AS ELECTION DAY NEARS, A KEY CONTEST IS FEAR VERSUS HOPE  I’M REALLY AFRAID.
Actually, afraid doesn’t really describe it. I’m terrified, frightened, heart-stoppingly, stomach-churning scared stupid at the prospect of the nightmare that will occur if Republicans win next week. If the they take over one branch of Congress or both, if they win election-controlling posts in the states, then our fragile democracy may be on its way to ruin. Which is not to say the GOP will win on Nov. 8. I’d like to believe that enough Americans care about their country, and understand the horror that malevolent governments bring about in other places of the world, voters won’t let that happen to the United States of America. Most people I’ve met in my 80-plus years are, at their core, nice. They help out in homeless shelters; contribute to fund-raising campaigns for sick children. They care about their children. They coach their kids’ teams, go into hawk for their college educations, buy them cars. Some jump onto subway tracks to rescue people who have fallen off. Others volunteer to fight in Ukraine. Lots of people adopt dogs facing death in over-filled kennels. There are just millions upon millions of people who want to make their country better, and a lot of them are voting right now and will turn out next Tuesday. As to the other half of America, I’m at a loss to understand why they are devoted to Donald Trump and his attempt to overthrow the last election; why they demonize children struggling with gender identity; why they don’t want other people to have medical care, homes, good educations; why they want to ban books in school libraries; why they make fun of an 82-year-old man who’s had his skull hammered just because he’s Mr. Pelosi. So, with the 2022 election only days, really just hours, away, I’m an emotional wreck. I WONDER HOW PEOPLE who already are in desperate situations cope – the people who are in Ukraine, fighting off the Russian invaders; people who don’t have food; people already facing the devastation of climate change, their homes destroyed by fire and floods; people who already are seeing their reservoirs go dry; people who’ve already lost their children to bullets on city streets and in small town classrooms. One way that I’m trying to cope with election anxiety is not to predict the election or listen to other people’s predictions, until the votes are counted. I’m doing a few small things that I’m not sure will make a difference, but that at least might, theoretically, possibly. My wife and I wrote 355 letters for the Vote Forward campaign, which asked volunteers write brief, non-partisan messages simply asking folks to vote, without suggesting whom or what party to vote for. I’ve been canvassing for the Democratic candidate, Seth Magaziner, who’s the Democratic candidate for the Rhode Island’s open Congressional seat. Most people I visit aren’t home or not answering the door; some have lost faith in the “system” and aren’t voting; a few have voted already; some won’t say who for, which probably means they’re voting for Seth’s Republican opponent. These are very, very limited things, these steps. My Vote Forward letters were hand-written, which means in my case, they were hand-scrawled-printed in a barely readable script you’d expect to find in a ransom note. It’ll be a surprise if many recipients open them and a miracle if even one goes to the polls as a result. I have friends who are doing the very same things. ONE THING I'M NOT DOING in these final seconds leading up to Nov. 8 – and I am a journalist by trade – I am not following the news, listening to NPR, watching TV news, hardly glancing at the two newspapers that land on our bushes or those that show up online; I'm not tuning into the liberal cable network,MSNBC or downloading political podcasts Our house is in a news blackout. Because I don’t want to hear that the polls aren’t looking good or that they are; don't want to hear that the Democrats have botched messaging; that the trends are terrible or terrific; that history of midterms disfavors the “party in power,” that Joe Biden’s favorability numbers are a drag on the rest of the Democrats or what the shocking results of the latest focus group of barely interested voters are telling us - or not. I know the reporters and the analysts and the pundits have to write and talk about something, and that many of them are doing their best to provide a running account of where things stand. But right now, they don’t really know – not absolutely – what’s going to happen. I’m not letting anyone take away my hope. I know that underdogs win in politics as well as in sports. I know if I get discouraged, depressed, and down in the dumps, I’ll give up on carrying out the little, but actual, things I can do before election day, things that may influence the outcome in a close race. I need to keep focused on working, on winning, because I’ll despise myself, looking back, if I don’t do the little I can because I gave up too early, and I got talked out of hope. I happen to live in a tiny, terrific state whose motto is “Hope;” it’s right there on on the Rhode Island state flag. I know that if “we” lose on election day, that the fight for democracy will not be over, because the evil forces that are at work today will be still at it tomorrow. I know that if “we” lose the election, that the fight for democracy must continue; it will be just that much harder. So, until the long-anticipated Nov. 8 that’s now just seconds away, I’m listening to music, watching mysteries on TV and ringing door bells -- hoping at least one person will answer and agree that their vote counts.
1 Comment
IN R.I., A 'NICE GUY' ADOPTS |
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MAYBE FUNG DIDN'T fully realize it himself at the time, but his constant mentions of Pelosi were not just annoying to Democrats like me, who are huge Nancy Pelosi fans.
Instead, they were a tip off as to Allan Fung’s character – and to those of most Republicans.
I’m not sure that I fully understood that, even as I was fuming about Fung’s repeated use of the Pelosi name, what that ploy really signified. But after the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, it was clear to me that the debate had been a kind of test for Allan Fung – one that he failed.
It was a test in which a politician first appears to be a genuinely nice guy, but that in the end, he fails, because he turns out to be anything but nice.
Instead, they were a tip off as to Allan Fung’s character – and to those of most Republicans.
I’m not sure that I fully understood that, even as I was fuming about Fung’s repeated use of the Pelosi name, what that ploy really signified. But after the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, it was clear to me that the debate had been a kind of test for Allan Fung – one that he failed.
It was a test in which a politician first appears to be a genuinely nice guy, but that in the end, he fails, because he turns out to be anything but nice.
NANCY PELOSI in 2019 CREDIT: House of Representatives
THE VILLAINS OF ELECTION '22: THE CYNICS WHO CAN - BUT WON'T - VOTE
THE VILLAINS OF THE ELECTION OF 2022 are not who we think they are.
They are not mean.
They’re not vicious.
For the most part, they’re not violent, rude and foul-mouthed closet racists, avowed conspiracists, election corrupters or polling place bullies, dressed in Halloween camo, but packing real heat.
In other words, they aren't Republicans.
To the contrary, they are nice, most likely soft-spoken, polite, even gentle, agreeable, fun to be around. And they are everywhere. At the dinner table, sitting next to you at the football game, working at the opposite desk, raking the yard next door.
So, who are the villains of Election 2022?
They are the people who refuse to vote.
They are not mean.
They’re not vicious.
For the most part, they’re not violent, rude and foul-mouthed closet racists, avowed conspiracists, election corrupters or polling place bullies, dressed in Halloween camo, but packing real heat.
In other words, they aren't Republicans.
To the contrary, they are nice, most likely soft-spoken, polite, even gentle, agreeable, fun to be around. And they are everywhere. At the dinner table, sitting next to you at the football game, working at the opposite desk, raking the yard next door.
So, who are the villains of Election 2022?
They are the people who refuse to vote.
THEY COULD VOTE.
But they are determined not to.
They’re old enough. They’re citizens. Most don’t face the historic barriers to voting which reformers having been working so hard for years to knock down.
Probably, they have smart phones, iPads, desktop computers, mail boxes – all of the standard equipment they need to learn the basics of elections and how to participate.
They could register to vote. In fact, a lot of them already are registered to vote.
When it comes to carrying out the how of voting, they are perfectly capable of figuring out what would work best for them: early in-person voting; voting by mail; traditional voting on election day.
It's easy for them to apply for mail ballots; find out when and where early voting is underway; and they certainly can locate their election day polling places.
Most likely, they have raincoats and umbrellas, in case the weather turns rotten on election day.
Like most Americans, most have cars to get where they need to go – to a polling place or a mail box. Or they have mastered the arts of alternative transportation. They have bicycles to get to the polls and chains to lock their bikes while they’re voting. They may know the bus routes. They have friends and family members who can taken them here and there – like to a ballot drop-box.
But they won’t do it.
They just won’t vote.
And they’re killing us.
But they are determined not to.
They’re old enough. They’re citizens. Most don’t face the historic barriers to voting which reformers having been working so hard for years to knock down.
Probably, they have smart phones, iPads, desktop computers, mail boxes – all of the standard equipment they need to learn the basics of elections and how to participate.
They could register to vote. In fact, a lot of them already are registered to vote.
When it comes to carrying out the how of voting, they are perfectly capable of figuring out what would work best for them: early in-person voting; voting by mail; traditional voting on election day.
It's easy for them to apply for mail ballots; find out when and where early voting is underway; and they certainly can locate their election day polling places.
Most likely, they have raincoats and umbrellas, in case the weather turns rotten on election day.
Like most Americans, most have cars to get where they need to go – to a polling place or a mail box. Or they have mastered the arts of alternative transportation. They have bicycles to get to the polls and chains to lock their bikes while they’re voting. They may know the bus routes. They have friends and family members who can taken them here and there – like to a ballot drop-box.
But they won’t do it.
They just won’t vote.
And they’re killing us.
IT’S BECOME a sad cliché that we are a divided, partisan nation, separated into two, nearly equal groups, the Red and the Blue, who no longer talk to each other, who consider each other to be un-American terrorists determined to end democracy as we know it, beginning Nov. 8, 2022.
Actually, the two sides are equal only in numbers; only one of those two sides is a true danger to democracy, and it’s the "Red" one - the Trumpist Republican Party.
Some Republicans were among the criminals who overran the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, on a “bipartisan” mission to murder the Vice President of the United States (a Republican) and the Speaker of the House of Representatives (Democrat). And if they weren't part of the mob, they have becomes its apologists.
Instead of celebrating the Republican office holders who carried out their duties as secretaries of state and other neutral vote-counters, the Trumpist Republicans are doing their best to run them out of town, seeking local, county and state offices that oversee elections so they can skew the results, and in the meantime, passing laws making it easier to overturn voting outcomes they don’t like,
Democrats are many things, some of them not particularly complimentary.
The Blues seem not as interested as the Reds are in the minutiae and mechanics of the election process; don’t seem to have quite the work ethic of the election spoilers; and they haven’t planned and worked as diligently to take over school boards and state houses. Worse, Democrats can be embarrassingly and bizarrely idiotic, as demonstrated recently by members of the House Progressive Caucus, who recently sent a letter to Biden, urging him to negotiate a Ukrainian peace deal with Putin, only to modify, then withdrew the letter after a wave of common sense swept across the country.
But Democrats do have a few positive things going: a commitment to lawful elections, an interest in effective government and respect for law.
Actually, the two sides are equal only in numbers; only one of those two sides is a true danger to democracy, and it’s the "Red" one - the Trumpist Republican Party.
Some Republicans were among the criminals who overran the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, on a “bipartisan” mission to murder the Vice President of the United States (a Republican) and the Speaker of the House of Representatives (Democrat). And if they weren't part of the mob, they have becomes its apologists.
Instead of celebrating the Republican office holders who carried out their duties as secretaries of state and other neutral vote-counters, the Trumpist Republicans are doing their best to run them out of town, seeking local, county and state offices that oversee elections so they can skew the results, and in the meantime, passing laws making it easier to overturn voting outcomes they don’t like,
Democrats are many things, some of them not particularly complimentary.
The Blues seem not as interested as the Reds are in the minutiae and mechanics of the election process; don’t seem to have quite the work ethic of the election spoilers; and they haven’t planned and worked as diligently to take over school boards and state houses. Worse, Democrats can be embarrassingly and bizarrely idiotic, as demonstrated recently by members of the House Progressive Caucus, who recently sent a letter to Biden, urging him to negotiate a Ukrainian peace deal with Putin, only to modify, then withdrew the letter after a wave of common sense swept across the country.
But Democrats do have a few positive things going: a commitment to lawful elections, an interest in effective government and respect for law.
WHICH IS WHERE the non-voters come in.
In close elections, every vote counts. The non-voters could make the difference between whether we have a Red or Blue government, whether we continue as a democracy or something else.
The non-voters could care less.
If they have a political motto, it’s something like this: “I don’t care for politics.”
Their selfish, self-fulfilling cynicism follows a script like this: a) politics is a dirty business; b) politicians are going to do whatever they like, so why vote; c) the “system” is corrupt, ineffective and unfair; d) there's an election?
Whats more, I’m too nice, too busy, too smart, too agreeable.
The non-voters are united in the illusion that elections have nothing to do with real life.
Government has nothing to say about whether Social Security will adequately fund retirements ("It won't be there for me"). Government doesn't have anything to do with health care (I’m feeling fine); pandemics can be controlled (I can’t stand masks); meat is properly inspected (like I said, I'm feeling fine); schools are terrible (what's new?); potholes fill themselves (except the ones in front of my house); sometimes rogue countries invade other countries (so what?); climate change is a) overwhelming, b) too far down the road to worry about; abortion is a "woman's problem"; 110 mph is a reasonable speed limit (except on my street); children should be able go to school without being blown to bits as long as the rights of gun owners are not infringed upon.
Democracy is difficult, demanding and discouraging.
It puts a terrible emotional burden on Americans who take it seriously. I'm guessing that few of us are expecting a stress-free evening Nov. 8, or later, trying to figure out what to do in its aftermath.
I admit that I thought that after Trump was banished from the White House following four years of turmoil and chaos, we could relax for many more years. I was wrong and foolish. We are condemned to living out the rest of our lives in a perpetual political emergency.
SO, IT’S EASY TO UNDERSTAND why millions of Americans opt out of politics and its logical requirement that everyone who can vote should vote.
We all know someone, probably many people, who don't vote.
The non-voters are, as I said, often likable, logical, affable folks, probably entertaining dinner companions and perhaps community-spirited – maybe they coach kids’ soccer and help out at a soup kitchen and contribute to Go-Fund-Me campaigns and have amazing vegetable gardens.
But they are dangerous, and if this country goes down the tubes because of the way this election or subsequent ones turn out, it will be their fault.
They’ll, of course, pay the price for their indifference.
But so will the rest of us.
In close elections, every vote counts. The non-voters could make the difference between whether we have a Red or Blue government, whether we continue as a democracy or something else.
The non-voters could care less.
If they have a political motto, it’s something like this: “I don’t care for politics.”
Their selfish, self-fulfilling cynicism follows a script like this: a) politics is a dirty business; b) politicians are going to do whatever they like, so why vote; c) the “system” is corrupt, ineffective and unfair; d) there's an election?
Whats more, I’m too nice, too busy, too smart, too agreeable.
The non-voters are united in the illusion that elections have nothing to do with real life.
Government has nothing to say about whether Social Security will adequately fund retirements ("It won't be there for me"). Government doesn't have anything to do with health care (I’m feeling fine); pandemics can be controlled (I can’t stand masks); meat is properly inspected (like I said, I'm feeling fine); schools are terrible (what's new?); potholes fill themselves (except the ones in front of my house); sometimes rogue countries invade other countries (so what?); climate change is a) overwhelming, b) too far down the road to worry about; abortion is a "woman's problem"; 110 mph is a reasonable speed limit (except on my street); children should be able go to school without being blown to bits as long as the rights of gun owners are not infringed upon.
Democracy is difficult, demanding and discouraging.
It puts a terrible emotional burden on Americans who take it seriously. I'm guessing that few of us are expecting a stress-free evening Nov. 8, or later, trying to figure out what to do in its aftermath.
I admit that I thought that after Trump was banished from the White House following four years of turmoil and chaos, we could relax for many more years. I was wrong and foolish. We are condemned to living out the rest of our lives in a perpetual political emergency.
SO, IT’S EASY TO UNDERSTAND why millions of Americans opt out of politics and its logical requirement that everyone who can vote should vote.
We all know someone, probably many people, who don't vote.
The non-voters are, as I said, often likable, logical, affable folks, probably entertaining dinner companions and perhaps community-spirited – maybe they coach kids’ soccer and help out at a soup kitchen and contribute to Go-Fund-Me campaigns and have amazing vegetable gardens.
But they are dangerous, and if this country goes down the tubes because of the way this election or subsequent ones turn out, it will be their fault.
They’ll, of course, pay the price for their indifference.
But so will the rest of us.
DEMOCRATS, LISTEN TO
CHICKEN LITTLE:
THE SKY IS NOT FALLING
MEMO
(Urgent)
(Urgent)
FROM: Chicken Little
TO: Democrats, Progressives, Liberals,
People of Goodwill & Fellow Patriots
SUBJECT: The Sky
DATE: 19 Days To The Midterms
I HAVE AN important announcement:
THE SKY IS NOT FALLING!
You’ve heard and read otherwise.
The Democrats in Congress are toast, and thus begins the long-predicted end of the American experiment.
Polls say so. Pundits say so. The pits of your stomachs say so.
Here’s a quick round-up of headlines I've plucked from various news sites on this very theme:
TO: Democrats, Progressives, Liberals,
People of Goodwill & Fellow Patriots
SUBJECT: The Sky
DATE: 19 Days To The Midterms
I HAVE AN important announcement:
THE SKY IS NOT FALLING!
You’ve heard and read otherwise.
The Democrats in Congress are toast, and thus begins the long-predicted end of the American experiment.
Polls say so. Pundits say so. The pits of your stomachs say so.
Here’s a quick round-up of headlines I've plucked from various news sites on this very theme:
- A slate of races now lean Republican in our latest forecast update (Politico)
- Democrats’ failure to make 2022 about the threat to democracy (Washington Post)
- Facing tough midterms, Biden releasing oil from US reserve (Associated Press)
- Bernie Sanders, Fearing Weak Democratic Turnout, Plans Midterms Blitz (New York Times)
- Are Democrats messing up their midterm messaging? (The Guardian)
SO, NOTHING NEW HERE.
The doomsayers, the negativists, the spoilers, the half-empty glassers, the pessimists are at it again, as they have been for months. Midterm elections are hard on the party in power, historically; and Joe Biden’s poll numbers are pathetic; lots of Democratic Congressmen and Women chickened out early and didn't even try to run again. Maybe it was looking a little brighter for the Dems earlier this summer, but the tide is turning. Blah, blah, blah, blah.
Look, as a legendary prognosticator, I admit that I don’t have a good record as to warning of a falling sky.
My record is worse even more than that of the boy who warned incessantly of the arrival of my mortal enemy, The Wolf.
But we pessimists do have this going for us: sooner or later, we ARE going to be right.
We all die.
Before that, we all lose, fail and collapse at some point in our lives.
That center of our earthly existence, the sun, will run out of gas.
And who can forget what came roaring out of the sky a while ago – it seems like yesterday – when that mother of all asteroids struck the earth, wiping out the dinosaurs. What a classic bit of bad bad-sky news, about which we’re still learning new facts.
Just yesterday, the Washington Post added this new information - talk about rough seas:
Sixty-six million years ago, a nearly nine-mile-wide asteroid collided with Earth, sparking a mass extinction that wiped out most dinosaurs and three-quarters of the planet’s plant and animal species. Now we’re learning that the so-called Chicxulub asteroid also generated a massive “megatsunami” with waves more than a mile high.
But here’s the thing.
We also know that just recently NASA sent a spacecraft after a contemporary asteroid, crashing into it so as to slightly change its orbit, a successful experiment that suggests that monster rocks don’t have to strike Mother Earth twice.
“All of us have a responsibility to protect our home planet. After all, it’s the only one we have,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, in in a self-serving, but on-target news release put out by his agency.
My point: the sky is not falling, certainly not the way it used to, definitely not yet.
Here’s another thing to keep in mind: sports, particularly sports cliches.
The doomsayers, the negativists, the spoilers, the half-empty glassers, the pessimists are at it again, as they have been for months. Midterm elections are hard on the party in power, historically; and Joe Biden’s poll numbers are pathetic; lots of Democratic Congressmen and Women chickened out early and didn't even try to run again. Maybe it was looking a little brighter for the Dems earlier this summer, but the tide is turning. Blah, blah, blah, blah.
Look, as a legendary prognosticator, I admit that I don’t have a good record as to warning of a falling sky.
My record is worse even more than that of the boy who warned incessantly of the arrival of my mortal enemy, The Wolf.
But we pessimists do have this going for us: sooner or later, we ARE going to be right.
We all die.
Before that, we all lose, fail and collapse at some point in our lives.
That center of our earthly existence, the sun, will run out of gas.
And who can forget what came roaring out of the sky a while ago – it seems like yesterday – when that mother of all asteroids struck the earth, wiping out the dinosaurs. What a classic bit of bad bad-sky news, about which we’re still learning new facts.
Just yesterday, the Washington Post added this new information - talk about rough seas:
Sixty-six million years ago, a nearly nine-mile-wide asteroid collided with Earth, sparking a mass extinction that wiped out most dinosaurs and three-quarters of the planet’s plant and animal species. Now we’re learning that the so-called Chicxulub asteroid also generated a massive “megatsunami” with waves more than a mile high.
But here’s the thing.
We also know that just recently NASA sent a spacecraft after a contemporary asteroid, crashing into it so as to slightly change its orbit, a successful experiment that suggests that monster rocks don’t have to strike Mother Earth twice.
“All of us have a responsibility to protect our home planet. After all, it’s the only one we have,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, in in a self-serving, but on-target news release put out by his agency.
My point: the sky is not falling, certainly not the way it used to, definitely not yet.
Here’s another thing to keep in mind: sports, particularly sports cliches.
SOCCER FAN, after a what seemed a lost cause, turned around in the final minutes of a 2022 championship match. CREDIT: NBC Sports, via YouTube
RECENTLY, MRS. LITTLE AND I took an interest in world soccer, AKA, "football."
By way of background, we Littles are not big, bruiser-type athletes or even sports fans. By definition, we are little, and we definitely are chicken when it comes to contact sports. But thanks to streaming TV, we've become a wee bit knowledgeable about soccer/football, and developed some respect for sports' sayings, AKA "wisdom."
Just this past May, the championship of the English Premier League was on the line as Manchester City played Aston Villa. Well into the 90-minute game (matches typically go longer, but that’s too esoteric for this discussion). At about the 75-minute mark, “Villa” was ahead of “City,” 2-to-nil. Hopeless, given that soccer/football is a low-scoring game. However, in the next five minutes, “City” scored three goals, two by the same player, a substitute. And Manchester City won the league championship.
You see what I mean?
By way of background, we Littles are not big, bruiser-type athletes or even sports fans. By definition, we are little, and we definitely are chicken when it comes to contact sports. But thanks to streaming TV, we've become a wee bit knowledgeable about soccer/football, and developed some respect for sports' sayings, AKA "wisdom."
Just this past May, the championship of the English Premier League was on the line as Manchester City played Aston Villa. Well into the 90-minute game (matches typically go longer, but that’s too esoteric for this discussion). At about the 75-minute mark, “Villa” was ahead of “City,” 2-to-nil. Hopeless, given that soccer/football is a low-scoring game. However, in the next five minutes, “City” scored three goals, two by the same player, a substitute. And Manchester City won the league championship.
You see what I mean?
IT'S NOT GUARANTEED that the Republicans are going to take control of the House. Or, even worse,that they’ll take back the Senate, too. Or that Red State legislators will get their way as election fixers, bullies of transgender kids and abortion lunatics.
What I can tell you is this: today is no time for predictions.
It’s time to vote.
Early voting has begun in many places. Mail ballots are already on voters’ kitchen tables. Election day is Nov. 8.
People, who just a few weeks ago didn’t know there was an election this year, are waking up to, eating dinner to, going to bed to a chorus of grotesque, misleading, ridiculous campaign ads. But those ads have one big positive: they alert all of us to the fact that there’s an election.
So, it’s time to persuade the two or three people left in the country who haven’t made up their minds about Donald Trump. Time to hector Democrats to do the right thing: get off the couch and go vote. Now is the time for the fanatics, the political junkies, the besotted volunteers to stop fretting about winners or losers, and, instead, round up their friends, their families, the people next door and across the street, and start talking to total strangers, calling, texting, ringing, writing, mailing, pleading, begging.
This is our long-shot, our come-from-behind chance. So, let’s stay in the game.
Let’s be positive.
Let’s hope.
Let’s get out there, do the work
And even have some fun in the closing weeks, days and minutes.
Do not worry about the sky. I’ll take care of that.
The rest is up to you.
What I can tell you is this: today is no time for predictions.
It’s time to vote.
Early voting has begun in many places. Mail ballots are already on voters’ kitchen tables. Election day is Nov. 8.
People, who just a few weeks ago didn’t know there was an election this year, are waking up to, eating dinner to, going to bed to a chorus of grotesque, misleading, ridiculous campaign ads. But those ads have one big positive: they alert all of us to the fact that there’s an election.
So, it’s time to persuade the two or three people left in the country who haven’t made up their minds about Donald Trump. Time to hector Democrats to do the right thing: get off the couch and go vote. Now is the time for the fanatics, the political junkies, the besotted volunteers to stop fretting about winners or losers, and, instead, round up their friends, their families, the people next door and across the street, and start talking to total strangers, calling, texting, ringing, writing, mailing, pleading, begging.
This is our long-shot, our come-from-behind chance. So, let’s stay in the game.
Let’s be positive.
Let’s hope.
Let’s get out there, do the work
And even have some fun in the closing weeks, days and minutes.
Do not worry about the sky. I’ll take care of that.
The rest is up to you.
AN ISLAND VACATION:
WHERE SUMMER SEEMS ENDLESS; AND TRUMP'S CRUEL WINTER IS TOO EASILY FORGOTTEN
A BLOCK ISLAND original, the North Light, one of the island's two great lighthouses
WE ARE ON BLOCK ISLAND, a speck of paradise in the Atlantic Ocean, 12 miles off the New England mainland.
The weather is fantastic. Deep blue skies, gentle temperatures and a just trace of wind, making it hard to remember that Fall has been officially underway for a while now, with Winter inevitable as it will be savage. But today, you can still taste Summer.
Block Island is always described in superlatives: One of the Last Best Places on Earth sort of thing; and truly, nearly half of its nine-plus square miles are preserved, conserved and protected against development, in part because long-ago landowners agreed to give up personal fortunes so the rest of us can be reminded of what a planet should be and could be.
My wife and I almost didn’t make it here this year.
The remnants of Hurricane Ian, having murdered scores of Floridians and devastated the lives of thousands of others, brushed past New England with towering seas and fierce winds, forcing cancellation on three successive days of the ferries that connect paradise with the rest of Rhode Island.
Lucky for us, innkeepers moved our reservations to the following week, the first few days of which have been, as I said, breathtaking.
The weather is fantastic. Deep blue skies, gentle temperatures and a just trace of wind, making it hard to remember that Fall has been officially underway for a while now, with Winter inevitable as it will be savage. But today, you can still taste Summer.
Block Island is always described in superlatives: One of the Last Best Places on Earth sort of thing; and truly, nearly half of its nine-plus square miles are preserved, conserved and protected against development, in part because long-ago landowners agreed to give up personal fortunes so the rest of us can be reminded of what a planet should be and could be.
My wife and I almost didn’t make it here this year.
The remnants of Hurricane Ian, having murdered scores of Floridians and devastated the lives of thousands of others, brushed past New England with towering seas and fierce winds, forcing cancellation on three successive days of the ferries that connect paradise with the rest of Rhode Island.
Lucky for us, innkeepers moved our reservations to the following week, the first few days of which have been, as I said, breathtaking.
THE SOUTHEAST LIGHT, moved from eroding cliffs in the 1990s
BLOCK ISLAND IS ITS own kind of world: soaring cliffs, lush glens laced with public walking trails, along with sparkling ponds, miles upon miles of stone walls, big and little beaches, Victorian buildings with cupolas, and two signature lighthouses, one of which is called the Southeast Light and was saved from falling into the ocean in the 1990s, thanks to twin miracles of engineering and fundraising, making it possible to lift up the massive brick structure and move it away from a constantly eroding coastline.
Our forever summer, of course, is an illusion. Winter is on it’s way, and more immediately, a fresh assault of rotten weather is in this week’s forecast, so we’re starting to worry that the ferries could again stop running, stranding us on the wrong side of our mini-vacation, temporarily homeless.
But on a day like this, the forecast seems like a word that old Joe Biden might use, malarkey.
Our forever summer, of course, is an illusion. Winter is on it’s way, and more immediately, a fresh assault of rotten weather is in this week’s forecast, so we’re starting to worry that the ferries could again stop running, stranding us on the wrong side of our mini-vacation, temporarily homeless.
But on a day like this, the forecast seems like a word that old Joe Biden might use, malarkey.
DOWNTOWN Block Island, with a cupola visible atop on of the large hotels
IN A WAY, today’s mirage of perpetual summer is a metaphor for the dangerous politics from which the nation seems unable to free itself.
Today, the election seems far off, which is silly, because it’s only weeks away.
And surely we know what could be next: a political Winter that isn’t just harsh, but one that in actuality never ends; the beginning of a new Dark Ages, from which there is no rescue, no Spring, no Summer, and no Fall, a time in which the seasonal pendulum has frozen into permanent polarized Winter.
What’s so frustrating is that most of us are like me, vacationers oblivious to the coming storm, and even if we acknowledge that Summer someday could pause, the promise of Spring and all the good stuff that follows, is inevitable.
But we know, deep down, what’s really on its way, and that we should have learned our lesson. We barely survived the four-year political Winter of Donald Trump. We’ve seen the remarkable hold that Trump still has on an entire political party, which instead of rejecting Trump’s lawless, cruel, selfish and anti-democratic example, has embraced, and is still perfecting, the Trump Way.
Today, the election seems far off, which is silly, because it’s only weeks away.
And surely we know what could be next: a political Winter that isn’t just harsh, but one that in actuality never ends; the beginning of a new Dark Ages, from which there is no rescue, no Spring, no Summer, and no Fall, a time in which the seasonal pendulum has frozen into permanent polarized Winter.
What’s so frustrating is that most of us are like me, vacationers oblivious to the coming storm, and even if we acknowledge that Summer someday could pause, the promise of Spring and all the good stuff that follows, is inevitable.
But we know, deep down, what’s really on its way, and that we should have learned our lesson. We barely survived the four-year political Winter of Donald Trump. We’ve seen the remarkable hold that Trump still has on an entire political party, which instead of rejecting Trump’s lawless, cruel, selfish and anti-democratic example, has embraced, and is still perfecting, the Trump Way.
LAND AND SAND as seen from the North Light
WE NEED need to wake up – and fast.
Nuclear disaster is again up for discussion, long after the Cold War ended, along with its dire thoughts of an atomic holocaust. Wildfires and hurricanes are signs of a collapsing and unlivable climate. The economy remains unjust, unfair and irreparable as ever.
But Republican fanatics are interested in preventing and fixing none of these real catastrophes, focused instead on deliberately, systemically wrecking an electoral process that is the core of the American political ecosystem.
Too many Americans are here with us on Block Island, still on vacation, in denial of the coming political darkness, because Summer keeps on churning out warm, wonderful days. You know what season it is? Football season. And, heck, in the unlikely event of a chiller cycle, there are three other nicer ones right behind.
So, why vote?
And was Trump really that bad? Jan. 6 is history, folks. Gas prices were low beyond belief under Trump.
What’s Joe Biden done for us lately? He’s really old; frankly, too old. Really.
TODAY, I'M HERE on Block Island to tell you that temperatures feel like they are in the 70s.
The wind is gentle, and that on the long sandy, rocky walk to the other lighthouse, the North Light, you can see the seals frolicking in the calm, glassy ocean.
It’s perfect, just as life is supposed to be.
It's impossible to imagine that it could be any other way.
Nuclear disaster is again up for discussion, long after the Cold War ended, along with its dire thoughts of an atomic holocaust. Wildfires and hurricanes are signs of a collapsing and unlivable climate. The economy remains unjust, unfair and irreparable as ever.
But Republican fanatics are interested in preventing and fixing none of these real catastrophes, focused instead on deliberately, systemically wrecking an electoral process that is the core of the American political ecosystem.
Too many Americans are here with us on Block Island, still on vacation, in denial of the coming political darkness, because Summer keeps on churning out warm, wonderful days. You know what season it is? Football season. And, heck, in the unlikely event of a chiller cycle, there are three other nicer ones right behind.
So, why vote?
And was Trump really that bad? Jan. 6 is history, folks. Gas prices were low beyond belief under Trump.
What’s Joe Biden done for us lately? He’s really old; frankly, too old. Really.
TODAY, I'M HERE on Block Island to tell you that temperatures feel like they are in the 70s.
The wind is gentle, and that on the long sandy, rocky walk to the other lighthouse, the North Light, you can see the seals frolicking in the calm, glassy ocean.
It’s perfect, just as life is supposed to be.
It's impossible to imagine that it could be any other way.
THE LONG STAIRWAY, 141 steps down (or up), the cliffs at Mohegan Bluffs
Enamored of a Queen,
Is America wishing for
a King of our very own?
THE QUEEN at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, ending a 2007 U.S. tour. CREDIT: NASA
(NOTE: This post has been updated to emphasize the difference between ceremonial and actual monarchies).
I'M SORRY that Queen Elizabeth is dead.
And I understand the wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling, day-after-day, week-after-week, 24-7 news coverage, because there’s no such thing as proportional news. There’s just no way to get the volume of the news right: it’s either too little, or way, way, way over the top.
It’s sort of like the weather, never perfect. Of course, the difference between extreme news and extreme weather is that one morning, we’ll wake up, and, poof, Queen Elizabeth will have disappeared from our TV screens and front pages. But the hurricanes, floods, wildfires, mudslides, tornadoes of the modern era will be with us and getting worse until we either fix the climate or, alternatively, end up like the Queen.
Look. I’m not a dolt. I realize that the Royal Family has a hold on the American psyche. We are fascinated. Who said What to Whom (or is it Whom said What to Who)? Who is the racist(s) in the Family? Will Harry and Meghan be re-enfolded into the Royal Fold? Explain to me Princess Anne, again? What to make of the latest cryptic dispatch from The Palace (In a land where Palaces speak)? Who’ll take care of the corgis? What’s a Consort?
And, it's true: Queen Elizabeth had style.
MY PROBLEM IS WHY?
Why are we so besotted bythe Royal Family?
Didn’t we fight a war, crack the Liberty Bell, winter at Valley Forge, write a Constitution and pay a fortune to see “Hamilton” so we could be be rid of the Royals?
It seems to me that the Queen, and now the King, are the polar opposites of what the United States of America is supposed to believe in, is supposed to be?
Don't we believe in electing our leaders, not in DNA determinism mapped out on succession charts interpreted by soothsayers with British accents on loan to MSNBC, deciding who'll end up atop the national pyramid.
We Americans believe in the Common Man, the Common Woman, the Common Nonbionary, not the aristocracy, the Super Rich, the cryptocrats and the kleptocrats.
Yes, we want to be rich ourselves, but generally we don’t “like” anyone else who is, except maybe The Deserving Rich, such as those who figured out same-day delivery, IOS 16 software and soft-serve ice cream.
Or the thousands of 20-somethings granted fortunes to play in the NFL, NBA, MLB and the Premier League. Or geniuses, who are truly meritorious and exceptional like Oprah, Taylor Swift and the Powerball winner who lives next door and darn well better remember who shoveled their sidewalks during the most savage winters.
I'M SORRY that Queen Elizabeth is dead.
And I understand the wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling, day-after-day, week-after-week, 24-7 news coverage, because there’s no such thing as proportional news. There’s just no way to get the volume of the news right: it’s either too little, or way, way, way over the top.
It’s sort of like the weather, never perfect. Of course, the difference between extreme news and extreme weather is that one morning, we’ll wake up, and, poof, Queen Elizabeth will have disappeared from our TV screens and front pages. But the hurricanes, floods, wildfires, mudslides, tornadoes of the modern era will be with us and getting worse until we either fix the climate or, alternatively, end up like the Queen.
Look. I’m not a dolt. I realize that the Royal Family has a hold on the American psyche. We are fascinated. Who said What to Whom (or is it Whom said What to Who)? Who is the racist(s) in the Family? Will Harry and Meghan be re-enfolded into the Royal Fold? Explain to me Princess Anne, again? What to make of the latest cryptic dispatch from The Palace (In a land where Palaces speak)? Who’ll take care of the corgis? What’s a Consort?
And, it's true: Queen Elizabeth had style.
MY PROBLEM IS WHY?
Why are we so besotted bythe Royal Family?
Didn’t we fight a war, crack the Liberty Bell, winter at Valley Forge, write a Constitution and pay a fortune to see “Hamilton” so we could be be rid of the Royals?
It seems to me that the Queen, and now the King, are the polar opposites of what the United States of America is supposed to believe in, is supposed to be?
Don't we believe in electing our leaders, not in DNA determinism mapped out on succession charts interpreted by soothsayers with British accents on loan to MSNBC, deciding who'll end up atop the national pyramid.
We Americans believe in the Common Man, the Common Woman, the Common Nonbionary, not the aristocracy, the Super Rich, the cryptocrats and the kleptocrats.
Yes, we want to be rich ourselves, but generally we don’t “like” anyone else who is, except maybe The Deserving Rich, such as those who figured out same-day delivery, IOS 16 software and soft-serve ice cream.
Or the thousands of 20-somethings granted fortunes to play in the NFL, NBA, MLB and the Premier League. Or geniuses, who are truly meritorious and exceptional like Oprah, Taylor Swift and the Powerball winner who lives next door and darn well better remember who shoveled their sidewalks during the most savage winters.
QUEEN MARY, touring London's dockyard area with her granddaughters, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose, May 1939. CREDIT: Federal News Photos / Library and Archives Canada
IT'S PRETTY CLEAR that long, long ago, when Britain, England, the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth - collectively The Empire - really amounted to something, and that it was run by murderers, militarists, racists, bullies and slave-runners – colonists, who exploited entire continents, but nowadays are left only with their pomp, their rituals, their uncomfortable costumes and a history of shame that deserves no honor, celebration or emulation.
What worries me is whether that's what we want, too.
A King.
A functional one, as opposed to the ceremonial, symbolic variety.
We’d settle for a Queen, of course.
But a real King would be the real thing.
Kings are easier. They know what to do. They’ll tell us how to think and when - or not. When to have an abortion, or, more to the point, when not to have an abortion. When we should wear a mask, and better still, when not to wear one. What books to read; or, better still, what books to ban; or even better, what books to burn. Who should immigrate into the country, and better still, who should not.
A King will know which people should live in what neighborhoods; who should go to jail; who should treated politely by the police. Who should eat, who should be food-insecure. Who should be paid; who should be paid a lot; or not. Who should stay home; who should unload the dishwasher; who should own a dishwasher; our not.
Democracy is hard. You have to make decisions, watch and/or read and listen to the news; have disagreements with your family and the people next door; go to city council meetings; donate to candidates; argue; settle for the lesser of two evils; figure out who’s telling the truth most of the time, or who’s lying the least. You have to worry who’ll win; worry whether you picked a loser; or worry that you've elected a winner who later you realize should have lost.
Having a loving, empathetic, wise boss and doing what he says is easier than belonging to a union, and, regardless of whether your union gets you decent pay, and either way, still,having to pay dues.
What worries me is whether that's what we want, too.
A King.
A functional one, as opposed to the ceremonial, symbolic variety.
We’d settle for a Queen, of course.
But a real King would be the real thing.
Kings are easier. They know what to do. They’ll tell us how to think and when - or not. When to have an abortion, or, more to the point, when not to have an abortion. When we should wear a mask, and better still, when not to wear one. What books to read; or, better still, what books to ban; or even better, what books to burn. Who should immigrate into the country, and better still, who should not.
A King will know which people should live in what neighborhoods; who should go to jail; who should treated politely by the police. Who should eat, who should be food-insecure. Who should be paid; who should be paid a lot; or not. Who should stay home; who should unload the dishwasher; who should own a dishwasher; our not.
Democracy is hard. You have to make decisions, watch and/or read and listen to the news; have disagreements with your family and the people next door; go to city council meetings; donate to candidates; argue; settle for the lesser of two evils; figure out who’s telling the truth most of the time, or who’s lying the least. You have to worry who’ll win; worry whether you picked a loser; or worry that you've elected a winner who later you realize should have lost.
Having a loving, empathetic, wise boss and doing what he says is easier than belonging to a union, and, regardless of whether your union gets you decent pay, and either way, still,having to pay dues.
PRINCESS ELIZABETH, in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women's branch of the British army, April, 1945. She had been trained as a driver and mechanic. CREDIT: Imperial War Museums
THE KING SYSTEM
Under the King System, you're likely to get out of jury duty.
By decree, there'll be no building codes.
The King understands. He knows what to do. Leave it to him. Listen to what he says, then do it.
It’s the most important issue to be decided in the election to be held this fast-approaching November, and again, in the fateful presidential election of 2024.
Can we, should we, will we leave the headaches and heartaches and uncertainties, the anguish and hard work of democracy behind?
Perhaps, unlike has-been England, with its fairy tale Queens and pretend Kings, maybe our country is still mighty enough, prosperous enough and mean and cruel enough to warrant the real thing, a genuine King of our very own.
We could have Donald J. Trump and be done with it.
Under the King System, you're likely to get out of jury duty.
By decree, there'll be no building codes.
The King understands. He knows what to do. Leave it to him. Listen to what he says, then do it.
It’s the most important issue to be decided in the election to be held this fast-approaching November, and again, in the fateful presidential election of 2024.
Can we, should we, will we leave the headaches and heartaches and uncertainties, the anguish and hard work of democracy behind?
Perhaps, unlike has-been England, with its fairy tale Queens and pretend Kings, maybe our country is still mighty enough, prosperous enough and mean and cruel enough to warrant the real thing, a genuine King of our very own.
We could have Donald J. Trump and be done with it.
QUEEN ELIZABETH in Berlin, Germany, 2015. CREDIT: Berlin Police
SURE, BIDEN'S TALK WAS POLITICAL.
BUT IS THAT SUCH A BAD THING?
LISTEN FOLKS, I know that Joey Biden's speech the other night in Philadelphia sounded downright political.
And let me be frank, it was political.
What’s more, I’ve been around almost as long as Mr. Biden, so I’ve heard my share of political talks, and I know what I'm talking about when I say that as a political speech it wasn’t one of the great ones.
Which is not my point. Joe Biden said what needed to be said.
Okay, he went off script to address hecklers - nicely - even though one of them kept shouting the fuck word.
But the important thing was the really important thing he was talking about.
Here’s a sample:
And let me be frank, it was political.
What’s more, I’ve been around almost as long as Mr. Biden, so I’ve heard my share of political talks, and I know what I'm talking about when I say that as a political speech it wasn’t one of the great ones.
Which is not my point. Joe Biden said what needed to be said.
Okay, he went off script to address hecklers - nicely - even though one of them kept shouting the fuck word.
But the important thing was the really important thing he was talking about.
Here’s a sample:
| ...there is no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans, and that is a threat to this country. These are hard things. But I’m an American President — not the President of red America or blue America, but of all America. And I believe it is my duty — my duty to level with you, to tell the truth no matter how difficult, no matter how painful. |
Even political speeches aren’t that over-the-top simplistic.
“Me, good."
"Opponent, bad.”
“The other party? Scoundrels."
"My party? Angels in America.”
Then there was the stuff better said from the church pulpit than the political soapbox (Remember those contraptions? Easier to fall off from than bicycles) that “soul of America” malarkey Biden always talks about.
BUT LOOK, FOLKS, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.’s talk outside Independence Hall last Thursday was special. And here’s the thing: everything he said was true. Every sentence. Every word. Period.
“Me, good."
"Opponent, bad.”
“The other party? Scoundrels."
"My party? Angels in America.”
Then there was the stuff better said from the church pulpit than the political soapbox (Remember those contraptions? Easier to fall off from than bicycles) that “soul of America” malarkey Biden always talks about.
BUT LOOK, FOLKS, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.’s talk outside Independence Hall last Thursday was special. And here’s the thing: everything he said was true. Every sentence. Every word. Period.
| MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election. And they’re working right now, as I speak, in state after state to give power to decide elections in America to partisans and cronies, empowering election deniers to undermine democracy itself. MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards — backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love. |
I'LL BE PERFECTLY HONEST: Who was listening?
Reporters and a few hundred invited guests.
None of the TV networks bothered to carry the speech. Not CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS.
Which surprised me as I was clicking around the channels, since the talk was billed as a “prime time” speech, which is when most Americans used to do most of their TV watching, and even now, with streaming, cable and "handheld devices,” millions still do.
Here’s the thing.
The 46th president of the United States was saying something really important: that American democracy may collapse, and the reason is that Donald Trump and Republicans are working hard to bring our country down.
Surely that’s worth a 24 minutes of America's time.
You don’t think democracy is important? Ask the Ukrainians, the Afghans, the Russians, and every one of the 1,451,326,413 people who live in China.
Folks, Biden was telling us that Donald Trump, America’s once and future king, and his machine gun loving shock troops of Zombie Republicans are up to. And let me be absolutely clear: it’s scarier, more frightening than anything you'll ever see on any network, cable, streaming TV or handheld device.
Reporters and a few hundred invited guests.
None of the TV networks bothered to carry the speech. Not CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS.
Which surprised me as I was clicking around the channels, since the talk was billed as a “prime time” speech, which is when most Americans used to do most of their TV watching, and even now, with streaming, cable and "handheld devices,” millions still do.
Here’s the thing.
The 46th president of the United States was saying something really important: that American democracy may collapse, and the reason is that Donald Trump and Republicans are working hard to bring our country down.
Surely that’s worth a 24 minutes of America's time.
You don’t think democracy is important? Ask the Ukrainians, the Afghans, the Russians, and every one of the 1,451,326,413 people who live in China.
Folks, Biden was telling us that Donald Trump, America’s once and future king, and his machine gun loving shock troops of Zombie Republicans are up to. And let me be absolutely clear: it’s scarier, more frightening than anything you'll ever see on any network, cable, streaming TV or handheld device.
| They promote authoritarian leaders, and they fan the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country. They look at the mob that stormed the United States Capitol on January 6th — brutally attacking law enforcement — not as insurrectionists who placed a dagger to the throat of our democracy, but they look at them as patriots. And they see their MAGA failure to stop a peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election as preparation for the 2022 and 2024 elections. They tried everything last time to nullify the votes of 81 million people. This time, they’re determined to succeed in thwarting the will of the people. |
THE FAILURE of the major networks to give Joe Biden a half-hour of their time was more symbolic than anything that really counts.
Fact is, that if you were determined to watch Biden, there were plenty of other places to find his talk in real time: CNN, MSNBC, the Washington Post’s website and C-Span.
From a network executive's point of view, you could find plenty of sensible reasons not to carry it: it was political, not about something presidential or nationally important, like a declaration of war. And snippets of the talk would appear on the 11 o’clock news, albeit after both of the latest car crashes, the weather and the hamster rescue.
The real issue of TV's disinterest is that it reflects much of the country's attitude: that nothing is really wrong with the country. There's no emergency. It'll be okay. It's just politics.
LISTEN, FOLKS. I’ll put this plainly as I can, just like Biden's dad might have said when he got off the third shift in Scranton: “Joey, the networks should have carried your speech.”
Why? Because it was political. Politics are the lifeblood of democracy. Politics are how we solve our problems and govern ourselves.
Let me be clear. What Biden was saying was as important as anything any president has ever had to tell the country: democracy is in peril. The November elections will determine which party will control Congress – the good one or the crazy evil one.
And that, in turn, could determine whether Trump – or someone worse and there are plenty who are worse – will be elected president in a couple of years.
What Biden did in Pennsylvania is what politicians are supposed to do when there's a threat the the nation: warn us, rally us, pry us off the couch and lead us into action, in this case into the voting booth.
Fact is, that if you were determined to watch Biden, there were plenty of other places to find his talk in real time: CNN, MSNBC, the Washington Post’s website and C-Span.
From a network executive's point of view, you could find plenty of sensible reasons not to carry it: it was political, not about something presidential or nationally important, like a declaration of war. And snippets of the talk would appear on the 11 o’clock news, albeit after both of the latest car crashes, the weather and the hamster rescue.
The real issue of TV's disinterest is that it reflects much of the country's attitude: that nothing is really wrong with the country. There's no emergency. It'll be okay. It's just politics.
LISTEN, FOLKS. I’ll put this plainly as I can, just like Biden's dad might have said when he got off the third shift in Scranton: “Joey, the networks should have carried your speech.”
Why? Because it was political. Politics are the lifeblood of democracy. Politics are how we solve our problems and govern ourselves.
Let me be clear. What Biden was saying was as important as anything any president has ever had to tell the country: democracy is in peril. The November elections will determine which party will control Congress – the good one or the crazy evil one.
And that, in turn, could determine whether Trump – or someone worse and there are plenty who are worse – will be elected president in a couple of years.
What Biden did in Pennsylvania is what politicians are supposed to do when there's a threat the the nation: warn us, rally us, pry us off the couch and lead us into action, in this case into the voting booth.
| For a long time, we’ve told ourselves that American democracy is guaranteed, but it’s not. We have to defend it, protect it, stand up for it — each and every one of us. * * * I ran for President because I believed we were in a battle for the soul of this nation. I still believe that to be true. * * * Our task is to make our nation free and fair, just and strong, noble and whole. And this work is the work of democracy — the work of this generation. It is the work of our time, for all time. We can’t afford to have — leave anyone on the sidelines. We need everyone to do their part. So speak up. Speak out. Get engaged. Vote, vote, vote. |
VICTORY DAY, RI’s UNIQUE HOLIDAY, HAS A MESSAGE: TERRIBLE THINGS HAPPENED – AND STILL CAN
THE CLOUD from the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on Aug. 9, 1945
I STARTED WRITING THIS ON VICTORY DAY, which is a Rhode Island state holiday that that gets noticed only because it’s an oddity.
No other state observes it, and Rhode Island barely does. City and state offices are closed, along with functions most of us don’t think about, like Newport’s trash-transfer station and the state’s superior, family, district, traffic and supreme courts.
But the mail gets delivered, because it’s a federal activity. And the various mainstays of our complex interconnected, high-inflation, low-unemployment economy – tee-shirt shops, offshore wind turbines, ice cream stands, microbreweries, used car lots and the thriving pampered-pet services sector – operate as usual.
If this year’s Victory Day is remembered at all, it probably will be because the second Monday of August this year was just like the day before that, which was like the day before that, which was just like the day before that, and, further, the next day could be more of the same - an endless a stretch of barely bearable “high heat advisory days,” when the sun has turned homicidal, and the dew point is suddenly relevant.
No other state observes it, and Rhode Island barely does. City and state offices are closed, along with functions most of us don’t think about, like Newport’s trash-transfer station and the state’s superior, family, district, traffic and supreme courts.
But the mail gets delivered, because it’s a federal activity. And the various mainstays of our complex interconnected, high-inflation, low-unemployment economy – tee-shirt shops, offshore wind turbines, ice cream stands, microbreweries, used car lots and the thriving pampered-pet services sector – operate as usual.
If this year’s Victory Day is remembered at all, it probably will be because the second Monday of August this year was just like the day before that, which was like the day before that, which was just like the day before that, and, further, the next day could be more of the same - an endless a stretch of barely bearable “high heat advisory days,” when the sun has turned homicidal, and the dew point is suddenly relevant.
REMNANTS of a coastal gun battery at Fort Adams State Park in Newport on Aug. 8.
I LIKE VICTORY DAY.
During the 35 years I was a reporter at the Providence Journal, I wrote a lot about Victory Day, and without trying to boast or complain, I was that newspaper’s resident specialist about the holiday that was often, but mistakenly, referred to as “V-J Day.”
There really was a V-J Day, just not a holiday by that name.
V-J Day was was the nasty baby brother of the similar-sounding “V-E Day,”
Formally “Victory-In-Europe Day, V-E Day was the neutral-sounding, much- anticipated objective of the Allied Forces during World War II – the end of conflict in the European combat “theater,” marked by Germany’s surrender on May 8, 1945.
In contrast, V-J Day – “Victory-Over-Japan Day” – has taken on an unsavory character in the post-war decades, suggesting racist, triumphalist and even genocidal connotations, whereas it was simply intended to mark the actual, total and final chapter of the most horrific war in history, marked by the announcement of Japan’s surrender on Aug. 14, 1945.
During the 35 years I was a reporter at the Providence Journal, I wrote a lot about Victory Day, and without trying to boast or complain, I was that newspaper’s resident specialist about the holiday that was often, but mistakenly, referred to as “V-J Day.”
There really was a V-J Day, just not a holiday by that name.
V-J Day was was the nasty baby brother of the similar-sounding “V-E Day,”
Formally “Victory-In-Europe Day, V-E Day was the neutral-sounding, much- anticipated objective of the Allied Forces during World War II – the end of conflict in the European combat “theater,” marked by Germany’s surrender on May 8, 1945.
In contrast, V-J Day – “Victory-Over-Japan Day” – has taken on an unsavory character in the post-war decades, suggesting racist, triumphalist and even genocidal connotations, whereas it was simply intended to mark the actual, total and final chapter of the most horrific war in history, marked by the announcement of Japan’s surrender on Aug. 14, 1945.
THE LAND-FACING SIDE of a coastal battery at Fort Adams
WHY, YOU MIGHT ASK, and even if you don’t, does Rhode Island celebrate Victory Day?
The official explanation is this: Rhode Island was heavily involved in World War II, and that’s a euphemism. (WPRI Channel 12’s Ted Nesi has an excellent piece at this link)
The Ocean State, before it was called that, bristled with coastal defenses. Narragansett Bay hosted huge naval bases. Shipyards turned out PT boats, Liberty Ships and torpedoes. As many as 100,000 Rhode Islanders went off to fight (in a state with only a million souls). And don’t forget, it was an uncertain, frightening time, when victory was not assured.
When the war ended for good, there was much dancing in the streets, and in the years following, parades. And there were thousands of Rhode Island veterans to keep the memories alive about the horrors of war and the joyful outcome. In 1948, the General Assembly declared Victory Day.
After that, it was politics. Veterans were a force. Labor unions helped the cause (What friend of Rosie the Riveter gives up a holiday?) Corporate managers, worried about what an extra holiday meant for the state's competitiveness, and Japanese-owed companies noted their discomfort. But Victory Day survived.
The official explanation is this: Rhode Island was heavily involved in World War II, and that’s a euphemism. (WPRI Channel 12’s Ted Nesi has an excellent piece at this link)
The Ocean State, before it was called that, bristled with coastal defenses. Narragansett Bay hosted huge naval bases. Shipyards turned out PT boats, Liberty Ships and torpedoes. As many as 100,000 Rhode Islanders went off to fight (in a state with only a million souls). And don’t forget, it was an uncertain, frightening time, when victory was not assured.
When the war ended for good, there was much dancing in the streets, and in the years following, parades. And there were thousands of Rhode Island veterans to keep the memories alive about the horrors of war and the joyful outcome. In 1948, the General Assembly declared Victory Day.
After that, it was politics. Veterans were a force. Labor unions helped the cause (What friend of Rosie the Riveter gives up a holiday?) Corporate managers, worried about what an extra holiday meant for the state's competitiveness, and Japanese-owed companies noted their discomfort. But Victory Day survived.
A GUN EMPLACEMENT at Fort Adams looking at Jamestown across Narragansett Bay
I LIKE VICTORY DAY for several reasons:
It honors the end of a terrible war that killed 70 million or more people.
Because it reminds us that evil forces were trounced.
It reminds us that terrible things happened.
Remember the awful way the war ended?
Actually, even people my age, who were born mid-war, don’t personally remember.
But it ended after two “atomic bombs were dropped, one on Hiroshima, Aug. 6, 1945, the other on Nagasaki, Aug. 9. Most buildings were destroyed, and at least 129,000 people, most of them civilians, died either immediately or later.
Now, in our own time, evil forces are again on the loose – Republicans in the United States are trying to undermine elections and the institutions of democracy. Donald Trump, a cruel, criminal and charismatic authoritarian wants to retake the White House, but this time with better planning if he gets there.
There was – and can be again – such an event as a nuclear war.
But now, many countries – not just one – have “The Bomb.” And today’s nuclear weapons are more powerful and far more numerous than 77 years ago. So, now we know: there could a nuclear holocaust in August, 2022, or next year or the year after that.
It honors the end of a terrible war that killed 70 million or more people.
Because it reminds us that evil forces were trounced.
It reminds us that terrible things happened.
Remember the awful way the war ended?
Actually, even people my age, who were born mid-war, don’t personally remember.
But it ended after two “atomic bombs were dropped, one on Hiroshima, Aug. 6, 1945, the other on Nagasaki, Aug. 9. Most buildings were destroyed, and at least 129,000 people, most of them civilians, died either immediately or later.
Now, in our own time, evil forces are again on the loose – Republicans in the United States are trying to undermine elections and the institutions of democracy. Donald Trump, a cruel, criminal and charismatic authoritarian wants to retake the White House, but this time with better planning if he gets there.
There was – and can be again – such an event as a nuclear war.
But now, many countries – not just one – have “The Bomb.” And today’s nuclear weapons are more powerful and far more numerous than 77 years ago. So, now we know: there could a nuclear holocaust in August, 2022, or next year or the year after that.
I WENT LOOKING for clues to what gave rise to Victory Day.
At Fort Adams State Park in Newport, there are remnants of coastal defenses like those that could have been manned in World War II. There’s a lookout post and bunker that once kept watch over Narragansett Bay, next to concrete structures with giant bolts that once held powerful guns. You’ll find similar traces of war on Newport’s Ocean Drive, across the bay in Jamestown and in lots of other places along the coast.
I’m glad there aren’t huge parades any more, and that most Rhode Islanders don’t dwell too much on the past. Personally, I think there’s too much celebration of military events. How about National Poets’ Day, or Freedom of the Press Day or New England Sailing Day? In fact, the biggest event at Fort Adams when I visited was a small-boat regatta.
But I do like having a place on our calendar to remind us that the fight for democracy is both history and ever-present; that terrible things happened and will again unless we do our part to make sure they don’t.
We almost lost our democracy Jan. 6, 2021, when the Capitol was overrun by rioters with murder on their minds and lips. Anti-democratic, authoritarian forces – Donald Trump and his Republicans – are still on the loose. Around the world, similar forces are at work; Russia and China are two of the most dangerous.
So, let’s remember Rhode Island's Victory Day -- the second Monday of August -- and the price that this holiday cost our country, our parents, grandparents and many millions across the world.
Let's remember, too, that this year, there's a more important date on the calendar.
It's the first Tuesday of November.
Election Day, Nov. 8.
At Fort Adams State Park in Newport, there are remnants of coastal defenses like those that could have been manned in World War II. There’s a lookout post and bunker that once kept watch over Narragansett Bay, next to concrete structures with giant bolts that once held powerful guns. You’ll find similar traces of war on Newport’s Ocean Drive, across the bay in Jamestown and in lots of other places along the coast.
I’m glad there aren’t huge parades any more, and that most Rhode Islanders don’t dwell too much on the past. Personally, I think there’s too much celebration of military events. How about National Poets’ Day, or Freedom of the Press Day or New England Sailing Day? In fact, the biggest event at Fort Adams when I visited was a small-boat regatta.
But I do like having a place on our calendar to remind us that the fight for democracy is both history and ever-present; that terrible things happened and will again unless we do our part to make sure they don’t.
We almost lost our democracy Jan. 6, 2021, when the Capitol was overrun by rioters with murder on their minds and lips. Anti-democratic, authoritarian forces – Donald Trump and his Republicans – are still on the loose. Around the world, similar forces are at work; Russia and China are two of the most dangerous.
So, let’s remember Rhode Island's Victory Day -- the second Monday of August -- and the price that this holiday cost our country, our parents, grandparents and many millions across the world.
Let's remember, too, that this year, there's a more important date on the calendar.
It's the first Tuesday of November.
Election Day, Nov. 8.
JOE BIDEN DAY IN AMERICA?
IT’S TIME we celebrated Joe Biden.
A decent man.
A competent president.
An inspired politician.
A man we’d like to go for ride with in his classic Corvette.
A longtime pal we’d like to chat with as he flips burgers at a backyard barbecue.
A man who, after a lifetime of public service, traded retirement for the most horrendously confounding job in public or private life.
A man who symbolizes the best of America’s aspirations, who represents, “the soul of America,” the inspired words that drove his candidacy less than two years ago.
A man whom all of us cannot thank enough. A man we should never stop thanking.
A man who, when we go to bed at night or get up in the morning, we must thank for rescuing us, and the rest of the world, from the most evil man ever to have the title of president.
So let’s declare Joe Biden Day in America.
WHEN SHOULD we have the event?
I’d say sooner.
In case you haven’t noticed, Joe Biden is old. Perilously old. He’ll turn 80 on Nov. 20. Set aside the fact that he’s in a high-stress job that would be problematic for anyone at any age. He’s at a point when he could go at any moment, at a point in his life when every day is a gift.
Wouldn’t it be better to say all the things that we’d want him to hear while he’s still chugging along, while our words still mean something to him, while he could use a bit of encouragement, rather than save all of that for obituaries, eulogies, Twitter declarations, mumbled thoughts while we circle his flag-draped coffin in the Rotunda?
Time is precious.
A decent man.
A competent president.
An inspired politician.
A man we’d like to go for ride with in his classic Corvette.
A longtime pal we’d like to chat with as he flips burgers at a backyard barbecue.
A man who, after a lifetime of public service, traded retirement for the most horrendously confounding job in public or private life.
A man who symbolizes the best of America’s aspirations, who represents, “the soul of America,” the inspired words that drove his candidacy less than two years ago.
A man whom all of us cannot thank enough. A man we should never stop thanking.
A man who, when we go to bed at night or get up in the morning, we must thank for rescuing us, and the rest of the world, from the most evil man ever to have the title of president.
So let’s declare Joe Biden Day in America.
WHEN SHOULD we have the event?
I’d say sooner.
In case you haven’t noticed, Joe Biden is old. Perilously old. He’ll turn 80 on Nov. 20. Set aside the fact that he’s in a high-stress job that would be problematic for anyone at any age. He’s at a point when he could go at any moment, at a point in his life when every day is a gift.
Wouldn’t it be better to say all the things that we’d want him to hear while he’s still chugging along, while our words still mean something to him, while he could use a bit of encouragement, rather than save all of that for obituaries, eulogies, Twitter declarations, mumbled thoughts while we circle his flag-draped coffin in the Rotunda?
Time is precious.
BUT MAINLY, this man deserves a pat on the back, a good natured cheer, a little hip-hooray, perhaps a long-winded after-dinner toast, preferably detailed and fact-checked, heavy on humor, simmered in sentiment and laced with love.
A boost from the home team.
It’s something we all need. In fact, maybe we should take a moment, not just for Joe Biden, but for all the people in our lives who try their best to do good and who succeed more than we might imagine.
THE OPPOSITE has been going on for Biden, month after month after month.
He’s blamed for inflation. He’s blamed for pulling out of Afghanistan. He’s blamed for suggestomg voters send more Democrats to Congress (“Why should I? I voted for Biden, and he’s done nothing.”) He’s blamed for not using the extraordinary, limitless super-powers of the presidency to counter the Supreme Court’s disastrous abortion, religion and gun decisions. Biden's blamed for not using magic wand of the presidency to make Sen. Joe Manchin do his bidding on his ambitious Build Back Better program. He’s blamed for proposing such a sweeping program. Too many promises, too little results. He’s blamed for not being more charismatic, for not being a great orator, for not being inspiring, courageous, bold, idealistic. He’s blamed for the way he walks, the way he talks, for being the older person that we knew he was when we elected him, but now just a tad older.
What hurts the most are attacks from people – like you and me – who are supposed to be his friends and allies.
A couple of weeks ago, a parent who’d lost his son in a high school shooting chastised Biden during a White House ceremony that “celebrated” the rare, bipartisan itty-bitty piece of federal gun control legislation that was disappointing, but which was at least something.
“We have to do more than that!” the anguished parent, Manuel Oliver, called out from the audience as Biden was listing the new law’s highlights. Mr. Oliver’s son, Joaquin, 17, was one of 14 students killed in Parkland, Florida in 2018. “We have to do more than that!” Mr. Oliver shouted again.
Biden couldn’t have agreed more.
“It will not save every life from the epidemic of gun violence. But if this law had been in place years ago, even this last year, lives would have been saved,” Biden said
“But it’s not enough,” he continued, “and we all know that.”
Condemning military-style weapons, he described what they do:
“The most common rounds fired from an AR-15 move almost twice as fast as that from a handgun. Coupled with smaller, lighter bullets, these weapons maximize the damage done … and human flesh and bone is just torn apart … and as difficult as it is to say, that’s why so many people and some in this audience — and I apologize for having to say it — need to provide DNA samples to identify the remains of their children.”
“Think of that,” Joe Biden said.
Maybe those who were listening did just that: think about what those awful guns do to children whose only crime is going to school on the wrong day.
WE EXPECT TOO much from our leaders. Mr. Oliver at least had solid reasons for his despair, losing a child, then watching repeated gun violence year after year as states, and now the Supreme Court, are making guns ever easier to get and use.
But his anger was directed at the wrong man. And so is the anger Biden faces from so many of us, who, instead of attacking, sniping, undermining the president, should be shoring him him up. And more importantly, instead of beating and kicking the old man, we should be doing our part to build in a national coalition to face the enormous challenges of our time, so that success doesn't depend on just one old man.
I’m reminded of something the a labor official once told me about how rank-and-file members sometimes relate to their unions, comparing them to customers of a balky Coke machine. The customer puts in the right change, and when the machine fails to deliver, he starts beating and kicking the thing.
But unions aren’t Coke machines, and to be successful, they need their members to do more – a lot more – than just pay their dues. Members need to show up at meetings, sign petitions, run for leadership posts, recruit new members, picket, and sometimes go on strike in a continuing battle that’s never completely won.
The same can be said for our role as citizens in democracy. We have to do more than pay our taxes, vote when we feel like it and complain like hell whenever it fancies us. But democracy demands so much more, more than we’d like. Sometimes we have to join a candidate’s campaign. Maybe run for office ourselves. We have to write letters and leaflets and checks. Surely, we have to vote every time, over and over, again and again. Democracy gives us a lot, but it demands a lot.
But his anger was directed at the wrong man. And so is the anger Biden faces from so many of us, who, instead of attacking, sniping, undermining the president, should be shoring him him up. And more importantly, instead of beating and kicking the old man, we should be doing our part to build in a national coalition to face the enormous challenges of our time, so that success doesn't depend on just one old man.
I’m reminded of something the a labor official once told me about how rank-and-file members sometimes relate to their unions, comparing them to customers of a balky Coke machine. The customer puts in the right change, and when the machine fails to deliver, he starts beating and kicking the thing.
But unions aren’t Coke machines, and to be successful, they need their members to do more – a lot more – than just pay their dues. Members need to show up at meetings, sign petitions, run for leadership posts, recruit new members, picket, and sometimes go on strike in a continuing battle that’s never completely won.
The same can be said for our role as citizens in democracy. We have to do more than pay our taxes, vote when we feel like it and complain like hell whenever it fancies us. But democracy demands so much more, more than we’d like. Sometimes we have to join a candidate’s campaign. Maybe run for office ourselves. We have to write letters and leaflets and checks. Surely, we have to vote every time, over and over, again and again. Democracy gives us a lot, but it demands a lot.
I’M NOT SUGGESTING that Joe Biden is a perfect president. He was too old when he ran in 2020. But he was the one man who could – and did – beat Donald Trump. He definitely should not run in 2024; but he would be a fool to say so before his presidency is half-way done.
There’s plenty I don’t like about Biden, including how he’s turned America’s back on the women and girls whom we left to the tyranny of the Taliban in Afghanistan. (I haven’t the slightest idea of how we could have remained in that country without hundreds, perhaps thousands, more Americans dying), And I surely didn’t like Biden fist-bumping the grotesque Saudi Arabian “prince,” who ordered the Washington Post’s columnist, Jamal Khashoggi, murdered and sawed into little pieces.
What I do know is that Joe Biden is no Coke machine that deserves kicking and shouting at when he doesn’t or can’t deliver on every promise and every expectation. What Biden needs is our support. What democracy needs is citizens who are up to the difficult, frustrating, exhausting demands of self-government.
We actually got a lot more than we bargained for when we elected Joe Biden: a man too old to be president but who outperforms his (and my) age group. He was many primary voters' second choice, and he turned out to be hard-working, capable, tireless, decent and the best president I’ve seen in my lifetime.
I’m worried that the rest of us will do not do our part as active, conscientious, alert, caring citizens. We’ll leave it all to Joe, and then complain and pout and nitpick and second-guess the old man when things don’t work out.
Democracy is in peril. Republicans, no longer a rational political party, but a Trumpian cult determined to take over Congress and return Trump to the White House, or even worse, elect someone just as evil as Trump, but smarter, better organized and more capable.
It’s all too possible that we’ll look back on these years with Joe Biden, and realize that they were the last years that America had a president worthy of that office.
SO LET’S have Joe Biden Day in America.
I’m open to suggestions. There could be rides in a classic Corvette. A hamburger roast. Maybe a bike race, although not too long. Maybe some face-painting – turning Democratic frowns into smiles. We could have a slogan-writing contest – lord knows Democrats could use a snappy bumper sticker or two to slap on their EVs. Surely, we could spend the day without mentioning the opinion polls. Obviously, some long speeches. Maybe a word or two from Barack Obama, or better still, from Michelle.
Whatever we do, let’s do it with proper enthusiasm.
And let’s do it soon.
Before it’s too late for Joe Biden.
And too late for us.
There’s plenty I don’t like about Biden, including how he’s turned America’s back on the women and girls whom we left to the tyranny of the Taliban in Afghanistan. (I haven’t the slightest idea of how we could have remained in that country without hundreds, perhaps thousands, more Americans dying), And I surely didn’t like Biden fist-bumping the grotesque Saudi Arabian “prince,” who ordered the Washington Post’s columnist, Jamal Khashoggi, murdered and sawed into little pieces.
What I do know is that Joe Biden is no Coke machine that deserves kicking and shouting at when he doesn’t or can’t deliver on every promise and every expectation. What Biden needs is our support. What democracy needs is citizens who are up to the difficult, frustrating, exhausting demands of self-government.
We actually got a lot more than we bargained for when we elected Joe Biden: a man too old to be president but who outperforms his (and my) age group. He was many primary voters' second choice, and he turned out to be hard-working, capable, tireless, decent and the best president I’ve seen in my lifetime.
I’m worried that the rest of us will do not do our part as active, conscientious, alert, caring citizens. We’ll leave it all to Joe, and then complain and pout and nitpick and second-guess the old man when things don’t work out.
Democracy is in peril. Republicans, no longer a rational political party, but a Trumpian cult determined to take over Congress and return Trump to the White House, or even worse, elect someone just as evil as Trump, but smarter, better organized and more capable.
It’s all too possible that we’ll look back on these years with Joe Biden, and realize that they were the last years that America had a president worthy of that office.
SO LET’S have Joe Biden Day in America.
I’m open to suggestions. There could be rides in a classic Corvette. A hamburger roast. Maybe a bike race, although not too long. Maybe some face-painting – turning Democratic frowns into smiles. We could have a slogan-writing contest – lord knows Democrats could use a snappy bumper sticker or two to slap on their EVs. Surely, we could spend the day without mentioning the opinion polls. Obviously, some long speeches. Maybe a word or two from Barack Obama, or better still, from Michelle.
Whatever we do, let’s do it with proper enthusiasm.
And let’s do it soon.
Before it’s too late for Joe Biden.
And too late for us.
YES, THE SUPREMES ARE BONKERS.
NEXT ACT: ENDING FAIR ELECTIONS
IT’S A HOLIDAY WEEKEND, and you’re absolutely within your rights to take some well-deserved time off from thinking about the Supreme Court as you try to recover from its just-concluded term of terror.
How much can a citizen stand? There was the medieval abortion decision reminding women who’s the boss of them and their bodies. The planet-frying decision hobbling efforts to reverse climate change. The drive-by shooting down of a gun control law. The absolution the court granted to the praying high school coach and his worshipful football team.
But there’s something more dangerous on the court’s agenda for its new session that begins this fall, a case that could mean the end of fair and democratic elections.
Sounds loony? I mean me. You're thinking that I’m sounding hysterical, over the edge, speaking in tongues, going, going and gone.
But I swear, it’s not me, but the court which has gone bonkers. It’s decided to take up a North Carolina case that promotes an interpretation the Constitution that Trump fanatics tried to use, but failed, as they attempted to overturn the 2020 election.
The issue is what's called the “independent state legislature theory,” a bizarre reading of the Constitution that would give state legislatures control of all aspects of voting – including substituting their own gang of Electoral College members to chose the next president, replacing the real electors pledged to the candidate whom voters actually chose at the polls.
But, you say, the courts wouldn’t allow that kind of chicanery.
Sorry – and this is the worst part – this theory says the state courts would not be allowed to intervene.
In other words, state legislatures would have what dictators and authoritarians have dreamed of forever: absolute power.
AS AN EXAMPLE of how this could work, let’s re-run the 2020 election, in which Joe Biden won the popular vote, as well as the Electoral College tally, which is why he is now president of the United States.
A reminder: voters in a presidential election vote for Candidate A or Candidate B. But the people who technically elect the president are members of the Electoral College, who are called "electors."
Each state is allocated as many electors as they have Senators and members House of Representatives. So tiny Rhode Island gets four electors – one for each of its two members of the House, and two more for each of its two Senators. These electors are pledged to cast their Electoral College ballots to reflect how real voters cast their ballots. Rhode Islanders voted for Biden; its four electors did the same.
But under the wacko “doctrine” that would give state legislatures exclusive control of elections, if the Rhode Island’s General Assembly didn’t like Biden’s victory, the legislators could appoint their own group of electors, who would then vote in the Electoral College for Trump. If other states did the same thing, then the worst president in history would still be making terrible history.
Call it crazy. Call it absurd. Call it un-American. Just don’t call it impossible.
With the Supreme Court just agreeing to review the North Carolina case, that means the court is seriously considering the independent state legislature doctrine. And we know after the court’s last batch of rulings that things could – actually, probably will – go very badly for the rest of us out here in normal, sane, common sense America.
How much can a citizen stand? There was the medieval abortion decision reminding women who’s the boss of them and their bodies. The planet-frying decision hobbling efforts to reverse climate change. The drive-by shooting down of a gun control law. The absolution the court granted to the praying high school coach and his worshipful football team.
But there’s something more dangerous on the court’s agenda for its new session that begins this fall, a case that could mean the end of fair and democratic elections.
Sounds loony? I mean me. You're thinking that I’m sounding hysterical, over the edge, speaking in tongues, going, going and gone.
But I swear, it’s not me, but the court which has gone bonkers. It’s decided to take up a North Carolina case that promotes an interpretation the Constitution that Trump fanatics tried to use, but failed, as they attempted to overturn the 2020 election.
The issue is what's called the “independent state legislature theory,” a bizarre reading of the Constitution that would give state legislatures control of all aspects of voting – including substituting their own gang of Electoral College members to chose the next president, replacing the real electors pledged to the candidate whom voters actually chose at the polls.
But, you say, the courts wouldn’t allow that kind of chicanery.
Sorry – and this is the worst part – this theory says the state courts would not be allowed to intervene.
In other words, state legislatures would have what dictators and authoritarians have dreamed of forever: absolute power.
AS AN EXAMPLE of how this could work, let’s re-run the 2020 election, in which Joe Biden won the popular vote, as well as the Electoral College tally, which is why he is now president of the United States.
A reminder: voters in a presidential election vote for Candidate A or Candidate B. But the people who technically elect the president are members of the Electoral College, who are called "electors."
Each state is allocated as many electors as they have Senators and members House of Representatives. So tiny Rhode Island gets four electors – one for each of its two members of the House, and two more for each of its two Senators. These electors are pledged to cast their Electoral College ballots to reflect how real voters cast their ballots. Rhode Islanders voted for Biden; its four electors did the same.
But under the wacko “doctrine” that would give state legislatures exclusive control of elections, if the Rhode Island’s General Assembly didn’t like Biden’s victory, the legislators could appoint their own group of electors, who would then vote in the Electoral College for Trump. If other states did the same thing, then the worst president in history would still be making terrible history.
Call it crazy. Call it absurd. Call it un-American. Just don’t call it impossible.
With the Supreme Court just agreeing to review the North Carolina case, that means the court is seriously considering the independent state legislature doctrine. And we know after the court’s last batch of rulings that things could – actually, probably will – go very badly for the rest of us out here in normal, sane, common sense America.
DO YOU WANT TO HEAR the details? No, of course you don’t.
Me neither. I was catatonic the entire morning after after reading a tiny article that the New York Times practically hid at the bottom of Page One, stuck there perhaps by editors who didn’t want to spoil their readers’ July 4th holiday. But lots of other news outlets, including the Washington Post, had similar accounts.
The independent state legislature doctrine focuses on a couple of sections of the Constitution:
Article I, Section 4, Clause 1:
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
(I have no idea what “the Places of chusing Senators” means, and I invoke my First Amendment rights in chusing not to waste my time or yours to find out).
Article II, Section 1, Clause 2:
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.
There’s been lots of debate about these clauses, but bottom line, we’ve come to expect that electors will do what voters tell them to do, and that elections will be run fairly, and if they aren’t, the courts will sort things out.
Nowhere in these sections, or in practice, does the Constitution prohibit state courts from intervening, as they normally do when legislatures go off the deep end.
But we know how extremists are: they see “day” but they read “night,” and in this case, they say that the Constitution says that legislatures can do as they please, because the sections use the word “legislatures,” but not the word “courts.”
Absurd? Absolutely.
Courts are always there to review whether the other branches of government, governors, presidents, legislatures are playing by the rules. And our democracy depends on the checks and balances in which the three branches of government keep each other in line.
The “executive branch,” the president, is a powerful figure, but not a king; and her actions can be limited by Congress and the courts. The legislature – the House and the Senate—is subject to a president’s veto and what the courts have to say. The courts can be limited by Congress, the president and ultimately by amendments to the Constitution.
It’s a foolproof system, except when fools are in charge, as they are in the right-wing, 6-to-3 majority of the Supreme Court and in more than half the country’s state legislatures, which are controlled by Trump-crazed Republicans.
Me neither. I was catatonic the entire morning after after reading a tiny article that the New York Times practically hid at the bottom of Page One, stuck there perhaps by editors who didn’t want to spoil their readers’ July 4th holiday. But lots of other news outlets, including the Washington Post, had similar accounts.
The independent state legislature doctrine focuses on a couple of sections of the Constitution:
Article I, Section 4, Clause 1:
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
(I have no idea what “the Places of chusing Senators” means, and I invoke my First Amendment rights in chusing not to waste my time or yours to find out).
Article II, Section 1, Clause 2:
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.
There’s been lots of debate about these clauses, but bottom line, we’ve come to expect that electors will do what voters tell them to do, and that elections will be run fairly, and if they aren’t, the courts will sort things out.
Nowhere in these sections, or in practice, does the Constitution prohibit state courts from intervening, as they normally do when legislatures go off the deep end.
But we know how extremists are: they see “day” but they read “night,” and in this case, they say that the Constitution says that legislatures can do as they please, because the sections use the word “legislatures,” but not the word “courts.”
Absurd? Absolutely.
Courts are always there to review whether the other branches of government, governors, presidents, legislatures are playing by the rules. And our democracy depends on the checks and balances in which the three branches of government keep each other in line.
The “executive branch,” the president, is a powerful figure, but not a king; and her actions can be limited by Congress and the courts. The legislature – the House and the Senate—is subject to a president’s veto and what the courts have to say. The courts can be limited by Congress, the president and ultimately by amendments to the Constitution.
It’s a foolproof system, except when fools are in charge, as they are in the right-wing, 6-to-3 majority of the Supreme Court and in more than half the country’s state legislatures, which are controlled by Trump-crazed Republicans.
Now, the North Carolina case is about whether House voting districts were fairly drawn, but it’s the independent state legislature doctrine within the case that scares experts. Here’s what some of them have to say.
First, an article by Ethan Herenstein and Thomas Wolf, lawyers for the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of law:
The nightmare scenario is that a legislature, displeased with how an election official on the ground has interpreted her state’s election laws, would invoke the theory as a pretext to refuse to certify the results of a presidential election and instead select its own slate of electors. Indeed, this isn’t far from the plan attempted by Trump allies following his loss in the 2020 election.
And here’s what U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat who also has been a U.S. attorney and a state attorney general, told the Washington Post:
This phony ‘doctrine’ is an anti-democratic Republican power grab masquerading as legal theory. It was cooked up in a right-wing legal hothouse by political operatives looking to give state legislatures the power to overturn the will of American voters in future elections.
Whitehouse went on to tell the Post that this was the same sort of scheme pushed by John Eastman, a Trump lawyer, as he and other Trumpsters tried to overturn the last presidential election, and it could plant seeds of chaos in time for the next one. The fact that the Court is even considering a case involving such an extreme idea shows how beholden it is to the right-wing donors who got so many of the justices their jobs.
OVERRIDE THE WILL of the voters? Change the outcome of an election? Can’t happen here. Too outlandish. Too far out. Even this Supreme Court would never condone such outrageous behavior.
But we should ask people most affected by the Supreme Court’s recent rulings whether there’s a limit on the mischief the highest court can unleash.
Ask a woman who’s been forced to give birth against her wishes because the Supreme Court took away women’s half-century right to abortion. Ask her whether the court has gone bonkers.
Ask that woman’s kid what it’s like to be born on a planet that’s becoming uninhabitable, even as the Supreme Court decides that the nation’s environmental agency can’t control heat-rising gasses.
Ask the same kid how safe she feels on New York City streets after the court shot down one of state’s gun control laws.
Ask this kid if she thinks her chances of getting to play football will be improved if she joins the coach and the rest of the team in prayer, now that the Supreme Court has further blurred the lines between church and state.
While were at it, maybe the rest of us should ask the coach, the football team, everyone on the sidelines and in the stands, if we can join them in praying that the Supreme Court will come to its senses.
Please, please and please don’t let six black-robbed rogues go off the deep end, fall off the cliff, leap into the abyss and allow the end of fair and honest elections.
Let’s all of us pray as hard as we can.
And vote like crazy while we still can.
First, an article by Ethan Herenstein and Thomas Wolf, lawyers for the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of law:
The nightmare scenario is that a legislature, displeased with how an election official on the ground has interpreted her state’s election laws, would invoke the theory as a pretext to refuse to certify the results of a presidential election and instead select its own slate of electors. Indeed, this isn’t far from the plan attempted by Trump allies following his loss in the 2020 election.
And here’s what U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat who also has been a U.S. attorney and a state attorney general, told the Washington Post:
This phony ‘doctrine’ is an anti-democratic Republican power grab masquerading as legal theory. It was cooked up in a right-wing legal hothouse by political operatives looking to give state legislatures the power to overturn the will of American voters in future elections.
Whitehouse went on to tell the Post that this was the same sort of scheme pushed by John Eastman, a Trump lawyer, as he and other Trumpsters tried to overturn the last presidential election, and it could plant seeds of chaos in time for the next one. The fact that the Court is even considering a case involving such an extreme idea shows how beholden it is to the right-wing donors who got so many of the justices their jobs.
OVERRIDE THE WILL of the voters? Change the outcome of an election? Can’t happen here. Too outlandish. Too far out. Even this Supreme Court would never condone such outrageous behavior.
But we should ask people most affected by the Supreme Court’s recent rulings whether there’s a limit on the mischief the highest court can unleash.
Ask a woman who’s been forced to give birth against her wishes because the Supreme Court took away women’s half-century right to abortion. Ask her whether the court has gone bonkers.
Ask that woman’s kid what it’s like to be born on a planet that’s becoming uninhabitable, even as the Supreme Court decides that the nation’s environmental agency can’t control heat-rising gasses.
Ask the same kid how safe she feels on New York City streets after the court shot down one of state’s gun control laws.
Ask this kid if she thinks her chances of getting to play football will be improved if she joins the coach and the rest of the team in prayer, now that the Supreme Court has further blurred the lines between church and state.
While were at it, maybe the rest of us should ask the coach, the football team, everyone on the sidelines and in the stands, if we can join them in praying that the Supreme Court will come to its senses.
Please, please and please don’t let six black-robbed rogues go off the deep end, fall off the cliff, leap into the abyss and allow the end of fair and honest elections.
Let’s all of us pray as hard as we can.
And vote like crazy while we still can.
BRIAN C. JONES
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I'VE BEEN a reporter and writer for 58 years, long enough to have learned that journalists don't know very much, although I've met some smart ones.
Mainly, what reporters know comes from asking other people questions and fretting about the answers. This blog is a successor to one inspired by our dog, Phoebe, who was smart, sweet and the antithesis of Donald Trump. She died Feb. 3, and I don't see getting over that very soon. Occasionally, I may try to reach her via cell phone. |
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