Again

This is for you if you have a pulse and are not colorblind

Are You a Hat Person?

An American who does not recognize those red hats that have prevailed and been sold AT A PROFIT by a President have been living a sheltered life. I presume any who made it this far know the hat I am talking about. I am intentionally skipping the abbreviation and only sticking to the last letter of the abbreviation. Again is not a particularly hard word and I think most people understand the meaning but I’ve included the Merriam Webster definition here.

So today, we kept it to six minutes and the topic is AGAIN.

Good Ole Grover

I have many friends in my life that disagree with me about politics. Not a big deal. I always aim to keep it civil. Shame on me as this has taken me now nearly ten years to realize what has always baffled me about President #45 and #47. Perhaps I was disappointed by the re-emergence of a do-over. You see, the only time in American history we elected someone, rejected them, and then elected them again, was Grover Cleveland, a one-time Mayor from my hometown. I did a book report on him PERHAPS in the 4th or 5th grade or so. The fact this happened AGAIN fascinates me.

History Repeats Itself

What is it that made these two figures (Cleveland and Trump) interesting? They couldn’t be more different. One thinks tariffs is a very beautiful word. The other rejected them. In both eras, Americas were confused and at least for a period embraced an idea that ends badly. Whenever tariffs become a thing, people are scared and a demagogue can reign. We can either sow fear or offer leadership. The last big battle over tariffs everywhere was ushered in Post WW1 and brought us to fascism nearly everywhere through WW2. America survived and resisted. We were the outliers. The whole world chose their dictator. We were lucky — ours was benevolent. He was imperfect. Modern crackpots love to talk about FDR as if he were the anti-Christ. Nearly the whole world self-destructed with leadership like Franco, Tojo, Mussolini, anti-democratic Popes, Hitler, Stalin and Mao. Does anyone REALLY want to debate the merits of FDR against this backdrop? The end of WW2 threw tariffs on the ash heap of history and a world of international trade ensued that shaped the modern world and no worldwide conflict for nearly 80 years.

AGAIN

I GENUINELY hope that every one of you that receives this will forward it to someone you know and love in the AGAIN camp — I want to hear some reasoning. If you are already there, do the opposite! I am interested in a range of voices. Whether you are in the AGAIN camp or not, pick your favorite President and era from our past and let me know “I’d take that right now”. I want to hear from all of you. The AGAIN crowd has it easier — they’ve bought the hats so presumably they’ve read them. If politics are not your jam, weigh in on the worst beards among our former Presidents or maybe envision one of our recent Presidents with a particularly memorable beard (this is what AI is for). I think my question is SIMPLE & FAIR. I also believe if you CANNOT articulate an answer it is likely you are amid a pool of folks that haven’t even thought through what they claim to believe. I think I may be wrong about some of this and I sincerely want to hear why that is. I figure people who take the time to read are more likely to take time to think. Therefore they are way more likely to share an interesting take.

So for the true believers of that red hat four word slogan I have a few SIMPLE questions. They pivot completely on AGAIN so this should be easy.

1. Since GREATNESS is the goal in some foregone era per the slogan, just explain who the President was that defined the GREATNESS you wish to revisit. That will make it straightforward for any of us wondering what you actually are wishing for.

2. Please, if you can, articulate the SPECIFIC policies that made that former President shine for you and what you hope we can revisit AGAIN. I am eager to learn and maybe shift my thinking accordingly.

3. My sneaking suspicion based on thinking about this is what we are bought into today DOES NOT ALIGN with any former President or beliefs. The forlorn AGAIN may just be an ill-formed lie that moves a lot of hats.

I hope my readers can extend the circle of this discussion and help me understand. To know what it is so many of my fellow citizens wish to experience AGAIN. I will be grateful.

For those of you who were KIND enough to join me as guests in today’s post, I thank you for your consideration. If you happen to own a red hat, I hope you now realize now what foregone era you are hoping to ignite AGAIN.

We live in strange times. If politics is just not something you want to talk about in public, send me an email. I’d love to hear about other ways to look at our current situation.

Presidential Trivia

For those of you who were steady consumers of my old Newsletter, you may remember, my favorite Presidential story is about William McKinley. He got assassinated in my hometown of Buffalo, NY. All I really know is the assassin Leon Czolgosz was smartly dressed on that fateful day in 1901. It turns out that my great grandfather made the suit he wore the day he shot the President. While a bit dark, the way I figure it, if not for the assassination we would have never ended up with one of the greatest President’s ever, Theodore Roosevelt. He was the last President who made it onto Mount Rushmore. My apologies to the McKinley family.

Beard Poll

In the spirit of something for everyone, let’s talk beards. The United States has largely avoided beards in the Presidency but we seemed to compress the outliers from the Civil War all the war through Reconstruction. I guess during the period where we wanted to sort of end slavery without ending it, the beard was the way to go. I’m ignoring porkchop sideburns and moustaches. Beards only means Lincoln, Grant, Hayes, Garfield & Harrison. Today there is no Something Else option because Substack still limits us to a feeble five options. If you can’t decide, Wikipedia to the rescue.