It's A Whole New World #294
By Hank Silverberg
Commentary
It's been a remarkable week in the political world. The decision by Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race and the ascendency of his Vice President, Kamala Harris, to the top of the ticket is historical.
But as usual, the Republicans have no clue on how to handle it. Harris has some differences from President Biden, but they have similar stances on most issues, and you would think the GOP would jump on those.
Instead, they attacked Harris for her race and gender. Somehow this woman who served as a District Attorney in San Francisco, Attorney General in California, a U.S. Senator, and then as Vice President became a "DEI hire".
DEI is NOT Affirmative Action, which some have criticized for giving minorities unfair priority over other students or employees.
The concept of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is to make the workplace or classroom look more like America--to make sure qualified minorities are not left out, not discriminated against and are treated equally.
Harris, whose immigrant parents came from Jamaica and India, is an American success story. She is Baptist but has a Jewish husband, and she helped him raise two Jewish children from a previous marriage.
She is like millions of Americans with blended families. But because she doesn't fit the White, male, Protestant mold favored by the GOP, somehow she is not fit to be president? That's nonsense and the voters should recognize it as such.
Of note:
Harris is 59. Her move to the top of the ticket is definitely a generational change. And that has encouraged millions of young people to pay attention and look at the presidential race in a whole new way. It is Donald Trump, at 78, who is is now the grumpy old man who may be past his prime. Now the Gen Z voters are scrutinizing him for his crazy statements, his poor gait, his ridiculous use of hair coloring and the bags under his eyes.
Within 48 hours of the change in nominees for the Democrats, more than 100,000 people had registered to vote. In Virginia alone, for example, there were 4,900 people who applied to become new voters on July 22nd and 23rd.
Vote.org says 85% of those were under 35, and 18 year-old voters made up 18% of the newly registered voters.
There's no way to know for certain who the new voters will favor, but Harris's entry into the race at the top of the ticket appears to be their inspiration.
Stay tuned.
News You May Have Missed!
Packing The Court
It's been tried before with no success, but there is now an effort to change the structure of the U.S. Supreme Court. The far-right politics of the majority of the Court's nine members has prompted some Democrats to call for an expansion of the Court to 13 justices. Conservatives now control six of the nine spots on the Court.
Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Georgia Congressman Hank Johnson say we can no longer trust the current Court to uphold the words engraved on the courthouse façade, "Equal Justice Under the Law".
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The suggestion, of course, has little chance of passing this Congress with a Republican majority. And a number of Democrats fear if the expansion ever took place it could create an even larger conservative majority.
Changing the makeup of the Court was tried once before. In 1937, with many of his New Deal legislation running into trouble with the Supreme Court, Franklin Roosevelt tried legislation that would have allowed the appointment of six additional justices for every justice older than 70 years, 6 months who had served ten years or more.
Congress never voted on his plan. During the last year of FDR's first term, the Supreme Court struck down more pieces of legislation than at any time in U.S. history.
Where Will They Go?
The homeless are now more homeless in California. Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order this past week for the removal of homeless encampments throughout the state. It affects hundreds of tents and makeshift shelters that have popped up along freeways, or in shopping center parking lots and city parks.
Newsom can't order the local communities to clear the camps, but the state can withhold money from counties or cities that do not comply.
It follows a U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this year allowing cities to enforce bans on sleeping outside in public spaces.
According to CBS Sacramento, California has one third of the nation's homeless population despite spending about $24 billion to move them homeless to shelters.
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The big question is, are there really any places for the displaced homeless to go?
As of January of this year, there were
an estimated 650,000 homeless people across the U.S.A.
Dumbest Quote of The Week!
This week we have a tie for the dumbest quote and they are both first timers. One belongs to Republican Blake Masters, who is running in a congressional primary for a House seat in Arizona.
He has the endorsement of GOP Republican V-P nominee, JD Vance. You probably have already heard about Vance's "childless cat lady" comments. Well, Masters pretty well topped it, with this statement:
"Political leaders should have children. Certainly they should at least be married. If you aren't running or can't run a household of your own, how can you relate to a constituency of a families or govern wisely with respect to future generations?"
That should come as a surprise to the millions of Americans who are not married and/or have no children who still have to balance their household budget and pay the bills.
But there's more. Vance has doubled down on his earlier comments by adding these words this week:
"When you go to the polls in this country as a parent, you should have more power, you should have more of an ability to speak your voice in our democratic republic than people who don't have kids. "
So much for the one-person one-vote premise on which our Republic was founded.
There were five presidents who had no children of their own.
George Washington, like Kamala Harris, helped raise two step-children. James Madison helped raise one step-child.
James Polk, Warren Harding and Andrew Jackson had no children. James Buchanan was never married.
The entire concept is ridiculous, and millions of people with no spouse or children should remember these statements when they go to the polls.
(Your Suggestions and comments are welcome)
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