You can read my article published on 3BL Media’s Triple Pundit web site by following the below link.

https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2020/third-political-party-us/708951

Here is a link to my latest article published on Michael Smerconish’s For Independent Minds web site:

https://www.smerconish.com/exclusive-content/economic-justice-will-unite-our-country

https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2020/2020-election-business/707881

The below text is excerpted from Governor Andrew Cuomo’s coronavirus response briefing on Monday, March 23rd.

Regardless of one’s political perspective, we should be able to agree that Governor Cuomo, in his plain-talking style, governs and leads with compassion and empathy for what we are all going through in this crisis.

We all have to now confront that that is a new reality. That is not going to change. You are not going to turn on the news tomorrow morning and they are going to say surprise, surprise this is all now resolved in two weeks. That is not going to happen. So, deal with this reality. Understand the negative effect of this, which I have spoken to personally because these are personally negative effects. You do not feel them governmentally, you feel them personally. You feel then in your own life.

And don’t underestimate the emotional trauma and don’t underestimate the pain of isolation. It is real. This is not the human condition – not to be comforted, not to be close, to be afraid and you can’t hug someone. Billy and Steve walked in today. I had not seen them in months. I can’t shake their hands. I can’t hug them. You know this is all unnatural. My daughter came up. I can’t give her the embrace and the kiss that I want to give her. This is all unnatural and disorienting. And it is not you, it is everyone. It’s the condition.

And we are going to have time. And the question is how do we use this time positively? Also, at the same time we have to learn from this experience because we were not ready to deal with this and other situations will happen. Other situations will happen and let’s at least learn from this to be prepared for the next situation as dramatic as this one has been.

Also finding the silver lining, the positive. Life is going to be quieter for a matter of months. Everything will function. Life will function. Everything will normal operations, there won’t be chaos. The stores will have groceries. Gas stations will have gasoline. There’s no reason for extraordinary anxiety. But it is going to change. You won’t be at work, you can’t be sitting at restaurants, you’re not going to be going to birthday parties, you don’t have to go to business conferences on the weekends. There’s less noise. You know what, that can be a good thing in some ways: You have more time. You have more flexibility. You can do some of those things that you haven’t done, that you kept saying, “Well I’d love to be able to, I’d love to be able to.” Well now you can. You have more time with family.

And yes, I get family in cramped quarters can be difficult, but it’s also the most precious commodity. For myself, this young lady, Cara, is with me. She would never be here otherwise. You know, I’m dad, right? The last thing you want to be when you’re in Cara’s position is hang out with the old man and hang out with dad and hear bad dad jokes, you know – they’ll come with the holidays, they’ll come when I give them heavy guilt, but I’m now going to be with Cara literally for a few months. What a beautiful gift that is, right? I would have never had that chance. And that is precious, and then after this is over she’s gone, she’s flown the nest. She’s going to go do her thing, but this crazy situation is crazy as it is, came with this beautiful gift. So one door closes, another door opens. Think about that.

 

You can read my article, published on smerconish.com on February 27, 2020, by clicking on the link below.

https://www.smerconish.com/news/2020/2/27/has-americas-long-experiment-with-democracy-outgrown-the-two-party-system

You can read my article, published on Smerconish.com on February 19, 2020, by clicking on the link below:

https://www.smerconish.com/news/2020/2/19/is-the-mainstream-media-promoting-the-wrong-narrative-on-william-barr

 

You can read my essay on Michael Smerconish’s web site:

https://www.smerconish.com/news/2020/2/14/its-time-for-younger-voters-to-take-control-of-the-future

 

 

On numerous occasions over the past few days I have switched to Fox News while other news channels were carrying live coverage of the Senate impeachment trial. I have done this notably during prime time, during Tucker Carlson’s and Sean Hannity’s shows.

Each and every time when the Democratic House managers are speaking, Fox only shows the live coverage in a small window with no audio, while its commentators rail against the process as hysteria and continue to promote debunked conspiracy theories.

Is Fox News so afraid to let its viewers at least hear the arguments on both sides and use their own thinking skills to decide for themselves what is true and what isn’t?

Because Fox commands such a significant market share of cable news, they have an obligation to deliver content that informs people and to present the public with both sides. Yet, they never do.

Their viewers should be outraged and insulted by Fox’s nefarious treatment of them. They are censoring news from their adult audience and treating them like children. This is right out of the playbook of totalitarian states, not the democracy we are supposed to be.

Over the past couple of months I have met with well over a dozen college classes at CSU-Sacramento and Consumes River College in Elk Grove, CA. I have had one-on-one conversations with many more eligible voters between the ages of 18 and 35.

A common theme is that many younger voters believe the 2016 Democratic nomination was “rigged” in favor of Hillary Clinton.

It is true that Clinton won the popular vote by 389 delegates. However, it was widely known months before the Democratic National Convention that most of the 649 “superdelegates” controlled by the DNC would be pledged to Clinton on the first ballot at the Democratic National Convention. This fueled the perception that Clinton could not be beaten. In fact, numerous people I talked with voted for Clinton, even though they may have preferred Bernie Sanders, because they believed their vote for Sanders would be a wasted vote. In fact, had the majority of superdelegates been pledged to Sanders the result would have been very different.

Consequently, voter turnout among eligible voters aged 18-35 in the general election was the lowest of any age group, in part because they believed the process was rigged against the candidate the majority of them supported.

In 2018, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) voted to make it impossible for superdelegates to have the deciding vote on the first ballot at a national convention. In practical terms this means that superdelegates cannot vote in the first voting round if their support is going to decide the selection. If no candidate wins a majority in the first round, superdelegates get to vote in subsequent rounds.

While I would have preferred that the superdelegate process be eliminated entirely, the restructuring of superdelegates by the DNC going onto the 2020 election is, in my opinion, recognition that the process was flawed.

Eligible voters aged 18 to 35 will be the largest eligible voting block going into the 2020 election. They have the power to decide the future they will inherit. They must vote in the primaries if they want their preferred candidate to make it to the general election.

 

Please click on the link below…

CSR and Civil Engagement 11-19