Saturday 16 November 2024 11:34:13 PM CDT
I occasionally wish in a fanciful moment wish that some of the people who have assumed room temperature as the great El Rushbo said - sadly I so young I only experienced his last
decade [1] or so - were still around to see President Trump's return. Not just because I suspect it will make them even angrier than they were last time around but because from what
I see from the ones who are extant it would be even more enjoyable.
I'm young but a history nerd in addition to being an SF nerd. More importantly my closest friend - whom I credit for my nerdiness - is considerably older and has experience much
of the unpleasantness of recent decades. So I am aware of many of those who have assaulted our Republic and died before seeing yet another failure. Here are a few we came up with.
Alex's favorite is Peter Jennings. He refers to him as the late unlamented Peter Jennings. I was a teenager when he died and only vaguely remember the days when television news was
still the major source of 'news' for most people. They were on the way out as I was growing up and what Alex calls the 'evil troika' of Dan Rather, Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw
weren't a big part of my life. The Internet was beginning to be 'a thing' when I was born and it's hard to imagine a world without it yet for earlier generations newspapers and television
were where they got the news.
We were watching the election results on several Internet channels and Alex called up clip of Peter Jennings from 1994. To set it up (I was about two years old) it was the
midterm election and Bill Clinton had begun his term with a number of unpopular actions because the Democrats had control of Congress - an 'assault weapons' ban, a tax
increase, allowing homosexuals to enlist in the armed forces to name a few - and the voters were understandably unhappy. While it failed an attempt to take over the health
care industry also upset people and Newt Gingrigh's brilliant 'Contract with America' helped evict a large number of Democrats from Congress. Peter Jennings explained it thus:
Some thoughts on those angry voters. Ask parents of any two-year-old and they can tell you about those temper tantrums: the stomping feet, the rolling eyes, the
screaming. It's clear that the anger controls the child and not the other way around. It's the job of the parent to teach the child to control the anger and channel
it in a positive way. Imagine a nation full of uncontrolled two-year-old rage. The voters had a temper tantrum last week....Parenting and governing don't have to be
dirty words: the nation can't be run by an angry two-year-old.
I do remember Ruth Bader Ginsberg. A few years before she died some state-run media did some kind of promotion had her doing exercises to show how good shape she was in.
What the objective was I have no idea. They even gave her a rapper nickname 'Notorius RGB'. There were some leftists who wanted her to retire so the current democatat
president could replace her instead of risking her dying during a Republican presidency. She didn't and assumed room temperature in 2020 just before President Trump
left office - temporarily. So yeah, I wish she could be here to see him return.
Senator Edward Kennedy remained in the Senate until the end. Seeing his reaction to President Trump returing to power with his party in the minority
would be fun, and seeing his nephew reject the party and join the Trump administration would be delicious. While on the subject of democrat politicians who didn't
make it there are some I would like to see still around to see it: Joe Lieberman was a semi-reasonable guy at times. His party turned on him and tried to replace
him in the Senate but he seemed to be unable to ditch the party. I suspect that he would probably hate Trump and he seemed like a nice guy for a democrat so I
wouldn't want him to suffer so. I would have liked to see Jean Carnahan experience the election. Her husband was governor of Missouri and died in a plane crash
while seeking election to the Senate. He won posthumously and she was appointed to the seat her dead husband won. She was only in for two years and a Republican
defeated her in the special election that followed. She was pretty obnoxious while she was there. Another politician I'd like to see it is John Dingell but
since his wife inherited his seat I'm glad she gets to see it. James Imhofe was a pretty good guy and since he had to witness the Biden administration I
suspect he would have enjoyed seeing Trump return. Dianne Feinstein would be fun to see under another Trump term, especially since they lost control of the
Senate but she was more a vegetable than Biden her last year or so. Ted Olson lived just long enough to see the election - he was one of the good guys and would
have enjoyed it.
There are probably more politicians but I'll move on to extant specimens. Michael Moore has been fun to watch (how has he not succumbed to grotesque obesity),
as has James Carville. What agitators died before the election? None come to mind just now. Of the extant ones Greta Thunberg probably won't be too happy.
The talking heads at CNN and MSMBC are mostly fairly young so they will get to witness the Trump administration but if looks some of them won't have jobs. The
various celebutards who threatened to leave the country are still here. The next few years should be fun.
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All government suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathalogical personalities.
It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible. Frank Herbert
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The one-eyed view of our universe says you must not look far afield for problems. Such
problems may never arrive. Instead, tend to the wolf within your fences. The packs ranging
outside may not even exist.
Frank Herbert
Children of Dune
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