Stewart Myrent

Just picked up a new book today, "The Problem of Democracy: The Presidents Adams Confront the Cult of Personality", by Nancy Isenberg & Andrew Burstein.  I have read (I believe) 2 biographies of John Adams, not least, the one by David McCullough.  It was great & really highlighted the warm & supportive relationship between John & Abigail Adams.  I have also read 1 biography of John Quincy Adams, which was also great.  John Quincy was, I'm pretty sure, the only ex-president to return, not to the U.S. Senate, but the U.S. House of Representatives, after his presidential term.  He was pretty much the coolest cat, in the history of our democracy.  They were both ardent abolitionists (although the major thrust for early abolitionists was returning the slaves to Africa - as opposed to true equal rights for the African-Americans - this was pretty much true through the time of Lincoln).  I had assumed that the "cult of personality" was going to be related to George Washington, but found from the liner notes that, in the case of John Q., it also related to Andrew Jackson.  Which reminds me, I have been somewhat astounded that more parallels have not been drawn between Trump & Andy Jackson.  They are very much alike, but Trump owns more property. 

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Natasha here - munching on borscht pizza, looking ahead to Cardinals’ return to Wrigley Field this weekend.  

GO CUBSKIES GO! ! !  

Steve Hirschtick and Ace and Orawan were featured on MLB special about Cubs-Cardinals rivalry that aired last night on Fox Sports 1.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Marvin, I am thinking about term limits... it's not a simple issue.

I totally agree Congress members put re election strategy ahead of protecting our democracy to maneuver their way to re election.

From what I hear - in private, some Republican Congress members are in a totally different place than they are in front of the cameras.  They know Trump is undermining the rule of law but somehow rationalize that protecting their seat takes priority over what they know is right for our country -

Justin Amash is a hero - he has the courage of his convictions.

Mitch McConnell is treacherous - he has convictions but he lacks conscience - he has no respect for the rule of law and continues to damage our government.

I don't know how long (how many terms) for representatives and senators to get up to speed? (Some have served as staffers prior to running for office.)

There's no doubt though, that we benefit from the background, experience, stability returning Congress members bring to public service - which is preferable to unelected, unconfirmed bureaucrats pushing the levers of government.

Incumbents have a tremendous advantage -

term limits empower the minority and frustrate the majority...

It's a lot of work but each election voters have the opportunity to impose term limits.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

D-Day soldiers are in Normandy 75 years

after the boldest military invasion in history -

to stop Hitler and give us a “second chance.”

Think how petrified the young soldiers must have been...

75 years later three 90 something vets parachuted (in tandem jumps) into Normandy -

this time to cheers and applause.

D-Day -

a solemn day of remembrance and gratitude,

a day to honor our American heroes (Macron did too)

and pay tribute to our allies.

Donald Henry Kuehn

Writing about the D-Day invasion:

“They were not a perfect generation, the tendency to romanticize them notwithstanding. But they knew, better than their children, better than their children’s children, how to be a country — what it took, what it meant, and why it mattered. They pulled together and believed in something more important to them than their own lives. And so, they were bound to one another in ways unachievable by social media. It is something you and I might find difficult to imagine.

But we owe it to our country to try.”

Leonard Pitts Jr.         The Miami Herald

Thanks, Dad.  

DK

Stewart Myrent

Don, thank you for the Leonard Pitt, Jr. quote.  It does make you think.  I am slogging through "The Problem of Democracy", about both Adams presidents.  I am slogging through, mainly because of not just the difference in speech patterns, from their time 'till now, but also the writing of that time, was quite a bit more erudite & proper, compared to today.  Both John Adams & JQA (abbreviation of John Quincy), were lifelong bibliophiles & spent much of their time during their endless European diplomacy missions, buying older (classic) books, to build their respective libraries.  They both also kept extensive diaries, for decades.  The other reason it's taking so long to get through this book, is the constant references to classic philosophers, going all the way back to Cicero & Tacitus, and many others that followed.  Both of these guys would read these clasical texts in the original Latin or Greek (they were their own translators).  I have to mention that Abigail Adams sent a letter to husband John in March of 1776 (which somehow has become very well known), "...urging the Continental Congress to 'Remember the ladies' is followed by the graver warning, 'Remember that all Men would be tyrants if they could.'"  Her entreaty, of course, fell on deaf ears (including her husband's), because, of course, the Continental Congress did absolutely nothing for the ladies, despite her epistolary talents.  In fact, it would be another 140+ years before women got suffrage.  (Nice work, ladies.)  But I do feel that "Remember the ladies" would be a great clarion call for this upcoming 2020 election.  "Remember the ladies" has a very nice ring to it & I think it's a very special way to memorialize Abigail Adams, who, until Barbara Bush came along, was the only woman to be married to a president & mother to another.  She was almost too cool, and remember, she grew up at a time when educational choices for women were few & far between.  "Remember the ladies"

Alan A. Alop

Nancy Doyle (Sudlow)

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

There's no place like home -

Cubs sweep Cardinals at Wrigley,

Cardinals sweep Cubs at Busch,

Cubs sweep Cardinals at Wrigley,

Cubs-Cardinal rivalry goes on!

According to astronomers it is yet spring,  

though meteorologists say it’s summer.

Cubs and Cardinals next meet

July 30th, 31st, &  August 1st 

at Busch Stadium

in the dog days of summer -

named not for poor pooches

forever seeking shade in the heat

but for the nighttime sky -

in the summer months Sirius,

the Dog Star, brightest star in the sky,

rises and sets with the Sun...

Ancient Greeks noticed,  

took note and theorized

it was the bright, glowing Dog Star

that was adding extra heat.

GO CUBS GO! ! !

Stewart Myrent

Janis, I was very pleased with the results of this past weekend's result from the Cubs/Cardinals series.  I would have settled for a 2-1 series win for the Cubs, but a sweep is that much sweeter, as the Cubs were swept by the Cards in the last series in StL.  So far this season, the home team has won EVERY game in each series.  I'm pretty sure the pennant race is going to come down to the final week of the season.  We'll see.  Alan, I would say that I cannot believe the bullshit that comes out of the Trump administration on a daily basis, but I guess I'm getting used to it, as it is constant & unrelenting, and never has a shred of honesty or truthfulness to it.  I am still extremely worried that Trump will get us engaged in a war, either with North Korea or Iran (I'm betting on Iran), to increase his chances of being re-elected to the presidency in 2020, as opposed to doing it for any benefit to America.  I mean, what's more important?  The future of America, or Trump getting what he wants personally?  Care to make a guess?

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

We don’t need 23 Democratic presidential candidates.  

20 candidates will be on stage over two nights of two night debate June 26th & 27th.

It will be the largest audience the candidates have had access to

and will ramp up the pressure when the cameras are on a candidate to find an opportunity to stand out.

Even limiting the number of candidates on the stage each night, such a large field increases the importance of the debate,

but with little time for reasoned, careful argumentation the debates are less likely than ever to help primary voters figure out who to vote for.

The presidency matters, so does the Senate.  Some of the candidates might wisely consider running to help win the majority in the Senate to oust Mitch McConnell as Senate Majority Leader.

"Mitch McConnell understands it’s all about power - he could care less about lofty words and high ideals.  Coldly and methodically, he uses his power to block widely supported measures such as gun safety and to pack the federal bench with right-wing judges.  

"Who can forget that McConnell refused to schedule hearings for Merrick Garland, ostensibly because the vacancy occurred during an election year.  He recently said if a Supreme Court seat were to come open in 2020, he would hasten to confirm a replacement.  

"McConnell exercises his power to its full extent - charges of hypocrisy do not trouble him.  

“The only way to stop McConnell is for Democrats to win the Senate.”  

with attribution to Eugene Robinson   June 10    The Washington Post

and to Paul Waldman   June 10   The Washington Post

Stewart Myrent

Just finished "The Problem of Democracy" about John Adams & John Q. Adams & every time I picked up the book, I wondered why the title was "The Problem Of Democracy", instead of "The Problem With Democracy", changing the preposition "With" to "Of".  I decided that this choice by the writers had to do with the apparent fact that they were ascribing the problem of democracy, solely to the institution of democracy itself & its inherent problems.   It turns out that the Adamses believed that the major problem of democracy was the development & expansion of the two-party system during the Revolutionary era.  "Abigail Adams understood the problem of American politics.  Campaign by accusation does not ensure political justice; it destroys it.  By 1800, democracy and monarchy were two absolutes in partisan argument.  In the Federalist idiom, the first was indistinguishable from violent protest and incipient anarchy.  In the Republican idiom, the second was rule by the self-anointed, with 'right' not open to debate and free speech and assembly denied.  'Democracy' was read as an absence of order and an excess of popular pressure on government."  "John and Abigail Adams common appraisal at the dawn of a new century leads us to a momentously unresolved question: Does a representative democracy require parties?  The Constitution was written without any rules or regulations for, or restrictions on, parties.  Parties are, therefore, what they say they are and what they want to be."  Some notable excerpts from the book: "John Adams was absent for the birth of his eldest son, and John Quincy was absent from the United States for all four years of his father's presidency: for the election of 1796, for the March 4, 1797, inauguration in Philadelphia, and for his final day in the new Federal City of Washington, D.C., in March 1801.  He spent all of these years in Europe."  Near the end of his father's life (his mother had already passed), but before his election as president, John Quincy returned to Quincy for a visit.  "Home visits were meant as a reprieve, time away from public business.  John Quincy refused a public banquet in his honor at Faneuil Hall in Boston, professedly because he did not want to appear solicitous of popularity.  He rationalized to himself, and suggested as well to his political friends, that if he agreed to be feted in Boston, it would be reported that he had generated artificial enthusiasm for his candidacy.  Better to err on the side of caution and display necessary humility."  This pretty much sums up JQA's viewpoint of life & his total commitment to public service.  "The presidents Adams were consumed not just with 'party spirit', or partisan fervor, but with parties themselves.  They wrote about them incessantly.  The father targeted three outstanding sins associated with parties: (1) as factions, they ultimately served private interests, and were therefore often driven by greed & fame; (2) they exploited the cult of celebrity, by 'trumpeting' (his word) fake talents; (3) relatedly, they were so stuck on the Washington image that they made it a standard for all others, focusing on gestures, going so far as to praise Washington's silence as a 'gift', and privileging the superficial - mere public performance - over words of import.  As a result of the prejudices built into the party system, voters turned men of wealth, or men with recognizable family names, into idols.  To do so was to ignore the real requirements for good government: established expertise and beneficial public service."  Sounds like things haven't changed that much, to me.  And further, "As the late  historian Ralph Ketcham wrote, parties have to stand for something in order to thrive.  But not only that!  'Their main purpose is to gather enough support to seem all things to all people, and to clarify some issues and obscure others, in order to win elections.'  This is the crux of the dilemma that the two Adamses perceived.  It was impossible for parties to be truthful, because parties were driven by the need to win at all costs."   

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Stewart and all, as we ponder John Adams and John Q. Adams and the major problem of democracy (the two-party system), and before debate begins and competitors tango with Joe Biden comes Father's Day -

the major reason for my post: to wish all the men who are dads (and granddads) 

Happy Father's Day

and wish - even if you're not a dad - that you could be at Smugglers' Notch in Vermont -

for a celebration of HOPS & POPS tonight on the Village Green - 

live music, a carnival for kids, good food and local brewers*...

                                      *Lost Nation, Rock Art, and Stowe Cider

and more family time tomorrow.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

a day for dads and their children...  

Happy Father’s Day

“Our diversity is our strength, our unity is our power.”  -- Nancy Pelosi

Stewart, I am reflecting on Nancy Pelosi’s words in light of the Adamses.

Alan A. Alop

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—A leading candidate to replace the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was disqualified after telling the truth repeatedly on his job application, the White House has confirmed.

According to the White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, the candidate got high marks in his job interview by demonstrating “utter disregard and contempt for press freedoms.”

“We then had him do a practice press briefing in which he was relentlessly abusive, obnoxious, and insulting,” Mulvaney said. “We were all, like, ‘This is our guy.’ ”

But after a thorough examination of the candidate’s job application, “a troubling series of truthhoods emerged,” Mulvaney said.

“It turned out that he was telling the truth about his education and previous employment,” the chief of staff said. “It was a pattern of honesty that we found deeply disturbing.”

Mulvaney said that the “inexcusably veracious” answers had eliminated the candidate from further consideration. “We all feel like we just dodged a bullet,” he said. “This whole episode just demonstrates how tough it is to replace Sarah Huckabee Sanders.”

Stewart Myrent

Janis, thank you for the Father's Day wishes to all (males).  I am not yet a grandpa (thankfully, as my daughter is not yet married), but I am a dad.  I was really hoping for a series split with the Dodgers in LA this past weekend, but it was not to be.  Alan, thanks again for another hilarious column from Borowitz.  I just picked up a new release from the library this past weekend, "Accidental Presidents", which studies the eight men who became president, after the death of the previous president, either due to natural causes or assassination.  Of the eight, four succeeded to the presidency, due to assassination of the previous officeholder.  Only one of the eight is featured on Mt. Rushmore & most were related to ignominy.  Only three had terms that I would consider successful, Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Truman & LBJ, two of three succeeding to the presidency, due to assassination.  Will let you know more, after I finish the book.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"If Trump starts a war with Iran, he will have kept none of his promises and created an unimaginable disaster in the Middle East."

The Trump administration has attempted to convince European nations that Iran was responsible for the attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week,

Trump has successfully estranged our allies -

all but the United Kingdom are skeptical of the Trump administration. 

So much for Making America Great Again and the Nobel Peace Prize... (remember he alone can fix it?

Trump has blown up our national security and the security of our world.

Stewart, does Gerald Ford count as #9 ?

*for succeeding Richard Nixon when he resigned the presidency*

Stewart Myrent

No, Janis, Gerald Ford does NOT count as #9, mainly because he did not succeed a president who died in office, either from natural causes or assassination.  He's a special case, as he's the only V.P. to succeed to the presidency, due to the resignation of his predecessor.  Although, if Nixon did not resign, my guess is that Ford would have been the only V.P. to succeed to the presidency, as a result of impeachment of his predecessor.  But, at this point, it's moot.  And he was NOT listed in "Accidental Presidents", as one who attained office, due to the passing of his predecessor.  Glad you've been thinking of the Adamses, as they were, possibly, way before their time.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Trump is looking to run against Hillary again in 2020 --- it’s amazing to see - not to mention seeing Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio sitting together in the 5th row at the Trump launch.

Yesterday - the day Donald Trump was in Orlando to launch his re election campaign, the Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board announced their endorsement for president in 2020, or, at least, who they’re not endorsing: Donald Trump.  

“(Why) eliminate a candidate so far before an election, and before knowing the identity of his opponent?

“Because there’s no point pretending we would ever recommend that readers vote for Trump.  

“After 2 and 1/2 years we’ve seen enough.

“Enough of the chaos, the division, the schoolyard insults, the self-aggrandizement, the corruption, and especially the lies...

“...Through all of this, Trump’s base remains loyal.  Sadly, the truest words Trump might ever have spoken was when he said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose his supporters.”

Stewart Myrent

Yikes, Janis!!!  Tomorrow is the first official day of summer.  It kind of feels like early spring, though.

Stewart Myrent

I've been thinking lately, that Joe Biden is probably going to get the Democratic nomination to run against Trump, as he's leading easily in the polls over Trump, despite the current president's protestations to the contrary.  However, Joe will be 77 before this year is out & 78, before he has a chance to take his place as our 46th president.  Perhaps I am more attuned to this, as I am currently reading the book about "Accidental Presidents".  Bernie Sanders is also leading Trump in the polls (though not by quite as much as Biden), but he's even older than Biden (and Trump).  So, who could be Biden's running mate for the upcoming election?  Well, there's another Democrat who is also leading Trump in the polls & her name is Elizabeth Warren.  I think Hillary thought that picking Warren as her running mate, was too risky.  Two women, you know.  But for Joe Biden, she might be an inspired choice.  First, Joe's age would make it more than possible that he might not survive his first (or possibly second) term.  So, there's probably an even chance that his V.P. might succeed him, despite him making it through two terms.  Also, it would be an unintended gift to this country, to finally have a female head of state.  So, I am proposing the Biden-Warren ticket for the Democrats in 2020.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Yikes, no! Stewart.  It is too early to cede the Democratic nomination to Joe Biden.  Are we sure Joe Biden will win the Democratic primaries and go on to defeat Trump?  There are more than 7 months ‘til the primaries begin and more than 16 months 'til the election.   

Joe Biden is not a woman, and he is not a person of color.  I am not happy he presumes to understand what women experience as the butt of his “Lock Up Your Daughters” "jokes".  Also I heard Joe Biden indignantly tell reporters Cory Booker should apologize to him for challenging his comment (on eve of Juneteenth) about the comity he shared with his segregationist Senate colleagues - "Why?" because Cory Booker knows better, he (Joe) does not have a racist bone in his body.  "Period. Period. Period."

C’mon Joe, I am not overtly racist, but we need to open ourselves to listen and hear the reality of those who find our words hurtful and harmful.   

Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are both falling in the polls.  Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg are both rising in the polls - in fact Elizabeth Warren is leapfrogging over Bernie Sanders to second in the polls and she is striking fear in Joe Biden’s heart.  

It is worth noting how Biden responds when girls grow into women who dare to make him feel uncomfortable.  I was stunned to see Joe Biden swoop into the face of a woman who does not see things Joe’s way.

“Biden has long touted himself as someone who is willing to listen to the other side, to commune with people whose worldviews clash with his own.  Biden does not want to change his perspective and behavior toward much of the country’s populace because, simply put, he thinks he is right and we are wrong.  Over time Joe Biden has mythologized his self-image.  Biden cannot wrap his mind around the idea that perhaps, at certain points in his long and fabled career, he was the bad guy.”   -- Emma Roller

There is video of Joe Biden questioning Elizabeth Warren - maybe you can find it.

Remember when Joe Biden called Barack Obama the first “mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.  I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

Twelve years later Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are both too old to run for president and in eight years Elizabeth Warren will be too old to run.

Stewart Myrent

Janis, dream on.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"Janis, dream on" ? ? ?  What am I dreaming of?  Only wondering "Why?" Stewart, "you’re giving up so easily?"  You've been encouraging everyone to elect a woman president.  Why are you ceding the Democratic nomination to Joe Biden more than 7 months before the first primary? before any of the debates?

Tonight a celebration of the summer solstice on the Village Green at Smugglers' Notch in Vermont - a bonfire & s'mores, Cirque de Fuego, and fireworks against the backdrop of the Green Mountains.

This is Joe Biden's third time running for president and (again) he's stumbling... (right, he'll be 77 before year's end, and 78 before inauguration day January 2021 -

Joe Biden was delivering remarks on the eve of Juneteenth (the day that marks the bitter end of slavery in 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation) -- when he made clear his fondness for James Eastland, a Democratic Senator from Mississippi with a despicable legacy of racial hatred and incitement.  Biden told assembled donors, "I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland - he never called me 'boy,' he always called me 'son'."

"Eastland was a giant in the Senate and an avatar of the darkest racism of the Civil Rights-era South.  He was a plantation owner who championed white supremacy in language that shocks the conscience.  During the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycotts of the mid-1950s, Eastland appeared at a rally of the White Citizens Council to deliver remarks that stopped just short of a call for racial genocide.  As memorialized by the historian Robert Caro, Eastland said: 'In every stage of the bus boycott we have been oppressed and degraded because of black, slimy, juicy, unbearably stinking n*ggers ... African flesh-eaters.  When in the course of human events it becomes necessary to abolish the Negro race, proper methods should be used.  Among these are guns, bows and arrows, slingshots, and knives... All whites are created equal with certain rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of dead n*ggers'."

I agree with Cory Booker who said: "You don't joke about calling black men 'boys.'  Men like James O. Eastland used words like that, and the racist policies that accompanied them, to perpetuate white supremacy and strip black Americans of our very humanity."

I agree with Cory Booker saying that Joe Biden was "wrong" for pointing to his relationships with segregationists "as examples of how to bring our country together.  I am disappointed he hasn't issued an immediate apology for the pain his words are dredging up for many Americans."

Stewart, do you understand why Joe Biden finds it so difficult to reframe his remarks praising a segregationist?

Do you agree that Cory Booker has more credibility than Joe Biden to take the lead in a dialogue about race in America?

No one can be sure how the 2020 race will shake out and who will be on top in the nominating process.

The coming months will show whether Elizabeth Warren can continue to maintain her political momentum,

whether Cory Booker might get some traction, break through in the polls, and pull in new donors -

Who knows who might surge and turn the race upside down in the coming months?

As to your proposal for the 2020 Democratic presidential ticket, why settle now and foreclose the opportunity for a new candidate to emerge?

I'm not dreaming, Stewart. 

I am ready for a new generation of leadership - prepared to pay attention, to listen to the presidential candidates -

the first debate is over two nights this coming week -

Wednesday, June 26th, and Thursday, June 27th 

with attribution to Tim Dickinson   June 19, 2019     RollingStone

Stewart Myrent

Well, we'll see how this all shakes out down the road, but I am not willing to give our female citizens the benefit of the doubt, as to their ability to nominate a female presidential candidate, let alone actually get her elected.  The reason I am saying this, is how many female presidential candidates have we had from a major party - one.  And how many have been elected - NONE.  That's right, I am putting the onus of this, squarely on the shoulders of the women of the country.  I am saying this, as I've said before, because in 100 years, women have not been able to elect a woman president.  How is this possible?  You women represent over 50% of the electorate.  What I am really saying, is that it's not just men who are leery of a female president.  The real reason that a woman has not been elected president, is because of women, who (like their male counterparts), for some weird reason, are also not trusting enough in the female psyche, to elect a woman president.  I do believe that in the 2016 election, you had a Democratic candidate, who was the most qualified to be president, in our history.  But, still, she could not get elected.  So, I blame you women for that unfortunate outcome, that led us to having the (almost) biggest boob, to ever sit in the Oval Office.  So, until something changes, in the minds of women, if you think that Elizabeth Warren, or any other woman, has a chance in hell of being elected president, I say dream on.