"Tit for Tat - Not a Good Strategy"

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

Thought of the Day

“Tit for Tat – Not a Good Strategy”

June 5, 2025

 

“All things are double, one against another. Tit for tat; an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth;

blood for blood; measure for measure; love for love. Give and it shall be given you.”

                                                                                                Attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

 

“Tit for Tat: The infliction of an injury or insult in return for one that one has suffered,” Oxford English Dictionary. Wikipedia: “It is an alteration of tip for tap ‘blow for blow,’ first recorded in 1558.”

…………………………………………………………………….

 

When Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45^th President of the United States on January 20, 2017 I suspect he was as surprised to be there as anyone. He had been a successful real estate developer, and for thirteen years he hosted “The Apprentice,” a successful reality TV series. But he had never run for political office. As a businessman, he donated to both Jimmy Carter’s and Ronald Reagan’s campaigns in 1980. His political affiliations have changed: a Manhattan Republican in the 1980s; member of the Reform Party in 1999; a Democrat in 2001; and back to a Republican in 2009. By some, he will always be criticized for his changing political affiliations and his out-spoken manner. But he was democratically elected President.

 

For those who make their living in politics, Donald Trump’s success was a threat. His victory was incredulous to Republicans in the primaries and to Democrats in the general election. How could this “orange-haired” man who garbles the English language have won? How could an interloper beat them at their own game?

 

America is a different place than it was a generation or two ago. Civility has declined; anti-social and unethical behavior have increased; and violence has become more common and, worse, acceptable. Scam phone calls have risen by over 20% in each of the last five years. In 2023, the United States Capital Police (USCP) investigated 8,008 threats against members of Congress. A disturbing number of young Leftists cheered on the two attempts on Donald Trump’s life, as well as the attacks on Tesla dealerships. Anti-Semitism has increased, On May 21 a young Jewish couple, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, were shot and killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum. Four days later, in Boulder, Colorado, a man shouted, “Free Palestine,” as he threw Molotov cocktails at demonstrators, injuring fifteen men and women, as they marched in support of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

 

Political parties have changed. The Democrat Party, once the Party of the working class and poor now appeals to wealthy, suburban whites, and monied groups like trial lawyers, hedge fund managers, and Wall Street tycoons. Like the switch of white southern Democrats to Republicans in the 1960s and ‘70s, former “country club” elitist Republicans, in the wake of Vietnam and Civil Rights, abandoned their traditional Party. Democrats have long dominated academia, but they have become more entrenched. As private sector unions lost members, Democrats lost interest, so concentrated on union leaders and on expanding public sector unions, especially teachers’. Republicans have picked up middle-class, working Americans. They have kept in their fold most religious groups, except Episcopalians. 

 

As well, the sense of what it means to be an American has been derailed by politicians from both parties whose leaders appeal to extremists. Politics has become more partisan. The economic divide between ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots,’ regardless of race, has widened. When Barack Obama was elected as the first black man to become President, instead of acknowledging the economic divide, he made race the issue. He squandered an opportunity to pull America together on race, to close the chasm, to acknowledge the vision and promise of Martin Luther King in his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” That was not the path Mr. Obama chose to take.

 

Not surprisingly, the competent, but ungracious, Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election to the political outsider Mr. Trump. During his first term as President, he was demonized by the Left, even called a Nazi. While he is coarse in speech and offensive in language, he was falsely accused of Russian collusion by his illiberal Democrat opponents – a story that originated in Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. The contempt for him was visceral. It was not just political. No President has ever been treated with the disdain he was. He had invaded the establishment’s sanctuary and succeeded. In their bid to destroy him, Democrats were supported by the Justice Department and joined by a chorus of media enablers. In unprecedented actions, he was impeached twice and indicted four times. And he lost re-election in 2020.

 

Yet after four years of Mr. Biden – a situation for which Democrats have no one to blame but themselves – Mr. Trump won the Presidency again. This time he increased his vote. Notably, he expanded his votes among those who have traditionally been Democrats – blacks, Hispanics, and the working class – those who Democrats have ignored, as they pursued their far-left progressive agenda. They condemned “harmful words,” yet allowed violent anti-Semitism protests on campuses; they opened the southern border to an influx of millions of illegal migrants, including many with criminal records; and they emphasized identity politics, including the allowing of biological men to compete against women in high school and college sports. They abandoned large portions of America’s middle classes.

 

Is revenge a motivating factor in some of Mr. Trump’s actions now? I suspect it is. I don’t support revenge, but I understand it. He is now accused of weaponizing the Justice Department, the same Justice Department that was weaponized against him. In Shakespear’s play Measure for Measure, the title refers to the principle of retributive justice, where actions are judged and punished accordingly – an eye for an eye, for example. In my opinion, it is that principle that has been the impetus behind much of Mr. Trump’s behavior early in his second term. I suspect he believes that those who are being penalized – like prestigious universities being challenged over recruitment and DEI policies, illegal migrants being deported and foreign college students with ties to the CCP having visas revoked – are receiving their just deserts. 

 

But revenge is alien to democratic principles. As a conservative, many of my virtue-signaling Leftist friends remind me of Little Jack Horner who pulled out a plum and, blithely, said, “What a good boy am I!” This while he spoiled the plum pie for others. When these friends condemn Mr. Trump as a tyrant and his supporters as ignorant rubes they should remember that we live in a democracy, and that Mr. Trump won the election. While I will never wear a MAGA hat, I voted for Mr. Trump and, given the option, I am glad I did. When we disagree, we can (and should) take issue even with those we support, and we should not be afraid to speak out against those we do not, but we should do so civilly. And we all should condemn the unacceptable rise in violence.  

"Projection"

 

 

Sydney M. Williams

www.swtotd.blogspot.com

 

Thought of the Day

“Projection”

August 11, 2023

 

“‘It reminds me of something you said to me that summer. How we accuse others of the sins we don’t

admit to ourselves.’ I smile. ‘projection. Remember? I had a psychologist friend explain it to me once.’”

                                                                                                                       Emilia speaking to Olive

                                                                                                                       The Beach at Summerly – page 245

                                                                                                                        Beatriz Williams

 

“Freud,” according to Wikipedia in a description of the term, “considered that, in projection, thoughts, motivations, desires, and feelings that cannot be accepted as one’s own are dealt with by being placed in the outside world and attributed to someone else.”

 

Projectionism is an art practiced by many but mastered by politicians. Like bringing up UFOs to deflect uncomfortable news stories, vilifying those who disrupt the “accepted” narrative of the self-virtuous, or the “illusion of access” to conceal a business scam, projectionism is common among those who hide their true motivations. It is abetted by their cronies in the media.  Democrats, because they spend more time on offense, are more expert projectionists than Republicans, who too often find themselves playing defense.

 

The most egregious recent example of political projection was the Russian collusion narrative, manufactured by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, which alleged that Vladimir Putin favored Trump in the 2016 election. While mainstream media, without investigating the facts, ran with the story that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, the facts suggest that any colluding was done by the Clinton campaign. Their law firm, Perkins Cole, arranged for the private investigative firm Fusion GPS to pay Christopher Steele, Britain’s former head of the Russia Desk at MI6 to prepare a fake dossier to support the collusion story. Steele hired Igor Danchenko, a Russian native based in the U.S. and known to the FBI, to provide source material for the dossier – with everything paid for by the Clinton campaign. While the collusion narrative has been disproven, the cost to the Trump Presidency, and to the country, was high. That there are still those who believe the Russian collusion story is proof of the axiom made famous by Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels – that a lie repeated becomes truth. 

 

The claim that MAGA Republicans put “democracy at risk” is an example of projection – that Donald Trump is an authoritarian, desirous of personal power – that were he re-elected democracy would be at risk. Trump’s character is not to my liking, and I would rather he not return as President. However, despite his refusal to accept the outcome of the 2020 election, I do not see him as a risk to democracy. On January 6, 2021 – in spite of Trump and his followers – our government held. The riot and invasion of the Capital that day did not cause the election to be overturned. Democracy succeeded, which is why that barometer of financial and political events, the New York Stock Exchange, showed no concern that day or during the immediate days following. Authoritarians seek to strengthen their positions. As President, Mr. Trump shrank the number of regulations, giving more freedom to individuals. He has talked of moving agencies out of the Washington, D.C. orbit. He has never spoken of increasing the size of the Supreme Court, or of further neutering Congress by forging new bureaucracies or agencies, which report to the Executive.

 

Ask yourself: Which Party is most aggressive in adding regulations, agencies, and bureaucracies, looking to strengthen the Executive? Which Party has pushed the Administrative State with the most vigor? Which Party flouted convention with the desire to pack and expand the Supreme Court? Which Party has a supportive media? Which Party poses the bigger risk to democracy?

 

As the State grows more powerful, individual freedom diminishes. Since FDR’s New Deal, politicians have had to grapple with the growth of entitlements – how much should they consume, as a percent of GDP and as a percent of the federal budget? According to the website www.usgovernmentspending.com[1], combined Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and welfare programs have grown from 5% of GDP in 1960 to 17% of GDP in 2022. Over that same time, entitlement spending, as a percent of all federal government spending rose from 20% in 1960 to 47.6% in 2022. It is obvious that the nation cannot continue on the same trajectory. But what are the right spending levels? Is democracy more at risk when government intrudes deeper into our lives, or when people assume more responsibility for their personal welfare?  How much individual freedom are you willing to forego to gain the security that a more intrusive, caring government provides?

 

Democracy is fragile; so vigilance is necessary. Charismatic leaders, with the right words, but with a socialistic or militaristic ideology and little or no scruples, can arise from either Party. Given mainstream media’s predilection for left-leaning politicians and policies, the real concern is authoritarianism coming in from the left, where the ramparts are less manned. The best example in my lifetime was Franklin Roosevelt who accumulated executive power behind comforting fireside chats, while arguing that unconstrained capitalism had tilted the Country into Depression. Another is the power behind President Biden – “you didn’t build that” Barack Obama, the only President in my lifetime to remain in the nation’s capital after his term in office ended. Why?

 

Democrats camouflage their craving for power and control by projecting the authoritarianism they practice onto their opponents. In Donald Trump, with his ego, demand for retribution, and verbal incoherence, they have an easy, polarizing target. However, he threatens the administrative edifice they have erected over many decades, which frightens them. If the people begin to see Washington’s bureaucracy as a swamp that houses employees loyal only to an ever-expanding government, they may revolt. That is something progressives cannot allow. Thus, ends justify means – deflections, deceptions, fabrications, and projections.

 

 

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[1] You can copy the URL to your web browser or search engine. This website is prepared by a friend and is one of the most thorough of its kind.

"Threat to Democracy"

 There are many things that need concern us. One, that gets little attention from mainstream media, is the decline in population among Western nations. A recent report from the Gatestone Institute, pointed out that more children are born in Nigeria each year than in Europe, which has more than three times the population. In fact, the number of babies born in Nigeria each year is roughly equal to the number born each year in Europe and the United States.

 

While these statistics will not affect people my age, the world our grandchildren and great grandchildren inherit will be markedly different than what we have known. Will it be better or worse? No one knows, but it is food for thought.

 

Sydney M. Williams

www.swtotd.blogspot.com

 

Thought of the Day

“Threat to Democracy”

September 26, 2022

 

“…the only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough

to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well

enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over its government.”

                                                                                                                                Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945)

                                                                                                                                Radio “fireside chat”

                                                                                                                                April 14, 1938

 

Accusations of “threats to democracy,” are being tossed around with the abandon of rolls being thrown at a Drones Club dinner. This has especially been true from the “anointed” left toward their conservative opponents. They see a fascist behind every Republican. “With…democracy itself in the balance…” wrote Sara Burnett and John Hanna of the Associated Press in a recent article on Governor’s races taking on new prominence. CNN’s S.E. (Sarah Elizabeth) Cupp recently wrote of the ascendancy of right wing nationalism and “in some cases fascism,” in which she grouped Donald Trump with Jair Bolsonaro and Viktor Orban, and Liz Truss with Marine Le Pen. Hillary Clinton recently compared a Trump campaign event in Ohio to a Nazi rally, I guess “deplorables” wasn’t strong enough.

 

Catchy slogans are ubiquitous in politics. Most, unsurprisingly, have a positive slant: “Why not the best?” – Carter in ’76; “Morning in America!” – Reagan in ’80. A few carry an accusatory tone: “It’s the economy, stupid!” – Clinton in ‘92. Others are egotistical: “We are the ones we have been waiting for!” – Obama in 2008. And then there was Trump’s upbeat slogan in 2016, “Make America great again,” which Democrats, using the acronym “MAGA,” have turned into a pejorative in 2022.

 

Like the Left’s call for net-zero-emissions (which in reality is a regressive tax), the words “Republicans represent a threat to democracy” serve as a red herring, to detract from real issues, like inflation, the economy, immigration, jobs, crime, school choice, and the student mental health crisis. Yet democracy is fragile, so should be watched and handled with care. Our Constitution provides for a government based on the rule of law, with checks and balances cast in three co-equal branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The purpose – to make it difficult for any individual to wrest control. As early as September 1787, Benjamin Franklin allegedly responded to a query about the new government, that it was “a Republic, if you can keep it.”  In the same year, in “Federalist 26,” Alexander Hamilton addressed the debate between legislative power and individual liberty. In the 1830s, Alexis de Tocqueville saw the threat of tyranny from unchecked demands of individuals and groups. A Civil War was fought in the early 1860s to combat slavery, but also to preserve the union. The American political system is not supposed to be efficient. It is designed for debate and collaboration, aimed at reaching a consensus. While advocacy is expected from political parties, constraints on government are critical for continued individual liberty.

 

To associate the Republican Party with fascism is absurd. Granted, there are extremists in the Republican Party, just as there are extremists in the Democrat Party. But in neither case do they constitute a majority. Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene may not seem, to most of us, to reflect American values, but they do represent distinct voices within America. 

 

Democrats have divided Republicans into many “Trumpers” and few “non-Trumpers.” But the truth is more complicated. Most Republicans believe in the sanctity of an individual who is responsible and accountable. They believe in conserving what has worked in our culture, while welcoming change that improves people’s lives. In terms of change, they are gradualists, not revolutionaries. Economically, they believe in free-market capitalism with limited regulation and favor progressive taxes that are not secretly regressive, like those imposed by limiting energy production or promoting gambling. They believe choice in schools should not be limited to the wealthy. They believe that respect for our borders is necessary, and that a strong military is required. They believe in the rule of law, not men. They believe we are all equal in our rights as citizens, but recognize we are not equal in our abilities and aspirations. Many of us liked much of what Trump accomplished, while disliking his character. But of this, I feel certain, he was never a “threat to democracy.” He was watched too closely and too critically.  Unarmed protesters invading the Capitol was wrong, and Trump was wrong not to call them off. But if armed capitol police had been there in force and done their job, the rioters would have been stopped before they entered the Capitol. If this had been a dangerous insurrection, why did the Dow Jones Industrial Averages, a barometer of such activity, rise modestly on January 6, 7, and 8? Regardless, Republican Vice President Michael Pence acceded to the law. 

 

Threats to democracy occur when individuals or parties seize the reins of government and use their power, with the backing of the media, to destroy opponents. Combatting that trend, Alan Dershowitz, a liberal Democrat has been willing to accept conservative Republicans as clients when he believes their rights are in jeopardy. He recently wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that it is wrong for Biden administration officials “to abuse the law, particularly the criminal justice system, against our political opponents.” 

  

There is much that concerns me, such as the Left’s threats to do away with the Senate filibuster and expand the Supreme Court. I worry about political and “woke” indoctrination, along with the elevation of victimhood, in our schools and colleges. I worry about the subordination of our Judeo-Christian values to some relative moral standard. I worry – but have no answers – about bureaucrats’ self interest in supporting the Party that assures their continued employment. I worry about unscrupulous politicians colluding with independent agencies to pursue personal and Party agendas, such as we saw with Lois Lerner and the IRS in 2015, and in the Department of Justice today, where, like the Soviet’s Laventiy Beria, New York’s Attorney General Letitia James first named the suspect, then searched for the crime.

 

But I am not seriously concerned about a “threat to democracy.” The hyperbolic words reflect the partisanship of our time. While I am not so naïve as to expect I will ever read unbiased newspapers or watch cable or network news that gives equal airtime to each side, I do not worry about democracy, so long as the Washington Post and the New York Post publish what they each claim to be news, and as long as Fox News, CNN, and PBS promote their versions of events. We are free to read and watch what we choose. We are divided, but we have not yet been rendered asunder. 

 

As long as we remember FDR’s words in the rubric that heads this essay, and recall Lincoln’s words at Gettysburg in late 1863, that we are “a government of the people, by the people and for the people,” our nation will remain free and democratic, even when diffuse and spirited.

"Freedom is not Easy"

 Today, Democrats will be out in force reminding us of the disgraceful events of a year ago. Ironically, Trump has become Democrats’ biggest asset, just as he has become Republicans’ biggest liability, as we head toward November’s mid-term elections. Democrats will claim he represents the Republican Party. It will be a message their allies in mainstream media will deliver with persistence and glee. It will be the main item in their playbook, to help retain the House and the Senate. But, as can be seen by Senator Schumer’s attempt to do away with the filibuster, it will have nothing to do with democracy.

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

Thought of the Day

“Freedom is Not Easy”

January 6, 2022

 

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little

temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

                                                                                                              Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

                                                                                                              Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, 1791

 

Many believe democracy is threatened. Those on the left cite the narcissistic and dreaded Donald Trump as the instigator of the January 6 protest that devolved into a disgraceful, though unarmed, attack on the Capitol. Those on the right, like me, bring up cancelled conservative speakers on college campuses, property-destroying riots and rising murder rates in cities across the nation, lockdowns and mandates relative to COVID, and a “wokeness,” which redacts speech, expurgates books, and removes art that is not grounded in race-and-gender consciousness. But perhaps both sides are mistaken? Perhaps democracy is stronger than we believe? Perhaps it can withstand these assaults? But both sides owe the public apologies.

 

The one-year anniversary of the January 6 riot has filled the media with reports on the “insurrection” that failed. Of course, it did. The protesters were unorganized and unarmed. They had no acknowledged leader on their march to the Capitol. In fact, members of ANTIFA accompanied the Trump supporters. The Capitol police, oddly, were unprepared, even though the march was widely publicized. The protesters did not have the military behind them, nor did they have media support. One person was shot, and that was a female, a veteran, who was shot by an unnamed member of the Capitol police. In fact, the cynic in me whispers that the episode has been welcomed by progressives, as it manifested proof (in their minds) of their claimed autocracy of Donald Trump and his supporters.

 

This is not to support the rioters, but criticism should always be placed in perspective. Nevertheless, the cause of the riot was the refusal by Mr. Trump to accept the results of the 2020 election. The fact that Democrats, led by Hillary Clinton, refused to accept the results of the 2016 election – and, in fact, initiated a four-year investigation of an alleged (and false) collusion between Mr. Trump and Russia – did not justify the January 6 protest. Democracy is fragile and rests on a foundation of custom, continuity and good will. Country before party should always be the message, and compromise should always be the method. It was what allowed President Reagan and Speaker Tip O’Neill to pass legislation in the 1980s, and it is what allowed Bill Clinton and Speaker Newt Gingrich to do the same in the 1990s. 

 

Republicans, to be successful, must rise above the mendacity of current day politics, (as should Democrats, but for that I will let someone else speak). I believe Republicans can succeed, and Mr. Trump could play a role, if he chooses. He must, however, endorse conservative beliefs: support for the Constitution, individual liberty, separation of powers, limited government, rule of law, fiscal responsibility, free markets, strong defense, legal immigration through secure borders, an enduring moral code, human dignity, and constraint, both in government and in individual behavior. If Mr. Trump cannot envision playing within those confines, he should pass the baton to a new generation, which, given both his age and his character, I hope he does. He should rest on his accomplishments as President: an economy that brought minority employment to levels never before seen, energy independence, vaccines developed at “warp speed” and the Abraham Accords, which have given the Middle East its best chance for peace in generations.

 

Freedom is not easy; it requires responsibility and accountability. It means some succeed and others fail. It requires a recognition that while we are all equal in our rights as citizens and before the law, we are not all equal in ability or perseverance; so, while opportunities for success should be equal, outcomes will never be. Political success in a free society requires the spirit of compromise – that the tug-of-war between permanence and change must be reconciled through debate and cooperation.

 

Yet, in this winter of our discontent, we have reason for hope – the possibility for a spring of more optimistic days. People are exhausted by political extremism and by unending mandates regarding a disease that is becoming endemic. They are worn out by sanctimonious politicians pontificating to small but noisy segments of their constituencies. They are tired of the negativism expressed by those who condemn our history, tear down our statues and insult our character. They are fed up with academic deans who refuse to allow contrary opinions to be expressed on their campuses, and by teachers’ unions who put students last. They are drained by those who predict dire consequences for our planet if we don’t buy electric vehicles. They are annoyed by those who tell us that gender is a choice, not a biological determinant. And they are wearied by not being able to speak freely, to laugh, to enjoy life, away from the wokeness of today’s illiberal, bullying progressives.

 

The spirit of independence, which takes commitment and builds character, runs freely through the American people. We see it every day, in Americans across this land. But there will always be those who want to wrest it from us. When people in other places lose their freedom, it is to America they turn. Should we lose our liberty, whether from the right or the left, to whom would we turn? Where would we go? Freedom is hard work; it is worth preserving.

"The Ugliness of Politics - Is It Necessary?"

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

Thought of the Day

“The Ugliness of Politics – Is It Necessary?”

December 27, 2021

 

“Politics is about power, the power to make people 

do what you want them to do, so that you gain leverage.”

                                                                                                                Bruce Thornton

                                                                                                                www.frontpagemag.com

                                                                                                                December 15, 2021

 

Democrats, who have failed on so many fronts in the first eleven months of the Biden Administration – immigration, inflation, COVID-19, crime, Afghanistan, China and Russia – have resurrected their nemesis Donald Trump, as a foil to promote their claim that the Republican Party “has,” in the words of Dan Kennedy of Northeastern University, “embraced authoritarianism and voter suppression” – a red herring to deflect attention from Democrats’ efforts for self-empowerment. Trump is demonized because, more than anyone, he is seen as standing athwart the federal regulatory Leviathan progressives have erected.

 

There is something bizarre about supposedly intelligent and well-informed columnists like Dana Milbank of The Washington Post and Jason Linkins of The New Republic, when they claim threats to democracy emanate from the Party that embraces limited government, free markets, deregulation and low taxes, rather than from the Party that supports greater regulation, higher taxes, packing the Supreme Court, nationalizing voting and (in New York City) allowing non-citizens to vote, while urging conformity, and censoring conservative speech on college campuses. The lead essay in the January 2022 issue of The Spectator concludes: “The transformation of free societies by bureaucratic stealth, corporatization, and end-of-world doom-mongering pose greater dangers to America democracy than do China or climate change.” Yet Barton Gellman of The Atlantic, in contradiction to common sense, calls Democrats “protectors of democracy.” 

 

Partisan progressive reporters have made the ludicrous charge that current media coverage of Mr. Biden is more negative than it was of Mr. Trump in his last year in office, an allegation my youngest grandchild would recognize as absurd. The accusation is a Trojan Horse to camouflage their own biases, displayed for four years in the discredited Russian collusion story, and now in a transformation of last January 6, from a protest that got out of hand into an alleged insurrection. Political criticism should be welcomed. But in this new world, criticism of Republicans is encouraged, while criticism of Democrats is treasonous. Jason Linkins headlined an article in The New Republic: “Is Criticizing Joe Biden a Danger to Democracy?” While he did admit that “blind fealty” is a hallmark of dictatorships (which it is), he overrode that admonition when he wrote: “…the GOP is the enemy of democracy, full stop…” Trump is an easy target. He speaks Brooklynese; he is an overweight, incurable narcissist, who speaks without thinking. Republicans have supporters in the media who are unfair in their treatment of Democrats, but the situation is David versus Goliath-like, with progressives controlling most of mainstream media, big tech companies, Wall Street, schools, universities, government bureaucracies, cultural institutions and professional sports. 

 

The arrogance of political elites toward those with differing opinions is mind-numbing. That White House press secretary Jen Psaki belittles those who ask tough questions is legion. Recently, she called Senator Joe Manchin a liar when he said “no” to the Build Back Better legislation. If Ms. Psaki had read The Wall Street Journal, National Review, The New York Sun or The New York Post over the past few months, she would have seen that Senator Manchin’s reservations regarding the legislation were well aired. In the preface to his unfinished book (published posthumously in 1856), The Old Regime and the French Revolution, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote: “…a man’s admiration of absolute government is proportionate to the contempt he feels for those around him.” That is what we are seeing among the progressive branch of Democrats.

 

Trump can be personally insulting, but he is not condescending. But we did see condescension in the words of Barack Obama when, in 2008, he spoke at a fund raiser in San Francisco about working class voters in an industrialized Pennsylvania town: “They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them, or anti-immigrant sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” And we saw it in 2016, when Hillary Clinton lashed out at Donald Trump’s supporters, as a “basket of deplorables.” We see that condescension in Nancy Pelosi’s and Chuck Schumer’s briefings We see it in the treatment of COVID-19. We are told to “follow the science,” with no admission that science evolves. The Great Barrington Declaration (GBD) – authored by Dr. Martin Kulldorff of Harvard, Dr. Sunetra Gupta of Oxford and Stanford’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, and which focused on protection of the most vulnerable while encouraging the non-vulnerable to resume life as normal – expressed “grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing Covid-19 policies.” The document, which was signed by 60,000 infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists, was ridiculed as “fringe” by Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institute of Health (NIH) and called “nonsense and dangerous” by Dr. Anthony Fauci. (Dr. Collins later resigned as director of the NIH after government documents suggested he lied to Congress when he claimed his agency did not fund gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Lab.)

 

Progressives who dominate the Democrat Party – more through fear than numbers – distort our past and forecast a dystopian future. The Founders, they tell us, were old white men who founded a nation based on oppression and slavery. They argue that 156 years after the end of the Civil War, a war fought to end slavery, we remain a “systemically racist” nation. We are, they claim, a nation comprised of victims and victimizers. As for our future, without adoption of their statist agendas and policies, racial tensions will increase, gender discrimination will persist, and man-caused climate change will bring an end to our world. A salad bowl has replaced the mixing bowl, as a metaphor for the American experience. Ignoring the economic consequences, Cassandras argue the world needs fewer not more people, and that capitalism creates economic unfairness. Yet, according to an NBC poll, cited by Frank Bruni in The New York Times in November, 71% of Americans feel the country is on the wrong track, a sense of pessimism reflected in Census Bureau numbers that showed the U.S.’s population gain in 2020 was the lowest increase on record. 

 

…………………………………………………..

 

What is wanted in this fractious political environment, where sanctimonious politicians belittle opponents and politicize issues like infectious diseases and climate change, is an injection of common sense, leavened with the good feelings and optimism of a President Reagan, who spoke of a bright future, a “shining city on a hill.” The reality is that the United States is a good nation with a diversity of free people, who have been infused by progressives with self-hatred and self-doubt. In truth, we are a mixing bowl, not a salad bowl. In 2015, 17% of marriages were interracial, up from 3% in 1967. In that same year, 39% of U.S.-born Hispanic and 46% of U.S.-born Asian marriages were between spouses of different races and ethnicities. In 1960, about 5% of U.S. women had a college degree. In 2020, that number was 38.3 percent. In 1992, among working blacks, 15.9% held a bachelor’s degree. By 2018, that number had increased to 31.2 percent. The U.S. has never claimed to be perfect, but its attractions and promises make it the most sought-after nation in the world for immigrants. We can achieve an era of good feelings. But our republic, based on ancient Western ideals, cannot be left to professionals. It requires the participation of the people.

 

In the December 27, 2021 issue of National Review, Peter Wood wrote: “The West, in its ideals, is a universal culture open to all, but always on the condition that those who hope to enter it recognize its unceasing demand to reach for those ideals that promise unity...” Political ugliness doesn’t have to prevail. We can, and we should, be optimistic for the future. But it requires study, confidence, effort and wisdom.

"It's Not My Fault!"

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

Thought of the Day

“It’s Not My Fault!”

December 11, 2021

 

“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process

never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.”

                                                                                                                                Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)

                                                                                                                                You learn by Living, 1960

 

Being accountable for one’s actions and taking responsibility are fading qualities in our “woke” age. In the mid 1960s, on a snowy street in New Hampshire after a day’s skiing, my father, driving home, knocked a woman down, sending her to the hospital. The police told him it was not his fault. Nevertheless, he assumed responsibility, visiting her regularly until she recovered and was released. Such chivalry no longer exists. Like merit, hard work and objective truth, gallantry and graciousness are now, as Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote in the December issue of The Spectator, “manifestations of heredity and ‘whiteness,’” – therefore to be condemned. 

 

“Victory has a thousand fathers, while failure is an orphan,” is an old quote used by President Kennedy. Today’s politicians no longer take blame for policies gone wrong. Instead, they follow advice Napoleon is alleged to have given: “Never retreat, never retract, never admit a mistake.” When the January 6 march on the Capitol turned disastrous, Donald Trump never admitted that his words that afternoon helped provoke it. But neither has Hillary Clinton accepted blame for the Steel dossier, which was at the heart of the $40 million (taxpayer money) discredited Mueller investigation. Governor Andrew Cuomo placed COVID-19 infected patients in nursing homes, leading to a plethora of unnecessary deaths. Has he expressed remorse or assumed responsibility? No. Has he expressed sorrow for abusing women who worked in his office? No. “Oh yes, the past can hurt,” says the shaman Rafiki in The Lion King, “but you can either run from it or learn from it.” Politicians choose to run from their past, not learn from it.

 

Dr. Anthony Fauci belittles those who disagree with him by claiming an attack on him is an attack on science. Yet the science about COVID-19 has changed as more has been learned. But his arrogance forbids any display of humility, or admission of personal responsibility regarding helping to fund gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. (Dr. Fauci’s denial gained two Pinocchio’s from left-leaning The Washington Post.) The recent rise in energy prices, according to Senator Elizabeth Warren, is due to oil and gas producers “putting their massive profits, share prices and dividends…ahead of Americans.” Apparently higher prices have nothing to do with restrictions on drilling and cancellation of the Keystone XL Pipeline extension, policies which the Massachusetts Senator supports. In a recent article in The Epoch Times, Victor Davis Hanson wrote, regarding the disastrous flight from Afghanistan: “Few, if any, high-ranking officers have yet taken responsibility – much less resigned – for the worst military fiasco in the past half century.”  

 

“It’s not my fault; the dog ate my homework!” has become a common response. Running away from personal responsibility has infested society. “Failure is not an option,” is a phrase one associates with NASA; but was taken literally by Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos who never apologized for misleading investors, instead placing blame on her Svengali-like partner. There have been no mea culpas from journalists following four years of filling airtime and front pages of newspapers regarding the discredited Russian collusion story? Teachers are not held responsible for the failure of their students in international testing. Global warming is the fault of selfish consumers, not the elitists who pompously pontificate when stepping off private jets. The surge in crime during the “summer of Love,” when billions in dollars in property was destroyed and twenty-five people were killed, was not the fault of the perpetrators. It was the ‘system’ and white supremacists who made them do it. The Biden Administration places blame for the increase in crime on COVID-19 – “…the virus is a root cause in a lot of communities,” is the way White House press secretary Jen Psaki put it last week. In a June 18, 2020, New York Times article, Professor Robin D. G. Kelley of UCLA, wrote: “Given that we are in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, looting should not surprise anyone...stealing commodities isn’t senseless” Really? And that makes it okay? Mightn’t the surge in crime have something to with disparaging and defunding the police? 

 

Alec Baldwin – certainly inadvertently – shot and killed cinemaphotographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie Rust, a film of which he is one of the producers. Has he taken responsibility? No. In fact, he claims he didn’t pull the trigger. Nevertheless, Ms. Hutchins was killed by a bullet discharged from the firearm he was holding. Still, Mr. Baldwin says the killing was not his fault. Has Jussie Smollett expressed remorse for concocting a crime meant to increase his ratings? This nationwide attitude of denying personal responsibility suggests a “woke” and nihilistic culture that permeates our society and threatens our nation.

 

Mahatma Gandhi is quoted in his posthumously published The Essential Writings: “It is wrong and immoral to seek to escape the consequences of one’s acts.” The United States has survived for almost 250 years because its people are free to succeed or fail, to act in their own interest, within the law. In the same book quoted in the rubric, You Learn by Living, Eleanor Roosevelt wrote: “Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect.” Being free means being accountable. The words, “It’s not my fault,” have become too pervasive and suggest we are moving in the wrong direction. Errors are the fault of those making them. There may be understandable excuses, but faults should be acknowledged and corrected.

"More Post-Election Thoughts"

 

Sydney M. Williams

30 Bokum Road – Apartment 314

Essex, CT 06426

www.swtotd.blogspot.com

 

Thought of the Day

“More Post-Election Thoughts”

November 10, 2020

 

“…in their considerable wisdom, the voters may have elected

Mr. Biden but they left his party and its radical ideas behind.”

                                                                                                                                Lead Editorial

                                                                                                                                Wall Street Journal

                                                                                                                                November 6, 2020

 

Mr. Trump, a non-politician, was elected President in 2016 against all odds. Cronyism and corruption had infested both parties. Washington’s swamp, which had become an Augean Stables, needed cleansing. Trump’s task was easier in one sense than that of Hercules – One man, Eurystheus, gave the latter a single day to accomplish his task, while sixty-three million voters gave Trump four years. But Mr. Trump’s task was more difficult in another sense – the creatures who inhabit Washington’s swamp are savvier and more cunning than the four-legged animals of King Augeas. As well, Washington’s swamp denizens are protected by mainstream and social media groups who long ago extinguished Diogenes’ lamp.  

 

Mr. Biden has been anointed the newly elected President by a media that has been trying to banish the hated Mr. Trump for four years. Certification of his election, however, is yet to come. Regardless, there will be no resistance to Mr. Biden like that which confronted Mr. Trump four years ago. Rioters, one should note, did not appear when Mr. Biden appeared victorious, as merchants feared had Mr. Trump prevailed. In truth, Republicans aren’t as nasty as Democrats and don’t carry grudges to the same extent. Nevertheless, what attracted so many to Mr. Trump is that he is a fighter. Mr. Obama once said he would bring a gun to a knife fight. Mr. Trump is also a fighter; it is why he is held in high regard by his admirers. He will not exit stage left without assurance that nobody emerged from the nation’s cemeteries to vote in the middle of the night. But he will exit graciously if he loses, once all legal votes have been counted.

 

While the media has been relentless in referring to Mr. Trump as a Hitler, an egoist, a racist, a misogynist, a xenophobe, a selfish materialist, it is worth remembering his wife is from Slovenia, his daughter is married to a Jew and that he was color-blind in selecting members of his cabinet and staff. Keep in mind, Mr. Trump does not fit the image of what purports to be a Republican. He was refused membership in Palm Beach’s exclusive Everglades and Bath & Tennis Clubs, which is why he formed the Mar-a-Lago Club, a club unrestricted by race, gender or religion. In cutting regulations, Mr. Trump reduced the power of the Executive branch of government, which he heads. Unlike ex-Presidents Clinton and Obama, he did not run for President to help his net worth. He gave his Presidential salary to charity ($1.6 million over four years) and, according to Forbes, saw his net worth decline by $1.2 billion, or 32%. Over the same four years, equity markets in the U.S. rose in value by about $10 trillion, or about 35%. Mr. Trump, a successful businessman, went to Washington to fight corruption and to aid “forgotten” Americans – millions of middle-income, unhyphenated American workers. 

 

Once again, as in 2016, the Polls were wrong. Real Clear Politics, according to Michael Barone, showed Mr. Trump getting 44% of the popular vote versus the 48.6% he actually received. Democrats were supposed to increase their number of House seats and garner a majority in the Senate. Republicans added to their House seats, picked up one governorship (Montana) and added to state legislatures. Even though he lost the Presidency, Mr. Trump’s coattails were longer than Mr. Biden’s.

 

While re-counts continue in a number of states – Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Arizona (and perhaps Michigan and Wisconsin) – it seems that Mr. Biden will emerge as our next President. Assuming Republicans keep their hold on the Senate, which depends on the outcome of two Georgia special elections to be held on January 5^th, Progressives should be kept at bay; so long as a President Biden governs as the moderate he claims to be…and as long as his early dementia does not noticeably worsen. That should allow Republicans to focus on the interim 2022 elections and the 2024 Presidential election. They have a strong bench, headed, in my opinion, by a new generation of leaders: Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal, Elise Stefanik, Ben Sasse and Josh Hawley – all generation Xers. 

 

With so many races so close, Mr. Trump should not concede until all states certify the vote. After all, was not that the advice of Hillary Clinton to Mr. Biden had Mr. Trump won? But once it becomes clear he has lost (which I suspect he has), he should be as gracious in defeat as he was competitive in battle, something he was not accorded in 2016. Ms. Pelosi misspoke when she said: “We lost some battles, but we won the war.” In a democratic republic like ours there is no end to the political war. She lost some skirmishes and won a battle, but not convincingly. The war goes on, as it always has and always will. If anything, this race showed that the Country is center-right in its beliefs. It showed that Democrats are torn between moderates who have been ignored and Progressives to whom House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer genuflected during the past four years. Platform programs like Medicare-for-all, the 1619 Project and the Green New Deal are outliers and will likely lie fallow.

 

The American voter is intelligent and informed. In general, they liked Mr. Trump’s handling of the economy, the tax cuts and regulatory relief. They understood that COVID-19 was a novel virus and that the scientific evidence and recommendations were inconsistent. They know that Democrats turned the virus into a political football. They recognize that the President had to thread the needle between the Charybdis of a deadly disease and the Scylla of closed schools and a shut-down economy. Most Americans feel that Mr. Trump found a peaceful resolution in the Middle East, a process that eluded professional diplomats. Likewise, most Americans, apart from NBA players, Silicon Valley technocrats and Wall Streeters, do not like how China has taken advantage of American generosity and how it has imprisoned Uyghurs, destroyed democracy in Hong Kong, threatens Taiwan and potentially disrupts trade in the South China Sea. As well, most Americans could care less if Europeans, who have benefitted for seventy years from an American military presence, are upset because they are asked to pay more for their own defense.   

 

While those of us who supported President Trump mourn his loss in the election, we celebrate the fact that he received the second highest number of votes ever in a Presidential election. His was a consequential Presidency. A disruptor, Mr. Trump redefined the Republican Party away from its image of moneyed, country-club types to middle class, working Americans of all races who love their country, its Constitution, history and its traditions. Despite all four member of the “Squad” (Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts) winning re-election, the election was a defeat for Progressive policies. High turnout among women, youth and minorities did not create the “blue wave” of expectations. In fact, Mr. Trump increased his vote share from all categories except white men. Republican gains in the House were women and Hispanics. Mr. Trump’s vote totals among Blacks was the highest for a Republican since 1960. Interestingly, those who voted later, when more information was available, voted for Mr. Trump.

 

Mr. Trump can leave office with the knowledge he made a positive difference: The rampant corruption of trading influence for dollars; the arrogance of bureaucrats toward those they are supposed to serve, and a media that has become Pravda-like in their support for one Party. He reminded us of the fortune we have to live in this great land, under the rule of law – a mixture of people from all nations, religions and races. He taught us to be proud of our history, warts and all; for no other Country has done so much for so many.