Monday, July 16, 2012

Ben Franklin to the Constitutional Convention

The more I learn about Franklin, the more I know that his wisdom and genius and a better understanding of them are a small key to maintaining the fraying tapestry of our Union. He has a beautiful, brilliant, elegant, and lovely mind. I love him like a brother. His writings are intoxicating for those of you of any political persuasion. All humans can benefit from reading his Autobiography. It is the tale of a solitary soul imbibing the world with the fire of his overwhelming curiosity. It shows that a life of "book learning" or "hands on learning" are not opposed to one another but essential in their combination to nourish the soul and create that inner light that, when combined with a generous spirit, can illuminate the world, quite literally in the case of Dr. Franklin.

 Here is Franklin's Speech to the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787. He was a man of 81 years at this point and could hardly get enough breath to speak, but his mind was alight with wisdom, courage and patriotism.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Romney Rice 2012??

 I can't imagine why Mitt Romney would be seriously considering Condi Rice to be his running mate. It makes no sense politically. It is nonsense in terms of practical government if Romney happens to be elected.

  On a political level, Rice has no constituency whatsoever. She is an academic and is very intelligent. However, she has no base of support which will automatically flow into the Romney column by his choice of her. Her race, let's be blunt, is probably at least one thing Romney is considering as an attribute in order to counter Obama's significant and probably growing lead among all racial groups other than whites. But even on the crude racial level, the choice makes no sense. African-Americans, generally, have a distaste for Rice. They, to a large extent, view her as an opportunist who is used by whites as a black-face to put into a white administration. She will be viewed this way even more so while running as vice-President. Whites tend to distrust Rice because she conjures up memories of the   W. Bush administration, by definition bad for Romney.

   On another political level, Rice is viewed as extremely liberal by Conservatives, especially on social issues. She will be viewed as an opportunist pick to "make the minorities happy" and it will further racialize this election which is exactly Obama's goal. The more the election is about race the better for Obama. The residual pride in the election of an African-American President in 2008 still lingers and is flamed up again when race becomes an issue. The choice of Condi will simply keep the election's focus on race, something Romney needs to avoid.

  On a practical governing level, all of Rice's experience is in foreign policy in a moment where the economy is in a state of slow train wreck, and becoming faster. Romney, if elected, will need all the help he can receive in order to solve economic problems and a Vice-President that has all the attributes of a Secretary of State does not necessarily help in that area.

   I can only conclude that the Condi Rice moment is just a moment. It is a story put out by the Romney campaign to gauge the reaction of the Public and of Conservatives to a Rice ticket. I can't imagine Romney will actually choose her. I expect other people to have their moment as "trial balloons" before this long process is over.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Some Business and Ben Franklin

Unbelievably this blog is linked to on an actual rather popular blog run by a rather popular MSNBC "talking head" and thegrio.com journalist and I've been negligent in my thanks. My views tend to be about 180 degrees away from my former interlocutor and "rival" but I thank her for the link especially in this year where it is easier to view our political differences as unbridgeable chasms. The wonderful blog is reidreport.com So, thanks again Joy.

My internal demographics for this blog tell me I have around 5,500 views. That is not a lot considering, however it is quite a few considering the random and deleterious nature of my postings. I fancy that most of the views are readers of the reid report clicking on my site by accident and seeing the politically heretical nature of my opinions recoiling in horror and returning to the decidedly left-leaning views of their favorite amateur turned professional pundit. :) (Oddly, about a third of the views come from Russia, so to my Russian readers, I'm re-reading my War and Peace and starting in on Anna Karenina so brace yourselves for some GREAT reviews!! Tolstoy is the friggin' BOLSHOI!!:) And to any FSB "friends" reading this:stop wasting your time and go blow up some more apartment buildings to blame on Chechens!!

 As an aside, I am finishing up the wonderful Charles Van Doren 1939 Benjamin Franklin biography. It won the Pulitzer Prize that year. It is beautifully written using many of Franklin's exquisite letters to give a real sense of this patient,patriotic,stoic,genius,eclectic,wonderful and wise First American. Franklin's diplomatic engineering of Parliament's repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766 was a lesson in the art of using peacefully persuasive leverage upon a rival in order to patiently and pacifically achieve the interests of one's nation. I can only vainly hope that we modern Americans will study and remember that first great peaceful victory where we united as a nation to boycott British goods until the repeal of the Stamp Act. It is important to remember, perhaps as much for this country as any, that not all "victories" must be bathed in the blood of the innocents.

 So, as always, I say remember American history and remember the peaceful victory of 1766 where Franklin cultivated friendships in the very bowels of our future enemy and helped unify our country for peaceful and noble ends: the defense of our ancient Liberties brought down to us by the very nation trying to abrogate them.