Recalling & Ranting Politics!

1/28/2020

The times we are in make no sense. We have a nation of more diversity than anyone of any generation since its inception could have ever imagined. Yet it seems, that’s all we argue over. We are profoundly diverse in the marketplace; in the scope of all industry; in communities, towns, cities, states, and definitely on the religious front, we are all over the horizon! We splinter this way, then we go off in another direction. We’ve had denominations which split 4 times in the 20th century and are now considering another reason to split! I can’t say I actually expect this to get resolved or even noticeably better, anywhere or anytime soon.

But, it seems odd to me to be watching all these goings on in such a momentous year. Harken back 100 years: the first WW was over, America was working its way back to normalcy, facing such strange things as Prohibition, the Teapot Dome scandal and the soon coming death of a President. Sounds very tame to all that is going on today, right? By the time the decade was over, the “progressives” had found a scapegoat in conservative Herbert Hoover and was about electing the most detrimental president we’ve ever had—Franklin Delano Roosevelt—and we endured until he got us drawn into the second WW. I’m sorry he died before the end of his fourth term, it would have been an interesting, even if disastrous historical event to see if he would have been elected a fifth time or would have been finally defeated as he most definitely should have been.

When Roosevelt succumbed, the nation got a president who was not presidential, but a haberdasher! Harry Truman was a hard working Kansas middle-American with much common sense. He never thought politics was a seesaw and more than any other president, past or future, he really practiced the buck stops here! He finished the war with an earth-shaking event. And it was over. Everyone knew it. 

But, Truman’s common sense didn’t waver. Then in the 1948 election with odds soaring that he was a sure loser: he won. The second most notable thing in Truman’s administration was the limiting of presidential terms. Signed into legislation in 1947, it had to be in the form of a constitutional amendment and was the 22 Amendment passed by the states in 1951. No more long term presidents. An excellent law. 

When President Harry S. Truman left the office in January of 1953, after the inauguration of his successor, he and his wife Bess, got in their car and drove home. Alone. Later, he was approached for a speech and offered a sizable amount of money to come and speak. He declined, saying, “You don’t want me for a speech, you want the presidency, and it’s not for sale!” He was truly a man of the people, not much of a politician.

The most ingenious part of our founders’ finished product; our constitution, which is maligned viciously from time to time, but has only been actually changed about 18 times since ratified, is what’s known as the Electoral College. This is the true electorate. The individual states elect by popular vote their choice for president, placed on the ballots by the individuals themselves. (We are often too embroiled in “party” politics to notice things like this.)(When you enter the booth and look at your ballot this November, in many states you’ll notice several names listed for president, you can vote for any one of them.) 

Electoral votes for each state equal the number of Senators + U.S. Representatives that state has. The college therefore has 535 votes plus 3 for the District of Columbia, 538 total. So, to become president, one must receive 270 total Electoral College votes. This has been brilliant because it stops the few highly populated states from mass rule over the entirety the land. In several elections this plays a big role in who wins. The present “duly elected” president is one who lost the popular vote, but handily won the college. The Democrats have been yelling ever since. Hmm, they didn’t say “away with it!” when Wilson or Clinton won that way. Only when a Republican won that way, as did the second Bush and Trump. Oh, by the way, Lincoln won that way, also.

I’m writing all this with the current “election fever” going on and here we go again! The system doesn’t need to be changed, just accepted. Losers often whine and gripe. Don’t fret. If Trump wins, there’ll be a lot of hoopla. If he loses, the Republicans will just take it.

The SIMH today is from probably the last of the “crooners”—Eddie Fisher. There have been a few other crooners since and a couple of the older ones outlasted Mr. Fisher,  but in the popular era he was the last of the string. The song was “With a Song in My Heart!”—written in 1929 for a broadway show. My head had Eddie Fisher singing it as clear as a bell. However, there is no history of the song ever being song by him. Many others, both male and female singers recorded it for about 50 years after it was written, but not Fisher! So now I cannot trust the SIMH to be valid! This may send me mumbling into oblivion, I don’t know……

Thanks for putting up with the political rant today. Maybe the next blog will be more about important matters, or a good old story, or a sermonette by this little preacherette, to all you christianettes!

Thanks for reading, the Elder