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OPINIONOPINION

Mountain Views-News Saturday, July 13, 2024 

RICH JOHNSON 

NOW THAT’S RICH

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Susan Henderson

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Stuart Tolchin 

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Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

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Hail Hamilton

Joan Schmidt

LaQuetta Shamblee

STUART TOLCHIN


PUT THE LIGHTS ON

ELECTIONS....TRIVALLY SPEAKING

CHANGE AND SHARING

When it came to politics Winston Churchill was never 
one to just stand by and watch history unfold. I’ll start 
this column with classic, albeit relatively unknown quotes 
by Sir Winston:

“To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.” From a White House speech by 
Sir Winston circa 1954.

“…a modest man who has a good deal to be modest about.” Referring to 
Clement Atlee, England’s prime minister for 5 years in between two Winston 
Church administrations

“A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.” 
Sir Winston

“No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been 
said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those 
other forms that have been tried from time to time.” Sir Winston, House of 
Commons 1947

Though never a president, Benjamin Franklin had quite a way with words. 
Among his quotable quotes: “It takes many good deeds to build a good 
reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.”

And another one we have all heard but never quite remembered the author: 
“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” 
Benjamin Franklin 

Among our own homespun quote makers, Teddy Roosevelt, may be most 
famous for saying: “Speak softly and carry a big stick”.

Abe Lincoln is most famous for the next quote, but I like the second one just 
as well:

“You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of 
the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”

Grover Cleveland reminded us… ”A man is known by the company he keeps, 
and also by the company from which he is kept out.”

President Kennedy wowed our socks off when he said: “And so my fellow 
Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do 
for your country.”

My favorite Kennedy quote was his response to a 10 year old boy who asked 
him how he became a hero in World War II. President Kennedy said, “It was 
involuntary, they sank my boat.”

Presidents (as well as all of us) can mitigate, or make less harsh negative 
comments that come their way. President Obama masterfully handed critics 
by using this quote at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 2013: 
“These days, I look in the mirror and have to admit, I’m not the strapping 
young Muslim socialist that I used to be.”

One of my favorite Obama quotes when he, in person, complimented a 
winning NBA team at the White House. He said, “So congratulations again, 
to the Miami Heat. And now we are going to take a picture that makes me 
look very short.”

And during the 2012 Presidential race debate, Candidate Mitt Romney 
complained our navy was smaller now (under Obama) than any time since 
1917. Obama masterfully rebutted, “Well, governor, we also have fewer horses 
and bayonets…We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes 
land on them. And we have ships that go under water, nuclear submarines.”

I was a fan of Gerald Ford. A good president, who would have had more 
accomplishments if he would have beat Jimmy Carter in 1976. I’m reminded 
of two of his quotable quotes:

“A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government 
big enough to take from you everything you have.” Gerald Ford

“I had a log of experience with people smarter than I am.” (Me too Gerry) 
Gerald Ford

Certainly a candidate for most impressive American in the last century was 
Dwight David Eisenhower. Eisenhower had a successful career in the army 
leading up to World War II. After Pearl Harbor he really came alive and went 
from Lieutenant Colonel to General of the Army (5-star) in record time. A 
humble guy (well as humble as a general could be), he kept recommending 
people for the top military job in the war. The powers that be picked 
Eisenhower instead. They were right. And the rest is history. 

Presidential campaign slogan in the 1952 election, “I Like Ike”. He won in a 
landslide. Ike had never held political office before becoming President. The 
next guy to accomplish that feat was a guy named Trump. Ever hear of him?

Hope you’re all having a good week. 

If you could change things, what would you change? 
Right now, the thing that I feel most strongly about 
is that I don’t want to live in a Country that elects 
Donald Trump as President. He was elected before 
and the Country survived, didn’t it? Yes, but just 
barely. The January 6th insurrection probably orchestrated by, and 
certainly supported by Trump occurred and we still survived. So, 
what’s the problem?

Are you kidding? Trump spits in the face of almost every one of my 
values which I believe are basic American values. He is racist, sexist, 
vindictive, only cares about himself and does not value truth. I think 
for him the only value is WINNING and I am afraid he might do that. 
So. Let him win. Why should you or I care? How would his election 
affect you or me?

There are personal things I worry about like Social Security and Health 
care benefits and disability payments that are making it possible for my 
myself and my family to enjoy our comfortable lives. Maybe we could 
happily exist without these benefits. Maybe it’s all like air conditioning? 
I’ve lived here in Sierra Madre for 42 years and I can remember when no 
house had air conditioning. On very hot days the entire neighborhood 
seemed to gather outside and meet and complain together. Maybe that 
generated a sense of camaraderie in that we were all facing the problem 
together? Of course, it wasn’t as hot then as it is now, but the point 
is that we survived. Hards as it is to believe we survived without cell 
phones and social media and everything else we take for granted today.

In fact, I am so old that I can remember before there was television and 
my dad, and I would sit and listen together to the baseball games on 
radio. My major diversion was collecting and trading baseball cards 
with my friends and I was very proud that I was able to memorize the 
entire probably over 300 cards in the Topps Bubble gum series. As you 
might have guessed, when I went away to college my mother threw 
them all away. “What did you need them for anyway.” Today, of course, 
those cards would be immensely valuable but that’s not why I collected 
them. They were my connection with the outside world. 

At that time, I craved just possessing information and read every book 
I could loving that my mind could contain all those facts. I felt special! 
Today, who cares? Every fact that anyone would want to know is 
contained on your phone plus the fact that the phone can do all sorts of 
tricks that I don't even understand and don’t even want to know about. I 
should be more interested in AI and future technological advancement, 
but I am not. I was happy without it and I’m still happy today. What 
makes me unhappy is Trump and all the attention he sucks up which 
blots out everything else.

I want to look forward to a better future for my family, my wife, 
children, and grandchild. I want to imagine a world with a fair 
distribution of resources. I hate the idea of starvation, homelessness, 
lack of gun control, continuing wars, the continuing global climate 
crisis, and the continuation of problems that could be solved. Trump 
wants retribution for past wrongs rather than focusing on future needs. 
His values are not my values, and they are not the accepted values of 
the America of which I am proud. He does not value education or 
compassion but wants only more attention and more money, I think 
that wanting more, always wanting more. Is the problem rather than 
a solution. There is enough abundance in this world, there has always 
been enough, and my dream is that this abundance be distributed fairly 
and equally throughout the world. The change I want is for everyone 
to share that dream and to make it happen. Maybe my mom was right: 
I did not need all those baseball cards for myself. Sharing feels better. 

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR -

 

In his column last week, Stuart Tolchin mentioned the recent Supreme Court 
decision on presidential immunity. It should be noted that our Constitution 
makes no mention of presi-dential immunity whatsoever. 

 

It defines impeachment; a two-thirds Senate vote leading to conviction and 
removal - later adding that “the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable 
and subject to Indictment, Tri-al, Judgment and Punishment, according to 
Law.” A “Speech and Debate” clause protects congressmen from liability for 
what they might say – but not the president. 

 

This notion of presidential immunity came later. The Supreme Court 
ruled in Mississippi v. Johnson (1867) that the president was performing 
“discretionary” duties so couldn’t be sued for enforcing the Fourteenth 
Amendment. Nixon v. Fitzgerald (1982) set immunity as ex-tending to the 
“outer parameters” of presidential duties. Now with this recent decision, 
should a president tell staffers, “Let’s do a crime!” – while they could be 
prosecuted for do-ing it, the president’s telling them to do it could not be 
used as evidence of intent, motiva-tion or of the president’s own culpability.

 

It’s odd considering how high current justices seem to be on “originalism”, 
“textualism” and the historical context of when the Constitution was 
written. They’d argue “red flag” laws taking guns from domestic abusers are 
impermissible because the Second Amendment was written when there was 
nothing illegal about beating up a spouse. But when it comes to protecting 
Donald Trump, all notions of “original intent” are out the window.

 

Odder still was Chief Justice Roberts’ offering as analogy the need to protect 
a recently-defeated president should their successor decide to sic the Justice 
Department on them. It’s never happened in our history, but it’s explicitly 
what Trump has promised should he again take office.

 

Stuart also raised concerns about our president. The recent jobs report shows 
200,000 new jobs added in June - our 42nd consecutive month of job growth. 
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq again hit record highs Monday. Illegal crossings 
at our southern border dropped to a three-year low in June, the fourth 
consecutive monthly drop following the administration’s new di-rectives. 
This week President Biden issued an immediate condemnation of the Russian 
mis-sile attack on the Children’s Hospital in Kiev and announced new air 
defenses for Ukraine while hosting NATO leaders in Washington. All while 
juggling rallies and interviews in his campaign for re-election.

 

But should the situation change - knowing that first in line of succession is 
our V.P. Kamala Harris, I rest well at night. Stuart should, too. 

 

Howard Hays, Sierra Madre


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Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com