Today’s Edition: Echoes of 9/11

September 13, 2021

          Former President George Bush spoke at Shanksville, Pennsylvania on the 20th Anniversary of the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Bush compared the 9/11 terrorists to the terrorists who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Bush said,

          We have seen growing evidence that the dangers to our country can come not only across borders but from violence that gathers within. . . . There's little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home. But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard of human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit, and it is our continuing duty to confront them.

          For a man of few words, Bush spoke plainly but eloquently. By linking the foreign terrorists of 9/11 to the domestic terrorists of 1/6, Bush cut through the political correctness and partisan hesitancy that has marred the prosecution of the insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol on January 6th. Major media outlets still refer to the terrorists as “rioters” or “protestors” or “Trump supporters.” Right-wing media calls them “political prisoners” or “patriots.” Bush is right. We need to call them by their name: domestic terrorists.

          Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin noted Bush’s linkage of the 9/11 and 1/6 terrorists in her essay, “Yes, the Jan. 6 insurrectionists were terrorists. George W. Bush just indicted them.”  Rubin said,

          In perhaps the most important words spoken in his political career, Bush in his remarks at the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 drew a straight line between the 9/11 terrorists and the 1/6 terrorists. . . .

[T]he Republican Party continues to minimize, deflect and ignore the 1/6 terrorist attack.

          The press, the ecosystem of donors, activists and operatives, and even, to an extent, the Democrats all treat Republicans as a normal political party within our democratic system, rather than as the enablers of a “foul spirit” and violent extremism.

          The multiple terrorist attacks on 9/11 did not present the nation with a “partisan” political issue. Neither did the attack on the Capitol on January 6th. Or, rather, it shouldn’t have. The fact that the “political ecosystem” continues to treat the assault on the Capitol as a pep rally that got out of hand is doing a grave disservice to the Constitution. The ecosystem that resorted to domestic terrorism to overturn the 2020 election has not learned its lesson. If anything, it has been emboldened by the milquetoast response of almost everyone responsible for ensuring that it never happens again.

          After 9/11, the nation came together as never before. We need to do the same again—before it is too late. In the meantime, we shouldn’t worry about bruising the feelings of domestic terrorists by calling them by name. Nor should we spare the feelings of those who provide financial, media, or political support to the domestic terrorists. They are co-conspirators.

Joe Manchin’s position on the $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill.

          Sigh. Senator Joe Manchin went on the Sunday talk show circuit to say that he believes the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package should be cut in half. He also said he didn’t believe that Congress could complete work on the package this month. See Market Watch, “Manchin won’t support Biden’s $3.5 trillion budget plan, wants it cut by more than half.”

          Here’s a fun fact to amuse your friends on your next Zoom call: Senator Manchin won his last election with a total of 290,510 votes, which is 56,162 fewer votes than the Mayor of San Diego garnered in his 2020 win (346,662). Imagine if the Mayor of San Diego believed that his victory gave him the right to dictate to hundreds of millions of Americans what the nation should spend on Medicare, community colleges, climate change, childcare, universal pre-K, antipoverty programs, rebuilding aging hospitals, and much more. I suspect that most Americans would believe that the Mayor of San Diego misapprehended the scope of his remit.

          Of course, Joe Manchin is a U.S. Senator and enjoys the powers and privileges bestowed on him by the Constitution. But a little humility and restraint on his part would be much appreciated by the other 74,082,368 Democrats who did not vote for him but did vote for Joe Biden. Just sayin’.

GOP is aghast to learn that mandatory vaccines are as American as apple pie.

          Republicans were apoplectic when Biden announced his sweeping mandatory vaccination requirements for federal workers, federal contractors, and employers with more than 100 employees. Proving that there is no bottom to their depravity Republican governors with presidential aspirations announced that they would sue Biden to halt the vaccine mandates. Biden responded with a confident, “Have at it.” See Talking Points Memo, “GOP Declares War On Biden’s Sweeping Vaccine Mandates.”

          Biden’s confidence is well-placed, both legally and politically. Vaccine mandates are constitutional. The Supreme Court has said so, repeatedly. See Vox, “Can Biden legally mandate Covid-19 vaccines for workers?” Per Vox,

          Let’s get one thing out of the way first: Vaccine mandates are not unconstitutional. The Supreme Court upheld a local health board’s decision to mandate smallpox vaccinations in Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905). And states routinely require nearly all school-age children to receive a long list of vaccines.

          Speaking of states mandating vaccines, it turns out that many of the states that are most resistant to Covid vaccine mandates have the strictest requirements for mandatory childhood vaccines. Per the NYTimes,

          Mississippi has some of the strictest vaccine mandates in the nation, which have not drawn opposition from most of its elected officials. Not only does it require children to be vaccinated against measles, mumps and seven other diseases to attend school, but it goes a step further than most states by barring parents from claiming “religious, philosophical or conscientious” exemptions.

          So, if Republican governors try to stop Biden’s vaccine mandates, they will have an uphill battle in light of state-level vaccine mandates. If they try to challenge Biden’s mandates for employers, the governors will have a difficult time establishing standing to sue. Of course, the reactionary majority on the Court may make an exception or overrule a century-old precedent, but the legal odds are with Biden.

          Moreover, the ambitious Republican governors have picked the wrong side of the issue both morally and politically. America loses more people to coronavirus in a week than it lost on 9/11. The death toll from Covid is staggering, and climbing. By continuing their headstrong support for an immoral and inhuman policy, they are turning persuadable centrist voters against them. And Democrats have begun to make the issue of anti-vaccination Trumpism an issue in every race. See Washington Post, “Democrats try to put Trump on the ballot in California, Virginia and New Jersey races.” As noted in WaPo, support for embattled Governor Gavin Newsom “increased after he announced vaccine mandates for health-care and education workers.”  As an adviser to Newsom campaign said, “It’s good politics and good policy marrying together. Democrats are on the right side of this issue.”

Justice Breyer seems to shut the door on retirement speculation.

          Several months ago, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer hired law clerks to assist him in the 2021-22 term—not a good omen for his retirement. Breyer seemed to confirm the bad news over the weekend when he said on a Fox News program, “I didn't retire because I had decided on balance I wouldn't retire.” See Politico, “Justice Breyer on calls for his retirement: ‘They are entitled to their opinion’. Breyer’s statement is extraordinarily disappointing. He appears headed for the short list of Supreme Court justices who allowed their legacies to be defined by their lack of self-awareness in deciding when to retire. I hope I am wrong, but it is difficult to read his actions and statements in any other way.

Another perspective on Afghanistan.

          During the debate over withdrawal from Afghanistan, many commentators argued that the U.S. venture in Afghanistan was a misguided effort at “nation building” in a country whose culture and traditions resisted central governance. A reader sent a note saying that the arguments over nation building missed an essential point about U.S. efforts to spread freedom throughout the world. The reader wrote as follows:

          Amidst all the criticism of our actions in Afghanistan — of “nation building” and the withdrawal, the military and intelligence failures and desires to point fingers — let us not forget one important truth: People want freedom. If there were any doubt about the enduring nature of this Western Enlightenment ideal one need only look at the courage of Afghan women left behind. One needn’t advocate for constitutional democracy to advocate for basic freedom to lives our lives as we wish, subject to reasonable constraints of any civilized society. While we invaded Afghanistan to hunt terrorists, our effort then to create an environment of freedom should be lauded and not disparaged as “nation-building.” America had stood as a beacon of freedom, and I hope that beacon will survive the internal self-made threats to our democracy.

Concluding Thoughts.

          Election day for the GOP campaign to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom is Tuesday, September 14. Please vote NO on the question regarding recall. If you haven’t already voted NO on the recall ballot, there is still time to do so! Details here. Do not take anything for granted. While any victory for Newsom will be welcomed, it is important that he win by as large a margin as possible—both to dismiss the inevitable claims of election fraud and to prove that the GOP’s anti-vaccination platform is a losing strategy for them. In politics, perception and momentum count for a lot. Let’s help create momentum going into 2022 by decisively beating the GOP recall effort that is a stalking horse for the GOP’s antivaccination platform.

As some of you may know, my wife and I have a rustic cabin in a remote part of Sequoia National Park. Our small community was evacuated Sunday as the KNP Complex Fire exploded overnight. I will be holding meetings on Monday evening with community members, and may be pressed for time to write the newsletter. Expect to hear from me, but it may be short and sweet.

          Talk to you tomorrow!