{"id":2585,"date":"2019-12-08T10:20:31","date_gmt":"2019-12-08T15:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=2585"},"modified":"2019-12-08T10:20:35","modified_gmt":"2019-12-08T15:20:35","slug":"lucy-lets-charlie-brown-kick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2019\/12\/08\/lucy-lets-charlie-brown-kick\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucy Lets Charlie Brown Kick"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Charlie Brown Finally Kicks the Football \u2013 Not!!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glass Half Full<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I am a \u201cglass half full\u201d kind of guy.  I find that I carry what might be an unreasonable hope that \u201cmy fellow Americans\u201d will act in a way that\u2019s honorable and right for our nation, despite the pressure of politics.  And I find myself thinking that way today, even if my more skeptical side cries out:  \u201c\u2026she\u2019s going to pull the ball again, and you\u2019re going to kill yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Secret List<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Buried deep in my computer files is a \u201csecret\u201d list.\u00a0\u00a0Each United States Senator is rated on a \u2018five to one\u2019 scale.\u00a0\u00a0A \u2018five\u2019 will assuredly vote to impeach and remove the President, a \u2018one\u2019 is a true Trumper, dedicated to the proposition that no matter what President Trump does, it\u2019s worth keeping him in office.\u00a0\u00a0I last looked at the list two months ago.\u00a0\u00a0Here was my optimistic view: forty-six fives and fours, definite votes for removal. A sign of the times, there were only three Senators that I would place \u201con the fence,\u201d in the middle and unsure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two and a Half<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Then there are the \u201ctwo and a halfs.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Those are the Republican Senators who I think are disturbed by the actions of the President.\u00a0\u00a0They are faced with a tough challenge:\u00a0\u00a0if they vote their conscience, they risk their political careers.\u00a0\u00a0The problem is that no matter how they vote, the Democrats in their states may say \u201cthanks,\u201d but are still going to vote against them.\u00a0\u00a0And while independents and \u201creasonable\u201d Republicans might praise them for taking a principled stand, the big chunk of Republicans are \u201cKool-Aid drinking\u201d Trumpers.\u00a0\u00a0They will never forgive and never forget a vote to remove him from office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So there are ten of those \u201ctwo and a halfers.\u201d  Adding all of those, and there are fifty-nine votes for removal, eight short of the needed sixty-seven.  Thirty-one Senators are \u201ctrue Trumpers,\u201d either true believers or politically sold out to the President.  Among those are two that might reasonably have been on a different part of the list:  Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and John Kennedy of Louisiana.  At some point in the last couple years they seemed to have the possibility of independence, but that door slammed shut in the past couple months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cTwos\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

That gets us to the \u201ctwos,\u201d the \u201cprobably not\u2019s\u201d.  Some, like Mike Lee of Utah, don\u2019t face much of an electoral threat.  Utah voters, even the Republicans, don\u2019t like Trump.  Lee could survive a vote to remove.  And Lee prides himself as an \u201cintellectual\u201d Senator, one who supposedly operates from a deep understanding of American history and law.  So you would hope the facts would change his mind.  He\u2019s given no sign of that transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And some are leaving the Senate:  Isakson of Georgia, Grassley of Iowa, and Roberts of Kansas.  They, particularly Grassley and Roberts, are traditional Republicans, with nothing to lose if they vote their conscience rather than a loyalty to Trump.  They are not running for office again, so they will need to make a choice.  Will they be seen as \u201cProfiles in Courage\u201d or will they go quietly into political history?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politicians<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I started my working career not as a teacher, but as a politician.  I worked my first campaigns when I was fourteen, by seventeen I was helping make decisions on campaign strategy.  At twenty I was a Field Coordinator on the 1976 Carter Campaign, and then worked in Washington for a Congressman.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people I worked with were working for more than just a paycheck, especially on the Carter Campaign, where the paychecks were incredibly small.  They were working to literally \u201cchange the world\u201d.   So was I.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I finished my college education with a stint as a student teacher, and that set up a conflict in my life.  I loved politics, and I loved teaching, and ultimately had to choose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I didn\u2019t forget all of those folks I grew up with, working on campaigns and governing.  They weren\u2019t there to profit, to become \u201cpowerful.\u201d  They were trying to make things better for everyone, even the Republicans I fought with on the \u201ctrail\u201d.  So I don\u2019t think that all of the Senators are simply \u201ccorrupt\u201d or laser focused on a goal of winning the next election.  They are aware of their role in history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope that they find that the weight of history is more pressing than their electoral success.  If not, Lucy will pull the football again, and we will land on our back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The glass will still be half full. There\u2019s always November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charlie Brown Finally Kicks the Football \u2013 Not!! Glass Half Full I am a \u201cglass half full\u201d kind of guy.  I find that I carry what might be an unreasonable hope that \u201cmy fellow Americans\u201d will act in a way that\u2019s honorable and right for our nation, despite the pressure of politics.  And I find myself thinking … Continue reading “Lucy Lets Charlie Brown Kick”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nLucy Lets Charlie Brown Kick : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Charlie Brown constantly tries to kick a football. 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