Berl Falbaum
As we celebrate the country’s 250th birthday, I am having a difficult time saying, “Happy Birthday.”
Instead, I keep asking, “How did we come to this?”
Yes, we always had bitter political disputes and conflicts, i.e. over civil, women, labor, abortion, gay rights, and other causes.
But throughout we kept a moral base and, generally, held public officials accountable for criminal and moral offenses.
A couple of examples to make the point:
In 1987, for instance, Gary Hart, the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, had to abandon his campaign because he was having a consensual extra-marital affair. Emphasis on “consensual,” not sexual harassment.
In 1958, Sherman Adams, assistant to the president, (Eisenhower), resigned because he accepted a fur coat valued at $700, for his wife and a few others gifts totaling about $2,000.
Now, the country is awash in an immoral, despicable, obscene, reprehensible cesspool — and it is accepted as normal.
We have a president, supported by half the electorate, who has been accused of sexual harassment by dozens of women and found guilty of sexual assault (the judge said it was rape) and is running “businesses” out of the White House, which have earned him, according to some reports, more than a billion dollars.
He has been found guilty of 34 felony charges and six Republican candidates for president, when asked if they would support, a convicted felon (Trump), answered in the affirmative.
Of course, the above two paragraphs hardly do justice of capturing 11 years of Trump lies and corruption.
At about 2:30 a.m., the morning after Trump’s victory in 2016, I wrote that his victory revealed a political cancer and I hoped it would not metastasize. But it has.
Consider: Democrats who have railed about Trump are endorsing a Senate candidate in Maine whose scandals could fill the pages of this paper.
Our acceptance of immoral, degenerate, obscene contemptible behavior in our politics is traveling through our political bloodstream.
For readers who believe I am too pessimistic, maybe even a little paranoid, some evidence of our moral decline comes from none other than Vice President JD Vance.
While I never thought I would quote — and agree — with Vance on such an issue, he provided some proof of my despair.
In a recent speech, referring to the Nixon’s Watergate scandal, Vance said that would be “like a 12-hour news story” if it happened today.
I am not sure that Vance understood the implication of his remark. Basically, he is telling us that if we can accept all of his boss’s corruption, then surely Watergate was a misdemeanor, if that. (We can be confident that Trump understood the implication and is probably not very happy.)
Incidentally, this comes from Vance, a man who, before winning public office, derided Nixon and called Trump “America’s Hitler.”
Political scientist and author Michael McFaul said that Vance was obviously oblivious of his statement’s nuances.
The fact that Watergate would probably be a mere blip, McFaul said, “is a tragic indictment of [the] administration,” and it’s “amazing to me that’s not obvious to him.”
“Vance is telling on himself,” said David Sirota, editor-in-chief of The Lever, an investigative news outlet. “He’s insinuating that his own regime has so normalized corruption and lawlessness that past corruption and lawbreaking schemes now seem minor.”
We need to remember it was Republicans who pressured Nixon to resign, telling the president that if didn’t, he would not only be impeached, but convicted in a Senate trial.
Need I describe the moral status of Republicans in Congress today?
Of course, Trump would not be in office and neither would any of his GOP sycophants if they did not have the support of the electorate. And thereby hangs the tale.
Something may be rotten in Denmark, but it is in the U.S. as well. We, the people — the hallowed first three words of the Constitution — have lost our way.
I have never understood, for instance, black Trumpites supporting a man who banned them from his properties and called African nations s***-hole countries or women supporters given his perverted sexual record or Jews ignoring his stoking of antisemitism and his embrace of anti-Jewish white supremacists.
I have always wondered how they explained their support of Trump depravity and other corrupt officeholders to their children and grandchildren.
So, can we recalibrate our moral compass? Is it possible? What should we do? What can we do? How long would it take?
I’ll forego any answers. Enough of the bad news already on this holiday.
Instead, I keep asking, “How did we come to this?”
Yes, we always had bitter political disputes and conflicts, i.e. over civil, women, labor, abortion, gay rights, and other causes.
But throughout we kept a moral base and, generally, held public officials accountable for criminal and moral offenses.
A couple of examples to make the point:
In 1987, for instance, Gary Hart, the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, had to abandon his campaign because he was having a consensual extra-marital affair. Emphasis on “consensual,” not sexual harassment.
In 1958, Sherman Adams, assistant to the president, (Eisenhower), resigned because he accepted a fur coat valued at $700, for his wife and a few others gifts totaling about $2,000.
Now, the country is awash in an immoral, despicable, obscene, reprehensible cesspool — and it is accepted as normal.
We have a president, supported by half the electorate, who has been accused of sexual harassment by dozens of women and found guilty of sexual assault (the judge said it was rape) and is running “businesses” out of the White House, which have earned him, according to some reports, more than a billion dollars.
He has been found guilty of 34 felony charges and six Republican candidates for president, when asked if they would support, a convicted felon (Trump), answered in the affirmative.
Of course, the above two paragraphs hardly do justice of capturing 11 years of Trump lies and corruption.
At about 2:30 a.m., the morning after Trump’s victory in 2016, I wrote that his victory revealed a political cancer and I hoped it would not metastasize. But it has.
Consider: Democrats who have railed about Trump are endorsing a Senate candidate in Maine whose scandals could fill the pages of this paper.
Our acceptance of immoral, degenerate, obscene contemptible behavior in our politics is traveling through our political bloodstream.
For readers who believe I am too pessimistic, maybe even a little paranoid, some evidence of our moral decline comes from none other than Vice President JD Vance.
While I never thought I would quote — and agree — with Vance on such an issue, he provided some proof of my despair.
In a recent speech, referring to the Nixon’s Watergate scandal, Vance said that would be “like a 12-hour news story” if it happened today.
I am not sure that Vance understood the implication of his remark. Basically, he is telling us that if we can accept all of his boss’s corruption, then surely Watergate was a misdemeanor, if that. (We can be confident that Trump understood the implication and is probably not very happy.)
Incidentally, this comes from Vance, a man who, before winning public office, derided Nixon and called Trump “America’s Hitler.”
Political scientist and author Michael McFaul said that Vance was obviously oblivious of his statement’s nuances.
The fact that Watergate would probably be a mere blip, McFaul said, “is a tragic indictment of [the] administration,” and it’s “amazing to me that’s not obvious to him.”
“Vance is telling on himself,” said David Sirota, editor-in-chief of The Lever, an investigative news outlet. “He’s insinuating that his own regime has so normalized corruption and lawlessness that past corruption and lawbreaking schemes now seem minor.”
We need to remember it was Republicans who pressured Nixon to resign, telling the president that if didn’t, he would not only be impeached, but convicted in a Senate trial.
Need I describe the moral status of Republicans in Congress today?
Of course, Trump would not be in office and neither would any of his GOP sycophants if they did not have the support of the electorate. And thereby hangs the tale.
Something may be rotten in Denmark, but it is in the U.S. as well. We, the people — the hallowed first three words of the Constitution — have lost our way.
I have never understood, for instance, black Trumpites supporting a man who banned them from his properties and called African nations s***-hole countries or women supporters given his perverted sexual record or Jews ignoring his stoking of antisemitism and his embrace of anti-Jewish white supremacists.
I have always wondered how they explained their support of Trump depravity and other corrupt officeholders to their children and grandchildren.
So, can we recalibrate our moral compass? Is it possible? What should we do? What can we do? How long would it take?
I’ll forego any answers. Enough of the bad news already on this holiday.
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