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An article in the June 2020 issue of The Atlantic, written by staff writer George Packer, is titled We Are Living In A Failed State. The coronavirus didn't break America. It revealed what was already broken.
Midway in to his column, Mr. Packer writes, "We now have two categories of work: essential and nonessential. Who have the essential workers turned out to be? Mostly people in low-paying jobs that require their physical presence and put their health directly at risk: warehouse workers, shelf stockers, Instacart shoppers, delivery drivers, municipal employees, hospital staffers, home health aides, long-haul truckers. Doctors and nurses are the pandemic's combat heroes, but the supermarket cashier with her bottle of sanitizer and the UPS driver with his latex gloves are the supply and logistics troops who keep the frontline forces intact."
Donald Trump has proven time and time again that he has no clue what it means to be President of the United States. Apparently Trump was absent the day his first grade teacher taught his class that America has a President, not a king, not a monarch, not a dictator. But on Friday, May 22nd, 2020, Trump issued a statement - live from The White House Briefing Room - that paints a portrait of an 18th Century European despot, not a 21st Century U.S. commander-in-chief.
"Today I am identifying houses of worship; churches, synagogue(s), and mosques, as essential places that provide essential services. Some governors have deemed liquor stores and abortion clinics as essential, but have left out churches and other houses of worship. It's not right. So I'm correcting this injustice and calling houses of worship essential. I call upon governors to allow our churches and places of worship to open right now." Trump went on with his demand. "The governors need to do the right thing and allow these very important essential places of faith to open right now, for this weekend. If they don't do it, I will override the governors. In America, we need more prayer, not less."
I guess Trump also missed school when other students were learning about Separation of Church and State in the United States.
It was the British King George III who Thomas Jefferson labeled a "tyrant" in the U.S. Declaration of Independence. America's Founding Fathers felt George was villainous and, therefore, unfit to rule over a free people, a free society. Does that make you think of anybody we know today? After all, Donald Trump's threat to U.S. governors sounded as if it was ripped from the pages of the King George playbook. Only an autocrat would attempt to browbeat and bully, but intimidation is Trump's modus operandi.
Trump thinks he can do whatever he wants as President. But he can't; not in our country. As such, Trump cannot order governors to permit the re-opening of churches, temples and other prayer palaces. The U.S. Constitution doesn't give any American President the right or the power to override governors unless specifically stated in the Constitution. The Tenth Amendment says that any power not specifically given to the federal government by the Constitution belongs to the States and the people, and in a health crisis - as we are suffering from now with the
COVID-19 pandemic - the authority to order business establishments to close or open its
doors is "police power" and is spelled out in the Constitution to be reserved by
state governments, not "Uncle Sam." The Tenth Amendment reads as follows. "The powers not delegated to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States
respectively, or to the people." Therefore, in this instance, the Tenth Amendment - part of the Bill of Rights - gives
all the power to the States, not to the President.
Donald Trump has his own personal agenda when he tells governors that churches, synagogues and mosques are "essential." As a Jew, I know that rabbis will tell people - and I'm sure priests, ministers and clergy of all faiths will do the same - that a person doesn't have to be in a house of worship for God to hear our prayers. We can pray from anywhere. So Trump is a complete fool, which everyone should be aware of by now, but unfortunately not everyone has gotten the memo. He just wants people to think it's safe to congregate in a religious setting to benefit his campaign for re-election. Such optics would indicate that America is back to normal, which it clearly is not, and won't be for quite awhile. Let's face it, Trump doesn't care about anybody but himself, so it doesn't matter to him if more people die, especially if those individuals are African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans, and Native Americans. In Trump's lily-white eyes - the racist bigot that he is - having a multi-ethnic, multi-racial country is not the nation he wants for the United States.
My column today is not intended to be a review of another journalist's work, although I do agree with many of George Packer's observations. However, I do need to express my thoughts on one specific phrase at the beginning of his piece.
"When the virus came here, it found a country with serious underlying conditions, and it exploited them ruthlessly. Chronic ills - a corrupt political class, a sclerotic bureaucracy, a heartless economy, a divided and distracted public - had gone untreated for years. We had learned to live, uncomfortably, with the symptoms. It took the scale and intimacy of a pandemic to expose their severity - to shock Americans with the recognition that we are in the high-risk category."
George, we have not "learned to live uncomfortably." That would mean that we accepted life as it was. Except for those who make up the Donald Trump base, nobody accepted the evil plague. Democrats tried with all their heart, soul and might to remove that plague; that virus, which is none other than Donald Trump himself, and Republicans are responsible for helping to create him. Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives impeached Trump five months ago on December 18th, 2019, but Republicans in the U.S. Senate decided they would raise Trump even higher on to his pedestal of profanity and perversion, and allow him to play dictator. I do wonder how many Republican senators are kicking themselves today that they didn't join the lone GOP lawmaker, Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, by voting to convict Trump on February 5th, 2020, and that they didn't push hard to have him removed from office when they had the chance. Now, it will be up to the voters on
November 3rd to elect former Vice President Joe Biden to be President, and to do what Senate Republicans should've done to Trump three-and-a-half months ago before his presidential malpractice caused the tragic and untimely deaths of nearly 100,000 Americans. Sadly, it's inevitable that thousands more Americans - perhaps hundreds of thousands - will be dead from the coronavirus by the end of this year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the World Health Organization abbreviates coronavirus as COVID-19 because it stands for COronaVIrus Disease 2019.
It would make sense for people throughout the United States to listen to the doctors and scientists from the CDC plus other health officials nationwide, but nobody should pay any attention to Donald Trump or any politician who doesn't follow the recommendations of the CDC. Ignore CDC guidelines and you may be responsible for loved ones standing over your grave after you die from the coronavirus. Or, you could be the one mourning a family member or friend, who died because you were contagious with COVID-19 and got him or her sick. Think about it.
Because Senate Republicans did not do their jobs - by getting rid of Trump - he remained in office and the U.S. economy tanked. As a result, 39-million Americans have been forced to file for unemployment. With more than 5.4-million COVID-19 cases worldwide and nearly 350,000 coronavirus deaths around our globe, the pandemic is far from over as the number of fatalities increases everyday. More Americans will die not only from a biological virus, but because of a narcissistic and egotistical virus; that being the lethal negligence, incompetence and deceitful behavior of a man who has proven over and over again that he is unfit to serve as President of the United States. The coronavirus kills. But Donald Trump is the ongoing disease that has caused it to be worse.
And that's The Controversy for today.
I'm Gary B. Duglin.
"We'll talk again."
The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions. Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.
Please express your personal opinions by following the instructions printed at the top of this column. And thank you for reading The Controversy.
Link to George Packer's column in The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/underlying-conditions/610261/
Photo credits:
1 - Alex Wong/Getty Images (Donald Trump)
2 - Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images (Former Vice President Joe Biden)
Copyright 2020 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net. All Rights Reserved.
Gary, I will not debate most of the drivels you wrote here but I need to correct you on one item. First, I must laugh that you or any progressive left-wing democrat would quote states rights, you for years have touted the power of the federal government over the states. The Tenth Amendment reads as follows. "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Well guess what the First Amendment grants the Federal Government the rights President Trump is talking about religions “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” What some Governors are doing is “prohibiting the free exercise thereof” which puts the states in conflict with the US Constitution and powers delegated to the US Government. The first thing in the Bill of Rights makes it the responsibility of the Federal Government to protect the “free exercise of religion.” What’s next if you give this power to the Governors will some of them take away our freedom of speech, or of the press; they have already taken away the right of the people peaceably to assemble, how much power and rights are you willing to give up. It must stop, the Constitution MUST over-rule the Governors, the Congress (both Houses) and yes even the President. Give the People back their rights!
ReplyDeleteMy response to the above reader's remarks will be in three parts.
DeletePART ONE OF THREE
Wayne, first of all, I take issue on your phraseology that you "need to correct" me. You need not correct me because it would be you who are mistaken.
I don't know where you ever assumed that Republicans are any more supportive of states' rights than Democrats. I'm going to quote political science Professor Alexis N. Walker of Saint Martin's University. She writes in The Washington Post, "(B)oth parties have historically promoted or preempted states’ rights depending on their party’s political goals for a given issue. The United States has a federal system, which means that state and federal governments divide and share power to make and enforce laws. (T)he federal government has a long history of enacting laws that preempt, or limit, states’ and localities’ policymaking powers. Over about the past 20 years, Republicans in Congress and in the White House have been just as willing to limit state power as have Democrats. For example, Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush each signed 64 preemption statutes into law during their respective eight years in office. Similarly, between 1990 and 2012, no matter which party controlled the House of Representatives, roughly the same average number of preemption policies became law each year. In sum, neither party holds a principled position on whether to preempt or protect states’ rights. Instead, both parties use federal power to limit state authority or to promote it depending on their party’s policy goals." Professor Walker's information and statistics have been fact-checked and, therefore, she is 100 percent accurate.
Wayne, I reference the Tenth Amendment in my column by quoting the same passage as you repeated right back to me, so I don't understand why you would echo my point since you claim to disagree with me. "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." The Tenth Amendment provides a balance between the federal government and state governments. The Tenth Amendment says "Uncle Sam" has only those powers specifically granted by the U.S. Constitution. The definitive word is "specifically." And in a public health crisis, the Constitution allows governors to basically call the shots. You're way off base that governors don't have the right to keep houses of worship closed. If a governor - not in a public health crisis - wanted to close houses of worship, but nothing else, then your argument might have some merit. However, in a public health crisis where many businesses still remain closed, and other establishments are not allowed to occupy more than 10 people in a given location at one time, a governor can forbid churches, synagogues and mosques to remain closed because there is no way to limit only 10 people from entering such houses of worship. Therefore, keeping such buildings closed prevents discrimination of any kind, and THAT would be illegal. The governors are in no way limiting or prohibiting "the free exercise of religion" (as spelled out in the First Amendment) because one not need a designated building to pray. One not need a church or temple or any other house of worship to pray. As I wrote in my column, "As a Jew, I know that rabbis will tell people - and I'm sure priests, ministers and clergy of all faiths will do the same - that a person doesn't have to be in a 'house of worship' for God to hear our prayers. We can pray from anywhere." No governor is preventing anyone from their religious beliefs or prohibiting them from praying. They just can't do it with dozens or hundreds of other people in a structure that would be a petri dish for spreading the coronavirus.
GBD
END OF PART ONE OF THREE
PART TWO OF THREE
DeleteThe President of the United States - no matter who it is or what political party he or she represents - cannot order a governor to open, or close, houses of worship during a public health crisis. The First Amendment focuses on "freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble." The operative word, for our discussion, is "peaceably." There would be no peace if dozens or hundreds of people gathered in a house of worship when there is such a risk for people to come down with a deadly virus and perhaps die from it. Therefore, as I noted above, governors are not prohibiting "the free exercise of religion" because bringing death to citizens could possibly cost numerous lives and, therefore, nothing would be free.
You sound so silly when you make a ridiculous statement implying that governors would next "take away our freedom of speech." No governor has stated that people cannot pray. They just can't do it in a designated building that could wind up with hundreds of people inside, and hundreds of people dying. That would be tantamount to state executions. Nobody is taking away the "right of the people." Government - whether local, state or federal - are in business, in many ways, to protect the people. This is why a federal judge has already ruled against Donald Trump's thinking.
As reported by ABC News, "A federal appeals court has backed California Governor Gavin Newsom's stay-at-home order banning in-church services to blunt the spread of coronavirus, rejecting an argument from clerics that the governor is treading on their First Amendment right to free exercise of their religious beliefs. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a split 2-1 ruling denying the request for a temporary restraining order against Newsom's in-church service ban filed this month by the South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista, California. The ruling was issued late on Friday (May 22, 2020), the same day Trump demanded governors nationwide allow churches, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship to reopen immediately. In its ruling in the California case, the federal appellate judges who sided with Newsom found the state's action of shuttering houses of worship due to a health emergency does not 'infringe upon or restrict practices because of their religious motivation' and does not 'in a selective manner impose burdens only on conduct motivated by religious belief. We're dealing here with a highly contagious and often fatal disease for which there presently is no known cure,' Judges Jacqueline Nguyen and Barry Silverman wrote in their ruling denying the restraining order."
GBD
END OF PART TWO OF THREE
PART THREE OF THREE
DeleteYour statement that "the Constitution MUST over-rule the governors, the Congress (both Houses) and yes even the President" is not what the Founders had in mind. That's why they have given certain rights to states, certain rights to Congress, certain rights to the President.
The people HAVE THEIR RIGHTS. The governors are merely protecting their citizens' rights by not giving them a death sentence. If the governors had opened up the houses of worship, their constituents could have prayed TO GOD IN HEAVEN this past weekend, but in a few weeks, they could have ended up praying WITH GOD IN HEAVEN.
GBD
END OF PART THREE OF THREE
I still find it amazing that liberals think that if you write a lot of words it makes you look intelligent. ( Have you ever written a reply that wasn't in "3 PARTS"?). It just shows everyone that you are hiding something or you are very good at copying. It doesn't matter how deep you bury crap, the aroma still seeps through. For example, how many pages was Obamacare? Worst legislation ever written in American history. Pelosi's last "aid" bill? 1800 pages. Pure garbage. In contrast, the Declaration of Independence-1 page. Gettysburg address-1 page. Neil Armstrong on the moon-10 words. "We the People"-3 words. "Shall not be infringed"-4 words.
DeleteTry writing using the KISS method, Keep It Simple Stupid!
BTW, please show me where in the Constitution where it uses the phrase "separation of church and state". That's a twisted liberal spin. You obviously slept through civics class in school.
My response to the above reader's remarks will be in three parts.
DeletePART ONE OF THREE
I do my best to not be vicious towards my readers. Being vicious towards Donald Trump or some of his vile cronies is acceptable because they are beyond vulgar with their remarks. That all being said, I will respond to the reader above by saying that sometimes I - and other Democrats - need to be so specific, and so elaborate with our speeches because it is the Trump Republican base that is "twisted" and "stupid" (to use the reader's accusation of Democrats and me).
Obviously if you go through my 416 editorials over the last nearly 8 years, many responses to readers who have commented are NOT in three parts. I could probably squeeze this reply to you in to one part, but since you're being a putz, I'm going to make it three.
What's good about liberals, progressives and Democrats overall is that when we defend our points of view we back them up with facts, statistics, and fact-checked information. Republicans merely spew their venom or whatever they want to spew. The people at Fox News have made millions of dollars in that fashion and Republicans have bought in to the Fox News mentality, as has Donald Trump who helped to develop it in to the monster that it is. Broadcasters such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are of the belief that if they say it, it must be true. Clearly, it is not.
"Obamacare" - or its proper name, The Affordable Care Act - is one of the BEST pieces of legislation in American history, not one of the worst, as the reader wants to believe. It's a bill - a law - that many Presidents tried to get passed, but could never achieve. Only the greatness of President Barack Obama succeeded. And I, along with tens of millions of other Americans who were unable to get health insurance - whether it be because of pre-existing conditions or other reasons - can now have insurance. I thank President Obama every day of my life for the Affordable Care Act. As a two-time cancer survivor who has suffered from other health problems, I couldn't buy health insurance. Thanks to President Obama, I was able to do so and still can.
GBD
END OF PART ONE OF THREE
PART TWO OF THREE
DeleteWhen are you and other Republicans going to stop listening to the untruths, the falsehoods and the fabrications? I'm not hiding anything and neither are most Democrats. It's people who lie who are the ones that are hiding. But it doesn't matter how much you, Trump and others lie, the aroma - better yet, the odor - of such deceit leaves a stench that will be scrubbed away on November 3rd when the vast majority of Americans will clean up our country by electing Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is a Democrat's dream-come-true. She has accomplished so much as Speaker both times she was elected, and she's got a hell of a lot more to do. Yes, the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, Neil Armstrong's first words on the moon, all wonderful. But sometimes it takes a little more emphasis to get through the thick heads of people who have been brainwashed by a man who is in the process of having a mental breakdown, and who has tried for three-and-a-half years to convince Americans that "I alone can fix it." Donald Trump has destroyed the United States. He has ruined our economy. And he has contributed to the deaths of more than 100,000 Americans, so far, because of a deadly virus that he called a "hoax," even though he had been warned by his own advisers that it was real, and that it could cause millions of people to die. By the way, you must have been absent from school when the arithmetic class taught addition. Neil Armstrong's first words add up to 12, not 10. "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." And yes, the word "a" was part of Neil's first words. It was lost in the transmission, but Armstrong confirmed and NASA has explained. You can fact-check it if you don't believe me.
GBD
END OF PART TWO OF THREE
PART THREE OF THREE
DeleteJust like Trump, Limbaugh and Hannity - amongst other Republicans - you falsely accuse liberals of being the only ones to use the phrase "separation of church and state." Of course those four words are not explicitly stated in the First Amendment, but the Establishment Clause has been interpreted by constitutional scholars - for more than two centuries - as exactly that. In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson wrote, in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, that when Americans adopted the Establishment Clause they built a "wall of separation between the church and state." So those four words are not "a twisted liberal spin" as you want people to think. One of our Founding Fathers made such a declaration more than 200 years ago.
But if you need some political reference. Check out just three quotes noted below.
In 1984 President Ronald Reagan (A Republican NOT a liberal): “We establish no religion in this country. We command no worship. We mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are and must remain separate.”
In 1915 President Theodore Roosevelt (A Republican NOT a liberal): “I hold that in this country there must be complete severance of Church and State; that public moneys shall not be used for the purpose of advancing any particular creed; and therefore that the public schools shall be non-sectarian and no public moneys appropriated for sectarian schools.”
In 1960 President Richard Nixon (A Republican NOT a liberal): “As you know, the separation of church and state is not subject to discussion or alteration. Under our Constitution no church or religion can be supported by the U.S. Government. We maintain freedom of religion so that an American can either worship in the church of his choice or choose to go to no church at all.”
It is the Trump Republican base - each of them when they were children (and obviously you too) - who "slept through civics class." Perhaps you were absent altogether. But me. No. I did not slumber during any class. Not even a 30-second nap. But sometimes I get the feeling that some of Trump's Republican base never studied at all.
GBD
END OF PART THREE OF THREE
Dear Mr. Duglin--I always admire your columns for how well-researched they are. You know history and you know the facts. And you are "all in" with your passion.
ReplyDeleteI thank you very much for your kind words. I greatly appreciate you recognizing my research and my knowledge of history. "Facts," to me are essential, thus I make every effort to support my views with the facts. I am certainly passionate about our country and that we need a leader whose strength and COMpassion can move America forward and save us from the incompetence, negligence, lack of leadership, and lies of Donald Trump. The United States needs Joe Biden, and hopefully come November 3rd he will be elected our 46th President so that on January 20th, 2021 America can move in a direction that will take our nation out from the hell where Donald Trump is the devil. Many thanks again for your thoughtful and generous comments. GBD
Delete103 thousand dead,Blood on our streets,riots,looting,destruction,racism and we are headed for doomsday under this reality TV show leader. Isn't America great when we value money and our economy more than a human life. You voted for him and look what you have. How can anyone in their right mind who voted for this man say He has made America Great!
ReplyDeleteGary, I commend you for writing and bringing on the truth that get people firing back because They Cant Handle the truth!
When I wrote the column above - published on Sunday, May 24th - nobody knew that our country would be faced not only with the coronavirus crisis, but a crisis of chaos with protests and riots across our nation as the result of a white cop murdering an unarmed black man while three other white cops stood and watched and did nothing. Since that horrendous killing, there have been - and still are - protests in cities all across our nation, but instead of a president who provides leadership, healing and compassion, we are poisoned by Donald Trump. As I tweeted on Friday, May 29th, "The U.S. is engulfed in flames but instead of throwing water on the fires #DonaldTrump is pouring gasoline. America is desperately in need of a president who can calm & heal our nation with leadership strength & compassion. We had it with @BarackObama. We now need @JoeBiden." That tweet has been "liked" hundreds of times and has been retweeted dozens of times. As I also tweeted - this one on Sunday, May 31st - "What happened to social distancing? Has everyone forgotten we’re still suffering a #pandemic? #Protesters in Times Square & elsewhere could spread coronavirus? I support peaceful protests. I’m appalled & livid by the murder of #GeorgeFloyd. It’s a shame we don’t have a real president." And on Saturday, May 30th, I tweeted, "I’ve been writing in my column at TheControversy.net for 3 1/2 yrs that Trump is mentally & morally unfit. Cabinet needs to put country over Trump & invoke 25th Amendment. GOP in Congress need to join Dems & remove Trump from office. Save America!" Now today, Trump has threatened to echo the actions of authoritarians who he idolizes and to order active U.S. military troops in to our states. Donald Trump is mentally ill. I have written for years that he is unstable, unbalanced and unfit to serve as President of the United States. I was criticized because of my words by readers and others years ago. However, Trump is in the progress of suffering a mental breakdown and don't be surprised - and I'm not being facetious - if he doesn't flip out completely and jump out of a window.
DeleteYour comment above says, "You voted for him and look what you have." Is there a typo in there somewhere? I certainly did not vote for Trump. Anyone who voted for Trump in 2016 and still supports him, still elevates him on what I call his pedestal of profanity and perversion, is totally out of touch with reality and is as sick-minded as Trump. Many of those same people who voted for Trump four years ago are part of the 41-million in our country today who are unemployed.
I thank you very much for your kind words where you "commend (me) for writing and bringing on the truth." But you're right, Trump supporters are the ones who "can't handle the truth."
GBD