Success at Weisstock

Weisstock, Weisport’s answer to Woodstock, was held yesterday and today in the Borough Park.  It is not to be confused with an earlier festival held in Weissport called “the Redneck Festival,” which started out as a fun event. Linda and I had a booth at the first one labeled “Rednecks for Obama” which drew a lot of positive attention.  Unfortunately in subsequent years the Redneck Festival degenerated into a biker convention with confederate flags and a raffle for an assault rifle, and the plug was pulled about six years ago.

Weisstock features stands run by local groups, non-profits selling items, and area bands, and it is very much a family-oriented affair, run to raise money for community projects.  The County Dems and Reeps both had booths.  

Ours was very successful.  We registered two Democrats, had one change from Republican to Democrat, took five Harris sign orders, got three people to leave their names and numbers for contacts from the County’s “Lively Liberals,” and received thumbs up and positive comments from a surprisingly large number of people.

It was a great weekend for Democrats.  

Jill Stein, Traitor to the Green Party cause

I believed very strongly in most of the Ten Key Values of the Green Party at the time I joined it.  How could I not support “Social Justice and Equal Opportunity” or “Feminism and Gender Equality” or “Personal and Global Responsibility.”  On some I was not totally committed; for example, “Decentralization” or “Non-Violence,” but I could live with them.  

I know that Donald Trump does not support a single one of the Ten Key Values.  Not one.

In Wisconsin in 2026, when Jill Stein ran for President and got 31,072 votes, Hillary Clinton lost to Trump by 22,748 votes, Stein threw that state to Donald Trump, the antithesis of the Green Party ideology and the Ten Key Values.

Ralph Nader did the same thing on a national scale to Al Gore in 2000.  It was one of the main reasons I quit the party.  The goals of a party are important to me.  Not the candidates, the goals.  “Eyes on the Prize.”  Donald Trump denied the whole idea of global warming.  He was the most anti-environmental president we’ve ever had.  For an “environmentalist” to aid his re-election in any way betrays either stupidity or personal egotism. 

Stein is running in Wisconsin again this year.

Poor Baby, they stole his Trump sign

Last evening some guy was on the local news complaining that some nasty person had stolen his Trump sign from his yard.  He actually called the police about this.  If you really “back the blue,” as Trump cultists always claim they do, don’t waste the time of local law enforcement personnel by reporting a stolen yard sign.  

We didn’t call the cops when in 2020 the Trumpists painted obscenities on a large Biden sign on Mahoning Drive, or stole the large sign on 443, or smashed the one in Towamensing on 209, or threw dog or cat crap on our lawn (they did leave it in a plastic bag, which was thoughtful), or took literally dozens of signs from people’s lawns all over Carbon County.  

Some Trump voters take their behavioral cues from their leader, who also doesn’t know how to act.  Just a few days ago he gave a “thumbs up” at a grave site in Arlington National Cemetery!  So, when your Harris signs are stolen, just remember the type of people we are dealing with.  You can replace them with a home-made one I’ve seen:  “They can steal my sign, but they can’t steal my vote.”

(Although now the Republican government in Texas is trying to do that as well.)

A one-act play entitled "Purple Heart"

 The cast:

General George Patton

Donald Trump

The scene:

A ward in Walter Reed Hospital.  General Patton is walking among wounded soldiers and comes across one sitting on a bed watching a golf tournament.  He stops.

Patton:  And what happened to you, soldier?

Trump:  Well sir, I was nicked in the ear by a piece of broken teleprompter when somebody shot at me.  

Patton:  Were there other wounds?

Trump:  Well, no.  But I do have bone spurs.  Bad bone spurs.  The worst bone spurs ever.  When do I get my purple heart?

This exchange is followed by Gen. Patton slapping, punching, and butt kicking.

The new Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

The original Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are found in Chapter 6 of the book of Revelations.  The horses they rode were white, red, black, and “pale.”  I’m not getting into the various theological interpretations, but the pale one is usually thought to symbolize death.

Now, according to Condoleezza Rice in an article entitled “The Perils of Isolationism,” in the Sept.-Oct. issue of Foreign Affairs, we have new Horsemen.  She says they tend to ride together.  They are, according to Dr. Rice, populism, nativism, isolationism, and protectionism.  

Interestingly, all four seem to be out of their stables in the United States.

Malcolm Kenyatta, candidate for Attorney General

Over the noon hour I attended a “Meet and Greet” for Malcolm Kenyatta at the Democratic Information Center in Jim Thorpe.  I was worried that a noon rally on a Monday for a Pennsylvania state candidate might have a very small crowd, but it was packed, standing room only.

Kenyatta has visited Carbon County at least three times.  He’s from Philly, wears his hair in braids, is gay, and inspired a room full of Carbon County voters.  He is visiting rural areas and getting tremendous support in counties like Greene, Wayne, and Elk..  He represented a Philly House District and was known for getting bipartisan backing for his legislation.

He shook everyone’s hand, took selfies with the audience, explained how he would approach the office of Auditor General, discussed how he sees the office, and obviously cares about ordinary people, not just the type of Pennsylvanians who can hire lobbyists and give large campaign contributions.  I am once again awed at the quality of Democratic candidates.  

My polio vaccine

I remember taking it in the gym in the Palmerton High School, although it was in the mid-Fifties, and I’m a little hazy on the details.  I think we got it on a sugar cube.

What I do remember was how happy my parents were.  I would not get polio.  I would not be in an iron lung or be crippled like FDR.  I don’t remember anyone urging us not to get the vaccine.  I don’t remember anyone talking about discredited studies saying we would develop autism.

I wonder what happened to RFK Jr.  At one time he was a respected environmental lawyer.  Now he puts a dead bear cub in Central Park, says he had a worm in his brain, and endorsed Trump, who, of course, is happy to have him.  Trump probably plans to appoint him head of the CDC.  

By the way, tomorrow I’m scheduled for my flu shot at Rite Aid.  I might be old, but I’m not stupid.

The Quest for Community

Robert A. Nisbet (1913-1996), a sociologist who taught at Columbia and Berkeley, wrote about the importance of maintaining a pluralist society.  He believed that centralization of power in modern societies with the attendant bureaucratization, was sapping the power of community groups such as churches, labor unions, professional associations, social clubs like the the Elks, and community groups in general.  

He quoted Hitler’s in Mein Kampf:  “The mass meeting is necessary if only for the reason that in it the individual who in becoming an adherent of a new movement feels lonely and is easily seized with the fear of being alone, receives for the first time the picture of a greater community, something that has a strengthening effect upon most people.”

In the Middle Ages, people wanted freedom from community groups, especially the church, but also the guild, kinship patterns, occupational slots, the shtetl, the tribe.  The State, providing rights and duties, would free  people from their constricting bonds.

Unfortunately, the State, according to Nisbet, will in its totalitarian form attempt to eliminate the pluralism that he believes is necessary to ensure democracy and avoid tyranny.  

I just finished his most famous book, The Quest for Community, published in 1953.  Nisbet is considered to be a conservative, but what he argues for is a pluralist society.  I don’t know what he would think of modern social media, which comes to us unfiltered by discussion or judgement.  I have a feeling he might think of Trump rallies as an attempt by rootless and unattached people to find meaning and purpose.  

It does seem to me that many American citizens are unconnected to anything outside themselves.  They don’t read newspapers, don’t filter information from the Internet, don’t analyze, are not rational.  I’m extrapolating from a 70-year-old book, but to me Nisbet makes sense.

President Kamala Harris

I love saying that.  President Harris.  It rolls off the tongue.  It is musical.  Poetic.  It makes me smile.

To quote James Brown, I feel good.  So good.

 

"unborn human beings"

Arizona has a measure on the fall ballot establishing a state constitutional right to an abortion.  Ballot measure informational pamphlets are supposed to be “impartial.”  In their text for the pamphlet, Republican lawmakers used the term “unborn human beings.”  The Arizona Supreme Court said that language met the requirements of “impartiality.”

The Arizona Supreme Court is Republican.  But I’ll bet you guessed that.

Information for this post came in part from Kate Zernike, “Arizona Court Sides With Republicans Over Abortion Language in Voter Pamphlets,” New York Times, (Aug. 16, 2024), p. A16.

The Obama convention speeches

I had a post all ready to go, and then I listened to the Michele Obama and Barack Obama’s speeches.  Oratory is not dead.  Hope is not dead.  The “bonds of affection” are not dead.

I have been writing and calling people in Carbon County to take Harris/Walz yard signs.  I’ve had a good response.  Could I do more?  Of course.  Will I do more?  You better believe it.  I am all in.  I’ve been all in before for more candidates than I want to list here, but I never before felt, as I do now, that the future of my country and even the world was at risk. 

Proud to be a Democrat

Looking out over the crowd at the Convention, I feel a deep sense of pride in being a Democrat.  What a diverse coalition.  Everybody having a good time.  

I loved the speech by Hillary Clinton.  It was a real tub-thumper, and I wish she had done more of that when she was running.  I was moved when the women spoke about the cruelty of outlawing abortion.  And while I was one of the people who called the White House urging Biden to step back, I still felt a wave of affection for the old man.  

The contrast between the optimism and hope of the speakers tonight compared with the doom and gloom of the speakers at the Republican convention was striking.  They really are mean people.  Democrats may be bumbling and may disagree on issues and may have trouble keeping this coalition in sync, but we are not mean.  With me that counts.  

Overturning "Citizens United"

The Supreme Court issued some bad decisions in the last few years, but one of the worst was “Citizens United” that opened the floodgates for people like Elon Musk to buy elections.  There is an effort to overturn this decision, and my friend David sent me an email asking me to call.

I’ve already indicated to David that I think this is a lost cause, but I have been fighting for lost causes all of my life.  Sometimes they aren’t as lost as I think they are.  (I called the White House in mid-July urging Biden to drop out.  Approximately a week later he did.)

Here are the details.  If you live in Pennsylvania, make the call. 

Kristina Ramanauskas told me about an effort that's currently underway to pass a constitutional amendment that will counter the "Citizens United" decision and allow states to regulate campaign spending.  The "For Our Freedom Amendment" (State Senate Resolution 212) aims to restore reasonable limits on money in U.S. campaigns and elections. So far, 15 states (Illinois, Nevada, Virginia, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington have passed resolutions calling for the amendment. Additionally, voters in six states—Montana, Colorado, Alaska, California, Washington, and Massachusetts—have approved citizen initiatives in support of this crucial effort.

 

In PA the amendment is stuck in the Senate State Government Committee and we need your help to make sure it gets a vote. Senator Cris Dush, the chair of the Committee, needs to hear from Pennsylvanians that they support the For Our Freedom Amendment and to ask him to bring up SR 212 for a vote now. Time is running out and Senator Dush is the only one with the power to bring this up for a vote. If SR 212 is not voted on in his committee by September 18th, there is no chance for it to pass this legislative session.

 

Please call his office at 717-787-7084 and tell him to bring up SR 212 for a vote in Committee in September.

If you oppose gay marriage

Some evangelical Christians are still opposed to gay marriage.  That is easily solved.  If you are an evangelical Christian and a gay person proposes to you, just say no.  

Was that so hard?

Ranking Presidents

They go up and down, although I can guarantee that Trump will always be near the bottom.  He might move up to second or third last, but he will alway be in the bottom five.  

The Democratic Party in the past often held Jefferson-Jackson fund-raising dinners, but that is no longer common.  We are all aware that Jefferson had slaves.  So did Washington, but Washington gave his slaves freedom and a pension upon his death.  Jefferson separated families and sold them to pay off debts.  Jackson was held in high esteem, but now we think about him ordering the Cherokee removal and the Trail of Tears.

Some years ago we held a Carbon County fundraiser celebrating Lincoln.  We realized that while Lincoln was the first Republican President, the Republican Party has wandered so far from his ideals that Democrats are now proud to claim him as one of us.  He’ll stay number one.

I also want to elevate Warren G. Harding.  While it is true that three of his cabinet members were involved in financial scandals, none of them tried to overthrow the government or invested in foreign enterprises.  Yes, Harding shtupped his girlfriend Nan in a vacant broom closet off to the side of his office more than once, but it was consensual, and they were in love.  It’s not like she was a paid porn star with hush money involved.

Harding also gave a speech at the University of Alabama in which he said that the democracy of the U.S. was a lie until the Negro was granted political and economic equality.  This was during the time of Klan resurgence.  While Harding did not challenge racial segregation, the black portion of the audience (it was segregated) cheered.  The white section was quiet.  Remember that Harding’s predecessor, Woodrow Wilson, segregated the federal work force. 

Harding should definitely move up a notch or two.

The end of Hamas?

An article by Audrey Kurth Cronin in the July/August issue of Foreign Affairs entitled “How Hamas Ends” discusses possible outcomes.  Dr. Cronin assembled a data set of 457 terrorist campaigns and organizations over the last 100 years.  Groups end in various ways.

They can succeed.  That happened in about 5% of the cases.  Interestingly one of those was the Irgun, the Jewish militant group in Israel that drove out the British and many Arabs.

They can transform, becoming either an insurgency or a criminal network.  If they become popular enough, they can fight the state; if corrupt enough, criminal gangs.  

Some are eliminated by military repression.  Separatists in Chechnya and the Tamil Tigers were killed off by the state.

They can be decapitated.  After Abimael Guzman, the leader of the Peruvian Shining Path, was arrested, the group declined.

They may decide to negotiate.  This, of course, takes two sides.  Dr. Cronin cites the 1998 Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland.  Negotiating with terrorists is difficult and takes more compromise than is often available.  It is easier to negotiate when territory is involved than if religion or ideology is the issue.

Finally, many terrorist groups can implode, fracturing over tactics or ideology.  Think Weather Underground.  They can also lose the support by an act that causes general revulsion.  In 2004 Chechen separatists took over a school and killed over 300 people, including 200 children.  After that they lost much of their support.

How will Hamas end?  If you are a Palestinian whose family was killed in an Israeli bombing attack, do you blame Hamas for creating that response or do you blame Israel for dropping the bombs?  Dr. Cronin doesn’t know

The Chartist Movement

In 1838 a People’s Charter was drawn up for the London Working Men’s Association.  It became the basis for a political reform movement that agitated to change some very undemocratic practices in Great Britain.  The Charter had six points.

All men to have the vote.

Voting by secret ballot.

Parliamentary elections every year, not once every five years.

Constituencies should be of equal size.

Members of Parliament should be paid.

The property qualification for becoming a Member of Parliament should be abolished.

Eventually all of them were enacted except for a yearly election.  It occurs to me that we don’t have the first one given the onerous registration requirements in some states.  We have voting by secret ballot, but the ballots are sometimes complicated and the voting process is often made difficult.  Our constituencies certainly are not of equal size–look at the population difference between California and Wyoming, each with two Senators.  Even when districts are of equal population size in state legislatures, they are often so gerrymandered as to predetermine outcomes.  The idea of paying legislatures is to allow lower income people to serve, but given the cost of campaigns, that’s definitely wanting.  The cost of campaigning also negates number 6.

We need a Chartist movement in the U.S.

The Closing Ceremonies

Last evening I watched the closing ceremonies of the Paris Olympics.  The show itself was rather silly, and, not to be too mean, kind of boring.  On the other hand, it was uplifting to see the hundreds of athletes from around the globe having fun and the time of their lives.  

It was also a treat to see scenes of Paris.  What a beautiful city.  I’ve never been and probably never will visit, but it is truly spectacular.

We discussed what they would showcase in L.A. in four years.  Participants  certainly won’t be swimming in the Los Angeles River.  I guess they could show the freeways and the LaBrea Tar Pits.  Maybe the homeless.

It's J. D. Vance

When Trump was asked about people talking about “weird,” he said it wasn’t him people were talking about, it was J. D. Vance.  

That in itself is as weird as it gets.

Staffing the Democratic Party booth at the Carbon County Fair

This year it was fun.  Linda and I worked from 2-5 in the afternoon.  We kept a list of nice people and nasty people.  We filled the page with nice people and had only two nasty people, and even they weren’t that  bad.  One held his nose, and one said “no no no.”

We met a woman who took a “Choice” yard sign, we took three Kamala Harris yard sign orders, we met people from Schuylkill, Northampton, Bucks, and Monroe counties, all of whom were glad to see us.  We met people who admired Biden for dropping out but were glad he did.  We talked to a lady from England who liked Harris.  I talked to John C. who reads this blog every day, but whom I haven’t seen in two years.  

Almost everyone who stopped by felt good about our chances, felt encouraged, felt a wave of optimism.  I don’t just think Harris will win.  I think she will win, to quote Trump, “bigly.”