Month: November 2018

Why Hillary Clinton has a right to run in 2020.

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In 1824 John Quincy Adams, thanks to the Electoral College, became the President of the United States. Four years later, the popular vote winner in that election, Andrew Jackson won the first of two presidential terms.

In 1876 Rutherford B Hayes, in a questionable electoral college tally, beat popular vote winner Samuel Tllden for the Presidency. Tilden probably would have run again in 1880 but ill health prevented him. He would die in 1886.

In 1888 Benjamin Harrison achieved an electoral college victory over incumbent President and popular vote winner Grover Cleveland. Four years later, Cleveland would become the first President to serve two non-consecutive four-year terms.

In 2000, Vice President Al Gore won the popular vote over George W, Bush but a poorly constructed butterfly ballot in Palm Beach (where voters erroneously voted for the Pre Trump Pat Buchanan) and a Republican-friendly Supreme Court tipped the electoral college to George W. Bush. Criticized for the campaign he ran in 2000 (where he did not emphasize the peace and prosperity of the Clinton/Gore Administration), Gore decided not to run in 2004.

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Democrats need to start laying the Progressive Foundation for 2020 now.

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As other pundits in the national and local media have pointed out, It will be tempting these next several months to focus on the Popular Vote Loser’s (Presidents) tweets, outrageous comments and behavior, and potentially criminal acts that will be adjudicated in the courts.

Now that they will be in control of the House of Representatives, Democrats do have a responsibility to provide oversight of the Executive Branches actions that the Trump (Republican) Party failed to undertake. That is only right and proper.

Democrats and Progressives, in the federal government and in the state government offices they triumphed in, should also take this as an opportunity to advance progressive policies (both incremental and ambitious) that will further attract supporters in the rural, urban, and suburban parts of the country.  They should attempt to create bipartisan consensus with the Trump Party but be prepared to fight for and campaign on what the Trumpists obstruct in the Senate and the Oval Office.

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Liberals don’t see the problems; Conservatives, the promise

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Cross-posted from RestoreReason.com.

Recently, I saw a bumper sticker that said, “When the government gives you something, they take something away from someone else.” “Wow”, I thought. “What a cynical way to look at the common good.” Why not view it as “when the government gives you something, it is really your neighbor giving you a helping hand”? The government is after all, nothing more or less than all of us.

And yet, the GOP has managed to convince many Americans that as Ronald Reagan said, “government is not the solution of our problem; government is the problem” and Grover Nordquist said, he wanted to “shrink it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.”

There are however, a multitude of functions that can only be effectively and fairly provided by government. There are many examples of this such as national defense and public education, but basically, I think the primary role of government is to provide for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. William Weld, a former Republican governor of Massachusetts, wrote that,

“Liberals often don’t see the problems, and conservatives don’t see the promise, of government.”

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Political Calendar: Week of November 11, 2018

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Political Calendar for the Week of November 11, 2018:

Sunday, November 11: Centennial of Armistice Day (now Veterans Day) – the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War took effect at the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” of 1918.

Sunday, November 11, 10:00 a.m. ET: Commemorative Ceremony for 100th Anniversary of the Armistice at National Cathedral. The National Cathedral in Washington D.C. will be the home of the largest commemoration of the end of the First World War in the former Allied Powers. Hundreds of major members of he governments and armed forces of the nations that composed the Allies in World War One will honor the lives of the millions of fallen men and women, and recognize the significance of the conflict, as well as how vital it is to prevent such a horrible conflict from ever happening again. The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. will hold a bell ringing ceremony at 11 am on Sunday, Nov. 11th, 2018 to commemorate the centennial of the Armistice. Local churches, schools, courthouses, and other entities are invited to participate at the time of this nationwide occasion at each respected time zone.

Sunday, November 11, 3:00 p.m.: Armistice Centenary Commemoration, at St. Michael & all Angels Episcopal Church, 602 N. Wilmot Road, Tucson. Event features music, poetry, and brief personal reflections as it moves from the “War To End All Wars” into the present. Planners state the program honors war dead and the living, veterans and all who have suffered in declared and undeclared conflicts during the past 100 years. It takes its tone from World War 1 poet / soldier Wilfred Owen’s “war and the pity of war” and includes his poetry. Owen, at 25 a promising young English poet, was killed in France on November 4, 1918, a week before the war formally ended. Free. A reception follows the commemoration. Information: (520) 886-7292. Details: Ila Abernathy, Social Action Committee, (520) 623-3063, ilaa@mindspring.com.

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