December 10, 2020
Dear Anyone,
It’s been a while since I felt the need to write to you. Things seemed to be going okay. The election was over, and the transition started and the new Cabinet looks solid and competent. The noise about “stealing” an election made me think about masked bandits holding up a train from an old cowboy movie from the 1950’s. Remember how “fake” some of those scenes look now? It seemed like all that noise and narishkeit (Yiddish for foolishness) would disappear after a few days, but NO! It’s gotten louder, weirder and more dangerous. Since when has this country seen public officials, especially those in state offices that we usually don’t think about too much, be threatened with gun carrying, shouting and somewhat crazed people at the officials’ homes? Seriously, there are people who think the Constitution and the American Flag are so important to uphold but they seem to be breaking some of the rules and traditions that are part of our laws.
For example, free and fair elections. We, the people, are allowed to vote for our choice (remember the song I wrote about, I Like It Here?). I know, I know, some of these people don’t think there were free and fair elections, but they are wrong. The system of checking ballots, voting by mail, counting ballots (over and over- by the way, who paid for that?) and certifying the vote was done according to the laws of each state. Now there is a lawsuit going to the Supreme Court from Texas (!!) and some other states that voted for President Trump in this last election, to claim that four of the states that voted for President-Elect Biden, voted unconstitutionally!!! I’m not a lawyer but if this case is heard by the Supreme Court and argued on the part of President Trump by Senator Ted Cruz, we will think we are watching a horror movie on Netflix.
Here’s another example of defiling the Constitution and the American Flag. Those who wrap themselves up in both are ignoring the concept of Majority Rule and Minority Rights. They are in the minority and have rights, just not the right to overturn an election. How is this not sedition? Sedition, according to what I found on a Google search, is “the crime of revolting or inciting revolt against government.” Now, it also says that the First Amendment protects free speech so prosecutions for sedition are rare, although it remains a crime. I’m asking lawyers to weigh in about how chanting and marching with guns outside someone’s home, saying out loud and writing messages that the person needs to be “drawn and quartered, taken out at dawn and shot” are different from yelling “FIRE” in a crowded theater. Are they different?
I’m concerned that the current president is trying very hard to undo the will of the people as expressed through the voting system. I know most of us hope he will fail at this extremely un-American attempt, but what if he doesn’t?
Oh, on another topic, I wrote to Bruce Springsteen’s publicist to ask if he could lead a Great American Sing Along. So far, I haven’t heard back.
Dear Mr. President 