Trump a Danger to American Democracy

The televised January 6^th Committee hearings have brought to light quite a bit of evidence not previously available to the public showing Donald J. Trump knew he lost the 2020 election, that there was no widespread voter fraud, and conspired to overturn the results. Most elected Republicans at the state and federal levels will not admit this as they need the support of the most rabid members of the electorate and don’t have the spine to tell the truth if it means losing an election. Only a relative handful are like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, both dyed in the wool Republican hardliners, who are committed to a democratically elected government. There is little I agree on with either of them but I have to admit they are among the very few patriots among elected Republicans today.

The committee heard testimony from Trump's own aides and advisers that he knew the claims he was making of election fraud were untrue and that steps he was taking to overturn the results were illegal.

Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, testified that the president called her to discuss plans to organize "alternate" presidential electors who would claim that Trump actually won their states. Republican officeholders in Georgia and Arizona appeared before the committee to describe Trump's efforts to pressure them into taking steps to reverse Joe Biden's victory in their states. Georgia Secretary of State Brian Raffensperger spoke in detail about a nearly hour-long phone call during which the president urged him to "find" the votes necessary to put him ahead in the state's vote tally.

Evidence was presented that Texas congressman Louie Gohmert, among others, asked for a pardon from Trump before he left office. As committee member Adam Kinzinger pointed out "The only reason I know to ask for a pardon is because you think you committed a crime."

Trump Justice Department officials testified that the president personally pressured them to issue findings of possible election fraud and encourage state legislatures to overturn results showing Biden won. Trump told them to "just say that the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen," according to acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue’s testimony.

Those same former Justice Department officials also detailed how Trump himself had urged them and senior officials at the Department of Homeland Security to seize voting machines from state governments in pursuit of a conspiracy theory that Italian satellites changed vote totals, without evidence for taking such an unprecedented step. According to testimony from Donoghue, during a December 2020 meeting at the White House, Trump said "Why don't you guys just seize machines?"

Among those testifying were two Atlanta election workers, Shaye Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, who spoke of facing death threats and being forced to leave their home after Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani mentioned them by name, claiming they were "trying to steal the election". Freeman said "There is nowhere I feel safe." Even Republican officials who have debunked Trump’s election fraud claims have faced multiple death threats such as Arizona state senator Rusty Bowers who also testified.

The actions of Trump, his congressional enablers, the rioters, and those who have threatened to murder opponents are frighteningly similar to those of Benito Mussolini and his Black Shirts as they took power in Italy in the 1922.

Retired federal circuit court of appeals judge and icon among conservative legal scholars Michael Luttig, testified on June 16 and said "the former president and his party are today a clear and present danger for American democracy." I believe Judge Luttig.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - June 29, 2022

Abbott's School Voucher Scheme De-funding Public Education

Gov. Abbott has started his campaign for re-election with two issues that rile up his base but don’t actually make Texas a better place. His expensive “Border Security” publicity stunt has been in the news several times. Abbott is using state funds to pay National Guard troops to look like they’re doing the federal government’s job and doing it so poorly that their duplicative inspections backed up truck traffic at the border for many hours costing Texas businesses and county governments more than $4 billion in just 10 days. His other issue is mis-named “school choice” and its goal is to de-fund public education.

Abbott says “We can fully fund public schools while also giving parents a choice about which school is right for their child … giving them the choice to send their children to any public school, charter school or private school with state funding following the student.” If it is so easy to fully fund public education in Texas why aren’t we doing it already? The state provides about 45% of the funds for every child in public schools. Texas K-12 public schools are plagued by high class sizes and under-paid teachers.

If the governor gets his way we can expect that the percentage of state funds per public school students to fall below 40% because the same total dollars will have to be spread over an additional 342,000 plus children currently attending private schools. Those private schools don’t currently receive state funding so unless the governor intends to increase the state public education budget by 6% that means cutting per student spending. Since most rural districts don’t have any private schools they’ll be required to educate the same number of children on 6% less state funding.

Abbott’s proposal really does several things that aren’t good for the vast majority of Texans. If you can’t afford to pay an extra $1350 or more per child in tuition you can’t take advantage of the program because private and religiously affiliated schools charge more than the state provides per student. There’s also a good chance you’ll have to provide transportation to and from school. In many parts of the state there are few if any non-sectarian private schools so if you’re not from one of the pre-dominant faiths in the area your children either won’t have the option to go to a private school or you’ll have to accept that they’re being indoctrinated in a faith other than yours.

While we’re on the topic of sectarian schools let’s review the First Amendment to the United States constitution which says in part “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. Now you might think that congress wouldn’t be responsible for funding Catholic, Baptist, or Lutheran schools so what’s the problem? The problem is the 14^th Amendment extends constitutional protections to state actions as well. In fact the 14^th Amendment is what prevents the states from doing all the things that the federal government is prohibited from doing in the rest of the constitution including the other amendments. It’s what ensures you have a right to a trial by a jury of your peers even in a state court and that local police can’t unreasonably seize your property or enter your home without a warrant. The Supreme Court long ago ruled against state funds supplementing teacher salaries at religious schools and that’s exactly what Abbott is advocating for.

What Abbott is really advocating for is essentially subsidizing wealthier people sending their kids to elitist schools while making it tougher on everyone else.

 Published in the Seguin Gazette - June 15, 2022

A Solution to Gun Violence

In the 23 years since the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, CO there have been dozens of others, including several in Texas like Sutherland Springs, El Paso, and now Uvalde. Nationally there have been mass shootings in schools, churches, retail stores, night clubs and other venues. Virtually no national or state legislation has been passed to address the causes or attempt to prevent such events or even the high of suicides involving firearms. Many on the left push for some form of gun control; such as making some types of guns illegal. On the right we hear noise about the second amendment and an unwillingness to give up their guns.

In the aftermath of the Uvalde murders Gov. Abbott blamed the shooting on mental health problems. In this instance he might be correct but that doesn’t make his responsibility any less considering he signed legislation that significantly reduced state funding for mental health services. Beto O’Rourke told Abbott, “This is on you until you choose to do something different. This will continue to happen. Somebody needs to stand up for the children of this state or they will continue to be killed just as they were in Uvalde yesterday.”

In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Texas congressman Dan Crenshaw, like many of his Republican colleagues, absolutely dismissed any effort to increase limits on access to guns and instead proposed strengthening security at schools. Apparently Crenshaw and his fellow conservatives forget that the shooting in El Paso occurred in a Walmart and the one in Sutherland Springs was in a church. It might be a good idea if Crenshaw was made aware of the dozen injured in a mass shooting on the streets in downtown Lafayette, LA earlier this month or the 10 injured at a night club in Cedar Rapids, IA last month. In Dallas on April 3 at a trail ride and concert, there was a mass shooting in which 16 were injured and 1 died. There’s also the gang shootout in Sacramento April 3 that left 6 dead and 12 injured, all but 1 of them innocent bystanders.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, an independent data collection organization, there have 212 mass shootings that have occurred so far this year, as of last Tuesday. Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people were shot or killed, excluding the shooter. 27 have been at K-12 schools or on school buses. Crenshaw’s solution strengthen security at schools applies to less than 15% of mass shootings. What about the more than 85% of shootings that occurred at other venues?

Since something needs to be done, I propose a carrot and stick approach to getting legislation passed.  Republicans should write legislation, including providing funding for everything they think will address gun violence while protecting their “gun rights” and Democrats should support the bill but there would be a trigger that says that at the end of three years there must be a 30% reduction in gun violence and a further reduction of 10% per year for the next three years or strong gun control measures go into effect. Those gun control measures might include a background check for every gun purchase regardless of whether or not it is a private sale, no weapon with a magazine of more than 9 rounds may be possessed by any individual. Making, selling or possessing a kit or parts to modify a weapon to full automatic or possessing a weapon modified to full automatic would be a federal felony.

No more political posturing.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - June 1, 2022