Removing Confederate monuments.

Some States have begun the process of removing Confederate statues and monuments.  Other States are still debating and Alabama passed a law to protect Confederate monuments from removal.  One of the arguments for preserving those monuments is that they represent part of history.  After all, there have been countless numbers of statues and monuments erected throughout our country to commemorate a person, a people and/or a significant event.  So what is the problem with the Confederate monuments and why do people want them removed?

Statues and monuments are erected to honor a person, people and/or events or to remember something tragic.  So what's wrong with having Confederate statues and monuments to honor those who fought for the Confederacy?  There is no honor in fighting a war to keep a race enslaved.  There is no honor in fighting a war to destroy a country.  There is no honor in erecting statues and monuments as testaments to white power and white superiority.  There is no honor in erecting statues and monuments as a way to remind a race of people that they are former slaves or the descendants of former slaves and will always be inferior.  There is nothing brave, courageous or righteous about fighting for, shedding blood for or dying for the right to own another human being. 

So what is the history that these statues and monuments represent that deserves to be protected, preserved and honored?  A history of enslaving a race of people.  A history of fighting for the right to own another human being.  A history of fighting to tear apart the world's first democratic form of government.  A history of fighting to say that all people are not created equal?  A history of fighting for white superiority and power.  Is that really a history worth honoring and preserving?

Hillary Clinton's supporters will not be silenced or dismissed

The media has featured various stories about those who voted for the current President.  The focus of the stories tends to be about the fact that those who voted for the current President still support him even though his policies and those of the Republican controlled Congress will likely hurt them.  Once in awhile the media will talk to people who now regret their choice.  But those are few and far between.  The media also focuses on the most progressive members of the Democratic party and have come to the conclusion that not only should Hillary Clinton be silent, but that her own party wants her to be silent.  She no longer has a reason to speak unless she is finally willing to accept complete and total blame for her loss.  After which she must be forever silent.  But Hillary Clinton is not the only one the media as well as those on the right and some on the left want to silence.  They also want to silence those of us who support her.  How many times has the media interviewed or written about Hillary Clinton's supporters?  Maybe a story or two, but other than that, Hillary Clinton's supporters have been dismissed as no longer important, not worth talking to or listening to any more.

Perhaps the lack of media coverage of Hillary Clinton's supporters gives the impression that her supporters have dispersed, are no longer engaged, just do not care any more, have accepted their fate and moved on to other things.  Such suppositions might seem quite right, but are in fact quite wrong.  We are alive and well and very vocal on social media, particularly Twitter.  We care about what is going on our country.  We are angry because we know that much of what is happening could have or would have been prevented by the election of Hillary Clinton.  Oh yes, there is always that specter of the unending investigations and stalled legislation if she had been victorious and the Republicans maintained control of Congress.  But there would not have been executive orders undoing what President Obama had done.  There would not have been families torn apart by ICE agents.  There would not have been a travel ban.  There would not been a withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement.  The Republican "repeal and replace" healthcare plan would have been vetoed.  The list goes on and on.

But we are not merely rehashing the election and lamenting what could have been.  We are raising our voices and using social media to speak truth to power.  We are calling out the leaders of the Democratic party who seek to silence us and reminding those leaders that we will not be silenced nor dismissed.  We are not some little group who can be dismissed as unimportant.  We are a big diverse group and we vote.  Yes, we are still with Hillary Clinton.  We are still listening to her because she has the wisdom, knowledge and experience to guide us through these difficult times as one of the Democratic party's leaders.  She was not a weak candidate and the media and others saying that over and over again will never make it true.  Hillary Clinton has withstood an onslaught of lies and rumors that has lasted over thirty years.  She chose Rachel Platten's "Fight Song" as one of her main campaign anthems because that is what she has always done: continue the fight for the voiceless.   She will never be silenced or dismissed and neither will those of us who stand with her.

The American Flag

 In a column published July 6, 1970 and then included in her book, I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression, Erma Bombeck wrote about the American Flag.  She wrote because of something she had seen on television.  A group students and New York construction workers had an altercation and part of it involved the American flag.  The students referred to the American Flag as the construction workers' Flag and symbol.  What struck Erma Bombeck most was the students did not think of the flag as their flag or symbol.
    As a parent, I guess I always thought respect for the flag was congenital. Is it possible I was so busy teaching the basics, I never took the time to teach “flag.”

     She included in her column a few well known quotes along with her own words about what she was saying to her children instead of teaching "flag".

“Oh say can you see by the dawn’s early light.…”

(Don’t slouch. Pick up your feet. Don’t talk with food in your mouth. Stop squinting. Turn that radio down. Get off the phone. Tie that shoestring before you trip on it.”)

     She then ended with these words:

Did I forget to tell them it was their flag they hoisted over Mount Suribachi? Their flag that flies over champions at the Olympics? Their flag that draped the coffin of John F. Kennedy? Their flag that was planted in the windless atmosphere of the moon? It’s pride. It’s love. It’s goose bumps. It’s tears. It’s determination. It’s a torch that is passed from one generation to another.

I defy you to look at it and tell me you feel nothing.

On July 4, 2017 I watched the end of the Boston Pops concert.  As they played and sang "You're a Grand Ole Flag" an American Flag unfurled behind the orchestra.  I thought about the Flag, what it means and what is has endured throughout the years.  It is more than just a decorated piece of cloth.  The Flag has been stepped on and burned by people to protest inequality and discrimination and it it has been revered by people who seek to deny equality to and discriminate against others. It has been a source of controversy as people argue over whether pledging allegiance to the Flag is a form of indoctrination or an act of patriotism.  It has draped the coffins of those selfless men and women who served in our military and been derided by those who oppose democracy.  The American Flag is given to new citizens when they take the citizenship oath and the American Flag is waved by nativists who want immigrants to go back to their countries.  It represents the best the United States of America can be and the worst the United States of America can be.  But through it all, just as it did during the battle Francis Scott Key witnessed, the American Flag has endured, just as the the country has and just as the Constitution has.  We can let the conservatives continue to claim the American Flag as their own or we can take it back, wave it proudly, and let it lead us forward as we continue to move toward that "more perfect union".


 

(The link is to the online text of Erma Bombeck's book.  Scroll down toward the end to read Flag)

July 4, 2017

July Fourth has always been one of my favorite holidays.  As a patriotic. flag-waving democrat who loves her country (yes, we Democrats do LOVE our country and our flag) and its history and studies early American political history, early American Constitutional history and President Lincoln, I celebrate the birth of our country and the very beginnings of our republic.  Many people tend to think of the War for Independence in terms of the issue of taxation.  While that is true, that is not the only grievance the colonists had against King George III..  They also listed among their grievances that the King "refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good" and "excited domestic insurrections amongst us."  Once the colonists signed the Declaration and publicly declared independence, they were, of course, guilty of treason for renouncing the authority of the King.  The outcome of the war was not certain.  They faced a Royal military that was well armed and well trained.  If they were defeated, they could very well lose their lives.  As Benjamin Franklin wrote before signing the Declaration of Independence "We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately." 

Two hundred forty-one years later, we are nation questioning whether our Federal government and whether our Constitution are still strong enough to withstand the events taking place now.  There is an assault of the press from the office of the Presidency.  What are we to do about that?  Can that really happen?  Perhaps the answer can be found in the past, in the attempt by President John Adams to silence the press as well as any opposition to the Adams administration through the Alien and Sedition Acts which made any public negative commentary on the the Federal government illegal.   The Acts also made immigration and naturalization more difficult.  The Acts were enforced during Adams presidency, but effectively ended with the election of Thomas Jefferson.

Are we facing a moment in time when we, like the colonists, must form a new government through revolution?  No, despite how dire the situation may be or even seem to be, our Constitution, will continue to be strong enough to survive. We must remember that the Constitution is a document. a blueprint, for the way government ought to work.  But as we know all too well from our country's history, and from its Civil War, making government work as well as protecting and preserving the Union requires everyone's participation.  Members of Congress must understand that their oath of office to defend the Constitution must take prority over their allegiance to their party.  As Joan Walsh noted during her appearance on the Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell on July 3, 2017, the framers of the Constitution never thought members of Congress would not do their job.  Anyone who might doubt Joan's assessment can read the James Madison authored Federalist number 10 in which Madison  wrote "When a majority is included in a faction, the form of popular government, on the other hand, enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens."  When that does not happen, then the voters must use the power they have been given to elect members of Congress who will do what is best for the country.

Two hundred forty-one years ago, a group of men were willing to risk their lives to give birth to our country.  One hundred fifty-six years ago President Abraham Lincoln accepted war to preserve our country, our Constitution and our Federal government.  On July 4, 2017, let us honor those who gave their lives and those who risked everything to create and preserve our country by holding our members of Congress accountable by demanding they protect and defend our Constitution, work together to pass laws which will do the most good for the most people and use our power to vote them out of office if they refuse.