God Bless America - Part 1

This blog first posted one week after the 2016 Presidential Election. I'm reposting it now, because--

I suspect you'll see why as you read.

I made only minor edits.

Again, I suspect you'll see why as you read.

The iconic song, "God Bless America" was written by Irving Berlin in 1943. Those were dark days for our country. Berlin's song was a wisp of hope for a desperate nation. Kate Smith was one of the first to sing the song on the radio--THE social media of the day.

The song's message is as true and needed today as it was the day it was written. It's the title of this two blog-post series for that reason.

God Bless America - Part 1

Post Election Pontification

I've been aware of every Presidential election since 1960 when John F. Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon. My 5th-grade class watched the first televised Presidential debates in black and white, IN THE DAYTIME. Unlike this year, they were debates, not debacles. Each candidate spoke in turn to the camera in front of him. Questions were actually answered instead of speaking points delivered regardless of the prompt. There was no shouting. They were debates in the truest sense of the word.

Since I've been aware of presidential elections--see the previous paragraph--I remember dire predictions by both political parties as to the disaster awaiting the USA if the "the opponents' candidate" was elected. Specifically

• John F. Kennedy was the first Catholic elected. I don't know why, but this was supposed to have been the worse case scenario for a candidate.
• Lyndon Johnson wasn't anyone's first choice as a presidential candidate. He inherited the office and ran as an incumbent against Barry Goldwater in 1964. Much of the rhetoric involving the Vietnam War was vitriolic. Goldwater lost in one of the most lopsided elections ever held.
• Ronald Reagan was denounced for being an actor, not a politician. That happened in California in the 1960s when he ran for governor and again in the 1980s when he ran for president. Time will ultimately determine his place in the hierarchy of both offices. As it stands today, he's esteemed by many historians.
• The "Florida fiasco" campaign of George W. Bush vs. Al Gore was contentious even before "hanging chad" was a term.
• Now, Trump vs. Hillary.

Over the years I've been voting, mostly as the result of expanded media capabilities, presidential campaigns have evolved into media events. This year has seen more complaining about the one candidate by the other both personally and politically than I can remember. Detractors described one candidate anywhere from "unqualified" to the "least qualified candidate ever." The other candidate was labeled as "criminal" by some and "just another insider" by her detractors. Of course, supporters of either candidate did not use those terms in their descriptions.

As "luck" would have it, I am currently revising a student laboratory kit for re-issue. The kit, Mystery at 323 Maple, is convoluted "Who dun it?" I used it at Monte Vista when I taught a "forensics-type" class. This is from the Teacher Note section.

Ward's Mystery at 323 Maple kit consists of six stations through which students rotate as teams while they attempt to determine "who did it" for one of six different crimes at one of six different Maple addresses in a mythical town.

According to the scenario, six “bags of clues” were delivered to the police by an anonymous source. Each team receives an envelope—their Crime Scene Evidence Envelope (CSEE)—with a different set of evidence collected at one of the six crime scenes, including evidence from one of the bags. Each team performs the same tests on the contents of their envelope. If you wish, each team will discover a unique solution to their mystery.

The purpose of the kit is to allow students to demonstrate problem-solving skills while simultaneously demonstrating mastery of certain laboratory skills and techniques. Since no specific science discipline is emphasized, this kit is ideal for integrated science classes, as well as any traditional class where any or all of the laboratory skills required are taught or emphasized. It is an excellent “end of course” activity for any science class. It is a critical thinking alternative for AP classes after the exams.

Anyway, I was in the mood to investigate. So, I did.

I found that there have been many contentious elections in the 240 years of United States' history. You can check what one group thought were the "top seven" at: 

http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/7-most-contentious-u-s-presidential-elections

I also found out what qualifies a person to be the President of the United States.

Qualifications for the Office of President from US Constitution, Article II, Section 1

Age and Citizenship requirements 

1. No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; 
2. neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.

That's it. Nothing about having been governor or senator or mayor or having even run for another office. So I looked some more. Did you know that the vast majority of what we consider politics today is "unconstitutional"--that is, not in the seminal document of our government?
BTW: The above photo is the entire document. 

The Cabinet. Now one of the mainstays of any president.

PACs. Now considered essential by both parties and all candidates.
Lobbyists. Not invented.
Committees/Chairs of Committees. Not addressed.

Political Parties. Not a word. 

Executive Orders. Silence.
Congressional Representatives/Senators DO NOT have to abide by the laws they pass. I suspect that was about as far from the thoughts of the time as the second closest star to Earth is from our sun.

To reiterate, most of what we call "politics" today is NOTHING like the vision of the Founding Fathers.

Most of what I see in politics today is a continuing series of manipulations in order to get reelected by

• Adding "pork" to bills that are a certainty to pass.
• Voting party lines regardless of the issue.
• Voting the way they want and not voting the way their constituents want.
• Not admitting that an automatic COLA is a raise like their constituents have to do.
• Accepting a pension after serving a single term in office.
• Remaining in office an entire lifetime.

When our nation was founded, the idea behind representative government assumed a rotating system of elected representatives from throughout the states. An individual would quit their job and go to Washington for a season, come home and work, and return to Washington again. After two of these cycles, the Representatives would usually choose to stay home. Senators had six cycles to endure before they left office. Comparing the jobs of the first U.S. Congress to the 2011-2012 Congress shows that over 1/3 of the 112th Congress considered "public servant" (AKA elected to office) as their job compared to 5% of the members of the 1st Congress.

First U.S. Congress (1789–1791)

91 total members

65 representatives

26 senators

34 lawyers

15 soldiers

12 planters/farmers

11 businessmen/merchants

6 clergymen

5 statesmen/career politicians

4 physicians

3 teachers

1 diplomat

112th Congress (2011–2012)

539 total members*

435 representatives

100 senators

6 non-voting members

209 businessmen and women

208 public servants

200 lawyers

81 educators

34 agricultural professionals (including two almond orchard owners)

32 medical professionals (including doctors, veterinarians, ophthalmologists, dentists, a psychiatrist, psychologists, an optometrist, and nurses)

17 journalists

9 accountants

9 scientists

9 social workers

9 military reserves

7 law enforcement officers (including FBI and Border Patrol)

5 ministers

4 pilots

4 Peace Corps volunteers

2 professional football players

2 screenwriters

1 firefighter

1 astronaut

1 documentary filmmaker

1 comedian

*Many Congress members list more than one profession, which is why the totals for professions add up to more than the number of Congress members.

In a departure from my normal blog posting, part 2 of this blog will post tomorrow. In that post, I will address the Electoral College and give my thoughts on what Americans need to do now.

Thanks for reading this. I invite you back tomorrow next week.

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