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.
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IN R.I., A 'NICE GUY' ADOPTS |
...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
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.
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.
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.
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
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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