Politics
The Signpost Up Ahead and 10 Other Reasons Why the Travel Ban is Wrong
Trump’s Travel Ban is so wrong in so many ways. Listed below are 10 of those reasons why:
- It goes against the spirit of our Declaration of Independence and of our Constitution—Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness applies to all people.
- Our Declaration and Constitution is a proclamation to the world and it is inclusive not exclusive; a universal idea.
- Our Declaration of Independence states: “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”
- The 14th Amendment guarantees constitutional rights to all people (not just to citizens of the United States of America).
- So, subsequently, it is necessary that our migration policies follow a similar pattern of fairness and justice.
- Security experts in general believe the travel ban is a bad policy that is bound to backfire by giving violent groups who have made themselves sworn enemies against our ideals of religious tolerance and freedom a new recruiting tool for their brutally deranged and deadly plots.
- 100 former government officials from both Republican and Democratic administrations signed a letter to the administration urging that the President “revisit and rescind” the executive order given that it is “counterproductive from a security standpoint, and beneath the dignity of our great nation.”
- One of the signers of the letter, four-star General Michael Hayden, former CIA and National Security Agency Director (a Bush II appointee), has made it clear in several recent interviews how ill-advised, short sighted and unnecessarily reckless this policy is. Consider the statement he made in a January 30th interview: “What we’re doing now has probably made us less safe today than we were Friday morning before this happened because we are now living the worst jihadist narrative possible, that there is undying enmity between Islam and the West.”
- We are a country of exiles from our very beginning; a place where people seek refuge to escape persecution suffered in their country of origin.
- To discriminatingly close the door on those seeking the hope America offers is a betrayal of who we are and a failure to properly honor our own heritage.
- The travel ban promotes an isolationist mentality which is the policy that has been cited by many historians as a top contributing factor that led us into World War II.
- The Ancient Roman Empire followed a similar course of closed-minded immigration mismanagement which contributed significantly to its downfall; some historians even point to it as the main reason why Ancient Rome fell.
- We lose the public relations benefit that manifests itself when new migrants escaping unbearable circumstances are allowed sanctuary in America.
- When people learn how free America really is, especially free of the corruption that plagues their former countries, they become a Voice of America that is even louder and more effective than the government sponsored Voice of America itself as they inform family and friends around the world that America is exactly what it promotes itself as being and even better.
- The travel ban negatively impacts our economy as tourism drops, as skillset levels drop, as technological advances decline and as we lose our standing in the world as the credible voice of Freedom and Liberty.
- Tourists from other non-targeted countries no longer feel safe nor are they able to take us seriously about our commitment to freedom when we fail to honor those chiseled words that rests inside the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
- Science and technology are at the core of our success as a modern world power.
- It’s a good thing we didn’t have the same intellectually challenged travel ban mentality in the 1940’s that would have prevented the rocket scientists and physicists escaping enemy nations from being allowed to enter our country.
- It is doubtful we would have been the first to split the atom without that happening.
- That realization necessarily implies that Nazi Germany would have likely been the first to split the atom (and that wouldn’t have been good).
- It is doubtful our country would have the technical leadership position we now enjoy if we had no reason to build the computers and the rockets that propelled the space race to its final conclusion by being the first country to land a man on the moon.
- We lose our power to effect Democratic change in critical non-Democratic areas of the world.
- We lose our ability to see that we have nothing to fear but fear itself.
- And finally, we lose what makes America great.
This executive order that Trump wants to enact is nothing more than a disturbing anti-American display of demagoguery. That so many have closed their minds to what this really is, some even going as far as to betray our own traditional American sensibilities in actually promoting it, makes it all the more disturbing and all the more alarming. It is so alarming, in fact, that it seems to me that we are marching blissfully unaware into a completely surreal goose-stepping episode in American history.
America isn’t noticing that signpost up ahead if it chooses to allow this smallminded but completely un-American display of demagoguery to resurface unchallenged. Considering all the other bizarre things that have been happening with this unthoughtful presidency, it’s not too farfetched to believe that at any moment Rod Serling could step into the frame to quietly make a poignant but intellectually sobering announcement how America now finds herself smack dab in the middle (short pause) of “the Twilight Zone.”
REFERENCES
- Our Founding Documents
- NPR Interview of General Hayden
- Letter from the 100 former government officials to the Trump Administration
- Pixabay.com – Map of the World Human Group Image
The Great American Presidential Apprentice
Coming January 20th at 6:00 AM PST/7:00 AM MST
Stay tuned for the Premier of “The Great American Presidential Apprentice,” the new world leader Reality TV show you don’t want to miss is coming this January 20th. As President-Elect he has nearly caused one international incident after another from China, to Japan, to NATO and then throwing in a Russian Hacking denial or two for grins, but he’s just getting started. Just wait until he becomes President on January 20th. Populist autocrats all around the world can’t wait either.
Watch as he fires Congress while his supporters cheer with glee. Then watch him fire the Supreme Court as they cheer some more. And then watch him fire the Constitution but not before steamrolling over the Bill of Rights amidst ever more louder cheers (even the beloved second amendment does not get a reprieve). In addition to his Constitution defacing antics, “Draining the Swamp” will take on a whole new Reality TV meaning as he successfully convinces us that he needs to fill up the swamp in order to drain it.
No Presidential Press Conference will be as much fun to watch as the ones he has planned for his “Press on Trial” segment. All those nasty people in the press corps will be put on trial and then, you guessed it, fired. Watch as he deflects attention away from questionable lawsuit settlements to some poor group of Broadway entertainers whose only crimes were that they asked that the rights of others be respected.
Watch as he dismantles your democratic institutions right before your very eyes, magically and then replaces your republic with a fiefdom. The White House will never be the same. In fact, it won’t be because it is being renamed. Henceforth, it is now, “The Great House.”
So, tune-in on January 20th! It will be like a having a Political Rally right in your very own living room! America will be great again!!! And, oh, by the way, he is also renaming America to the “United States of Greatness,” but, then, soon to be just, “Great, the Country,” because he intends to fire all the States too. Additionally, everyone must now salute the red, white and combed-over flag.
And, for all of you who belong to questionable faiths who should not be let into the country, don’t forget to wear your official state issued religious identification badges because, afterwards, you might win an all-expense paid trip to his new resort, “The Taj Mahal Luxury Internment Villas,” near the new wall site. And don’t pay any attention to those bellhops who look like armed guards. As long as you don’t go anywhere, they won’t bother you.
*Check local listings for availability and times (times may vary).
Things that Might be Beyond Repair
There is still a mistaken belief in some corners of public opinion that there was something offensive and inappropriate about the speech Brandon Dixon gave at the end of the performance of “Hamilton” that Mike Pence attended a few months ago in November. This belief, which gained popular attention by comments Trump made on Twitter, deserves to be properly reconsidered. Mike Pence, in his own words, wasn’t offended nor should he have been. Pence may have recklessly left it open to others regarding judgement, and that might have also propelled this mistaken belief that there was something offensive said, but, the comments made by Dixon were quite benign and perfectly appropriate. Dixon’s brief comments are as follows:
“We, sir — we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights. We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us.”
It was a short, respectful and positive statement. Additionally, it was a plea intended for proper and respectful consideration. The idea that this is an inappropriate comment is absolutely absurd. The statement promotes the core concept behind the production of “Hamilton.” Ironically, this incident highlights the whole reason why we revolted against England. Our pleas were not being properly considered by the king. The notion that political statements should not be made in this Broadway play is also ridiculous given that the whole play is a political statement that celebrates our American heritage and our American ideals. Our American ideals of liberty and justice can never be inappropriate no matter where they are spoken.
Furthermore, from an interview after the incident, Pence commented, “When we arrived we heard a few boos, and we heard some cheers. I nudged my kids and reminded them that is what freedom sounds like.” Pence’s statement contradicts another prevailing misconception that the “boos” Trump may have tweeted about was a result of the plea made by Dixon at the end of the play (Trump tweeted that the “Hamilton” cast “Harassed” Pence). The “boos,” according to Pence, happened before the play even began, before the statement was read aloud and not by the “Hamilton” cast but by random members of the audience who, obviously, were exercising in their own way, albeit, somewhat unsophisticatedly and not very respectfully, their freedom of speech. In any case, the “boos” definitely were not sponsored by nor were they encouraged by the “Hamilton” cast. And, to be honest, after watching the video, there seemed to be more cheers than “boos” for Mike Pence when he walked into the auditorium.
“Hamilton” is a play about dignity and diversity, how an illegitimate, but brilliant foreign born child of a British merchant from minor aristocratic origins rose to become a founding father of our nation. The comments Dixon made were perfectly legitimate given the content and the context of the play and the nervous aftermath of the recent election. People want reassurance from our President-Elect that he will be what he said he would be: “the President of all.”
But, that is not what we get. What we get instead is the exact opposite. Instead of addressing their legitimate concerns, the President-Elect only re-enforces those concerns with tweets that seem more suited to ones a despot might use to inflame public opinion against his supposed enemies. The statements tweeted by Trump should never come from a President of the United States. Those tweets should never come from someone who is the representative of all Americans and they definitely should not come from someone who is responsible for being the face of American democracy for the next four or eight years.
What we have is a President-Elect who is “Tweeting” the truth and our country away into oblivion with provocative statements that continue to speak only to his base but sometimes sucking in any other poor unsuspecting citizens sitting on the sidelines who fail to wrap their heads around the dangerous game Trump is playing. These are victims who fail to understand how they are being manipulated by Trump’s perverse and un-statesman like comments. Trump has not changed since the election despite the apparent false hope some of his supporters have that he will act more presidential once he takes office.
I am not sure who can persuade Trump to change. But the threat his current actions pose to our republic is real. The statements he makes similar to the ones made about the cast of “Hamilton” are only meant to distract and manipulate the public away from other focuses. It may start out small like removing focus from his Trump University settlement but it may progress into bigger things like the realization our liberties have just been snatched away from us because we were too busy focusing attention on something that required no focus of attention at all.
The comments that former Defense Secretary Robert Gates made before the election that Trump is “beyond repair” should be taken seriously. Because, if that is true, if Trump really is “beyond repair,” it only means one thing for our country: America itself may be “beyond repair” after Trump gets done with it. Unfortunately, by electing Donald Trump as President, America has decided more Polarization is required which is a big enough threat to our country on its own but with that comes this even greater threat to our republic that his reckless tweeting and his provocative statements can permanently damage our democratic institutions and our standing in the world to a point where they become “beyond repair.”
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Trump’s Tweets about “Hamilton”:
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 19 Nov 2016
Our wonderful future V.P. Mike Pence was harassed last night at the theater by the cast of Hamilton, cameras blazing.This should not happen!
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 19 Nov 2016
The Theater must always be a safe and special place.The cast of Hamilton was very rude last night to a very good man, Mike Pence. Apologize!
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 20 Nov 2016
The cast and producers of Hamilton, which I hear is highly overrated, should immediately apologize to Mike Pence for their terrible behavior
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The Business of the United States of America is not to be a Business
Had our forefathers intended our form of government to be run like a business, they would have set it up like a business. But, that is not the purpose of our form of government. A business is not so concerned about protecting liberty, justice and freedom as much as it is concerned about the bottom line. Big Businesses, if left unchecked, more often than not, like totalitarian governments, tend to exploit people, limit their options; they tend to foster an idea that the business is more important than its people. When was the last time Microsoft was concerned about your right to practice a different operating system?
There is always room for efficiency in government and we absolutely need Big Business to progress as any meaningful modern society. The improvements to our lives that can only happen if Big Business exists are apparent. Laws favorable to Big Business should be encouraged but must be applied in the context that they don’t infringe on the rights, freedom and liberty of other American citizens. Only a government independent of thinking like a business can do that.
So, it is absurd to me when people base their reason for selecting a particular candidate on the claim that the candidate will run our government like a business. Our government should not run like a business nor should we trust people who think that it should. If a person believes that government should run like a business, it indicates to me that they have absolutely no understanding of what they are talking about, no understanding of our current form of government or why our forefathers would have thought such a notion to be an absolutely bad idea. Our government is not set up like a business on purpose because our government’s primary directive is to be subservient to its citizens, protector of our liberties and freedom not the other way around. Totalitarianism in any form is a bad idea.
The World is Flat like Obama is a Muslim
There are assertions that I find laughable and also quite disturbing at the same time. One of these is the assertion that Obama is a Muslim. The claim is absurd yet it is still propagated by a small group of people. Some have even gone as far as to splice together a series of video clips, statements Obama has made throughout his public tenure, of course, without presenting these statements in their full context then posting them to YouTube to “prove” to you that Obama is a Muslim. I have to shake my head in disbelief at the whole thing; that anyone would go to all that trouble to promote something so inane. This type of behavior is very similar to the way other fringe groups believe in equally outrageous claims such as the one where the world is flat.
No matter how many different examples you can show members of this group that the world is not flat they still choose to believe that the world is flat. Regardless of how many clear and factual examples you give that Obama, by all the available evidence, is a practicing Christian who attends a Southern Baptist church every Sunday, they still choose to believe that Obama is a Muslim. Funny; because how could it really be true; what Muslim would regularly attend a Christian Church and a Southern Baptist congregation no less? And, disturbing; how and the heck could someone believe this in the face of all the evidence that proves otherwise? But, even if Obama were a Muslim so what? Isn’t this America? Maybe that makes the disturbing part of this all the more disturbing when you consider that someone’s religion in America should even be an issue at all.
Speaker of the Whiners
Last week on “Face the Nation” newly elected House Speaker, Paul Ryan, made this statement when answering a question about what he plans to do about immigration reform:
“I think it would be a ridiculous notion to try and work on an issue like this with a president we simply cannot trust on this issue.”
I was a little suspicious of the accolades Ryan received from both parties when his name was floating around as being a candidate for Speaker of the House earlier this year. In every interview I have seen Ryan do, he has always just reaffirmed my own opinion that he is part of the problem. But, I always give people the benefit of the doubt and, perhaps, with more responsibility and with the important role Ryan is playing, perhaps, he would be more open to compromise and negotiation. But, it seems, with Ryan’s comment about his inability to even consider negotiating with the President, my original assessment of Ryan was not too far off the mark.
It is clear to me we can expect more of the same from Congress with Ryan as Speaker of the House. In fact, I fear Congress will be even more immobile and stuck in the mud of political rhetoric and dysfunction. Ryan has none of John Boehner political sensibilities. These are sensibilities that a Speaker of the House must have. For example, dismissing the one party that is absolutely essential to accomplishing the work that needs to be done in Congress is not the brightest move I have seen a Speaker of the House ever make. But, I suppose I should not be surprised.
The major problem with Ryan is that he seems only willing to negotiate with people he gets along with. To be a good politician, to be a good legislator, to be a good Speaker of the House, to be a good and effective leader, you need to negotiate with the people you don’t get along with. Compromise is the key to the success of our nation. Whining about how untrustworthy somebody is doesn’t cut it. Ryan’s comment about his failure to want to negotiate with the President is just plain and simply irresponsible.
I think Ryan should get a clue, figure it out and quit making excuses why Congress is so unproductive by blaming it on the other guy. Nobody likes a quitter. Nobody likes a whiner.
Taking all their Marbles and Going Home over Climate Change
This has to be the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. I don’t care whether you are Republican or Democrat. If Paul Gosar is representative of the type of thought process we have in Washington, boy, are we in trouble. I think there are legitimate reasons for questioning what is really responsible for Global Warming and how negative its impact will truly be without considering other natural occurrences that might also be taking place.
So, I am not willing to subscribe to the opinion that people against Global Warming don’t have a legitimate right to question its validity. But, boycotting the Pope because he holds an opinion that favors the generally accepted scientific view that Global Warming is a reality and that man is most responsible for its existence? Give me a break.
As a congressman, Gosar has a duty. He has a duty to his country to honor diplomatic missions from other parts of the world and, especially, when our country is officially hosting these diplomatic missions. In my opinion, Gosar, if he goes through with his plan to boycott the Pope’s address to Congress next Thursday, is failing miserably in his duty. In fact, it is a true dereliction of duty in my opinion.
What is truly ironic about this is that Gosar is Catholic. Obviously, I would never nominate Gosar for being congressman of the year. I will, however, make a case that Gosar is probably one of the 535 reasons why Congress is so “Do Nothing.” Whenever somebody has a different opinion, rather than respecting that others have the right to their opinion, that some type of compromise has to take place, these congress members, instead, just put their hands over their ears and start yelling, “La, la, la, la, la…I can’t hear you! La, la, la, la la!” Then they take all their marbles and go home. Nobody talks. Nothing gets done. “Do nothing.”
References:
“Arizona congressman to boycott pope’s address over climate change stance,” the guardian
“Why I Am Boycotting Pope Francis’s Address to Congress,” Time
Weighing the Different Levels of Stupidity
I was unfortunate enough to see this disturbing billboard in my Facebook newsfeed recently:
“DEMOCRAT: a person too stupid to know that they are a communist”
The billboard then went on to further its attack:
“DUMB DEMOCRATS NEED TO WAKE UP!!! What part of Communism don’t you understand? There’s nothing more closed than a liberal mind…”
I’m guessing the part of “communism” that Democrats don’t understand is much different than the part that the poor intellectuals who thought this gem up don’t understand since all the Democrats I know believe in free enterprise and are not very prone to totalitarianism like most actual communists all too often are.
What is most irritating about this distasteful message is the circumstance under which I had to witness it. It was not too long after I posted a brief comment to Facebook indicating how condescending attitudes need to change if we expect our political process to work again. Obviously, some of my Facebook friends seem to think not less but more condescending (and more excessively obnoxious) attitudes are required.
Sentiments like the ones found in the billboard described above may galvanize their target audience but they also alienate people like me, moderates who have had in the past voted for Republicans. The amount of disgust generated in me by that posting is hard to describe in words but it is enough to make me never, ever want to consider voting for another Republican ever again. Why would I ever vote for another Republican if there is a chance they all suffer from such small minded ideas like the ones articulated in that billboard? Also, why would any rational, respectable, responsible person ever think this is an acceptable message to propagate let alone to legitimately think?
While the ideas expressed in the statements of this billboard are riddled with foolishness if not just for the amount of irony they contain, the more important point is that this is exactly the type of thing we can do without in a country that has prided and built itself on compromise. These statements are not only absurd but they apparently demonstrate the limited thinking capacity of the “Right Wing” (assuming the “Right Wing News”, the group sponsoring this billboard, is representative of the “Right Wing” of the Republican Party). Resorting to name calling is quite a simpleminded thing to do but, undoubtedly, juvenile.
The people responsible for the sentiments in this billboard and anybody who has a propensity to find them even remotely appealing are beyond hope. They really have no conceptual understanding that if you insult and offend people with absurd comments lacking in intelligence but plentiful in the amounts of disdain and innuendo they can carry, you are not very likely to achieve any type of productive resolution to anything. In a country built on compromise to finding workable solutions to political problems, such a failure is unforgivable but extremely dangerous to our country’s very existence as a nation.
There are people who really do need to “wake-up.” They are the people who think that the other guy must be the dumbest person around because he doesn’t think like the orthodox men like themselves. And when you really start to think about it: just how smart is it to think that you have all the answers while everybody else who disagrees with you has none of the answers? How many times in history have we seen people who have correctly evaluated the natural order of their environment only to be ridiculed by those who were so sure that their own erroneous view of the world was so much better?
For example, how about we consider the people who advocated that the earth was round or that the earth revolved around the sun? How about we consider how much they were ridiculed by the “Right Wing” of their day? While I am not really proposing that the Democrats have anything in their platform that is as illuminating as some great scientific discovery, the point is that you tend to miss things when you are so clouded by your own orthodox notions of how things are. These unbending absolutes being assumed can and often do prevent you from considering the merits of the other argument being made.
The bottom line is these billboards do nothing to help the dialog that needs to happen between the political parties but, in fact, they only serve to widen the divide making it almost impossible to have any type of discussion at all. This particular instance is the most offensive I have ever encountered. It doesn’t just attack leaders of the opposition party, it attacks the multitude of American citizenry who are the members of the Democratic Party–a party that has a long proven history of promoting the interest of the common man, standing up against tyranny, totalitarianism, including communism, and those who would seek to end our freedom, liberty and religious tolerance.
It really is time to “wake-up” to the notion that we need to promote a more courteous, respectful, less condescending and less confrontational approach to politics if we really expect to get anything done in this country. Doing anything else; now, that really would be “stupid.”
A New Edict of Milan in America
Tolerance needs to begin with us and we need to start by recognizing that baseless, absurd conclusions with the intent to invoke emotional responses from its target audience is the reason why intolerance begins to take shape in the first place. I recently ran across an article entitled, “Repealing the Edict of Milan: Obama as the Anti-Constantine,” written by either Ralph H. Sidway or Raymond Ibrahim (it’s not entirely clear which), that indicates Obama is the Anti-Constantine because he, supposedly, refuses to help the Syrian Christians against the horrific persecution they are suffering at the hands of ISIS. The argument made is weak containing unconvincing evidence that is irrelevant or inconclusive, full of emotion, yet; still, it will have no problem appealing to a conservative audience anyway.
This idea that Obama is the Anti-Constantine only adds to the intolerance (the intolerance and disdain Republicans have towards Democrats). It does nothing in the way of offering a real compromising solution so that, perhaps, we really can make a change in the Middle East forward towards a fully realized state of religious tolerance. Secondly, the “Edict of Milan,” while an important concept in the formation of our own country’s ideas towards religious tolerance, did not really exist as a historical event.
There was no real edict made in Milan. What is often referred to as being the “Edict of Milan”, instead, was a letter by the Emperor Licinius distributed to the eastern provinces in 313. Although, Constantine’s name may have been referenced in the letter, it was not written by Constantine. Dr. Timothy Barnes states in his book, “Constantine: Dynasty, Religion and Power in the Later Roman Empire:”
“The surviving document often falsely called the ‘Edict of Milan’ is in fact a letter which Licinius sent successively in 313 to the governor of each province of Aisia Minor, the Syrian region and Egypt as they came under his control after he defeated Maximinus.”
In fact, Barnes makes the case that intolerance was nurtured by Constantine in his later reigning years as he consolidated power, as he began to embrace Christianity more fully and as he steered the empire towards a more totalitarianism solution to the problem of governing. So, the premise that Obama is the Anti-Constantine doesn’t make much sense if the intent of “Repealing the Edict of Milan: Obama as the Anti-Constantine” is to prove Obama approves of totalitarianism and intolerance.
How about we make real inroads towards tolerance? For example, let’s respect each other’s politics, quit making inflammatory remarks about the opposition and then sit down at the table and talk about how we can make this world a better place that includes more tolerance (much more tolerance, including the concept that the parties begin to tolerate each other more respectfully than has recently been the case).
What Congress Needs Now is Another Folk Singer
A President who demonstrates a good understanding of International Relations and Foreign Policy has always been an important consideration for me when I judge Presidential performance. Familiarization with Gunboat Diplomacy, the Marshal Plan, the Japanese surrender at Pearl Harbor along with the role America played in Japan’s and Europe’s reconstruction efforts, world history and, specifically as it relates to today, the history of the Middle East (both ancient and current), I feel is an absolute requirement for any office holder of the Presidency. A comprehensive grasp of the importance of the idea that order and security cannot be accomplished without the threat of calculated and effective enforcement also needs to be a demonstrable attribute of any President.
But, I also think it is important that all our leaders, notably congressional leaders, have a good understanding of the history of Foreign Relations. They should have a good understanding of the protocol used in our own form of government as it pertains to International Relations. So, whatever I might think of the President’s foreign policies, how I might question them, I would not, for one instance, assume that, if I were a ranking member of congress, say for instance, the Speaker of the House, it would be OK for me to invite a head of state from another country to speak in front of congress without informing the President nor would I do so without first seeking his approval. That is just not the message we want to send to other countries and it is certainly not a wise precedent we would or should ever want to set.
While America is a free country where free speech is an honored, sacredly held component, we should also use a certain amount of common sense. But, instead, what I see in congress today: a whole lot of people running around without a whole lot of common sense or good judgment rattling around in their heads. Apparently, this observation of mine now extends to the Speaker of the House who, until this most recent event, I considered one of the few members of congress possessing some measure of this most needed commodity.
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The Polarity Resistance 