all public employees hold office only in the interest of the American public.
Trump is acting like he is starring in a t.v. show where he can yell “you’re fired!” and it becomes true. Government simply does not, and cannot, work that way. He constantly tramples the First Amendment by exclaiming that people who hold opposing views should be silenced. He has made ludicrous statements like he knows more than his generals! Only a fool makes such a claim.

 
I fully expect the Democrats to retake both the senate and house during the next elections. I expect there will be enough energy among party leaders to start impeachment hearings.

 
The people of the United States deserve far better leadership than they now have. It is time for my generation, the baby boomers, to step aside and allow the next two generations to take over. We did good work in the 70s and 80s but our time is past. It is time that those 40 years of age and younger take over and definite their future for in truth, the future of the baby boomers is far shorter than theirs and they deserve the reins of power.