SCOTUS, What Scalia said. In his NY Times article, Adam Liptak notes that now deceased Justice Scalia did have some thoughts about the court's current composition which he "voiced" in his dissent in the recent same sex marriage case, Obergefell, et. al. v Hodges, et. al. His comments about he and his colleagues are surprising and worth noting.
China, 2016. Once upon a time the Pacific was considered the "US Pond," safely under the control of the US 7th Fleet and nuclear submarines. That was then; this story from Foreign Policy is about the present, when it is a very different ball game.
Sweden and immigration. "The Death of the Most Generous Nation on Earth" (Foreign Policy, James Traub, February 10) is the story of Sweden's evolving response to the seemingly unending streams fleeing the Syrian violence. In fact, the modern history of Sweden's acceptance of refugees is lengthy, including its ready acceptance before WW II of many of Denmark's otherwise doomed Jews.
Sweden did not need to sign treaties — though it did, of course — to demonstrate its commitment to refugees. Par Frohnert, coeditor of a book on Swedish refugee policy whose English translation is titled Reaching a State of Hope, says that while Sweden jealously guarded its ethnic homogeneity through the 1930s, in 1942 the country began admitting Norwegians fleeing the Nazis. Then came Estonians and other Balts, and then Danish Jews. As Sweden began to build its social democratic state after the war, the ready acceptance of refugees became a symbol of the national commitment to moral principle
"Who are we?" In his NYT opinion piece, Thomas Friedman asks the question and continues,
If I were given a blank sheet of paper and told to write down America’s three greatest sources of strength, they would be “a culture of entrepreneurship,” “an ethic of pluralism” and the “quality of our governing institutions....What we have in America is so amazing — a pluralistic society with pluralism. Syria and Iraq are pluralistic societies without pluralism. They can only be governed by an iron fist....Just to remind again: We have twice elected a black man whose grandfather was a Muslim and who defeated a woman to run against a Mormon! Who does that? That is such a source of strength, such a magnet for the best talent in the world....America didn’t become the richest country in the world by practicing socialism [Sanders], or the strongest country by denigrating its governing institutions [Cruz], or the most talent-filled country by stoking fear of immigrants [Trump]. It got here via the motto “E Pluribus Unum” — Out of Many, One. (candidates' names added)
It is unfortunate that so many Americans do not share this point of view. Candidate Trump and many of his followers exclaim that we have to make America great -- again -- by expelling people living here peacefully or wanting to seek shelter here. I seem to remember a phrase very much connected with America's uniqueness, "a city on a hill" (Matthew 5:14 and Puritan John Winthrop's 1630 sermon "A Model of Christian Charity")
Conservative columnist, Michael Gerson, "Donald Trump and the politics of the middle finger," notes that following Trump "...assumes that practices we know are wrong in our private lives — contempt, mockery, cruelty, prejudice — are somehow justified in our political lives. It requires us to embrace views and tactics that we would never teach our children...Our circumstance is sometimes compared to William F. Buckley Jr.’s public shunning of the John Birch Society — the extreme conservatives of their day."
Free wi-fi and political parties. Jill Lapore wonders "Is the new populism about the message or the medium?" She notes, "[T]his may be the first Presidential-primary season with free Wi-Fi pretty much everywhere. The party system, like just about every other old-line industry and institution, is struggling to survive a communications revolution. Accelerated political communication can have all manner of good effects for democracy, spreading news about rallies, for instance, or getting hundreds of thousands of signatures on a petition lickety-split. Less often noticed are the ill effects, which include the atomizing of the electorate."
The article also notes earlier advances in communications technology that impacted the social/political process: printing press (Martin Luther), Andrew Jackson's campaign biography (1832), better printing technology (1833), telegraph (1840s), illustrated newspapers (1850s), direct campaigning, telephone and linotype (1880s), election polling (1932), etc. At each juncture the elites were put at risk of losing control.
So much so, that 2016 might be deemed (to date at least) the ultimate anti-elite/establishment contest for the leaders of both political parties.
Electoral College math. Prior to the NV caucuses (Saturday, Feb 20), Hillary Clinton said both she and Senator Sanders had each "won one" (IA and NH, respectively), so there are 48 to go. Wrong! She forgot the District of Columbia, which has a voice: 3 electoral votes (23rd Amendment), though no actual voting representatives or senators. Then there the American territories, which have no electoral clout, but still voice their 'druthers.
Electoral College votes are are won winner-take-all in 46 states and the District of Columbia, while votes in Maine (4) and Nebraska (5) are awarded proportionally.
"In the current Electoral College battlefield, 40 of 50 states have voted for the same candidate in all four elections since 2000." The link notes additional electoral oddities.
Tipping point? If you worry about the future, see this story from The American Thinker.
An unusual winter, to say the least. Even though it is mid-February, moving back and forth between Denver and Breckenridge has seemed like moving between spring and late winter. For most of February, temperatures in the city have only rarely been below 40 during the day and have pushed towards 70 more than once. It has been unseasonably warm in Breckenridge, though there has been enough intermittent snow and cold nighttime temperatures that the snow is ski-able. On several days the high winds have closed some of the ski lifts, produced grass fires in/around the city, and partially torn apart the massive IKEA sign along I-25, just west of Centennial Airport.
Presidential considerations. As you ponder your choices for the 45th President on November 8th, consider:
- Whose finger do you want on the US nuclear button?
- Whom do you want sitting across the negotiating table from Vladimir Putin or his likes?
- Whom do you want handling with a sudden, unexpected crisis involving an unstable and nuclear-armed Pakistan or North Korea?
- Who do you want dealing with the next (115th) Congress, one controlled by either party?
No comments:
Post a Comment