“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32

Maybe you have been involved in something like this or at least read about it.  The annual company performance comes in below budget and the CEO calls a meeting of top managers.  When they arrive, he has a folder for each of them and in it is an airline ticket.  The CEO tells them to get out into the country and introduce themselves to a customer.

This is exactly what the news directors for every NY and DC based news network, newspaper and news agency should be doing.  The working class, coast to coast, and essentially everyone in fly-over country are invisible to the mainstream media (MSM). The MSM media does not understand the culture or the hopes and fears of the working class.  They are not valued as important and significant contributors to our society.

The MSM has been talking to themselves, the political elites and the power structure of the Northeast. They failed to recognize that “other thinking” existed.

The New York Times released a statement saying they were redefining their mission and commitment to unbiased reporting.  I guess that is an acknowledgement that they had been biased. The biased reporting became so obvious that the MSM quit even denying it.

This morning a reporter cited an example of media blind bias.  On the campaign trail, Trump said, “Hillary is imitating me and holding tarmac campaign stops.”  The MSM called for a Fact-Check and then reported that Trump “lied”. Hillary had used tarmac campaign stops in 2012.  REALLY?  Were they serious? This was an important statement that needed to be fact-checked and rebuked?  This was a throw away line by Trump.  The MSM had gotten too close, too invested in a Hillary victory.

My question for you is how did a NYC/Global billionaire know the pent-up issues of the working man in Iowa, eastern Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania?  That invisible, silent majority somehow became visible to the unlikely GOP candidate and as of November 9, they were no longer silent.

Do you want to remain angry and disgusted for the next four years or frustrated and lacking understanding of what the other side is thinking?  Most of us would say “NO”.

This TED talk provides the most insightful explanation of why things feel different – uglier this time.  Maybe we haven’t been here before.  It explains our hardwiring – I against my brother, my brother and I against our cousin, my brother, my cousin and me against all others. This tribal hardwiring has served us well in terms of societal development and quality of life.

During WWII, for example, we were united against an enemy.  Individuals would sacrifice for the country.  We felt that again immediately following 911. For a short time, we again became one.

Right and left used to be characterized as labor versus capital, then later large government vs smaller government or individual rights vs group rights.  Today, this TED speakers refers to it as draw bridge up vs draw bridge down meaning open borders, open trade versus nationalism.

Christians will find his solution to our circumstance VERY interesting.

I have said that the #1 reason that I voted as I did in the recent election was the Supreme Court nominations that the next POTUS would make.  I argued that it would shape the court and our society for a generation or more and have a lot to do with the country/society that my grandchildren are raised in.

I will share my view as to why I say that.  In full disclosure, I AM BIASED.  Surprise! I invite you to share your understanding and views.

Library walls are filled with written discourse on this issue.  I might not even be using the right words or using them in the right context. I have not had one law course, yet at some basic level I think I know enough to understand why I believe so strongly, so here goes.

The primary role of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is to protect a minority from the tyranny of the majority.  So, how do they do that? First the Constitution is the foundations for that protection and the Supreme Court interprets and preserves the Constitution. It is the Supreme Court that rules if one of the other two branches of government – Congress or the President – pass a law or execute a law or ruling inconsistent with the Constitution. For example, Congress – with the support of the American people – could pass a law that requires that all Hindu citizens must convert to Christianity. With the majority of citizens being Christian (at least more than Hindu), the law could have the support of the people.  The Supreme Court has the power to overrule or stop Congress or the President if the law violates the Constitution which of course this example would. Sounds simple but it isn’t.  Should SCOTUS read the Constitution literally or read it for the authors’ intent?  Should they consider technology and societal changes? These and other questions are the basis for unlimited writing and debate. That said, I have boiled it down to this.

The GOP Presidents have tended to appoint “strict Constitutionalists or Constructionists” while the DEM Presidents have tended to appoint what I will call “Activist” Justices. Constitutionalists stick close to Constitutional interpretation while Activists tend to take a much broader look when ruling including: intent of the authors of both the Constitution and the new law written in the case of Congress, changes in background/technology from the time the Constitution was written to today and societal changes.  Some – like me – see this activism as akin to making or shaping law.  Constitutional-leaning judges say, “words have meaning and it is not our role to try and divine what the authors meant.  We look at what they said.”

Writing new law is clearly defined as the job of Congress; and for good reason.  We are a Republic – a representative form of government not a strict democracy.   The Congress is to reflect the will of the people.  If they are constructing and passing laws that We The People disagree with, we have the option every two years to change House Members and every six years to change a Senator. A Supreme Court Justice is appointed for life.  If they become activist and begin to aggressively “shape” law by their rulings, we have no way to change a sitting Justice.  That is my rationale as to why I believe our Founding Fathers intended for the SCOTUS to be strict Constitutionalist Justices versus Activist Justices.

Now my question for you.  Why do GOP Presidents tend to appoint Constitutionalist Justices while DEM Presidents tend to appoint Activist Justices?  I’d like to hear your thoughts. Post in comments below.

I made a dark-thirty trip to the airport this morning to get some friends on a plane for a vacation.  Returning home, I was channel surfing and came upon a talk radio station with a guest journalist, Ellen Ratner.  She is about my age and a self-proclaimed liberal – having been a Bernie supporter.  She is new to me but has covered the WH for 26 yrs. Since hearing her this morning, I have looked at some of her work.  While she certainly holds views that I don’t share on many issues, I believe she is a true, sincere, objective journalist. With my short history with her, I would lift her up as someone that is able to have strong political views, but keeps herself “pure” in terms of reporting.

In my “Clinging to Guns and Religion” article, I mention that all participants in the exit poll consortium get briefed at 5PM EST on election day.  I go on to say that I read the Fox staff on lection evening as not solemn, but not speaking hopeful words for Trump either as I expected as they tried to build drama and hold viewers.  I now have more details to explain why we saw what we did.

Ellen Ratner said this morning on the radio that at 6:30PM on election evening, she received a summary of the exit polling from a Clinton Campaign friend who had received it at 5PM.  The exit polling summary showed Clinton winning Florida and Pennsylvania both by 5pts. Ratner said, “People lie on exit interviews.”  I am not sure of the mechanics of the exit polling, but I find “lying” sort of strange. I can picture a natural sampling bias as possibly Trump supporters simply preferred not to participate at the same level that others did. Regardless, with network anchors and analysts believing Clinton would win Florida and PA by that 5% margin, that does explain what we observed in the early reporting on election evening.

Ratner believes the super increases in the Obamacare premiums and things like CNN (Donna Brazile) passing debate questions to the Clinton Campaign were major issues. She believes the electorate in general has a general sense of fairness and getting an early look at debate questions clearly violates ethics rules. She believes these two things were much more important than the Trump video or WikiLeaks email releases.

She did share a personal story that people within the Clinton Campaign were terribly “arrogant”.  She applied for credentials to both victory parties.  She got the Trump party credentials quickly but was denied Clinton credentials. She said she had covered the WH for 26 years.  How could she be denied credentials?  She contacted a large Clinton financial supporter who interceded for her twice, yet she never got credentials.

Here is Ellen Ratner BEFORE election day.  https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+ellen+ratner&&view=detail&mid=6F01B3B30D565997FDED6F01B3B30D565997FDED&FORM=VRDGAR

To steal Urban Meyer’s post game comment regarding the Buckeyes 62-3 win over Nebraska, “I sure did not see this coming”.

The majority of the following comments are shared with permission from a close friend and former work colleague.

How did Trump win? How did a Billionaire Real Estate mogul from NYC have such an accurate feel for the common working man?

Think about this.  EVERYONE THAT HAD SOME INFLUENCE IN THE POWER STRUCTURE was campaigning hard against Trump.  The Democrats, the TV Media, many Republicans in Congress, the NeverTrump arm of the GOP, Newspapers, Magazines, LGBT leaders, Hispanic Leaders, some African American Leaders, Pollsters, Pundits, etc. were all working against Trump and most were openly promoting Hillary.  Everyone, however, except the people who work hard, have a job, pay taxes, don’t live off the government nipple, obey our laws, have families and have a spiritual life.  These people turned out and voted for Trump and other GOP candidates in record numbers.  Trump’s coattails won victories for several down ballot candidates that opposed or at least distanced themselves from Trump.

Take the small county of Tioga County in north central PA. Not known to be a GOP stronghold, 74% voted for Trump and all throughout rural America, the same thing happened. Rural America was NOT on the oppositions radar screen. When Hillary brought in Lady Gaga, Jay-Z & Beyoncé;  Joe & Jane Doe of RR1, Anywhere, USA were put off even more. “What do these people know about our life”, they thought. “Why do they even have a voice in this election?” This last ditch effort to woo the millennials and minorities distanced Hillary even more from middle America. The Silent Majority are silent no longer as their voices were heard through the ballot box across this nation, in almost every state and in almost every county.   Amazing. Take away New York State and California and what did Hillary win?

And for all those dire forecasts by the media and so called “money experts” of the impending catastrophe in the world’s financial markets if Trump was elected………well, the U.S. stock market hit an all-time high Wednesday. Even Warren Buffet, an outspoken critic of Trump, said on Friday, that talk of a stock plunge after a Trump victory were “silly”. Buffet went on to say the market will go “higher” over time.

Trump did this pretty much all by himself, with much of his own money and the support of his family.  For a billionaire, he did a pretty good job understanding how the folks outlined above feel about the direction the country has taken over the last 25 years.

It is morning in America again.

Watch and enjoy.

https://youtu.be/P4iZSW_76TE

When I was having a serious discussion with a left-leaning person, they often referred to these nonsensical things they had read throwing my arguments into the same bucket.  I began to see how the truth was getting lost among the gross lies.

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Update 11/12/2016 – The latest conspiracy theory is Obama is behind the street protests and plans to call out the National Guard and declare a state of emergency – then refuse to leave office. I detest such nonsense.

Karen & I essentially “left” our childhood home of eastern Ohio (just west of Wheeling, WV) when we left for college in 1970. While we left physically, our hearts never left there and we took the core of who we were from there and never let it slip away. My mother’s family scratched a living from the land on a ridge in northern WV and my father’s family owned and operated trucks working in the coal mines of eastern Ohio. I come from people that always worked hard, were good neighbors and knew right from wrong. My father was not a church going man, but he believed in the Lord and insisted that his family attend church regularly.

Coal was the economic backbone of this area and as coal fell out of favor due to environmental concerns beginning three decades ago, unemployment rose to the mid-twenties. I always grieved for my family and peers that stayed there with the shrinking prospects for employment. I knew those folks knew how to work and work hard. They were resourceful, intelligent and dependable.

In April, 2008, then Senator Obama attended a fundraiser in San Francisco. He was addressing a well-educated, primarily wealthy audience. He was trying to explain to liberals on the coast why these rural “Pennsylvanians” seemingly voted against their own self-interests. Obama explained that he had been to small towns in western PA and across the Midwest where jobs had been gone for 25 years with nothing to replace them. He described these white, working class Americans with no college degree as “angry and politically confused people that keep voting for conservatives”. Then he went on to say, “it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to their guns and religion; or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations”.

This “guns and religion” quote slapped me in the face and you can maybe tell that I have not forgotten it. He had just insulted my family, my friends and my neighbors. While he tried to portray himself as the champion for the disadvantaged, his upbringing was about as far from the upbringing that I and my friends shared as it could be. He did not have a clue about how these people lived or thought and HE was criticizing their tendency to consistently vote for conservative principles.

I was angry. I was sure my “kin” would rise up in eastern Ohio (just like western PA) and defeat Obama in Ohio and PA in 2008, but it did not happen. (You have likely heard that since the 19^th century, only JFK and FDR in 1944 have won the office of POTUS without carrying Ohio) The “hope and change” message was just too strong as young people and minorities turned out in record numbers to sweep Obama into office in 2008.

By 2012, I knew justice would be done. No one would vote for this guy again and 2012 proved that I did NOT have my finger on the political leanings of America and I should refrain from prognosticating ever again.

Tuesday evening, in Arizona, I rocked back in my chair at 3pm to begin my tally watch of the 2016 election. I was prepared to go all night but realistically, feared that the night might be over early with Hillary winning Florida. I had learned in the week leading up to the election that at 4PM eastern time, the anchors at FOX News hold a production meeting and the exit polls are shared with them. Data is collected by a third party firm from a sampling of people that are willing to answer a series of questions as they exit the polling place. This raw data goes to all networks participating in the consortium. Each network then has their own in-house analysts digest the data and draw their own conclusions. This information gives the anchors some clue as to how the evening will go which lets them build the drama and appear to be insightful.

I watched as FOX came on at 5PM, looking for some clue of what they knew. I read them as reserved, not solemn but not showing the genuine hope that I wanted them to show. As some of the exit polling was shared and the hour rolled out, I heard two themes that were not good news for the GOP: 1) The DEM ground machine had registered a much higher number of Hispanics across the country than expected and they were turning out in “droves” in Florida; 2) The gender gap was even wider than expected in the exit polling. These two facts were bad news for Trump and indicated the evening might be short. Even Megyn Kelly said she was co-hosting with Kelli Rippa in the morning and she was showing no concerns about a long and sleepless night.

I did not flip the channels enough, not wanting to hear CNN and MSNBC gloat about what was appearing inevitable – the Clinton polling lead coming into election night was holding or even expanding. At one point, Clinton was leading in Florida, Ohio and NC – “but it was early”, FOX reminded. “Right”, I thought. “This thing is over”. In hindsight, FOX was extremely conservative in calling states. The early exit polling had clearly painted the picture that Clinton would win and it colored their narrative and thinking. Even O’Reilly and Krauthammer argued whether Trump still had a chance and when Krauthammer told O’Reilly that Clinton was up 2% in Florida with 80% of precincts in, that quieted O’Reilly and I thought it was over. No one contradicted them, but ten minutes later, they showed Trump up in Florida by 0.5% with 91% of the vote in. Even then, no one at FOX picked up on that. With northern Florida and the Florida panhandle generally a strong GOP area, I would have thought that Trump had it. I just assumed they knew there were a lot of spot precincts in southern Florida still out which meant Trump was not projected to win. All the while, Ohio was still “too close to call” and I thought Trump had been leading in pre-election polls by 5%.

Things seemed to freeze in place for an hour with NC still “too close to call” and Clinton winning VA and leading in PA. Finally, they gave Florida to Trump and the focus shifted to Ohio. Karl Rove reads election night data as well as anyone and he said regarding Ohio, “If I were the Trump campaign, I’d be concerned.” I was sick. Apparently, the historically GOP strongholds in central Ohio were coming up short for Trump. Rove pointed to the Appalachia Counties of Ohio – two layers deep of counties along the east and southeast edge of Ohio. He said Trump would have to get a superior turn-out from these rural counties and log a superior advantage. Karen and I turned to each other and said, “not enough people live there.” We went on to say, “The guns and religion people’s time is NOW!” The leading FOX on-air analyst is from Ohio County, WV – the Wheeling area of northern WV. He said, “for now, for Trump, it is all about what is on both sides of where I was raised – from Belmont County in Ohio to Washington, PA in western PA. Trump needs these people to come his way big time”.

Again – I thought – it is up to these people that in 2008, Obama accused of “clinging to their guns and religion” and I prayed, “Dear Lord. Let there be enough of them tonight” – AND THERE WERE!

I am so proud of these family, friends and neighbors from western PA and eastern Ohio. Like so many folks across the Midwest, they are simply the most decent, hard-working, honest, gun-loving, God-fearing people on the planet and I love them! On election day, 2016, they made the difference.

The family picture above describes a lot about who I am. I was raised on a farm in far eastern Ohio just fourteen miles west of Wheeling, WV. My dad was a coal mine superintendent that loved cattle. I spent a lot of time with my dad caring for the livestock and working around the farm.  My sister, Ruth, and I showed cattle and later so did “little sister”, Janell. Mother’s parents lived with us which explains a lot of the values that I still hold close today.  Mother was a hard worker and preferred to work outside rather than in the home.  She did a lot around the farm.  She is a vibrant and healthy 93 years old as I write this. She is a gem.

In our fast paced lives today, I fear that we often fail to dig below the surface on important issues and at times, we have misunderstandings that get us off track. I don’t have all the answers.  I know that.  I do believe that there are some things of which I’d like to explain and share my perspective.  While I prefer dialogue, I have probably frustrated my Facebook friends with far too many “diatribes”, so I am turning to this form of social media to see if this might work better for me to express myself.