Final Thoughts (Maybe) About the Republican “Performance” in the SOTU

1 Reply

The New York Times published an interesting piece about the Republicans’ unprecedented outbursts during President Biden’s State of the Union address: Heckling of Biden Reflects a New, Coarser Normal for House G.O.P., https://nyti.ms/3Xq479c While it bore similarities to my own comments in The Barbarians Are Inside the Gate, it was a bit too abstract for my taste and replete with “both sides” implications, a now all-too-common trait of main stream media.

But what struck me most were the comments that gleefully recalled the moment when then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped up Trump’s speech following one of his SOU addresses to Congress. In essence, those comments claimed that the obscene heckling of President Biden was justified by Pelosi’s previous conduct. What’s good for the goose, and all that. Hypocrisy, they say. You can’t have it both ways, they say.

I confess I didn’t read all the 666 comments the Times allowed before closing comments (a curious number, I note in passing – assess as you will), but of those I did read, not one noted the obvious difference between Pelosi’s demonstration of hostility to the then pretend president and the yelling and disruption that occurred during Biden’s speech.

I refer to the obvious fact that when Pelosi tore up Trump’s speech, Trump’s speech was over. He was finished talking. Should Pelosi have waited until Trump departed or until she was in the hall outside or called a press conference later to show her contempt? Maybe. But there is a fundamental difference between her post-speech demonstration and the multiple interruptions and crass behavior during the speech by members of the Republican Party. Her action did not disrupt Trump’s remarks, no matter how distasteful they were to her. The Republicans, on the other hand, did everything they could to disrupt and disorient the President. And they failed.

My final (maybe) observation: the writers at the New York Times, Washington Post and other newspapers that still claim to some degree of objectivity in matters political should stop calling these Republican Party louts “conservatives.” There is nothing “conservative” about most of them. They don’t just want less government; they want no government.

Just two days ago, Ted Cruz, officially the U.S. Senator from Texas, tweeted: “Abolish the IRS.” https://bit.ly/3Ih6PtCCruz is not the only Republican to advocate that. You may also recall that many other leading Republicans have advocated abolishing the Department of Education and other federal agencies, including Betsy DeVos, Trump’s Secretary of Education. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced a bill in early 2021 with co-sponsors including (unsurprisingly) Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), to do that very thing.

To be clear, I for one believe the United States Tax Code is a monstrosity. One fine day, I plan to write about it in some detail. But the idea that we can in one swoop “simplify the Code” and then eliminate the IRS while still effectively collecting enough revenue to pay for the U.S. Miliary, among many other federal services that help assure this country’s safety and prosperity, is blatantly stupid.

The National Taxpayer Advocate did a Microsoft Word count of the tax statutes and implementing IRS regulations in 2012 and came up with roughly 4 million words. At roughly 450 words per page, that works out to around 9,000 pages. The National Taxpayer Advocate also noted that the tax code changed 4,680 times from 2001 to 2012, an average of once per day.  https://bit.ly/3DYxWa8

That was ten years ago. Most likely the Code is substantially larger today. Much of it is designed, by Republican and Democratic administrations alike, to foster or discourage various forms of economic and other behavior. Changing it to a simpler system whose focus is mainly, if not solely, to fund the government is highly desirable in my view but it’s not something that can be done overnight in a sudden “simplification.” Advocates for that approach are not “conservatives. They are either anarchists or … well, this is a family blog, so I won’t go further.

Suffice to say, the complexities of the Code and its pervasive influence on the conduct of American businesses is such as only a prolonged and careful reexamination has any chance of success. But the Code’s very complexity and influence has spawned entire industries of tax lawyers, tax-specialist accountants, software companies and tax preparers, all of whom have a vested interest in keeping the complexity. And then there are the giant corporations that benefit from manipulating their operations and accounting to pay less tax than the might in another system.

To return to the main point, the Republican Party has become the Party of Grievance. Their appeal to the good old days, when white people ran everything and most things were thought to be cheaper and readily available at all times, those days are gone. Permanently. The Republican Party is the Party of the Past, a past that never really was and that was unsustainable. You may be able to turn back the clock, but you cannot undo time. It moves forward whether your clock, or your mind, keeps up or not. To believe in the past that the Republican Party is selling is to believe in a mirage, a false idol that leads you to your destruction.

The Republicans can yell and scream until the dogs come home. They have nothing constructive to offer the American people or the country. Joe Biden was too gracious, too composed and, in boxing them in on Medicare and Social Security, too clever for the screamers. They won’t learn anything from it. They’re out there every day justifying what they did because Nancy Pelosi hurt their feelings. Grievance and more grievance – the Republican Party’s true platform.

The Barbarians Are Inside the Gate

2 Replies

The reference is, of course, a play on the title of a famous book and movie about the battle to get control of RJR Nabisco in the late 1980s. Wikipedia tells the story well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RJR_Nabisco  The subtitle of this post is: “When They Tell/Show You What They Are, Believe Them.”

The original thought for this post began with the revelation that the Republicans, newly in the House majority, had disbanded the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, reported everywhere at the end of January. But it goes way beyond that.

I refer now to the disgraceful desecration of the Capitol by Republicans during the State of the Union address by President Biden on February 7. Picking up where one of their number yelled “you lie!” at President Obama during a 2009 address to the Congress on health care reform, the Republicans as a group and individually heckled and shouted at President Biden multiple times during his speech. It reminded me of the chaos we sometimes see in foreign legislatures where yelling and disruption are commonplace, where physical violence occurs between disputatious parties. But not here. Not here.

Obviously, no rational person expects the Republicans to agree with much of what Biden proposes. But the State of the Union address is not a place for street rabble to shout down the President. Historically, the displeasure of the party out of power has been adequately demonstrated by their silence when the rest of the Congress applauds usually while standing. It’s a strange ritual, to be sure, but it’s been going on for a long time and everyone understands what the play is.

Until now. The gang of Republican traitors and criminals who helped orchestrate the January 6 attack on the Capitol to try to overturn the 2020 election have turned the State of the Union evening into a circus-like affair. They show no respect for the office of the President, no respect for the sitting President, no respect for each other, and no respect for the American people.

To be clear, this isn’t just about bad manners. This same group is composed of QAnon believers (Marjorie Taylor Greene who shouted “liar” at the President), proponents of automatic weapons everywhere (Lauren Boebert), people whose moral compass has led them repeatedly to deny the reality of what happened on January 6, 2021, and who was responsible (see this video for the reality they continue to deny: https://nyti.ms/3HM77XH). They are the real election thieves, the book burners, the science deniers.

They are led by Donald Trump whose brazen disregard of the law and mores of American society and politics have led him to commit multiple crimes the complete listing of which would fill many pages. He and his sycophantic followers continue to deny the truth about the 2020 election. It was Trump who called the Secretary of State in Georgia to demand that he “find” just enough votes to overturn the will of the people of Georgia. Everyone has heard the tape by now. It was Trump who tried to extort the president of Ukraine to launch an investigation of his political opponent. Everyone has read the “transcript” by now.

And yet, and yet, Trump continues to walk free, to continue his false narrative, to continue stealing from his supporters, to continue as the most dishonest, corrupt political leader in modern American times and perhaps at any time in American history. The boorish display by Republicans at the State of the Union is just a symptom of a much greater and more important danger. Democracy itself is on the line.

And yet, and yet, many Republican commentators continue to raise the specter that if Trump is held accountable for his crimes, there will be civil war, or the door will be opened to retribution by the succeeding administrations intent on punishing their predecessors. If that is true, the idea of America as the Founding Fathers envisioned it is indeed already dead.

It doesn’t have to be that way. But those in charge of the many “investigations” must act and act soon and aggressively to change the course, the curse, of events. The evidence of Trump’s crimes is both overwhelming and widely known. His so-called defenses – mainly the ludicrous “lack of intent” claim – are preposterous but whether they are or not is beside the point. If it is true that “no man is above the law,” if it is true that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, then the salvation of American democracy demands that Trump be prosecuted for all his crimes in every legal regime where jurisdiction exists. He can make his defenses there where the rules of law and evidence govern.

I have no better idea what is going on, or not going on, at the Department of Justice and the Special Counsel’s office than anyone outside the inner sanctums there, but time is running out. The government must act, or it will be destroyed by the fascist proponents of winning at all costs, the believers in “alternative facts” when the truth denies their self-serving goals. Those people have made clear (just look at Kari Lake’s post-election conduct in Arizona and Ron DeSantis’ abuses of government power in Florida), they will stop at nothing to get what they want. The system that made America one of the most important countries in the world is on the line. It’s past time to call the question.

White House Tour – A Great Comfort

Leave a reply

We were privileged last week to tour the People’s House, courtesy of Rep. Don Beyer. While it was sunny, it was probably the second coldest day of the winter so far. But we braved it with a stop at the White House Visitors Center first. There, curiously, we underwent security checks that rival anything you would experience at an airport. Then, at the White House itself, to which we walked on the street unguarded, it was just empty your pockets of metals and step through magnetometer. We were, however, sniffed by a guard dog on the grounds after we entered the final stretch to the main House.

I am delighted to say that the public portions of the White House revealed very little evidence that the Trumps had ever occupied it. Most of the photos and other artwork feature other presidents – you know, the real ones.

The tour surprisingly was self-guided, but people moved along without issue, taking many photos. We too did our share of gawking and photographing. A sample follows. When we moved back outside to leave and turned to photo the portico, who should appear but Senator Tammy Duckworth and an aide, moving fast to escape the cold.

The final charm occurred after we left the grounds. A youngish tourist couple with a child stopped us to ask if we had taken the tour and was it wonderful. We exclaimed about the experience and explained how to get on the list. They remarked how lucky we were to have done this. Indeed.

A Night to Remember

2 Replies

Long before the final curtain dropped, you could sense what was coming. It was in the tone of the applause that broke out periodically In appreciation of virtuosic solo performances, not unlike the applause of knowledgeable jazz audiences for solos in the middle of longer pieces.

Last evening, we were privileged to witness the stunning performance of Giselle by the United Ukrainian Ballet company in its United States premiere. The core story, set in medieval times, is simple enough. A peasant girl with a weak heart is fooled by a desirous nobleman passing himself off as an ordinary man. The man is already engaged to marry the daughter of the Prince. A woodsman, also smitten by Giselle, discovers the nobleman’s sword and reveals his identity to Giselle. The girl cannot believe the revelation at first but, as the truth sinks in, she descends into despair and dances herself to death as her heart gives out.

In Act Two, the nobleman finds Giselle’s grave in the woods. He too is in despair at the loss of his love. The Wilis then appear, all in white. They are apparitions of girls who have died when betrayed by their lovers on the eve of their weddings.Any man caught by them between midnight and dawn will be forced to dance until he dies.  Giselle is now one of them, but she saves the nobleman, whom she still loves, by delaying his death until sunrise forces the Wilis to withdraw. She, of course, disappears with them.

Last night, Giselle’s (Iriyna Zhalovska) descent from joyous dancing maiden into overwhelming grief was portrayed with astonishing changes in her appearance and demeanor as she danced furiously in the growing realization that she had been betrayed. The stage presence of Kateryna Derechnya was stunning as the cold-hearted Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis. The corps de ballet created a perfect illusion of joyous country dancing in the village and later as the ethereal and intimidating Wilis.

As said at the beginning of this post, the momentum to inevitable conclusion grew as the ballet unfolded. When the curtain fell, there was a short period of silent anticipation. When it rose again, the audience went crazy, immediately on their feet, yelling, whistling, and applauding with enthusiasm appropriate to the remarkable performance we had seen.

First on stage were the two principals. They produced a now familiar blue and gold Ukrainian flag. Then as the entire cast and crew assembled on stage, there was mostly silent respect as they dancers and crew sang, hands on hearts, the Ukrainian national anthem.  One of the flags they held had writing on it: Make Dance Not War. When they finished, more extravagant applause.

Unforgettable.

Tragically, the genocidal attack by Russia on Ukraine continues. The appearance of the United Ukrainian Ballet company in Washington is nothing short of a miracle. You can, for a short time, read about the company and its dancers, its history, and their extraordinary survival story here: https://bit.ly/3YlIhEP Don’t skip over the “Message from the Producers” that tells the story of the company’s escape from the Russian attack.

Other reviews are here: https://unitedukrainianballet.com/press/  Unfortunately, by the time you read this, there likely will be only one performance remaining at the Kennedy Center and it is, I am happy to note, Sold Out, as well it should be.

I have not found a list of future performances but surely there will be more. If you can, don’t miss it. It may break your heart as it did Giselle’s, but you will be better for it.

PayPal Scam Problem — Beware

2 Replies

I received an email about a request for money from my PayPal account. Not recognizing the person or the transaction, I elected not to click on anything in the email. Instead, I went directly to my PayPal account, logged in there, only to find the transaction listed. There was a phone number to call to cancel. I called and ended up in a multi-hour film-flam involving fake PayPal security people, fake credit card security people, etc. I canceled the transaction in PayPal and it showed as canceled. The calls continued.

I will spare you the gory details. Suffice to say that when I later contacted PayPal to ask how it could be that a phony phone number was lodged inside my account along with the phony transaction, the answer was that PayPal is aware that scammers are able to insert bogus “call XX to cancel” numbers inside the PayPal website. Calling the number leads you to the scammers, not to PayPal’s security people.

PayPal told me they are “working to fix this.” But it’s not fixed now and almost led to disaster. Be careful. Be very careful.

Happy New Year? Marking Time

1 Reply

First, a happy and peaceful New Year to everyone. My primary wish for everyone is to remain safe from the implacable invisible and deadly virus(es) that continue to haunt our every move. New Year is, of course, not always an entirely happy occasion. It marks time in an odd way, just as we mark hours, days, weeks, and months but it reminds some of us of lost friends and family for the multitude of reasons that bring human lives to an end. And those battling illness of one kind or another. Perhaps it’s the inevitability of that end, always uncertain in timing, that leads so many to celebrate the New Year as if something real had occurred other than an artificial change in the calendar. One day it’s 2022 and the next day it’s 2023.

I for one am consciously grateful to still be here to reflect on this ritual and share every right-thinking person’s hopes that the future will be better than the past, especially the recent past. We are still scarred from our year of the pandemic in New York City. Maybe we always will be, but we also can choose to believe that better times do indeed lie in the future.

That’s true despite the war in Ukraine, the threat of climate change, and the fact that violence against people and the country continue largely unaddressed.

But enough of that. As I reflect on the absurdity of our excess enthusiasm for the “new year,” I also see the value of marking the time as a new beginning and not just an ending. And in doing that we do “start over” in some way and, I hope, commit to doing better, doing good, helping those who cannot help themselves, being kind and as generous as circumstances allow, recognizing the value of those who are simply different than us, respecting science, and reflecting always on the reality that each of us is finite and will not live forever. Time moves in one direction only and, once consumed, can never be recaptured or replayed.

So we should, we must, cherish the time we have, share with open hearts and, as the ending of a science fiction book, title lost to memory, that I read many years ago ended, “love one another.” There is no other way.

T’was the Night Before the Night Before

Leave a reply

And all through the land, everything was frozen. Bear with me. This is a happy-ending story. It is not satire, however. Every word is true.

Undeterred by predictions of a weather Armageddon (a “bomb cyclone” predicted for the East Coast – plunging temperatures, rain, snow, rapid freezing of everything – great!), we see that the remarkable jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut is playing in DC at the Carlyle Room (not to be confused with the shuttered Carlyle Club in Alexandria which still appears on the internet as a live venue). We have seen Cyrus probably a dozen times over many years in New York, DC, Reston, and Maryland (a concert at his former high school). He remains one of the premier if not the best, living jazz improvisors in America.  https://www.cyruschestnut.net/about

We reserve tickets and amazingly the site lets us pick our table. We get Table 14 directly in front of the stage.

Seeing the food prices are somewhat high and there is a limited menu, we make the fateful decision to eat elsewhere. After making and canceling at least one reservation, we settle on a new place that looks great on the internet and is close to the music venue:

Dinner

Dine in a bright expansive warm filled space, where glam and modern design highlighted by bright color palettes with deep rich wood finishes.

Weather be dammed, we have a plan. I will not name the restaurant, however. It’s Christmas Eve and I’m feeling generous.

We should have known better by seeing this on the reservations portion of the website, following a long warning about the dress code (“Guests that arrive in t-shirts may not be allowed access into the venue and no refund or credits will be provided. Make sure to inform ALL guests!”) followed by this:

There will be a minimum $350.00 cleaning fee for tables/groups which require excessive cleaning due to the party’s inappropriate conduct such as, but not limited to, vomit, cake fights, intentional pouring of liquor on the table/carpet.

But as noted the place was very close to the Carlyle Room. How bad can it be?  We decide to go boldly where …. you know.

As predicted, the night is frigid beyond imagination and street parking is almost non-existent. We finally park several blocks away from the restaurant. Our new theory is that we walk to the restaurant, walk from there to the music venue, then walk back to the car. It immediately apparent that this plan is preposterous. The wind is blowing and temperatures are already in the mid-teens and falling. Nevertheless, we’re here and we’re going.

The restaurant is, well, noisy. Really really noisy, with multiple large TV screens everywhere. Evidently, this more night club than restaurant. But who wants to go out to a club, pay high prices for drinks and watch TV? Many people it seems. The place is packed. Everyone is talking loudly because they can’t otherwise be heard over the blaring music.

But I digress. We are told by the very polite gentleman tending the door that he will call the elevator to take us to the restaurant upstairs. I mention that I hope it’s not as noisy up there and he assures me not to worry, they will be happy to lower the volume of the music. Uh huh. We go up and … it’s just like downstairs. We order what turns out to be mediocre food, but it is promptly delivered by our very polite waitress. We eat. The bill comes.

I stare disbelievingly at the check where there is 20 percent “service charge” added. Since this is what I would have tipped anyway, I am only mildly alarmed, though still concerned whether this is a “forced tip” or something the restaurant planned to keep, hoping that we would tip the waitress independently.

We didn’t. The automatic surcharge was never disclosed on the restaurant website, so I decided this was indeed the substitute for the tip, notwithstanding that the charging bill arrived with a space for Tip to be added. I remain hopeful that the service charge” was given to the wait staff. I am assured by someone familiar with the DC bar scene that it is almost certain the charge did go to the staff. If so, good. If not, well, they should have disclosed the practice on the website.

We leave, hoofing back to the car in temperatures that now feel like single digits. I’ve been alive a long time but don’t recall anything like this. Nevertheless, we make it to the car, and after I stop shivering, drive around to the Carlyle Room to discover there is no valet parking. But then a Christmas miracle occurs.

There is parking space less than 50 feet from the front door. It has a confusing sign about a time-restricted loading zone, but this is not unusual for DC which is famous for bizarre and inexplicable parking signage.

We gamble and park there. We have an hour before the planned show time so the very polite lady at the door escorts us into the adjacent Brennan’s Bar, which is practically empty. Fine. We wait.

Finally, well after the 9:15 show time, we are admitted to the Room and our front table. This is what we see:

Now the second miracle occurs. Cyrus appears with his trio members, a female bass player and drummer. As with every other performance we have seen, Cyrus is a powerhouse on the piano, improvising tunes from Charlie Brown’s Christmas, throwing in Beethoven’s Für Elise (with the warning “this is not the Für Elise you’re expecting”—wasn’t) and generally making new music at every turn. His bandmates seem constantly bemused by what he is doing but they keep up. Overall, it is an extraordinary performance, as we have come to expect from Cyrus Chestnut. Sadly, it was witnessed by only a handful of people. The earlier show had been sold out, so we have to think the “weather is frightful” was largely responsible.

The Carlyle Room has no minimum beyond the ticket purchase which is highly unusual. The room is huge, more than 80 tables, widely separated, and as noted earlier you can pre-reserve where you want to sit, also very unusual. The Room has been open four months and with better promotion should have a permanent place in the DC entertainment scene, which could use another good jazz venue especially following the demise of Twins. We had dessert, a great chocolate cake slice — with whipped cream and raspberries. Keep an eye on this place. https://www.carlyleroom.com

All in all then, an extraordinary evening. We persevered through the weather, the noisy crowded restaurant/club with mediocre food and ended up front & center at a great jazz performance. A metaphor for the entire year. Don’t give up. Happy Holidays!!!!!

It’s Because He Was President

2 Replies

Members of the media continue to discuss how extraordinary it would be for the Department of Justice to indict a former President, and how disruptive it will be if he is indicted for the multiple crimes he was openly and repeatedly committed. Even while trumpeting (sorry) the line that no one in the United States is above the law.

I want to state that it is precisely because Donald Trump was president that he must be brought to justice, the same as any thug or other criminal. It may be unprecedented but being unusual or even one of-a-kind is no excuse for allowing a criminal to walk free. This is particularly true when that criminal continues to spread the same blatant lies that led to the January 6 insurrection. Trump repeats his falsehoods about the 2020 election multiple times a week. He actively endorses the candidacies of election deniers around the country.

Now he has gone the last mile. He has stated that the [false] claims of election fraud justify disregarding all the rules and regulations governing elections, including the Constitution itself. https://bit.ly/3iqMZkU and https://bit.ly/3HeSkGB and https://bit.ly/3ulG1QY

There can be no clearer indication that Trump is not an American patriot but is a self-interested traitor. He promises to continue promoting his lies about the 2020 election even as he runs in the 2024 presidential election. He literally wants to be “installed” as president, leading, obviously, to the removal of the elected President Biden, the replacement of the entire leadership of the federal government and, effectively, the collapse of American democracy. That is what Trump demands and that is why he should be indicted now.

The fact that most of Trump-endorsed election deniers were rejected in the 2022 midterms is irrelevant. That outcome may suggest that to a large extent the voters have had enough of election-denial, but the money keeps rolling in to finance Trump’s legal fees and his announced candidacy for President in 2024. Grotesquely unqualified candidates like Herschel Walker continue to be promoted by Trump and by the Republican Party and are considered serious threats against candidates like Rev. Warnock in Georgia.

Despite everything that has happened since Trump took office, MAGA Republicans and so-call Christian Fundamentalists continue their fanatical loyalty to him. They claim that the events that led to two impeachments (also unprecedented) and the insurrection were all fake. You can show them a video of the Capitol attack and they will say (1) it never happened, (2) it was staged by paid actors, (3) it was really antifa, not Trump supporters, or (4) they were just patriots fighting to correct the theft of the election (for which no evidence has ever been produced).

Trump’s supporters still say that his phone call to the Georgia Secretary of State demanding the “finding” of just enough votes, by exactly one, to give Trump the win was nothing to be concerned about. Same for his attempt to extort from the president of Ukraine an investigation of his political opponent in the 2020 election. And on and on.

Trump’s crimes are so numerous and his uses of the judicial system to stall and deflect so common and well-financed that a degree of indifference may have set in through the body politic. See MEDIAite at https://bit.ly/3Vt9Bjt  Whatever that may be, the fact remains that Donald Trump, while President of the United States, attempted to overthrow the government by preventing the transfer of power to his duly elected successor. His financial crimes and other abuses of power pale in comparison to that unprecedented attack on the very democratic process that elected him.

And that is the reason he must be prosecuted. Trump violated his oath of office, abused his power, and led an insurrection attempting to end democracy. If he had succeeded, it is likely we would never have seen another real election in this country.

So, members of the media, please just stop with the “OMG, it’s unprecedented that a former president would be indicted.” The lack of precedent simply highlights how grotesque Trump’s conduct was and is. I see now that some of his lawyers have testified before the criminal grand jury and that’s good, although we don’t know, and likely never will know the extent to which they avoided telling the truth by citing attorney-client and/or executive privilege. It is well-established law that such privileges cannot be used to shield communications involved in the planning and execution of crimes, but Trump has succeeded many times in deflecting and deferring consequences with similar claims.

There are some suggestions that Trump’s evasion of responsibility for his crimes is running out of legal room, but he still has allies in Congress and on the Supreme Court who may yet come to his aid. Whatever that future may hold, nothing should stand in the way of indictments for Trump’s many crimes. The most important, of course, is his instigation of the January 6 attack, but there are many others as well. The government should focus on the one or two that have the clearest evidentiary basis and that would certainly include the Capitol assault. Make clear to all future political leaders, in both parties, that crimes in office will not be tolerated. We are approaching the two-year anniversary of the Capitol attack.

It’s time. Past time. Indict him, arrest him, and try him.

Let’s Hear It For the Women

Leave a reply

Any society that stagnates or retrogresses is unlikely to survive in a digitally unified world. Societies that are moving backward toward what is perceived as “better times back then” are almost certainly doomed in the long run. Cultural and ethnic diversification is a force that may be delayed for a while, even reversed, but not indefinitely. As it happens, one of the moving forces in this country, perhaps the only one that can save it in the long run, is the women. The women who marched for women’s rights, the women who went to work doing “men’s labor” during the last world war. Many of them never went back, mentally, to the “role that women are supposed to occupy.” While some men have not adapted to the new reality of equality, they face an unhappy and unproductive future. The tide of history cannot be stopped. The love affair of white men with male dominance is a mirage. Loss of status hurts. Get over it. Move on. Think of how exciting it is to know intelligent, thoughtful women who believe in themselves and what they can contribute. There is no going back.

Yesterday established that women will not be suppressed. Voters in all five states where there were ballot measures on abortion rights, the right of women to control their own bodies and health decisions, opted for freedom for women. The women have spoken, Republicans. Good for them. Good for all of us.

Georgia On My Mind

1 Reply

Not the famous song written by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell in 1930, made a hit by Ray Charles in 1960 and by Willie Nelson. No, I’m thinking, and profoundly troubled, by the Senate race in Georgia that will be decided in a few days. The choices for Georgia voters are Rev. Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker. Remarkably, even for these times, if you believe in poll data, the race is a practical dead heat. How is this possible, Georgia?

Walker’s “biography” on his campaign website is comprised of 530 total words, of which 319, or 60 percent, are related to athletics achievements. As great as those may be, they are not qualifications for serving as one of 100 in the United States Senate, considered by some as one of the great deliberative bodies in the world of politics. In an apparent effort to beef up his resume, Walker also notes that he “performed in the Fort Worth Ballet [one time], competed on The Apprentice, and won the Celebrity Cook-Off on the Food Network.” All of those are the gimmicky stunts of celebrities but provide nothing in qualifications for dealing with the serious business of a U.S. Senator. It is astonishing that a serious candidate for the U.S. Senate would offer such nonsense to prove his worth.

If Walker and Warnock share any other experiences, it is that both were raised in difficult circumstances in the backwaters of Georgia. But there the similarities end. Walker’s bio says little about his childhood, but he makes much of the fact that he suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) due to childhood traumas. This condition is described by the Cleveland Clinic this way:

People with DID have two or more separate identities. These personalities control their behavior at different times. Each identity has its own personal history, traits, likes and dislikes. DID can lead to gaps in memory and hallucinations (believing something is real when it isn’t).

Dissociative identity disorder used to be called multiple personality disorder or split personality disorder.  [https://cle.clinic/3fyU7uw]

People afflicted with this disorder are certainly worthy of empathy and support, but whether they should serve in the Senate is another matter. Walker claims to have written a book about his life with DID, but it seems certain that the real writing was done by the others listed as co-authors of the book. Listening to Walker speak suggests he is incapable of writing the often-sophisticated text in Breaking Free: My Life with Dissociative Identity Disorder. [Note: I have only read excerpts from the book] It is admirable, if true, that Walker has devoted part of his adult life to helping others suffering with DID, but that is a slim reed on which to build a Senate-qualifying resume.

Some people may be offended by the idea that Walker’s mental health issues should be held against him in his quest for high political office. But those people would surely agree, I hope, that a person afflicted with, say, pathological lying disorder (see https://bit.ly/3DB1DNB; see also Donald J. Trump) should not be a U.S. Senator. But DID is far from the only issue with Hershel Walker so let’s not get too distracted (I am not referring to allegations related to abortions and related issues – I don’t know what the evidence shows and don’t consider it particularly relevant. The multiple lies/misrepresentations about achievements in his past are relevant, however, and very troubling).

Rev. Warnock grew up with a large family in public housing, had a mother who picked cotton and tobacco in the summer, yet managed to graduate from Morehouse College, earn a PhD and be ordained in the ministry. His brief biography notes that “For over 16 years, Senator Warnock has served as Senior Pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the former pulpit of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He is the youngest pastor selected to serve in that leadership role at the historic church.”

I have heard Warnock and can affirm that he is a gifted speaker, a man of serious thoughts and competent intellect. He was elected to the United States Senate in the January 5, 2021, in a special election runoff for the term ending January 3, 2023, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Johnny Isakson, a seat previously held by appointed (and disgraced) Senator Kelly Loeffler.

Senator Warnock serves on the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee; Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee; Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, as well as the Special Committee on Aging and the Joint Economic Committee. In his short time in the Senate, Warnock has sponsored this legislation:

            Affordable Electric Vehicles for America Act of 2022

            Housing Market Transparency Act

            Rent Relief Act of 2022

            Building More Housing for Servicemembers Act

            Increasing Home Ownership for Servicemembers Act

            Capping Drug Costs for Seniors Act of 2022

            Affordable Insulin Now Act

            Farm to Base Food Security Act

Capping Prescription Costs Act of 2021

Improving Care for Veterans Act

Preventing Election Subversion Act of 2021

And many others.

Among the other stark differences with Walker, Warnock has experience in government. Walker has none, at any level. Walker was a gifted athlete, for sure. He has capitalized on his popularity as well as he can. Fine. Good for him. But can you imagine, after listening to him, that he could command the intellectual horsepower to deal with the array of complex legislative issues that Warnock has faced in his multiple committee assignments?

The question for Georgians is whether there is a remote possibility that Walker can function effectively in the cauldron that the Senate has become. Not a scintilla of evidence, suggests that he can. He will be manipulated by the Republican leadership that will see him as a willing supplicant for attention. He will embarrass himself and fail to represent Georgia in any meaningful way.

Worse yet, he will be unable to understand the complexity and seriousness of the issues that the Senate routinely faces. Anyone who has spent time, as I have, interacting with members of the Senate on complex legislative issues will know that this is no place for Herschel Walker. He cannot be successful for Georgia, and he cannot be successful for the United States. Senators, of course, represent their states, but they also bear allegiance to the country as a whole. Whatever Herschel Walker’s talents may be, he is completely unqualified to meet the challenges of being a U.S. Senator.

And, yes, I am aware that there are plenty of limited intellects serving in the Senate now. How will the United States be made better by adding another?

If you live in Georgia and haven’t voted yet, or have friends or family there who haven’t voted, you owe it to yourself and your country to vote on election day for the plainly superior candidate, the sitting Senator, Rev. Raphael Warnock. The fate of American democracy hangs on a precipice. Don’t contribute to its fall by electing Herschel Walker to the Senate.