Some of us stay here for Labor Day

"Welcome" or "See ya later?"

It is Saturday morning of Labor Day weekend. Might we suggest that our Morris has a "destitute" air? That those of us who choose to remain here are sort of forlorn? That those of us in church Sunday morning would be merely a hardy sprinkling? "Troopers" as it were? I imagine that even the ministers would prefer "getting out of Dodge" at this time. 

Perhaps it's all the churches can do to just get the doors open on Sunday morning. People walk in yawning. The truly active and mainstream crowd of this community will surely be elsewhere. 

A prime destination - you guessed it - is "the lake." It is enough to just say "the lake." "Going to the lake." The impulse is cited by some as why we no longer have Prairie Pioneer Days in Morris. We need community leaders to stick around some, basically to "give a rip." But we have struck out on that. 

So right now as I write this on a beautiful early fall day, totally summer-like, we are in the quintessential holiday weekend for "getting away." High school football had to be played Thursday in order to allow the flock of people to "get out of here" shortly thereafter. 

For better or worse I am one of the destitute folks. I can write about all this without being unhappy. Heck, I'm happy. Is that OK? So as tumbleweeds blow across the place, figuratively speaking, I peruse online news which so readily reminds us that Donald Trump and his whole phenomenon stays in our faces. 

People who are public servants should recognize quickly when they have "gone over the line" with certain behavior. It's not like we have to "lock them up" the way Trump and many of his followers suggest should be done to some of their skeptics. 

Public service requires a certain amount of selflessness. And if you really are caught doing something inappropriate or just plain wrong, our legal system really likes when you can come forward and show humility, apologize some, just acknowledge the plain facts. My God, it should not be a heavy lift. 

The Trump people have been found to do such egregious things. We here in Morris would not allow someone like Rudy Giuliani to be an attorney for our city or county government or school board. Well-documented drunkenness along with issues of aging would preclude it. But Giuliani is attorney for the president of the United States. 

Maybe we have difficulty developing logic on this because the "Beltway" seems such a different world. We read about some of the craziness and maybe just want to smile or chuckle about it. But there are ramifications that really do affect our lives. 

Look at the consequences of the three Federalist Society Supreme Court justices. The Federalist Society is up in the clouds with its principles, principles which on paper are interesting just like the whole "libertarian" school of thought. The problem is when we allow these people to get real power. And we have begun allowing that. 

There is a chance that, as we speak, the women of America are resolving to simply elect Democrats to get the course reversed - "Roe vs. Wade" could thus be codified. 

It is impossible to predict the future. Democrats can develop warts just like Republicans, it's just that we at present cannot imagine Democrats getting a grip with power again. I assure you the possibility exists. Even in the Dakotas? Well yes. People over there might get tired of being so knee-jerk in line with the people living south of the Mason-Dixon Line. We are supposed to exude more class up here in the Upper Midwest. 

None of this is to say I could personally not get tired of Democrats having a lot of power. Remember how people felt when Ronald Reagan got elected? I see one Republican candidate who is a potential reincarnation of "the Gipper" and that is Asa Hutchinson. Right now during Labor Day weekend 2023, Mr. Hutchinson looks like an afterthought in the Republican "race." How wonderful if the media could be covering a nice conventional presidential campaign. 

Under the right circumstances I could actually vote Republican in some races. But these aren't your father's Republicans. Give them a chance and they'll burn the whole house down. 

 

Michelle Fischbach

Gone astray here?

We in Western Minnesota are represented by a congressperson who was right in with the Trump crowd around January 6, 2021. She bought into all that. She voted against certifying the election results. Which would have meant what, had her side (with Ted Cruz) won? Did Ms. Fischbach even explain what process would kick in if the election results were not to be accepted? Does she not know what Trump's whole modus operandi is? 

Why is it that someone like me knows all this and she doesn't? Trump of course never accepts a resolution of anything that has him on the short end. So he's always prepared with his stable of "lawyers" like Giuliani to just gum up the works with legal maneuvers. Employ whatever maneuvers to just delay. Delay until the last dog is hung. Trump accept defeat? Well of course not. 

Fischbach probably felt an impulse to go along with that because she identified as Republican? But can't she think a little independently, to just tap the Judeo-Christian ethic and reach a conclusion logically? This is the only way you can sleep at night, Ms. Fischbach, to know you simply did the right thing. Getting voted out of office would not be the end of the world. 

We are in a district that supported Collin Peterson for a very long time. So your district is not a hopeless case, Ms. Fischbach. Had you been heroic on Jan. 6, along with a clear plurality of your GOP brethren, you could have set the tone for the peaceful, placid transfer of power that we all deserved. Republicans would have preserved considerable power anyway. 

But you wanted Trump to take over in the spirit of a dictator. Is being "Republican" that important to you, Ms. Fischbach? To put it ahead of your conscience? Because I really truly believe you have one. Ted Cruz would be incongruous up here in Minnesota, way north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com