Examining America's Christian Racist Roots

OF THE FIRST FIFTEEN AMERICAN PRESIDENTS, ten were slave owners. Of the first thirty five Supreme Court justices, nineteen owned slaves. Slavery first reared its ugly head at Jamestown, Virginia, a mere twelve years after Europeans founded the town. At one time all thirteen original colonies permitted slavery. The northern colonies prohibited it first for purely economic reasons; it was insufficiently profitable in an economy without large agricultural plantations, and manufacturing could get labor abundantly, cheaply, from among the free white population. Slavery is condoned in the Christian bible, a fact which provided a convenient justification for American Christian plantation owners. Enslavement, the reasoning went, inherently improved the lives of the enslaved by bringing them into the Christian faith. Jefferson wanted to include in the Declaration a passage condemning the peculiar institution and promising to eradicate it; he was outvoted, and settled for a provision blaming it all on the English king. In the creation of the federal constitution, slavery presented the most prickly problem. The southern slave owning states would not join the union without guarantees that it would be allowed to endure, and ocne they joined, if anyone or anything threatened their right to own people, they would not remain joined. Thus did the enslaved become, according to federal law, three fifths of a human being, which they remain today, though no longer enslaved. The framers were as unwilling to use the word 'slave" in their masterpiece as they were to use the word "God". Hamilton later said that God was excluded from the constitution because its framers forgot to include it. More seriously, the authors were keenly aware of the schizophrenic relationship between slavery and the minded principles of democratically based liberty. Jefferson, who did not believe in the Christian God, was fearful that god would punish the nation, sooner, or later, for slavery, and he often wrote that all must eventually be free, but preferably after being shipped back to Africa. When one of Madison's slaves ran away and was recaptured, the constitution's principle author wrote: "I cannot punish him...for merely coveting the liberty...we have so often and so loudly proclaimed to be the right...of every human being." Instead, he sold the man. Washington freed his slaves in his will, Jefferson did not, other than a select few, but he treated them well. Madison told people he wanted to avoid depending on slave labor for his personal profit, but never did. That is our inheritance, our legacy, our burden of history. It perhaps becomes apparent why we today debate whether the United States is a racist country, and a christian country. The answers would seem to be "yes", and "no".

Looking Forward With Hope

WE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE have much to which to look forward. The investigation results, the midterm elections, and all that. It turns out that, according to recent polls, if Bernie Sanders were to run against Trump in 2020, he would win, even at age seventy eight. Age discrimination seems to be dead, and considering that every day approximately ten thousand Americans turn sixty five, that isn't a bad idea. The retirement age will continue to be pushed upward, and retirement itself, a post World War Two invention, might well fade into history, as people are forced to depend upon themselves and their immediate labor, with the apparent decline of the social security system and our seeming unwillingness to do the simple math required to repair it. A highly recommended endeavor is the googling of the "republican Party platform of 1956." Its nearly to the left of Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders would be compatible with the policies of the Eisenhower administration. We have moved much to the right since the nineteen seventies, since grandfatherly Ronald W. Reagan made us forget the stagnation of the Carter administration.We we are in the era of the ultra right strongman, reincarnation of the nineteen twenties, of Mussolini and Hitler. We cleaned up the devastation back then with a liberal resurgence; the coming midterm, polls indicate, might be a cleansing with millennials, half of whom are not religious and many of whom espouse socialism, entering the ranks of the leaders. When times are tough, people turn to Caesar, and away from the republic. When they are good, we expand our hearts and minds and return to progressive intentions. We have much to which to look forward.

Doing As We Say, Not As We Do

BEFORE THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION against their British overlords, many prominent colonists, among them Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, opined that the London government was trying to reduce the colonies to a condition of enslavement. Jefferson and Washington were certainly in a position to have an expert opinion on slavery. Slave masters themselves, albeit lenient ones, fretting about the unlikely possibility of themselves being reduced to bondage by someone four thousand miles away. That's rich. That's paranoid. And its an example of how people see the world, and the threats it harbors, according to their own behavior and experiences in treating others. Thomas Jefferson was nothing if not a hypocrite but, you gotta love a man who catalogued ever insect which landed on his Madeira. In point of fact, the British imperialists administered its colonies quite leniently by the standards of the day, and by historical standards. Even more humorously, in the long list of grievances enumerated by Jefferson in the original draft of the Declaration of Independence, is that the king of England allowed the slave trade to flourish in the colonies; essentially, that his majesty, in so doing, allowed or even required Jefferson and Washington and their social class to own slaves, thus burdening them with an immoral lifestyle. Rich indeed. They had the good sense to strike it, but the "all men are created eaual' part stands testiment to this day of the power of compartmentalization. We fast forward to present day politics, and we see Trump, tweeting in all caps, threatening to unleash hell itself upon Iran if they ever threaten the United States again. A threat to retaliate against a threat. American hypocrisy springs eternal. Then, there was something known as the "Monroe Doctrine", a bold American threat to Europe to remain aloof from western hemispheric affairs, emboldened by the revolt of Spain's colonies south of the Rio Grande. now, we seen China, insinuating itself into central America, dealing to build its own competitor to the Panama Canal. We haven't heard Trump tweeting anything about that enterprise. America threats are hollow. The American president is a real bad ass seated in the back seat of a limo, smart phone in hand, far from the middle east. Iran knows, we know, the world knows, that the Iranian government can do all the blustery threatening it likes, and there aint a damned thing Trump is going to do about it. he hasn't the support, and we haven't the political will to fight the mother of all wars. Trump has more urgent concerns, in particular , involving the apparent willingness of his former attorney to stop taking bullets for the don, and to start some serious talk with the feds, concerning arrangements with foreign powers.

Using Up Phosphorous

FIRST, THE BAD NEWS. It is estimated that, at the current rate of consumption, the world's supply of the chemical element phosphorous will be exhausted within fifty years. Estimates vary, anywhere from thirty to a hundred years, pick your scientist. The good news is that we might be able to do something about it, assuming that long term weather patters permit our existence, let alone phosphorous reclamation. The chemical is known as "phosphate" in its usable form, number fifteen on ye olde periodic table of the elements, designated by the letter "P", appropriately. Deeply embedded in and integral to all DNA, it is essential for the proper functioning of DNA, hence, life itself. We use it primarily for fertilizer, in which the chemical is absorbed by plants, and transmitted to animals. Seventy five percent of the world's supply is mined in Morocco, whose government, understandably, is very secretive about and very protective of its valuable resource. Fertilizer is overused, resulting in ninety percent of all phosphorous ending up in the ocean, unreclaimable. therein lies the rub. In the seventeenth century alchemists busily sought ways of turning lead into gold, and anything else into phosphorous. One clever gent collected an vast vat filled abundance of human urine, boiled it down, and the remaining waxy material turned out to be...phosphorous. Modern chemists are no less enterprising. There is a lady in Vermont who has her yard filled with large containers of human urine, wherein she gets her supply. Yes, you are thinking what scientists are thinking: recycle our liquid waste, and its off to the races, phosphorously. Why let all that good yellow pee go down the drain, uselessly? Save the pee! urine is remarkably free of pathogens, unlike poop, so, never the twain shall meet, and, with a little luck and good solid chemistry, we'll be forever drinking water, taking vitamins, and letting our yellow streams do our work. Happy planting.

Facing Reality, For Once

IN SWEDEN, dozens of forest fires sweep across the country, as the most severe drought and most severe heat wave in history envelope northern Europe. Above the arctic circle, the temperature reached ninety degrees, at a time of year when the average temperature is usually in the fifties. This is not a one hundred year event, nor a one thousand year event. This is something which has truly never before occurred. Temperatures around the world are reaching new highs; one hundred and fifteen degrees in Iraq, one hundred and two degrees in Tokyo, over one hundred degrees at night in Dallas. Fire season now extends year round in the United States. All this is exactly in accordance with predictions and computer model projections. And its going to get worse, fast. The planet is warming at a rate which shocks and surprises climate scientists each time new studies of it are completed. The potential for causing climate change by injecting large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere has been known for two hundred years, and the reality of it has been known to the world, verified, since 1988, the year NASA scientist James Hanson testified in Congress about the problem. This is the thirtieth anniversary of the year in which the world was told about man made climate change, the thirtieth anniversary of the year in which strong action should have begun, which means that by now the world should have been well on its way to solving the problem, well on its way to replacing fossil fuels with sustainable, environmentally harmless energy sources, such as solar and wind power. by now, the one trillion trees we should have planted should be mature, converting carbon to fresh air. And yet, we still lag behind, largely because the United States has failed to provide necessary leadership. The United States has elected a president who denies climate change, and has abandoned the Paris climate change agreement, even though its own Defense Department lists climate change as the greatest threat to American national security, even though the major fuel companies, such as Exxon-Mobil acknowledge its reality. We had expected our grandchildren and great grandchildren to suffer the consequences of our actions; it now turns out that we shall suffer them, which, in a sense, is only fitting and proper. Thomas Jefferson said it best: "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that his justice cannot sleep forever". It appears that god's justice is awakening far sooner than expected.

Finding The Truly Deranged

THE NEWEST RIGHT WING ploy is the claim that all of the recent criticism of President Trump's policies and behavior is a symptom of "Trump Derangement Syndrome", an obsessive hatred of Trump, supposedly precipitating a never ending stream of negative criticism, utterly without merit, based entirely on out of control emotions. None of the criticism therefore,, so the ploy goes, is valid intellectually. Perhaps a quick review of the actual criticism, the most frequent complaints registered against Trump, would reveal whether the source is derangement, or fact. Much of Trump's detractors accuse the president of being an habitual liar. Whether that's true, see for yourself. You can google "Trump's lies", or read back over his tweets, if you can do so without becoming nauseated. A great deal has been made about Trump allegedly mistreating women. Listen to the famous "Access Hollywood" tape, and see for yourself. Information can maybe be gained by typing in the key words "sexual harassment claims against Trump". The internet is a wonderful tool. America's truly deranged have tended more towards attacking Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Again, search the web. Look for any indication of criminal activity on the part of Hillary Clinton. Check arrest records, indictments, convictions, sentencing arrangements. You of course will find nothing. Clinton may be a shrill woman, with a cold personality and liberal values, but in point of fact she has never had so much as a parking ticket or an overdue library book. That' a fact, a matter of public record. You'll remember that during most or all of Trump's campaign rallies, he led the crowd in a chant of "lock her up!". For what, they never specified, because they couldn't. Lock her up....because conservatives hate her? Or because Trump supporters are the truly deranged? What comes to mind about Obama is that his haters, mostly the same folks who supported and support Trump and want to lock up Hillary for being hated by deranged people, accuse Obama of being a Muslim, and of being born in Africa. That's basically all they have on him, all you hear against him. that's it. Demonstrably, provably, neither of these accusations is true, and in any event, even if they were, so what? Being born in Africa is an accusation made by a deranged racist. Of those, unfortunately, this country is full. But none of them oppose Trump.

Clearing Up Trump

THE MYSTERY HAS BEEN SOLVED, and much to the relief of mainstream America, it turns out that President Trump did not in fact surrender to the Russians while speaking with President Putin in Finland. We all thought he said "Mr. Putin denies Russian involvement in our elections very strongly, a very, very strong denial, and I don't see any reason why they would". (interfere). But that isn't what he meant to say. What he meant to say was "I don't see any reason why they Russians/Putin) wouldn't (interfere). Thus, Trump was not actually throwing his country beneath the bus in favor of agreeing with Putin's lie, but rather, he was standing up to the dictator, challenging him, accusing him of committing cyber aggression and lying about it. What a relief. What a relief to know that yes, indeed, our president is, after all, a bad ass who stands up for America. All because he accidently said the word "would", instead of the word "wouldn't". You can almost imagine a ten year old version of little Donnie, getting out of the back seat of the limo, strutting into his elite private school, facing the teacher, and proclaiming: 'the dog ate my homework" - and being believed. Believed, or else. He and his advisers must have spent the entire trip homne thinking that one up. The damage control must have begun almost immediately after the apparent surrender, becasue within minutes of the utterance, America, both left and right, began pitching a fit. But it was all in vain, the fit pitching.

Hunting Witches

VLADIMIR "the Impaler" Putin told President trump, face to face, that he absolutely did not meddle in the 2016 American election, and Trump took his word for it. Simultaneously, by inference, Trump is calling the American government, which assures us that the Russians did indeed meddle, and extensively at that, incompetent, or corrupt, dishonest, or all the above. Now, it will be interesting to see what kind of lame, phony, crazy excuses his supporters make, trying to get Trump out of trouble, out of treason. Some of his staunchest allies in Congress are condemning the journalists for putting Trump on the spot by asking a provocative question, an incredibly weak ploy. Presumably it would have been rude to ask Hitler to explain his bombing of London. According to the American president, the Russian dictator tells the truth, and the american government lies. What a patriot, that Trump. Nobody can recall any American president ever selling out his country so blatantly, ever before. Why Trump prefers Putin to the American intelligence gathering community, to the american government, is subject to speculation. Either he is just plain incompetent, stupid, or the Russians have something on him. Something on Trump, as if they offered to help him win the election, he said yes, and they worked together, Russians and Trump campaign people, to make it happen. This 'witch hunt", teh Muller investigation, has been digging up a considerable number of witches, and the biggest witch of all may be exposed soon.

Rotting Fish

NO SOONER had twelve Russians been indicted by the US Justice Dept for allegedly hacking into American computers in an attempt to help Donald Trump win the election, than president Donald Trump blamed the whole thing on Barack Obama.None of this ever would have happened if Obama had stopped it. Well, Mr. President, the whole thing would never have happened if you had reported it to the FBI when the Russians came to your campaign offering to help you defeat Hillary Clinton. If you had done that, Obama could have stopped it, by getting the FBI and other federal resources involved much sooner, and stopping it then. Trump, blaming it on Obama. that's so crazy, its fishy. Very fishy. There is something rotten in the state of America. Trump has hsi talents, but is utterly corrupt. As teh quote goes: "he shines and stinks like dead mackerel by moonlight". The Muller investigation has been ongoing for over a year, and it just nailed twelve Russians, to add to the other names already indicted. obviously, it has a lot of material to work with, and the fact that Trump's main attorney, who once said that he would take a bullet for Trump, is not cooperating with the feds means that the president himself is being investigated. Ever since the investigation started, Trump has been acting exactly like a guilty person, attacking the investigators, calling it a "witch hunt". He still is. An innocent man would welcome the investigation, correct? Equally interestingly, Trump's supporters, including those to whom I have spoken directly, all act as if they think he is guilty of conspiring with the Russians to beat Hillary, and are tying to distract from that possibility as much as Trump himself. Trump supporters have reason to be fearful. If Trump is shown to be a traitor, they are, make no mistake about it,liable and implicated. They know that too, and they obviously don't like it. Will they stick with him till the end?

Lying Fatigue

YOU GET TIRED OF THE LIES. No, Mr. President, the United States does not contribute ninety percent of the money needed to fund NATO. Its more like twenty two percent. And please quit trying to sell us on the idea that you, Mr. President, put your foot down, insisted that all NATO members start ponying up more, and the very minute you did this, they got the message, began to comply, and all was well with the grand alliance. Fact is, all NATO members made the two percent commitment years ago, and they had all set their current military spending levels before you entered the scene. Our European allies, based on their comments, are rolling their eyes at the American president, and are fully aware that his binge credit seeking is nothing other than mid term election campaign strategy. The lies started early, and came often. The size of the crowds at the inauguration, the thousands of Muslims celebrating the destruction of the World Trade Center...early, and often. Trump is not the only republican afflicted by a pronounced honesty deficit. The Senate majority leader, Mr. Mitch, might have been the president's role model. You'll recall that McConnell refused to conduct hearings on the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court by using as a pretext that he wanted the American people to make the choice, so it was necessary to wait until after the presidential election of 2016. In reality, the American people had nothing to do with it. What Mitch wanted was to give the republicans a chance to capture the White House, and to thus name a conservative justice to the court. The speaker was not upholding the wishes of the American people; he was seeking to implement his own personal political agenda. Among Trump supporters and conservative politicians, lying happens early and often, lying is a way of life.

Being Judicial, Not Ideological

FOR MY MONEY, the new Supreme Court justice is good enough. He seems fine. Intelligent, nice, qualified. He should do well. Still and all, we still have a problem. We must, we simply must get past this diseased attitude that being an ideological conservative constitutes a qualification for service in the high judiciary. It does not. Right wing politics is not the same thing as justice, not the same thing as judicial quality and wise decision making. Conservatives, traditionalists, are truly amazing in how they brand conservatism as justice, as constitutional faithfulness, how they equate capitalism with freedom, religion with virtue, and so forth. Its a long list of propaganda. Justice is perception, open mindedness, fairness, and reason, but it is not conservatism. The reason why a conservative supreme court upheld the constitutionality of Obamacare, and the reason why a conservative court legalized gay marriage is that, in both instances, doing what they did was the right thing to do. In each case the court transcended its inherent and general conservative ideology, and made decision which by their nature were favorable to progressivism. time and again people have been appointed to the high court who were presumed to be rack solid conservatives, only to later, in their renderings, to reveal themselves to be more flexible than that. Liberals need not despair. The United Supreme Court, when push comes to shove, is not at all unwilling to depart from a conservative path, and their is not indication that this is going to change.

Trump, Being Played

ONE MUST GIVE CREDIT when appropriate. Surely even those among us who despise president Trump will concede that his approach to North Korea has a certain nobility of spirit, is more magnanimous than previous "little rocket man" approach. All that, however likely its ultimate futility. It is extremely easy to imagine how republicans would have reacted had Barack Obama taken the exact same approach as Trump, meeting with the dictator, and all that. Obama would have been lynched, just as he was concerning the nuclear agreement with Iran. He would have been accused of being North Korea's puppet, of being played by North Korea, of practically giving them license to maintain their nuclear arsenal. You know that as well as I do. But since Trump is the one playing the patsy, his fans are calling for him to receive the Nobel Peace prize. Too funny. But not so fast. The Secretary of State had but barely boarded his plane to leave North Korea, when the Koreans described his visit as "regrettable", and his behavior as "gangster-like". This, in apparent reference to the fact that the United States is pressing perhaps a bit hard for the immediate and complete elimination of the nuclear stockpile in question; the North Koreans would prefer a more incremental approach. So, until further notice, it appears that all truly is as we suspected, and we are no closer to getting them to disarm than we ever have been. How surprising. The president may have to wait just a bit longer before accepting his Nobel prize.

Discovering the Universe

TWENTY FIVE YEARS AGO nobody had any idea whether there are any planets orbiting other stars. It was the great question of the day. I grew up asking it. Millions of people, new age psychic in touch types, might tell you that they knew all along that the universe is full of stars, planets, and life, but don't believe it; they're all just faking it. I was still asking the question at forty in 1995, when our new powerful telescopes found the first planet orbiting a star other than the sun. I had suspected that I would never live to know the answer, but, suddenly, I did. One thing led to another, and twenty years later we had discovered thousands of planets orbiting other stars. We not only now know that there are indeed other worlds out there, we also know that every single stat in the galaxy has its own solar system of planets in orbit around it, and we further know that many of these planets are earthlike, in size, and in distance from the their stars. Billions of stars, trillions of planets. It appears for all the world(s) that the chancec that some other planet in the universe has life, many more than one, maybe many more than one. There are millions of earthlike planets which look like they might support life. its exciting. It has never been unreasonable to suppose that we are along in the universe. That's where the evidence pointed. Now, however, for the first time, really, it is perfectly reasonable to believe that we are not alone. The planets are there. so too, in all probability, is life. Intelligent life, probably. Every advanced species in the universe, every species which reached a certain level of scientific understanding, probably, like humanity, faces the twin terrors of nuclear weapons and climate change. All life metabolizes energy and creates byproducts which impact the environment. The problem of efficient disposition of harmful by products, such as excess carbon in the atmosphere, which we humans are dealing with now, doubtless arises elsewhere. Perhaps some species solve the problem and survive, and some perhaps do not. We humans are currently making that very decision, not yet having finalized it. My dream now is to discover proof of intelligent life in the universe before I die. I doubt I will live long enough. On the other hand, that's what I said about planets.

Draining Trump's Swamp

SCOTT PRUITT, finally, resigned as EPA director, just as this website predicted several weeks ago . The question is: what took him so long? What else could he do? For Pruitt to ever have been given the job in the first place is a complete travesty. No one in America despises the EPA more than Pruitt, as indicated by his endless litany of lawsuits against the agency filed while he was Attorney General of Oklahoma. He was chosen by Trump for precisely that reason, Trump wanted somebody who hates the agency as much as he does, and who would be wiling to destroy it. He'll still get his presidential wish; Pruitt's replacement will carry on with the same anti-regulatory pro-business agenda, which will please climate change deniers all across the fruited plain. During his brief tenure Pruitt revealed himself to be at best a man without principles or any desire to serve the public, at worst, a criminal. The list of scandals is well known. Tens of thousands of dollars spent on personal security and personal comforts. Dining at the finest restaurants and travel of the most luxurious sort, all at tax payers expense. The sweetheart condominium deal with a business associate who happens to be a lobbyist for the fossil fuel industry. The corruption was enormous, and might eventually have resulted in prison time, and perhaps, still should. In Pruitt's resignation letter, he cited as his reason for leaving an "unrelenting attack" upon himself and his family. The unrelenting attack consisted only of people pointing out verifiable forms of corruption by Pruitt. The letter reveals a complete lack of integrity, as does Trump's praise of the outgoing Pruitt, whom he described as having done an excellent job. An excellent job, indeed, excellent at fleecing the American people. One corrupt Trump appointee down, many more to go, including the big man himself, depending on the outcome of various investigations. Stay tuned.

Being Less Patriotic, At Long Last

ACCORDING TO a new Gallup Poll poll, for the first time in recorded history, less than fifty percent of us the American people self identify as "extremely patriotic". Could it be that patriotism as a civic virtue and cultural phenomenon and emotion, like religion, is finally beginning a slow descent into history's dustbin? "patriotism Corrupts History" said Goethe (1749-1832) by which he may have meant that strong, widespread patriotism is an irrational emotion which causes people to behave violently, aggressively, and destructively, and to justify doing so, in the name of national pride. patriotic displays are an easy way of impressing one's countrymen, winning friends, influencing people. rarely does patriotism need to be proven. Or maybe he meant that as history is written, preserved, taught, and amended, those who do so patriotically, distort it by filling it with unsubstantiated justifications and explanations. Your guess is as good as mine. Globalism might replace nationalistic patriotism with some new sort of planetary patriotism. Like President Reagan said, if the human species were confronted with a threat from an extraterrestrial species, you'd see the entire human race united quicker than a hiccup, and that's quick. but in teh absence of any such external threat, our best hope of transcending fervent nationalism is to unite the species around a common goal, like, say, reversing man made climate change. it would keep us all off the streets, and out of trouble. Not to mention that climate change is a very real threat, indeed more than a threat, because if we do not indeed unite to reverse it, we are all, as they say, toast.

Writing and Reading The Letter

ABAGAIL ADAMS had long lost patience with English imperial rule. she was a well educated, brilliant woman, and the fact that her husband was a public leader enhanced her interest in keeping abreast of current events and the general political situation in the colonies. Like All colonial Americans, she had grown up being indoctrinated with patriotism towards her London overlords; Abagail Adams, like George Washington, like her husband John, like young Thomas Jefferson, like old Benjamin Franklin, like all good Americans, was a loyal and content British subject. That lasted until about the early seventeen sixties, when, at the end of the great was between Britain and France, the second they had fought within a generation, the government in London realized it needed to find ways to pay for it. The American colonies were an easy target, or so they thought, and, as they say, the rest is history. The sudden increases in weird taxes, the simmering resentment, an finally, the outbreak of violence in 1775. By then, Abagail was ready, totally ready, to commit treason and split the scene. In June of 1776 she wrote a letter to husband, who was in Philadelphia at the second continental congress, in which she passionately implored "I long to get word from you that you have declared independency", as they called "independence" in those days. Her letters written over decades, at a national treasure. She, rather than her husband, should have been president. Thus egged on, John Adams was good to go with rebellion, like most of the folks gathered in Philly to discuss the matter. they decided to go for broke, to either hang together or hang separately, as Franklin put it, and selected a five man committee to write the letter to the King informing him of their sudden departure. Adams was on the committee, as were franklin and Jefferson, and Adams and Franklin both knew immediately that Jefferson, the youngest and smartest among them, needed to do the writing. They had to brow beat the kid into doing it, but they did what they had to do, then did some editing when Jefferson presented his draft. Franklin's major change was in replacing Jefferson's term "sacred and undeniable" with the words "self evident", to make it sound more scientific, less religious. Our founders tended to love science and have mixed emotions about religions, much of it negative. The declaration of Independence is a very logical, scientific sounding composition, and the flowery language embellishes the content. this is as good a day as any to read it.

Swinging The Pendullum, Seeking Harmony And Balance

DESPITE THE ADVENT OF TRUMPISM, there is a dull stirring of life on the far North American left. In Mexico, the left wing populist candidate won the presidency, and we hope he doesn't turn out to be or continue to be as much as demagogue as our new crop of right wing populist leaders. Demagouery can come from all sides, the screaming, the hatred of unseen enemies, the attacks on "establishment" institutions. In other good left wing news, a twenty eight year old lady in new York, calling herself a "socialist" won a congressional primary, and will probably end up with a seat in congress. Is the pendulum beginning to swing? It seems likely that come November, conservatives will lose some ground politically, as off year elections, especially with unpopular presidents, usually result in the party out of power making headway. Would left wingers really be happy if all conservative political leaders were swept from power, leaving the world to progressive leadership? Or would conservatives everywhere be pleased if liberal ideologues ceased to exist, except as a few examples consigned to museums? No, probably not. We do not want to live in a world with constant change and no lasting traditions, and certainly a world without change, relying only on traditional institutions and values, would become stagnant. The United States, and the rest of the world, is healthier with a balance of power between left and right, that constant political tension which results in compromise and problem solving. For those of us who reside on the extreme either end of the political spectrum, be careful what you wish for. Although you might not often reflect on it, you need your political opponents as much as you need your friends.

Wrongly Choosing Judges

THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT would like Trump to put people on the supreme court who will overturn Roe v Wade. He'd be happy to do just that, or, if he (Trump) thought he'd benefit personally by appointing a pro choice liberal democrat, he'd do that too. Mr. Flexible. Trump has no core values, for those who haven't noticed. What Trump's supporters fail to grasp is that the president's values do not match their own. Trump is not concerned about core values. He'd gladly become a liberal democrat tomorrow, if he saw personal benefit in so doing, just as he indeed was once upon a time a pro choice democrat. The right wingers who want to overturn Roe v Wade seem to care little about any other issues. As conservatives, they tend to rail against liberal judges who upend existing laws and actively give new interpretations to them, and they call such magistrates "judicial activists", a derisive term. Judicial activism is precisely what conservatives advocate in wanting to set aside a law, a woman's right to have an abortion, that has been in effect for forty five years. The American people, and particularly right wingers, seem to have forgotten that personal political ideology is not a qualification for serving as a Supreme Court justice, or a judge at any other level. What matters is not whether a candidate is liberal or conservative, but whether a candidate has demonstrated, over time, a consistent tendency to render justice under law based on facts and reason, rather than personal preferences. We must somehow rid ourselves of the judicial disease according to which conservative judges are considered preferable.

Losing Harley, Dumping Trump

IN CASE YOU TRUMP SUPPORTERS HADN'T NOTICED, the United States is currently involved in a small trade war, with Canada, Europe, and China, simultaneously, we Americans having chosen to start it, by electing a trade warrior to the presidency. And although its still a small war, a quick look at the participants reveals that this little trade war has the potential to grow much larger, and to lead to traditional, violent warfare, or who knows what. American presidents have historically been impressive war mongers, but this one takes the cake, as it were. To simultaneously antagonize such a vast array of the world's most powerful and influential nations by starting a trade war, is, well, impressive. Soon, but not soon enough, more american people will realize that Trump's recipe for "making America great again" is a complete fraud and a complete disaster, and its getting worse. The good folks who work at Harley Davidson already know all this, having been rudely introduced to it just recently. What percentage of the Harley crowd still supports Trump, do you reckon? probably less than before. Before, almost all Harley fold supported Trump, one would think. He seems to be their type. It would be interesting this year to mingle among America's major motorcycle rallies and do a survey on Trump. These people ride Harleys, they voted for Trump, and surely by now they know that Harley Davidson is being ruthlessly driven out of the country, or rather they are choosing to move operations overseas, because of our exciting new little tariff trade war. Maybe the streets of Sturgis, Daytona, and Fayetteville, Arkansas will be filled with thousands of rough looking black clad bikers, wearing T Shirts which say "Bring Back Harley: Dump Trump". Trump owns the tradw war, and all the consequences of it, particularly economic. its really hard to imagine how the trade war is going to create jobs in America, or enrich the American people, including blue collar working class Trump supporters. But, as Mr.Trump likes to say, we'll wait and see.