The political class in DC is very concerned about inflation, including many Democrats. So much so that they are unwilling to pass Bidenâs âBuild Back Betterâ social infrastructure bill because it will add to our current inflation. Specifically, Sen. Manchin objects to the extension of the child tax credit that is expiring this month.
Itâs time to remind these people of what real inflation looks like. Back in 1980, when then-Chair of the Federal Reserve Paul Volcker raised interest rates high enough to throw the US into a recession and end inflation, inflation had averaged 6.9% for the previous 11 years. Letâs also remind Sen. Manchin that this yearâs annualized rate of inflation went above the long-term average of around 3% in April. Weâve averaged 6.81% for the year, not for 11 years.
The Senate wrapped up its work for the year, with Democrats punting the Build Back Better and the voting rights bills into 2022. The Senate adjourned early Saturday morning after a voting marathon including confirming 50 of Bidenâs nominees. On to cartoons.
The answer is to elect more Democratic Senators:
Letâs see the Senate break at least one tooth on voting rights:
Only the social programs have to pay for themselves:
âA federal judge on Thursday evening unraveled a painstakingly negotiated settlement between Purdue Pharma and thousands of state, local and tribal governments that had sued the maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin for the companyâs role in the opioid epidemic, saying that the plan was flawed in one critical area.â
The judge, Colleen McMahon of the US District Court for the Southern District of NY, said that the settlement, which was part of a bankruptcy restructuring plan for Purdue that was approved in September by US bankruptcy judge, Robert Drain, shouldnât go forward because it released the companyâs owners, the billionaire Sackler family, from any personal liability in civil opioid-related cases:
âThis Court concludes that the Bankruptcy Code does not authorize such non-consensual non-debtor releases: not in its express text…not in its silence…and not in any section or sections of the Bankruptcy Code that, read singly or together, purport to confer generalized or âresidualâ powers on a court sitting in bankruptcy. For that reason, the Confirmation Order (and the Advance Order that flows from it) must be vacated.â
âMore than 760,000 people have died since 1999 from a drug overdose.â
Connecticutâs Attorney General, William Tong was against the Purdue/Sackler settlement from the start. He had this to say after the new decision:
âThis is a seismic victory for justice and accountability that will re-open the deeply flawed Purdue bankruptcy and force the Sackler family to confront the pain and devastation they have caused….this fight was never about the money. It was about holding Purdue and the Sacklers accountable for the lives stolen and destroyed by their relentless greed. That is why Connecticut helped lead the charge against the plan, and why we will continue to push for true justice and accountability…â
Morally, the deal as originally approved was outrageous. OTOH, this is America! Generally, morality isnât a necessary part of what we do. Itâs very hard to be optimistic about wealthy Americans actually seeing justice in our court system, but overturning the decision gives us a sliver of hope that theyâll have to pay a real price. Clearly, the Sacklers and Perdue Pharma will appeal, and itâs anybodyâs guess whether this ruling will hold up.
We know that many of the little people are serving long sentences for dealing Oxycontin, Purdueâs drug. We know that hundreds of thousands of men and women have died from using Oxycontin. But nobody is talking about criminal charges against the Sacklers.
In a just world, they’d be serving life sentences. But we certainly don’t live in a just world.
We don’t even live in a just country.
Enough of the world for this week, itâs time to focus on whatâs really a cause for concern in America: Christmas gifts. More accurately, the lack of Christmas gifts. Some people get this chore done in November, while others procrastinate.
Here at the Mansion of Wrong, weâve finally put up our seasonal decorations, although many fewer than in prior years. We have a smaller tree, and no outside lights. Wrongo isnât clear why weâre not going all-out this year, maybe itâs the never-ending, ever-evolving virus. Itâs difficult to say.
But before you fire up the laptop for another round of internet shopping, take a short break for our Saturday Soother.
Now, grab a chair by a window and survey the great outdoors. Here in CT, youâre looking at snow on the ground. Put on your wireless headphones and listen to â”The Fellowship” by Howard Shore, from the soundtrack to The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Here it is played by The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra:
This beautiful score should remind us that not all great classical music was written in the 1700s-1800s.
Shouldnât we be on the side of democracy? Georgiaâs Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock says yes. He spoke in the Senate on Tuesday, and what he said is consistent with Wrongoâs thinking.
Warnock asked why the Senate could suspend its rules in order to pass an increase in the debt ceiling by a simple majority but couldnât do the same thing for something as critical to our democracy as voting rights. From Warnock:
âBefore we left Washington last week, we in this chamber made a change in the Senate’s rules in order to push forward something that all of us think is important. We set the stage to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, and yet as we cast that vote to begin addressing the debt ceiling, this same chamber is allowing the ceiling of our democracy to crash in around us….Be very clear, last week we changed the rules of the Senate. To address another important issue, the economy. This is a step, a change in the Senate rules we haven’t been willing to take to save our broken democracy, but one that a bipartisan majority of this chamber thought was necessary in order to keep our economy strong.â
The Jan. 6 attempted coup and the many state anti-voting laws passed by Republicans subsequent to that, come from the same poisonous well: A growing anti-democratic movement of fellow travelers including American conservatives, Right-wing extremists, and political entrepreneurs on the Right who have made the Republican Party their political vehicle.
Theyâre close to winning in the 2022 mid-terms. If the Senate adjourns without acting on voter suppression, it will help them get there. Buzzfeed reports that in some states, Republicans are going door-to-door in order to “check” to make sure there arenât any illegal voters in your home:
âIndividual election deniers and grassroots groups are canvassing for election fraud in states…including New Hampshire, Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, Utah, and Nebraska.â
Theyâre targeting registered Democrat voters. Itâs part of a broader effort by Trump supporters and Republican Party leaders to cast doubt on our elections going forward. In Colorado, a member of the Three Percenter militant group is helping lead the canvassing effort. According to the Colorado Times Recorder, that member suggested volunteers carry firearms to provide security for the group as they went door-to-door.
Let’s call this what it is: Voter intimidation on a multi-state scale. It’s a message that if you are a registered Democrat, the Trump cultists know who you are, and where you live. This intimidation should be illegal, but it’s not.
And itâs another part of the problem that the Senate needs to address right now.
The Democrats have what amounts to less-than-a-majority in the Senate in favor of suspending the filibuster rules for voting rights. In June, Majority Leader Schumer outsourced an effort to garner a filibuster-proof majority on voting rights to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WVA), but Manchinâs effort failed.
Despite that, Schumer was able to finesse the filibuster to act without Republican votes to increase the debt ceiling. He was also able to corral all Democratic Senators, including Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema, who are on the record as being against any change in the filibuster rules.
But voting rights, the most fundamental of all Democratic principles, are being sacrificed to the crusty parliamentary rule that these same two Democrats have so far refused to consider. This week, Schumer appointed a group of Democratic senators, who lead the talks on voting rights legislation, to spearhead discussions with Joe Manchin about how to change the Senate rules. They met with Manchin on Tuesday.
Itâs time for Sen. Schumer to wrestle Manchin and Sinema to the ground, and make them vote to suspend the filibuster rules a second time.
âThis is, I believe, a democratic emergency, and that without very strong and systematic pushback from protectors of democracy, weâre going to lose something that we canât afford to lose about the way we run elections.â
Weâre facing a crisis. Biden and all Democrats have to make this a âwhose side are you on?â issue for Washington politicians and for voters everywhere.
Warnock has a powerful message. Heâs the one Democrat willing to speak about the elephant in the room. Watch his speech:
The Republicans plan to run out the clock on Congressional oversight.
The WaPo reports that the execrable Peter Navarro, Trumpâs trade adviser, told the House committee probing the governmentâs Coronavirus response that he will not comply with its subpoena.
The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attempted coup released their contempt report for Mark Meadows, former WH Chief of Staff to Trump. It recommends that the full House bring contempt charges against Meadows. Their report describes some of the more damning evidence already obtained regarding Meadows, mostly derived from documents Meadows had already turned over to the Committee. It shows Meadowsâ role in sowing disinformation about the election and his early knowledge of the violence that might result from the MAGA rally on Jan.6.
Most damning, as Politico reports, is one fact describing Meadows emailing someone, saying that the National Guard would âprotect pro-Trump peopleâ at the rally.
Thatâs particularly interesting since, as Marcy Wheeler reports, when DOJ-indicted Proud Boy Charles Donohoe while at the Capitol, saw a public report about the Guard being called in on the afternoon of Jan. 6, he responded with surprise that the Guard would âattackâŚTrump supporters.â
Did the Republicans plan to bait Democrats into attacking the MAGAs at the US Capitol so that Trump could declare a national security emergency, and suspend the counting of Electoral College votes?
Meadows has sued the Jan. 6 Committee and Nancy Pelosi to block enforcement of the Committeeâs original subpoena, as well as the subsequent subpoena it issued to Verizon for his phone records. This is another effort to run out the clock, cutting into the time required for the House Select Committee to reach its final conclusions about the attempted coup.
Steve Bannon has initiated legal action to avoid testifying before the Jan.6 Committee, and his case wonât be heard until July 2022, more of the Republican effort to run out the clock. Heâd like nothing more than to have a big show trial heading into the mid-terms.
These are coordinated efforts by some of the principal Trump coup actors to obstruct Congressional oversight.
The Republican plan to run out the clock assumes that the GOP can take control of the House in the 2022 mid-terms. That would shut down any Congressional oversight of January 6, so the Democrats have a little over 12 months left to get their work done on the attempted coup. If you think their report would swing votes in November, then Democrats have just 10 months.
And they better scan all of the documents they have and put them in a warehouse beyond the reach of Republicans once theyâre back in power, or all of their work to date will be destroyed.
Few are following this story. Eric Boehlert complains:
âThe coup blueprint still hasnât appeared on the front page of single major American newspaper, nor has any influential editorial page weighed in.â
Plans for the next coup attempt will intensify in the coming months, meaning we canât afford to lose the House in the 2022 mid-terms. Dan Pfeifferâs newsletter discusses Democratsâ 2022 political messaging in light of what we know about the coup attempt and the GOPâs overall assault on democracy. He asks: (emphasis by Wrongo)
âIf democracy is really in grave danger why arenât Democrats doing anything about it? Why arenât more Democrats â including President Bidenâ more vocal about raising the alarm?â
Youâd think that what we know would be enough to get Dems to sing from the same song book. But it seems that the Democratic political playbook is still to focus on âkitchen tableâ issues while moving to a more moderate message that appeals to suburban independent voters.
Why arenât the Dem moderates like Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), along with Sens. Manchin and Sinema stepping up to fight back against the anti-democracy efforts by the Republican Party? Pfeiffer says that the Dems should run on saving democracy, but that didnât work in the Virginia governorâs race. From Pfeiffer:
âThe idea that Republicans are a danger to democracy and election integrity is unquestionably true. It is also true that their anti-democratic authoritarianism is the greatest danger they pose in the short term.â
The problem with running on saving democracy is that we donât know how many people really care that much about it.
Time to wake up America! Itâs only Tuesday, but thereâs already much to do if we are to save our democracy. To help you wake up, listen to âThe Burden of Freedomâ by Kris Kristofferson. It originally was on his 1972 album âBorder Lordâ:
Sample Lyric:
I stand on the stairway, my back to the dungeon
The doorway to freedom so close to my hand
Voices behind me still bitterly damn me
For seeking salvation they don’t understand
Despite saying that there wouldnât be Sunday cartoons, it turned out that Wrongo found some free time to put them together. Letâs start by learning more about January 6. Hugo Lowell, Congressional reporter for the Guardian, found some disturbing news:
The Guardian reports that the PowerPoint was presented on January 4 to a number of Republican senators and members of Congress. Apparently the pitch is 36 slides that lay out a road map for the Jan. 6 attempted coup. Seems like the House Select Committee now has it literally in writing that senior advisors to Trump plotted to declare a bogus national emergency in order to cancel a national election, and possibly, seize the government by force.
Only time will tell given our unwavering commitment to adhering to due process, whether justice for the coup plotters will prevail. On to cartoons.
It didnât end on January 6:
Maybe itâs time for Dems to shelve Build Back Better and concentrate on voting rights:
Mesquite Dunes, Death Valley NP, photo by Ed Kendall
(This week’s Sunday Cartoons will appear on Monday)
Wrongo understands that the Jan. 6 investigations are looking in depth at who was behind the attempted coup. But heâs very unhappy with the Democratsâ inability to keep the issue alive, fresh and in front of the American people.
Apparently, communication with the public is too difficult for Democrats.
There are two investigative efforts underway, one by the DOJ, and another by the House of Representatives. Here is the current state of play: DOJ has arrested close to 700 people (possibly more, once you consider cases that havenât yet been unsealed).
The House Select Committee has already met with about 300 witnesses. They have litigated and won a case against Trumpâs assertion of executive privilege. A federal appeals court rejected Trump’s request to block the Jan. 6 Select Committee from obtaining executive branch records. Trumpâs path now is to go to the Supreme Court before New Yearâs.
The truth will ultimately come out. The question is if anyone will care.
Itâs been obvious that Trumpâs Big Lie would be the organizing principle of the GOP ever since January 6. It was a delusion to think that the GOP would sober up and fly right, and itâs now clear that they are going to continue to drink the Trump-spiked Kool-Aid for the foreseeable future. Itâs highly unlikely that Trumpâs followers will allow any Republican candidates to hedge on the Big Lie or pretend to distance themselves from Dear Leader.
The Atlanticâs Barton Gellman wrote a major piece about how the GOP plans to steal the 2022 mid-terms and the 2024 general election. He makes a compelling case that Trump and his cronies are laying the groundwork for a coup in 2024 using the tactics they attempted leading up to and on Jan. 6.
The Congressional investigation is proceeding âtop downâ and unlike the DOJ, itâs without the constraint of needing near-certainty of a conviction before going public.
The DOJ is proceeding âbottom upâ albeit with vast investigative resources, and (hopefully) with a keen sense of what NOT to say prematurely lest it compromise their investigations. The DOJ investigation starts at the Capitol crime scene, building from the useful idiots and militia foot soldiers towards the inciters and commanders.
Congress OTOH, can focus directly on mid-to-upper-level conspirators, like Bannon and Meadows. In a way, both groups are building a bridge from opposite banks of the river. Maybe, someday the two spans will meet. We have to pray it works out that way.
Republicans are rewriting January 6th and are trying to flush it down the memory hole. Itâs certain to work on at least 40% of the country. The issue is whether they can convince another 10% of voters to think there might be nothing to it.
Enough of politics for this week. Itâs time for our Saturday Soother!
The weather in Connecticut is unseasonably warm and dry. On the fields of Wrong, itâs time to put up the temporary fencing that keeps the deer from nibbling on leaves and bark. That constitutes much of their winter diets.
Then take a few minutes to brew up a vente cup of True Grit Peaberry coffee ($14.00/12oz.) from Nguyen Coffee Supply, a Brooklyn, NY based roaster that is the first specialty Vietnamese coffee company in the US.
Now grab a seat by a window, settle back in your comfy chair. Watch and listen to George Gershwinâs âRhapsody in Blueâ, played by the Cellista Cello Ensemble from Korea. Here it is played by 12 cellos in an arrangement by Sung-Min Ahn:
The iconic opening riff is usually played on clarinet. But here, it sounds great on the cello.
San Miguel Peaks, Uncompahgre National Forest, CO – November 2021 photo by Tad Bowman
Wrongoâs column on how we need to rehabilitate our Constitution drew several comments saying that it was a foolâs game to even try to change it, given our political dysfunction.
One reader, David P. asked how we might accomplish such a heavy lift. It is only possible if people get more involved in the political process. That got Wrongo thinking about why so few individuals really actively participate in the political process today. From Ezra Klein:
âObsessively following the daily political news feels like an act of politics, or at least an act of civics. But what if, for many of us, itâs a replacement for politics â and one thatâs actually hurting the country?â
Klein interviewed Eitan Hersh of Tufts University on his podcast. Hersh talked about âpolitical hobbyismâ, by which he means following politics as a form of entertainment and/or an expression of self-identity. He differentiates it from the actual work of politics.
Hershâs research shows that a lot of people who believe they are politically engaged are really only passively following it. He also thinks that their following it passively has played a key role in making our politics worse.
For Hersh, the real work in our politics involves some sort of local engagement and/or organizing. His point is that voting and contributing money have their place, but these are fundamentally low engagement activities, especially if youâre not wealthy enough to impact policy.
According to Hersh, if you contribute money to a candidate because that candidate said something that made you feel good, thatâs less real political engagement than it is a kind of consumerism: (emphasis by Wrongo)
âA lot of whatâs happening in small-dollar donations….youâre watching a…politician grandstand and make some speech. And because they grandstand in a way that you liked, you react by giving a $5 donation….So, whatâs really going on is you have no goals except to reward a politician for saying something that feels great in the moment. I think that makes politics worse rather than better. And you are doing it more for yourself â for your own kind of emotional…ends â rather than to move politics in a direction….â
More from Hersh: (brackets by Wrongo)
âIf you look at the number of people who are spending time on politics, thereâs about a third of the country that says theyâre spending about two hours a day in news consumption….Almost none of [this time]…letâs say 2%, is real community or volunteer engagement. The rest is mostly news consumption and sharing, talking, and debating online.â
Hersh makes the point that the people who spend the most time on any political engagement are White men, particularly college-educated White men. They know more facts, but they are not the group thatâs working with their Parties on organized politics. That would be women. Racial minorities, particularly Blacks, but also to some extent Latinos, spend less overall time on following the news, but more of their time is spent in actual political activities.
Wrongo does precisely what Hersh says is indulgent consumerist behavior. He reads about politics and writes this silly blog. He contributes to candidates he likes/admires. Wrongo also volunteers on a couple of committees in his town, but heâs invisible in local politics.
Reader David P. does much more. Once a week he goes to an office of his local Democratic Party and makes canvass calls. His is a life-long arc of true political engagement. Working on campaigns, attending rallies, and yes, donating money, and commenting on blogs.
It shouldnât surprise anyone that Wrongo thinks that offering opinions and informing the public via blogs is important. Blogs that are done well inform people, and they spread information. Thatâs the mission, because god knows, people are totally misinformed by both politicians, and the mainstream media.
In âThe Cause, The American Revolution and its Discontents, 1773-1783â by Joseph Ellis, he says that before the revolution, colonists didnât think of themselves as Americans. They described their fight for independence as âThe Causeâ. An ambiguous term that covered diverse ideas and multiple viewpoints. Unlike in England at the time, even working class colonists were literate. And they were fully engaged in the process through word and deed.
Most Americans today are literate, but what will it take to get them off the couch? What will it take to get Democrats to put themselves on the line for an idea, or for a candidate?
We say, âhow can we lose to these guys?â When we see that Republicans have left our Americaâs democratic values behind, when we know that they actively intend to undermine the integrity of our elections.
How dangerous does the threat to our democracy have to be for people to get involved?
Or have we so totally surrendered to reading social media on our phones that weâre no longer capable of putting ourselves on the line for what we say we believe in?
Dawn sky, North Shore of Lake Superior – November 2021 photo by Ken Harmon
Biden and Putin had their heads-of-state version of a Zoom call yesterday. It lasted more than two hours. From the WaPo:
âIn an email readout of the call, the White House said that…Biden voiced the deep concerns of the United States and our European Allies about Russiaâs escalation of forces surrounding Ukraine and made clear that the US and our Allies would respond with strong economic and other measures in the event of military escalation.â
It seems that the two leaders simply assigned their respective teams to follow up. The White House said Biden and Putin also discussed ransomware attacks and the Iran nuclear negotiations.
Wrongo doubts that Russia intends to invade Ukraine. There are too many downsides to a full-scale invasion for both sides. It would be costly militarily. Ukraineâs military would not be a match for Russia. But itâs in much better shape than it was in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, and entered Ukraineâs Donbas region. With help from the West over the past seven years, Ukraineâs regular units and reserves have come a long way.
Itâs difficult to imagine why NATO would respond militarily to support Ukraine. Germany certainly doesnât want a war with Russia. Rather, they want Russiaâs Nordstream 2 gas pipeline to begin supplying energy to them. Itâs even unclear whether a war in Ukraine would be supported strongly by the Russian people.
Understandably, Putin doesnât want Ukraine to join NATO. And so far, it doesnât look like NATO wants Ukraine in NATO, either. Itâs doubtful that Biden would insist that NATO ask Ukraine to join it. OTOH, Ukraine has leaned toward the EU and NATO since its independence in 1991.
Putin has observed that if Ukraine joined NATO, then NATO would be closer to Moscow than the USSR was to the US when they placed missiles in Cuba. Putinâs thinking that a nuclear warhead launched from Ukraine would have about a 5 minute flight time to Moscow.
That should be a threat Americans understand. If NATO had cruise or ballistic missiles in Ukraine or the Balkans it would be a reverse Cuban Missile Crisis. And we should understand that Putin would react as JFK did in 1962.
Itâs ancient history, but when Wrongo ran a nuclear missile unit in Germany, our role was a total defense strategy against a potential invasion from the Soviet Union. It seems logical to Wrongo that national defense in Ukraine and the Balkans is similar, a poison pill to deter Russian aggression.
A way out for Biden is to promise Putin that he wonât supply Ukraine with offensive weapons. The definition of what constitutes an offensive weapon has been clear for some time. Itâs unlikely that Putin would be happy if Ukraine received state-of-the-art air defense weapons from NATO, but that crumb from Biden may have to be sufficient.
We in America should understand that NATO Chief Stoltenberg has been pushing to admit Ukraine into NATO. Heâs also parroted what Biden has said about Russia paying a high price if it made a move against Ukraine. What about the US strategy for Ukraine? Reuters reported last week that Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried said that:
âAs you can appreciate, all options are on the table and there’s a toolkit that includes a whole range of options…”
Donfried knows that thereâs no “all options on the table” plan for the US. If Russia decided to invade, the US has neither forces nor resources in Europe to do much to stop it, unless NATO was to unleash a European-wide war.
Neither side wants that, because it wouldnât necessarily be limited to Europe. There is something in the military called âEscalation Dominanceâ. That implies that when escalation begins, it can remain limited only if your side has a dominant nuclear capability. No one who looks at the US and Russia believes thereâs any way to guarantee that an escalation will remain limited between these two powers.
There are no easy answers on how to avoid that. As long as we view this as primarily a military problem, we will see only military solutions. But if Ukraine falls to Russia, it would be a catastrophic reputational loss for the US, one that demonstrates our weakness in power and influence across our post-WWII empire.
Nobody knows what will happen, but we should expect Biden will do whatever he can to prevent direct confrontation. Russia has been deploying troops along its border with Ukraine, particularly around the Donbas region, where they have been carrying on a small war with Ukraine since late 2014.
In the middle of a pandemic in which millions have died, with no end in sight, Â it would be a hell of a time to start a war.
Christmas lights, New Milford Green, New Milford CT – December 2021 photo by Tom Allen. New Milford was founded in 1709.
James Fallows writes a column called âBreaking the Newsâ. His most recent article looks at the growing mismatch between the formal structure of the US government (two Senators per state and the House ceiling of 435 members), and the astonishing population growth in the US since the Constitution was ratified in 1788.
Fallows says the main problem is that modern America is running on antique rules that are too hard to change and too easy to abuse. He sees a Constitutional shift from protecting minority rights, to enabling minority rule, which ultimately means a denial of democracy. A system that is not steered by its majority will not survive as a democracy.
Fallows outlines the changing nature of big vs. small in America. When the Constitution was being negotiated, two issues were big states vs. small states, and slaveholding states vs. non-slave states. At the time, the three most populous original states had around 10 times as many people as the three smallest. That was behind the agreement to the two-Senators-per-state deal. But today, the three most populous statesâCalifornia, Texas, and Floridaâhave about 45 times the population of the three least populous, Wyoming, Vermont, and Alaska.
Second, the ceiling on the size of the House of Representatives must change. Fallows observes that when the country was founded, there were 65 members of the House. For the next century-plus, the size of the House increased after the Census, following changes in the US population. Just before World War I, the number was capped at its current level of 435. Today, the US population is about 90 times larger than it was in 1788, but the House is just 7 times as large.
Today thereâs a bias against the needs of urban and suburban populations. Thereâs also a distinct small-state bias in the Electoral College. Each stateâs representation in the Electoral College votes equals itâs number of Senate and House representatives. As House membership expanded through the 1800s from 65 to 435, House seats became relatively more important in Electoral College totals, and Senate seats relatively less so. From Fallows:
âTo spell it out, in the first presidential election, Electoral Votes based on Senate seats made up nearly 30% of the Electoral College total. By 1912, the first election after House size was frozen, they made up only 18%.â
If the House were expanded, then the Electoral College outcome would more closely track the national popular vote.
Jill Lepore writing in the New Yorker, says that the US Constitution was the first national constitution that provided for its own revision. Article V is the amendment clause. The founders knew that the Constitution was imperfect; Article V left a Constitutional means for making it âmore perfect.â Without an amendment provision, the only way to change the rules is to overthrow the government.
But itâs extremely difficult to amend our Constitution. Lepore says:
âThe US Constitution has been rewritten three times: in 1791, with the ratification of the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments; after the Civil War, with the ratification of the Reconstruction Amendments; and during the Progressive Era, with the ratification of the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth Amendments.â
She points out that by contrast:
â…American state constitutions have been amended over 7,500 times, amounting on average to 150 amendments per state.â
While state governments freely change, the US Constitution doesnât. Americaâs older, but not necessarily wiser.
We could approve the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. It would guarantee the presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes. The Electoral College has 535 votes, with 270 needed to win the presidency. In 2020, had 21,461 Biden voters actually switched to Trump, Trump would have won the Electoral College with 270 votes, despite Biden winning nationally by 7 million votes. Each of those 21,461 Biden votes (5,229 in Arizona, 5,890 in Georgia, and 10,342 in Wisconsin) were 329 times more important than the other 7 million votes.
The Compact would end the âwinner-take-allâ laws in the 48 of 50 states. If passed, the Compact would award their electoral votes in proportion to the votes the candidate receives. Article II gives the states exclusive control over the choice of method of awarding their electoral votes, so they can reform the system if they choose. The Compact would go into effect when enacted by states comprising at least 270 electoral votes.
Time to wake up America! Our current ineffective federal government must change. Otherwise, democracy is doomed.
To help you wake up, watch âPeace Trainâ, the 1971 anthem of hope and unity written by Yusuf/Cat Stevens, performed here by Playing for Change. This version features Kebâ Moâ playing in CA, along with Yusuf playing in Istanbul, Rhiannon Giddens in Ireland, along with musicians from 12 countries:
Arron Burrâs bedroom at the Arron Burr B&B â December 2021 photo by Wrongo
This weekâs actual Wake Up Call will occur on Tuesday, because Wrongo and Ms. Right spent the last two nights in New Hope, PA. We stayed at the Aaron Burr House Bed and Breakfast. Itâs where Aaron Burr fled after his 1804 duel with Alexander Hamilton. He seems to have stayed for about a week. Although dueling was illegal, Burr was never tried. And all charges against him were eventually dropped.
We didnât know that our reservation was for Burrâs bedroom. It was fun because we had seen the Disney film version of the play âHamiltonâ during Thanksgiving.
Thereâs a rumor that the place is haunted, but if so, itâs doubtful that it would be Burrâs ghost. He died in 1836 in a NYC boarding house, 32 years after he was in New Hope. Also, the current house was built in 1873 upon the foundation of the home Burr stayed in, so the ghost stories are probably just for marketing purposes.
New Hope is largely a tourist destination, although it has plenty of Revolutionary War history. Apparently, prior to George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River, he is said to have spent the night in New Hope, although the proof for that is thin.
Thereâs a tourist train attraction in New Hope, the New Hope Railroad. Itâs a one-hour ride that begins and ends in the center of town. On the two days we were there, the trains (which run hourly on weekends) were filled with parents and kids. The US economy must be doing really well, since the Sunday 5pm trip prices ranged from $113-$62 for adults and $103-$52 for children.
Thatâs todayâs travel report from Pennsylvania.
Despite Wrong pushing a real column to tomorrow, hereâs a wake-up tune from the sensational play, âHamiltonâ. At this point in the play, America has attempted to free itself from England.
After Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years’ War in 1763, (known as the French and Indian War in the colonies), Britain had run up a huge national debt for the time, amounting to ÂŁ140 million. This was at a time when their national budget was only about ÂŁ8 million.
Their solution was to tax the colonies to amortize that portion of the debt that had been used to fight in North America. First came King George IIIâs Proclamation of 1763 which created an invisible border from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. That was followed by the Sugar Act of 1764, the Stamp Act of 1765, and the Townshend Acts of 1767.
The British efforts to solve the financial problems generated by the Seven Yearsâ War soon brought a bigger problem, trying to stave off the American Revolution. Watch Jonathan Groff as King George III singing the very funny âYouâll Be Backâ to the American colonists:
