Tag Archives: Harry Turtledove

Point of View Columns

First Thoughts After the Election – 11.9.22

There is a very popular author in the alternative history genre by the name of call alternative history by the name Harry Turtledove. “Alternative history” can best be summarized as “what would have happened if John Kennedy survived the assassination attempt in Dallas?”

Similarly, one day historians may look at the 2022 elections and wonder what would have happened if the projected Republican tsunami had actually occurred. What we do know is that, at least for the immediate present, here are some of the things that will not happen:

  • There will be no national abortion ban
  • There will be no reduction of taxes for high end corporate CEO’s
  • There will not be a successful effort to end to Social Security
  • There will not be a successful effort to end Medicare
  • The Affordable Care Act will not be repealed
  • There will not be a successful effort by Congress to overturn the 2024 presidential election.

What we do know is that the Republicans like Senator Rick Scott, who was the author of the Republican Senate Campaign Committee platform that articulated the assault on so many Americans, is not going away and is definitely not giving up.

If we have learned anything over the past several decades it is that the right wing of the right wing is persistent and committed to its cause. They are not looking at the 2022 election results as a setback and they are certainly not viewing the results as a permanent failure.

They are, and have been, very intentional and very strategic and as persistent as the natural phenomenon of erosion. And the analogy is apt, because erosion only stops when its target is either eliminated or drastically changed. And so it is when the target is American democracy and basic human rights.

The progressive movement is characterized by stops and starts and is seemingly always reacting to real danger only when the danger transitions from possible to imminent to immediate. And it is certainly the case right now.

The fact that over 300 election deniers were running for different officers across the nation is more than a warning (can you say Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin?), it is a clear and present danger. And is clear that the progressives, liberals and anyone concerned about the maintenance of some version of justice and liberty need to stopping playing defense and starting being proactive.

Once again, the fact that the right wing of the right did not create a tsunami of victory on a national basis points out that there were some rays of victory (can you say Senator John Fetterman and Governor Wes Moore?) cannot obscure the fact that a dark wave of ugly, racist, anti-libertarian Republican candidates are already lining up to run the cities and states and the nation lining up for 2023 and 2024.

To be clear, this is not the time to be afraid.

This is the time remember the heritage of being part of the struggle for freedom and humanity.

Now is the time.

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Point of View Columns

James Comey – Lordy, Lordy, Lordy

Somehow James Comey, the presumably mild-mannered former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has morphed into one of the most pivotal characters in the recent history of American presidential politics. Not since the days of the never-to-be-missed J. Edgar Hoover, the venal, vicious and racist cross-dressing founder of the FBI, has the Director of the FBI exerted such history-changing influence. And it is reasonable to ask, Lordy, how did this happen?

Even a cursory analysis reveals that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump thrust the game-changing role onto Mr. Comey, although there is no indication that when the role was offered, he didn’t exhibit any reluctance in fully embracing that role.

Consider James Comey’s role in the 2016 presidential election. Between his midsummer announcement that there would be no further investigation of Secretary Clinton and his stunning reversal 11 days before the election that the FBI investigation of the presidential candidate had resumed, Mr. Comey exerted incredible undue influence on the presidential election and in all likelihood handed an unthinkable upset victory to Donald Tinyhands.

Of course it can be argued that if a private e-mail server was not installed in Secretary Clinton’s bathroom in her Chappaqua home there would have been no story about hidden e-mails, there would have been no death by a thousand cuts disclosure of the content of those e-mails and there would have been no Congressional investigations and there would have been no FBI investigation. And, of course, there would have been no faux savior of democracy role for James Comey to assume.

Similarly, if the coterie of advisors, sycophants and wannabe’s surrounding Donald Tiny hands had not pursued contact with the Russians like besotted sophomore suitors, there would have been nothing for Mike Flynn, Jared Kutsher and Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III to deny. And then there would be no need to cover up surreptitious correspondence, meetings and a rendezvous in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

And then there would be nothing for the FBI to investigate and no reason for Donald Tinyhands to demand a Godfatheresque ring-kissing pledge of personal loyalty from an appalled James Comey. And then there would be no contemporaneous memoranda penned by Mr. Comey and then there would be no Senate Intelligence hearings like the one held on June 7th and June 8th.

However fascinating alternative history might be, it is best left to Harry Turtledove and other authors of that genre. Actual history indicates that Secretary Clinton did create the e-mail server morass giving her sworn enemies just enough morsels of pseudo scandal to bring about the chain of events that resulted in James Comey becoming a key player in her electoral downfall in 2016.

Similarly, by pursuing the fool’s errand of dancing with the devil that is Vladimir Putin, Donald Tinyhands and his henchmen and henchwomen provided his sworn enemies with more than enough reason to sound echoes of Watergate and Iran Contra thereby casting James Comey in the role of Sir Galahad on a mission to save democracy.

By all accounts, James Comey is a decent and dedicated public servant who does not have a devious bone in his body. Nevertheless, Machiavelli himself could not have constructed a series of actions and strategies that resulted in Mr. Comey having such history-changing influence on the fate of over 300 million Americans.

The question is not whether James Comey is a hero or a villain. The question may turn out to be whether the ensuing chaos and turmoil in American politics are the unintended consequences of blind dedication to duty.

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