Republican No Longer :-(

I have updated my voter registration to Party: None.

I may VOTE Republican again on a case-by-case basis (as I did this election), but I no longer wish to wear that label under the burden of a Trump administration and a craven Never Trump GOP that caved despite the very real threat it represents to American security, the US Constitution, and democratic institutions such as a free press, freedom of religion, civility, and a commitment to the facts whether or not the facts on any given occasion support one's ideology.

FOR THE RECORD...

FOR THE RECORD... I hope President-Elect Trump's administration proves capable and successful. America cannot afford otherwise which, apparently, was not a concern when the Republican party did everything it could to de-legitimize President Obama for partisan gain.

And we're only a week into this.

But with his naming of a white nationalist, anti-Semite to be his director of strategy - a position he puts on par with Chief of Staff - as well as putting all his assets in an Eyes-Wide-Open Non-Trust with his three adult children running the show AND planning on giving all three of them Top Secret security briefings (no conflict of interest there, no sir! :-) ), I see no reason to be hopeful in that regard.

Triaging Trump

Despite systematic and strategic obstruction on the part of Republicans, President Obama will be remembered as a successful president who left the office with the country in better shape than he found it.

Unlike the Republican "scorched earth" approach to Obama I hope President Trump, too, is a successful president who leaves the office with the nation in better shape than when he assumed it.

But while I think it bad for the nation to hope for Trump's failure as a president, Republicans must not be rewarded for their attempted de-legitimization of the nation's first African-American president.

Therefore I believe that first; the Democratic minority in the Senate must deny consideration of any of President Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court.

Republicans should be put on notice that, should they choose to use the "nuclear option" and remove the filibuster, then Democratic senators will use every imaginable procedural obstacle against their passing of any legislation whatsoever for the balance of President Trump's presidency.

And, of course, they would also leave this game-changing power in the hands of the Democratic majority that will surely succeed them at some future point.

Second, Democrats must use the same tactic to block any attempt by Republicans to weaken the Bill of Rights to further President Trump's oft-repeated threats against women, people of color, Muslims, the disabled, LGBT persons or any other group he attempts to legally marginalize.

Third, Democrats must recognize that - aside from those two extraordinary remedies in response to the Republican Party's extraordinary delegitimazation of Barack Obama as the duly elected President of the United States - Republicans did win the election legally even if they won it through corrupting their public offices for political gain during the last eight years.

For that reason, as well as the fact that America cannot afford a failed Trump presidency or further assaults on democratic institutions (such as not honoring legal agreements with other nations, judges deemed corrupt by reason of their ethnicity, and a reserved willingness to question the legitimacy of free and fair and transparent elections), Democrats must function as the loyal party in opposition ensuring their minority voice is heard but allowing the majority party to decide.

And given that stance, Democrats (and others) must mobilize public opinion to their side to ensure that the Republican majority does the right thing whether or not they choose to do it for the right reason.

UNEASY ABOUT PROTESTS

UNEASY ABOUT PROTESTS against the election results. I share the protesters' alarm, but this was not a stolen or illegitimate election. PROTEST TRUMP'S POLICIES... not the election itself.

The electoral process and peaceful transfer of power should be a source of national pride and an example of TRUE "American exceptionalism - even if I don't feel particular proud of much of the rest.
Thousands of anti-Trump protesters take to streets of U.S. cities (Reuters)

UNEASY ABOUT PROTESTS

UNEASY ABOUT PROTESTS against the election results. I share the protesters' alarm, but this was not a stolen or illegitimate election. PROTEST TRUMP'S POLICIES... not the election itself.

The electoral process and peaceful transfer of power should be a source of national pride and an example of TRUE "American exceptionalism - even if I don't feel particular proud of much of the rest.

Thousands of anti-Trump protesters take to streets of U.S. cities (Reuters)

The So-Called "Non-Educated" Voter

On November 9th, 1936 (I believe) my parents, William F. Bekkenhuis, Jr. and Muriel Murray, were married.

With all the talk about "uneducated", rural, white folk in this election, it occurs to me that neither of my parents had the opportunity my brother and I had to go to college.

But they were not "uneducated." My mom read the newspapers and the "ladies" magazines and my dad read, "True" and various books, including "Conscience of a Conservative," "Crusade in Europe," by Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, and a number of novels.

They both read National Geographic. And watched the TV specials.

He was a Lt. in the National Guard and read books on business by Peter Drucker as well as technical books on oil burner repair (which is how he started with Esso before becoming a salesman). He took courses in piloting small craft and qualified to get a real estate license.

I tried to remember how far they got in school (8th grade? 12th?) but now I'm not sure I ever asked them. Why would I?

It was not an issue.

It was obvious they valued education and were curious and thoughtful.

So when I talk about "low information" or "uneducated" voters, I DON'T mean folks like my parents. Because they VALUED knowledge and aspired to it with every opportunity they had.

I mean those who really have no interest in learning anything new, particularly things challenge their current beliefs and - worst - consider their lack of knowledge some type of high achievement that should command assent to the repeated nonsense they spout.

Thank you, mom and dad, for teaching me to respect educational opportunities, whether formal or from life.