On The Road #231
By Hank Silverberg
My wife and I had a chance this past weekend to take a long-planned getaway--delayed a bit by that bout with Covid-19 I already wrote about a few weeks ago.
If you read this blog on a regular basis, you know I am a history buff. I believe everyone can learn a bit from the past, or you will be condemned to relive it.
So, our trip to Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson's vacation retreat, was a search for knowledge and lessons from the past.
Poplar Forest is 77 miles southwest of Charlottsville, Virginia, where Monticello is located. Jefferson inherited the land for his vacation estate from his father-in-law, and those folks in Forest say Monticello would never have survived if it wasn't for the income Jefferson got from this second estate.
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| (Jefferson's Poplar Forest estate. Photo by Jody Silverberg) |
Why do I write about this? Because like Monticello, the U.S. Capitol and the White House, Poplar Forest was built mostly by Black slaves.
Until recently the role of slaves was never emphasized and barely mentioned at any of the historic sites, including Monticello, Poplar Forest, Montpellier (James Madison's estate), or Mt. Vernon (George Washington's plantation).
We didn't learn in school that a man named John Hemmings (Sally Hemmings half- brother), was responsible for the complicated and beautiful woodwork at both of Jefferson's homes. Or that Jefferson had as many as 500 more slaves working his land at various times during his life.
Historians knew all about it, though. And in recent years they have made a good effort to document the role of slaves in early America, especially their connection to our Founding Fathers.
Now that they have done so, out comes the criticism from the right wing. They claim it's the "Woke liberals" who are intentionally trying to damage the image of our Founding Fathers.
https://nypost.com/2022/07/09/monticello-draws-criticism-after-trashing-thomas-jefferson/
Well, no it's not the "woke liberals". Our Founding Fathers were revolutionaries in political thought and expressions on human rights. As it says in the Declaration of Independence, many of them were willing to "risk their lives, fame and fortune" to create a country with basic equality. But Washington, Jefferson, Madison, George Mason and others were also southern aristocrats, a group which in their time relied on slave labor to keep their economy functioning. Despite the glorious words of the Declaration and the U.S. Constitution that followed, it officially stayed that way until the 13th Amendment freed the slaves in 1865. Even then the impact lingered in the southern economy long after that.
But now it's past time that people of color are able to see the role their ancestors played in the founding of this country and be proud and angry about it at the same time. The true historical record is not there to destroy the image of our Founding Fathers. It is there to show how they were able to do what they did and who else we have to thank for it.
The day after our visit to Poplar Forest, we stopped
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| (McLean home in Appomatox, where the surrender was signed, photo by Hank Silverberg) |
Before 1861 our country was referred to as "These United States," while after Appomattox it became "The United States." Today Appomattox County advertises itself as the place "where our nation reunited." The slogan is a bit blustery, but technically true.
Now, at a time when there is so much division in this country, I suggest you take a trip to both of these places. Then add Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to the itinerary for a trifecta on our nation's survival. The United States is not a perfect place. The Supreme Court highlighted that a few weeks ago when it denied half the country's population the right to control their own bodies.
But we should not forget that the leaders of our past, from Jefferson to Lincoln and beyond, as flawed as they were, fought and sacrificed a great deal to give us a pretty darn good nation. It's our job to make it better--what Lincoln called "a more perfect union."
In the words of a northern revolutionary, Ben Franklin, "It's a Republic--IF we can keep it."
Trust
One of the key ingredients to keeping that Republic strong is a free press. It is so important the second generation of Founding Fathers actually put it in the Bill of Rights as the First Amendment.
Having spent 40 years as a reporter, that freedom is to me, a foundation of our society. So, I am deeply alarmed by a new poll out this week about trust in the media.
Only 8% of Republicans had "a great deal of confidence" in television news compared to 20% of Democrats.
(Full poll here: https://news.gallup.com/poll/394283/confidence-institutions-down-average-new-low.aspx
This is a distinct erosion in the trust of the Media.
But here's a key component that needs to be emphasized in my mind and mentioned by Axios. "Data and experts suggest the public struggles to distinguish fact-based journalism from opinion content on-line."
Those reporting the news need to do a better job at fact-based journalism, and they need to challenge those who don't.
It should also be noted the full Gallop survey looked at a total of 16 institutions within our society.
The largest decline in trust was with the Supreme Court--11% down.
Television news and newspapers were down 5%.
In contrast, public schools, banks and organized religion were all down 6% in trust.
SCOTUS Decision Has Greater Impact!
More collateral damage from the U.S. Supreme Court's decision eliminating Roe v. Wade and allowing states to pass their own laws on abortion.
Texas is now challenging a Biden Administration mandate that hospitals provide abortions if the life of the mother is at risk, even in states that do not include exceptions. The Lone Star State argues that it is unlawful to force doctors and hospitals to "commit crimes" under state law. The state's attorney general says it uses federal law to create walk-in abortion clinics.
The confrontations here are many. Here are just some medical reasons that a woman's life can be in danger and require an abortion to save it.
Ectopic pregnancy, complications of pregnancy loss, hypertensive disorder and more.
But there is also a First Amendment reason here that is often ignored by lawmakers and rarely reported by the news media.
Most abortion laws in this country are based on the Christian concept that life begins at conception and that a fetus, still in in mother's womb and unable to survive outside that womb, is a baby.
There is a lot of scientific research about when life begins and when a fetus becomes a baby.
But there's a religious application here as well that goes against the teachings of Judaism. The Torah, the Jewish bible and law book, describes a fetus as lav nefesh hu, or non-human life, and therefore subservient to the mother's needs. Under Jewish laws and tradition, if there is a choice between the life of the mother or the fetus, the mother is saved.
With this example, if Texas law prevented a doctor from saving a Jewish mother's life because it would abort a fetus as well, or produce a live baby, they would basically be denying the mother her First Amendment right to practice her religion.
Bottom line: the government, state or federal, should not be involved in the heart-wrenching decisions on terminating a pregnancy. The woman should have the right to choose based on her own beliefs.
Save The Beagles!
Are you interested in rescuing a Beagle? There are approximately 4,000 of them that may soon be available to you because they were rescued from a breeding facility. They were originally destined to be used in animal testing labs by the pharmaceutical industry. But the dogs were taken away from a company called Envigo in Virginia. Envigo violated several federal regulations,
https://www.npr.org/2022/07/14/1111394875/envigo-animal-rescue-beagles
Society of the United States is working to find homes for the Beagles and get treatment for those that need it.
It took the intervention of Virginia Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner to get the federal government to involved. It could take months to find homes for all these dogs, which includes many puppies. Here's a list of groups that are helping to place the dogs if you want to get one or help pay for their upkeep.
Dumbest Quote of The Week!
This week's dumbest quote comes from Georgia Republican Senate Candidate Hershal Walker, who apparently skipped science class while he was winning football trophies at the University of Georgia. He was talking about air pollution while campaigning, and after claiming that "We in America have some of the clearest air and cleanest water of anybody in the world," he went on to say:
"...since we don't control the air, our good air decide to float over to China's bad air. So when China gets our good air, their bad air got to move. So it moves over to our good air space. Then — now we got we to clean that back up."
This is the exact wording of his comments with no edits. I think Mr. Walker got hit in the head too many times while playing football.
The good news? The last poll taken in that Senate race in late June shows Democratic incumbent Senator Rapheal Warnock leading Walker 54-44. The bad news? That 44% are even thinking about voting for Walker.
(Your comments and suggestions are welcome.)
(My book "The Campaign" can be purchased at the links below. Or you can buy a copy by emailing me at:
HankSilverberg@gmail.com for instructions on how to get a copy at a reduced price and with my signature. )
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084Q7K6M5/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-campaign-hank-silverberg/1126429796
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