Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, October 29, 2016

B4

OPINION 

Mountain Views-News Saturday, October 29, 2016 

RON Paul

SALLY KOHN


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OBAMA’S PIVOT 
TO ASIA HITS A 
ROADBLOCK IN 

THE PHILIPPINES

While the mainstream media continues its 
obsessive reporting on the mud-slinging 
campaign for the White House, a dramatic 
development in China last week brought President Obama’s “pivot to Asia” 
to a sudden halt. Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, while in Beijing, 
announced his country’s “separation” from the United States. He told his 
Chinese audience, “Your honors, in this venue, I announce my separation 
from the United States … both in military, but also economics.’

 The State Department was stunned and asked for a clarification. The 
Philippines has been a virtual US protectorate since 1898, when it became U.S. 
property after the Spanish-American war. Even after gaining independence 
after World War II it remained a close Cold War ally, hosting U.S. military 
bases until 1992. Just this spring, as U.S. tensions with China were heating 
up over a Chinese reclamation project in the South China Sea, the U.S. 
signed a deal to open five military bases on Philippine territory. The deal 
was considered of major importance in an increasingly confrontational U.S. 
approach to the region.

 Suddenly it appeared the deal was off. Was the Philippines about to sever 
diplomatic relations with the United States?

 Shortly after making the statement, the Philippine president walked back 
slightly from what appeared a break with the United States. He did not mean 
total separation, he said, but rather a desire to loosen his country from the 
firm grip of U.S. foreign policy. But the point had been made. The Philippines 
was not happy in its current relationship with Washington.

 President Obama’s “pivot to Asia” has turned out not to mean improved 
trade and diplomatic ties with the region, but an aggressive stance toward 
China over, among other issues, the South China Sea. The U.S. has concluded 
military agreements with Vietnam and the Philippines, and maintains strong 
military ties with Japan and South Korea.

 The Philippines has been used as a U.S. cat’s paw in South China Sea 
dispute and Duterte’s surprise statement signaled that he felt the relationship 
was too one-sided.

 But the tension has been rising and the mood souring for some time. The 
U.S. State Department has been critical of President Duterte’s admittedly brutal 
crackdown on illegal drugs, which has cost perhaps 2,000 or more lives. In 
August, Secretary of State John Kerry conveyed the U.S. government’s concerns. 
As elsewhere, such condemnation by the U.S. likely seemed hypocritical to 
the Philippine president, as the U.S. leads the world in prison population 
with a large percentage serving long terms for non-violent drug crimes. 
Last week a large protest was held in front of the U.S. embassy in 
Manila in support of the president’s move toward a foreign policy 
independent from Washington. Demonstrators burned American 
flags and demanded the departure of US troops from their country. 
Will U.S.-Philippine relations continue to spiral downward? Or 
will Washington begin to see that its aggressive foreign policy, in Asia 
and elsewhere, is beginning to alienate allies? Or perhaps the next US 
administration will decide that a CIA “regime change” is in order for 
the independent-minded Philippine president. A U.S. pivot away from 
confrontation with China would go a long way toward repairing strained 
relations with the Philippines and beyond. Let’s hope that’s Washington’s 
next move.

Ron Paul is a former Congressman and Presidential candidate. He 
can be reached at the RonPaulInstitute.org.

A LETTER TO MY DAUGHTER REGARDING TRUMP

Sally Kohn is an activist, columnist and television commentator. 
Follow her on Twitter: @sallykohn. The opinions expressed in this 
commentary are hers.

 (CNN)I am so sorry that the world I’ve brought you into is one 
in which not only is Donald Trump possible, but possibly the next 
President of the United States. I had hoped that by this point in 
history, we would be better than this. Apparently, we’re not.

 You know some of what Donald Trump has said and done 
in this campaign. You hear it on the news, kids talk about it at 
school. “I hate Donald Trump,” you said the other day during 
breakfast. Please don’t. Don’t hate one sad man with a lot of 
power and little self-restraint. And don’t hate the people who 
are enthusiastically supporting him. Donald Trump is running 
a campaign of hate, and hate cannot be solved by hate but by 
empathy and understanding.

 It is important for you to understand what Donald Trump 
represents. He is a mirror reflecting a dark and dangerous part of 
our history that, whether we like it or not, is in all of us. So I want 
you to understand the part we’ve all played, whether we meant to 
or not, in giving rise to Donald Trump.

 Our nation was born of genocide. Before there was even a 
glimmer of anything called America, there were millions of 
native peoples living all across this land. But to make way for our 
white forebears, the native people were slaughtered. Ever since, 
the idea of who “we” are as white Americans has been defined 
in perpetual opposition to some threatening, non-belonging 
“them.” This is not new. It is our national DNA.

 But white Americans rationalized the slaughter of native 
people who they saw as lesser -- as “savages” not quite as human 
as the colonizers themselves. This same “logic” was applied to 
rationalize slavery -- that people from Africa were somehow 
inherently less than the white European Americans and, 
therefore, it made perfect sense for the one to subjugate and 
oppress the other. Even after the abolition of slavery, the persistent 
belief in the inferiority of black Americans led to decades of 
enforced segregation and violent oppression -- as it still leads to 
injustice today.

 When you look back on this horrid history, it’s important 
you understand that slave holders and segregationists and those 
who defended inequality did not think they were doing anything 
uniquely wrong. In fact, for the most part they believed their 
actions to be just. The same is true of those supporting intolerance 
and inequality today. Mass injustice doesn’t result from a “few 
bad apples,” but from the mass of people willfully supporting 
injustice.

 There was a time in our history when sexual assault was not 
even a concept, let alone a crime. So too, the lynching of black 
men and women was often ignored or even actively encouraged 
by our leaders and their laws. There is no doubt that we have 
made progress since then, but not nearly enough. I remain 
desperate to protect you from a society that quietly but habitually 
tells you that as a girl, you’re not equal to boys -- that you’re more 
valued for your body than your brains, that you don’t deserve 
the same opportunities let alone the same basic respect. And the 
truth is, black men and women are still treated vastly differently 
under our laws and in our communities. As you grow up, it will 
be easier for you to get into college and get a job and buy a home 
than it will be for your black friends. That’s not because you will 
have earned it more or deserve it more, but because our society 
thinks less of people who aren’t white. At the same time, you 
will be less likely to be harassed in stores or stopped by police, let 
alone shot and killed based on nothing but the suspicion that we 
unconsciously attach to dark skin. This isn’t something for you to 
feel guilty about. This is something for you to help change.

 Still, even in the face of this imperfect history, I was under the 
illusion that we had all progressed further than it turns out we 
have. As the arc of our history has bent, however haltingly, toward 
justice, most Americans grew to actively reject overt sexism and 
racism and other kinds of discrimination, and at least aspire to 
fight against the unconscious biases that still haunt our lives.

 Despite this, a not insignificant fraction of Americans, even 
today, see the equal treatment of women and people of color as 
a bad thing. They believe that if others get more opportunity, 
they will get less. These Americans see themselves as history’s 
rightful owners of opportunity. When they talk about wanting to 
“Make America Great Again,” the “better times” they evoke may 
have seemed better for white Americans, but they were eras of 
torment and torture for people of color and, often, women as well. 
Always be wary of anyone who promises a better future by going 
backwards. The future by definition aspires toward progress.

 Our progress as a nation is something you can be proud of. 
As you grow up, it’s important you understand more and more 
about the dark parts of America’s history, but also the bright 
moments where we moved forward. Once upon a time in our 
nation, black people were the legal property of white people and 
only white men could vote. We changed all that. Our history 
has progressed imperfectly, but make no mistake about it, it has 
progressed -- and that simple but glorious fact should always give 
you hope. Do not let those fighting against this progress convince 
you that they are the only ones who love their country. Fighting 
to make our nation more inclusive and more just is one of the 
highest forms of patriotism I can imagine. If you always fight for 
fairness and justice, you will make me proud and you will make 
our country proud. You will be a bright light in our nation’s still-
unfolding story.

 All of this may be too hard for you to understand right now. 
After all, you’re only eight years old. But I know you understand 
the difference between right from wrong. And I know that you 
know the things Donald Trump has said about Mexicans and 
veterans and Muslims and women are wrong. More importantly, 
you know that what he stands for is wrong -- a narrow vision 
of America that promises opportunity for some through the 
oppression of others. That “logic” shaped the mistakes of our 
nation’s past. I pray every night it will not shape our future.

 You’ve said that if Donald Trump wins, you want to move 
to India. I’m afraid to tell you that the current prime minister 
of India isn’t much better than Trump. But more importantly, 
no matter what happens on Election Day, we will stay and fight 
for justice. If Trump wins and does the things he has promised, 
we will not only march in the streets, but we will use our bodies 
to stop his forces from entering mosques or raiding homes of 
immigrants. And if Trump does not win, we will still need to 
fight -- against the strains of intolerance and hate that still course 
consciously and unconsciously through each of our minds and 
our entire nation. If Trump is defeated, there is much work to be 
done to ensure that another Trump does not rise.

 On November 8, I will take you with me to vote. And together 
we will vote to elect Hillary Clinton the first woman president in 
the 227-year history of the U.S. presidency. And with that choice 
we will also vote to uplift the best of America’s values. With every 
fiber of our beings, we will continue to vote and speak and write 
and march and do whatever we can to uphold and uplift justice 
and inclusion and fairness and kindness and equal opportunity 
for all.

I cannot promise you that these values will always govern every 
moment of our nation’s future, just as they clearly failed at times 
in our past. But I can promise you that I will fight for a world and a 
country that is, at its core, as loving and generous and beautiful as 
you are. I will fight for the world that you and all children deserve. 
Electing Hillary Clinton and defeating Donald Trump is just one 
step. Onward.

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LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN

 PETER Funt

DICK Polman


10 THINGS THAT SHOULD 
END WITH THIS ELECTION 

Just a few more weeks and we’ll be free of the epic discomfiture 
that has been the 2016 presidential campaign. Here are ten 
things we should hope to never hear or see again: 

10) “Move the needle.” The worn out phrase is employed 
when commentators tell us that debates, speeches and news 
developments mean basically nothing. It’s punditry’s favorite cop out, only used when 
things don’t move the needle. 

9) “I take full responsibility.” Political-speak for “I will not take responsibility.” 

8) Paul Begala. Taking over the title of Most Annoying Paid Advocate, previously held 
by the husband-wife team of James Carville and Mary Matalin, Begala’s appearances 
on CNN underscore why having surrogates share the stage with bonafide news 
reporters is a terrible idea. And CNN has a raft of such hangers-on including Trump 
apologists Jeffery Lord and Kayleigh McEnany. 

7) “Pivot.” It’s a useful word on the basketball court and the dance floor. In politics it’s 
time for analysts to pivot to another term. 

6) “Hit.” Trump gets the blame for promoting the notion that campaigning is a martial 
art: “When I’m hit I hit back harder.” Alas, throughout the ‘16 campaign, commentators 
and candidates embraced the expression, tossing politics to the mat. 

5) Sean Hannity. No one in media soiled himself as badly with Trump’s campaign 
as the Fox host, who unabashedly gave over his entire nightly show to promoting a 
single candidate. Sadly, it came at a time when outstanding journalists Megyn Kelly 
and Chris Wallace were making enormous progress toward removing the stench from 
the Fox brand. 

4) Instant polls. Even after Trump took advantage of online polls that are easily 
manipulated by campaign staff and supporters, many reputable news organizations 
continued to conduct them. Legitimate polls have become tedious enough, fake polls 
are a misleading waste. 

3) “Prosecute.” Funny, isn’t it, how pundits on competing networks latch on to each 
other’s lingo? Even a perfectly reasonable word like prosecute, fine when used in a 
court of law, quickly becomes overused and grating in the political world. “She didn’t 
really prosecute the case against him on the tax issue.” Blah, blah. 

2) Old Glory. Trump set some kind of record for the number of American flags 
squeezed into a single TV shot. Even Michelle Obama gave a stump speech in front 
of a flag that seemed as huge as the ones that require 100 guys to unfurl on a football 
field. Patriotism isn’t measured by the size or number of flags. 

1) Countdown clocks! Nothing, not Trump’s sniffling or Clinton’s cackling, was as 
annoying as the cable-TV countdown clocks. And remember, there are only 2.1 
million minutes until the 2020 election. 

——-

Peter Funt can be reached at www.CandidCamera.com

Peter Funt is a writer and speaker. His book, “Cautiously Optimistic,” is available at 
Amazon.com and CandidCamera.com. © 2016 Peter Funt. Columns distributed 
exclusively by Cagle Cartoons, Inc., newspaper syndicate.

WAIT, WE’RE TALKING 

ABOUT UTAH?!

Mike Pence hit the stump in Utah on Wednesday. Yes, Utah. 

 The Trumpster fire is so out of control that it has now 
become necessary to waste precious time shoring up a state 
that has gone overwhelmingly red in every election since 
1968. All because of a guy we’d never heard of two months ago.

 Put your hands together for Evan McMullin, who, in addition to becoming the first 
shaved-head presidential candidate, is a serious threat to deprive the Trump-Pence 
ticket of six electoral votes that it can ill afford to lose. An ex-CIA counterterrorism 
officer, ex-House policy aide, and investment banker with a conservative “small 
government” platform, and a spot on the ballot in 11 states, McMullin is giving his 
fellow Utah Mormons a potential home on Election Day.

 Unlike the spineless Republican leaders in Washington, McMullin is merciless 
about Trump — and that’s a big reason why he’s on top in a new Utah poll (at 31 
percent; Trump, 27; Hillary Clinton, 24). Stats like that in Utah, on the eve of an 
election, are unprecedented. Utah’s top elected Republicans have all bailed on 
Trump, essentially signaling to Republican voters that it’s OK to back McMullin. 
Which boosts the odds that he could become the first independent to win a state 
since segregationist George Wallace scored in the South 48 years ago.

 Actually, Trump was in trouble in Utah long before he was outed on tape boasting 
about sexual assault; long before he was hit with 11 sexual assault accusers. Lest we 
forget, he lost the state’s Republican primary by 55 points. Sixty percent of Utah’s 
voters are Mormon, and they take seriously the church’s doctrinal opposition to “any 
type of unclean or vulgar language and behavior.” They’re also, on average, highly 
educated, and we know from crunching the numbers all year that Trump does worst 
with people who are educated. And as heirs to a persecuted faith, they’ve long been 
cool to Trump’s attacks on Muslims.

 McMullin has no money — reportedly, he had $4,300 in the campaign kitty at 
September’s end — but he does have a message. 

 “Right now you have a Republican Party that turns away people of different 
races, turns away people of different religions,” he said last Sunday on ABC News, 
critical of the party’s support of Trump. “The vast majority of Republican leaders are 
putting party ahead of principle and putting party ahead of the interests of their own 
country.”

 McMullin is the kind of conventional conservative who has been sidelined this 
year. He shares a few Trump priorities — repeal Obamacare, buttress the military 
— but he’s pro-path to citizenship and pro-free trade. He appears to be in sync with 
Trump on cutting regulations and lowering taxes, but, like many other conservatives, 
he suspects that Trump is a closet liberal who doesn’t believe what he espouses. And 
he’s clearly drawing Utah conservatives who view Trump’s repugnant racism and 
sexism as a deal-breaker.

 In the end, McMullin himself may be nothing more than a footnote, but his current 
warnings about the GOP may prove prescient. As the ashes of defeat are sifted, it’s 
quite conceivable that the white nativist Trumpkin wing and the establishment pro-
outreach wing could be incompatible.

 “It’s unlikely that the Republican Party will be able to make the kinds of changes 
it needs to make after the election. These are generational problems...but the reality 
is, the conservative movement doesn’t have time for that,” McMullin said on Sunday. 
“If the Republican party can’t make the changes, as it wasn’t able to do after 2012, 
the conservative movement will need a new political vehicle ... It may mean a new 
conservative party.”

 That GOP crackup could happen regardless of the outcome in Utah. But for now, 
the state’s conservative voters are potentially the point of the spear. Even Trump 
seems to realize it. At a recent rally he declared “We’re leading in North Carolina! 
(Lie.) We’re leading all over the place! (Lie.) Having a tremendous problem in Utah!”

Bingo. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

 Dick Polman is the national political columnist at NewsWorks/WHYY in 
Philadelphia (newsworks.org/polman) and a “Writer in Residence” at the University of 
Pennsylvania. Email him at dickpolman7@gmail.com.

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