YOU AND ME — ME AND YOU!

Two days ago, Saturday, November 28th, 2020, I turned 75 years old. Seventy-five isn't a great age these days. It might be comparable to turning 60 back in 1960! Still, by the time one turns 75, a lot of decisions, good and bad, have framed our lives and have invariably affected the lives of people around us.

To begin with, when one reaches 75, one invariably has experienced all types of birthdays: happy, sad, disappointing, as well as wonderfully gratifying birthdays. When I was ten years old, I received a doctor's kit so I could be the doctor when playing with my friends. Two years later, a school nurse I had a crush on gave me Elvis Presley's extended 45 RPM record of “Jailhouse Rock,” which my then foster brother Danny confiscated for his collection.  In 1971, when I turned 26, my family had a birthday party for me and Uncle Gene who turned 74 on November 29th — and, since 26 plus 74 equals 100, our birthday cake got pretty hot from the 100 candles that Cousin Ann put on it!

My best friend and editor Roe has celebrated my birthday in a big, big way ever since we were graduate students at SUNY Geneseo, New York, because she has a soft spot for birthdays! I majored in History and she was a Library Science major. That was the year that I turned 28.

Then there was the time twenty-five years ago that my California friends Jana and Tony took me out for dinner and teased me about becoming a "senior citizen," a status both of them have since come to share.

In 2012, I had just become engaged so my best birthday present that year was a sweet and wonderful fiancé by the name of Marsha.

To reach 75 means that much of my lifetime expectancy is behind me. Thus, I have three major choices: to obsessively worry about it, to ignore it, or to simply let it be a part of me. The day you receive this writing, November  30th, is Winston Churchill's birthday. He turned 75 on Wednesday, November 30th, 1949. While he had already achieved much by then, ahead of him lay a second term as British Prime Minister, the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and his Knighthood as a Member of the Order of the Garter, England's most senior level of nobility (outranked only by the Cross of Victoria and St. George's Cross). 

When Casey Stengel turned 75, he had just ended his 55-year career as player and manager. Still ahead was his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Then there were those who gave much, created much, who never saw their 76th year: Abe Lincoln, Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, John Lennon, Elvis Presley, and Roy Orbison. (Note: Joe Biden at 78 is about to become President of the United States. He made his decision to run in 2017 before his 75th birthday occurred that November 20th.)

Of course, the “elephant" in all of our abodes is our individual mortality. When will it arrive? What will it be like? There are two vital parts to this speculation. What do we know versus what do we believe about it?

What we know is that it is coming. Insofar as I can tell, in my case it's coming within the time difference that has occurred between today and my fiftieth birthday back on Tuesday, November 28th, 1995. What I have no way of knowing is how it will come or how much discomfort I will experience before its ultimate arrival. In other words, the approach of physical death can be more intimidating than the occurrence of death itself. Another aspect is the disagreeable reality that due to their own mortality, too many of my friends are likely to have experienced their change before I do. Accordingly, I often think it would be better if I could complete my life experience before they do. After all, loneliness is one of the most painful life experiences no matter how young or old you may be!

What I believe (mostly without actual proof) is two fold. First, as a Christian, I believe there is both a God and a Heaven. I believe this because I've been assured by those who came before me and for whom I have the greatest respect that it's true. Many believe that once life is complete there exists only "nothingness" or “oblivion." Perhaps they’re right, but insofar as I'm aware, "oblivion" doesn't insist that you be its disciple. Nothingness is just itself. It requires nothing and will offer nothing because nothing is exactly what it is! As for its opposite which is religious faith (in my case Christian faith), its promise possesses the possibility of energy and life beyond the human dimension we've all experienced.

Second, I believe that since birth and life are natural, physical death is natural and, once within its domain, we have nothing to fear. I often think, as I study history, that on November 27th, 1945, the day before I was born, as “alive” as I was, I had no fear of life. I wasn't anxious to be born. In fact, I was probably quite content where I was. After all, I had no knowledge of life or of what it was like or what it meant. Hence, I'm convinced that the day after I've followed former President Ronald Reagan into the sunset, there'll be no sense of regret or longing. Due to a lack of knowledge before life, I had no expectations or fears of life, so how can I know enough to fear death in view of my religious faith?

Of course, I hope that I will live a gratifying existence the entire approximate quarter of a century that's left to me. I'm not anxious to leave my family, my friends, my country, the New York Yankees, or especially the benefit of that increasing capacity which persons with disabilities have gained through technology to function in this information-gathering era.

I want to live and I want you to happily live, too. Let every day be your personal day for doing and being, laughing, praying and, above all, loving!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY

A TRUMPIAN FAREWELL

By Edwin Cooney

My Fellow Americans,

I have reluctantly concluded that corruption on the part of former Vice President Biden, Senator Kamala Harris and members of the Democratic Party establishment is so pervasive that as of January 20th, 2021, I will be illegally forced to vacate the office of President of the United States for the next four year presidential term.

In view of this conclusion, I will regard myself as a deposed president not a defeated presidential candidate. Seventy-three million Americans have given testimony to the legitimacy of my candidacy for re-election. As I prophesied three years ago, the only way I could be denied re-election would be if the election were rigged. Unfortunately, to the detriment of the American people, my prophecy has come true!

In both honor of, and respect for, the will of the people, I declare that beginning on Wednesday, January 20th, 2021, I will be the president of a government in exile. Accordingly, I therefore regard every member of my cabinet as having been deposed by this corrupt criminal and treasonous element in American society. Furthermore, having been deposed rather than legally defeated, I remain the legitimate head of the Republican Party and I expect to remain so designated in 2024.

In the meantime, I shall establish a media network dedicated to the achievement of the goals I set forth in my inaugural address on Friday, January 20th, 2017. As President in exile, I shall have the same legal status as that of an incumbent president.

In witness of that status, I hereby pardon myself for any transgressions I have made or may have made between January 20th, 2017 and January 20th, 2021. As for impending charges which may be issued against me in the State of New York, I shall appeal those charges up to the Supreme Court of the United States.

During the coming four years in which I'll be serving as a deposed president who heads a legal and positive social and political party and force in Congress, I will be designing, describing, and advocating laws and strategies which, after January 20th, 2025, will free us from the shackles of corruption of this ongoing conspiracy that daily commits internationally supported terror and treason against the American people. Once I return as President in 2025, all agreements, programs, and laws advocated, negotiated or passed by Congress during the criminal Biden administration, will be rescinded!

This extraordinary journey on my part is crucial to the ongoing welfare of the United States. Once my mission is complete, America will be strong and free enough to return to our traditional way of transferring presidential power between administrations.

As of noon on Monday,  January 20th, 2025, I expect to be restored to the office that was criminally denied me in 2021. Upon my retirement in 2029, America will truly be strong, prosperous, secure, and great once again!

Thank you my fellow citizens and, as always, may God bless America! 

And now my comments:  Is the above message presumptuous? Of course, it is! However, given Mr. Trump's unwillingness to accept the status of electoral defeat as other presidents have, there's no other status, or quasi-status he can logically assume. Second, is this anything more than an outrageous fantasy on my part? The answer is I certainly so! Third, if he's illegally been denied re-election, the only redress of that denial would be through the courts and, up to this writing, no court, including the Supreme Court of the United States, has received sufficient evidence to seriously adjudicate any suit the president's legal team has put forth.

As for his insistence that he remains the head of the Republican Party as a president in exile, that status is likely to be challenged as time goes on. There are simply too many ambitious men and moneyed interests in the Republican party.

The above purely fictitious message is not a prediction of the future, It’s merely a logical presumption of what may occur in the absence of President Trump's willingness to concede the election to Mr. Biden.

Sixty years ago when questions were raised about the legitimacy of the outcome of the 1960 election between Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy, Joseph Kennedy, Sr. put in a call to former President Herbert Hoover. Hoover advised Dick Nixon not to press the question of the legitimacy of the votes cast in Mayor Richard J. Daley's Chicago political fiefdom. Neither in his book "Six Crises" nor in his presidential memoirs did Mr. Nixon (or anyone else) give the inside story of what was behind Kennedy and Hoover's telephone calls. Nixon merely said that our international vulnerability in the cold war against the Soviets (in other words our "national security”) was his reason not to protest the outcome of the 1960 election. Ironically, it was outgoing Vice President Richard Nixon who, in the presence of the House of Representatives,  had to certify John F. Kennedy's election as the 35th President of the United States of America.

Yes, indeed, the letter above would definitely be beyond the pale. Unfortunately, as I have hereby asserted, it is far from being beyond possibility!

Oh! One more matter of considerable wonderment and interest. If President Trump heads a "government in exile," should President Biden deport him, acknowledge his status, or simply ignore him?

What say you?

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY

WHO ARE WE - DO WE KNOW?

By Edwin Cooney

Much to the chagrin of  President Donald J. Trump, nine days ago, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden was declared by the national print and broadcast media to be our nation's 46th President due to the majority of votes he gained in the electoral college through the cumulative popular vote he'd received in 21 states at that time. From almost the very outset of his political career, President Trump has insisted that the only way he could lose an election would be if it were "stolen" from him. Such an assertion is obviously both self-serving and arrogant since it clearly asserts that Mr. Trump possesses godlike perfection! Hence, although the possibility is remote, the fate of our nation could depend on the willfulness of our incumbent president to cling to power despite overwhelming evidence that a free people have chosen his political opponent. What does this uncomfortable circumstance say about who we are?    

It's my guess that most of you have read the story written about Benjamin Franklin standing outside the door of the Pennsylvania State House in September 1787 at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention. A reporter asked him "What have you given us, Dr. Franklin?:" To that inquiry Ben Franklin replied, "A republic, if you can keep it!" (Note: Doctor Franklin doesn't reply "a democracy." Why do you suppose he chose to say "a republic” rather than a democracy? What are some of the differences between a republic and a democracy?)

Of course, one of the major differences is that a democracy provides that the majority must prevail in all cases in the establishment and operation of a free society. The fact of the matter is that many of the Founding Fathers differed on the question of whether America should be a republic or a democracy or whether it could exist as a combination of the two. The very establishment of an electoral college more than demonstrates the ambiguity of the Founding Fathers on the question of popular elections versus the wisdom of elections conducted by our elected representatives. I believe that this particular ambiguity exists today even after 233 years.

Back in the 1920s, New York State Governor Alfred E. Smith, the first Roman Catholic to be nominated by the Democratic Party for the presidency, used to assert, "The only cure for the ills of Democracy is more Democracy!" The national issue back then was prohibition which became constitutional on Thursday,  January 16th 1919. That amendment would be administered via the Volstead Act. To Governor Smith, the 18th Amendment, though clearly constitutional, was anti-democratic. 

Throughout our history, great political leaders have debated issues such as the sovereignty of the states. The question of state sovereignty over national sovereignty is one of the major issues that lies at the center of today's "culture war" between Conservatives and Liberals just as it was during and after the Civil War.

The real issue for President Trump may well be more about his personal fate rather than the fate of "sleepy Joe." After all, once Joe Biden takes the oath of office as President, former President Trump becomes as vulnerable to civil or even criminal suit as everyone else! Has he paid his share of taxes or has he avoided them? Might he be vulnerable to at least one sexual assault charge?

Even more to the point is his old assertion going back at least four years that if America doesn't elect a Republican President now, an aging voter population may be overwhelmed by a much younger and more progressive voting population.

As I see it, the above factors have a much greater long term effect than the fate of the immediate Senate majority which will be decided by the January 5th U.S. Senate elections in Georgia.

Insofar as this student of history is aware, we the people remain unclear about the following questions:

Are we a republic or a democracy?

Are the states sovereign or must they adhere to the sovereignty of the federal government?

Are we a Christian nation or do all religions enjoy equal status? Even more, what are the rights and responsibilities of the practice of religion?

In view of our technical knowledge and advancements, do we have an obligation to effectively regulate our physical environment whether the question is climate control or response to a pandemic?

Is it democratic to equate property and capitol rights with human rights? Must all constitutional rights be democratic? Are we a free people or are we merely political pawns to be manipulated by two powerful and willful political parties?

On Wednesday, January 20th, 2021, Joe Biden will become our 46th President, not because he's all-wise or practical beyond most of us, not because he's a “stable genius" or our savior, but rather because he has adequately demonstrated to us that in the wake of an overwhelming pandemic, our welfare is his primary concern!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY

BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER NOVEMBER 3rd

By Edwin Cooney

When I wrote to you last I was convinced that a vast “blue wave” would sweep President Trump and his brand of Republicanism out of power. It didn't make sense to me that 69 million Americans would vote for a president who seemed more interested in the economy than he clearly seemed to be in their general welfare. I was wrong about that and as we proceeded through the counting and assessment of the votes, it appeared likely that the popular vote, for the second time in a row, would be irrelevant! It was just inconceivable to me that the president was about to be rewarded for deliberately putting our national general welfare second to anything except an invasion by a foreign foe!

Throughout Tuesday evening and into Wednesday, especially in the wake of President Trump's self-proclaiming and justifying speech from the White House early that morning, I felt humbled by the apparent reality that I didn't really and truly understand either human nature or the priorities and expectations of the American people. President Trump's apparent success coupled with the lack of success Democrats expected to have in taking over the U.S. Senate was exceedingly discouraging. You might remember that many Democrats saw the takeover of the Senate by the Democratic Party to be more certain than a Biden victory. Along with others, I believed that such a takeover coupled with increases in the House might even stultify an arrogant twice-elected President Donald J. Trump.

As things stand, Joe Biden is the President-elect and, of course, Kamala Harris is Vice President-elect. There's even the possibility that the election of two Georgia Democrats on January 5th may well knot the balance of power in the Senate giving Vice President Harris the deciding vote when there's a tie. (Note: The balance of power in the 2021 Senate might be akin to that during 2001 and 2002 when GOP Vermont Senator James Jeffords  suddenly switched parties re-registering as an Independent and caucusing as a Democrat. That change shifted the balance of power in the Senate from Republican to Democrat. Senator Thomas A. Daschle of South Dakota served as Senate Majority Leader until his defeat for re-election in 2002.)

As for the immediate versus the far afterward, there remain a number of mind-scrambling uncertainties. President Trump remains at the top of the greasy pole of politics until at least Wednesday, January 20th, 2021 with all of the authority and power of his office. His finger remains on the proverbial nuclear trigger. He still remains exceedingly influential in the Republican Party. The pardoning power remains in his hands and the convictions of everyone from Michael Flynn to Roger Stone to Paul Manafort will surely receive a "Christmas pardon" from President Trump.

As for you and me, regardless of our political and social statuses, I would suggest the following:

(1.) Insofar as we possibly can, let's stop criminalizing the outlooks and actions of our political opponents.

(2.) We can begin doing this by realizing that President-elect Biden faces a legitimate and essential task of settling years and years of social, political, and cultural warfare.

(3.) It's important to remember President Harry Truman's assertion that "no easy question ever crosses a president's desk."

(4.) Remember that neither government, private enterprise, nor even the desirable method of political, social, or legal "compromise" is free of error.

(5.) Not even the Constitution, however it may be legitimately interpreted by any Supreme Court, is continuously adequate at addressing everyone's liberty.

The new question has to be whether or not our new president's priorities has been morally enhanced by the clear approval in 2020 of some 75 million Americans!

As I've done more than once while writing these weekly musings, I close with just one of my favorite assertions by President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he said:

"I like to think of our country as one home where the interests of each of us are bound up with the happiness of us all. We ought to know by now that the welfare of your family and mine, in the long run, is ultimately dependent upon the welfare of our neighbor's family. Whatever our priorities, agendas, or ideals, the best way to achieve them is to begin comprehending and even legitimizing to the maximum degree possible the hopes and dreams of others!”

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY

FUNDAMENTALS AND CONCLUSIONS

By Edwin Cooney

From the time I was first able to be aware of partisan voting which was during the 1956 campaign between President Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson, my teachers, parents, and other adult authorities insisted that the proper choice between presidential candidates was one of character. "I vote not for the party, I vote for the man," they insisted. Back then, politicians appealed for your vote for the most part on issues rather than on personality. Of course, the soldierly portrait of Mr. Eisenhower and the largely scholarly image of Adlai Stevenson didn't go unnoticed.  Civil rights, working conditions, the significance of the president's health in the wake of his heart attack and ileitis surgery between September 1955 and June 1956 were all of some concern here at home. Soviet expansionism and crises in Israel and Egypt involving both France and England were the primary topics that voters worried, talked and debated about throughout 1956. Most dramatically, there was the invasion of Hungary by Soviet Russia late in that fall's campaign.

What's fascinating to me after nearly 64 years is the response to me by people when I ask what I regard as the most basic political question: what is the "fundamental" difference between the Republican and Democratic parties? Few people bother much to guess. They just don’t know the most fundamental differences! 

Republicans, above everything else, believe that the "free market" is the fastest and safest method to ensure the prosperity and freedom of the American people. To Republicans, property rights are the basis of human rights.

The Democratic Party believes that the prosperity and freedom of the people is best ensured by a strong and effective government, watched by and accountable to a free and well informed people. To Democrats, the civil rights of a people are the best guarantor of the prosperity and safety of the people.

Both parties are, of course, the home of politicians who invariably manipulate these general principles to the advantage of their most loyal and generous financial backers. Note that the this distinction refers to domestic issues. World conditions, as I see it, are too unstable for fundamental political theories of application. Who could ever have predicted that a Republican president would publicly reject the conclusions of his own government's assessment of what did or did not occur in favor of Premier Putin's assessment of what took place during the 2016 presidential election!

Ironically, I've always considered myself a "party man" going back to the days when I rooted for Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon. I must also confess that since 1976 I have generally favored the Democratic candidate over the Republican. Still, to me, the proposition before the people here in 2020 comes down to a question of character.

As I see it, President Trump's behavior and sins of both omission and  commission are far more deliberate and harmful to the body politic than that of any previous president. That would include Richard Nixon and even Andrew Jackson's behavior toward Native Americans during the 1830s! It's even worse than FDR's sins of omission and commission toward European Jews and the allowance for the construction of internment camps for the  Nisei during World War II. President Trump is too angry and self-centered to justify re-election!

As for Joe Biden, his inconsistencies and sins of omission or commission are tempered by who he obviously is. His respect for and cooperation with political and even philosophical opponents has gotten him into trouble numerous times including during the recent primaries with his current running mate Senator Kamala Harris. Still, he's approachable and reasonable enough on most issues. I warmly endorse Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. for election to the office of President of the United States of America and Kamila Devi Harris for election to the office of Vice President of the United States of America.

Of course, a lot has changed since 1956. The biggest or most significant change is who you and I are. Our demands, expectations, sense of self and assessments of right and wrong, the practical and the impractical, have all altered in many ways over the years. 

Political crises, almost more than any other type of crisis, invariably contain within their nature their potential solution. As painful as 2020 has been for us all, if we will examine both our political structure and our history, we will discover a map that will lead us to a happier future!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY