Jon Reisman
I voted last week, marking fifty years of electoral participation. I cast my first vote in the 1976 Presidential election for Jimmy Carter (I was young, foolish, and credulous, enthused with his pledge “to never lie to you”). It was not a slam dunk moment for the 21st Amendment lowering the voting age to 18. That observation has been revived by young voters’ cultist affection for socialism, the Bolshevik (Bernie Sanders), the bartender (AOC), the faux Indian (Pocahontas Warren) and the consanguineous cretin (Troy). I think one likely Democratic Socialist/Maine People’s Alliance election integrity policy plank is lowering the voting age to 16, along with a requirement that all presumed oppressors (white males, Jews, capitalists, bourgeoisie, Trump supporters) present incontrovertible photo ID evidence of citizenship to be allowed to vote.
As anxious as I am for some closure on this election cycle, I’m very much afraid that post-election Maine and America will be a dystopian combination of riot-torn and burning France and Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s “The Gulag Archipelago” (where I expect to be sent). An emboldened red-green alliance of antisemitic Islamo-fascists and deluded socialists will take to the streets after the election, whether to celebrate their victory or “mostly peacefully” protest (meaning general arson, violence, and intimidation). For some reason, the French Palestinian flag-carrying protesters/arsonists have almost exclusively targeted Jews and Jewish property, declining to torch mosques or Muslims. I guess the leftists should be congratulated for their celebration and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, although I think they may be confusing DEI with DIE. California just passed a Jewish registry law to “protect” Jews. What could possibly go wrong with the Government possessing a list of Jewish homes and businesses?
After the election, the U.S. and Israel will reportedly unleash all hell on Iran. This will bring the left out en masse. They want expensive oil (to save the planet and punish Trump supporters), Israel gone, Iran ascendant, and America defeated and humiliated. The riots, arson, and sedition will make the 2020 George Floyd protests look like small potatoes. I don’t think it matters what the actual result of the election is- the left will go full revolutionary off-the-wall crazy in November regardless. We should probably cancel Thanksgiving as reparations for the white supremacist capitalist conspiracy known as America.
I believe the United States and Iran have been at war since 1979 when the Iranian revolution replaced the American-installed Shah with a theocratic mullahcracy. The United States has not declared war on anyone since World War II against the Axis powers, despite conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Persian Gulf/Strait of Hormuz/Red Sea. Much of our polarization and dysfunction can be traced to our unwillingness to openly discuss the historical causes and consequences of these conflicts. Voting Yea or Nay on War with Iran would be an uncomfortable but critically necessary exercise in leadership, citizenship, and accountability. I hope that President Trump asks Congress for a Declaration of War against Iran and their “H” proxies- Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. He should have done so in the first place. The debate will be difficult and potentially dangerous, but I don’t believe we can emerge from the current and upcoming crisis without it.
Jon Reisman is an economist and policy analyst who retired from the University of Maine at Machias after 38 years. He resides on Cathance Lake in Cooper, where he is a Statler and Waldorf intern. Mr. Reisman’s views are his own, and he welcomes comments as letters to the editor here or to him directly via email at jreisman@maine.edu.
