Apologies to my readers for my
delay for this entry, but my detention in the Bernie Sanders ward at the FDR Sanitarium
for Left-Leaning Liberals was longer than I originally expected. Oh, I wasn’t in isolation all weekend. I was granted a day pass to attend a town hall
meeting with Warrior Queen to meet our House
Representative Brendan Boyle (D).
Boyle is a young man of forty, and
extremely articulate in the ways of federal legislation. The meeting was cordial, civilized and
respectful, unlike meetings which Republican congress people have held with
their public. There were no protestors present and no shouting
down the host by angry constituents. In
other words, it was democracy in action as
it was intended to be. Unfortunately
this meant the local media had very
little to report: civilized meetings are so ho-hum on the 11:00 o’clock news and draw
very few shares on YouTube.
The meeting began with a few
members from the local American Legion leading those in attendance in the Pledge
of Allegiance. Even Warrior Queen stood
and placed her hand on her breast. Naturally she couldn’t resist raising a fist
in deference to the Resistance at the
end, but I don’t know if anyone noticed her
additional gesture.
So the town hall might have been a
bust for the radio and television station that showed up to record the event, but
otherwise it was very informative. We affirmed that Boyle’s position on
the issues were in synch with ours. He
reassured us that the cries of Social Security being imminently insolvent is
not true (we are fully funded until 2037); he is a big supporter of LGBTQ
rights, and does not see any way we could have a do over the 2016
election. Even if we prove that Russia
did irremovable interfered in our election, it would not be a good idea to have
a second election for 2016. It could
backfire (Trump could conceivably get more popular votes on a do over election)
and besides the Constitution won’t allow it.
In contrast to the quiet civility
of the town hall meeting we are now dealing with the saber rattling between two
immensely mentally disturbed individuals: Kim Jung Un and our President. There is something terribly wrong when our
American leader uses terms like “fire and fury” in a public statement against a
potential belligerent. Now this is
something to warm the ratings of the media and YouTube.
Just to put this all in
perspective, what if Kennedy had a different reaction when he learned that the
USSR had placed missiles in Cuba in 1962.
Instead of pursuing the behind the scenes give-and-take negotiations of
diplomacy to avert the crisis, what if he just went on national television and
said, “Bring it on, Nikita!” Chances
are the world would not have existed long enough to see 1963.
If the President was a reader I
would suggest that he read John Hersey’s Hiroshima while he motors between golf
holes in his cart. It’s a short book,
should not be too terribly taxing on his short-attention span thinking, and presents
a good once-and-for-all argument against ever using nuclear weapons again. If only he were a reader and not a Twitter
writer...
So just in case the shouting back
and forth between America and North Korea gets worse and escalates to the worst
case scenario for mankind, let me conclude with this sentiment.
It was nice knowing y’all!
(Thank for reading. In this space next week, a handy list of
potable water sources in a post-nuclear apocalypse world.)
