The Iron Law of Reciprocity

I stopped into my local independent bookstore last week to hear Geoffrey Stone speak on his book, Sex and the Constitution.  I have heard Stone speak on several occasions and have had great respect for him as the engineer of the Chicago Principles, The University of Chicago statement regarding free speech on campus, which has been adopted by 35 schools (at last count) across the country.  The Chicago Principles is a counterweight to the propensity of universities to restrict free speech on campus, enforce “safe spaces,” issue “trigger warnings,” with a particular emphasis on controlling free speech by conservatives.

But my regard for Stone plummeted last year when he buckled to the demands of an Iranian student who implored him to stop using the “N” word to illustrate as an example in class.  I find the “N” word hateful and abhorrent, but I find attempts to constrain free speech more abhorrent and dangerous in a free and open society.

But this week, the bottom fell out during his presentation.  He talked about the Griswald decision (birth control) and marriage equality (Obergefell) but most of his discussion centered on Roe v. Wade.  It is his firm belief that this court will overturn Roe, and that 60% of the states will follow by banning abortion (even if Roe were to be overturned, I think that is wildly off the mark. No more than 5 states would ban the procedure).  He bemoaned the politicized court, and stated that with a few exceptions, five justices now vote in a block—as Mitch McConnell would want them to do.

But what really got my attention were two things.  First, was his open contempt for Evangelical Christians (but refrained from mentioning opposition to Roe by the Catholic Church).  But second, and most disturbing was this statement. When asked what could stop Roe from being overturned, Stone jokingly replied, “You could have a couple of justices assassinated.”  Afterward, even my progressive friends admitted they were taken aback by his comment.  

 I have come to call this a violation of the Iron Law of Reciprocity. 

The comment  by Stone, made flippantly and in jest, caused me to think about what would have happened if a similarly situated academic such as Victor Davis Hanson would have said something analogous, “You know, Oberbefell could be reversed if someone pushed Ruth Bader Ginsburg down the stairs,”  or, “Gerrymandering could be handled if someone put arsenic in John Roberts’s coffee.”  The uproar wouldn’t stop and Hanson would be forced out of his position.  But coming from the Left, things like this pass without comment.

While Evangelical Christians are regarded as troglodytes, folks like Ilhan Omar (who, as if on cue retweeted a tweet celebrating the assault on Rand Paul), and Islamism more generally are afforded a deference not available to other religious groups in the U.S.  Geoffrey Stone wouldn’t dare speak in the same contemptuous tone about Muslims as he does Evangelical Christians.  Omar’s remarks about Jews and white men would get her pilloried in the press if someone else on the right said similar things about gays or blacks.  But Democrats couldn’t even bring themselves to condemn her remarks.

I have developed my own aphorism for this phenomenon.  It is this—you may wish to tolerate Islam, but it has yet to demonstrate that Islam is willing to fully reciprocate.  As one Polish lawmaker put it, “Sure, you can build mosques in Poland, as soon as we can build Catholic churches in Saudi Arabia.” Likewise, I observed that Christianity has been the object of satire in comedic works like Monty Python’s The Life of Brian and Mormonism was skewered in the musical The Book of Mormon.  No sane person would attend opening night of Muhammed the Musical with dancing girls in burkas.  We all know what would likely happen.  Until Islam can comply with the Iron Law of Reciprocity—that is, we should be free to satirize it without fear of physical harm, we should be wary of importing it wholesale and giving it equal stature.

My grandmother often used to say, “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”  That principle still holds true.  If one abhors language of violence toward public officials, it should be not be used even in jest by someone like Geoffrey Stone.  If you joke about having a gun at the airport check-in, you know what happens.  Likewise, Islamism should not be afforded any greater protection from criticism or satire than any other faith.  You don’t get a free pass from suggesting or joking about violence and your religion doesn’t get accorded a special exemption.  Perhaps I should start a campaign for a new Constitutional amendment—the Iron Law of Reciprocity.

American Heroes

We’ve had the anniversaries of the two greatest American achievements of the 20^th century this year.  In June, we marked the 75^th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, which marked the beginning of the end of the Third Reich.  Last week, we commemorated the 50^th anniversary of the moon landing and Neil Armstrong’s first step onto the lunar surface.

While we passed these milestones, I happened to be reading two wonderful books:  Skin in the Game by Nassim Taleb and Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom.

This all got me to thinking of what makes an American hero. In this crazy, divisive, hyperpartisan time, it would do us well to consider that question.

The actions of the men that withstood the hellfire of the Nazi regime and took the beaches at Normandy speak for themselves.

In considering that question, I was struck with the parallels between Aldrin and Douglass.  Different men. Different times. Tackling different problems.  But both true American heroes.

I heard Buzz Aldrin speak in person two years ago at the Printers Row Lit Fest and heard and met Kenneth Morris, Jr. the great great great great grandson of Frederick Douglass at the American Writers Museum last summer.  Morris beamed that he remembers his great grandmother so he touched the hands that touched the hands of Frederick Douglass.  So I was able to touch the hands that touched the hands that touched the hands of Frederick Douglass. 

Both took great physical risks and displayed great physical courage.  Aldrin was propelled in space and landed on the moon with only seconds of fuel left.  No one knew for certain what the outcome of this trip would be.  Douglass took great risks and put it all on the line numerous times over the course of his life.  He escaped slavery.  He suffered several verbal and physical assaults throughout his career.  And in the ultimate demonstration of “skin in the game,” his son fought with the famed 54^th Massachusetts colored regiment so vividly depicted in the film Glory.  Neither of these men shrank from physical challenges.

Both lived fully.  At 89, Buzz Aldrin is still lecturing, flying and being vibrant late in life.  Likewise, Douglass worked into old age and never really stopped.  Both Aldrin and Douglass continued to write late in life.  Aldrin published another book in 2016-- his 7th.

And both had messy personal lives, suffered family turmoil and suffered setbacks.  Aldrin was thrice divorced.  Most recently, he was involved in lawsuits and was accused of having dementia.  Frederick Douglass was always bailing out family members financially, lost a son and several grandchildren to early deaths.  Like Aldrin, he was subject of a lawsuit and led the Freedmen’s Bank when it collapsed. 

After spending some time thinking about it, I was struck with the parallels of these two men.  One black one white.  One helped to solve a 19^th century problem, one a 20^th.  Both men were patriotic and believed in self-reliance. 

Both lived fully and never stopped.  At 89, Buzz Aldrin is still lecturing, flying and vibrant late in life.  Likewise, Douglass worked into old age and never really stopped.  Both Aldrin and Douglass continued to write late in life.  Aldrin published another book in 2016, his 7^th.    And having accomplished their primary goals, both men continued to advocate for new frontiers.  With emancipation, Douglass moved on to equal rights, enfranchisement, and ending lynchings in the South.  Aldrin has continued to push for space exploration and a manned excursion to Mars.

But after reading Taleb’s book,  I realized that what really cements them as icons in my mind is that they had skin in the game.  Both sacrificed greatly for their achievements.  Both risked bodily harm and death for their cause.  Douglass did this throughout his life and his son put himself on the front lines of freedom.  Most importantly, their causes were much more than a pursuit of heir own self-aggrandizement.

In my mind, what made Frederick Douglass and Buzz Aldrin so special---true heroes is the risks that they took.  They put themselves on the line for the causes they pursued.

Quick Hits

 As I close out my 50’s this week (yes, 60 is a big number), here are a few random thoughts and observations in a wild week --- and it’s only Thursday.

·        Leana Wen, director of Planned Parenthood is out after eight months, prompting a twitterstorm of comments about terminating her before full term.  Ironically, she was allegedly terminated for advocating the expansion of health services at the organization.   But the board decided that it needs to be singularly focused on abortion.  The NRA likewise has had leadership problems because it, too, is trying to expand into other pet right wing causes instead of sticking to its primary purpose—defending the Second Amendment.   The difference between the two is that the NRA never denied that it was primarily in the Second Amendment business.

·        Continuing with irony, on this 50^th anniversary of the moon landing, arguably one of the greatest and sole achievements of government in the last century, the new vision of these Democrats is providing free health care for the entire Western hemisphere and giving them all the keys to our house.

·        Also in the irony category, Mike Collins visited the launch pad of Apollo 11 for the 50^th anniversary.  Neil Armstrong passed away seven years ago and Buzz Aldrin canceled. So, just as he was alone 50 years ago while Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the moon, so again was Collins for the 50^th anniversary.

·        And in yet another stroke of irony, House Speaker Pelosi was temporarily relieved of her duties for violating house rules by calling Donald Trump a “racist.”

·        In a poll, 87% of Jews in the U.K. believe that Jeremy Corbyn and the Labor Party are anti-Semitic, which is, as one commentator noted, “is quite an accomplishment for Corbyn, since it is impossible to get 87% of Jews to agree on anything.”

·        After all the hoopla over the Mueller investigation and hush money payments, a judge ended the investigation into the hush money payments.  Put a pin in it.

·        Closer to home, several acquaintances agreed that the most durable and least likely leaders to be deposed over the next five years are Vladimir Putin of Russia, Xi Jinping of China, Kim Jong Un of North Korea and Michael Madigan of Illinois.

·        Also close to home, Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot approached Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker about having the state take over the city pensions (which are 23% funded).  Pritzker declined (for now) but look to that issue to be raised again.  A consolidation would make it easier to go hat in hand to the feds for a bailout.  You can almost hear the rhetoric, “You did it for Wall Street.  How about us?”

·        And finally, Chance the Snapper, the alligator captured in Chicago’s Humboldt Park, is moving to a sanctuary in Florida.  He also sees the writing on the wall.

·        Lastly, after the Nike decision to go woke on the Betsy Ross flag, I combed my wardrobe and found one nice Nike golf shirt.  Thanks to Amazon, I was able to order a Betsy Ross flag patch and fix the shirt (see above), sewing the patch over the Nike swoosh.  Never let a good golf shirt go to waste.

Anti-American Chic

I often say that every sport and every quality sports franchise needs a face.  Tiger Woods is still the face of golf.  For years, Michael Jordan was the face of basketball and of the Bulls.  LeBron is the face of basketball today.  Here in Chicago, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are the faces of the Blackhawks.

Sadly for the US women’s soccer team, Megan Rapinoe has thrust herself into that position for the triumphant US women’s soccer team.  But immediately turning the marvelous success of the team into a platform to blather her anti-Trump rhetoric, Rapinoe turned herself into a sort of androgynous hybrid of AOC and Colin Kaepernick, spewing her stuff all over the media, including a shout out to AOC.  Most incredibly, while she stated she would spurn an invitation to the White House, she ended her interview with CNN reporter Anderson Cooper by saying she would meet with anyone “who believes in the same things we believe in.”

Well, that’s inclusive.

Brash, narcissistic, vulgar (MSNBC had to apologize because she used the word m***f**er in her remarks in New York), intolerant, she excoriates Trump for, well, being brash, narcissistic, vulgar and intolerant.

Funny how that works.

She cannot name a single action which has provoked her ire, but rather tosses rocks at the cartoon character image of Trump that the MSM has created in her mind.  The reality is that Trump is the first president that came into office supporting gay marriage and his administration is leading the push to eradicate criminalization of homosexuality worldwide.  But she prattles on about Trump (he lives rent free in her head) and the other supposed injustices that this horrible country has perpetrated. 

It's very sad, because anyone that reads my blog knows that I have been a longtime supporter of women’s athletics, and have been vocal about the threat to it that the transgender movement poses to women’s sports.  I have been a champion of the progress in participation and quality of girl’s and women’s athletics over the past 40 years.  But Rapinoe successfully turned me off following this team. Ordinarily, I would have been riveted to my T.V. for the finals.  I simply found chores to do on Sunday. Instead of celebrating their feat, I’m wholly indifferent.

I dumped N.F.L. football when Colin Kaepernick and his pals turned the N.F.L. into an anti-American extravaganza. And, by the way, we learned last weekend that Kaepernick’s antics weren’t just about claims of police brutality.

I disconnected from the Catholic Church when Pope Francis attacked American capitalism and sovereignty and started to use the language of a garden variety Latin American communist dictator.

Sports and religion should steer clear of politics, not platforms to engage in it.  In other words, STAY IN YOUR LANE.  I watch sports to watch competition, not receive a political message.  I went to church for spiritual enrichment, not hear a public policy argument.  I attend music events to hear a performance, not about “social justice.”  Once you get out of your lane, you lose me.

And thanks to Kaepernick, I ordered a Betsy Ross flag patch to have sewn over the Nike swoosh on my golf shirt.

Never let a good golf shirt go to waste.

[Un] Happy 4th of July?

I wish I could say with certainty that we have a 100 more Independence Day celebrations ahead of us, but at the moment, things look a little bleak for our Republic.  This doesn’t mean I’m necessarily pessimistic.  Dissent and disagreement are part of the American DNA, and we have demonstrated a large capacity for healing and renewal and I don’t want to underestimate our capacity to do that.  But this year, there are troubling signs that are different than many of the things I have seen in my lifetime, and I will list some that I find disturbing.

1.      False or uncorroborated claims.   This really began with the Clarence Thomas hearings and has accelerated over the past half decade or so.  It took root on college campuses with the Title IX cases under which sexual assault claims are filed months after the supposed incident, are tried by university administrators (not courts of law) and exonerating evidence is kept out of the procedure. Most recently, it reared its ugly head during the Kavanaugh hearings, and reached absurd levels with the Jussie Smollett incident.  Now, AOC has leveled false claims regarding ICE officers and the immigrant detention facilities.  Fortunately, the victims of these false claims have begun to fight back in the courtroom as they have in the Gibson’s Bakery case and the Covington case.  Still, the New Left has weaponized these false claims of racism or sexual assault. 

2.      The Woke Corporation.  Most recently and obscenely demonstrated by Nike’s decision to pull its line of shoes sporting a Betsy Ross flag when Colin Kaepernik. But it is only the most recent.  Dick’s Sporting Goods jumped into the 2^nd Amendment fray and stopped selling certain types of guns.  Walmart raised the age limit for buying guns to 21.  Bank of America denied payment processing to gun manufacturers.  Gillette’s ad campaign lectured us about “toxic masculinity.”  Nike also did a Nike Sport Hijab, piously rolling out an ad campaign to sell probably about two dozen of them.  Of course, the most woke is Starbucks which has needle disposal units, opened its bathrooms to everyone, and announced that it would hire illegals.  I stick with Dunkin' now and get served coffee by a cheerful, enthusiastic young African American woman rather than a surly hipster.

3.      Our representatives no longer represent US citizens.  Last year Dick Durbin announced that he was working full time for DACA kids.  How about us in Illinois,  Dick?  Don’t you think we have some problems to be solved?  It is clear that Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar are CAIR’s representatives in Congress.  This madness reached a crescendo last week when ALL of the Democratic presidential candidates supported providing FREE health care to illegals.  One outraged small business owner said to me, “Since Obamacare, I can’t even afford my own health care.  Now I’m supposed to work even harder and sell more stuff to provide health care for someone from Guatemala?”  This affirmative decision to represent the interests of the citizens of other nations and make the interests of US citizens subordinate is rot to the Republic.

4.      Not accepting ballot outcomes and ballot monkey business.  Hillary Clinton for months did not accept the outcome of 2016.  She manufactured dozens of excuses and then the Left began its push for the elimination of the Electoral College (which in my view would tear apart the Republic permanently).  Stacey Abrams continues to assert that she won her election in Georgia.   The ballot harvesting and lack of controls in Broward county were astonishing.  It will be nearly impossible to keep illegals from voting.  Not accepting outcomes and ballot monkey business threaten or electoral system.

5.      Finally, and most perniciously is the constant threat of violence from the New Left that is countenanced by politicians and the MSM.  It crept in with Black Lives Matter, chanting for the death of police officers (and Obama subsequently met with their representatives in the White House).  Maxine Waters called for harassing Trump administration people.  Conservatives have been doxed and threatened.  A mob showed up at Tucker Carlson’s home.  Sarah Huckabee Sanders was harassed in a restaurant.  Antifa has been the most notorious and has been permitted to gather, damage property and commit violence—and echo of Weimar Germany, most recently attacking and severely injuring journalist Andy Ngo, while the Portland mayor sat on his hands.  The Left excused the play depicting the Trump murder scene in Central Park and Kathy Griffin’s stunt with a beheaded Donald Trump as ‘artistic expression’ but that continues to deteriorate into real violence and threats of real violence.

I’m not part of the gloom crew.  We’ve gotten through Shays’ Rebellion, Bloody Kansas, the turbulent 60’s, and of course, the great Civil War.  We have a long history of squabbling and even brawling and finding a way to hang in there together.  But these are real challenges and need to be addressed if we are to be celebrating the 4^th 50 years from now.