tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86746356553801944602024-02-08T03:44:38.425-08:00Cliff's NotesCliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.comBlogger126125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-13173642723018843502017-05-24T10:30:00.001-07:002017-05-24T10:30:40.208-07:00Trump Has Unleashed The Evils That Threaten Democracy<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Democracy is a fragile system of government, depending as it
does on the spirit and education of the citizenry and subject to a number of
diseases that seem to plague democratic systems. These diseases, or as I call
them the evils of democracy, can when left to fester undermine the system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The first of these is fascism, originally denoted corporate
statism. The state is everything it
rules everything and everything is owed to it. Children are taught what the
state wants them to learn and taught a reverence and obedience to the state
that borders on religious fanaticism. That reverence is often transferred to
the state’s Leader. Lip service is paid
to elections the way large corporations have show-off shareholders
meetings. Fascism depends on conformity
to the rules of the state and obedience to the masters of that state. When the fascist leaders are the rich it's
called an oligarchy or plutocracy. When
anyone questions the decision of the state they are judged either as enemies of
the nation or mentally disturbed individuals. The state has rights the people
do not and the people’s privileges are limited to life in an orderly regimented
society. Societal stress on conformity and uniformity in thought and dress and
action makes the body politic more suspect to fascism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Another evil of democracy is cronyism. Public officials, who take care of
themselves, financially, and their relatives and close personal friends. Elected officials who care only about the
problems of certain constituents (based on party affiliation, geography or
ethnicity). Usually cronyism is
motivated by greed. The politics of ME
takes precedence over the politics of party or of ideology. In our history we
have seen this evil rise to national proportions in the 1870's, in the age of
the Robber Barons (the 1990's) and the scandals of Teapot Dome (1920's). Today
it is all around us and sunlight does expose it often enough. The Trump administration, his appointees, his
family and his retainers openly personify it. The belief by too many that the group they
belong to: i.e. social class, economic
tier, alumni association or fraternity/sorority, is somehow superior to others
though called elitism is but a mutation of cronyism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The third great evil of democracy is racism. Unthinking and irrational attitudes toward
usually minority populations e.g. religious, racial, gender, national origin. The ills of society are blamed on the
minority population and the majority is made to perceive a loss of power and
societal control. Restrictions on the
rights of everyone are sold to the majority as a way to control the
minority. I lived through the 1960's
when the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. led the civil rights movement to obtain
equality for African Americans. In the
1970's women and Latinos won similar access to civil rights. And finally this century LGBT folks won the
benefits of full citizenship. In 2008
with the election of President Barrack Obama many thought we had entered a post
racial state. But unfortunately the
attitude toward “that man in the White House” (a sobriquet they gave to FDR)
became that black man in the White House and racism in all its manifestations
raised its ugly head again. Now the bigoted
rail against Muslims and Mexicans. And, anti-Semitism,
which Americans thought they had beaten back by the 1950's, has again surfaced.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The great Governor of New York, Al Smith, once said the only
cure for the ills of democracy was more democracy. He may have been right and certainly I have
advocated “more democracy” i.e. direct elections, same day registration, public
ballot initiative, etc. But the evil
diseases of cronyism, fascism and racism are like cancers that may lie dormant
but when they break out and spread they can devour the entire body
politic. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The answer is not to sit by and accept the evil and adapt to
it. As St. Paul said, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil
with good.” </span></div>
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. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Political activists and candidates should fight the spread
of these diseases at every level of government.
And the citizenry should insist that its public officials and the news
media stop focusing on the peccadilloes of the Trump family and the sexual
escapades of politicians and start dealing with the real issue before us in the
twenty-first century: can we save and cure Democracy of the evils of Racism,
Fascism, and Cronyism. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">24 May 2017<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-42830790944745052902017-03-18T14:46:00.003-07:002017-03-18T14:46:26.564-07:00DONALD TRUMP IS NO ANDREW JACKSON<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I an
effort to normalize people's attitudes toward President Donald Trump there has
been an effort by his apologists and some sincere writers to favorably compare
him to Andrew Jackson. Though Jackson is today a controversial President he was
tremendously popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries.The Trumpeters seem
to be unable to compare their leader with any other President of like
popularity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Obviously
I did not know Andrew Jackson nor was he a friend of mine. I have read all written about him by
Schlesinger, Remini and Meacham and other s and I think it takes a
misunderstanding of the history of our nation in the first half of the 19th
century and a misjudgment of Andrew Jackson to equate him with Donald
Trump. Last summer I coauthored an essay
comparing Trump’s campaign and rise to power with that of Jackson and most
particularly stressed the unsuccessful ways in which Jackson’s opponents sought
to defeat him that were being copied by Trump’s opponents (which later proved
likewise unsuccessful}.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Andrew
Jackson was a self-educated, and self-raised man who was well read and though
he often shot from the hip he could shoot.
During the Revolutionary War, when only a youngster, Jackson was ordered
by a British cavalryman to shine his boots.
He refused and was struck by that Britisher with his sword. One wonders
what a young Donald Trump would have done had an enemy soldier told him to
shine his boots - probably trade him a pair of his new ones.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Andrew
Jackson was a lawyer who believed that the function of the law in America was
to protect people. He held no truck with
autocracy or plutocracy. Though married
twice it was to the same woman. When he
became aware that her divorce from her first husband had not been finalized he,
admitting his earlier mistake, remarried her.
For that he was pilloried and she was defamed and he spent his entire
career and public life defending her. He
didn’t throw his wife, or for that matter any of his friends, under the bus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Andrew
Jackson was a soldier (a General) he was a Congressman, a Senator and a
Governor. He also owned his own business
(a plantation in Nashville, Tennessee).
Born of Irish immigrants on the North/South Carolina border he grew up
and lived on the frontier not in one of the eastern cities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">He was
in many ways the first Populist President.
He believed in leveling the playing field so that new “men on the make”:
farmers, merchants, and mechanics could compete with the moneyed planters and
business owners and bankers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">He
lost the Presidency in 1824 because he failed to get a majority of the
electoral vote (though winning the popular vote) and won a strong popular vote
victory in 1828 and 1832. He was an early advocate for popular election of
electors and for universal white male suffrage (at that time the vote was often
limited to white men with property). He
was the first President to call for the abolition of the Electoral College and
direct popular election of the President (he would not be impressed by Donald
Trump’s so called “win” of the Presidency}.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Andrew
Jackson was fiercely patriotic. As a
General and later Governor of Florida he stood up strongly to the greatest
power on the planet Great Britain. His
belief in the sanctity of the American Union was almost akin to a religious
conviction. When the federal government’s power was challenged he responded
with the fully believable threat that he would hang the putative rebels even
though they were from South Carolina a state he carried. He would undoubtedly have not only fired Gen.
Flynn he would most likely have shot him for Treason. And I will not even
venture a guess how he might have reacted to Trump’s flirtation with Vladimir
Putin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">And,
though no proponent of big government or bureaucracy he was fiercely protective
of the powers of the federal government to protect the rights of the citizens
of the United States. I believe he would
have abhorred the Bannon inspired Trump effort to dismantle the federal
government so that its ability to enforce federal laws is crippled. Jackson may have believed that as President
he should decide which laws should be enforced but “by the eternal” he would
enforce them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Andrew
Jackson as President banished the Cherokee and Creek Indians from Georgia, NC
and Alabama to west of the Mississippi.
That stain on America’s image has become known as the Trail of
Tears. It was controversial at the time.
New Englanders, having exterminated their Native Americans in the 1600's wanted
to live with the Indians in the south east.
The southeastern whites wanted to kill off their Indian neighbors. Jackson settled for the removal policy - by today's
standards he was wrong. I can only say
that unlike Trump he was not relegating some people (e.g. Muslims and Mexicans)
to the horrors of their own country and closing off the United States to
political and economic refugees.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Andrew
Jackson did not like the strangle hold that banks had on the growing American
economy. He particularly hated the Bank
of America, which was a monopoly chartered by Congress and which held America’s
funds as its deposits and in effect controlled the value of our currency and
the ability to get credit. Jackson vowed
to destroy the Bank and he did so. He vetoed their charter renewal and moved
all the federal funds into state banks. Today's economists will most likely
argue he was wrong and his actions led to a recession in 1837. But in the 1930's as America faced the
sorrows of the Great Depression brought on in part by mindless speculation
Jackson and his populist attack against big money and the wealthy plutocrats of
the eastern cities brought a new popularity to the President of a hundred years
before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Andrew
Jackson owned slaves who worked his plantation.
For that there was then and there is now no moral justification. And if the Trump apologists want to excuse
his misogynistic behavior and his low treatment of women by recalling Jackson’s
slaveholding so be it. It makes them both morally flawed individuals but one of
the two is living now in the 21st century and there is no excuse that the
culture allows it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">There
is so much more that Andrew Jackson as President accomplished. He instituted
national political conventions to replace Congressmen nominating Presidential
and Vice Presidential candidates. He
fired cabinet members when they wouldn’t follow the administration policy and
defended those whom his critics excoriated. After he served two terms and
rejected any third attempt he retired to his plantation outside Nashville and
for ten years remained a force in American political life. He was responsible for the election of two
Presidents: Van Buren and Polk; and, undoubtedly a major player in the decade's
long effort to join Texas to the American union. He is considered the founder
of the still existent Democratic Party and his campaign of 1828 considered the
first modern voter oriented national campaign.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In
conclusion may I borrow from a bon mot that made the rounds among intellectuals
and political wags in France in the 1960's about their then President and offer
this --- I do not think that Donald J Trump thinks he is the reincarnation of
Andrew Jackson. But, as he sits at his
desk in the oval office, with the picture of President Jackson looking down at
him from the left, I do believe that President Trump may just for a moment think
that Andrew Jackson may have thought he was Donald Trump. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">18
March 2016<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-16238870420557122732017-01-26T09:06:00.001-08:002017-01-26T09:06:24.961-08:00TRUMP CONCOCTS PROBLEM SO HE CAN “FIX” IT. <div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Donald Trump has used the office of
President to now give credence to a long held alt-right conspiracy theory that
millions of undocumented alien residents of the country vote in our elections.
There is not one scintilla of evidence that this is the case. In fact every
reputable study and bipartisan reviews have found our elections among the
cleanest in the democratic world and no longer plagued with the frauds often
perpetrated by various party machines prior to the 1960's.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I believe that the people around Trump
will use his need to believe in these illegal votes to explain to himself how
he was out polled by a woman on Nov. 8, 2016, to seek voter repression
legislation at the federal level to keep minorities, young people and poorer
people from exercising the franchise.
These efforts which the courts have rejected in some states but which
were successful in North Carolina and Wisconsin in helping Trump will be his
“fix” for the problem that doesn’t exist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are imperfections in our
democratic processes. As the great
Democrat Al Smith said “the cure for the ills of democracy is more democracy”.
Rather than suppress the vote the federal government should be concentrating on
protecting the right to vote and making it easier for all to participate in the
electoral system. Those who oppose the
Trumpian vision of a controlled democracy should rally around real democratic
reforms and not allow the myth of election fraud to dominate the conversation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1.
We should demand the direct election of the president of the US. Abolish
the antiquated Electoral College and join other democracies in directly
electing the one official who represents the entire nation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2.
We should adopt some of the ideas that are working well in the states:
Same day registration (with id evidence required of course); voting by mail;
early voting; unquestioned right to an absentee ballot; sufficient polling
places to eliminate lines and hour waiting time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3. We should end the two party
structural monopoly of our election system by adopting open primary voting, or
the California multiple candidate primaries with top two runoffs, and universal
ballot access for candidates without requiring fees or signatures. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4. If we truly want to increase the
electorate than give the voters a reason to participate. End the partisan gerrymandering that make
most of our congressional and state legislative districts one party bastions
and replicas of the 19th century English rotten boros. Set term limits for
Senators and Representatives so that new faces can flourish. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">5. And, if we want to really
democratize our democracy than enact public financing of campaigns - end
unlimited corporate donating and allow the average working man or woman to
compete in political contests.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The only threat I could see to
democracy last Nov. 8th was the result, with the election of an authoritarian
minded pseudo populist who is spearheading right wing fanatics in the greatest
threat to our democracy since the abomination of slavery tore this nation
apart. America ended slavery and unified as a better nation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What will happen if the Congress says
No to some of Trumps ideas? Does the capital get burned down and the President
blame illegal aliens or Muslims? Wake Up
America - It CAN Happen Here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">26 January 2016. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-22148617491217125062017-01-01T09:38:00.002-08:002017-01-01T09:38:31.826-08:00 Trump values or American values a fork in our road.<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I was born seventy years ago in
1946. It was the first year of peace
since 1938, and it became the start of a post WWII world order that lasted
until 1990 when the United States of America became the world’s one great
superpower. Now many posit that 2016 will be the beginning of a new world
order, somewhat similar to the post WWI order of competing and often hostile
powers, with the United States merely a player neither a leader nor a symbol. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the days of my youth we in America
saw our country as the symbol of democracy. We were engaged in a cold war with
an evil empire that was godless and was patently totalitarian. As that time
period unfolded we saw the expansion of human rights across our nation and the
world: civil rights for African-Americans one hundred years after emancipation;
women to be treated equally with men fifty years after obtaining the right to
vote; and, a growing tolerance and acceptance of differing lifestyles to the
point that marriage equality and many other equal rights were guaranteed to
those in the LGBT<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="BM_1_"></a>Q community. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the world we saw the end of
apartheid in South Africa; the final eradication of fascism in Spain and
Portugal; the end of European colonial rule of third world peoples and the
restoration of democracy and true nationhood to the peoples of Eastern Europe
and the Russian dominated states of the USSR.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The galloping pace of technological
change has reached levels that were considered science fiction in 1946 and many
not even thought of in 1986. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But, in those seventy years something
seems to have been lost. I’m not sure how to sum it up but I can describe some
of what we’ve lost. As Americans we’ve lost our self-assurance that things were
always going to get better. That education would enable one to earn a really
good living and provide for a family. That America was a middle class nation
with only a few very rich and with a sincere attempt beginning in the 1960's to
end poverty. We seem to have forgotten that the World Wars taught us the lesson
that all nations must work together to solve the world's problems and that
multilateral organizations, e.g. the United Nations, and coalitions, e.g. the
Gulf War; and world agreements, e.g. Climate Change, were the preferred norm. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We lost sight of the fact that our
nation’s neutrality in religious conflicts was because we promoted toleration
of all beliefs something which most profess. Our leaders presented us with
great challenges: John F Kennedy admonishing us not to ask what the country can
do for us but what we can do for the country; Martin Luther King calling on all
of us to judge people by the content of their character not the color of their
skin; and, Lyndon B Johnson proclaiming to Congress that “We shall
overcome”. These words seem hollow today
as we wallow in nostalgia for a time that never was or younger generations
react to such sentiments with cynical derision. We respond to slogans like
making America Great Again as if it no longer is. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At the close of WWI America rejected
the changing world and the mantle of world leadership and “returned to
normalcy”. For twelve years the country was run by businessmen, millionaires
and their political puppets. It took a great depression to awaken Americans to
the need for social programs that would build a middle class that could be
strong on its own; and the most horrific War to make us realize that we would
only be safe and secure when all people are safe and secure. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2017 will open with the inauguration of
a new American President - Donald Trump.
Will he be the worst leader this nation has had since Warren
Harding? Will Trumpism unleash the
forces of intolerance and fascism that we rejected in the 1930's and
1940's? Will we simply replace him in
four or eight years with a modified version of this new type of leader? Will we exit from the World and retreat into
a fortress American? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I do not know. But I do know that the
answers to those questions will not be decided by Trump -- they will be decided
by the American people. We can continue the way we are going -- two America’s
one happily ruled by a billionaire oligarchy and the other continuing the age
old struggle for human dignity for all. We can continue to be a culture that is
symbolized by concern for ME and a denial of realities as we build a Wonderland
world of myths to replace one based on the reality of truth and facts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We should return to the basic values
upon which our nationhood was built -- values common to all the major religious
and philosophical movements of the past two thousand years -- to treat our
fellow human beings as we want to be treated with respect and kindness, to
tolerate the lifestyles of others, to respect the beliefs of others, and to
stand firm against those who would trample over those values and the rights of
human beings to live in dignity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When the Puritans came to settle New
England they wanted to plant a City on a Hill - a New Jerusalem. After the Revolution of 1776 and Constitution
of 1787 Americans saw themselves as “the last best hope of mankind”. This was not just chauvinistic braggadocio
because most to f the world also saw it that way. The revolutions in Latin America and in
Europe and later in Africa and Asia would almost always copy the American in
their declarations, their constitutions and their symbols. We didn’t always do the right thing at first
but when we did the wrong thing we tried to atone for the mistakes. And after wars that were justified we reach
out the hand of friendship to former enemies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m proud of my country and I’m proud
of the positive aspects of our history these past two hundred and forty
years. In 2086 children born this past
year will turn seventy. I hope that they
will be proud of America’s performance as a nation this twenty-first
century. I pray that they will see 2017
as the beginning of the end of Trumpism and its’ recipe of intolerance and
hatred fueled by lies and distortions and hiding behind a wall of isolation. If my generation and that of my children
reject the ME culture and remember what America accomplished when the operative
word was WE then I do not doubt that WE will defeat Trumpism as WE have the
other negative ism’s of the twentieth century.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">31 December 2016 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-81600519698643771902016-12-03T10:56:00.003-08:002016-12-03T10:56:47.639-08:00Don't Bury the Democratic Party -- Trump Hasn't Killed It.<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">To
paraphrase from a song popular after the Great War “Sixty-Five million
Americans can’t be wrong.” That’s how
many United States voters cast their ballot for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic
Party candidate for President on November 8, 2016. She won the vote but not the election. And since then the pundits and consultants
and those with their own political agenda have waxed eloquent in their attempts
to determine what is wrong with the Democratic Party. As Lawrence O’Donnell pointed out only in
America would those who won two and one half million more votes than their
opponent ask what they are doing wrong?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Let’s
reduce this election to the simple fact t that just as in 1888 the Electoral
College system resulted in the election of the candidate who received fewer
votes from the people for President.
Donald Trump thus joins that illustrious list of President's chosen not
by the people but by the system devised in 1787: Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin
Harrison and George W. Bush (although most historians would agree that the
first and last of those were actually chosen by actions outside the electoral
college.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
message of the Democratic Party, the most progressive platform in a century was
not rejected by the American people -- it was in fact endorsed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
messenger of the Democratic Party, with all her misperceived warts, was not
rejected by the American people - but by a system devised when it seemed
difficult to imagine a national electorate. And so the Republican Party already
in control of the House of Representatives due to congressional and state
legislative gerrymandering of districts, and the Senate due to the
malapportionment of that body now controls the national governing institutions.
The Democratic Party remains with only one indicia of influence -- the support
of the majority of the American people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Will
2016 be 1828 or 1932 and usher in decades of party dominance of the American
political scene. Or will it be 1928,
1964, 1972 lopsided victories were followed by the opposition returning to
power in the next election?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">As a
Democratic Party activist I recognize that there are things my party needs to
do. Things they should have done had
they won but most likely in that case wouldn’t have. The party needs to return to its historic
roots. It has spent the past fifty years fighting, successfully, to extend
civil rights to those so long denied - African Americas, women, the LGBTQ
community, the disabled, native Americans, and Latinos. <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="BM_1_"></a>But
while doing that it appeared to forget the needs of those who made it possible
for the Democrats to accomplish this historic inclusion of all in the American
way of life - the white working class, the Euro-American ethnic groups, the
Catholic sons and daughters of immigrants and the evangelical Christians of
rural America. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
traditional Democratic principle of economic justice for all and opposition to
the uber-rich combined with the struggle for social equality would have kept
that coalition intact and in fact could have expanded it. But in the 1990's led
by the Clinton inspired democratic leadership council the party moved its
economic positions to the center and embraced globalization trade agreements
that lifted other societies up and a detente and bonding with the magnates of
wall street. This new relationship led int he last year of the Clinton
administration to the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act a New Deal measure that
even Reagan and Gingrich couldn’t repeal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">And,
when the bubble burst, the American people responded to the crash of 2008 with
the election of Barack Obama whom they expected to be another FDR. Instead they
found themselves with a 90's Democrat - liberal on social issues and centrist
on dealings with the powers of Wall Street: sort of a combination of Jimmy
Carter and Grover Cleveland. His signature accomplishment domestically was the
Affordable Care Act which brought health insurance to many millions who had not
had it but never resonated as a benefit for all those who already had.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Winning
the next national election and remaining relevant to American democracy
requires that the world’s oldest political party take some actions:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">1)
Adopt fifty state strategies asking why we lost where we did and what we have
to do to win there. No one size fits all manual that instructs political
neophytes how to run a campaign but tried and true tactics that meet the
conditions in each state (and within the state, e.g. Pennsylvania, 67 county
strategies not a failed 15 county strategy).
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">2).Advocate
for and fight for the progressive platform of 2016 recognizing the party’s
historic commitment to economic justice for all as embodied in the platform of
1896 and FDR’s four freedoms and second bill of rights. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">3)
Replace my generation of baby boomers from leadership positions at every level
and replace them with fighters in their fifties and forties and open the doors
of the party to those under forty to be full participants not merely sometime
votes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">4)Using
every means possible struggle to expand the franchise with early voting and
same day registration; fight to change the anti-people aspects of the American
political structure - the electoral college and district gerrymandering.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">5)
Expose the outside forces such as the FBI and the dictator of Russia who
interfered in the election and to some extent determined its outcome. And
remind Americans again and again that It Shouldn’t Happen Here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Finally
Democrats should remember the injunction of Andrew Jackson that “One man with
courage makes a majority” and realize that sixty-five million Americans with
courage can make a nation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">3
December 2016. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-63420733539749476062016-10-06T14:32:00.003-07:002016-10-06T14:32:32.178-07:00IT IS TIME TO LABEL TRUMPISM WHAT IT IS - EVIL.<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It has
been said that Evil succeeds when good men and women do nothing to prevent
it. The Presidential election of 2016
could well become an example on point.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I am
not one of those who contends that Trump is another Hitler (although he does a
good imitation of Mussolini) nor do I believe that all Trump supporters are
closet Nazis. I do believe that those in
our country who admire the Ku Klux Klan, who consider themselves alt-right
nationalists; are white supremacists, anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic and
anti-Muslim as well as xenophobic are supporters of Trump. Make no mistake
about it Trumpism is home grown American Fascism wrapping itself in the banner
of patriotic populism. Trump’s candidacy has appealed to the evil elements of
people’s natures not as Lincoln called for the Better Angels. Trump’s candidacy
has unleashed those elements and let that genie out of the bottle -even his
defeat may not be able to put the genie back in . But, Trump's victory would
legitimatize those hate groups as acceptable to the American President.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">There
are those in America who have not learned the lessons of the past nor even
perhaps are aware of them. They do not
understand why hundreds of thousands died in a Civil War to abolish slavery
when one candidate tells them that African-Americans have never had it so bad.
They do not understand why the “greatest generation” sacrificed so much to save
the world from Nazism, Fascism and Militarism.
And quite frankly many do not even realize the evilness of the Stalin
Soviet Empire that fell with the Berlin Wall nor how close we came to nuclear
war in 1962.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">If
Trump wins and the forces of evil are unleashed with the imprimatur of
respectability lent them by a President there will come a time decades from now
when the grandchildren of today's voters will ask “What did you do to stop
Trumpism” If Trump wins it will be because so many will answer that question
with “When ballots could stop him I didn’t vote or didn’t see a difference between
him and his major opponent. And when
only bullets could stop the evil it was those forces that had them.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">One
can only hope that those elderly voters of the greatest generation remember
what happened when evil was unleashed in 1939 and will vote to make sure it
doesn’t happen here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">And I
pray that my own generation, the baby boomers, will remember the idealism and
the sacrifice of the 1960's and vote for the candidate that embodies the best
of us - Hillary Clinton.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">If you
believe that America is a great country that has come a long way toward being
that shining city on a hill that the Puritans envisaged and the last best hope
of mankind that Lincoln labeled it you are on the other side of the Trump evil
forces who believe that the America of the past fifty years has been in decline
and they must make America Great -White - Straight- Christian Again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Will
it happen here? Will America succumb to the politics of hate and fear?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Our
country rejected that path in the 1930's and then preserved some 60 years of
relative world peace and the spread of democratic values. American leaders have
become icons and symbols throughout the world: George Washington, Thomas
Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and John Fitzgerald
Kennedy. And we have elected some
Presidents who have become the synonym for corruption Warren Harding and
Richard Nixon. To which model of leader will American voters look to this
November? To those who were bold enough
to envision a better future or those who were afraid of the progress of the
past. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">6 Oct.
2016<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-10925110570281680252016-08-09T08:25:00.004-07:002016-08-09T08:25:44.003-07:00Can Trump's Opponents Stop Him? -- Andrew Jackson's Couldn't ! <div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "Agency FB","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I
prepared a version of this blog entry two months ago with the assistance of,
and in collaboration with, a long time friend, Dr. John Tantillo, "the
Marketing Doctor", who is an expert on branding and offered significant
marketing and branding insights on my basically political history take; John is
the author of the book, "People Buy Brands, Not Companies". </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "Agency FB","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Political pundits and
some historians always try to match current presidential candidates with past political
figures. The matches are never exact, but knowledge of history can help prepare
us for what might be. 2016 presents what the media presents as a Trump
phenomena—a nationwide celebrity defeating the establishment of a major
political party and securing the nomination of that party for president. Trump faces
a former secretary of state (and US senator and first lady) in a general
election that has become nasty and divisive and possibly close.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Almost 200 years ago, as
the “the Era of Good Feeling” drew to a close, the political establishment
proceeded to choose a new president. The secretary of state, John Quincy Adams,
by birth (his father was the Revolutionary icon and second president, John
Adams) and tradition, was the obvious choice. The Congressional Caucus,
which in those days nominated the candidates, met and endorsed Secretary of
Treasury William Crawford. Speaker of the House Henry Clay saw an opportunity
with multiple candidates if the Electoral College failed to produce a majority
and the House had to choose from amongst the top-three candidates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">There came forth an
outsider, a Westerner, and a national celebrity. Andrew Jackson was known
popularly for his victory at the Battle of New Orleans and by many as the victor
of the War of 1812. Jackson was also known for his battles against Native
Americans (the Indians) in Alabama and then the occupation of Florida; Andrew
Jackson was in his day a national celebrity perhaps better known across the
country than any other public figure since Washington and Franklin. He became
the candidate supported by those on the outside—poor farmers, workingmen, and
mechanics of the cities, politicos from the new states, and the entrepreneurs
fueling the growing economy known as the “men on the make.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">For the first time in
presidential elections, most states allowed the people to vote to choose the
electors from that state; and, Andrew Jackson amassed the most popular votes
followed by Adams. In the Electoral College, Crawford (the candidate of the
NY/VA Democratic–Republican establishment) edged out Clay for third place,
which threw the election into the House with the Speaker not in contention.
Jackson and his supporters claimed the moral right to win due to receipt of the
most popular votes and the most electoral votes. Adams supporters cited the
lack of anyone receiving a majority and the rules in the Constitution
specifying what should then happen. Adams was elected by the House with Clay’s
support, and, when the latter was made Secretary of State, Jackson called it a
corrupt bargain and began a four-year campaign to win the presidency.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Jackson was considered
by his opponents as brash, uncultured by Eastern Seaboard standards, a racist,
a philanderer and bigamist, a murderer, and a hot-tempered man ill-suited to be
the nation’s chief executive. Sound familiar? (And we think today’s political
rhetoric is rough!) He had little if any support from the nation’s political
establishment. In fact, his predecessors (Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe),
though publicly supporting Crawford in 1824, in private correspondence
expressed sympathy for the aspirations of John Quincy Adams.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Jackson’s opponents, the
political elite and the money establishment of New York and Philadelphia, used
arguments against him, which in fact may have gained him votes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Jackson was not yet
president, so he had no record to stand on; furthermore, it was only during his
second term that his most controversial actions took place. The opposition to
Jackson used what they considered his personality flaws to try to defeat him.
They ridiculed his poor spelling (he evidently spelled Congress with a K). But
this was at a time when even the most literate Americans spelled phonetically.
Because he had married his wife Rachel assuming her husband had gotten a
divorce, when in fact he had only applied for one, Jackson was accused of
bigamy -- at a time when, outside
Eastern cities, record-keeping, to say the least, was sporadic. He was accused
of murder, having slain a man in a duel who had slandered Jackson’s wife; this
attack at a time when men thought it their duty to protect the honor of their
wives. And in a “swift boat-style attack,” Jacksons’ opponents issued the
“coffin circular,” which pictured six coffins representing soldiers he had
executed for disobedience and desertion. But the men who belonged to militias
and had heard the stories of their fathers from the Revolutionary War accepted
the concept that you had to execute those in your ranks whose actions
endangered all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Though Jackson as
president was a divisive character, he was loved by the people enough to win
three popular votes for president and elect his successor; his name has been
used to denote the era in American history before the Civil War: the Age of
Jackson. Hatred by his opponents caused the coalescing of the opposition groups
into the Whig Party. He was a fierce nationalist and a believer in a strong
presidency. His policies divided the three branches of the federal government,
but in most cases the position of the executive prevailed. Among the
nineteenth-century presidents, only Lincoln surpassed him in national homage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Is Donald Trump the
twenty-first-century incarnation of Andrew Jackson? Certainly there are
similarities in temper and his possible rise to the highest office. Jackson, like Trump, could be civil and polite
in society. He also could be stubborn and even sometimes cruel. Once he
determined on a course of action, nothing stopped him. When he declared war on
a political enemy, it was total. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">While there are similarities
between the two candidates there are even more in the reaction to the
candidates. Jackson’s opponents
attempted to turn his strengths into weaknesses and may, in fact, have merely
enhanced the repute of his strengths. In 2016, Trump’s opponents might do well
to study the failure of Jackson’s opposition and develop a better strategy to
stop him. They should recall Santayana’s dictum: “those who cannot
remember history are doomed to repeat it.”
Jackson ultimately won the presidency in a wave of popular
dissatisfaction against the establishment, the effete elite, and the big money
interests who allegedly owned Washington DC politicians. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The intent herein is
neither to denigrate Andrew Jackson nor to elevate Donald Trump. America has
been graced with much good luck throughout its history. Jackson, who followed
some disastrous economic policies and a horrific Indian removal policy,
nevertheless ushered America safely into a new era and created a popular
attachment to the union that bolstered Lincoln as he won the Civil War. Should Donald Trump be elected president, let
us hope that America’s luck has not run out!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Andrew Jackson was an
American original. Donald Trump is likewise -- whether one likes him or not.
The inside-the-beltway bureaucracy, along with the historical elite, have
decided to remove Andrew Jackson from the $20 bill. It would be ironic if the
people now send a 21st century version of Jackson to the White House.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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9 Aug 2016</div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-89916829056660020912016-07-24T07:57:00.002-07:002016-07-24T07:57:10.643-07:00Liberal - Progressive -- A Rose By Any Other Name...<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
labels Liberal and Progressive are thrown around in Democratic Party politics
without any reference to either historic meaning or consistent current
definition. We have reached a point in
our politics today where anyone can label them self what they like, their
opponents can label them what they want and people just accept those labels --
giving those labels their own understood meanings. Thus the labels become meaningless.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In
1896 a relatively conservative Democratic party controlled by the money
interests of the northeastern states and the ex-confederate Bourbons of the
South was subjected to a popular revolt and transformed into a populist party.
That original Populist agenda included many items of economic justice (anti-big
banks, anti-monopolies), political justice (direct election of Senators,
referendum, recall) and global justice (anti-imperialism and anti-war). After the turn of the 20th century Populism,
whose roots were rural and western, merged with urban Progressivism and became
the Progressive movement. Progressives added social justice (labor conditions,
health care, and slum eradication) to economic and political justice and on the
global scene became advocates for an American style world justice and
organization. The Progressive movement
was personified by Theodore Roosevelt and institutionalized by Woodrow Wilson.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">After
World War I, as Progressives embraced woman suffrage, extreme elements pushed
successfully for prohibition and many nativist elements opposed Wilsonian world
leadership. These divisions, which often reflected urban rural differences, lasted throughout the
1920's. And, then came Franklin Delano
Roosevelt and the New Deal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">FDR, a
firm Wilson Progressive and cousin to Teddy Roosevelt, considered himself a
LIBERAL. Read his speeches and you will
be hard pressed to find one that doesn’t use the world Liberal in it. He
advocated economic, social, political, and global justice. He preached Four
Freedoms “everywhere in the world” and an Economic Bill of Rights. His twelve years in office made the
Democratic Party a Liberal Party. Truman, Stevenson, Kennedy, Johnson and
Humphrey were all proud to call themselves Liberals. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
Vietnam War divided Liberals on global issues and the degree to which the US
should be willing to engage in war to defeat communists and so called fellow
travelers. After the 1968 convention the
anti-war Democrats took control of the party apparatus and the 1972 convention
and nominated George McGovern on a Liberal platform strongly anti-war. His crushing defeat by Nixon caused a
reaction among Democrats that can only be described as cowardly as most
Democrats began to deny the word Liberal and instead use the word Progressive
which they felt would denote liberal views on social and economic issues and
not carry the “stain” of McGovernism. In
contrast when LBJ decimated the Goldwater Republicans in 1964 they responded by
hunkering down and pushing conservatives from the school board to the court
house and building the base for the Reagan revolution sixteen years later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">And so
for twenty years the Democrats, having rid themselves of the segregationists
and having taken a clear pro-choice position on abortion, see sawed between
centrists Progressives like Carter and Liberals like Mondale and Dukakis. Finally in 1992 the centrist Democrats led by
Bill Clinton took control of the party and Liberal became an unused label.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It was
not until 2014, when Senators like Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Sherrod
Brown began to crusade for economic justice again - and people went into the
streets to demand that government reign in Wall Street, raise the minimum wage,
and rescue the middle class from extinction, that the word PROGRESSIVE began
again to have its historic meaning of economic justice and opposition to the
power and greed of the wealthy and the corporate interests. And people also began to again use the word
LIBERAL with pride as contra CONSERVATIVE. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
two labels tend to denote the same views on social issues and support for the
economic programs of the New Deal and the Great Society. I would argue that Progressive today includes
liberal values with a heightened concern about the oligarchic power of big
business and the influence of the military industrial complex on our
international relations. But, I would
also say that it is difficult today to give precise meaning to the two labels:
Liberal and Progressive. While both support equal rights for all only some in
each oppose the death penalty. Today both labels now denote opposition to
corporate power and Supreme Court decisions like Citizens United; but,
Progressives place more value on minimum wage and single payer health care than
many Liberals. And, most unfortunately,
many Liberals today are not advocating political reform - they are satisfied
with the reforms that were enacted post 1972 and the party structures they
control and so resist changes such as open primaries, abolition of automatic
delegates, ending caucus systems. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">But,
now (2016) in the mind of the public the labels Liberal and Progressive have
become somewhat synonymous. Many people see them as the same-- which they are
not. And, many party activists argue
over the Progressive bonafides of candidates.
If the key litmus test is economic justice and attitudes toward Wall
Street and corporate political power than we should begin using the terms
Progressive Liberal and Traditional Liberal. A Progressive Liberal being one
who holds basic liberal values on most issues but is clearly anti-Wall Street
and all that entails. A Traditional
Liberal would be one who holds basic liberal values on most issues but has
become comfortable with the role that corporations and big business play in our
government. (To be clear I would denote Bernie Sanders the former and Hillary
Clinton the latter.) Personally I prefer either type of Liberal to a
conservative, or an extremist tea-partier, or an enabling so-called moderate or
Trumpian.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">24
July 2016<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-8072502963068049022016-07-20T07:52:00.000-07:002016-07-20T07:52:05.902-07:00THE DO'S AND DON'TS OF RUNNING AGAINST TRUMP<div class="WordSection1">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">The
2016 Presidential election contest has become unique by the presence of the "first"
non-political candidate -- Donald Trump.
Not since Wendell Willkie in 1940, some seventy-six years ago, has a
non-political type dared to enter the presidential sweepstakes. Trump</span><span style="font-family: 'WP TypographicSymbols'; font-size: 14pt;">=</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">s primary opponents
and now his general election adversary seem at a loss as to how to campaign
effectively against him. They complain,
they react, they act bemused sometimes outraged and often incredulous. They
simply haven</span><span style="font-family: 'WP TypographicSymbols'; font-size: 14pt;">=</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">t a clue about what
he is doing and what he may be all about.
He has developed a 21st century version of Populism that harkens back to
the 1890's but in many ways is more nostalgic and certainly less progressive
than William Jennings Bryan</span><span style="font-family: 'WP TypographicSymbols'; font-size: 14pt;">=</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">s transformation of
that label.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">As
someone who has spent his entire adult life in politics -- running for office, managing
campaigns at the federal, state, county and municipal levels one gets a feel
for the do's and don’ts of campaigning. True I</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">ve won some and lost others.
I claim no great expertise or predictive abilities, but do believe that I am as
cognizant of the new politics of today and the impact of the technology of our
century as anyone in the political analytic process. Where Lincoln used lists of voters to get out
the vote for Henry Clay, we use computer print outs with information on voters
that in Lincoln</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">s day only the local
minister had. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I
offer this list of Do</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">s and Don</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">ts on ways to
campaign against Donald Trump. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">DON</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">T</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> ridicule Trump or
treat him as some sort of buffoon who doesn</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">t know what he is talking about. He is a well educated man who has an ability
to read an audience and express in terms that audience understands what he,
Trump, is thinking. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">DO</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> take Trump
seriously. His supporters enjoy his approach - his opponents do not. Let him turn off the undecided by himself. He
can do a good job of that. Voters don</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">t like to be told why
not to like someone they like to come to that conclusion themselves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">DON</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">T</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> react to Trump</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">s actions and
comments. If one does so they continue
the story he has begun and let him set the agenda of what is considered
significant by the media. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">DO</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> offer positive
programs and goals and reasons for people to vote for the Democratic candidate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="mso-break-type: section-break; page-break-before: always;" />
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">DON</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">T </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">explain every Democratic
proposal or critique every one of Trump</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">s with extensive description and multiple
points. Trump has found a way to replace
the 30 second commercial and the 10 second sound bite with a 140 character
tweet, and bumper sticker slogans. Trump is speaking in clear affirmative
sentences not paragraphs of verbiage.
His slogans are curt and to the point. And if one tries to take them
apart the listener is lost in the weeds of the explanation. This may well be
the campaign model of the 21st century.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">DO
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">present
ideas in clear sloganesque format e.g. Health Care for All; Debt-Free College
Education for All; Personal Equality for All; Religious Freedom for All; Pre-K
classes for All Children.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">DON</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">T</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> just defend the
status quo. Take a lesson from the Brexit campaign in England the very word
Remain was passive and satisfied while Leave expressed change and action. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">DO
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">expand
on popular programs, e.g. Social Security; build on positive ideas that have
been around. Trump wants to make America Great Again - rejoinder: Let</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">s Make a Great
America Greater.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">DON</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">T </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">treat Trump and his
supporters like ignoramuses, red-necks or the great unwashed. That plays right
into Trumps anti-intellectual anti-professional class approach to winning over
the 50% of Americans who don</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">t vote. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">DO</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> reach out to every
voter -- remembering Thomas Jefferson</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">s injunction </span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">A</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Error of opinion may
be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">@</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Don't</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> let this become a
campaign about the character and personality of the candidates. Neither
candidate is popular in the Obama/Reagan mold. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">And,
<b>don't</b> run a campaign of fear of what
Trump will do to programs and the world as he runs a campaign about fear of
immigrants and terrorists. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">If
this becomes a campaign of fear, I believe the anxiety about personal safety
will trump concern about losing material benefits. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Donald
Trump could become more than a unique phenomenon. If he wins he could well be the precursor of
what political candidates will be like in the future. And, the probability of his victory is increased
if the campaign against him is based on old conventional wisdom and the
political practices of the past. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">19
July 2016<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-19952068114627558832016-07-15T16:37:00.003-07:002016-07-15T16:37:29.347-07:00MIKE PENCE PRESIDENTIAL TIMBER -- SERIOUSLY ?<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So, Donald Trump has chosen his Vice
President: the Governor of Indiana, Michael Pence. A former Congressman who
when he left the House gave twelve years of his papers and notes and emails and
anything else connected with his service in the House of Representatives to the
University of Indiana with condition that it be sealed from access by anyone
until after 2020. So the press and more
importantly the public must now judge the Trump-Pence ticket without Trump’s
tax returns and without Pence’s papers.
Yet, the Republicans continue to misrepresent more and more info from
Clinton’s thousands of personal emails which were released to public scrutiny.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael Pence has been a run of the
mill average pro-life pro-gun pro-business (owned by the Koch brothers)
Governor who was in some evident trouble getting reelected this year. The
Indiana Republicans are said to be happy that he is now running for VP so they
can run a stronger candidate for Governor. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Pence joins a distinguished list of
Indiana pols who have served as Vice President of the United States:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Schuyler
Colfax<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Thomas
Hendricks<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Charles
Fairbanks<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Thomas
Marshall<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Daniel
Quayle<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">These Indiana Veeps personified the old
adage that a man had two sons one went to sea and one became Vice President and
neither was ever heard of again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Pence is a Ted Cruz ultra right wing
Republican whose positions on social issues are far more extreme than Trump’s
and where Trump takes non-establishment positions on immigration and trade
agreements Pence turns moderate and traditional - including support for the
TPP..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Donald Trump the self proclaimed
populist who wants to shake up Washington DC makes the safest choice for Vice
President. Trump chooses someone that
the right wing Tea party establishment is comfortable with, someone who the
donor class is comfortable with and someone who the inside the beltway crowd is
comfortable with. Apparently Trump, as he gets closer to the White House and
hears the strains of Hail to the Chief, gets more comfortable with being the
Republican candidate for President not the Donald. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
15 July 2016 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-48849144709213269802016-07-12T14:00:00.003-07:002016-07-12T14:00:49.653-07:00WHY TRUMP DOESN’T NEED A GROUND GAME AND CLINTON DOES <div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The political pundits and media
commentators have found a new conventional wisdom to share.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">They are decrying the fact that Donald Trump
doesn’t appear to have a solid ground game which they have decided is necessary
for him to win in November. And, Democrats especially in states where the Trump
campaign seems less organized structurally, may be adding this ground game
factor into their already naive “Trump can’t win therefore we can’t lose”
belief.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Since most of these commentators,
especially those just out of college, have little or no campaign experience it
is a wonder that they even know what a ground game is. Before deciding if a candidate needs one we
should ask what exactly constitutes a ground game.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In my experience a ground game, or
field campaign, is the organizing of volunteers and paid staff to do a number
of campaign actions. First and foremost
to canvass door to door spreading information about the candidate and
identifying the candidates supporters. This is particularly important in
contests that do not attract media attention and massive television /radio
advertising that can spread the message. In today's age, when few voters are
interested in reading more than a bumper sticker, literature has lost its value
and certainly when your platform is “Make America Great Again” you don’t need
to distribute a slogan. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is also critical to identify
supporters if one plans a major pull operation on Election Day to get a maximum
turnout. Trump’s apparent plan to win is
to get the angry, the disaffected, the disgruntled, and the disappointed to
come out as never before and protest all that they don’t like by voting for
him. He has no identifiable bloc of voters he can safely blind pull. And, those
secret Trump voters are not going to identify themselves to canvassers or phone
callers. Trump’s GOTV plan will be to bombard people with TV ads to generate
turnout.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Clinton on the other hand, with an
enthusiasm problem, and in a way appealing to those satisfied with the status
quo but who would like to see some changes needs a sophisticated ground
game. She needs to “blind pull” minority
voters: African-Americans, Latinos, and Asian-American’s to get a maximum
turnout from those groups which polls show will vote overwhelmingly for
her. She needs to focus on key states
that fit the demographics of her supporters and because of the Electoral
College system she needs selective state strategies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Trump is basing his campaign on a
national homogeneity. Not one of ideology but one of similarity. He is appealing to the masses that become
fans of a particular television show and cut across the age and gender and race
demographic lines. These are the very TV
shows he has produced and made a name for himself in -- the reality shows. The 21st century version of the silver screen
or the living room tube. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For some time it has been evident that
the Presidential contest gets the greatest voter turnout in our country. If it were not for the Electoral College,
which makes some votes worth more than others and leads to a focus on states
that polls show are very close, there would be no need to pull out voters for
President. A ground game involves covering polling places - inside to prevent
abuses; outside to greet voters and at the doors and on the phones pulling out
voters. I have already explained why you
don’t need to pull voters in a Presidential election unless there is clear
evidence of closeness of the expected vote.
As for poll overage - few of our precinct officials today know how, if
it is possible to alter or affect the results, and our volunteer watchers
usually have little knowledge of how to prevent it if they do. As for poll greeters since the Presidential
race is driving the turnout most voters are interested in sample ballot cards
for down ballot candidates since their Presidential choice is the reason they
are coming out to vote.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Before the electoral debacle of 2000
and Obama’s close wins in North Carolina and Omaha in 2008 the political
punditry had been talking more and more about the homogeneity of the American
electorate especially when it came to voting for President. In fact if we look at our recent Presidents,
more have won by carrying most of the states, e.g. FDR, Eisenhower, LBJ, Nixon,
Ronald Reagan and Clinton in ‘96. In fact what has often been the case was a
tendency for a national consensus to develop behind one candidate. The new use of social media and the
predominance of 24/7 cable news may have made the ground game much less crucial
to victory in a Presidential general election.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">12 July 2016<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-76626951576665945772016-07-05T11:57:00.003-07:002016-07-05T11:57:13.751-07:00ENGLAND HAS LEFT THE E. U. WILL AMERICA LEAVE THE WORLD? <div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">As
decades roll by it often occurs that people seemingly forget the trials and
tribulations of past years. In fact the
often replace those learned memories with a nostalgia for a time before them
which is seen as simpler and peaceful.
Such is apparently happening in the United Kingdom, parts of Europe and
in America. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">For
almost five hundred years the nations of Europe consolidated their borders and
warred with each other forming often different alliances based on religion and
on national ambition. With the
devastation of World War I, and the almost total annihilation of populations in WWII,
many European leaders began advocating some form of European integration. With American support first the Benelux
nations formed a common market and then when DeGaulle and Adenauer reconciled
the two great rival nations France and Germany the European Common Market was
born. In the 1970's with both of those
out of power the Common Market merged with a rival European Free Trade Union
and created the European Union which the United Kingdom (after a popular
referendum) joined. The EU was the culmination of efforts to forge a new Europe
one with continental identity and one that would exist in peace. When soviet
control of Eastern Europe imploded in 1990 those nations sought entrance into
the EU as a sign of their desire to be European.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Almost
forty years have gone by since England voted to join the EU. And it is now over seventy years since the
end of World War II. The causes, the
incentives and the motivations for integration in Europe apparently have been
forgotten as national economies struggle with recession and debt. And, a great migration of
Middle Eastern refugees (Muslim) floods the EU countries which allow easy entry
from one nation to the other. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In the
United Kingdom a coalition of the disaffected and dissatisfied, often inflamed
by the fears of the Muslim migration, voted to "Leave" the European Union. Despite the support for remaining in Europe
which was announced by every major British political party the vote to leave
garnered 52%. There are now increased
fissures within the four nations of the United Kingdom and great uncertainty in
Europe where right wing groups in other nations are urging withdrawal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">As
America watches post war Europe unravel it faces an possible Exit of its own. US
foreign policy since the days of Theodore Roosevelt has been based on urging
the world to unite to solve problems. The United States was the moving force
behind the League of Nations (which we did not join), the World Court (which we
also failed to ratify), and after WWII the United Nations, and a myriad of
specialized agencies: the International Labor Organization, the Universal
Postal Union, the United Nations Children's Fund, the World Trade Organization,
and others. America also led the
formation of regional organizations mostly keyed toward mutual defense and
collective security: the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, The Organization
of American States, the Association of East Asian Nations -- and other regions
soon copied these models, e.g. The Organization of African Unity, the Arab
League, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union the a Commonwealth of Independent
States. America has preached two
political philosophical values across the world -- Democracy and Federalism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In 1940
a non-politician - Wendell Willkie - took the Republican nomination for President
by a popular people’s revolt
against the party establishment. Willkie
among his many remembered arguments was his belief that we now lived in One
World. It was that phrase and his advocacy that moved the Republican Party away
from isolationism and began, what Sen. Vandenberg of Michigan completed, a
bipartisan foreign policy that lasted almost fifty years. It also enabled FDR to bring America into the
role of world leader - the role it had rejected when sought by Woodrow Wilson.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Now a
new non-politician, Republican Donald J Trump, says make America independent
again. Independent of What?
Of Who?. He would leave NAFTA (a three nation trade agreement). He will rely on
the right wing extremists who already
advocate leaving the UN. Trump
says we don’t need NATO. Apparently he
would have America retreat behind oceans and a wall and deal unilaterally with
191 other nations singly and separately.
America is the one economic/military superpower left on the planet. The
entire world looks to our every action.
And despite our own negative views of our country, most people still see
America as the shining city on the hill that the Puritans opined for. What Trump is doing is appealing to nostalgia
for a simpler time. His make America Great Again and his make America
Independent Again are brilliant marketing slogans that appeal to whatever the voter/consumer
considers Great Again or Independent Again to mean.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
world is getting smaller. New generations, using social media, identify themselves as people and citizens of the world.
They don’t accept the artificial
differences of color, ethnicity, and nationality and gender that the wealthy
economic interests have used for centuries to maintain control over the masses
of people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In
1918 the little nations, and the oppressed nationalities, saw the League of
Nations and the Treaty of Versailles as a harbinger of peace and collective
security to come. It was said that when
the United States rejected the League in 1919 “America broke the heart of the
World”. One hundred years later we
cannot let a manufactured and manipulated fear of Muslim migration cause us to
withdraw behind a Fortress America and leave the world - this time we would not
just break its' heart -- we might break the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">5 July
2016<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-71888142008287664562016-06-30T12:57:00.001-07:002016-06-30T12:57:28.671-07:00PENNSYLVANIANS NEED A NEW SENATOR <div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I have
been a personal friend and political supporter of Joseph Sestak since January
2006 when he first visited with me to discuss his running for Congress. I was
impressed that day and have become more impressed over the years with his integrity,
and his commitment to and caring for others.
And so of course I supported him for Congress twice and for the US
Senate twice. I believe he would be our
US Senator today if a few pols in PA hadn’t stood by allowing the ghost
conservative Toomey to win because of personal pique at Sestak’s willingness to
take on their long time friend Specter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">This
year the entire state party establishment (by that I mean the leaders not the
activists and committee persons) decided to stop his so far successful effort
to wage a six year campaign for a Senate seat.
They engineered a candidacy and they appealed to those in DC with access
to party funds to assist at the last minute in sabotaging Joe’s reputation with
scurrilous ads.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
party establishment was successful in winning that primary and we know how much
they care about November from their inactivity six years ago. Incumbent Senator Toomey the conservative
enabler, who ideologically believes the kind of things that Trump speaks about,
is now poised keep his seat. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
political pundits and the media all focus on -- will Bernie’s supporters vote
for Hillary? The question in PA is will
Joe Sestak’s supporters vote for the Democratic candidate for Senator in
November.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">If
those of us who supported Joe allow our personal annoyance, in fact disgust, at
the actions of the self proclaimed political giants, to prevent us from voting
Democratic for US Senate in the general election then we are allowing the
Senate seat to be decided by our personal pique.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I do
not believe the Democratic candidate for Senator was the best of the three
presented in the primary. But to allow
the incumbent Toomey to be re-elected - NO. Let us be clear in our thinking. If Clinton is President and the Senate
remains Republican we face four more years of non-functioning government in
DC. And, if Trump is President and the
Senate is Republican we face a body of enablers who will ratify his appointees
to the Supreme Court and accept his nostalgic desire to return America to the
age of the Roaring Twenties.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Whatever
we may think about the personalities or campaign style of either of the candidates
let no one forget that Toomey opposes 99% of what Democrats in DC and
Harrisburg offer as solutions to our nation's problems. If one is in support of the Democratic
administration and its current efforts than one cannot allow Toomey to in
another term.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">We
cannot allow Mitch McConnell and the Republicans to remain in control of the
Senate. We cannot allow them to block needed gun control reforms, we cannot
allow them to continue to block decent SCOTUS appointees, and we cannot allow
them to ignore immigration and voting rights problems. And the replacement of Toomey with a Democrat
to work with Senator Casey will be a step in the direction of restoring sanity
to the Senate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">We
will not have the opportunity to send Admiral Sestak to the United States
Senate but we can retire the man he campaigned so valiantly against these past
six years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I
wanted to vote one more time for my friend Joe. I wanted to be there with him
the night he won his Senate seat. That will not happen. But I cannot be true to all Joe has fought
for and stood for in the Congress and in his campaigns if I pass on this
contest and allow Toomey to get another term.
The United States Senate is the second office on the November ballot
just after the joint vote for President/Vice President. I would urge all those who supported Joe to
join me in pressing the Democratic button for Senator.</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">30
June 2016<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-25271390205188833522016-06-17T07:42:00.002-07:002016-06-17T07:42:33.438-07:00IT’S OVER -- CONTINUE THE REVOLUTION -- STAND WITH CLINTON<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
Democratic presidential primaries are over. The contest for the nomination is
ended. It is clear by any method of
computation that Hillary Clinton has won the Democratic nomination for President. She has won a majority of the pledged
delegates. As for the so-called super
delegates she has a majority whether you count them by their announced wishes,
or by the states won by the candidates, or by a proportion similar to the votes
in their state. Absent an act of God the
Democratic convention will nominate Hillary Clinton at its conclave in
Philadelphia in July.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">There
remains the adoption of the party platform which has in some instances,
e.g.1896, set the tone and policy of the party for fifty plus years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">There
remains the adoption of party rules which in many instances in the past has had
both intended and unintended consequences in subsequent nomination
contests. And, there remains the
nomination of a Vice Presidential candidate.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Senator
Sanders of Vermont, who has had and continues to have my support, has amassed
some 1900 delegates. He should lead
those delegates to fight for a progressive party platform even if that includes
proposing and voting for minority reports.
He should lead those delegates in demanding reforms in how nominees are
chosen in the future -- no super delegates, no caucuses - open primaries. He should have his name placed in nomination
and a roll call taken. But his
supporters need now to accept that Clinton will be the nominee. I was a delegate for Gary Hart in 1984. We fought for platform changes and rules
changes and we voted for our candidate as did those pledged to Jesse Jackson. We knew before we arrived in San Francisco
that Walter Mondale would be the nominee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It
serves no purpose for Sanders supporters to put off facing the choice they have
in November: Clinton or Trump. It is said that Democrats need to fall in love
with their candidate while Republicans fall in line. Well the Republicans are falling in line
behind Trump and those who believe that the Democratic Party can be the best
vehicle to accomplish social and economic justice for our people must now do
the same for Clinton.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I did
not support Clinton in 2008 or in this year’s primary contests. But there are some important reasons why a
liberal progressive should vote for Hillary Clinton in November.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In the
next four years it is likely that 3 or even 4 seats on the Supreme Court of the
United States will become vacant. Who
fills those seats sets the control of that court for decades to come. If you believe that most of the decisions of
the Court since 1956, e.g. Brown (integrated education), Roe v. Wade (freedom
of reproductive choice), Griswold (right to privacy - contraception), Baker
(one person one vote) should be upheld and one Citizen’s United overturned then
there is only one choice for president -- Hillary Clinton.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> If you believe as I do that world leadership
means leading like-minded nations not bullying them and threatening them then
there is only one choice for president - Hillary Clinton.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">If you
don’t want to see one party, the Republican Party, dominate the federal
government and all its branches for possibly the next fifty years then there is
only one choice for president - Hillary Clinton.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">If you
believe that America is in the right direction by assuring equality to all
regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or life style then there is only one
choice for president - Hillary Clinton.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">If you
believe, as I do, that we must stop the
drift of our country into a society owned lock stock and barrel by a few then
we cannot elect the poster child for that style of greed Donald Trump.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Do not
assume that I have no differences with Clinton. I do and I have. She is too
beholden to Wall Street for me, she is far from a reformer when it comes to
political party processes and structure, and she has failed to articulate a
vision that our young people can rally behind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">But,
neither Franklin Delano Roosevelt nor Ronald Reagan is running in 2016. We have a choice between Hillary Clinton and
Donald Trump.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I will
make that choice not as a Democrat but as an American and a grandfather.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">As an
American I will vote for the continued progress of the country that my father’s
ancestors fought for and built ever since they came to these shores in 1607;
and the country that opened its’ doors to my mother and her family in the
1920's when they fled the depression in Europe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">As a
grandfather I will vote for a future for my country that my grandchildren can
thrive in. I want them to be in the middle class I grew up in not a new peasant
class that the wealthy would create. In November this liberal progressive is
voting for his grandchildren: Elizabeth, Sarah and Joseph <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I have
voted for every Democratic nominee since Hubert Humphrey in 1968. I apologize for none of those votes. I preferred Mo Udall, Ted Kennedy, Gary Hart
and Bernie Sanders over the eventual nominees; I make no apology for those
endorsements. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">To be
true to the things I believe in and the values I espouse; to continue the fight
to make a Great America a Great Society I will vote for Hillary Clinton for
President of the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">17
June 2016 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-8193162751381215972016-04-22T07:34:00.003-07:002016-04-22T07:34:54.738-07:00 I AM PROUD TO VOTE FOR JOE SESTAK FOR SENATE <div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It
will come as a surprise to no one that I am voting for <b>JOE SESTAK</b> in Tuesday’s
Democratic primary election for US Senate.
I have known the man since the day he began his race for Congress in my
district. He is fiercely independent; in fact he was registered independent all
those years he served in the Navy because he believed that a naval officer
should be politically non-partisan. He
can be stubborn as he clings to his principles.
He expects those who work for him to work as hard as he does and love
7am meetings. He evaluates a situation
or a proposal and then makes a determination.
He can be convinced to alter that determination but only by a clear
recital of relevant facts. Political
arguments, especially what does or does not benefit him politically, carry no
weight with him. He does not think like
a politician but he is a great candidate for office. And he was a superb Congressman for the four
years he represented the people of three counties. He is a Liberal but not
knee-jerk. He is progressive in his
thinking but moderate in his rhetoric. He
is an advocate of a strong defense yet supports negotiation over confrontation.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">A
cynical public may doubt his reason for seeking and holding public office which
is to give back to the country that provided him with a superior education
(Naval Academy and Harvard University) and the health insurance that saved his
daughters life. I know the man and I
know that his reason is sincere. He has spent the last 5 years continuing to
campaign for the US Senate time and again not seeking other offices just for
political advancement. When in the midst of his last Senate campaign in 2010, I
suffered a stroke and underwent an 8 hour operation, it was Joe Sestak learned
of the operation, found the hospital and spent time comforting my wife and
daughters while they waited. He never told that story during that
campaign. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">We
live in a time when lying and creating one’s own facts are the standards of the
day in political campaigning. In Joe’s
case his opposition, is the Democratic Party establishment of Pennsylvania and
DC. (By establishment I mean the party officials and Democratic public
officials who are self proclaimed leaders of the party. Joe is actually supported
by many of the rank and file committee persons and local activists.) These
Democratic leaders have lowered themselves to the level of distorting his
liberal progressive and pro-Obama administration Congressional voting record. And, they are even spending 4 million dollars
(of contributions made by sincere donors to the DSCC to help make the Senate
Democrat) to defeat Joe in the upcoming primary. Their choice is someone they
are more comfortable with and someone they think will do and act as they are
told to. You see that’s Joe’s political
problem. He refuses to think, talk, vote
and act like other political leaders want him to. If he agrees with them of
course he will advocate for their position.
If he disagrees with them he won’t remain silent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I know
this better than most because I was chairman of the Democratic Party of
Delaware County for most of the four years that Joe Sestak was Congressman. I
have spent my entire adult life in politics and some have said that I eat,
sleep and drink politics. I have known
many elected officials in my life; some of the best and some of the worst. Joe Sestak is not a politician. He is a decent compassionate man. He is a hard working and really great
candidate for public office. He is a
conscientious, tireless public official.
He served his country for years on the seas in war and peace. He served
his county for four years in the Congress of his nation. As for the United
States Senate “He is Ready to Serve”. And, the sinking ship that is the US
Senate certainly could use an Admiral to set it upright. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">22
April 2016.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-17220397076936907882016-04-20T10:54:00.002-07:002016-04-20T10:54:36.622-07:00I STILL "FEEL THE BERN"<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Next Tuesday April 26th is the Pennsylvania Presidential
primary. The contest in the Democratic
Party is of great interest to me as I have spent my entire adult life as a
Democratic Party politician holding both public and party offices. I’ve been campaigning for Democratic
presidential candidates since I distributed cards for Adlai Stevenson on my
block in Ridgewood Queens in 1956. I consider myself a Liberal Democrat and
also a Progressive which word I have never used to hide the L word but to
supplement it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I will vote in next Tuesday’s primary for Bernie Sanders of
Vermont to be our party’s candidate for President. I will do so even though
I’ve been a part of the party establishment (attended three national
conventions as a delegate) because I believe that my party establishment today
has become rigid in its thinking; self absorbed in its exercise of power, and
subservient to the Wall Street interests and the military industrial complex
that it fought so hard and so successfully in the New Deal era. I believe my
party needs to be reformed; it’s commitment to the middle class and the
programs of the New Deal and Great Society needs to be renewed; and its
structure needs to be rebuilt. And only
Bernie Sanders shows a determination to achieve that end and the capacity to
energize a new generation of Americans to accomplish it...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">FDR enacted Old Age Insurance (a.k.a. Social Security) for
all Americans not just some. JFK
challenged America to put a man on the moon not just get half way there and
return. LBJ signed Medicare for all seniors;
and guaranteed Voting Rights for all Americans.
He didn’t just settle for some health care to some older people; nor did
he settle for repealing some voting restrictions he opened the doors and let
the sunshine of human rights in. After
George McGovern’s defeat in 1972 a traumatized Democratic Party establishment
encouraged by a centrist Jimmy Carter began to tone down its rhetoric and run
away from the word Liberal. And what was the result - the Reagan
revolution. By 1992 the party had
adopted the strategy made popular by Bill Clinton of being moderately
progressive and working with the economic powers that be. What was the result - the Gingrich
Revolution. It is time the Democratic Party
returned to its roots: the political reformist and economic populism of Bryan,
Wilson and Roosevelt. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bernie Sanders advocates expanding social security to
increase the benefits and extend the lifetime of the system. I ask Why Not? Bernie Sanders supports extending the public
commitment to free public education beyond the 12th grade to a college
degree. I ask Why Not? Bernie Sanders says, as our party leaders
have before, Break Up the big banks? And with Andrew Jackson and Woodrow Wilson
I ask Why Not? Bernie Sanders calls upon us to rebuild the great American
Middle Class that the programs of FDR’s New Deal and his G I Bill helped
create. And, I ask Why Not? The centrists in our party say we can’t
afford these programs. Yet we could
afford to save the World in 1945 and rebuild Europe in 1948. We could afford to bail out Wall Street and
the Big Banks in 2008 and General Motors in 2009. If this country’s history has shown anything
it has shown that whether it was the Erie Canal, the Transcontinental Railroad
or the Space Shuttle America can do anything it believes in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I was not born in time to vote for FDR. I was not old enough to vote for JFK or
LBJ. I can vote for Bernie Sanders. I can vote for someone whose lifetime
commitment to reform and progressive proposals will serve as a continuation of
the liberal progressive movement that began at the end of the 19th century over
120 years ago (with ideological roots that went back much further).Twenty years
from now young people of today will be the candidates, the party activists and
the majority of the nation’s electorate.
I want them to have a future they can believe in. I want them to look on
Bernie Sanders as my father’s generation looked on FDR and mine looked on
JFK. So I will vote for an American they
can believe in - I will vote for Bernie Sanders. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">20 April 2016 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-77654615255405402882016-02-04T09:23:00.006-08:002016-02-04T09:23:38.496-08:00THE IOWA CAUCUSES: D for DEMOCRACY or DEBACLE<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In the
early years of our nation Presidential candidates were chosen by a Caucus of
the members of Congress who considered themselves loosely affiliated with the
parties, i.e. Federalist or Democratic.
The last such Congressional Caucus was held in 1824. There were five candidates for President that
year (one John Calhoun ultimately dropped out and became everybody’s candidate
for Vice President). The caucus was
controlled by supporters of William Crawford of Georgia. And while there were congressmen who
supported Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams there were few behind Andrew
Jackson. His supporters throughout the
country began having state legislative bodies adopt nominating resolutions
declaring for Jackson’s candidacy. Jackson campaigned against what he called
King Caucus and in support of popular election of the President. Though Jackson
did not win in 1824 John Quincy Adams who did was not the caucus
candidate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
rematch in 1828 of Adams and Jackson which the latter won saw the complete
defeat and elimination of King Caucus.
In 1832 Jackson had the Democrats copy the Anti Masonic concept of a
national convention and from then on national conventions were used to nominate
Presidential tickets. After 1832 the
political process battle became how to select delegates to the national
conventions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">At the
turn of the 20th century direct primaries were instituted in many states to
allow the voters to choose the party candidates for public office. And, at the Presidential level a preferential
primary was adopted in many states which allowed the voters to express their
preference among candidates while still allowing the delegates at the national
convention the authority to choose the nominees. With John F Kennedy’s nomination in 1960 the
political establishment clearly accepted that the preference primaries were in
fact choosing the candidates. After the battle of 1968 the Democrats, and then
the Republicans, began changing their rules to require that delegates chosen to
the convention either by primary or local and state convention should express
their presidential preference before hand and consider themselves bound to
follow their public choice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Many
states preferred to stay with their system of state conventions choosing
national delegates and so the manner of choosing delegates to the state
conventions began to figure into the Presidential campaigns. In 1972 George McGovern’s campaign encouraged
the neighboring state of Iowa to have the delegates that were chosen at
precinct level party caucuses to attend county conventions that would choose
delegates to the state convention to be chosen at all these levels expressing a
candidate preference. McGovern then won
the preferences and used that to catapult himself into more serious contention
in the following primaries. In 1976
Jimmy Carter a relatively unknown former Governor Georgia started in 1975 to
campaign in Iowa to win these preferences at the precinct caucuses and did so
which grabbed media attention - vaulted Carter into the first rank of
Democratic Presidential candidates that year and the Iowa caucuses became the
first in the nation expression of popular support for Presidential candidates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">And
that was of course true last week when on Feb.1 Iowa held their precinct
caucuses. The system, first designed in
1972, has become more complex in fact one could call it a mathematical
nightmare. Democrats require viability
thresholds, regrouping without necessarily full recounting, selection of county
convention delegates proportionally allocated to the candidate groups, a
rounding off system to determine the exact allocation of county delegates and
even a coin toss to decide who gets the delegate if the candidate groups are
equal in number. The state party then
reports to the media not the number of Democrats in each precinct who supported
each candidate; no, nor the number of delegates by candidate chosen in each
precinct to attend the county convention.
The state using a mathematical formula that seems to defy explanation
translates this data into “delegate equivalencies” which I can only assume
means how many delegates each candidate will have at the state convention after
the county conventions meet and select other delegate. These delegate equivalencies both raw number
and percentage are what the public and the media are given as the Iowa caucus
results e.g. on Feb 1 Clinton had 701 delegate equivalencies and Sanders 697 --
“a virtual tie”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The complexities
of the Democratic caucuses in Iowa really do reduce the value of the exercise
which is unfortunate because hundreds of thousands of Iowa voters come out to
participate. The Democrats have evolved a system that is too complex, so
complex in fact that state party workers and group leaders of both candidates
often had trouble understanding what the next step or the next mathematical
computation was. Even the Republican
caucus system which is much simpler and is basically a paper ballot vote for
President so distorted the reported results in 1980 and in 2012 in such a way
as to impact on the subsequent Republican nominating process.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Andrew
Jackson wouldn’t refer to this as King Caucus he’d probably call it Rotten
Caucus. And he’d be right. The candidates for one national public office
in the United States of America chosen by the entire national electorate should
be chosen in a manner that reflects direct democracy. There should be a
national primary, with a run off if no candidate gets at least 40% of the vote
the first round (40% because that’s what Lincoln got in 1860 and he turned out
pretty good). If the political
establishments can’t handle the democracy of a national direct primary then let
there be four regional primaries over say a two month period allowing for the
candidates to campaign in all the states.
And assuming our political leaders find that approach too radical than
at the very least we should abolish the caucus system for selection of
Presidential candidates and require every sate to hold a direct primary. And we should use the good features of the
Iowa system - allowing same day registration and party selection; allowing 17
years old who will be 18 by the general election to vote; essentially making
every citizen’s vote of equal weight. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Al
Smith, Democratic Presidential candidate in 1928 is reputed to have said “The
only cure for the ills of democracy is more democracy”. The caucus system used in Iowa and variations
used in a large number of states is broken and unrepresentative of the
population at large. We don’t need to
fix it or tweak it we need to Abolish it.
Let the People decide who their President will be at every step of the
process - and that includes abolishing the Electoral College and voting
directly for President in November (but that’s a subject for another post).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">4
February 2016 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-78519081608008994232016-01-23T08:28:00.002-08:002016-01-23T08:28:37.364-08:00BERNIE SANDERS HAS ALREADY WON<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A number of men have run for President
of the United States and set forth a program or agenda of far reaching
ideas. Some like Jefferson, Jackson,
Wilson, and FDR accomplished many of the items on their agenda during their
terms in office with later successors picking up the banner of those items not
immediately addressed, e.g. FDR accomplishing Wilson’s united Nations and Obama
seeking to honor Truman’s national health care pledge. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some of our Presidents have made their
agendas the rallying cries of a generation.
Certainly the New Frontier of JFK and the Great Society of LBJ set the
tone of the Democratic progressive movement for a decade and beyond. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some men sought the Presidency offering
the nation reform agendas and were not successful in seeking office. But their agendas became the platform and
programs of a political party and were in most cases ultimately
implemented. Henry Clay’s American
System became the initial program of the Republican Party as it sought to link
east and west and develop a business oriented government. William Jennings Bryan’s multi-plank
platform of social and political and economic reform became the basis of the
reforms of the New Freedom and the New Deal. Much of the economic parts of Theodore
Roosevelt’s New Nationalism of 1912 soon became the positions of both parties.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">From 1896 for nearly one hundred years
populist and progressive ideas were the near consensus in our political system.
The Gingrich revolution of 1994 was a reaction to those years of social
progress and began the politics of personal destruction and the intolerance of
dissenting opinion that has led us to today with the GOP facing a probable
choice between Donald J Trump (the Mussolini wannabe) and Ted Cruz the Simon Legree
of politics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Because it became the majority
viewpoint Progressivism became a defense of the status quo. And when the so-called New Democrats opened
the party to a relationship with Wall Street Progressivism lost its way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now a decade and a half into the 21st
century comes a public official from Vermont (last heard from when Ethan Allen
and the Green Mountain Boys took Fort Ticonderoga from the British in 1775) who
sets forth a progressive platform for the new century. One that encompasses all the unfinished
business of 20th century progressivism, along with updated items, e.g. free public
higher education, (at least to community college level where in the past the
fight was for high school) and a strong dose of populism that would reign in
the banks and Wall Street as Wilson and FDR tried to do. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont has
offered a vision of what a truly progressive America can look like. He has
spoken for programs and ides that people can rally behind. He has dared to go beyond the label liberal
and accept the label democratic socialist which denotes the progressive
programs for the 20th century though the Cold War made it politically
impossible to label them as such. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And fighting against Sanders are all
those New Democrats who, never having seen Mr. Smith Goes to Washington argue
that the only ideas worth fighting for are those that can be adopted. Tell that to former Congressman Abraham
Lincoln who lost a Senate race arguing against an America half slave and half
free and went on to make it all free.
Tell Woodrow Wilson that the League of Nations was a lost cause not
worth fighting for as the UN enters its 71st year. Tell Harry Truman not to jeopardize his
reelection by fighting for civil rights for African Americans when he couldn’t
pass the bill. And, tell Adlai Stevenson
that no one cares about nuclear testing in the atmosphere (outlawed now by
international treaty). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Republican Party looks at the
discontent of the populace in 2016 and offers a Man on a White Horse (or in a
white limo). Senator Bernard Sanders of
Vermont has offered to the young
generations of Americans a future they can believe in. He has offered a progressive/populist
platform that millions can and will support.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bernie Sanders can and may win the
Democratic Party nomination for President. He can and may win the Presidency in
November 2016. But he has already set
the agenda for the next twenty or thirty
years of American governance. He has created the progressive bucket-list and
the day will come when every item on that list will be checked off as
completed. To borrow from the hero of my generation John Fitzgerald Kennedy
“All this may not be achieved in the first 100 days...nor in the first 1000
days.. But let us begin.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">23 January 2016<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-90617633428634335212016-01-03T06:37:00.000-08:002016-01-03T06:37:03.433-08:00HOW TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN - (WITHOUT TRUMP)<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
Republican front-running candidate for President has as his campaign slogan
Make America Great Again. Few can
disagree with that goal and if one feels that America is still great than one
certainly can support making it greater. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">But,
that candidate, Donald Trump, who
combines the hucksterism of P T Barnum and the pseudo-populism of Huey P Long
with the racism of George Wallace never actually explains neither what Make
America Great Again means nor how one would achieve it. For that we would need to look at history and
what made America great.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In the
last quarter of the 18th century the British colonists who began referring to
themselves as Americans fought against the most powerful nation than on earth
for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And when they wrote their constitution
they added a Bill of Rights that expanded on Magna Charta both as to the rights
and those entitled to them. Most
prominent among those rights were a freedom of speech and a toleration of
dissent; a freedom of religious belief and a toleration of differences with a
government neutral as to religious preferences; a right of assembly and the
right to petition the government bodies elected directly or indirectly by the
people for a redress of grievances. Other rights were added and the history of
America in the 19th and 20th centuries has been an expansion of those rights
and an extension of their applicability to all residents of the country. And,
in the eyes of the world America became Great.
The French revolution and the revolutions in Latin America and later
Europe used American slogans and symbols. George Washington the leader of the
continental forces in our Revolution became an international iconic figure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In the
middle of the 19th century America engaged in a great Civil war. Unlike the
civil wars of Europe ours was not based on religious differences or dynastic
struggles but on a determination of the values of our people and nation. Six
hundred thousand men lost their lives in a battle first over whether we would
be one nation, a union of states, and then over whether that union would
tolerate the abomination of slavery anywhere within its borders. Union and Freedom won. America was in the eyes of the world great.
Abraham Lincoln became a worldwide household name denoting freedom for the
masses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In the
second decade of the twentieth century a Great War broke out between the powers
of Europe with allies in Asia and Africa. The war deadlocked and was the
bloodiest yet seen. With the fall of the
Russian Tsar the Allied powers became all democracies while the Central powers
were absolutist autocratic monarchies. And America entered that war at that
time and turned the tide and helped win for the democracies over absolutism and
monarchism. Woodrow Wilson became a household name with a picture known in the
grottos of Italy and the mountains of Wallachia. America became the leader of
the peoples of the world seeking peace, collective security and
self-determination of ethnic groups. Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and
other eastern European nations long held under the hammer of the autocratic
foreign monarchs became nation states and gave credit for their freedom to
America and Wilson. America became
Great. That greatness waned as America
broke the heart of the world when Senators for partisan political reasons
rejected our world leadership and participation in the very world body we had
created. But America remained the great
hope of mankind. And as the lights went
out in Europe in 1939 those who continued the fight waited for the New World to
come to the rescue of the Old.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">As the
world went through a great depression in the 1930's America rose up and
weathered that economic debacle without resorting to neither corporate statism
nor political dictatorship. Led by
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, America showed that it still believed in the Lincoln
mantra that government should help those who cannot help themselves. And so
America extended income security to its elderly; created millions of jobs for
its unemployed while building roads and government buildings and schools that
the nation sorely needed. America in the eyes of the world became Great because
it showed a compassion for its people and a resilience that could not be
crushed. And, when Fascism, Nazism and militarism threatened to engulf the
entire world America did come to the rescue of the world and America did spend
its treasure; its men and boys , its resources - and led a crusade that
defeated those “isms”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">After
WWII America, using its economic resources, rebuilt the nations that it had
defeated and they became economic giants and democratic societies. America led
the world and admitting its mistake of 1919 joined in multiple world
organizations to address political, economic and social problems and joined in
military treaties based on mutual and collective security. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">America
became Great again in the eyes of world because of its selflessness. And at
home due to the new Deal and GI bill and conversion of the war production
machinery into consumer production America built the largest and strongest
middle class any nation had yet seen.
Not a nation of haves and have nots.
But a nation of those living in comfort in their own homes with a car
and with a decent job and a lower class many of whom dreamed and were able to
raise themselves out of poverty to middle class status. It became known as the
American Dream and America in the eyes of the world became a Great economic
boomtown.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">For
forty-five years America led those nations in the world that opposed
international communism. Sacrificing our soldiers in Korea and Vietnam;
spending our resources to win the race in Space; and using tough negotiation
tactics to prevent nuclear war over the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, America
became great in the eyes of the world.
President Johnson extended compassion in government with the War on
Poverty and attempted to deal with the festering racial strife in our nation by
passing legislation that ensured voting rights; civil rights and housing rights.
And while Ronald Reagan faced down the Soviet Union he enacted the E.I. C. an effort to help the working poor make ends
meet. Communism imploded and there was a new birth of freedom throughout the
world and often the symbol of the freedom was an American flag or the Liberty
Bell or the Statue of Liberty. America
was seen as Great in the eyes of the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">President
Clinton used the status of America as the only great economic and military
power in the last decade of the twentieth century to assist negotiators in
ending the centuries of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland and preventing
the genocide of the Bosnians and the
Kosovars. America's greatness was
recognized when after the abominable terrorist attack on the Twin Towers, known
as 9-11 the world united behind America and in support of our effort to root
out Al Qaeda and its sponsor the Taliban.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It was
with the Iraq War that America was led into by the lies and manipulation of the
neo-cons, and the economic collapse caused by greed run rampant in the
financial houses and on Wall Street that America tarnished its greatness. The election of Barack Obama in 2008 was
viewed by the rest of the world as America regaining its greatness as it
rejected racism; restored compassion to government and pledged again to pursue
peace and negotiation rather than war and violence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">If
this Mussolini wannabe Trump wants to make America Great Again he and his
Republican party could start by renewing the domestic programs of Dwight
Eisenhower. Instead of using rhetoric to
divide and spread fear he could emulate Theodore Roosevelt and Wendell Willkie
and use the bully pulpit to advocate for reform of government, curbing the
power of big corporations, and
compassionate responses to social problems.
Instead of spreading lies and distorting the truth he could like Barry
Goldwater run a campaign of honest adherence to his positions without
demonizing his opponents. And like
Ronald Reagan he could show a compassion and concern for those less fortunate
than himself. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">America
will be Great Again - when it restores a strong middle class by reigning in the
ultra rich and ending their control of our politics; when partisan politics
ends at the water's edge as Vandenburg did with NATO and the Marshall Plan; when
agreements whether to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons or to reduce the
deleterious effects of climate change are judged on their merits and not on
their messenger; and when men and women of good will together stand up and stop
the new 21st century homegrown American version of fascism and commit
themselves to helping the American government work again. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Abraham
Lincoln said that we were the last best hope of mankind. And that has been proven true time and
again. It will be true again when
America rejects the anti-immigrant; xenophobic; racist and militaristic
proposals of the radical right wing Republicans like Trump, Cruz, and Carson,
and their neo-con and neo-fascist followers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">3 January
2016 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-11582255676183573542015-12-19T10:31:00.002-08:002015-12-19T10:31:54.307-08:00THE BEST DEMOCRATIC ANSWER TO TRUMP<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Since
1956 when, as a youngster of ten, I distributed cards for Adlai Stevenson for President,
I have in some fashion or other participated in Presidential campaigns. I have supported the candidates of the
Democratic Party. And often I have
engaged in primary campaigns seeking to influence the selection of the Party’s
nominee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">We are
now engaged in the 2016 selection process and the Democratic Party, with an
incumbent President term limited and an incumbent Vice-President opting not to
run, has three candidates for the nomination: Former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton, former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and Senator Bernie Sanders of
Vermont. If we exclude incumbent Presidents seeking re-election this contest is
similar to one 60 years ago when the front runner, though facing opposition,
was presumed and did become the nominee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Hillary
Clinton by all measurements of political prognostication will be the Democratic
nominee. Unless she falters in the early
primaries she is favored to run the board.
She is representative of many Democrats of my generation - liberally
progressive but not populist progressive.
She is consensus liberal on economic issues, liberal on social issues
and somewhat interventionist on foreign affairs. She would be the first woman President and
would fulfill a dream of my generation as did Barack Obama in 2008. .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Former
Gov. O’Malley is a fine man with an excellent progressive record as Governor of
Maryland and is the kind of candidate that the Party saw many of in the 1980's
and 90's. And yet he has failed to gain any traction in the campaign as the
Democratic public appears to prefer a two candidate race perhaps bemused by the
Republican gaggle of contenders.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Then
there is Senator Bernie Sanders. An
independent who describes himself as a Democratic Socialist (a label some would
apply to Franklin Delano Roosevelt), and espouses a 21st century Populism with
echoes of William Jennings Bryan and Robert Lafollette. From the relative obscurity of Vermont he
has gained thousands of followers who, if they become a movement, could rival
and even surpass in intensity the anti-war and civil rights movements of the
sixties. Sanders campaigns to end the
dominance of America by the richest 1%.
He fights for an America where 99% will share the wealth, the political
power and the American dream. He raises
the call for economic reform and fair distribution of the nation’s wealth that
Populists, Progressives and New Dealers of the 20th century crusaded for.
And just as in 1896, and 1912 and 1932
while the establishment figures of the Democratic party endorse the safer more moderate candidate the crowds gather to
hear one who speaks for and to them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Senator
Sanders makes the case for addressing the problem of income inequality in
America that is now dividing us into two classes: have a lot and have a little.
The great American middle class built and prospered by the programs of the New
Deal and the GI Bill is disappearing.
The Senator from Vermont argues for a $15 minimum wage which works out
to an annual income of $30,000 hardly enough to raise a family in today's
economy. The Senator while supporting
Obamacare, which has made medical insurance accessible to most, campaigns for
health care as a right and a single payer Medicare for All program. Senator Sanders has called for a
constitutional amendment to guarantee all Americans the right to vote and
challenge the myriad of right wing voter suppression proposals. And, the Senator from the Green Mountain
state has echoed the call of Democrat leaders since 1896 to reign in the
billionaires (once called robber barons) and restore control of the American
government to the people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">When I
was an elected Assemblyman in New York, Presidential candidates actually sought
out my endorsement (1976, 1980 and 1984); and likewise, when I served as
chairman of the Delaware Co. PA Democratic Party (1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008).
Sometimes my endorsement even made news and helped a candidate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Today
I lead my party in a small borough in the southeastern part of my Pennsylvania county. Whom I support is of
little matter to most and of no concern to the candidates. . My endorsement carries with it no donations,
no delegates and no votes other than my own.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Then
why make an endorsement other than to have an excuse to weigh in with a blog
post? It may matter to no one in 2015
who I endorse for President in 2016 but it matters to me. For my entire adult life I have been engaged
in politics. My study of history has led me to a profound belief in the values
of democracy, and in the role in America of the Democratic Party as the party
that in most cases can be found on the side of the ordinary men and women of
the country. The entrepreneurs of the 1830's; the factory workers of the
1890's; the forgotten men and women of the 1930's; the oppressed minorities of
the 1960's; the equality seeking women of the 1970's; and those who seek the
freedom to live their lives as they see fit in today’s otherwise conformist
culture; these have found their champions in the Democratic Party. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I have
considered myself a Liberal and a Progressive and a Populist. I have often, but
not always (to my regret), been on the right side of history early on. I have
tried to be true to the things I have believed in and to the positions I have
taken and the votes I have cast, when I have endorsed candidates. I have never
asked if a candidate could win but only should they win. I have never insisted
on 100% consistency between my positions on issues and those of the candidate I
supported. In fact in this contest I
find myself in agreement with Senator Sanders on domestic issues more often
than on foreign and with Secretary Clinton the reverse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I have
three grandchildren and I want an America for them that is free and prosperous
and that allows that prosperity to reach everyone. I want an America that assures access to all
the education that one’s mind can absorb. I want an America where your gender,
your lifestyle, your race and your wealth, or lack thereof, does not define
your station in life or limit your opportunities. I want an America where my grandchildren can
raise their children and grandchildren with the same values of freedom and
democracy that I was raised with and with the same hopes and dreams that I had;
and, I want those to be realizable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
wealthy and the ideological crazy dominate the Republican Party and the public
is fascinated by potential candidates who are anti-science (climate change
deniers), and anti-history (Joseph built the pyramids), and anti immigrant and
anti gay and anti just about everything except guns.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
ordinary people of America: young and old, black, white and Latino, gay and
straight, poor and middle class, need their party - the Democratic Party- to
galvanize the public with a vision of One America for All - an America whose
land is their land and an America that will be a land of peace and prosperity
for All. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In my
opinion the candidate for President in 2016 who offers that vision and would
lead another Crusade for Economic and Social Justice is Senator Bernard Sanders
of Vermont. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I was
at the Democratic National Convention in 1980 when Senator Ted Kennedy, to the
roars of thousands, declared to the delegates that “the dream will never
die”. It is the task of every generation
to keep alive the hopes and dreams that are America. Perhaps we have lost sight of that. Perhaps
we have allowed ourselves to be so immersed in the myriad of problems facing
our nation that we have lost sight of the forest for the trees. We need a leader who offers America the kind
of Revolution that it has had in the past (1800, 1828, 1932) and the only kind
that succeeds in our country a Political Revolution. FEEL THE BERN <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">19 December
2015 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-65156082706675177882015-07-15T08:37:00.001-07:002015-07-15T08:37:08.856-07:00IRAN: DEAL OR NO DEAL <div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">For
the next few weeks the Congress and the Media will pontificate, dissect and
proclaim the virtues and the defects of the Agreement with Iran that was just
signed by the US and the major world powers: Russia, China, Britain, France,
Germany and Europe. The agreement will
be endorsed by the UN and by all the signatory nations. And the world will watch to see if the US
Congress will uphold the diplomacy of its President and Secretary of State or
like 1919 reject it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Iran
seeks to be a nuclear power as Pakistan and India are (and Israel and South
Africa may be). The United States and
rest of the world feels world peace is more secure if Iran does not become a
nuclear power. The question became how
do you stop that from happening. As in
most situations when a nation seeks to go a way that other nations do not want there
are two options War and Negotiation.
President Obama united the nations of the world including such disparate
“partners” and China and Russia and imposed the most extensive program of
economic sanctions ever to pressure Iran to agree to forgo its nuclear
plans. Economic sanctions have, in the
past not succeeded in their objective.
Sanctions did not affect Italy after it invaded Ethiopia in the 1930's
and while they may yet be successful have not stopped the Russian aggression
against Ukraine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
Iran sanctions regime worked. It worked because the world united behind it and
it was tough. Iran was pressured into
negotiating knowing that the end result would be an admission on their part
that they were developing a nuclear military capability and would cease doing
so. And the negotiations succeeded in an
Agreement that would end for at least ten years such nuclear development and
give the world some time after that to prevent, it wished to the resumption of
a nuclear Iran. Without these
negotiations and the earlier interim agreement adopted early last year Iran
would likely have a nuclear weapon albeit at the expense of reducing many of
her people to poverty level. Unless of
course the US and/or Israel used military force to stop the nuclear
development.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">So
what faced the US was a decision between War and Negotiation to stop the Iran
bomb. President Obama chose the course
of negotiation heeding the words of John F Kennedy that we “never fear to
negotiate”. And the negotiation was
successful. It brought about an
Agreement with verification procedures akin to those that were agreed upon with
the Soviet Union in the 1980's by President Reagan. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">As
former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once opined “If Barack Obama walked
on Water the Republicans would say ‘the President can’t swim”. And so of course the Republican party its
candidates and it’s voices in Washington immediately attacked the Agreement as too
weak and a Munich like appeasement of an enemy, The Republicans will seek to
get the House and Senate to reject the agreement. The President can then veto
their Resolution of Rejection and his veto will be upheld and the Agreement in
effect as long as one-third plus one of the members of either house stand with
the Agreement. The Agreement is going to
take effect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">If
the Agreement is successfully implemented Iran will not have nuclear military
capability for ten to 12 years if ever.
If the Agreement is broken Iran can become a nuclear power within a year
of further development. If there were
no Agreement Iran would be or would be about to e a nuclear power. While all the commentators and candidates
enunciate their positions and discuss the complexity of the Agreement and its
80 or 150 (if you include the appendixes) pages the American people will reduce
this Agreement to the simple question of do we want a War with Iran now or do
we want to wait ten years in the hope that no war will then be necessary. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
20th century was a century of the most horrible war and genocide in the first
half and a second half of fear of nuclear annihilation. The President has two
young daughters. I have three
grandchildren and my nieces and nephews have some dozen young children between
them; these youngsters deserve to live
in a century of relative peace and security. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
Answer to the Question of the Agreement with Iran is Simple - GIVE PEACE A
CHANCE.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">15
July 2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-18397987742206820392015-06-25T09:10:00.002-07:002015-06-25T09:10:45.091-07:00The War is Over - the Union Prevailed - “Take Down That Flag”<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“Take
Down this wall” was the now famous imperative that Ronald Reagan challenged
Mikhail Gorbachev with in 1987. Two
years later that wall was taken down by the people of East Germany; that nation
was re-united and the Cold War ended.
All within 45 years of the end of World War II.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The American Civil War was fought from 1861 to
1865. And it seems like it has continued
to be fought in the halls of government and in the minds of Americans and in
the media that entertains us for the past 150 years. We debate the cause of that war when it is
clear in the very declarations of secession that the underlying motivation was
to preserve the system of slavery and bondage that underpinned the southern economy. We admire and even revere the good men who
fought against the Union such as Robert E. Lee and we even overlook those who
displayed sadistic and racist aspects such as Nathan Bedford Forest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
northern states, unexpectedly magnanimous in victory, restored the southern
states and allowed the restoration of pre Civil War conditions (except for de
jure slavery). The southern states, defiant in defeat, re-enslaved the African
Americans with Jim Crow laws and segregation and thumbed their collective nose
at the United States of America.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">By way
of full disclosure I should say that three of my great great great grandfathers
fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War. Whether their units, from Alabama
and Georgia, ever fought under the battle flag of Lee’s army - the Stars and
Bars - I do not know. I do know that my great great great grandfathers did not
own slaves and like many white southern farmers fought for what they believed
was their land and their homes and their families. That they were misled and used by economic
interests and plantation owners who depended on human bondage as their source
of income is an historical fact.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Another
of my great great great grandfathers, a native of Tennessee, fought for the
federal union. He fought to preserve the
Union but the nature of the struggle was such that it became, on the union
side, a battle, even a crusade, to end slavery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">One
hundred years after the start of that Civil War a movement began to reclaim for
the African Americans of this country the rights that were assured them in the
Constitution by the amendments passed after the North (Union) was
victorious. Those who opposed that
movement and held on to the ignorant belief in white supremacy raised the
Confederate battle flag as their symbol.
And like minded Americans began to use that flag, and place it on badges
and license plates and car decals to send a message of solidarity based on
hate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Decent
Americans overlooked this and in the spirit of the First Amendment and
Lincoln’s pleas for reconciliation thought well let them play with their
symbols of a lost cause. Now the battle
flag of the Confederacy is incorporated in three state flags; it is found in
the halls of the national Congress; it flies at public buildings and is treated
with respect. Only in America would the battle flag of a rebellion, i.e.
treason, be accorded such deference.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Now
finally 150 years after the surrender of the last Confederate troops there is a
rising outrage at the use of this symbol of hate. Retailers are now refusing to
sell these items; and some manufacturers refusing to produce them. White Political leaders of southern states
are calling for an end to the use of these symbols. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">All
this because a sick young man motivated by a misguided belief in the supremacy
of one race and an admiration for what he believed was the cause of the
Confederacy, shot and killed nine peaceful citizens as they prayed in their
church. He did so under the banner of that rebel battle flag and he chose his
victims because they were black,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It is
too soon to know whether South Carolina will listen to the son of Strom
Thurmond and take down the battle flag from the capitol grounds. We will have to wait and see if Mississippi
follows its US Senators and removes the stars and bars from the state flag or
whether Georgia will then follow suit...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
massacre at the AME church in Charleston SC could fade into history and become
just another episode in the racial conflicts that have engulfed this nation
since colonial days. Or perhaps, just perhaps,
the shots fired inside the AME church in Charleston (the city where the first
shots of the Civil War were fired) could become the last shots of the American
Civil War. Let us pray God that this be so. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">When
Abraham Lincoln was asked which side in the War, North or South, God was on he
replied that the real question was who was on God’s side. This nation has an opportunity to be on God’s
side - Take Down This Flag - Remove These Symbols. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">25
June 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-55298435177132397432015-04-04T12:07:00.000-07:002015-04-04T12:07:15.267-07:00BLESSED ARE THE PEACE MAKERS -- FOR THEY SHALL BE CALLED THE CHILDREN OF GOD.<div class="WordSection1">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">The
terms of the agreement framework between the great powers and Iran were more
balanced between the two sides and stronger than expected in the agreed upon
controls over Iran</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">s nuclear
development. But the responses were predictable. The Republicans went on the attack as they
were expected to do on any proposal, of lack of one, which might have been the
result of the negotiations. And, the Democrats tepidly and often with lack of
enthusiasm supported the agreement negotiated by their past Presidential
candidate John Kerry on behalf of their twice elected President Barack Obama.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">History
shows us that the immediate reaction to an international agreement is sometimes
different than the ultimate historical opinion. When the Webster-Ashburton treaty with Great
Britain was signed in 1842, Americans thought it was a momentary thawing of
relations with the United Kingdom and settling of the Canadian border. History shows that it was the beginning of
almost two hundred years of close cooperation between the three nations
involved - the US, Britain and Canada.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">When
Teddy Roosevelt negotiated the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 it was hailed as historic and he was awarded
the Nobel Prize. Within a decade both
countries were involved, albeit on the same side initially, in World War I and
the ending of the earlier war had few if any ramifications.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">In
1919 President Woodrow Wilson personally negotiated at the worlds<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">first
great summit the Treaty of Versailles. A
group of Republican Senators, led by Henry Cabot Lodge, announced before Wilson
had even returned from Paris that they would oppose the treaty and US
membership in the League of Nations. They succeeded and America retreated into
isolation. The verdict of history and of
the American people in 1945, after the cataclysm of WWII was that Wilson</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">s League (for which
he received the Nobel Peace Prize) might have prevented WWII and international
collective security of democratic and peaceful nations became the keystone of
US foreign policy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">And
what of the postwar era? History now
shows that the policy recognizing the Soviet Union in 1933 (by FDR) and the
subsequent American strategy of containment and then detente and then competition
from Truman though Reagan were the right policies because of the demise of
communism and the USSR.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Nixon</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">s opening to Red
China has resulted not in a war with that power but almost a half century of
peace and economic competition. So he is
hailed as a visionary.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Barack
Obama has pursued a foreign policy, some points of which I have disagreed with,
that prefers to use all peaceful means, e.g. economic sanctions against an
enemy and negotiation with that enemy before resorting to military action. His predecessor George Bush certainly seemed
to do the opposite -- shoot first and talk later. History will judge who was right in
Afghanistan and Iraq; events will unfold in the next decade that will show us
whether Obama is correct in Iran and Cuba.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Critics
of this Iranian nuclear agreement compare it to Munich and the west</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">s appeasement of
Hitler. But even the severest critic of
that agreement, Winston Churchill, said, </span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">A </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">to jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">@</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">. And the prescient analyst of Britain</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">s failure to prepare
for WWII, John F Kennedy, took office telling our people: </span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">A </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Let us never
negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">@</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">Obama
has chosen to advocate trying to coexist with Iran, as Presidents from FDR
through Reagan coexisted with the Soviet Union; and, President</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">s since Nixon have
followed a policy of amiable relations with China. Is Obama correct? I don</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">t know - history will
judge and events over the next decade will determine that judgment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">We
lionize our Presidents who use military force to initiate policy (Polk in
Mexico, McKinley with Spain, and Reagan in Grenada to list only a few). We
should at the least respect that President who has heard the voice of the
American people and for their children and grandchildren has decided to </span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">A </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">give peace a chance</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">@</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">If
the twenty-first century is not to be a repetition of the twentieth century</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">s brutal wars,
genocidal killings and mass slaughters the President of the world</span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">=</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">s greatest power must
earn the Nobel Peace Prize he was awarded in his first year in office. With the
restoration of relations with Cuba and the nuclear control agreement with Iran
he has. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt;">3
April 2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-8648052256422873012015-03-10T10:32:00.004-07:002015-03-10T10:32:51.795-07:00SESTAK IS WALKING THE WALK<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">My
former Congressman and retired Admiral, Joe Sestak, has started a walk across
Pennsylvania. As he walks from county to county he highlights an issue of
importance to the Commonwealth and gathers with local citizens to discuss it.
Admiral Sestak ran for the US Senate I 2010 as a Democrat. He lost narrowly in what was otherwise a
banner Republican year. Now he is running again for that Senate seat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Political
pundits and consultants will tell you and anyone who wants to listen that you
can’t run for the Senate a second time unless you hold an office or run for
some high visibility office in the interim years. And that’s what I told Joe Sestak in
2011. But he has decided to again
disprove the prognosticators and professional pundits and has been maintaining
a campaign schedule across this Commonwealth since Nov. 2010.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Admiral
Sestak is not a typical politician -- in fact don’t let his candidate skills
and governing skills fool you He Is Not a Politician. Neither politics nor polls sway his opinion
once he has studied a question and determined his approach to a solution. He is
in my opinion a pragmatic liberal who seeks the solutions that help the most
people and hurt the fewest. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">As a
retired military officer he is the antithesis of John McCain - holding to the
belief that the military needs to be modern and strong and used only as a last
resort when diplomatic and economic means are unsuccessful. He long thought the Iraq war was a mistake
and makes a sound argument for same as regards Libya. With chaos reigning in
those countries today few would debate him on this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">He
knows how to fight and hold his own in War and in Politics. He took on and defeated two of the political
giants of Pennsylvania: Cong. Curt Weldon and Sen. Arlen Specter. He cast his
votes in Washington as a Democrat whom I would classify and independent
progressive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Now
that Admiral Sestak has again decided to defy the odds and run a second time
for the same seat after a gap of five years the self anointed “party leaders”
have spent these past months denigrating his candidacy and floating every trial
balloon they can blow up as a primary opponent.
They will argue that Sestak is not a friend of the Democratic
organization nor its leaders and marches to his own drummer. I was county leader of the Democratic of
Delaware County during Joe Sestak’s terms in the House of Representatives --
they are right he does his own thing and doesn’t follow lock step the orders of
party leaders. I can personally attest
to that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I have
been an elected state legislator and a county party chairman. Our democratic system will work for all our
citizens when conscientious elected officials do what they believe is right not
what power or money tell them to do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The US
Senate was once considered the most deliberative body in the democratic
lexicon. Today it has become almost a
joke. It desperately needs more Senators
of stature, ethical character, courage of conviction and unflagging devotion to
the nation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Admiral
Joe Sestak has served our nation on the high seas and in the hallowed halls of
Congress. He is ready to serve again and
this Commonwealth and this nation need him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">10
March 2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674635655380194460.post-92122996734006405672014-11-21T07:12:00.001-08:002014-11-21T07:12:40.385-08:00Obama Acts In The American Tradition of Compassion<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">President
Obama has been criticized by some supporters for a proclivity to procrastinate
and over think possible actions to the point where when he finally acts it is
often considered either too little or too late.
He also has the unfortunate, for a President, habit of thinking out loud
when he is considering action so he gets into the position of having to explain
away statements made before an action is taken if those statements contradict
his ultimate decisions. For example,
when he professorially stated that the President did not have the authority to
go further than his DACA immigration plan.
And, now when has to explain that away because he recognized that in
fact he did have the authority to do more; -- in fact he may have the authority
to do more than he has now done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">President
Obama is the only office holder in our country elected by all the American
people casting a vote for the same position.
As such he is the one charged with preserving our republic, and taking
all necessary action to do so. If Thomas
Jefferson hadn’t purchased territory from France without waiting for a
constitutional amendment, as his congressional critics wanted, our nation might
today not extend west of the Mississippi River.
If Andrew Jackson had not met South Carolina’s attempts to nullify
federal laws with firm adherence to use of force there might have been a Civil
War in the 1830's - one that would have been won by the slave states and led to
two nation's one slave and one free. If
Abraham Lincoln had not exercised his power to combat secession (a power his
predecessor as President denied) we might not be one nation today. If Theodore Roosevelt had not exercised his
power to act as he did in Panama and Columbia (without a Senate ratified
Treaty) there would have been no Panama Canal and a century of an America hemmed
in by two oceans. If FDR had not
exercised the power to close the banks for a few days upon his inauguration the
entire bottom might have fallen through right then and there; instead America
was able to begin the long climb back to economic health without the extremism
of fascism or communism. And, if Harry
Truman hadn’t used his executive pen to order the integration of the Armed
Forces the transformation of this country into a color blind society might not
have begun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Now,
President Obama exercising the same authority that others before him have
(notably George H W Bush and Ronald Reagan) has dealt with the problem of
millions of illegal immigrants now resident in America. He has both deported those who have no legal
right to be here while now opening a way for those who have been here for years
and contributed to this country to attain a legal status and when the Congress
finally faces up to its responsibility a path to citizenship. I am one of those who would like to have seen
him go further by including the parents of the DACA youngsters; in fact I would
like to see him use his pardoning authority to pardon all those physically
present in this country today from any form of prosecution for violation of
immigration laws - a true total Amnesty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Immigration
has been a political issue in this country since the 1790's when the
Federalists imposed a 14 year waiting period for obtaining citizenship because
the then French and European immigrants were supporting the Jeffersonian
Democrats. Like all matters involving
our government it will continue to be a partisan issue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">President
Barack Obama acted ! He has done what he
and most Americans believe is the right thing to bring this huge undocumented
population into the American body politic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Let
those who oppose his executive order do so on the merits of their arguments. Let them offer their alternative
proposals. It is unfortunate that most
of those who oppose this order do so because this President is black, or because
this President is a liberal Democrat, because most of the immigrants affected
are Latino.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">My
mother was born in Germany and came to this country at the age of six; my
father’s ancestors arrived here in 1607. So depending how you view it I am
either thirteenth generation American or first generation American. My father's
ancestors built a great nation that opened its’ arms to my mother and her
family in the 1920's. No one stopped
those fearless immigrants of the seventeenth century and no one closed the door
to my mother's family.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">We
have struggled every time a different people have found America a refuge and it
has strengthened us and made us a great nation. President Obama has used his
authority honed by Jefferson and Roosevelt to open that door again to those who
found a way to get here. He is a President
who expended his political capital to get health care for those who didn’t have
it and personal security for immigrants who lived in the shadows of our society
-- neither one a major voting bloc. When
Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, when FDR authorized rural
electrification and when LBJ signed the Voting Rights Act it wasn’t as a reward
for those who voted for them nor with expectation that the beneficiaries might
vote for them - it was because it was the Right Thing to Do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">President
Barack Obama has joined those of our great Presidents who have Stood for
American Values and Done the Right Thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">21
November 2014 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cliff Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13986922334083249034noreply@blogger.com0