Doing the Numbers

Tomorrow we celebrate our nation's birthday. July 4, 2022 will mark 246 years since "democracy" was born in North America. But the USA has really only been a democracy for 57 or 58 years, since passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. So for 188 or 189 years, through slavery, Jim Crow, and apartheid, this country did not even begin to live up to its starry-eyed billing as a place where "all men are created equal," "with liberty and justice for all." The arc of history is indeed long.

And the landmark legislation of the 1960s did not suddenly transform the country. People of color did not suddenly begin to enjoy all the rights and privileges that were their due. No. "Separate but equal" was ruled unconstitutional in the 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v Board of Education, but defacto segregation persisted through real estate redlining and other discriminatory practices.

In 1973, Donald Trump's company had to be sued by the Federal Government before he would allow black people to rent his apartments. The Donald fought in court for over 2 years before finally agreeing to come into compliance with the law.

But that did not really represent a fundamental change of heart on Donny's part. When, in 1989, a woman was brutally beaten and raped in Central Park, and the police coerced "confessions" from 5 innocent black boys who had been playing basketball in the Park, the Donald took out full page ads in New York newspapers, calling for the boys to be executed. In 1991 the Human Genome Project began to unravel the mysteries of DNA. By 2002 the new technology was applied to the case of the Central Park Five, and it became crystal clear that the cops and the Donald had been wrong all along. While the boys did time, somebody else had done the crime. When the revelation was made, loudmouth Donald was uncharacteristically silent. No apology, no overture, no reaching out, no setting up a foundation for the wrongfully convicted.

Skip ahead 6 years, and we have elected our first black American President. With one of the smartest, most adroit presidents ever, of any color occupying the Oval Office (all of the preceding 43 had been white), there was not much about the man himself that anyone could find to complain about. But the Donald latched on to the false claim that Barak Obama had not been born on American soil and thus his presidency was illegitimate. Any port in a storm, right Donald? In 2013, in Shelby v Holder, the Supreme Court repealed preclearance clause of the Voting Rights Act. States (mostly Southern) immediately started to write new voter restriction laws aimed at black and brown people.

In 2016, losing the popular vote but squeaking by in the Electoral College, WWF star Donald "wrecking ball" Trump ascended to the White House. Throughout his dumpster fire presidency, indelibly stained by an unprecedented 2 impeachments, the Done Cheato regaled us with calumny piled on top of mendacity, in excess of 40,000 lies told while in office. But his biggest lie, that he had won reelection, first uttered in the early morning of November 5, 2020, was the whopper designed to stop our young democracy dead in its tracks. Trump's Big Lie had its day in court, and lost 62 consecutive times. His Big Lie spurred ballot recounts galore, but none found fraud on any scale that would overturn the election result.

The Big Lie inspired thousands to march on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The number of people that died then and there was 4; within 24 hours the death toll was 5; within 3 weeks it was 9. Now we have seen 6 Select Committee hearings, the latest of which revealed that Done Cheato knew full well that the mob he aimed at the Capitol was armed to the teeth. We have seen his own White House lawyers and Justice Department officials testify under oath that Done Cheato knew his Big Lie was a lie, that he knew he had indeed lost the election fair and square. We have also heard testimony that the Donald knew his scheme to submit fake electors to Mike Pence on January 6, to somehow throw the count back to state legislatures or to the House of Representatives (where the vote would have been by state, and the Republicans would have had a majority) was as crooked as a dog's hind leg. And yet some 50 million Americans still say the 2020 election was stolen.

And then an 18-year-old bought himself an AR15 assault rifle and mowed down 19 4th graders and 2 teachers, and the SCOTUS ruled 6 to 3 that New York's 100-year-old law regulating concealed carry is uncostitutional. SCOTUS also ignored 49+ years of precedent and for the 1st time in American history revoked a constitutional right. And dozens of states have passed hundreds of voter suppression laws.

Notwithstanding all of the above, and against all logic, I am optimistic about the future. I think the Justice Department is going to indict Donald J. Trump on a variety of felonies, including fraud, election tampering, and treason. I think 12 honest citizens are going to find him guilty, and 1 judge is going to send his sorry ass to prison. The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice.