So, Where Are They?
More than a century ago, an American poet named James Russell Lowell asked a question that has stayed with us to this day.
Not his whole poem, of course, but the question in one brief line — What is so rare as a day in June?
I keep thinking about that question as life unfolds, wondering what other rare and wonderful things have been more and more difficult to find.
Where, for example, are the Republican deficit hawks — the ones who opposed our growing national debt. They carved out an exception — debt is bad unless the debt grows at the same time a lot of wealthy people get to pay a lot less in taxes — you know, the ones our President told at a Christmas party at Mar-a-Lago in 2017 “You all just got a lot richer.”
Trump’s tax reform cost about a trillion dollars. The same amount of money we can’t afford to pay for all the medical equipment and coronavirus testing our nation needs and to help those thrown out of work because the virus trashed our economy.
Just as rare as the Republican deficit hawks are the brave defenders of our Constitution — you know, the ones out West who proudly march around with guns, go to their own secret training camps, and warn of the threat of government agents in black helicopters and unmarked cars, pulling innocent civilians off the street.
Those Patriots vow to fight government oppression every time they get near a TV camera. So, with government agents in military-looking uniforms and with military-looking weapons doing that very thing, where are those patriotic protesters? Maybe I missed one. Maybe I blinked.
Now, as long as we are on the subject of individual freedom, I’m wondering just how far to take it. If you have the right not to wear a mask, do I have the right to go as fast as I want on the road?
Driving too slowly makes me uncomfortable, and I have to breathe in the air on the highway longer. We all know air on the roadways is full of carbon dioxide. Besides, if that stuff gets into my lungs it might kill the Coronavirus — who knows? Maybe it could substitute for cleaning fluid, or chlorine, or whatever our President said might work.
Now, I remember when Republicans stood for law and order. They seem to do it every four years.
Now, our President is talking about sending federal police into those unruly Democrat-controlled cities, saying that if those local officials can’t do the job of keeping order, he will do it.
And, President Trump says he has a force of 50,000 or 60,000 people to do it. It will only take a few weeks to get things under control, he promises.
So, why not test him. What could be rarer than bringing down crime in some of our uncontrollable cities?
Well, it would be hard to find a really good one. Crime rates in most cities have been going down for years, and while courts are clogged all over the place, laws seem to be pretty much enforced, and order pretty much maintained — if you don’t count those federal troops protecting our federal courthouses and monuments by going out on roving patrols and shooting tear gas at protesters.
Which, by the way is a sound technique. You can best protect a courthouse by making sure that any trouble starts far, far away from the building. See, it makes sense in a Trumpian sort of way.
So, where should we put those unidentified guardians of law and order in their unidentifiable vehicles. (You know, of course, they do say “police” on them, but if one of their vans hits your car and drives away, just try figuring out who to sue? One of a hundred similar vans? No identifying numbers or other markings? Even Bill Barr could defend that one.
Anyway, I am getting away from the main point. Let’s send those officers to Chicago, which is experiencing the worst wave of homicides in years. In a two month period, the city saw 1,130 shootings which resulted in 212 deaths.
Now, people in Chicago say the shootings were caused because the city is awash in cheap, illegal guns. But, the gangs which did most of the shootings can afford — and pay for — some of the best weapons that can be smuggled into the city from those other states where buying a hand gun is very legal.
Chicago has one of the largest police departments in the nation — about 13,500 sworn officers and about 2,000 civilian employees. So, those 60,000 federal troops could probably easily put an end to all those gun deaths.
If I were the mayor of Chicago, I would certainly ask for that help. And, of course, the President could take care of all the details, things like where to put them, where to keep their prisoners, what courts to send them to and little things like room and board.
You can’t just go to your local Burger King and order 120,000 hamburgers for lunch, with a side order of fries. Especially if those restaurants are already closed because of a Democrat Anti-Trump plot designed to make him look bad.
Just saying. I watched his last press conference. Nothing rare about that, just another day. Not even June.
