Above:  The Cover of a Germane Novel

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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We live in perilous times.  The COVID-19 pandemic is becoming worse.  Yes, vaccination has begun, but human irresponsibility has continued.  Donald Trump has been fanning the flames of discredited conspiracy theories about alleged theft of the presidential election of 2020.  According to public opinion polls, the vast majority of self-identified Republicans has drunk that Kool-Aid.  And, two days ago, in the Oval Office, criminal and retired General Michael Flynn, standing in the Oval Office, proposed the use of martial law to overturn the allegedly stolen election.

All of this makes the plots of the British and American versions of House of Cards seem tame by comparison.

Father Sollace “Mike” Freeman, a priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, has written a novel, published at the end of summer.  I started reading this story shortly after the press counted electoral votes and declared Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., the President-Elect.  In the novel, the unnamed President of the United States (presumably Trump) has narrowly lost his bid for a second term to Governor Jennifer England.  The President spends most of the novel undermining the election results and engaging in criminal activities for the purpose of securing a second term.  The President-Elect must resort to drastic measures to maintain the constitutional system.

Father Mike’s narrative does not seem unrealistic, given current events. 

We live in perilous times.  I will feel much better at 12:01 p.m. next January 20.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 20, 2020 COMMON ERA

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This above all: to thine own self be true

Above:  The Flag of the United States of America

Image in the Public Domain

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I, as one trained in historical methodology, prefer to think, speak, and write in the past tenses.  This tendency spills over into the rest of my life.  Therefore, when thinking, speaking, and writing of an episode of a completed series, for example, I do so from the perspective of one looking at the past.  I also place that episode in context of that series, for context is key to interpretation.  I know this from my historical training.  This is how I think, speak, and write.  To expect me to do otherwise is to expect me to be someone other than myself.

Many people have attempted to transform me into someone other than myself.  All of them have failed.  They have not transformed me into a fundamentalist, a social-cultural historian, or anything else I find repugnant.  I have maintained my integrity as myself, sometimes at a high cost.  I have decided to accept the advice (ironic within the context of Hamlet),

And it must follow, as the night the day

Thou canst not then be false to any man.

I have long been reluctant to issue statements about unfolding events.  I have wanted to watch them play out before commenting on them.  I have had opinions, of course.  I have “cussed and discussed” in private.  And I have kept almost all of that between God and myself.

Today, however, I am ready to make the following statements, in no particular order:

1. I continue to reject debunked conspiracy theories and those who peddle them.  I reject the vast majority of conspiracy theories anyway.  I prefer Ockham’s Razor and have a healthy respect for objective reality.
2. I reject politicians and pundits (especially Donald Trump and cultists thereof) who lie at least every other time they speak or tweet.
3. Donald Trump and cultists thereof are menaces to the republic.
4. Counting votes cast within the scope of the law is crucial to the democratic system.  Doing so is not a threat to that system.  If counting votes in a state in which one’s preferred candidate is winning is okay, so should counting votes in a state in which one’s preferred candidate is losing.
5. Presidents of the United States of America come and go.  The United States of America persists.
6. Nobody who uses totalitarian language and tactics (certainly not routinely) is worthy to be the President of the United States of America.
7. Remember that members of the United States military swear loyalty to the Constitution, not the President, of the United States of America.
8. As many leading Republicans lament, voter suppression has become a major tactic within that party.  Whenever a political party’s base keeps shrinking, that party’s responsible path forward, for the sake of the country, is to broaden its base, not seek to decrease the number of voters.
9. The United States of America will be stronger when both major parties accept objective reality, including science, such as that of climate change and COVID-19.
10. People are entitled to their own opinions, but never to their own facts.  Objective reality is what it is.
11. The United States of America should have a finely-honed election infrastructure.
12. Given the Electoral College and the state (Georgia) in which I reside, my vote may count this year–for the only time since 1992, my first Presidential election.
13. I support the abolition of the Electoral College.  Every vote should count.  I grant that this is easy for me to write, given that the Democratic Presidential nominee has won the popular vote in every election from 1992 to 2020, except for 2004.  I also note that the Democratic Presidential nominee lost the election in 2000 and 2016.  Furthermore, I acknowledge that John Kerry would have become President, despite coming in second place in the popular vote count, in 2005 if he had carried Ohio in 2004.  I try to avoid hypocrisy.  “Every vote should count” is a mater of principle for me.
14. Bigotry should have no place in electoral politics.  It does, unfortunately.
15. I have spent most of the last four years tuning out the news most of the time.  My refuges have included cat videos, Bible studies, hagiographies, and science fiction.  I have tuned out most of the news to preserve my spiritual and emotional health.  I may pay more attention to the news on a regular basis soon, if the political atmosphere becomes less toxic.
16. I stand by every statement I have made about Donald Trump on this and other weblogs I maintain.
17. I anticipate the administration of President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.  I do not envy them, however.  They have their work cut out for them.
18. This country and the world will suffer from the effects of the Trump Administration for a very long time.
19. Whenever a political party becomes indistinguishable from a religious cult, something has gone terribly wrong.
20. I, as a matter of principle, refrain from participating in a political cult.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 8, 2020 COMMON ERA

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I am tired of political advertisements.

My eyes usually glaze over and I tend to start humming, “la, dee, da,” to myself when I see or hear an advertisement.  I skip past them in podcasts, too.  I am a person.  I am a human being.  I am not on this planet to consume any given product someone is advertising.  I do not exist solely to keep corporations profitable by purchasing their wares and services.  Advertising is frequently dehumanizing.

I have managed to avoid many political advertisements by not watching television.  I cut the cord more than a decade ago, so avoiding cable and satellite television has become part of my lifestyle.  And I dropped out of Facebook about four years ago.  I have also promptly added political mail to my recycling bin.

That leaves YouTube.  I skip advertisements on YouTube whenever I can.  Unfortunately, that is not always possible.

I have an appointment to record a podcast on episodes 21 and 22 of Starhunter Redux tonight.  Yes, I have also watched these episodes many times and written blog posts about them.  I also like to discuss an episode or episodes when it is/they are fresh in my mind.  At lunch time today, I started watching episode 21, Travis (Redux) on YouTube.  (These episodes are available for free at the Sci-Fi Central channel.)  I had to watch a political advertisement before the episode started.  I had to watch a second political advertisement before the opening credits sequence ended.  Then I had to watch a third political advertisement before the first scene after the opening credits concluded.  I closed my browser, switched to the computer to which I had downloaded the episode, and started watching the episode minus advertisements.

Victory!

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 1, 2020 COMMON ERA

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REST IN PEACE, JOHN TURNER.

Above:  The Flag of Canada

Image in the Public Domain

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John Turner (1929-2020) did this weekend.  He was an attorney, a cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s, the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada (1984-1990), the Prime Minister of Canada (1984), and the leader of the opposition (1984-1990).  Turner was a dedicated public servant and a devout Roman Catholic.  He understood the difference between the personal and the political.  Turner stood by his principles without demonizing those who disagreed with him.

Tributes have come from across the political spectrum.  Some of the kindest words have been those of a longtime friend and political opponent, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who defeated Turner in the federal elections of 1984 and 1988.  According to Mulroney, Turner eschewed the politics of personal destruction.  Also, as Mulroney recalled, Turner had no malice toward anyone.  Mulroney had plenty of policy disagreements with Turner, whom he always respected and admired.  And Turner carried himself with dignity in public and private life.

That lack of malice was a great personal and political virtue.

I live in a politically polarized society in which malice is ubiquitous.  Many politicians demonstrate malice daily.  Many of their supporters (a host of them conventionally pious) applaud them for their malice.  We need more simple decency in political life.  We can start by demanding it of politicians for whom we vote.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 20, 2020 COMMON ERA

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Above:  The Gerrymander

Image in the Public Domain

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Vote suppression is wrong in all circumstances.  When a political party seeks to boost its electoral odds to suppressing votes, it damages the structure of the republic.  Such a party deserves scorn for doing so.

I know enough about United States history to list vote suppression efforts since the earliest days of the republic.

1. Gerrymandering (a practice older than the label) dates to at least 1788, when Patrick Henry of Virginia tried to draw Congressional district lines to deny James Madison a seat.  The germane historical records tell us Madison won the seat anyway.  The term derives from Elbridge Gerry, the Governor of Massachusetts, who presided over the redrawing of district lines in 1812 to favor his (Jeffersonian) Republican Party.  A famous political cartoon from the time depicts a district the shape of which resembles a salamander.  Gerrymandering entails politicians choosing the voters, not the voters selecting the politicians.  The practice suppresses votes by making voting futile for many potential voters.  Many may choose not to vote because there is no point in doing so.  In 2020, too few Congressional districts are politically competitive.  Some politically secure seats exist apart from gerrymandering, of course.  However, many exist only because of the practice.
2. The annals of the John Adams Administration (1797-1801) document the Naturalization Act of 1798, which made the minimum period of time to naturalize fourteen years, as opposed to the previous standard of five years.  When one examines the politics of the late 1790s, one realizes that the Federalist Party was trying to maintain its grip on power.  One may also understand that the targeted immigrants were Irish, therefore anti-British.  Perhaps one recalls that the Federalist Party, with its pro-British foreign policy, was unlikely to receive the votes of naturalized Irish-American immigrant men, who tended to favor the (Jeffersonian) Republican Party.  The historical record also tells us that the Naturalization Act of 1798 backfired on the Federalist Party when immigrants hastened to complete their naturalization process than voted (Jeffersonian) Republican enthusiastically.
3. The Democratic Party committed vote suppression in the post-Civil War South in the name of restoring and maintaining white supremacy.  Methods of vote suppression for nearly a century included lynchings, other forms of violence, informal social pressure, poll taxes, grandfather clauses, and literacy tests.  Literacy tests varied widely, from having to read Latin to guessing how many jelly beans were in a jar.  In Atlanta, Georgia, in the 1890s, voting officials used a literacy test to prevent the brilliant W. E. B. DuBois, a professor at Atlanta University, from registering to vote.  DuBois was literate, beyond a shadow of a doubt.
4. The Republican Party has been committing vote suppression lately.  Some party officials have even candidly admitted this, without apology.  Their efforts have often had a racist edge, given the rate at which African Americans vote for Democratic candidates.  Since the Republican Party launched its Southern Strategy in the 1960s and began to appeal to White Southern racists, some portion of that party has maintained the Southern Strategy.  Donald Trump has made no secret of his racism.  His dog whistles have been so loud that one does not need canine ears to hear them.  And he has called neo-Nazis “very fine people.”
5. Voting by mail is safe.  Trump, one who has voted via mail, is lying about it being untrustworthy.  I recall having voted absentee–by mail–more than once.  Some states have much experience conducting elections entirely via mail.  Actually, I prefer voting by mail.  I recall that, earlier this year, I sat down with my ballot, looked up candidates, and marked my ballot.  I also remember that, more than once, I wrote in “None of the above,” even in uncontested races.
6. No political party has a monopoly on vote suppression.  No major political party in the United States has a clean record regarding opposing this practice.

I hesitate to apply “sacred” to secular institutions, such as the republic.  However, some principles come close to being sacred.  Among these principles are these:

1. Any political party that has difficulty appealing to voters should seek methods of appealing to them without betraying the highest ideals of human equality.
2. In a republic, governments should facilitate voting by citizens, not discourage it.

Here I stand.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 23, 2020 COMMON ERA

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Truthiness, Alternative Facts, and Damn Lies

Stephen Colbert, during his years of hosting The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, spoke, in the character of a composite of most of the on-air talent at the FOX News Channel of “truthiness,” defined as

the quality or seeming or feeling true, even when being false.

“Truthiness” is the quality of anti-intellectualism, of the distrust of expertise and reference works.  Objective reality, the character of Stephen Colbert said on October 17, 2005, is

all fact and no heart.

The television persona of Colbert rejected objective reality.

Objectively, surveys revealed that more self-described conservatives than self-described liberals did not get the joke.  More self-described conservatives than self-described liberals failed to realize that Colbert was playing a character.

That which Colbert said in political satire has become the governing strategy of the Trump Administration.  One may recall that, in early 2017, Kellyanne Conway used a now-infamous term:

alternative facts.

Her boss is a proponent and purveyor of alternative facts, half-truths, conspiracy theories, and what Samuel L. Clemens called

damn lies.

Anti-intellectualism is a political and religious tradition in the United States and elsewhere.  (Traditions are, by definition, old, so I choose not to call anti-intellectualism an “old tradition.”)    Related to anti-intellectualism is another tradition, distrust of science.  I trust science and consider myself an intellectual, of course.  Another cousin, so to speak, is the distrust of expertise.  I like experts, people who have read, studied, researched, et cetera.  They are well-informed, by definition.  I do not pretend that they are infallible, but I trust them before I trust an uninformed person on the street.  If that makes me an elitist, so be it.

Right-wing populism embraces truthiness and alternative facts as it rejects intellectualism, expertise, and science.  This tendency is proving deadly during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Wearing masks in public and maintaining social distancing should NOT be controversial, but they are.  The Coronavirus will not vanish one day, magically.  No, it will remain with us for a very long time.  The Bubonic Plague still exists, but how often does it become a news story?  COVID-19 will eventually join the ranks of generally contained diseases that break out here and there, now and again, with limited effects.  We will get to that day sooner rather than later by acting responsibly, both collectively and individually, and by trusting that people who study this disease know more about it than people who do not.

Unfortunately, as human psychology proves, ego defense mechanisms are generally impervious to objective reality.  The least effective way to convince one to change one’s mind may be to present objective information, especially if one’s ego is invested in an erroneous belief.  Consider opposition to vaccination, O reader.  I understand why, centuries ago, when vaccination was new, that many people feared it.  However, given that vaccination has proven effective, fear of it is irrational and contrary to objective reality.

Aside:  I report that the worst reaction I had to an immunization was the exception to the rule.  My standard reaction is none, except for momentary discomfort; I despise needles.  I recall, however, that I passed out momentarily once.  On the other hand, I got a piece of chocolate, so I cannot complain.

This pandemic presents people with a choice:  Behave responsibly and reject misinformation or embrace conspiracy theories and racist, nativistic, xenophobic, and objectively false statements and those who peddle them.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 25, 2020 COMMON ERA

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ESPECIALLY THE GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA, WHO IN WORDS OF THE MAYOR OF SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, TODAY, DOES NOT “GIVE A DAMN ABOUT US”

Some politicians who claim the label “pro-life” with regard to abortion are pro-death with regard to COVID-19.

I will get a side point out of the way.  I am cautiously pro-choice.  On principle, I oppose abortion except in extreme cases.  Medical emergencies do exist.  Sometimes somebody will die, regardless of the decision one makes.  Life does not always spare people those dilemmas.  I hold that the people who should make those decisions are usually the ones closest to the individuals affected.  In certain circumstances, however, they may not be.  This can be a complicated issue.

Now, back to the main point….

Recently, the Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County, Georgia, mandated that we who live here wear masks in public places.  This was a socially responsible order consistent with science.  This morning, while watching the news briefly (for the few minutes I could bear to do so), I heard that the Dishonorable, Excrable (to use an old word) Brian Kemp, the Governor of Georgia, overrode that ordinance and its counterparts elsewhere in Georgia.  He decreed that no local government may issue a COVID-19-related order stricter than state policy.

Kemp, elected in 2018, ran as a pro-life, pro-gun liability.  He captured what political analysts call the Bubba Vote.  I voted for Stacey Abrams, his main opponent, who came close to winning.

If Kemp were as pro-life as he claims to be, he would issue stricter statewide policies and support the mandating of wearing masks in public.  He is only one politician I condemn for hypocrisy related to being pro-life regarding abortion but not regarding COVID-19.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 16, 2020 COMMON ERA

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very fine people.

Above:  The Cathedral of Holy New-Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, Munich, Germany, Site of the Shrine of Saint Alexander Schmorell

Image Source = Google Earth

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SAINT ALEXANDER SCHMORELL (SEPTEMBER 16, 1917-JULY 13, 1943)

Russian-German Orthodox Anti-Nazi Activist and Martyr, 1943

Also known as Aleksandr Gugovich Shmorel and Saint Alexander of Munich

St. Alexander Schmorell comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese in the U.S.A. (Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople).

Schmorell held dual German and Russian citizenship.  He, born in Orenburg, Russian Empire, on September 16, 1917, debuted during revolutionary times.  Hugo Schmorell, a dual German and Russian citizen, was a physician.  Nataliya Vvedenstkaya was a daughter of a Russian Orthodox priest.  Hugo and Nataliya had to leave Moscow because of anti-German hysteria during World War I.  Hugo had vital medical skills, though, so he practiced medicine in Orenburg, where Alexander debuted.  Nataliya died of typhoid fever when our saint was a year old.  Hugo married Elizabeth Hoffman, a nurse and a Roman Catholic, in 1920.

The family fled Russia and moved to Munich in 1921.  That city served as the geographical center of Schmorell’s life for the rest of his life.  Our young saint did experience difficulty adjusting to life in Germany.  For example, his teacher in the mandatory religion course at school told him to cross himself in the Roman Catholic manner (left to right), not in the Eastern Orthodox way (right to left.)  Schmorell disobeyed.

The Third Reich put Schmorell in some difficult situations.  Our saint always opposed Nazism.  He did not pretend that some Nazis were, to quote Donald Trump, speaking of violent American Neo-Nazis in 2017,

No, Schmorell understood that the “good Nazi” was an oxymoron.  Nazis, our saint knew, were deplorable.  He condemned evil plainly.  He could not complete his medical studies (begun in 1939) at the University of Hamburg because of the German military draft.  Schmorell entered the German Army as a medic.  Somehow, he got out of having to swear loyalty to Adolf Hitler.  The Army sent our saint to France, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union.

Schmorell was a German patriot; he opposed the Third Reich and worked for the destruction of that government.  In the summer of 1942, our saint and Hans Scholl (1918-1943) founded the White Rose, an anti-Nazi organization, in Munich.  They wrote, printed, and distributed leaflets encouraging people to rise up against the government.  Schmorell wrote of the Holocaust in one leaflet.  Another member of the White Rose was Sophie Scholl (1921-1943), sister of Hans.  Members of the White Rose, after having initially focused on Munich, spread out across the Third Reich in January 1943.  That February 18, Nazi authorities arrested the Scholls, executed four days later.  Schmorell, arrested in Munich on February 24, 1943, received the crown of martyrdom on July 13, 1943.  He was 25 years old.

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia glorified (canonized) Schmorell in 2012.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 4, 2020 COMMON ERA

INDEPENDENCE DAY (U.S.A.)

THE FEAST OF SAINTS ADALBERO AND ULRIC OF AUGSBURG, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS

THE FEAST OF CHARLES ALBERT DICKINSON, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT ELIZABETH OF PORTUGAL, QUEEN AND PEACEMAKER

THE FEAST OF SAINT PIER GIORGIO FRASSATI, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC SERVANT OF THE POOR AND OPPONENT OF FASCISM

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Holy and righteous God, you created us in your image.

Grant us grace to contend fearlessly against evil and to make no peace with oppression.

Help us [like your servant Saint Alexander Schmorell]

to use our freedom to bring justice among people and nations,

to the glory of your name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Hosea 2:18-23

Psalm 94:1-14

Romans 12:9-21

Luke 6:20-36

–Adapted from Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 37

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The State of Georgia has disenfranchised the residents of District 6 of the Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County.

Until a few weeks ago, my councilman was Jerry NeSmith.  He ran for a third term, and I voted for him.  Why not?  NeSmith was a man who did much to build up the community, especially vulnerable members thereof.  He was, according to his colleagues, a bridge-builder.  And NeSmith was responsive to his constituents.  He even sent out nightly emails about COVID-19/Coronavirus, including the most recent numbers for Athens-Clarke County.  NeSmith died suddenly at home on the weekend before the election.

I understand that a dead man cannot be my representative.  However, I insist the fair course of action after a dead candidate has won an election is to hold a new election, not to do what state law specifies:  declaring the losing candidate the winner.  Per state law, the votes of the majority who voted for NeSmith are void.  The losing candidate will join the council forthwith and start his full term in January.  There will be a special election for the last two months of NeSmith’s second term this November.

I resent the State of Georgia for disenfranchising all of us in the majority of voters of District 6 who supported NeSmith.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 19, 2020 COMMON ERA

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a moral revolution of values.

Above:  The View from the Camera Built Into a Computer on my Desk, June 14, 2020

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We live in times of rapid social and political change.  Change–even that which is morally proper–causes disorientation and disturbance.  Sometimes we ought to be disturbed.  Injustice ought to disturb us. The root word of “conservative” is “conserve.”  Whether one’s conservatism is morally defensible depends on what one seeks to conserve.  Sometimes one should conserve x.  In certain times, reform is proper.  On other occasions, however, only a revolution is morally defensible.  Yet, even in those cases, nobility must extend beyond the cause and encompass the methods, also.

Call me politically correct, if you wish, O reader.  Or call me a radical or a fool.  If you call me a radical and a revolutionary for justice, I will accept the compliment.  I support what Martin Luther King, Jr., called

I favor the building of a society in which people matter more than money and property.  I favor social and political standards that brook no discrimination and bigotry while granting violators of those standards the opportunity to repent.  I favor altering society and institutions, inculcating in them the awareness that keeping some people “in their place,” that is, subordinate, underpaid, poorly educated, et cetera, harms society as a whole.  I support building up the whole, and individuals in that context.  I oppose celebrating slavery, discrimination, racism, and hatred, whether past or present.  I stand (socially distanced and wearing a mask, of course) with all those, especially of the younger generations, who are rising up peacefully for justice.  The young will, overall, have an easier time adapting to morally necessary change than many members of the older generations will, no matter how devout and well-intentioned many older people may be.  To quote a cliché,

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

St. Paul the Apostle offered timeless advice for confronting evil:

Do not be mastered by evil, but master evil with good.

–Romans 12:21 (The New Jerusalem Bible, 1985)

May all who seek a more just society pursue that goal with shrewdness, courage, and goodness.  To create a better society without incorporating goodness into methodology is impossible, after all.  May all who reshape society remain positive and focused on the morally justifiable.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 15, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JOHN ELLERTON, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER AND TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF CARL HEINRICH VON BOGATSKY, HUNGARIAN-GERMAN LUTHERAN HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF DOROTHY FRANCES BLOMFIELD GURNEY, ENGLISH POET AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT LANDELINUS OF VAUX, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; SAINT AUBERT OF CAMBRAI, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; SAINT URSMAR OF LOBBES, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND MISSIONARY BISHOP; AND SAINTS DOMITIAN, HADELIN, AND DODO OF LOBBES, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONKS

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