In the Sunday, July 29, 2018 Los Angeles Times, was an Op-Ed by writer Virginia Heffernan: "Was the 2016 election legitimate?" Let's take a look at her analysis. First, she tells us: "A nation devoted to majority rule has a minority president. Who squeaked into high office on an electoral college technicality." You have to admire the way in which, knowing she is stating half-truths, she describes Trump's election victory as some sinister scheme. Majority rule? Yes, our Constitution says that a majority of the Electoral College vote determines the winner. A "technicality?" That pretty much describes what many on the left think of the US Constitution - a technicality.
Yes, other Presidents have been elected by winning the Electoral College, but not the popular vote. Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, Benjamin Harrison in 1888, and George Bush in 2000. And let's not forget that John Quincy Adams won in 1824 with neither the popular vote nor the Electoral College vote. Adams won in the House of Representatives.
Heffernan says Trump won "Against most data projections. Using voter suppression. Using Russian disinformation." Against most date projection? Wow - I did not realize elections were decided by projections. If they were, we would have had a President-elect Dewey in 1948, inasmuch as Dewey was the overwhelming favorite over Truman - to the point where the advance printing of the Chicago Daily Tribune announced "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN." There is a famous photo of a beaming Truman holding up that erroneous edition of the paper. Voter suppression? Heffernan's evidence is an article in the left-wing publication Mother Jones, claiming that discriminatory ID laws in Wisconsin prevented many from voting. So, voter suppression by duly passed laws? Were those laws challenged in the courts? We don't know from her article. We do know that Trump was busy campaigning throughout the Midwest while Clinton was...just hanging out with Bill, savoring their anticipated victory? Because, you know, Hillary thought her election victory was already decided - by the projections.
Russian disinformation? No doubt that Putin and Russia try to interfere with Western democracies, including our own. But Robert Mueller is busy prosecuting Paul Manafort over allegations of tax evasion from years ago, with absolutely nothing to do with Russia or Russian collusion. Another reason why I'm opposed to the appointment of special counsel - unlimited prosecutorial power with the ability to go after anyone they want to.
Curiously, in addition to seemingly not knowing about how our Constitution and electoral system works, and ignoring the other Presidential elections with electoral but not popular vote winners, Heffernan also seems to not know or care about our alleged rigged Presidential elections. The most well known one in our lifetimes was the 1960 Kennedy vs. Nixon election. Quite a few people thought that Chicago Mayor Daley, along with the Chicago mob, purposely waited until the morning after election day to turn in Chicago's vote tallies - perhaps with the Cook County machine waiting to make sure they had enough votes to put Kennedy over the top.
Leftists tell me they are sick of Trump. Well, conservatives are sick of leftists being unable to accept that Trump won the election - and that he is the President. So, now that we've established everybody is upset about something, I suggest we let reason replace emotion so that everyone may calm down a bit. And I'd like to see mainstream papers like the LA Times stop printing distorted Op-Eds like this one.
Wednesday, August 1, 2018
Monday, July 30, 2018
On Friendship
(Note: Regular readers will immediately notice that this post, like a couple of others I have done (7/22/17 - Lessons From My Childhood, and 11/12/17 - More Stories From My Youth) is not a political post, although politics does come into play in our times - even in friendships. I have been on a short two week hiatus, partly unsure about what I wanted to discuss, and partly just having hit a wall. Now, however, I feel fully refreshed, and have several new posts already written - in my head that is. We'll see what time permits me to post this week.)
Most of us are blessed to have what we would call "good friends." We also have "acquaintances," and often "colleagues." For me, the "boys in New Jersey," as I refer to the guys with whom I grew up, have mostly remained life-long friends. Two buddies from college have also remained friends to this day. The writer George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) said: "Friendship is the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words."
Of course, we - hopefully - continue to make new friends throughout our lives. Some of those friendships last, others do not. Some that I thought of as friends abandoned me because of my conservative politics. Recently, a friend/colleague was telling me that Trump's divisiveness is responsible for much of the anger that he, and other liberals/leftists feel towards their, in some cases, now former friends who are conservatives. I tried to explain that was no excuse. Our three children were taught that they could only control their own behavior, and that other's misbehavior would never excuse their own. Yet, this man seemed to justify his nearly uncontrollable anger based on Trump's demeanor. I also explained my admiration for triple H, Hubert Horatio Humphrey, a Democrat who was known as "The Happy Warrior," because his passion for his beliefs never interfered with his respect for those with whom he disagreed politically.
However, Humphrey's outlook is not the prevalent attitude of today. Indeed, some of today's leftists have abandoned their friendships with me because of our political differences. While I am sure they rationalize their dropping even long-term friends, such attitudes - such intolerance - only makes me think less of them. "To go against the dominant thinking of your friends, of most of the people you see every day, is perhaps the most difficult act of heroism you can perform." So said the historian, Theodore H. White.
As painful as it is, I take personal responsibility for the loss of a friend, who was in mourning following the death of a close family member. I unintentionally said something that was rather insensitive to another in his family. It was a stupid thing to say, and I wished I could take it back almost immediately. It was the end of the friendship. I was disappointed. I thought of how the boys in Jersey might have reacted. They probably would have called me a dumb moron (okay, it would have been much worse, but I avoid those words in the blog). The point is, they would have expressed their anger at me, deservedly, yet we would have remained friends. "Real friends don't get offended when you insult them. They smile and call you something even more offensive." Writer unknown.
I am fortunate to have friends who are there in times of need - emotional, financial and who simply allow me to vent. Friends who understand that I may falter at times, but will give me a second and third and fourth chance. Ralph Waldo Emerson opined that true friendship was elusive, perhaps unattainable. Emerson: "Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins. We parry and fend the approach of our fellow man by compliments, by gossip, by amusements, by affairs. We cover up our thought from him under a hundred folds."
A rather disconcerting view of friendships. I'm with George Eliot, and treasure those with whom I neither have to weigh thoughts nor measure words. I'm with those who will not write me off when I falter. And I promise to do the same in return. I want friends who will tell me when I am wrong - not just about politics, but about life, about family, about anything. When friends do that for us, instead of abandoning us, they make us better people.
To end on a humorous note, I once asked one of the boys in Jersey what he thought of my blog. They do not all read it. He said he agreed about 70% of the time, disagreed about 20% of the time, and the remaining 10% of the time he thought I was bat-shit crazy. He certainly did not worry about having to measure his words. Exactly the kind of friend I want.
Most of us are blessed to have what we would call "good friends." We also have "acquaintances," and often "colleagues." For me, the "boys in New Jersey," as I refer to the guys with whom I grew up, have mostly remained life-long friends. Two buddies from college have also remained friends to this day. The writer George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) said: "Friendship is the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words."
Of course, we - hopefully - continue to make new friends throughout our lives. Some of those friendships last, others do not. Some that I thought of as friends abandoned me because of my conservative politics. Recently, a friend/colleague was telling me that Trump's divisiveness is responsible for much of the anger that he, and other liberals/leftists feel towards their, in some cases, now former friends who are conservatives. I tried to explain that was no excuse. Our three children were taught that they could only control their own behavior, and that other's misbehavior would never excuse their own. Yet, this man seemed to justify his nearly uncontrollable anger based on Trump's demeanor. I also explained my admiration for triple H, Hubert Horatio Humphrey, a Democrat who was known as "The Happy Warrior," because his passion for his beliefs never interfered with his respect for those with whom he disagreed politically.
However, Humphrey's outlook is not the prevalent attitude of today. Indeed, some of today's leftists have abandoned their friendships with me because of our political differences. While I am sure they rationalize their dropping even long-term friends, such attitudes - such intolerance - only makes me think less of them. "To go against the dominant thinking of your friends, of most of the people you see every day, is perhaps the most difficult act of heroism you can perform." So said the historian, Theodore H. White.
As painful as it is, I take personal responsibility for the loss of a friend, who was in mourning following the death of a close family member. I unintentionally said something that was rather insensitive to another in his family. It was a stupid thing to say, and I wished I could take it back almost immediately. It was the end of the friendship. I was disappointed. I thought of how the boys in Jersey might have reacted. They probably would have called me a dumb moron (okay, it would have been much worse, but I avoid those words in the blog). The point is, they would have expressed their anger at me, deservedly, yet we would have remained friends. "Real friends don't get offended when you insult them. They smile and call you something even more offensive." Writer unknown.
I am fortunate to have friends who are there in times of need - emotional, financial and who simply allow me to vent. Friends who understand that I may falter at times, but will give me a second and third and fourth chance. Ralph Waldo Emerson opined that true friendship was elusive, perhaps unattainable. Emerson: "Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins. We parry and fend the approach of our fellow man by compliments, by gossip, by amusements, by affairs. We cover up our thought from him under a hundred folds."
A rather disconcerting view of friendships. I'm with George Eliot, and treasure those with whom I neither have to weigh thoughts nor measure words. I'm with those who will not write me off when I falter. And I promise to do the same in return. I want friends who will tell me when I am wrong - not just about politics, but about life, about family, about anything. When friends do that for us, instead of abandoning us, they make us better people.
To end on a humorous note, I once asked one of the boys in Jersey what he thought of my blog. They do not all read it. He said he agreed about 70% of the time, disagreed about 20% of the time, and the remaining 10% of the time he thought I was bat-shit crazy. He certainly did not worry about having to measure his words. Exactly the kind of friend I want.
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