SOCIAL MEDIA MUSINGS: Book 6

By George Waas

Since the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, I have posted numerous essays and other commentaries on Facebook. They are of varying length on matters of politics, law, history, personal matters, and other subjects as well. My first book on social musings contains 142 Facebook posts. My second book is a continuation of my posts, an additional 118. My third book adds another 104 to my list. My fourth book adds 78 more. My fifth book adds another 85. My sixth book includes another 120, for a total of 647 essays, commentaries, notes, etc., all taken together as musings. As I’ve said throughout this series of books, I believe in an informed citizenry that relies on facts, logic, critical thinking, and reasoned judgment. At a time when too many people rely too heavily on social media and the misinformation from those sources; at a time when anger and rage too often replace common sense and critical thinking, it is hoped that the essays and social commentaries in this series of books on social media musings will inspire dialogue and further citizen involvement in their communities.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 16, 2023
• ISBN: 9798823011419

George Waas

George Waas is a former newspaper reporter and a retired 50-year member of the Florida Bar. He spent 32 years as a lawyer with the State of Florida, the last 24 with the Florida Attorney General’s Office. An award-winning lawyer, he argued cases at every level of the federal and Florida judiciary, including the United States Supreme Court. This is his tenth book, all published by AuthorHouse and are available from the publisher, as well as from Barnes and Noble and Amazon. He is married to Harriet Issner Waas and has two daughters, Lani (Hudgins) and Amy (Kinsey), and four grandchildren, Hailey and Kelsie (Lani) and Avery and Connor (Amy).

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2023 George Waas. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 07/14/2023

ISBN: 979-8-8230-1140-2 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-8230-1141-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023912898

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Introduction

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Forgot His Oath Of Office.

Darkness Or Enlightenment?

Is Jim Jordan The Modern-Day Joe McCarthy?

Sign The Anti-Bigotry, Anti-Hate Pledge

Fox’s Rupert Murdoch Can Do Damage Control, But He Doesn’t Have Much Time.

The Time To Fix The Social Security System Is Now.

Dumb

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Will Offend Republican Supporters Who Stand In His Way.

Three Examples Of Insanity; One Ray Of Hope.

Republicans Don’t Care About The Constitutionality Of Legislation.

Not In America.

Are We Still A Nation Of Law?

House Republicans Want To Protect Trump At All Costs—Even If Their Actions Violate The Constitution

Senator Rand Paul Should Be Ashamed Of Himself For Threatening The Trump District Attorney.

The Brazenness Of Donald Trump.

Conservatives Or Fascists?

To Know What The Republican Party Wants America To Be, Consider This.

It Can Happen Here: The Tragedy Of The Big Lie.

Waco Reprised: A Warning

History Repeats Itself: Is This The Future?

Sadness In America.

Typical Nonsense Every Time There’s A Mass Shooting.

The Great Irony.

The Fiasco That Is Concealed Carry In Florida.

A Path Never Traveled Before.

Here Is What Is Really Un-American.

Biden, Obama And Hillary Have Gotten Away With Every Crime Trump Is Accused Of—Garbage From The Far Right

The Trump Criminal Case: What To Expect

The Strawman Of Socialism, And The Real Threat.

What’s Taking So Long?

Lack Of Prosecutorial Coordination Could Be Costly.

The Accusation-Denial Blame Game Continues Unabated

Are Republicans Shooting Themselves In The Foot?

Compare What They Say With What They Do.

Ho Hum. Another Day, Another Mass Shooting.

The Republican Party’s Risk; The Democratic Party’s Burden.

The Myth That An Armed Citizenry Is A Safer Citizenry.

Three Points About Guns In America.

$787.5 Million Settles Defamation Lawsuit Against Fox News. Did Fox Learn Its Lesson?

Paranoia.

Do Fox Viewers Have A Clue?

It’s The Media’s Fault! It’s More Than That.

A Most Disturbing Pattern.

Florida AG Ashley Moody Is Puzzled Over Why Disney Named Gov. Ron DeSantis In Its Lawsuit. She Shouldn’t Be.

Sen. Rick Scott’s Solution To Mass Shootings In Schools: More Guns In Schools.

Two Fundamental Constitutional Rights: Inconsistent Treatment By Republicans.

Is Hillsdale College A Good Model For Education In Florida?

Georgia Law Allowing Removal Of Prosecutors Is Enacted As Charges Pend Against Donald Trump. A Coincidence, Or Something Else?

The Myth That We Are Safer When More Americans Are Armed.

If Republicans Want To Find A Solution To These Mass Shootings, Here’s An Easy Suggested Place To Start.

Is Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas Immune From Congressional Investigation.

Welcome To Our Rapidly Changing Nation: A Warning.

The Evil Men Do Lives After Them.

The Blockbuster Independent State Legislature Case: To Decide Or Not To Decide, That Is The Supreme Court’s Question.

Where Is The Love?

Finger-Pointers And Those Who Mock Others Only Fool Themselves.

Will Gov. Ron DeSantis Have To Pony Up To The Republican Party’s Radical Fringe To Get Elected President?

Some Observations On Aging.

Consider The Source.

The Importance Of Humor In A Divided America.

Republican Slogan: Make 2024 1984.

Declining Club Membership: Another Example Of Isolation

Bits And Pieces: Short Comments/Reflections On Important Issues.

Kevin McCarthy Holds Hostage Increasing The Nation’s Debt Level; The Public Knows Why.

Chief Justice Roberts’ Ethics Reassurance Rings Hollow.

The Republican Party’s Plan For America Is Coming Into Sharper And Sharper Focus.

The Supreme Court Sharply Limits The Federal GOVERNMENT’S Ability To Police Pollution Into Certain WETLANDS

A Democrat, With No Apologies Or Regrets.

This Attack On Meteorologists Is A Part Of A Broader Attack On Intelligence.

This Lunacy Can’t Be Fixed. It Must Be Universally Rejected.

It’s Time For Reporters Covering The Supreme Court To Take Off The Kid Gloves And Do More Investigating.

The Biden-McCarthy Agreement To Avoid Economic Disaster Compels Extremist Opposition To Act In The Nation’s Best Interest, Not Just To Their Parochial Supporters.

It Would Be Helpful If Those Who Want Books Banned Know What They’re Talking About.

House Republicans Threaten To Hold FBI Director In Contempt: Rank Hypocrisy.

The Biden-McCarthy Debt Ceiling Agreement Is A Teachable Moment. Seize It.

Republicans Will Cut Social Security, Medicare And Other Federal Programs, While Giving Huge Tax Breaks To The Wealthy. Don’t Vote Stupid.

DeSantis Snaps At News Reporter: A Preview Of Things To Come?

Republicans Are Leading A Systematic Attack On Education By Banning Free And Open Discussion Of Sensitive Subjects.

Thanks To Connecticut, We May Get Further Clarification On The Expanse Of Gun Laws Under The Second Amendment. Or We May Not.

The War On Woke Is A War On Democracy.

Who Are These Woke People Who Are Being Targeted By The Far Right?

Donald Trump Isn’t A Happy Camper, And Republicans Continue To Have Problems Governing.

Oh, Those Campaign Solitications!! I Get Them From Candidates All Over The Country.

Federal Judge Shoots Down Florida’s Ban On Transgender Care, Calling The Government’s Actions Bigotry Causing Irreparable Harm.

Two Different Worlds.

Trump Indicted For Mishandling Government Records. Supporters Shamelessly Call America A Banana Republic.

A Despicable Statement From The Speaker Of The House On Trump’s Indictment For Stealing Classified Records. The Danger Of The America First Movement Is Evident.

Prosecute Trump? Prosecute Biden!!

Republican Payback For Trump Classified Records Indictment Is All Talk From The Extremists.

Trump, Hillary Clinton, Joe And Hunter Biden. There Is No Comparison, As The Facts Clearly Show.

Gop Rallying Cry: Stand With Trump.

The Joys Of International Travel.

What Ethical Standards Does The Republican Party Adhere To? It’s Hard To Find Any.

Federal Court Action Blocking Florida Governor’s Right Wing Agenda Is A Can’t Lose Situation For Him.

What Do Evangelicals Really Believe?

The Extreme Right Wing’s March Toward A Take Over Of The Federal Government, Including An Obedient Judiciary.

Fox News Asks President Biden If He Lied About Conversations With Hunter Biden About Business Transactions. What A Travesty!

Rejection!!

Democracy Is Imperiled.

Mother Wants Billie Jean King Book Banned From Elementary School Library Because It Discusses Being Gay. Outrageous.

Supreme Court Issues Two Major Decisions, One On Affirmative Action And The Other On Religious Accommodations. Neither Decision Is Surprising.

House Extremists Forge Ahead With Plans To Impeach Members Of President Biden’s Cabinet. The Nonsense Continues.

Intrigue At The Wheel Of Fortune Palace.

Christian Business Owner Can’t Be Forced To Create A Message She Disagrees With. The Ramifications Are Stark.

People Doing Stupid Things. Stupid People Doing Stupid Things. You Can’t Fix Stupid.

Who Are The Real Cancel Culture Culprits?

Here Is Something That Is Unique To Baseball…And Other Sports, Too. Is It A Problem?

Chief Justice John Roberts Defends The Institution Of The Supreme Court. This Doesn’t Impress Those Who Oppose Its Conservative Decisions And Ethically Challenged Justices.

When Will The Extremist Republicans Join The Rest Of The Party And Call Out The Corruption Of Donald Trump?

Republican Party Plans For 2025 And Beyond: Separating Reality From Pie-In-The-Sky Empty Promises.

The Slippery Slope When Personal Beliefs Collide With Business Demands.

Legal Experts Will Continue To Have A Field Day With The Possible Consequences Of The Supreme Court’s LGBTQ+Religious Freedom Case.

Legacy Admissions To Institutions Of Higher Learning Are Now Under The Constitutional Microscope. It Didn’t Take Long For This To Happen.

The Religious Freedom/Gay Rights Case Redux: A Possible Factual Misrepresentation Undermines The Integrity Of Our Judicial System.

Another One Of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Anti-Woke Laws--This One Affecting Voting Rights--Is Tossed Out By The Federal Court. And Performers Remain Targets For Fans Throwing Objects. What To Do With These So-Called Fans.

The Strength And Vitality Of The First Amendment Is Confirmed In A Covid-Related Case And Social Media.

Liberals Are The Real Conservatives. Rep. Jamie Raskin Calls Them Out.

The Doers And The Undoers.

80!

INTRODUCTION

In 2022, I wrote a book titled Social Media Musings. In the introduction, I said I am the product of two professions driven by inquiry and skepticism, journalism and law.

I noted that both professions are founded upon logic, rational thinking, critical analysis, and sound judgment. So, when I see something that doesn’t make sense, defies logic, is irrational, or otherwise off-the-wall, I ask questions and search for answers.

I also confessed that I am a Facebook junkie, although not necessarily enamored with social media. There is certainly far too much misinformation, flat-out wrong information, etc., being spread on social media. And we know that a lie travels around the globe while the truth is putting on its shoes. Bad information to the pliant minds of the gullible is a dangerous mix.

In my first book, I said that, for the most part, I kept my opinions to myself, or shared them with family and friends, until the January 6, 2021, attack on our nation’s capital. Since then, taking to heart the note on the Facebook page that says, What’s on your mind, I’ve posted my thoughts and opinions about various situations on a variety of subjects. Many of my posts are quite lengthy, solely because of the importance I place on fact, analysis, reason, logic, critical thinking, and sound judgment.

I then included in my book, in chronological order from January 6, 2021, to February 2022, my posts on a variety of subjects, mostly—but certainly not all— on politics. Since that book was published in March 2022, I continued to post of Facebook, hoping to continue a national dialogue on issues of great public importance. This resulted in Book 2, which was also published in 2022. But I didn’t stop there. I also published Book 3 that same year. But I didn’t stop there. I published Book 4 a few months later. After publishing Book 5, I vowed that would be my final book on social media musings, and that I would still continue posting on Facebook but not include them in future publications—unless I changed my mind. Considering the outrageous things that continue to plague our nation, I changed my mind. So here is Book 6. I realize that writing and posting on Facebook is now a hobby. After spending more than 50 years in the two professions that require intensive writing, I simply enjoy the great creative challenge of writing. I now plan to write and post and publish for as long as I am able.

I hope that by this time, it is obvious that social commentary makes up the overarching theme of my posts. The purpose of social commentary is to provide discussion, including analysis, on social, cultural, political, and economic issues that affect all of us. A major theme of social commentary is to implement or promote change by informing the general public about a given problem and appealing to people’s sense of justice.

And from what we’ve experienced over the past few years, we need change.

You don’t have to be a famous entertainer or athlete to engage in social commentary. All too often, we equate fame and notoriety with intelligence and depth of thought. Having a social conscience and being able to express it intelligently doesn’t depend on fame or notoriety. In fact, there are many whose opinions are influential solely because of fame or notoriety; the reality is they haven’t a clue what they’re talking about. Further, as the 2022 election campaigns played out, there were several candidates who repeatedly demonstrated ignorance and stupidity, yet garnered millions of votes. Ignorance and stupidity must never become fashionable or acceptable. Enlightenment must always trump darkness.

What allows a person to offer meaningful social commentary is being sufficiently educated to comment rationally and reasonably on relationships among people and between people and their government.

At the heart of any social commentary lies an agreeable set of facts. Without agreement on observable, tangible facts, discourse and commentary become virtually impossible. It is toward that end that these musings are primarily directed.

This is Book 6 of my series on social media musings on Facebook.

HOUSE SPEAKER KEVIN McCARTHY FORGOT HIS OATH OF OFFICE.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has turned over more than 40,000 hours of videos of the January 6 riot at the capital to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson and lawyers for defendants who await trial for their role in that insurrection.

We anxiously await the day he turns over those videos to congressional investigating committees, the FBI, prosecuting attorneys---those persons authorized by law to investigate crimes, and prosecute where crimes are committed.

Based on what we now know about Fox News and its lying executives and on-air personalities--Tucker Carlson emerges from those disclosures as the most profound liar of all--it is perfectly reasonable to expect those videos to be altered to give false support to their repeated lies.

Never mind that those videos might well expose certain security procedures that might give some aid and comfort to future rioters, until those charged by law with defending our nation’s security are given those videos, there will be no way to check what Fox--and the defense lawyers--will do with them.

Handing them over to Fox News after everything we’ve learned about their journalism ethics over the past several days; giving them to defense lawyers rather than turning them over to the courts and allowing discovery under judicial rules, McCarthy has injected himself where he doesn’t belong. The office of speaker is not a shill for Fox News and not a part of the criminal justice system.

Now that he’s aided those criminal defendants, he faces the very real prospect of being subpoenaed to testify under oath as a witness. By his actions, he appears to have relevant information that must be shared with those in charge of the investigation, prosecution and adjudication of everything about January 6. The speech and debate clause won’t help him here. Any claim of immunity will be as flimsy as his reasons for giving Carlson those tapes. As with government records generally, there are chain of command questions--who had access, where were they stored, etc.--to see if they might have been compromised. These are just some basic questions; considering McCarthy’s choices, there are undoubtedly many more that must be answered.

McCarthy took an oath to defend the Constitution and laws of the United States. He obviously needs a refresher course on what his oath means.

DARKNESS OR ENLIGHTENMENT?

Back in the day when students studied history, we learned about the Dark Ages and the Age of Enlightenment. Briefly, The Dark Ages is a term for the Early Middle Ages, or occasionally the entire Middle Ages, in Western Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, This period is marked by economic, intellectual and cultural decline. Historians today differ over how dark the Dark Ages were, but one of the main characteristics is the lack of records that support a recharacterization of this period.

The Age of Enlightenment was an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries with global influences and effects. The Enlightenment included a range of ideas centered on the value of human happiness, the pursuit of knowledge obtained by means of reason and the evidence of the senses, and ideals such as natural law, liberty, progress, toleration, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state.

The question that the following poses is: is America in an Age of Enlightenment, or is our nation headed toward the Dark Ages?

Against this backdrop, there are two points to note today.

First, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in what is now a daily attack on anything that smacks of progressivism or liberalism, stepped up his run for the White House by calling for a cleaning out of the three federal science agencies; the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration.

The CDC is the nation’s leading science-based, data-driven, service organization that protects the public’s health.

The NIH is the nation’s medical research agency, supporting scientific studies that turn discovery into health.

The FDA is responsible for protecting the public health by ensuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, the nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation. FDA is also responsible for advancing the public health by accelerating innovations to make medicines more effective and providing the public with accurate, science-based information on medicines and food to improve their health. FDA plays a significant role in addressing the Nation’s counterterrorism capability and ensuring the security of the food supply.

What DeSantis wants to do is strip these agency employees of civil service protection, making them subject to the whims of science deniers and right wing religious zealots in Congress and the executive branch of government. Presumably, if these employees take a stand that the Religious Right opposes, they will be unemployed. To keep their jobs, they will have to place belief over scientific fact.

Does DeSantis believe the recent COVID pandemic was cured by prayer, rather than vaccines, social-distancing, and masks?

Darkness or Enlightenment?

Second, author and historian Heather Cox Richardson describes precisely where Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to take America:

"(T)oday’s Republican leaders are engaged in (a) dramatic reworking of our history.

When Florida governor Ron DeSantis last March signed the law commonly called the Don’t Say Gay law, he justified it by its title: the Parental Rights in Education law. It restricted the ability of schoolteachers to mention sexual orientation or gender identity through grade 3, and opponents noted that its vagueness would lead teachers to self-censor.

Under the guise of protecting children, DeSantis echoed authoritarians like Hungary’s Victor Orbán and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who claim that democracy’s principle that all people are equal—including sexual minorities—proves that democracy is incompatible with traditional religious values. Promising to take away LGBTQ Americans’ rights offered a way to consolidate a following to undermine democracy.

DeSantis sought to shore up his position by mandating a whitewashed version of a mythic past. At his request, in March the Florida legislature approved a law banning public schools or private businesses from teaching people to feel guilty for historical events in which members of their race behaved poorly, the Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (Stop WOKE) Act.

In July the Florida legislature passed a law mandating that the books in Florida’s public school cannot be pornographic and must be suited to student needs; a state media specialist would be responsible for approving classroom materials. An older law makes distributing obscene or pornographic materials to minors a felony that could lead to up to 5 years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Unsure what books are acceptable and worried about penalties, school officials in at least two counties, Manatee and Duval, directed teachers to remove books from their classrooms or cover them until they can be reviewed.

In January, DeSantis set out to remake the New College of Florida, a public institution known for its progressive values and inclusion of LGBTQ students, into an activist Christian school. He replaced six of the college’s thirteen trustees with far-right allies and forced out the college president in favor of a political ally, giving him a salary of $699,000, more than double what his predecessor made.

On February 28, right-wing activist Christopher Rufo, the man behind the furor over Critical Race Theory and one of DeSantis’s appointees to the New School board, tweeted: We will be shutting down low-performing, ideologically-captured academic departments and hiring new faculty. The student body will be recomposed over time: some current students will self-select out, others will graduate; we’ll recruit new students who are mission-aligned.

Then, this Tuesday, the board voted to abolish diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the school. DeSantis has promised to defund all DEI programs at public colleges and universities in Florida.

The attempt to take over schools and reject the equality that lies at the foundation of liberal democracy is now moving toward the more general tenets of authoritarianism. This week, one Republican state senator proposed a bill that would require bloggers who write about DeSantis, his Cabinet officers, or members of the Florida legislature, to register with the state; another proposed outlawing the Democratic Party.

DeSantis and those like him are trying to falsify our history. They claim that the Founders established a nation based on traditional hierarchies, one in which traditional Christian rules were paramount. They insist that their increasingly draconian laws to privilege people like themselves are simply reestablishing our past values.

But that’s just wrong. Our Founders quite deliberately rejected traditional values and instead established a nation on the principle of equality. We hold these truths to be self-evident, they wrote, that all men are created equal. And when faced with the attempt of lawmakers in another era to reject that principle and make some men better than others, Abraham Lincoln called it out for what it was. I should like to know, he said, if taking this old Declaration of Independence, which declares that all men are equal upon principle, and making exceptions to it, where will it stop?

To accept DeSantis’s version of our history would be a perversion of our past and our principles.

But it is not unimaginable."

Darkness or Enlightenment?

IS JIM JORDAN THE MODERN-DAY JOE McCARTHY?

So far, Jim Jordan’s efforts to prove through FBI informants that the federal government has been weaponized against conservatives sounds eerily like McCarthyism of the 1950s.

For several years during the ‘50s, McCarthy used his position as United States senator from Wisconsin to claim he had a list of communists who had infiltrated the heart of the United States government. Specifically and repeatedly, McCarthy accused President Harry Truman’s State Department of harboring 205 (or 57 or 81) known Communists.

Senator Joe never revealed the contents of that list because it was all bunk; he never had a list. But using the red scare hysteria that emerged after World War II, he conned and cajoled enough people into believe him, putting innocent people on blacklists and ostracizing them from their own country....until the Army-McCarthy hearings of 1954. These were a series of televised hearings held by the United States Senate’s Subcommittee on Investigations to investigate conflicting accusations between the United States Army and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Before the bright lights of TV, McCarthy was finally and unceremoniously exposed for the fraud he perpetrated; a fraud that ruined the lives so many loyal Americans.

Now we have Jim Jordan, a Trump loyalists and election denier, who rather than investigate actual crimes of theft by a former president, has chosen to vilify the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, for doing their job.

These FBI whistleblowers as Jordan calls them, will have to stand the test of careful scrutiny where facts, rather than ideological beliefs, matter. If they have facts--provable, concrete facts--the matter will be dealt with according to law.

But if they don’t; and if Jordan and his cronies are found to be perpetrating the kind of fraud that is McCarthyism, let us hope they suffer the same deserving fate.

SIGN THE ANTI-BIGOTRY, ANTI-HATE PLEDGE

President Joe Biden in Selma, Alabama. The rise in anti-Semitic rallies and attacks across our nation. Increased levels of incidents of bigotry, hate speech and hate crimes against groups that are different. Too often, the response to these sad examples of inhumanity is weak: perhaps some minimal outrage by a few that quickly passes; maybe some tepid lip service that accomplishes nothing; or possibly nothing more than a shrug of the shoulders. Until the next time.

It occurred to me that there is something else that can be done to try to counter this rise in incidents of hate.

What I’m about to suggest is not a be-all and end-all to eliminating overt acts of bigotry; what it is, however, is an effort to raise the level of awareness and accountability on the part of those whose actions could conceivably reduce them.

The suggestion is a simple one: require all public officials--elected and appointed--and all candidates for public office--federal state and local--to sign a pledge to oppose without reservation all forms of bigotry, hate speech, hate acts and hate crimes. The pledge could include the names of groups that practice bigotry and hate. We know who they are; the government keeps a list.

Each person receiving the pledge would be given a time certain in which to respond. The pledge would note that the failure to timely respond will be considered either support for, or indifference to, these hate groups and their conduct.

This would force every person who takes an oath of office to defend the constitution and laws, and every person who hopes to take such an oath, to declare their stance on bigotry and hatred based on race, religion, ethnicity, etc. This pledge would be a permanent part of that person’s record. It would be either a badge of honor or of shame. That, however, would be an individual voluntary choice.

It would then be possible to match their conduct in office with the pledge.

Signing this pledge shows unalterable support for the bedrock principles set out in the Preamble to the Constitution and the words of the Declaration of Independence, as well as our rich history of inclusion, echoing the words written on the Statue of Liberty.

Those candidates who fail or refuse to sign this pledge would have a legitimate campaign issue to deal with; for incumbents, it would be a solid way to hold them accountable again and again, a constant reminder to the voters of their failure.

Sadly, it is evident some groups believe they have wink and a nod approval for their despicable behavior. Remember someone who once said there are some nice Neo-Nazis? This pledge would make it clear in no uncertain terms where our representatives (and those who want to be) stand on bigotry and hatred.

There must be no room in America for bigotry, hate speech, hate actions and hate crimes. To be sure, hate speech by itself is protected under the First Amendment. But this doesn’t mean public officials, and those who want to be, are prohibited from voicing vigorous opposition to those who practice hate speech. Let the forces of decency and goodwill drive them off the public streets and back to the places from whence they came.

Those who are entrusted with our safety and who pledge their fidelity to federal and state constitutions, as well as laws, ordinances and rules, should quickly sign this pledge. In fact, they should eagerly welcome this opportunity to take an easy stand on what America is all about.

Those who hesitate, obfuscate or refuse to do so send a clear message as well: they don’t deserve to be in public office.

This is not a novel idea; there have been efforts to get signed pledges. However, I haven’t found solid evidence of a planned effort to get all elected and appointed government officials on board. One such pledge that I found that could