The political primary for the state of Oregon was last week, and I was pleased with the results overall (most of the candidates I voted for won). I have had the feeling for some time that although voting is a necessary condition to maintain democracy, it is not sufficient by itself. Participation by the voters in the democracy is also required to keep it strong. Last fall, I signed up for the newsletter for my county Democratic Party committee. I have not done any more than that up to this point. Well, today, I sent for some information on the Neighborhood Leader Program. It is a small step, but long journeys begin with the first step. I will work to take one political action each day. Hopefully, this journey will make me more of a participant in our democracy.
Politics
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What I liked about the inauguration of Joe Biden
I watched the inaugural activities on CSPAN on January 20th, and I had some thoughts I wanted to share on what I liked about the ceremonies:
The pagentry
The military escort at the arrival of the Bidens at the Capitol, the introduction of guests, the presenting of the colors, presenting the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier – all of these demonstrated the great pagentry and tradition of this event.
The music
I greatly enjoyed the music of the United States Marine Band at the Capitol, and the other locations where military bands performed. It is fitting that these musical organizations, which have been present for most of the history of the United States of America, were the primary music of choice at the inauguration. As a euphonium player myself, I have performed many of the marches that were heard yesterday. The music brought tears to my eyes again and again.
The oath of office
Although the act of taking the oath of office is simple and short, its meaning is great. My family and I watched both Vice President Harris and President Biden take the oath of office, and we clapped at home for both of them. Again, tears flowed as a new era in American politics began.
“Mr. President”
As Chief Justice John Roberts completed the administering the oath of office to Joe Biden, he was the first to say the words “Mr. President”. Tears flowed down my cheeks. As President Biden was greeted by congressional leaders and military personnel through the day, by news media, by well-wishers, each time I heard the words “Mr. President”, it felt like it meant something again; for me, it had not meant anything for the past four years.
I hope that this event will be a sign of great things to come for the United States of America. I will pray every day that our country can heal from the divisiveness of the past four years and move forward in greatness again.
In listening to part of the Rules Committee debate this morning, the ranking Republican member said impeachment would be divisive, but made no mention of Republican culpability in the attack at the Capitol on January 6th.
- Schrader’s spokesperson resigned over his remarks, for which he apologized on Friday evening.
Sounds like it is time for Kurt Schrader to resign as well….
Worth watching….
Every American who watched in horror as our Capitol was overrun by domestic terrorists on Wednesday has a right to know how this happened, why it happened, who is responsible and what we are going to do about it.
I am also in favor of the ideas in this article (watch out Cruz, Hawley, et al!).
Finally, it has come to this, and WAY OVERDUE!
My assessment of the electoral vote count for the 2020 election
I have watched all of today’s electoral count events – many thanks to CSPAN, CNN, and PBS for their coverage (also Twitter and other linked material from Twitter). It has been quite an experience to see our nation’s Capitol building attacked by a mob, and to see the almost total lack of response by law enforcement to this violent attack. I hope that there is some followup investigation to find out why this happened. CNN had a story late Wednesday showing the difference in police response between Wednesday’s mob action and previous Black Lives Matter protests (spoiler: police response was very strong for BLM protests, yet almost non-existent for the mob action)
I am glad to see that the electoral count was able to be completed, and that Vice-President Mike Pence carried out his constitutional duty and did not attempt to veer from that duty. It is the first time during the past four years that I have found something to appreciate about Mike Pence. The Senate speeches during the debate were excellent, the House speeches less so. It was sad that House members continued to object to certificates without Senate concurrence (Georgia, Michigan, Nevada). On the Pennsylvania speeches, it seemed that every House rep from PA spoke – ugh! Enough is enough!
I also created a liveblog of the events, I hope that some of my five readers found it of some value. I felt an obligation for myself to document this event in a journalistic way. It will be a record for years to come. The Little Outliner application worked superbly, and I appreciate all the work that its creator, Dave Winer, has done to make outliners more available to all.
In one of the Senate speeches in the Arizona debate, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden stated that the Senate needed to spend the next two weeks watchdogging Donald Trump. He also mentioned that the National Association of Manufacturers called for the 25th Amendment to be used to remove Donald Trump from office. Via CNN, the House Judiciary Committee Democrats also called for the 25th Amendment to be applied, and Cabinet members are also discussing this. I think it would be in the interest of the nation for Donald Trump to be removed from office to protect our country from any further damage, and this be done by any legal means available.
My hope is that when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris become President and Vice-President, our nation will begin the healing process, and can focus on helping our citizens in this pandemic. Donald Trump has shown no interest in this, resulting in many deaths that could have been avoided. Let us pull together to make this a better nation.